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Rise in water company complaints Rise in water company complaints
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The water watchdog in England and Wales has found a 30% rise in complaints for water companies from their customers.The water watchdog in England and Wales has found a 30% rise in complaints for water companies from their customers.
More than 240,000 complaints were made during the financial year of 2006/07 - an increase of 30% compared with the previous year.More than 240,000 complaints were made during the financial year of 2006/07 - an increase of 30% compared with the previous year.
The Consumer Council for Water said most came from customers of three firms - Thames Water, United Utilities and Severn Trent.The Consumer Council for Water said most came from customers of three firms - Thames Water, United Utilities and Severn Trent.
Almost half of the complaints were about bills and charges.Almost half of the complaints were about bills and charges.
Five companies - South East, Southern, Mid Kent, Sutton and East Surrey and Hartlepool reported more than 100% increase in customer complaints in the report, called Complaint Handling in the Water Industry in England and Wales 2006/07.Five companies - South East, Southern, Mid Kent, Sutton and East Surrey and Hartlepool reported more than 100% increase in customer complaints in the report, called Complaint Handling in the Water Industry in England and Wales 2006/07.
Yve Buckland, of the Consumer Council for Water, said: "Water customers are becoming increasingly demanding of their companies. The Consumer Council for Water said water customers were becoming "increasingly demanding of their companies" and also wanted complaints correctly dealt with "first time".
"They see water companies making good profits and expect service, if not improving, then at the very least delivered to a good, consistent and reliable standard. They also want complaints dealt with right first time. Billing problems
"We will be pushing water companies to improve these figures and provide a much better level of customer service, comparable with the best in other service sectors." Council chief executive Tony Smith told the BBC customers have already had "pretty high price increases".
He said: "They see companies making good profits and they expect to see the service go with that.
"It's mainly to do with the poor performance of three or four companies, particularly on billing and putting new billing systems in place."
Mr Smith added that the complaints were only a small proportion of the "millions" of customers the water companies served.
"There are some very good performers in there, it's not to say the industry as a whole is failing.
"But the problem is, particularly with companies who have introduced new systems for working out the bills for customers and sending those bills out, including Severn Trent, South East Water and Southern, their complaints are actually up by several times over the previous year and they stand out as the poor performers."
Mr Smith also said the "perpetuating problem" was that customers received bills they did not understand or that were wrong, attempted to call to resolve the issue but found call centres blocked because of the high volume of people contacting the company.