One 98-year-old mum was slapped with an outrageous water bill equivalent to one million cups of tea.
Estelle was horrified when she received a water bill allegedly 30 times more than her usual rate.
The 98-year-old disabled mum-of-two usually receives a bill of around £190 a year, which is distributed every six months, but her most recent bill added up to over £2,500 for the year.
Lawrence Mendoza, 69, was shocked when mum Estelle, who is on end-of-life care, was hit with the bill, as he had signed her up to the company’s vulnerable register which he said means that Thames Water are supposed to monitor her meter to watch out for any irregularities.
However, when the concerned son contacted Thames Water he claims they said the mum had been using 225 million litres of water over six months - the equivalent to 90 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Lawrence said: "I couldn't believe it, I was absolutely speechless, but I also couldn't stop laughing."
Speaking to NeedToKnow.Online, he continued: "In the letter, it also said: 'You must be drinking over one million cups of tea' alongside other examples, such as 'Or three-and-a-half-thousand showers' over a period of six months.
"My mum has about six cups of tea a day and I think it'd take over 450 years to drink that much. It's ridiculous - how many other people have had this type of treatment?
"I think the only other water she uses is a daily bucket to wash herself, but it's awful that they've set up a direct debit without any warning or consent.
"I feel angry and betrayed, as I can't do anything about this. What's the point of being on the vulnerable register if warnings are ignored and you're not treated as a priority?
"I don't think they care and the complaints department try to do their job, but then need to be referred to a level of management and they don't give a s**t."
Lawrence said he was afraid that the bill could've been the result of his mother, who has dementia, leaving the taps on and flooding her house.
He added: "My fear is she, like many other vulnerable people, could've died in her house - and now I know no one would've come to investigate or help.”
Lawrence, who handles all his mum’s accounts, discovered the massive bill after looking through her bank statements in April 2022 and noticing what he thought was the usual charge for £220.
While he assumed the slightly higher amount was due to a balancing charge, he decided to trawl through her previous statements - where he discovered this was her new monthly cost, increased from £13.
In a bid to figure out the reason for the "unreasonable" increase, he contacted Thames Water directly, and was left shocked by their claims about his elderly mother’s water usage.
In their correspondence to her, Thames Water said her water usage was equivalent to over 5,000 cups of tea a day.
The charge is due to a leak which had continued for over two years before being plugged. Thames Water had failed to identify the leak as the cause behind the spike in water usage but when they did they adjusted the pensioner's account accordingly.
Speaking about the treatment he's received, he said: "It's frustrating, as I've been going around in circles with no end in sight.
"She's got a smart meter and this should alert Thames Water about an irregularity, where they promise to go round there to check everything is okay.
"I think social responsibility looks good on their website, they keep it on there, but don't actually practise it."
However, Estelle was still on the credit black list for over six months - which Lawrence fears has ruined her credit rating and added extra stress.
He added: "I don't know what right a big corporation has to ruin a person's reputation - how can they do this to an elderly woman? It's disgusting.
"This is a scandalous abuse of power and needs exposing. I think there should be a dedicated division that communicates with their vulnerable customers, as ringing them up and checking on them would mean so much.
"It wouldn't be difficult and shows an element of human care - which they clearly don't have."
A Thames Water spokesperson said: “We’re really sorry for Mrs Mendoza’s experience and would like to apologise for the service she received. Taking care of customers who need additional support and delivering brilliant customer service is one of our biggest priorities, and we’re sorry when we fail to deliver at the first opportunity.
“We’ve since been in regular contact with Mrs Mendoza’s son and we fixed the leak on her property on October 17. We then compared her normal water use and applied a leak allowance to her account as well as a goodwill gesture. We apologise for any distress caused.”
