Cambridge Water  Omdömen 

Since Cambridge water was taken over by South Staffs it has gone the way of most large companies - inflated bills, incompetent delivery of services, non-existent customer services. I write this while on hold to their complaints team - so far, I have been waiting for 19 minutes, listening to Mozart interspersed with a recorded voice lecturing me on how to 'save water and help the environment' - this, from a company that wastes millions of gallons a year through unfixed leaks...
I have had to contact the company FIVE times in the last 2 months, asking them to read my meter. The meter was replaced last year in the context of a replaced water main - it is now underground and I cannot read it myself. Since it was installed, nobody has read it, I receive what to my mind are inflated estimates and high bills based on them. I naturally want to check my consumption, to see if anything is wrong - such as a leak. Each time I call, I am promised it will be done within 5 working days - I have been waiting since 14 November. Every time I have to wait 20 minutes in a queue, only to be fobbed off with pathetic excuses about them being 'very busy'. (Of course they are busy - like all profiteering companies, they put as few staff as they can get away with onto their core services.) Then, this morning, I receive forwarded mail from my old address, among which is a letter warning me of a serious cyber attack dated 29 November 2022 but referring to an incident in August - other reviews on this thread also complain about this incident. Of course Cambridge Water have my current address, but instead sent a warning about security to an address I left in July 2020! Cambridge Water is negligent, incompetent and a disgrace to the industry. I am still in a queue - it has now been 28 minutes. What a shambles.

The company is living in 1900.
Bills get generated every 6 months. No way you can submit meter reading every month.
It is annoying when u receive a bill of £600 after 6 months.
And if u go for direct debit each month(this is based on their approximation) - your account will be in credit - and I'm sure while you leave the house, it will be a challenge to get the credit amount back.
What a shame where everything is moving towards smart using technology - this company is living in 1900s and differ to change their policies.

Complete failure of 'due diligence' by Cambridge Water: Letter received in December, informing me that 'my details could be on the dark web due to a cyber security breach' - in AUGUST ! Together with extra pages informing me what 'I' should do to protect myself from fraud.
Isn't this called 'PASSING THE BUCK' ?
Here's the comforting information on their site:

“Consumers can have complete confidence that the water we supply is safe.
"We understand that customers trust us to keep their data safe and I’d personally like to say sorry to all those customers impacted – we’ll be doing what we can to support you through this.
"We will continue to invest in protecting our customers, our systems, and our data.”
Andy Willicott, managing director of Cambridge Water.

~ It's worth noting that only 'businesses' can switch provider, otherwise I'd be long gone ! (n.b. -The one star is one too many)

Terrible company can't give meter reading on line no one answers when you call
I've cancelled my direct debit if they want some money they will have to call me

I tried to call , waited for almost 48 minutes for someone to answer but no answer !! Extra payments for wrong readings ,and when i ask for refunds no answer at all !!

I noticed that my bank account shows Direct Debit taken 14th September.

It's a variable amount, so requires 10 days' notice. They claim they sent an email on 13th. It appears to have vanished without trace..... anyway, that is far too short notice.

Am unable to view the detailed bill online, as they cannot create the image.

Rather contradictory explanations as to exactly when they discovered these problems, when I rang up. No time to wait for a "call back in the next 48 hours", so will check where I stand with the Direct Debit regulations.

Regardless of their ongoing problems, I think they have failed to comply.

Long queue waiting for a response from the COOP to find out what to do next, but that's another matter.

A dreadful waste of time and incompetent. Feeble management of billing if a bill cannot be viewed that seems to have been made up on 22nd August.

Updated 24th September:

Just noticed that an email came in on 23rd September telling me that my billed amount 'will' be taken out on 14th September......!

They lied to me on the phone about sending it out on 13th September.

The awful thing is that we are stuck with one company - there's no competition for the customers to flee to.

Service has been fine but sort your website and app out!
Maybe use some of the millions earned by the chief executives to fix the broken website and allow people to easily pay their bills....

I drove nine miles unnecessarily yesterday to reach home, because Cambridge Water's work in my village wasn't adequately marked with diversion signs. If I had been collecting a child or old person, or trying to meet an appointment, I would have been in serious trouble. As it was, I had "ONLY" the high cost of fuel on a low-income budget.

We had a problem with the outside stopcock and all was worked on and sorted within 2 hours. The rest of the work was done in 2 days. Most impressed.

The website has been down for weeks now (probably longer). However after much hard work, I managed to get onto the app hoping to enter a water meter reading.

I now find you can only enter a water meter reading twice a year - why!! I would like to enter a monthly reading to keep check on my water usage. I entered a reading in May and one in October, so now cannot enter another meter reading until May 2022. Quite useless.

This is what happens I guess when a private company is allowed to run a monopoly, they just don't care about customers.

I’ve just moved into an area serviced by them

I've tried setting up a direct debit but it fails every time because their website is broken. I've tried for weeks, across different devices and browsers and the same happens every time. I tried emailing but get no response. Each time I try webchat it fails 'to connect to server'. Waited on the phone for half an hour before having to hang up for a meeting. How do you actually get in touch?!

In addition, I've just moved from a three bed house on Anglian Water where I, as a sole occupant without a meter, was charged around £20 per month. Cambridge are trying to charge me £83!!!! For one person.

I could buy over 200 liters of Evian for that price!

Poor treatment of vulnerable customers. I got passed from one incompetent staff member, to another, managing the Facebook Messenger chat on a Friday evening.
Their communications regarding accounting issues from their own finance systems is standoffish. They hide behind letters, and could not be bothered to pick up a phone to call a customer, but instead waited just over eighteen months to send me a threatening letter.
They are in the same league as NPower

Cambridge Water website that takes you to South Staffs water has been down now for about 10 days or so. I spoke to a representative who said there is nothing they can do about it. That was the answer. So much for customer service

For over two years Cambridge Water have been sending me bills for a meter that is not on my property. I have been threatened with court action. I have sent them many letters with photos showing that the meter is on property owned by somebody else. The meter is not connected to any water supply. Once I got an agent to put a hold on the bills but after three months they started again. I have telephoned, emailed and written. What more do I have to do to avoid getting a bad credit rating and enable my wife and I to sleep at night.

Atrocious customer services; pointlessly rude & confrontational. 20 mins to answer the phone & they lock you out of the website. All I wanted to do was pay a bill after selling a property, but they made the experience as complicated as possible with their bizarre 'security' demands. Do they think they're M15? I'd recommend finding another water provider, but wait: they're a privatised monopoly!

We have had two installations by Cambridge water on new properties in Cambridge. Of all the utilities, these people are easily the hardest to deal with. They charge admin fees even for the quote, their costs are the highest, they took four months to complete the job, they dug up the main road (as they have given up on worm bore technology) and used 23 separate people to hook up one 25mm pipe. After the install they then charge additional "infrastructure fees" and amend the bill upwards.

Cambridge Water Company purport to operate as a private company - they are joint owned/ managed by South Staffs Water - which means nothing other than your dealing with an even larger bloated bureaucracy that effectively has a monopoly over all water supplies in the area. The new MD Mr Willicott appears to have had little impact in terms of operational efficiencies of reduction of costs. I would be happy to point him in the right direction...

Communications - generally erratic and poor - with some exceptions; Why not appoint one person to liaise with the customer? ... the fees justify that much.

Water supply: So if you have a water meter - (I don't think you even get a choice these days) and have a leak, they charge you for the water AND the sewerage disposal price even though the leak of clean water is into the ground. Wouldn't this normally be called racketeering....?

Future - I'm not sure what other water companies are like, but thank god I'm moving out of Cambridge waters' patch. They deserve a good dose of economic reality and proper competition in their operating area to reduce costs.