Good news for consumers - complaints about water companies overall are going down - that is except for United Utilities. They claim to be one of Britain's biggest water companies pumping out two billion litres a day from Cumbria to Cheshire.
However, the latest official figures say they get more complaints per customer than any other water company - up by more than a third.
United Utilities in hot water
Harry Schofield's 87-year-old mum was left without hot water after work by United Utilities outside her house left sand in the pipes. Harry paid for a new shower but waited months for United Utilities to refund him.
Harry told Watchdog that his mother had to use a washing up bowl in order to have a shower. Harry's case has now been sorted, and he's had compensation but his story - and the others - horrifies Andy Wright from the Consumer Council for Water.
Who can we talk to?
The Consumer Council for Water was set up by the government to give water customers a voice. They're not happy with United Utilities either.
Their representative, Andy Wright, told Watchdog;
"That's totally unacceptable. Far too often we've seen this kind of problem from United Utilities."
"Clearly there is a cultural problem within United Utilities that many of the staff are not treating the customer as king. They need to put things right, and they need to do it quickly, and apologise, and not pretend there's no such thing as a complaint."
Andy hears stories like these so often, he's now regularly meeting United Utilities to try and get them to buck up their ideas.
The Consumer Council for Water only has so much power, so taking the responsibility for supplying water away from companies does not come within their remit. Andy Wright told Watchdog that "at the end of the day that would be a decision for government to make. We can only work with the company to try to get the best out of them."
So a rap over the knuckles, but will that be enough for United Utilities to sort themselves out?
Hopefully, United Utilities will take some of their customer's views on board. Needless to say, it's one thing boasting about being one of Britain's biggest water companies but being the most complained about is nothing to be proud of.
When Watchdog contacted United Utilities they said:
United Utilities response
"United Utilities would like to apologise to all customers who feel they have received a poor service from us. We recognise that the way we have handled some complaints does not meet the high levels of performance we see in other parts of our business and which customers expect and deserve. We are working closely with the Consumer Council for Water (CCWater) to improve our performance and reduce complaint numbers and are already seeing significant reductions both in the numbers of complaints we receive directly and those being escalated to CCWater."
In the case of Hannah Kavanagh and Michael Valks
"Clearly our response to these customers' requests has been wholly inadequate. We are pleased to report that we have now added Hannah's name to the account and, following a site visit, have traced the reason for the incorrect bill to a wrongly connected meter and an error in our records for the property. These have now been put right and we have re-calculated Hannah and Michaels' bill* to £733.13. In recognition of the poor service they have received we have also cleared all £117.86 standing charges for the period and offered them £250 compensation as a gesture of good will."
*NB Mr Valks and Miss Kavanaghs' bill relates to the period July 2, 2006 to May 6, 2009.
In the case of Mr Fisher
"We have now installed a monitoring device to log all the water usage being recorded by the meter which will show if there is something untoward contributing to his high bill. So far we have located one leak on his property's own internal water system, which we have advised him to get repaired as soon as possible. The device needs to stay in place for at least another week to check if there is anything else at fault. Once we have a full set of results we will be working with Mr Fisher to make sure he pays no more than is strictly fair or reasonable at what is a very difficult time for the family."
In the case of Mrs Schofield
"We are extremely sorry to hear that Mrs Schofield has passed away and would like to extend our condolences to her family. Although this issue had already been resolved and we have paid for the replacement shower, we accept that it took too long. It seems part of the delay was due to an email address which is no longer in use. Customers who use this email address in future will now receive a message informing them of this fact."
"If following this programme any of our customers would like to contact us about an existing complaint or make a new one, please contact us on 0845 309 3003. This number is available Monday-Friday 9am to 5pm.
NOTE: CALLING THIS NUMBER MAY RESULT IN A CHARGE
Turning on the water works
However, the latest official figures say they get more complaints per customer than any other water company - up by more than a third.
United Utilities in hot water
Harry Schofield's 87-year-old mum was left without hot water after work by United Utilities outside her house left sand in the pipes. Harry paid for a new shower but waited months for United Utilities to refund him.
Harry told Watchdog that his mother had to use a washing up bowl in order to have a shower. Harry's case has now been sorted, and he's had compensation but his story - and the others - horrifies Andy Wright from the Consumer Council for Water.
Who can we talk to?
The Consumer Council for Water was set up by the government to give water customers a voice. They're not happy with United Utilities either.
Their representative, Andy Wright, told Watchdog;
"That's totally unacceptable. Far too often we've seen this kind of problem from United Utilities."
"Clearly there is a cultural problem within United Utilities that many of the staff are not treating the customer as king. They need to put things right, and they need to do it quickly, and apologise, and not pretend there's no such thing as a complaint."
Andy hears stories like these so often, he's now regularly meeting United Utilities to try and get them to buck up their ideas.
The Consumer Council for Water only has so much power, so taking the responsibility for supplying water away from companies does not come within their remit. Andy Wright told Watchdog that "at the end of the day that would be a decision for government to make. We can only work with the company to try to get the best out of them."
So a rap over the knuckles, but will that be enough for United Utilities to sort themselves out?
Hopefully, United Utilities will take some of their customer's views on board. Needless to say, it's one thing boasting about being one of Britain's biggest water companies but being the most complained about is nothing to be proud of.
When Watchdog contacted United Utilities they said:
United Utilities response
"United Utilities would like to apologise to all customers who feel they have received a poor service from us. We recognise that the way we have handled some complaints does not meet the high levels of performance we see in other parts of our business and which customers expect and deserve. We are working closely with the Consumer Council for Water (CCWater) to improve our performance and reduce complaint numbers and are already seeing significant reductions both in the numbers of complaints we receive directly and those being escalated to CCWater."
In the case of Hannah Kavanagh and Michael Valks
"Clearly our response to these customers' requests has been wholly inadequate. We are pleased to report that we have now added Hannah's name to the account and, following a site visit, have traced the reason for the incorrect bill to a wrongly connected meter and an error in our records for the property. These have now been put right and we have re-calculated Hannah and Michaels' bill* to £733.13. In recognition of the poor service they have received we have also cleared all £117.86 standing charges for the period and offered them £250 compensation as a gesture of good will."
*NB Mr Valks and Miss Kavanaghs' bill relates to the period July 2, 2006 to May 6, 2009.
In the case of Mr Fisher
"We have now installed a monitoring device to log all the water usage being recorded by the meter which will show if there is something untoward contributing to his high bill. So far we have located one leak on his property's own internal water system, which we have advised him to get repaired as soon as possible. The device needs to stay in place for at least another week to check if there is anything else at fault. Once we have a full set of results we will be working with Mr Fisher to make sure he pays no more than is strictly fair or reasonable at what is a very difficult time for the family."
In the case of Mrs Schofield
"We are extremely sorry to hear that Mrs Schofield has passed away and would like to extend our condolences to her family. Although this issue had already been resolved and we have paid for the replacement shower, we accept that it took too long. It seems part of the delay was due to an email address which is no longer in use. Customers who use this email address in future will now receive a message informing them of this fact."
"If following this programme any of our customers would like to contact us about an existing complaint or make a new one, please contact us on 0845 309 3003. This number is available Monday-Friday 9am to 5pm.
NOTE: CALLING THIS NUMBER MAY RESULT IN A CHARGE
Turning on the water works