South West Water Reviews 

430
TrustScore 1.5 out of 5

1.3

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Review summary

Created with AI, based on recent reviews

Evaluating 107 reviews, most reviewers were let down by their experience overall. Consumers frequently complained about soaring bills and unexpected price hikes, leaving many struggling to pay for basic utilities. People also highlighted appalling customer service, mentioning long waiting times on the phone, unanswered messages, and unhelpful responses from operators. Reviewers expressed deep frustration regarding billing errors and direct debit problems that drastically increased their monthly payments. Some reviewers were happy with specific interactions, praising helpful staff members who took the time to answer queries and resolved plumbing issues efficiently. Customers additionally mentioned that urgent repair work addressing water main bursts was handled professionally during difficult conditions.

What people talk about most

Service

Consumers find service to be negative, consistently expressing frustration with unfulfilled appointments and... See more

Price

Customers consistently note negative experiences with price, reporting sudden and massive increases in their... See more

Customer service

Customers had negative experiences with customer_service, frequently describing the support as appalling and... See more

Payment

Reviewers highlight negative aspects of payment, consistently expressing deep frustration with unexpected... See more

Reviews shaping this summary

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Left Devon to move to Midlands. Final bill was nearly 10 times my monthly bill. Lots of data presented but no explanation of how it relates to previous billing or why the massive jump. Then had 4... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

This company or should I say mob are ridiculous, thieving, I can't say what I really think! They will try and rob you at every moment they think they can, cancel your direct debit then a few months la... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Appalling customer service as they keep you hanging on the phone for almost an hour before they answer! Not only that, they pour untreated, raw sewage into our bathing water - even on days when the... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Awaiting leaky meter replacement. Said would be about 1 month. I wished to know if I could be given a future date of installation as now been 3 weeks since engineer confirmed a new meter needed. Trie... See more


Company details

  1. Water utility company

Written by the company

South West Water provides drinking water and waste water services throughout Cornwall and Devon and in small areas of Dorset and Somerset.


Contact info

1.3

Bad

TrustScore 1.5 out of 5

430 reviews

5-star
4-star
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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

Hasn’t replied to negative reviews

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1.3

All reviews

(430)

104 reviews in the last 12 months

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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Mother died contacted South west waterto get bill stopped until house was sold then next time I went to house red demand letter. Went on whts app chat waited over two hours for response then no help

My mother died late last year continued paying bill for several months then when they doubled the bill and running out of funds called SWW. They agreed to stop bill until house sold only to go back to the house to find red bill. Contacted SWW through whatsapp waited over 2 hours for response. The person that came on line was no help at all & closed the conversation when I said that I wanted to raise a formal complaint. What a joke Pennon group is.

4 August 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Rip off

I spend months at sea for work, for the time I'm at work my flat is empty and no water is used at all. Sometimes I'm not there for a few months at a time but I'm still charged over £50 a month for absolutly nothing.

2 August 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Nobody Answers Calls

Initial contact with the leaks deartment was fine, but I had to go through hoops to get to someone. Now, having had to call in again, the service is non-existent; advised that I was first in the queue and should wait one minute, 30 minutes later I am still queuing

22 July 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Shame I can’t give zero.

So it has taken this company months to complete what is a five minute job.

I have had to put up with lots of wrong information, being told that my drive would need to be dug up, and even people being really rude to me.

If this shower were a proper company with competition, they would not survive.

Today I have been on their WhatsApp chat for over four hours as they play ‘pass me from one person to another’.

I am keeping detailed notes on everything and saving the WhatsApp chats because I have every intention of taking them to Ofwat.

21 July 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Shocking customer service

Shocking customer service over the WhatsApp chat. They take hours to respond with generic copy-paste messages (either that or they're just bots). Not helpful at all, they often go round in circles asking the same questions over and over. They use "technical difficulties" as an excuse, but these difficulties disappeared just in time for the "agent" to inform me that her shift is over and I will be put back in the queue (I had already waited 6 hours and was one step away from resolving my query). They also refused to provide a feedback form. I ended up ringing them and talking to a lovely customer service rep who sorted my query out within 10 mins.
I wish there was another supplier I could choose instead, but this is the only supplier in my area so I have no choice.

16 July 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Edging on criminality. Vile humans.

These disgusting cretins have consistently delivered poor quality service to the area. Last year they received heavy fines for polluting our waters due to pure incompetence, and they've now put the bills up by an average of 45% to compensate for the billionaire owners loss. The CEO and all of the companies managers deserve jail time and a serious personal fine. Scum.

22 June 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Hassle free home move

I see a lot of bad reviews on here, and I get that water prices have gone up, but I have to give SWW credit for being the only company that I have dealt with during my house move to make the switch extremely easy and hassle free. At a time of dealing with many people and firms, you have been by far and away the easiest and I have to thank you for that. Literally every other company has fallen short customer service wise, so cheers! Ben

9 June 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Disgusting people disgusting service…

Disgusting people disgusting service disgusting water I have got nothing good at all to say about self-west water you are disgraceful festival breaking the law by changing my water cycle for every three months to every six months without my saying so you will get reported for that it definitely will happen also customer services so-called saying that she will ring me back if we get cut off put me on hold and then gets cut off never bothered a ring back what a poor lousy service but like I say you will get reported for this I'm not taking no crap from you or anybody else change your ways or go out of business with any luck you will go out of business horrible company poor customer services as a previously said poor taste of water disgusting I drink bottle of water now ripping the customer off in future I will collect rain water from the Barrows and tip it in my toilet to clean it I've refused to use your so called service.

21 June 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

What a sham of a rip off company

What a sham of a rip off company, while the fat cats reap the rewards with there bonuses, no wonder great britain is on its knees too much greed nowadays. they charged me £31.52 for water charges even though i used nothing,And another 33.00 fixed charge, i bet the shareholders are loving the fat bonuses whilst honest self employed businesses pay there lavish life style, what a joke of a company but all we can do is moan as they will still RIP US OFF B A S T A R D S

16 June 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Greedy people

Greedy people, my weekly tariff was supposed to £31.78 but this greedy company have decided to raise it to £33.34 a week and expect me to be OK with it I never have any money at the end of the month as it is and now I am expected to just pay even more money that I don't have just because these people raise the tariff rate while i am still waiting for my weekly payment slips to arrive. DISGRACEFUL I never agreed to go paperless I paid of the debt I owed but somehow you expect me to be OK with you raising my tariff when I never even agreed to it being raised.

19 May 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

It’s disgusting that your company has…

It’s disgusting that your company has profit over 700M/year for an essential service -water! It’s disgusting that takes me over 1hr to speak with someone! I would like explanation why you increase my direct debit 50% . When there are no changes in my household. The government needs to take over control!

13 June 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Unfit for purpose

Overcharged me for years and refused to compensate. Exploitative and inefficient so needs to be returned to public ownership do serves customers and not own interests

1 June 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Shocking customer service

45 minutes waiting to speak to an advisor. Then her line was so poor she couldn't hear me and said she would phone back. It was definitely her line as I had just spoken to the receptionist who assured me there was only a 5 minute wait.

I tried the Whatsapp messaging service. I opened the chat at 10am and at 4.22pm there has still been no reply.

I tried ringing again. It took 40 minutes to get through. The advisor had so little access to my account and had so little knowledge about the system that it made the call pointless. And there was so much background noise it sounded like she was working from her kitchen.

3 June 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Overcharging

Overcharging
I was paying £11.50 a month dues to previous overcharging. (Using me as a credit facility)
My new bill which arrived last week is £32.50. Nearly triple.
I rang them (Caroline was polite and helpful) We negotioated £24.00 a month. So they were trying to overcharge 35%. If this company hadn't historically paid so much out in dividends in the past (7-9%) it would have had the money to pay for improving their infrastructure. Now I am being overcharged to pay for it! And they are still using me as a credit facility.

2 June 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

No possible to contact.

No possible to contact.
Tried chat and WhatsApp, as no email option to notify of the house move. Now been waiting over an hour.
A monopolist that does not care about its customers or the environment.
Needs nationalising.

30 May 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

A monopoly which purports to care

A monopoly which purports to care, it doesn’t. Water should be in public ownership. So having been knowingly overcharged once I keep a sharp eye out. New meter fitted, extremely hard to read and number of units on the removed meter not verified with me. A sum of money removed from my credit with them but no breakdown bill sent to me and but for 50p a month direct debit doubled. No explanation.

30 May 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Just got my revised bill

Just got my revised bill. Gone from £50 a month to £75. What a rip off!! Also stated that the reading was estimated. If it was then the person who read the meter over 2 weeks ago didn't send the reading to head office. No point in trying to complain as they don't answer their phones or make any effort to reply to letters.
Supposedly investing £2.5bn for improvements, the only improvements will be to bosses bank balances along with the shareholders. Time to nationalise and disband OFWAT.
Like many others if I could give minus star rating I would.

29 May 2025
Unprompted review

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