Billed from wrong meter for 3 years by Southeast water

[riancarr]

Hi,
I had a water meter installed 3 years ago by Southeast water.However my first bill was far to high for a single person household.Contacted southeast water and explained the situation,even the person I spoke to said that she thought I had been wrongfully billed and would look into it.Never heard anything back then recieved another extremely high bill,againphoned and said that there was surely a big mistake,still heard nothing.This carried on until they came out and changed the meter.At this point I assumed my years of stress were finally over.Then another bill arrived for £280.00.Again the merry go- round began.
After 3 years they finally sent someone out and it took him minutes to realise that they had been taking readings from my neighbours meter.
The stress over the years has had a massive effect on my current medical conditions i.e Chronic heart failure,arrythmia,type 1diabetes .Not to mention the impact it had on my personal hygiene,being to afraid to use the bath or washing machine.
Does anyone out there think I have grounds to expect some form of compensation ???

[Johnboy007]

Re: Billed from wrong meter for 3 years by Southeast water

I'm sure someone will come along to advise you on this issue.
Personally, I think you may have trouble proving that the wrong meter readings has contributed to your ill health.
Or certainly to what degree.
Someone on LB would be able to advise you better than I can.

[riancarr]

Re: Billed from wrong meter for 3 years by Southeast water

Many thanks for you reply.
The health problems I mentioned already existed before all this happened,but were most certainly aggravated by the whole episode.
I've never been one for the so called compensation culture,but these companies don't seem to be accountable to anyone.It seems like we are all like fish in a barrel to these people,you have only to read these boards to see what I mean.

[des8]

Re: Billed from wrong meter for 3 years by Southeast water

First things first, have they issued a refund for the (presumably) overpaid amount?
Have you retained a note of the readings from the replaced meter when it was removed?
Calculating the overpayment should not be difficult.
That payment should also IMO include interest on the overpayment.
There is an account of a person paying for the wrong household for 16 years and being offered £150 compensation, which she rejected (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-16-YEARS.html) Unfortunately can't find out how this ended.
Whilst I feel the water company should make an offer to acknowledge the problems and distress for which they are responsible, there are others on this site who may have a different opinion.
If you believe your conditions were aggravated by the constrained way in which you used water because of your concerns caused by the water board you could certainly sue.
However it is not that easy as you will almost certainly need medical evidence to support your claim.

[riancarr]

Re: Billed from wrong meter for 3 years by Southeast water

Thanks for the advice,I will take it onboard as my complaint progresses.Perhaps there will be no financial recompence,but with social media and sites like this I can certainly bring it to a lot of peoples attention and hopefully some will question their own bills and swamp Southeastern with calls asking for water consumption reviews.Who knows how many people out there are paying through the nose for their water and not even realising it ??? My details have already been passed on to the Water consumer council so I will post any reply I may recieve.Whatever happens I wont let this lie. The internet gives us a voice unheard of before and I intend to use it.

[Johnboy007]

Re: Billed from wrong meter for 3 years by Southeast water

Whilst I feel the water company should make an offer to acknowledge the problems and distress for which they are responsible, there are others on this site who may have a different opinion.

I agree with Des8 on this point, but the problem is going to be proving it.
Where money is concerned, companies will do all they can to opt out of giving you any.
But good luck, it's worth a try.

[dogtired]

Re: Billed from wrong meter for 3 years by Southeast water

Also watch for being billed for rain water (classed as surface water I think) ours does not go into the main sewers but to a soak away but for years Anglian Water billed us for it, when we found out we complained but they would only refund a years charges.