Yes my friend has already recieved a phone call from Thames Wters "debt" collection pals, while TW itself refuses to correspond further with him. Their decision is law, it wuold seem, in their eyes, not to be discused by us mere mortals who keep their bonuses flowing. Not that Ofwat gives a monkeys, he says. No doiubt it meets TW officials more oftne than consumers

Well at least Anglian Water run a web board full of justified rudery about themselves. Do Thames Water? Or Ofwat, the consumer's enemy. Not that I've seen. Wonder why not. Can anyone guess???

Has anyone tried to get Ofwat to DO anything? It claims to protect consumers, but on the evidence of a friend of mine it doesn't give a damn or do a damn thing. He was on about the "assessed charge" for water, whihc you cn have if you can't be fitted with a meter. His water supplier, Thames Water, had never told him there was such a charge, which would have cut his bills in half. When he complained to Ofwat they told him they didn't want consumers informed about this charge!!! Yes, truly. Seems Ofwat is perfectly happy to let you be screwed. Who runs this shambles? Who pays them? (Presumably not the water monopolies, but that's only my presumption) Why?

here we go

All utility companies are shambolic (and some are blatantly dishonest), but in my experience British Gas (even if it's honest) used to come very near the top of the shambles list. That's why I quit it years ago.

What a pretty leaflet on unmetered charges Thames has. Too bad that if they don't tell you it exists, you 'll never know, so you'll never apply for it. As for Ofwat, according to a rival forum that I've looked at on moneysaving expert.com----http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=27359905#post27359905---Ofwat actually APPROVE of Thsames Waters' secrecy, for some crazy reason of their own

If your flat just cannot be fitted with a meter you're entitled to be billed what's called an assessed charge--often much less than the old charge based on ratable value that you're paying now. But if you live in London, don't expect Thames Water to proclaim this cheaper charge from the housetops--they tell you once yuo've askd for a meter and they've confirmed one can be fitted. A freind of mine knew he couldn't have one, , so he never asked for one. So he didn't find out for years, and went on paying far too much. I'm told Camden's Lib Dems are kicking up a stink about the shortage of information from Thames Water. Can anyuone tell us more about this issue?

Has anyone got a good word to say for any of the umpteen varieties of phonecard issued by Lycatel? The hidden charges--connection charge, disconnection charge and above all the 15 or 20 pence a day "maintenance" charge--seem to me to make nonsense of any claim to low per-minute rates. A rotten buy (even if it had always worked), in my experience of one of these cards. Which I shall not repeat. And can anyone recommend a good card for international use that does not have daily maintenance charges