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When the water thingy by Nunhead Cemetery failed, we were without water for several days and had to use emergency street supplies. Thames Water wrote to us and informed us that we would be compensated and duly were. They were very good about it so no reason to think they won't be in this case.

Gaaaaaaaah. How much do I hate Thames Water? This was an absolute effing disgrace on Saturday. Throughout the day they put different voice messages on their phone line (an 0845 number it's worth pointing out so it cost money to call rather than an 0800 number) saying the water would be on by 5, by 8, by 11. I didn't go out and buy bottled water because they kept saying it'd be on in a few hours.

At 10pm I eventually spoke to a human being called Tanya (of course she wouldn't give me her surname even though I pay her wages). She said the repair had been effected, pipe had to be disinfected then water would be back on an hour or two after that. She was trying to suggest it'd be on within two hours but when I asked the obvious question, how long will it take to disinfect pipe?, she couldn't say. I asked why I'd been lied to all day about when the water would be back on, she said they weren't lying just passing on what the engineers told them. So their engineers must be total fickwits as they seemed to have no idea how long the job would take. I asked why they didn't put a message on saying 'we've no idea when this is going to get fixed, best go buy some water'. She didn't really have an answer to that. I pointed out I had a baby in the house who needed water to drink, to be washed in and to flush away the poo she decided to do despite not having done one for the previous 4 days. Tanya said if she'd had a baby in the house she'd have gone out to buy water as back up. So in one swoop she suggested I am an inept parent and that she woulndn't have believed the messages being put out by her own firm. I asked whether they were going to give out bottles of water or tankers or anything and she said that if they put out water it'd just be gone within 10 minutes. I pointed out this is because WE NEED WATER. I eventually managed to elicit a very qualified promise that we'd have water by Sunday morning, which we did but not before 8am. And we'll get a ?20 rebate on our bill for the inconvenience.

It's not the inconvenience I mind so much, they can't legislate for a burst pipe, it's the misinformation that followed. This is the third time in less than 2 years in my current house that we've been without water.

I hate thames water. I hope everyone that works there catches gonorrhea and dies.

Yes, the decision not to distribute water was puzzling. And even though it was only a for a day the lack of reliable information didn?t help. I expected some sort of message on the Thames Water web site, but nothing there.


Did make me think what a nightmare it must be not to have a constant supply of clean water. As they say, ?you never miss your water etc etc..?


In case anyone is feeling the same, this might be handy. Maybe a good place for the ?20 rebate.


http://www.wateraid.org/uk/

Jamma Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

I hope everyone that works there catches gonorrhea and dies.


What do you know about TW's 'team building days' that we don't Jamma?


Surely though a course of antibiotics would do the trick, unless you didn't have the water to wash them down.

I think you can fix air locks simply by blowing up your tap (ie huffing and puffing; not the semtex method). It's worked for me before - but perhaps that's just for small air locks, and these are on a more industrial scale? Anyway, might be worth a go before you shell out for a plumber.
You can sometimes fix an airlock in a domestic system by blocking the water flowing out of some of the taps in your house, which ups the pressure in the system and can blow through the airlock. I've seen someone do it by using a garden hose connector and sealing the hose with a clip to block off the kitchen tap, then turn it on full blast (cold). However, if the problem tap is upstairs, you might need to block off more than one tap. Also, if the pressure blows off the blocking connector - could get a bit wet! May be worth a try if you have suitable kit around.

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