South East Water UK Reviews 

I had the most distressing experience with South East Water, and I feel compelled to share it. On Monday, January 27th, 2025, we were woken at 2:00 AM by a burst pipe in our home. The main isolating stopcock on South East Water’s boundary was seized, meaning we couldn’t turn off the water supply. As a result, we had to call the fire service at 4:00 AM, who took 40 minutes to reduce the leak to a slow drip.

We initially called the out-of-hours service, but were advised that since the leak was inside our home and not on South East Water’s boundary, they wouldn’t come out! We were left completely stranded with no support. We then reported the issue to South East Water at 8:00 AM, and a technician arrived at 9:30 AM. This technician was shockingly unprofessional and passive-aggressive, and to make matters worse, he snapped the stopcock, making the situation far worse than it already was. He left, saying a crew would be sent, but no one came for hours. We spent the day calling and chasing updates, but received little to no information on when help would arrive.

We were told bottled water would be provided, especially since my mother is on the priority list, but this never happened. We were left without access to drinking water or toilet facilities for the entire day. We were also unable to leave the property because we had to manage the worsening leak, continuously replacing buckets and towels to contain the water.

The repair crew finally arrived just after 5:30 PM, more than 9 hours after our initial call. They identified that the pipe was made of galvanised steel, which is a major health concern due to the risk of lead and cadmium contamination. We had submitted a water quality test in 2023, but South East Water failed to detect this serious risk at that time.

To make matters worse, this pipe was on South East Water’s boundary and wasn’t properly maintained. We had previously reported low water pressure, a sign of pipe failure, but no action was taken. Galvanised steel pipes have a lifespan of 25-45 years, and this pipe was far beyond that. It should have been replaced or at least properly maintained, yet no such efforts were made.

This has been a nightmare, and South East Water’s negligence and poor service have left us with serious concerns about our water safety and the state of their infrastructure.

Extremely poor and manipulative system. They claim I owe a balance and every few months they try to increase my direct debit. The amount is negligible, but the sheer cheek of their underhanded actions means I'll constantly change the DD to be the lowest.

The poorest of service. There was a leak on the road in front of our house for 1 week after reported it. SE Water than gained a permit to close the road on 17 Jan 2025 and the letter said the work would take 3 days "but we will work as quickly as possible to finish ahead of schedule". They closed the road early on 17 Jan 2025 with signs then left without doing any work, so the road was closed the whole day then can back at 23.20 and used a machine for hours which kept the whole road awake well into the early hours. I have no issue with them leaving if they had an emergency, but they never told us this and they never simply removed the signs so residents could use the road for the day. They never completed the work on Friday so there is a what looks like a building site in the road so no-one can drive down the road (It is a one way road). I called customer service on Monday 20th Jan to raise a complaint about the principles of closing a road for the whole day and not starting work until midnight and advised it would be looked into and I would be called back but no-one has. I was also told the work would be completed on Tuesday 21st May and it is Wednesday 22nd May and no-one has returned. I am now on the phone again to customer service who said there is no record of my complaint on the system and it must be with the operator who I spoke to on Monday 20th Jan, and was told that operator would call me which is not acceptable as he has never called me back since Monday, so I asked to speak to someone in charge but they would not do this and said the operator from the call on Monday would call me back, but they had at least found the complaint reference number. I am now contacting the consumer council for water about this now. It is hugely unfair to penalise residents this way who rely on the road.

After an initial complaint and a negative review about my broken meter and water leak..
I must say SE Water has done a great job to turn it around. My meter was replace, communication was good, my bills was recalculated and now I will be given a refund for the overpayments made. Well done SE Water, more of this and you will be flying high soon!

Southeastwater login fails on every browser.
The repeated Southeastwater emails warnings about charges are futile as it is impossible to login on IPad on any browser.
Please make clear on the emails and website which PCs and tablet types and which browsers do work.
Before the next warning email, please also try that it does work.
Sincerely.

Reported a leak on Saturday 4th, interestingly the leak is before the meter yet with the leak the meter continues to go up. As it was causing damp and water ingress into neighbours properties I took the responsible step to turn it off at the stop-valve (leak being between the stop-valve and meter). Technician (their words) turned up 15:00 Thursday 9th and couldn’t find a leak, done their inspections. I asked if an inspection would include lifting the manhole cover to the stop-valve and meter and switching the water back on. I’m dumbfounded !!!!

What a terrible water company. Just interested in profiteering, paying out big bonuses to their directors and in my opinion they don’t deserve it.
If we could choose our water companies like our gas and electric, I’m sure they’d be left high and dry!!!
The cost water is shocking, yet it’s a basic human necessity and not all about profit. South East Water needs to remember this!

I have had a pipe into my business that burst 8 weeks ago- they cannot shut it off- the appalling customer service would be the worst i have experienced in my 25 year of business- they do not call back and they do not care

Many customers of this water company will receive constant marketing mail for expensive insurance products. They sent me repeated mail with 'time limited' deals which all had the same price point, despite being years apart.

I had to make a call to their customer service line, taking 10 minutes to finally get this to stop.

My water bill almost doubled from two years ago, I thought it must have been cost of living increase, but that exclusively wasn't to blame. A leaked meter has been contributing. It was inspected by South East Water. The meter was submerged under water. A team was sent to fix it. Clancy tar closed the works only for me to checkup and realised you still cant read the meter because of the water damage inside the meter. How can you still stand by your meter readings I wonder… why didn't you replace the meter to ensure its future? Instead you waste your resources and attract very bad experiences and thus bad reviews. Just do a proper job from the beginning and be a bit more accountable… small easy fixes, low hanging fruit pickings..!

This 5 star review is for customer service not for the leak in my street that took 5 days to fix , or the fact that their customer service review is not working! So I have to come here to review.

Had a solicitor ( selling property) ask silly questions I thought would be tough to answer but the customer service people were quick to help and send me responses I can forward to the solicitor.

Charlotte and Heather from customer service advisors were spot on and are an asset to their company.

Why have you not sacked All of the executives who were paid bonuses causing criminal damage to our water supplies ? You need to claw back those illegal bonuses, sack the guilty and give their jobs to responsible employees. There must be other staff members who have practical experience of how the supply and distribution systems work who would be pleased to be promoted to a position where they can use their abilities with skill and install and operate practical and workable networks. In my 88 years of living in Britain I have never known such irresponsibility. Please do put our charges up. We should not have to pay any increase until our water problems are sorted.my

Shockingly bad. Large leak coming from the meter box outside the house which was running into the garden. Spoke to several very pleasant but useless representatives who created a job number but were unable to tell me when it would be addressed, and kept telling me they had other priorities. Asked how long it would be but they refused to tell me. These seem to be gatekeepers who have no access to the engineers who will (eventually, hopefully) carry out the job. It's apparently not a priority for them to make repairs causing thousands of litres of water to be lost. I told them my front garden was filling up and the house was going to get damaged. He told me that he'd escalate it if my house was flooded. Ridiculous. If it wasn't for a kind neighbour helping me to divert the water onto the road, where there is now a stream running all the way down it, my house would indeed be flooded. South East water clearly have no interest in customers, conserving water or giving out any useful information whatsoever. This is ongoing. Goodness knows when it will actually be addressed.

Addendum: This was resolved on the following Monday. The meter had apparently broken and was replaced. I've upped it one star as a result, but SE Water really do need to deal with this sort of thing with a real sense of urgency, for conservation of water, for customer safety, to prevent damage to property. Also representatives need to stop being so toothless and be given the power to action change and to keep customers properly informed rather than being forced to fob them off. I actually felt quite sorry for them.

My recent july 15 bill total for the last 12 months was £190 which by my calculations is £16 per month so I pay on time twice a year no problem . Why then does it say on my bill monthly usage £24 . Recommended Monthly Direct Debit £45 with a polite suggestion that they can make it easier for me to pay my bills if I pay by direcr debit? Do they think we are stupid ?

Why have you suggested (on my current bill which I have just paid) a recommended monthly payment to be set up as a direct debit of £42.00 when my average monthly water usage is £22.70 ? That would mean that every month I would be paying to you an extra£20.00 .so in 6 months I would be in credit to the tune of £120.00. A totally ridiculous amount .
Not going to happen !!

I requested for water connection.
5 star service for sending quote!
5 star service for sending all documentation required for sorting out water connection..
1 star for lack of installers.. Informed give 20 working days to check what is required for connection incase, highway management. Well no Highway Management needed hence swift installation..

Paid 16th May and still today waiting on a date from the water connection installation team. The customer service keep sending emails to the installation team but do not have a contact number?! Nothing is happening!! They only have 2 installation companies - is that fair!! No choice but to wait for SouthEast Water only co. provide so do not care!!! MONOPOLY....

I reported a water leak on Sunday 7th July. We heard a noise similar to drawing water filling a cistern but couldn't make out where it was coming from as we can hear it all over the house. Having called a plumber (it was a Sunday), who confirmed that the leak is from the water meter itself - the fitting where the water meter is connected was only replaced in November 2023 by South East Water. The water meter is whizzing around, losing tens of litres of drinking water every minute, which is going on our bill. After a lot of chasing, I was told that an engineer had been assigned and they would keep me updated. On Friday 12th July, having heard nothing I wrote and requested an update. I was told that a contractor had been appointed to do the repair on the 7TH OF AUGUST! The noise all over the house is getting louder but I'm still receiving emails from SE Water telling me to save water, which is an absolute joke when they're happy to literally waste litres every day. I understand they have to prioritise leaks, but if they can't repair a leak within ONE MONTH, you really need to employ more staff and/or contractors. I do hope that the leak, which I've been told "will just disburse underground" doesn’t do any damage to our front gardens and driveways.
SE Water could improve by getting the customer service right and by repairing the leak.

There has been a water leak past my house for five weeks .. South East water told me it had not been reported. went on social media to find they misinformed me … many people had already notified them (i hate being lied to!).
Telephoned south east water again .. was informed work was held up as they had been trying to contact a neighbour. So I went to that neighbour who informed me they had NO CONTACT attempts from South East water.. and that they had been complaining too! Back to South East water to vociferously complain.
IN THE MEANTIME FOR OVER FIVE WEEKS THOUSANDS OF LITRES OF MAINS WATER HAS BEEN LITERALLY GOING DOWN THE DRAIN.
THIS DISGUSTING COMPANY WANTS TO INCREASE OUR CHARGES WHILE THROWING OUR WATER AWAY

How long does it take a water company to fix a leak reported a leak on Thursday and today three days later the leak is still there what a waste of water and in a couple of months we will on a hose pipe ban what a waste of time reporting this leak to this company.

South East Water contractors Clancy Group leaving the site dirty again. SEW simply dont care and Clancy have no pride in their work whatsoever. As a monopoly with no effective oversight from CCW or OFWAT there is no incentive to improve.

Lucy from SEW wants more data. Your CEO David Hinton tells me the clean was "overlooked". Odd because Clancy keep "overlooking" the clean up. There is another case this week, exactly the same. No gaslighting reply from SEW or Clancy yet.