water company scam or legit?

[lilacsky89]

I'll ring tomorrow to find out but it didn't cross my mind that this could be off until my partner said this evening.

I had two guys show up wearing water company clothes (I did see a water company van too so didn't think anything of it).

They said I'd been contacted about a visit which I don't think I have (but I could have missed a phone call or accidentally binned a letter with the junk mail - my life is buuusssy with running a buisness and having small kids so I'm not always super on top of things)

He told me that our water meter is slowly ticking over which means there could be a slow leak somewhere - he asked to check our bathroom toilet. I told him I was about to head to work but I could spare 5 mins. He checked the bathroom and garden toilet while his colleague stood outside in our entry way (front door was open).

He was asking where we shut water off from and and I'm sure he asked where the water meter was acting like it could be under the floorboards as he made a comment about the laminate. Our water meter etc is out in the street at the front of our driveway and not in our house.

In the end I had to tell him I need to leave for work and he said he would put it down as unresolved and somebody would be out again next week.

It all seemed legit to me but when I told my husband he said it sounded dodgy like a scam. So wondering if anybody who has/does work with a water company can tell me if this sounds off?

It’s been used as a distraction burglary in our area . One goes in and looks around the house , which is the one you are more likely to follow around , the other pretends to stand outside , but as soon as you are out of sight will go into the house and see what they can steal . The people who have lost most have been elderly in this area.
I would definitely have refused entry until I’d independently phoned my water company ( and be aware there is no general water board in case they use that term ).

It could be legit if the water co is being particularly proactive about leakage rates.......although is the leak if on your meter then you'd be paying for the use of that water and they should really have bigger fish to fry chasing leaks on the public side of the network that's costing them money. Even though it's now been and gone it might worth a phone call to the company to check and if it's not legit it will make them aware of bogus workmen in their area.

In our area (Thames Water) that would be legit. They don't bother sending letters, just turn up and act surprised that you haven't had one. They don't always seem to know their arses from their elbows either, but they aren't criminals.

If you email and complain that they never sent a letter they will check, confirm that in fact they never sent a letter, and give you £20 off your next bill to stop you complaining.

I used to work for a water company, they rarely measure leakage in individual homes, that is for the home owner to sort. The only way they would investigate is if it was a large increase on the water meter, not a small one. They will measure areas to see where leaks are but will fix them on mains pipes.

Call your water company, let them know as some uniforms and a van might have been stolen. Some water companies will also let you set up a password for when future employees come out, they will have to call the customer teams to get the password before getting access.

Thanks for the responses. Also when he checked the bathroom toilet he took a piece of a toilet paper, folded it and held it under the rim of the toilet (where water comes out) for a few seconds. Is that normal haha because that seemed weird but again - me assuming he was a wager man I just accepted it - I know nothing about this stuff 😅

Tbh I'd have done the same as you if put on the spot, I tend to trust people even if I know I shouldn't.

With hindsight though reading your post, how did he know your meter was ticking over if he didn't know where it was?
And surely it is normal for it to be ticking over as you hadn't turned the water off. Your washing machine/dishwasher/tap/anything could have been running

That strikes me as really weird! When he flushed the toilet was the other guy watching the meter outside?

Sounds like a scam. As a rule don’t allow anyone into your home without checking their ID, ring the company they claim to be from if you don’t believe them or you’re sort of asking for trouble.

@NotFastButFurious now that Im thinking back to it with a different mindset it seems really weird and unprofessional too. I kind of thought 'that's weird' at the time but again I assumed he was a water man.

I don't think he flushed it he literally just did that and as far as I was aware the other gut was just stood in our porch.

We came downstairs and I took him to the garden toilet but we don't use it so it was full of the kids garden toys so he didn't bother checking. He knew I had to to leave for work. He seemed a bit miffed really and I was apologising because I didn't have time for him to look around

That is exactly what the water board did when I had a leak. You can’t always see the water trickling down the back of the toilet, the paper gets wet so leak found.

My meter was showing we had a leak, & my water board (Yorkshire) sent me a text to arrange a visit. The engineer just checked the toilets, I don’t know if he planned to check anything else as the leak was found in one of those.

I had to get it fixed though, they didn’t help with that.

That sounds weird, what was on the van?

probers part of the act to make it seem like they knew what they were doing, think of the characters from the bbc show hustle and how they put on the acts to convince the marks

Have you checked nothing is missing from the room nearest the door?

No idea if it was genuine but you'd have to admire the dedication of scammers who go to the trouble of customising a van with the water company details

@MereDintofPandiculation yes I did check and we don't really have any valuables or keys near the front door so from what I can tell nothing is missing

No, honestly I don't think it is a scam. Thames water keep turning up on my neighbour's doorstep for something similar (she is a tenant and needs her landlord to sort it out).

They must have targets or something.

@NotFastButFurious our local water company logo I think, I didn't really inspect it for long, just noticed they were still outside when I left for work. I saw them drive off before me

I’d ring in the morning, they’ll be able to verify if it’s legit or not.