South West Water Reviews 

Southwest water another two hours spent on WhatsApp conversing with someone who doesn’t seem to know how there website works. The last bill. I spent two hours trying to login with the new billing system another two hours this time it won’t accept what you put in even though it’s correct. I was told that the four hours I’d spent trying was probably frustrating. They did away with the old app which was working perfectly, so I’ve gone back to paper billing so I still can’t login. I was given the amount I had to pay over WhatsApp when I asked for it. I paid it. I’m no better off now than I was three hours ago and then I get asked by the Customer Service agent who was helping me can I assist you with anything else? Ridiculous company time it went back into public ownership.

I received the worst customer service with south west water. The specialist Princess wasn't helpful at all, trying to take some paymemt from my account without my consent. This will be d 3rd time and calling to set up account, yet nothing was set up and I keep getting threatening letter. Not sure if today's registration went through. Just a frustrated set of people

How I wish I have an option

Had a water leak in our private pipe which is 250m long which had been leaking at quite a rate for some 10 days. Reported to SSW with readings and kept them up to date on when a contractor would be out to fix. Kept our usage down by filling containers for the day then turning water off at meter. Once leak fixed informed SSW who then granted us a leak allowance for all the water that had been lost. Cannot fault the experience and to be able to speak with real people who had empathy and professionalism made a pleasant change from what usually you have to deal with chatbots and non existent Customer Services these days.

absolutely disgusting 'bereavement service' in fact, there isnt any! i just got a call on a sat morning from a representative who first hung up as his phone line wasnt working then described my mums passing as my situation! does SWW seriously have no idea how to talk to grieving relatives? how dare they even call me out of the blue - i contacted them in the first instance! the overseas call centre was just as useless! i have spoken to a lot of companies recently as everyone knows who has been through this time its already a nightmare, SWW is the worst!

Terrible service unable to understsnd the issuies the elderly have using phone services. Leaving people open to fraud.. They have no intrest in improving services unfortunately it all about the profits.

Customer Service is very unhelpful despite using their WhatsApp service. They pass you from person to person, and from the grammar, would imagine in a different country that U.K. They ask same information more than once and then get cut off! So glad I am moving from the
South West so can experience another company. I see they have very low ratings for which I am not surprised.

So my son was paying 32 pounds month January payment 200 sww said he had a leak so they never came to check just said his payments would be 212 month still no check then they decided to put his account on hold so I suppose eventually they might turn up so I think the 200 should be put in his bank til they know

Very poor customer service. Reported last year via the website that our meter was under water and unreadable. Was told someone had been to look and there wasn’t a problem when it was obvious no-one had cleared the weeds and mud to lift the cover. Meter was now covered in thick sludge, which we cleared, only to find the dial unreadable as filled inside with condensation. Wrote to them. No response. Yesterday we got an email at 4pm in the afternoon demanding a meter reading ‘today’. Leaving aside the fact we can’t read the meter because of the damage, it is in a lane in a village where it’s dusk at 4pm. Having failed with email and letter, am ringing customer services number which tells me they are experiencing a high level of calls. I am not surprised.

Just before Christmas South West Water sent me a bill for over £2700. My normal usage is under 50 litres a day. Two years ago they assured me that my meter would be read more frequently than twice a year. The bill that was sent was for an undetected leak because my meter had only been read once in 23 months. Calculating back from the amount leaked per minute which amounted to 100 cubic meters I was able to roughly estimate the time the leak occurred as March to April last year. At the start of April last year a valve shattered cutting off my supply. South West Water came removed the meter removed the fragments and fitted a new valve. They then reconnected this to my supply pipe. After the massive bill SWW investigated the leak, stated that it was on my side of the meter and was therefore my responsibility. My insurer engaged Auger to investigate the placement of the leak. They arrived on the 3rd of January and considered the most likely location. The operative decided the most likely place was under the highway next to the meter. He dug down found the leak at the joint where it connected with my supply pipe videoed the leak and then infilled the hole and compacted the soil. He informed me that the leak was SWW's responsibility not mine.
My neighbour saw a SWW van arrive and then drive away shortly afterward. SWW say he couldn't find the leak because there was no hole. They told me this morning it should have been left open with fencing around it. This would have blocked access to three houses in the short time before a gale blew it down the street. They claim they called at my house without my neighbour seeing them and the fact that I have the loudest door bell sounders that are available scattered around the house as well a heavy brass knocker. I did not leave the house or the pathway leading to the meter all day. They now demanding that I send them a video of the leak. Obviously digging down into ground to find they joint they so obviously did not fit correctly is beyond their capabilities.

Life without a water supply & the frustration of trying to deal with South West Water
Following notification of a leak a member of the South West Water team called on 31 December and identified that there was a leak in our service pipe which runs from the water meter on the public footpath of Marldon Road, under the footpath and up behind a three meter high retaining wall which is in the ownership of Torbay Council. The service pipe then goes under a private footpath before entering our property.
The technician from SWW identified the probable source of the leak and advised that the leakage was 12 litres per minute, and we should not turn off the water supply so as to avoid possible contamination of the supply. This I did, but later that day I had to turn off the supply because water was flowing through the retaining wall onto the public footpath and potentially onto the busy Marldon Road. I considered this to be an unacceptable risk, given freezing conditions are forecast for the next few nights.
I realise that I am responsible for repairs to or replacing the service pipe and I have contacted a private contractor who would be able to undertake the work to replace the existing service pipe but cannot do so until SWW excavate the public footpath by the water meter. The contractor could get a team here tomorrow but SWW customer services have informed me that it could be two or three weeks before they could arrange a team to dig the necessary hole to allow my contractor to undertake the work to replace the service pipe.
I have received no assurance that SWW would accept liability should I turn the supply back on and the leakage caused a pedestrian or a vehicle to have an accident. Given the unacceptable safety risk this leaves us without a water supply.
The SWW website states they are” employing more leak detectors and technicians, increasing these teams so that they can better cover the region, and find and fix leaks faster. We're also working with Morrison Water Services and Kier to provide a 24/7 service”. Regrettably, my experience suggests that there continues to be much room for improvement. What makes the situation worse, is that unlike other utilities, I have no choice of supplier.
My advice to householders is investigate the possibility taking out specialist plumbing and drainage insurance to cover their responsibilities as the householder as their household insurance may not cover work such as the repair or replacement of a service pipe. With such cover, the insurer, once notified, will be able to provide the support and assistance SWW seem unable to provide.

Moved house last march and gave the meter readings to an agent on live chat and didn’t hear anything from them and no monthly debit taken, I then get a bill in the post and contacted another agent and stated this should’ve been set up and the debit still in place following me giving the new property address and meter reading. The agent was really helpful and helped resolve the issue by reinstating the debit with a little extra added to cover the bill so I didn’t have to worry about paying it in one lump sum. Agent was great and a credit to them

Yet again SWW have been found guilty of a criminal offence in Plymouth Magistrates Court. Totally pathetic criminal organisation. They believe that they should be paid for fly tipping waste water into our seas and rivers though. What a joke of a company

Truly awful company with an unfortunate monopoly.
They keep ending me bills which should be 3 monthly instead of monthly harassment, the last one demanding payment on Christmas Eve! It does feel as though they have got it in for me, I have to read my own meter which is muddy job with clothes needing washing with more of their overpriced water. The sewerage charges are three times my water usage which I can do nothing about. I will complain to CWW about the behaviour which I am fed up with.

Well there hardly seems any point in reporting this company. The government lets them all do as they please and the CEOs keep getting bonuses for wrecking the environment.
I reported a water leak 6 weeks ago both online and by phone. This was then forgotten about and I re reported the leak. This time they came around and said there was no evidence of a call for the leak. They then left and we have seen no one since. Measuring the leak we are at the 1.2 million liter mark so far. It is obvious that leak reports are going missing to hide some managers disastrous metrics so they can get a bonus. Renationalise these industries our childrens' futures are being stolen by the greed of CEOs and the ineptitude of government. Shame on all of you.

Reported a major leak in the road to SW Water, the girl on the phone was completely disinterested and actually quite rude. Following day the leak is still running down the road like a torrent and it is not even on their map of reported leaks. We have to pay for this as their customers. An absolutely useless Company and the Government are letting them get away with it.

3 years of not sorting out the error from their end, and no effort were made to sort out the water leak final bill issue, despite me telling the company to sort this out 3 years ago. Negligent and grossly ignorant staffs who would not help the customer until I made an effort to take legal actions against them and I do not think I should not have come to this to get an 'ok' service out of them.

Most of the staffs on the phone were helpful and polite, but whoever's sorting out the legal and financial issues at the background should be let go. One of the staffs, called Robyn from the Litigation team, should no longer be working. Poor attitude and no professionalism.

Dear Robyn, I'm sure you think you were clever when you tried to talk me down during our whatsapp chat taken place on 27th November. Please be aware that the lawyer I hired (before I spoke with you) was likely to have more experience than you in such legal matters. If I were you, I would be very careful when you talk with customers in the future and also consider a change in career, as clearly, you do not know how to solve a problem and trying to put the blame back to the customers is not going to work for you in the long run. You will not go far in this career with such an attitude. I believe that a client facing role will not work out for you.

I have decided to become a share-owner in Pennon Group PLC and will make my best effort to bring this up in upcoming panel meetings with relevant people.

Horrendous online service. Tried calling first but couldn't get through as I don't yet have a customer number, tried online to chat to someone for 15 minutes who then disconnected me. Tried again a new person for 15minutes who clearly was busy doing other things. Gave up and tried the call centre again which is somewhere in Asia, can be frustrating with a language barrier however the poor lady who helped me was very sweet eventually

Can't complain at all about our recent experience with South West Water. After a delivery van accidentally broke our drain lid, we contacted SWW for advice. They informed us the drain was shared and was their asset. They had an engineer out within 4 hours (as promised) and provided us with a temporary cover. Fast forward 3 days they have just returned to fix the drain. Broken to complete fix all within 4 days - very happy.

This private company is laying a sewer across my garden which they have a legal right to do. However they have behaved in an appalingly agressive, bullying and incompetent fashion. Completely failing to provide me with any justification, reassurance or explanation. They have continully refered me back to their code of practice and quoted the law, threatening me with legal action and costs if I resist. How did this country end up with water companies who can behave this way apparently without constraint.

all those people that have said Southwest Water is bad I totally agree.they give you 14 days to pay the bill which is ridiculous when you don't get the next bill for like three months and then they continue hassle you to get on and pay the bill by sending you new bills it's ridiculous give the customer a break I am on a very low income and I cannot afford to pay the bill immediately anybody would think this company is struggling they are going around in brand new vans most occasions.