They tripled my charges because they felt like it (Severn Trent Water)

Member Name: jennikitten

Product:	Severn Trent Water
Date:	10/09/08 (60 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Generally speaking good service

Disadvantages: Tried to rip me off!

I've been with Severn Trent for over 2 years now, and always paid around £20 by direct debit per month. At the end of the quarterly or six month billing period, I only had a small amount extra to pay and I was happy with the service.

Until...

A couple of weeks ago I received a letter from them saying they were going to start charging me £70 a month direct debit! My amount more than tripled! I called up and got through straight away - the customer service was good in that respect - only to be told it's because my last bill was higher than usual (not by that much!) and the direct debit amount couldn't be changed.

I pointed out that paying £70 a month when my normal bill for 6 months is only £200 (it was only higher the last time because my housemates had their boyfriends over and we were all using a lot of water separately) was crazy, at which point the rep said that it's to clear my last bill and get my account in credit.

This annoyed me because I've always paid on time and what they've told me, and it feels like they think I'm not going to pay my bill on time or whatever (even though the money will leave my debit account whether I have it in there or not). So now I've paid my last bill online and I'm cancelling my direct debit and will pay online in future.

Funny how they've suddenly started to triple my payments when the 'credit crunch' kicks in.

Good service generally, but this annoyed me a lot.

Summary: Change the way you pay - don't pay by DD