Water board threaten customer with legal action over bill that doesn't exist

Added: (Thu Feb 07 2008)

Pressbox (Press Release) - Despite being assured on the telephone by a member of their staff that a water bill for £104.40 had been wiped clean and she had nothing to pay, disgruntled Southern Water customer Stella Hulott is now being threatened with legal action over non-payment of the amount.



The Company, who Stella has been in frustrating correspondence with since October 2007, have said that “whilst we very much regret if you were given incorrect information by one of our Advisors”, she still has to pay the bill.



Stella says that the bill should have never been raised in the first place. The amount which the water board insists she pays is a so-called "final bill" for her previous property which she left in June last year. However, Stella had already asked for and paid the final bill of £22 in July. She then received this second "final bill" in October.



She says: “I fail to understand how I can query a bill with the Southern Water Customer Services Department, they agree there was an error, yet still continue to harass me with threatening legal letters.



“If the Company gave me ‘incorrect information’, surely that is their problem and they should deal with the matter internally? I fail to understand how they can still harass me over a bill that should never have been riase din the first place.



Misinformation seems to be a common failing of the company. Last year, Southern Water faced a £20.3m fine from the water industry regulator, Ofwat, for "deliberately misreporting information" about its performance as well as for poor processes and systems that meant "customers received poor service".




Stella has written numerous letters and emails to the Company as well as going through their Complaints Procedure, but has got nowhere.



She says: “It’s not about the money anymore, it’s about the principle of the matter. Why Southern Water even has a Customer Services Department is beyond me. You ring them; you have a conversation and believe that the issue is resolved, only to find that you have completely wasted your time. I am angry and frustrated”