Another Apology

Thames Water sent me another apology on 27th July, on top of the one they sent me a day or so earlier, maybe their internal communications ar not quite up to snuff?

The first paragraph of their apology makes interesting reading.

They note that I raised the fact that it took them 13 days to respond to my earlier complaints, then happily say that the 10 day deadline for answering mails etc is due to an agreement with the regulator; but that "this does not mean that we do not aim to reply to all customers as quickly as possible".

Am I missing something in their "logic" here, or have they totally missed the point that I made about taking 13 days to answer?

Maybe they don't understand what they have written?

Anyway, here is their apology in full:

"Thames Water
Customer Relations
Customer Services
P.O. Box 436
Swindon
SN38 1TU
Telephone: 08457 200897
Fax: 01793 424291

E-mail: Customer.Feedback@thameswater.co.uk
27 July 2007
Our Ref: 431258
Water Supply

Dear Mr Frost

Thank you for your e-mails of 16 and 17 July 2007. I note your comments about us taking 13 days to reply to your previous e-mail.

As agreed with our Regulator, we have ten working days to reply to all written correspondence,which includes e-mails. However, this does not mean that we do not aim to reply to all customers as quickly as possible.

I am very sorry to hear about the disruption to your water supply on 16July 2007, and I understand the inconvenience this must have caused you.

In view of your comments I have forwarded a copy of your e-mail to the contractors completing this work. They advised that there were a number of very short disruptions on 16 and 17 July 2007 while we transferred the new supplies onto the new main. Whilst we do our best to provide a constant supply of water, there are times when we need to turn off the water for maintenance work.

If we plan to carry out some work that will involve turning off your water for more than four hours, we will give you advance warning.

However,as this was not the case on this occasion we did not provide notification. On 16 July 2007 you contacted our contractors, Morrison, to advise that you were without water and that they arranged for a plumber to call at your property within two hours to investigate.

They found that the interruption to your supply was due to a build up of debris, which is impossible to avoid with pipework of this age, and they resolved this problem immediately.

I hope this information is helpful.

Yours sincerely

Customer Relations"