Forum Topic

Water carry on!

Did anyone have a visit from a lady asking to test the water for bacteria yesterday? She said she was from Thames Water, woke me from my bed, OK it was 9am but I am retired!Anyway in she came carrying a crate containing bottles of water and another carrycase, which may have obtainef a testing kit. We have a small hose attached to the tap to prevent water splashing everywhere, so she tried to remove this. It wouldn't budge, I didn't want her to remove it anyway. The  she said that she could only test the water straight from the tap so she apologised and went to ring the neighbours bell.I was wondering what all this was about, it never happened before. Should we be concerned at the quality of the water in this area? So what would happen if the level of bacteria in our water supply was too high?

Jean F Fernandez ● 4275d9 Comments

Have you checked that nothing's missing?

Susan Kelly ● 4275d

Yes, nothing missing, I was with the woman the whole time.

Jean F Fernandez ● 4274d

How strange - I wouldn't have let the lady into the house.  Have you checked with Thames Water that this is bona fide?

Gerry Tan ● 4274d

Hope she wasn't assessing the house for a future burglary.Did she show you any ID?

Bob Crossley ● 4274d

As far as I can remember I think the caller was wearing an ID badge, but of course this can be faked on the computer. Thames Water rang and assured me that spot checks do take place without prior warning to residents. The caller will confirm they were testing in this area but telephoned me to put my mind at rest.

Jean F Fernandez ● 4273d

We had a spot check like this at our previous house in Acton.  The chap had I.D. and a tray of small bottles.  He told me there and then the water in our house was fine.  I'd say she was genuine, but would always check I.D. from uninvited callers.

Vivienne Duggan ● 4273d

OK point taken, I will be extra careful in future.

Jean F Fernandez ● 4272d

Our Ref: 33153285Water Quality TestDear Mrs FernandezThanks for sparing the time to speak with me on 2 January 2015. I appreciate your concerns about the recent visit to your home to request a water sample, and I'm sorry for the worry this caused you.Was the caller genuine?Our records show our water quality technician collected a random sample from a neighbouring road on the day the caller visited your home. Our Water Quality Team has also confirmed the equipment you described would be used by our technicians. In view of this we believe the caller was genuine and working on our behalf.Why didn't we give advance notice for visiting your home?We take approximately 500,000 random samples each year in our area. The Regulations require us to only collect samples at random locations, and we cannot give advance notice to our customers for this type of investigation. The sample locations are generated at random, and our technicians are given a target address. But if the customer is not in, or unwilling to let us collect samples, then we'd proceed to request a sample from other properties down the road. Information about our bogus caller password schemePlease find below a link to our website which provides information about our bogus caller scheme, and details to help confirm a genuine caller. We offer a doorstep password scheme which is open to all our customers.http://www.thameswater.co.uk/help-and-advice/638.htmI hope this information has reassured you. If you’d like to discuss anything, please call me on 0800 0093932. I’m available weekdays from 8am to 5pm.Yours sincerelyHalina HerowychCustomer Resolution   

Jean F Fernandez ● 4266d

For anyone worried about callers from Thames Water asking to test the water quality, the previous posting is a reply I received from Thames Water.

Jean F Fernandez ● 4266d