OUR PROMISE TO YOU
www.nwl.co.uk
Our promise to you NW LR V16.indd 1 06/11/2017 14:32 OUR PROMISE TO YOU
At Northumbrian Water, customer service If you are entitled to compensation and is at the heart of everything we do. This are more than six weeks behind with leaflet details the standards of service paying your bill, we will use the payment we guarantee to provide to you. We must to reduce the amount you owe us, rather meet certain standards by law, but aim to than paying the money to you. improve on many of these and include others that we believe demonstrate PRIORITY SERVICES excellent customer service. FOR CUSTOMERS WHO We believe excellent customer service is NEED EXTRA CARE about getting it right first time and every time. Please get in touch with us if you are We have a computerised register which unhappy about any part of our service so allows us to provide special services for that we can deal with your concerns. our customers who need extra care. For example, if you need a continuous supply We will pay you compensation of at least of water because of a medical condition, £20 if we fail to meet a service standard. we can provide you with bottled water if The exact amounts are set out in this there is an interruption to your water supply. booklet and payments will be made We also provide services such as large print automatically, unless we state that they bills and operate a password scheme for must be claimed. Some claims need to your peace of mind. These services are free be made in writing, and we say this in the and totally confidential. sections where this applies. You can write to us to claim a further £20 within three You can register with our Customer Centre; months of our failure, if we fail to make an we have specially trained advisors who can automatic payment. visit you at home to discuss your needs. These visits are totally confidential and we can usually arrange to visit you within 48 hours of your request.
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Our promise to you NW LR V16.indd 2 06/11/2017 14:32 HOW TO CONTACT US If English is not your first language we The Consumer Council for Water offer a free telephone translation service. represents customers’ interests and By telephone: Let us know which language you require offers independant advice. It can be 0345 733 5566* for billing and account and we will arrange for an interpreter to contacted at: join the call to assist. enquiries. Monday to Friday from 8.00am Consumer Council for Water until 8.00pm and Saturday from 8.00am c/o 1st Floor until 1.00pm. Deaf and hard of hearing customers can contact us using Text Relay – just prefix Victoria Square House any of our listed numbers with 18001 Birmingham 0345 717 1100* for general enquiries B2 4AJ about water and sewerage services. and a Text Relay operator will join the call. Monday to Friday, from 8.00am until Alternatively you can let us know the name 8.00pm, and Saturday from 9.00am of someone you trust who has agreed to Tel: 0300 034 2222 until 1.00pm. talk to us on your behalf. Website: www.ccwater.org.uk This number is also available 24 hours Opening hours: Monday to Friday, for emergencies. Contact us by email through our website 8.30am until 5.00pm www.nwl.co.uk. 0800 393 084 - Leakline. In writing: DISCLOSURE OF 0800 328 7648 - Floodline. Northumbrian Water INFORMATION PO Box 200 0845 155 0236 - for leisure enquiries Durham When you contact us, all the information (9.00am until 5.00pm, Monday to Friday). DH1 9WG you give to us is stored electronically and is kept confidential unless we are required *Calls may be monitored and recorded Follow us on Twitter @nwater_care to disclose it by law or to comply with an in order to improve service quality and instruction of a regulator. Your information employee training. will only be available to relevant employees and our agents.
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Our promise to you NW LR V16.indd 3 06/11/2017 14:32 PAYING YOUR BILL If we have issued a County Court claim GETTING IN TOUCH and we have already received a payment If you contact us by phone, in writing or from you, we will withdraw the claim We take your comments very seriously by email to tell us you feel your bill is not immediately and pay you £100. This and we will be in touch, as we prefer to correct, we will reply within ten working payment must be claimed in writing. talk to you to try and resolve any concerns days of the date we receive your enquiry. as soon as possible. If we can’t contact you If we don’t do this, we will automatically We will automatically pay you £150 if we by telephone, we will send our response in pay you £20. either incorrectly obtain a County Court a letter or an email. judgment against you or incorrectly If you write and ask us to change the way register a default against you with a credit We always aim to deal with your complaint you pay your bill and we cannot do this, reference agency. We will also arrange for as quickly as possible and promise to we will reply within five working days of the judgment to be set aside and/or the respond within a maximum of 10 working the date we receive your letter. If we don’t default to be removed from your credit days from the date we receive it. If your do this, then we will automatically pay file with any credit reference agency that complaint is more complex, we will keep you £20. we have registered the information with. you informed as we investigate in more If we incorrectly obtain a County Court detail. If we fail to meet this standard we We will pay you £50 if we incorrectly issue judgment against you and also incorrectly promise to automatically pay you £50. a County Court claim against you when register a default against you with a credit the Department for Work and Pensions, a reference agency, only one payment Full details of how we deal with customer debt advice agency, Social Services, or will apply. complaints can be found in our Code of Consumer Council for Water has asked of Practice on complaints Getting us not to. We will also withdraw the claim. answers. You can download a copy from This payment must be claimed in writing. our website at www.nwl.co.uk or you can request a copy by calling 0345 717 1100.
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Our promise to you NW LR V16.indd 4 06/11/2017 14:32 MAKING YOUR WATER METER APPOINTMENTS In any 12 month period (April to March), In emergency situations, such as flooding we will provide you with at least one bill at your premises or a disruption to your based on an actual meter reading. If we water or waste water services, we will do not do this we will pay you £20. Please respond as quickly as possible, as an note this standard will only apply if we agreed appointment may not be the best have access to read your meter. way to help you and could delay how quickly we can resolve the problem. Under our free meter installation policy, we will fit your meter within 90 days of If we need to make an appointment receiving your application. If we fail to do with you, we will arrange either this and the delay is our fault, you will pay morning (7.00am until 1.00pm) or as if you were metered from the 91st day. afternoon (12.00noon until 6.00pm), or This means you will not have to pay more for a two-hour time band if you ask for as a result of our delay. this. If we fail to do this, we will automatically pay you £30. If you have a water meter and tell us your water supply is discoloured because of If we have made an appointment to visit Automatic payments on the above our work, we may ask you to run the water you, we will give you at least 24 hours standards will be made within ten working until it clears. If we do, we will credit your notice if we need to change the days of our failure to keep the standard. account with the amount equivalent to arrangements. If we do not keep an You can write to us to claim a further £20 five cubic metres (5,000 litres or appointment or do not give you at least within three months of our failure, if we fail 1,100 gallons). This is equivalent to 24 hours notice of a change, we will to make a payment on time. leaving your tap running for one hour. automatically pay you £30.
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Our promise to you NW LR V16.indd 5 06/11/2017 14:32 LEAKAGE website at www.nwl.co.uk or to request a Occasionally we may have to ask you to copy, please call 0345 717 1100. boil water because the quality is lower than You are responsible for any leak on your the required standard or we are not able to section of pipework. If you have a leak on WATER QUALITY guarantee that standards will be maintained. your external pipework, we will issue a In these cases, we will work very quickly to Waste Water Notice. This is a legal notice We will arrange to visit your property within bring the quality of water back up to its under the Water Industry Act 1991 and four hours of your call, or later as agreed normal high standards and then withdraw it gives you information about your legal with you, if you telephone us to report a the notice. This work will usually take up to requirement to fix the leak, including serious water quality concern that appears 48 hours however if it takes 72 hours or more timescales. As long as the leak is repaired to be causing an illness in your household. we will consider paying you £20. within the timescale, we will give you a full We will automatically pay you £30 if we do allowance for the lost water recorded by not arrive within these agreed timescales. Occasionally water supplies may be your water meter. discoloured. Although this is harmless, If we take a sample as part of our it can sometimes stain clothes in washing If you don’t fix the problems in the time investigation, we will provide details of machines. We appreciate this may cause allowed, we can carry out the works the analysis within ten working days and you problems, should you be using and pass the costs on to you (or to your help you compare it to the relevant appliances at the time. If it does and you landlord if you live in a rented property). quality standards. let us know, we will visit you and provide An allowance will not be granted if you you with a special detergent to help clean were aware of the leak and didn’t repair it Please telephone us on 0345 717 1100 your laundry. If the detergent does not work, or if the leak was due to your negligence. if you have a serious water concern, so you may claim a payment to replace the Leakage allowances are only granted to we can deal with your concern immediately. damaged items. metered domestic properties. If you contact us by email, please note our email inbox is not monitored on a 24 hour basis. Full details of our policy and the condi- tions that apply can be found in our Code of Practice on leakage Dealing with leaks. You can download a copy from our
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Our promise to you NW LR V16.indd 6 06/11/2017 14:32 BLOCKED ACCESS • The obstruction is removed immediately WATER FLOODING on request by a Northumbrian Water employee or contractor who is on site Sometimes we may need to carry out We will visit you to offer help and advice if at the time. work in the road or footpath outside your you contact us because the main living area home, and this may restrict access to your of your property is flooded due to a problem Please note – if you wish to claim, you must property. While this is a necessary aspect of with one of our water mains. do so within three months of the date of what we do, it may cause you inconvenience. the incident. As well as offering a clean-up service to For domestic customers, if our planned domestic customers, we will pay you an non-emergency work blocks pedestrian or WATER PRESSURE amount equal to your full water service vehicle access to your home, we will always charge for the year, or pay you £100, try to let you know before it happens. If we If we are aware that the pressure at the whichever is more (up to a maximum of have not, you may claim £20 from us. boundary of your property has fallen below £1,000). This payment must be claimed and seven metres static head for more than one will be made regardless of whether or not This does not apply if: hour (sufficient to fill a ten litre bucket in one you are covered by insurance. • We have previously notified you of the minute), and it happens twice within a 28 day date we intend to carry out the works period, we will pay you £25. This payment is You should always contact your household • The works are unplanned, such as for made automatically as long as we know you insurer immediately if you do experience repairing burst water mains, where we are affected. If you suspect you fall into this flooding of this nature. have to respond quickly and do not category, please contact us by telephone, have the opportunity to notify you email or in writing and we will investigate Further information about our in advance. your claim. We will only make one payment responsibilities can be found in Section 209 • Your property is located within the area against this service standard during any of The Water Industry Act (1991). of a temporary road closure which has financial year (April – March). been arranged with the permission of the local Highways Authority to allow works to go ahead.
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Our promise to you NW LR V16.indd 7 06/11/2017 14:32 SEWER FLOODING To make sure that customers who suffer externally, the payment for internal flooding external flooding are treated fairly, we will will apply. We will automatically make these Internal flooding consider the effect that the flooding has had payments, whether or not you are covered Please contact us on 0800 328 7648 on their property. If your property has been by insurance except in the following immediately if the inside of your property is affected by one or more of the following circumstances: flooded from one of our sewers. You should circumstances, a payment will be made: • If the flooding is caused by you. also advise your insurer, who will be able • Flood water has entered an outbuilding • If the flooding is caused by exceptional to provide advice about cleaning up. We such as a detached garage or a shed. rainfall events.* will visit you within four hours, although • Flood water has caused damage to • If it is impractical for us to determine exceptional weather leading to widespread permanent structures such as patios or that you are affected – in which case you flooding may mean this is not always decking. must make a claim within three months possible. In recognition of the distress and • The flooding has restricted access to of the flooding event. inconvenience experienced, if the inside your property. • If our investigations confirm that the of your property is flooded from one of our • The area affected by the flood water is flooding was as a result of third party sewers, we will pay you an amount equal to more than 2 metres by 2 metres (6 feet issues e.g. surface water running over your full sewerage charge for the year or 6 inches by 6 feet 6 inches). land, river inundation, private drainage £150, whichever is more (up to a or highway drainage. maximum of £1,000) for each flooding event We will pay you an amount equal to 50% that happens providing you inform us within of your sewerage charge for the year or *If your property is on a regulatory three months of it happening. pay you £75, whichever is more (up to a internal flooding register at the time of the maximum of £500) for each flooding event flooding event, we will make payments External flooding that happens providing you inform us within even if your property has flooded in Please contact us immediately if the outside three months of it happening. exceptional weather conditions. of your property is flooded from one of our sewers. You should also advise your insurer, We will pay you an additional £20 (£50 if who will be able to provide advice about you are a business customer), if we do not cleaning up. Wherever possible we will also make these payments within 20 working help you to clean up. days of being notified of the flooding event. If your property is flooded both internally and
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Our promise to you NW LR V16.indd 8 06/11/2017 14:32 Emergency Fund We will turn the water back on at the We will automatically pay you £20 if you For customers who are experiencing time we have said, if not before. are a domestic customer (£50 if you are hardship and are unable to obtain household a business customer affected by the insurance, we have a fund in place to We will automatically pay you £20 if you interruption) if we do not turn your water contribute towards damaged house contents. are a domestic customer (£50 if you are back on within these times. Each application is considered carefully a business customer affected by the and we do reserve the right to carry out interruption) if we do not provide the notice If your water is off for longer than the times investigations to assess the validity of your set out above or do not turn your water mentioned, we will pay you an extra £10 application. A payment is also dependent on back on within the time we say. (£25 if you are a business customer the flooding being caused by our sewerage affected by the interruption) for any further network. For more information telephone us During emergency work, such as a burst complete periods of 24 hours that your on 0345 717 1100. water main or another emergency, we will water is off. You should receive these not be able to warn you that your water will payments automatically and if you do not KEEPING YOUR be off. We will do our best to let you know it may be because we did not know you WATER FLOWING what is happening and if necessary, we will were affected. If you wish to make a claim, provide an alternative water supply. you should do this within three months of the incident. During planned maintenance work, we In most emergencies we will turn your water may sometimes need to turn off your water back on within 12 hours unless doing this If we are aware of any interruption to your supply. If we turn off the water supply to your would cause even greater inconvenience, water supply and we do not make a property for between one and four hours, we for example, loud noise from repairs carried payment within 20 working days, we will will let you know in writing at least out at night. If the loss of water supply was automatically pay you an additional £20 12 hours beforehand. caused by a leak or burst on one of our (£50 if you are a business customer). major water mains it could take up to If we turn off the water supply to your 24 hours to restore your supply. If in any 12 month period (April to March) property for more than four hours, we will you experience unplanned interruptions let you know in writing at least 48 hours totalling more than 18 hours which do not beforehand. We will also let you know individually qualify for a payment as stated when we plan to turn it back on again. above, we will automatically pay you £20.
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Our promise to you NW LR V16.indd 9 06/11/2017 14:32 EMERGENCY DROUGHT FINDING OUT MORE To order any Code of RESTRICTIONS Practice leaflet in Braille, This leaflet forms part of our Code of We will automatically pay you £20 (£50 for Practice for domestic customers, which large print or CD, please business customers) for each day or part provides customers with essential call 0345 717 1100. day that your water supply is interrupted information about our company. Our Code of Practice is approved by Ofwat. or cut off because of emergency drought We also offer information leaflets on restrictions unless Ofwat (our regulator) water efficiency in the home and garden, Other leaflets within our Code of Practice believes it could not be avoided. sewer flooding and protecting are available: the environment. We will only make one payment for each day • Dealing with leaks (our Code of your water supply is off. The most we will Practice on leakage, guidance on pipe pay in any one year is the average water bill ownership and our repair policy). from the year before for homes, and the • Getting answers (our Code of Practice actual water bill from the year before for on complaints). businesses. If your business did not pay • Managing debt (our Code of Practice water charges during the year before, the on debt). most we will pay is £500. • Priority Services - can we help you? • Your water meter (a guide for Properties that are used for both homes domestic customers). and businesses will be treated as homes • Getting water to your home. for these standards. • Our sewerage services.
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Our promise to you NW LR V16.indd 10 06/11/2017 14:32 IN ALL OUR DEALINGS WITH YOU, WE PROMISE…
We will do everything we can to put things right quickly and without a fuss if our service is below standard, or our actions have caused unreasonable disruption or inconvenience.
Occasionally there are circumstances beyond our control, such as severe weather conditions or the actions of someone outside our organisation,which may prevent us from providing our normal high standard of service. In these circumstances, the guarantees set out in this leaflet will not apply, although we do promise to do our best to maintain normal services or to reduce the inconvenience to you.
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Our promise to you NW LR V16.indd 11 06/11/2017 14:32 Northumbrian Water Abbey Road Pity Me Co Durham DH1 5FJ
www.nwl.co.uk
October 2017
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Our promise to you NW LR V16.indd 12 06/11/2017 14:32