South Staffs Water Reviews 

214
•
TrustScore 1.5 out of 5

1.7

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Review summary

Created with AI, based on recent reviews

Considering 49 reviews, most reviewers were let down by their experience overall. Consumers frequently struggle with massive, unexpected price spikes on their utility bills and are deeply frustrated by receiving estimated charges instead of actual consumption measurements. Furthermore, people often describe customer service as completely unhelpful, incredibly difficult to reach by phone, and plagued by rude staff behaviors when addressing legitimate complaints. Some reviewers were happy with specific staff members who acted promptly and resolved their urgent water supply issues efficiently. A few customers also mentioned that certain advisors proved to be polite, professional, and ultimately successful in sorting out complicated billing queries.

What people talk about most

Customer service

Users describe negative interactions with customer service, highlighting long hold times, unhelpful staff,... See more

Payment

Customers expressed deep dissatisfaction with payment processes, frequently reporting unexpected spikes in... See more

Staff

Clients share ambiguous opinions on staff, with some reviewers praising field engineers and advisors for... See more

Price

Reviewers highlight deep frustration regarding unexpected price hikes and sudden massive increases in their... See more

Reviews shaping this summary

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Bills spike up without a warning. Charged us for estimate readings for a while without taking actual meter readings, and then sent us a huge bill after getting the actual readings. That kept us in a... See more

Company replied

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Having being forced onto a water meter their App constantly crashes and their online account site fails to recognise my username or password? Despite customer service resetting this numerous times!!!... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

My 96 year old mother phoned to report that following work in her road her water pressure had dropped to the point that it takes ages to fill a kettle. The operator then told her she had dementia at w... See more

Company replied

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

As many other people have said their service is just appalling. My bill has more than doubled each month because I was £60 in debit due to the huge price increases they inflicted on everyone earl... See more


Company details

  1. Water Utility Company

Written by the company

Providing high-quality water, great service and value for money.


Contact info

1.7

Bad

TrustScore 1.5 out of 5

214 reviews

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1-star

No recent history of asking for reviews

This company hasn't invited customers recently, so reviews may not be representative

Replied to 76% of negative reviews

Typically replies within 24 hours

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1.7

All reviews

(214)

48 reviews in the last 12 months

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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Abysmal service

Abysmal service, they wait 9 months to tell me they hadn't been able to collect my direct debits then they want the whole bill in a single payment, then tell me it's my fault for not logging in to my online account all the time to check, if I was going to do that I wouldn't pay by direct debit would I, I'd log in and make a payment.
Shocking to say the least, at least take ownership of when things don't go so well, if you take ownership then your customers would be understanding, they wouldn't like it but they'd be understanding.

31 January 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Terrible!!!!

Terrible!!
The water has to be filtered due to the quality. It’s otherwise undrinkable! The level of limescale in it can ruin a kettle in less than 3 months.
They make mistakes with payments /direct debits. They had a major secure information breach and bank account info/card info was released by the time they sent the letters out I’d had all my Christmas money stolen. Fortunately I informed the bank that payments were on my account that I didn’t recognise and they helped me recover the money, otherwise by the time their letter to let me know about the breach god knows how much would have been taken! Now they’ve tripled my direct debits (I now have 3 but they only acknowledge 1 and the other 2 c floated off into the ether! But I can ring the bank a get the money back! Total joke! No apology for their mistakes! So glad I’m no longer a customer now I’ve moved!

30 January 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Company run by idiots

How can a company run by idiots this shower of shit company don’t listern
They say they send letters out
They even send red letters cause ya cancelled the direct debt 2 months
Any one know of a good ombudsman to make a serious complaint about these idiots
Ya all need ya p45s

21 January 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Water supply issue promptly sorted

On New Year's Day morning, I had no water in my taps. My relatives were visiting that afternoon, so I needed to fix the problem quickly. I contacted South Staffs Water Company, my water supplier. They asked me to check the stopcock in the house and the water inlet outside. I couldn't find any issues.

The company promised to send someone to investigate but warned that if it wasn't an external problem, I would need to call a plumber. Within an hour, a technician named Paul Smith arrived. He was very helpful and knowledgeable. Paul did everything he could to restore my water supply, and I'm glad he fixed it.

I'm very grateful to South Staffs Water Company and especially to Paul for their quick and helpful service in solving my water problem.

1 January 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Company a joke

Company a joke take your money but not interested or willing to help anyone especially the vunrable.
I received a letter stating I owed them £45.05 I called them to ask why as I pay by dd the gentleman on the other end explained that they are now sending out debt letter from money owed to them before Covid yes that’s right Covid apparently they wasn’t allowed to send any debt remaining letters out because of Covid but now they are so be warned everyone the letters are coming whether you know anything about them or not my debt was from 2020 apparently I didn’t even know I owed them any money I have always paid by dd.
Also recently we had no water for over 13 hours as there was a burst main in our area (which these things happen ) my partner has Parkinson’s disease so it is crucial that we have water we had no contact from south staffs whatsoever on the day about bringing us water as he his down as priority. Asked the gentleman about that today and e did say that he his going to raise a complaint about that, it’s not just my family that was affected it all the other vunrable people out there that may not have family to help them

30 November 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Failure to take DD and advised I was not allowed to raise a complaint

Letter received from a debt collector - spoke to SSW and they advised me that the DD had been cancelled over 12 months ago. Not the case as it’s still active on my bank and no letters regarding overdue bills were received. Requested to raise a complaint over three times to be told that i was not allowed to raise a complaint case and would “just have to pay”. To which I advised that I also work in the utility industry and I know the correct procedures and legal channels to follow, which is what I was doing before I would contact the Water Ombudsman - they then finally agreed that they’d raise a complaint. Can’t tell if they actually did or not so raised a separate enquiry through their online form .

Disgusting service from South Staffs!!

8 November 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

random bill once moved out of property

I moved out of a property i had lived in for 4 years. They told me what i had to pay and i paid it. I moved properties and a month later, get a letter saying i owed £1404.84 starting from a random increase in my reading from December 2023. I had no increase in my water usage, no leaks, and no idea the increase had occurred as i could not access my online account, as the website would never let me reset my password. I called them up to explain an error must have occured and they were pretty useless and stated i had to pay the money regardless and there is nothing that can be done because I had moved out. I am so disappointed. how do the thing me and my toddler who had no issues prior all of a sudden started using 125 pounds a month in water, that bill raising from 25 pounds a month. It is shocking and i plan to take it further.

UPDATE

I made a formal Complaint and in under a week, ssw have dealt with the situation and reduced the bill drastically, as it’s likely a leak caused the hike.

I

30 October 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

10 year old bil arising

Moved out of Area 8 years ago then I get a bill from 10 years ago demanding £800.
Highly incompetent.
Call advisor tried there best but ultimately South Staffs Waters fault.
Disgusting from them, they wouldn't even discount the bill due their incompetence.

21 October 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Inacceptable

Again same thing. Just now they close water again without warning. Last time I was taking shower and today I started to cook and when I wanted to put water 🤷‍♂️ no water. They closed it again without any warning.

1 October 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

These folks are just incompetent

Still trying to sort out my water bill. 5 bills received so far (4 in one day). All have different figures on them and they make no sense at all. Sadly the complaints people don't seem to work Fridays and you can't talk to the CEO because he is too scared to actually talk to customers.

20 September 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Tried to phone them today

Tried to phone them today, so far I have been on the phone for 40 minutes and still no answer
Have they reduced their staff or just not answering????

17 September 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Meter read incorrectly

Provided a £630 bill, we were worried for weeks about how we might pay this. How it's happened whilst paying a DD already.
Finally got an engineer out and even he was confused because the meter actually read under half of what was stated. His words being 'not sure how this has happened'. Can't fault the lady we spoke to on the phone and the engineer that attended however I think it's disgusting to cause stress over financials for a struggling family, when in reality the 'actual' reading is completely incorrect. Engineer attended Wednesday the 11th and the bill still hasn't been amended. I have requested to make a formal complaint. As this is not okay, if you are going to hand someone a bill make sure it's correct before handing to the consumer.

29 August 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Absolutely disgusting company!

Absolutely disgusting company!! Shamas was not helpful and spoke to me in a disrespectful way. If you don’t send me letters how do I submit a reading!!!!!!! Now you’re going to estimate my bill, let me guess to suit yourselves so I end up paying more than what I’ve used!!

2 September 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Terrible Service My elderly parents in their 80’s have…

My elderly parents in their 80’s have today received a bank statement where South Staffordshire Water have taken the incorrect amount out of their account £461.67. This left them short on paying other bills. I have today contacted them to ask why, and was told it’s the incorrect amount. I’ve requested a new bill and was told to call back once I’ve received this bill for a refund. Why am I having to call back for their mistakes, absolutely ridiculous. If you’ve overcharged a customer then you should refund them without having to call the business. If I had not brought this to their attention then, they would carry on overcharging customers.

6 June 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

This company is absolutely dreadful

This company is absolutely dreadful! Incompetent doesn't even go there. All these really bad reviews yet nothing is done. I am going to stop my direct debits which they have hiked up, without consulting me, even though the amount I currently pay more than covers my bill.
They don't know what customer service is!

23 April 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Awful company

I have had an ongoing complaint for 6 months, still not resolved and they have overcharged me; awful company and service,

2 April 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Shockingly bad company!

Shockingly bad company!! From top to bottom! You have to wait an hour of more for someone to answer the phone!! When someone finally answers the phone they are very poor! They all need to be sent on a customer relations course! The app is shockingly bad!! Nothing is clear and nothing works ad it should!! I guarantee if we were allowed to swap water providers they would either change or lose all the customers! They are by far the worse public sector business I have ever had to deal with!

2 April 2024
Unprompted review

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