Southern Water Reviews 

I know that most of the time people only add reviews for bad service, and I am unfortunately one of them.
In a nutshell, selling a property and trying to close the water account using my correspondence address has been a nightmare. As with the other reviews, I have had to make countless calls and each time have to try to unpick different information given by the previous customer services rep. Each call has lasted approximately 40 minutes. All reps were polite however, but leave you with no confidence in that they have done what is promised.
Isn't it a shame that we get no choice of which company we can use (as Southern Water would NOT be in the running).

In this case I will share my concerns of unlawful financial extortion carried out over a continuous period of five years, and my household’s prolonged exposure to Southern Water Ltd’s misconduct - including data falsification, harassment, defamation, and systematic intimidation.

As a direct result of Southern Water’s actions, my family and I suffered severe material and psychological harm, long-term financial depletion, and significant emotional distress, leading to lasting damage to our wellbeing and stability.

Southern Water’s conduct resulted in the violation of our fundamental right to quiet enjoyment, a right that should protect every individual from interference, intimidation, and undue distress in their home life.

When the company’s misconduct was finally exposed, instead of acknowledging responsibility and rectifying their wrongdoing, Southern Water Ltd attempted to shift the blame onto me, the victim of their unlawful actions. This response demonstrates a conscious effort to evade accountability, further compounding the harm already caused and reflecting a troubling lack of integrity and transparency within the organisation.This is documented.

Southern Water Ltd has confirmed in writing that they (it) applied unsolicited third-party data to my household’s assessed water use account, under my name, without my informed consent and without providing any prior notification. The data in question was obtained from a previous tenant or owner -a complete stranger to my household - and contained inaccurate information regarding the number of bedrooms at the property.

As the property is unmetered and charged based on assessed use , this incorrect bedroom count directly affected the water usage calculation, leading to a grossly inflated and inaccurate billing rate. Southern Water applied this erroneous data 5 (five) months after we had moved in, despite having already received a service declaration from me on the first (move-in) day of occupancy in early 2020, which accurately reflected the property's structure and characteristics.

Southern Water disregarded my official declaration, and instead relied on unsolicited and incorrect third-party data — without ever informing my household of the change. This resulted in:

Over five years of overcharging,

Additional emotional distress,

Defamation and strategic credit loss and negative implications due to our wrongful referral to a debt recovery agency.

Harassment,

Southern Water’s regulatory and procedural breaches caused an unjustified billing increase, which subsequently triggered referral of our account to a debt recovery firm — Orbit Services (orbitservices.co.uk). This third party repeatedly harassed my household with payment demands, all stemming from Southern Water’s own mishandling of our account.

When we formally challenged Southern Water about this misconduct:

At Stage 1 of the complaint, they denied all wrongdoing, falsely claiming that they had acted appropriately and that we were at fault.

They explicitly denied referring us to any debt collection agency.

However, when presented with documented evidence, Southern Water admitted in writing that they had indeed referred our account to Orbit Services.

Despite this admission, they swiftly closed the complaint at Stage 2, marking it as “exhausted” without appropriately addressing the core issues or acknowledging their procedural failures.

This sequence of events demonstrates a concerning pattern of denial, deflection, and administrative avoidance. Southern Water's reliance on incorrect, unsolicited third-party data — despite holding accurate information from the actual occupant — led to systemic overcharging, reputational harm, and prolonged emotional and financial distress to my household.

Their handling of the matter, their lies , their blame shifting on innocent,their attempt to deny the facts and then eagerly close the complaint process after being presented with evidence, reflects a lack of accountability, transparency, and integrity.

I wish I didn’t have to share this, but it’s a real story .

Useless company racist behaviour and no consideration or empathy with a person with a disability yet they treat customers like we are cash cows and this company lets shit and all sorts into our rivers and seas without a care in the world this company is a joke how come ofwat haven't taken the licence away is beyond me

OMG what an awful and terrible service from Southern Water!!! I cannot believe how difficult it is to get hold of a customer service rep with this company. Each time I have called them the average wait time has been 40+ minutes. I suspect a leak because the water meter in the street is still spinning when all the water is turned off in the property. Their call centre is in Cape Town South Africa. I have phoned six times last week and twice this week - to get the ‘run around’ is an understatement. They say they will get some to call me back to arrange a visit which doesn’t happen. Can’t get any answers/information updates - a total waste of time. My wife and I are both 70 years old - I hope all the shareholders and CEO of the awful Company read this and all the other negative comments on this site!!!

HANGING ON THE PHONE FOR 20 MINUTES, WHEN I GET THROUGH THEY SAY WE CANT HEAR YOU, THEN CUT YOU OFF.
pathetic service
also trying to DOUBLE the water charges.
well you can try

An insight behind it all ,,, Ofgem, the energy regulator, spent almost £4m on its London office last year despite having a policy permitting staff to work from home most workdays.

The government quango pays an annual rent of £1.9m for its Canary Wharf office and another £1.8m for services such as heating, lighting and security. It also has bases in Glasgow and Cardiff.

But figures released by Ofgem show that in the past financial year, only 204 of the organisation’s 1,226 full-time staff made it into the office on an average day.

I am a vulnerable OAP and I pay my bill to Southern Water once I have received the paper bill !
I suffer from anxiety issues which Southern Water know about !!
Southern Water have sent me another paper bill although I paid my outstanding bill over 10 days ago !! Stating that my bill has NOT been paid yet......BUT IT WAS PAID OVER 10 DAYS AGO !!!
YOU THEN THREATEN ME IN THE LETTER THAT 'IHAVE TO MAKE A PAYMENT TO PREVENT ANY FURTHER ACTION BEING TAKEN'........WHY WHY WHY SEND THIS WHEN YOU KNOW FULL WELL THAT I AM A VULNERABLE OAP WHOM SUFFERS FROM ANXIETY ISSUES AND ATTACKS !!!???
SOUTHERN WATER ARE GUILTY OF COMMITTING THE SAME OFFENCE YET AGAIN......I FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT NOTHING IS LOGGED UNDER CUSTOMERS' ACCOUNTS !!!
WHY DO THAT SOUTHERN WATER ????
......TOTALLY SHAMBOLIC !!!

My complaint STILL isn’t resolved and the customer service on this issue has been appalling!! Not the agents, not the engineer but the company. How hard is it to put us on a flat rate as the water ombudsman and engineer instructed? We are on a shared supply and cannot be metered as both the engineer and ombudsman told you. Yet, you want £120 a month for a 2 bed semi with no garden or bath. Disgusting! You’ve also incorrectly charged us for 6 years!! This whole experience has been beyond stressful and very, very emotionally exhausting. But that’s of no concern to you. Appalling.

Bills up by over 45%, regularly reprimanded for water pollution and poor investment, but guess what, CEO Mr. Gosden doubled his salary to £1.4million a year.
IS THIS RIGHT AND FAIR?

Shame you can't give a minus rating. Just received my bill, it's gone up £97 since the last bill and I've used 2 meters less than the last bill. Called them and got a Karen who thinks she owns the company telling me I've used more than the last bill, I explained to her that I downloaded the bill and it shows I used less water this time round, she then told me they have raised everyone's by bill's 50% as they had not raised them for 5 years, when asked if the 50% was backdated she said yes. Absolute joke of a company, overpaid management sit back knowing we can't go to another supplier and arrogant self entitled staff. I've always paid my bills when they come but this time they can chase me for it.

Portsmouth water have decided to start billing my property by water meter and not rateable charge.
There has been a meter in our property but not in service.
But as of September Portsmouth water have said they will start billing me by water meter And told me the start reading would be 275 and credited my account from rateable to meter

I contacted southern water to tell them what Portsmouth water are doing and said I needed a refund to the account and start to charge by meter
Told me credit will follow on next bill.
But after about 3 different contact calls to southern water they have just sent me a bill for nearly a £1000.00 because they have charged the whole of the reading 275.
So I need to contact them again.
But how many people may not check and could end up being ripped off.

I don’t write negative/bad reviews but I am so angry and appalled by the attitudes & workmanship of this company.
Out of the blue with no forewarning or information had our meter changed today outside our house. This job was completed so quickly and badly it resulted in us having no water for the remainder of the day, an emergency engineer coming out and he then having to request emergency plumbers.
These plumbers who were very nice and helpful took over 2 hours to fix the issue. The initial contractors had caused dirt and grit to get into our system which broke a a valve within our boiler and part of sink/tap system in the kitchen. The meter was also broken and they hadn’t turned our water back on fully.
Despite now having clean and running water again, we now have to have the front of our house dug up to further repair the damage the initial two contractors have caused.

I am astounded at how professionally incompetent this company is their lack of morals and values on the community and people it serves.
I dread to think how they would leave a person with no sight or a disabled person with no/dirty water.

And to make it worse, they are subcontracting their work & financially incentivising the workman to fit water meters - that would explain why my water bill has TRIPLED!!
Southern Water is who we should all be paying attention to and calling out on their actions and processes especially all the while they take are money, charge us extortionate fees and pollute our seas and rivers.

My water bill has increased from £70 a month to £126. I live on my own. I have been on the phone for nearly 2 hours today and have been met with incompetent, rude customer service reps who have not been able to explain it, talked over me and twice said they would phone back but haven’t. It takes over half an hour to get through and then nothing is resolved. It’s utterly exasperating. I can’t shop around as there are no other water companies. I cannot afford this ludicrous bill and don’t understand why they don’t charge based on actual usage as I have a meter. Frustrated.

Increasing prices, paying execs huge salaries and bonuses even when dumping waste water is still a problem. Paying the CEO a bonus during a government ban due to a serious incident involving waster water. They describe the bonus as a 2 year incentive and somehow this is okay to get around the ban? This is just totally unethical. Also saying the share holders are paying for the bonus and not the customers, and how do the share holders make their money back? From increasing prices to customers. They think their customers are stupid. Water companies have a monopoly over the supply and are acting like it. NATIONALISE THE WATER COMPANIES NOW. KICK THESE GREEDY EXECS OUT

If I could give this zero I would. This company has hands down the worst customer service.

They have billed me a random bill that is not for me and when calling and waiting 30 mins to get through the agent had no idea what the answer was and clearly knew nothing. They promised me an email within 48 hours and I did not receive one. I have sent them numerous complaint emails and has received nothing back over a week later. Disgusting service.

If I do not receive a response I will be taking matters further.

I stated two occupiers on their registration form and they issued me with a single occupier assessed bill.

As an honest person I called them up to explain they made an error and under billed my account. I thought this would be a simple and painless process but no…the first agent I spoke with wasn’t a native English speaker and couldn’t grasp what I was saying. I could barely understand what she was saying half the time.

I called them up again in the hope of speaking to someone else - yet another non native speaker who just about understood what I was calling about. After placing me on hold for around 20 minutes, she’s said they’d reissue a new bill. I asked her how much the difference would be and she went totally blank, lots of ‘ermming’ and uncertainty- it was as though I’d asked her to explain some complicated mathematical problem, and not a simple difference between two bills.

I also used their web chat function - again a non native speaker who was unable to understand my basic request.

Southern Water - your customer service and online interface is terrible. You need to improve both asap.

It’s a pity we don’t have choice when it comes to water companies.

Southern Water’s customer service is unacceptable and professionally inadequate.

Every contact feels like a scramble handled by staff who lack proper training and basic competence. Background noise and people singing during calls are common, which is wholly inappropriate for a utility provider. More alarmingly, callers are routinely placed on mute rather than put on official hold - often for up to an hour in dead silence. This appears deliberate: using mute instead of hold prevents the system from recording wait times, so customers are left waiting without oversight. On several occasions I was muted for over 30 minutes and the agent then simply disconnected the call.

When agents do speak, they rarely have the knowledge needed to resolve issues. Questions are treated as if they are being heard for the first time, cases remain open across multiple contacts, and nothing is resolved in a timely or professional manner. The verification process is inefficient and repetitive - extensive checks take place before connection, then are repeated in full by the agent, wasting customers’ time.

I have recordings of every call and will be escalating this matter to the ombudsman. Southern Water’s approach to customer service shows a lack of accountability, poor training, and disregard for customers. This standard of service is unacceptable.

Today (at 13:46) I called your helpline at 0330 303 0277 regarding my water bill. Unfortunately, the experience was extremely unprofessional and unacceptable.
• The representative I spoke with for 39 minutes refused to provide me with my water bill details.
• Instead, he insisted on taking my card details, which I did not provide.
• During the call, he spoke in a mocking and disrespectful manner, even making insulting remarks.
• When I requested to be connected to a manager to resolve the issue, he refused.

This behavior is highly unprofessional and unacceptable for a company dealing with customers’ essential services. I kindly request that you investigate this matter urgently, take disciplinary action against the employee involved, and provide me with a clear resolution regarding my water account.

If I do not receive a proper response, I will escalate this complaint to the relevant regulatory authorities.

I look forward to your urgent reply.

Worst company, shocking telephone staff, and wasted 25 minutes of my life waiting for them to answer phone.
Don't care about people just want money

Amazing response to a water leak
At 7am I On as alerted by a neighbour that water was running down the wall in the communal hallway underneath my flat.
Long story short my plumber found leak to be at point where pipe goes into meter.
My husband is "priority" as he is vulnerable and as we had no water (turned off) an assessor came out in just over 2 hours (I did chase it up!) and then an engineer came within the hour from assessor leaving and fitted a new meter. The chap was lovely and did a great job.
No complaint whatsoever !thank you