CCW Reviews 353

I received some really great news from Angie at CCW today, who has been working on a case for me. Throughout the whole process, her attentiveness, empathy and understanding were outstanding. From our very first call, Angie took the time to explain everything clearly and genuinely listened to my concerns. She gave clear, helpful advice and kept me informed every step of the way. This made me feel truly listened to and confident that I was in very good hands from the start. Without Angie, I wouldn’t have had such a successful outcome. Thank you so much for all your support.

UPDATE (04 June 2026):
Following my "Senior Review" with the CCW compliance team, where they officially cleared themselves of wrongdoing and claimed no GSS service failures had occurred, the truth has come out.

Despite the CCW providing no help or advice and simply stating they found no fault with Thames Water, I applied direct pressure myself. As a result, Thames Water has now formally admitted to a statutory service failure and applied the £80 GSS credits to my account.

This completely exposes the CCW's internal review process as a toothless, box-ticking exercise. Their caseworkers actively defended a utility company against a consumer, completely missing black-and-white regulatory breaches that the supplier itself has now been forced to concede.

It is farcical that consumers are legally forced to endure this ineffective organisation as a mandatory gatekeeper before being allowed to escalate a dispute. I have now successfully moved past them and escalated my core billing dispute directly to the independent Dispute Resolution Ombudsman (DRO) and Ofwat. The CCW is a complete waste of time—treat them as a minor administrative hurdle you have to clear to get to the real regulators.

Update (11 May 2026):
Following my initial review, I was contacted for a "Senior Service Review." It has been an utterly farcical and dishonest process.

The "Senior Advisor" has doubled down on every failure of the previous caseworker. He claimed in writing that the CCW had provided "reasoning and rationale" for their decision—they haven't. Most shockingly, he claimed the CCW sent me an update on 27th April; no such communication exists in my email or phone records. It is deeply concerning that a taxpayer-funded body would fabricate an audit trail to justify its own incompetence.

Furthermore, they are now explicitly refusing to provide advice on how to escalate to the Ombudsman, instead telling me to "ask my supplier" for help. The CCW is supposed to be the "voice of the consumer," yet they have acted as a shield for Thames Water, ignoring statutory GSS credits and admitted equipment failures.

This organization is not just inept; it is actively obstructionist. I have now had to involve my MP to refer this gross service failure to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO). If you have a dispute with a water company, don't expect honesty or help from the CCW.

Original Review:
Extremely disappointed with the service from the CCW.

After submitting my case, it took nearly 7 weeks just to have a caseworker assigned (surprising, given how quickly they churned through my case). When you include the time spent getting a final response from the supplier just to be eligible for the CCW, you have already waited months for any progress.

When a caseworker was finally assigned, I received one initial call, only for them to close the case less than a week later without any discussion or follow-up. The closure felt like a stock response; it failed to even mention several of the key complaints I had submitted.

Despite clear evidence that the supplier failed to maintain my meter—including explicit admissions that the equipment was flooded and over 20 years old—the caseworker completely disregarded these facts and simply sided with the water company. Furthermore, they entirely ignored my statutory claim for Guaranteed Standards of Service (GSS) credits due to the company's failure to read my meter for years and their delayed response to my enquiry. These credits are a legal requirement, yet they weren't even referenced in the closure letter.

By failing to challenge a 6-year "catch-up" bill caused by the company’s own negligence, the CCW has left me overcharged by hundreds of pounds. I was essentially encouraged to accept a 'goodwill' gesture from the supplier that falls far short of the statutory protections I am entitled to.

Furthermore, they ignored their own published policy which states they "will discuss the response with the consumer" before closing a case. I was never consulted; I simply received a "case closed" email that read like a copy-paste of the water company's position, with no explanations and seemingly little to no effort to even bother fighting my corner.

It is farcical that consumers are forced to go through the CCW—which admits it has no statutory power to enforce a company's own rules—before being allowed to escalate to the next level.

I have completely wasted my time with an organisation that claims to be "the voice of the water consumer" but acts as a rubber stamp for the water companies.

I Regd. complaint on 7 Jan 25. Then had contact from a representative after a few weeks by phone. It appeared he had not read my case thoroughly and had to go thru the minute details - which was fine. He confirmed to get back to be within the next 2 to 3 wks and never did. I followed up with at least 4 emails asking for an update. No response. Then placed a call, the person listened carefully and informed me my rep had left the org (no one bothered to inform me). Raising the matter further I got a call 7-10 days later by a gentleman called Baba. He grasped the situation quickly, and followed up immediately as a priority - early April. Today 28/4/26 finally reached a resolve. Not satisfactory but best that could be achieved. Baba my representative, was very efficient and advised correctly and guided for best solution and outcome. Very Professional. I have decided to agree to his guidance as this was affecting my health. Thank you Baba, for providing a swift resolution. A lesson in humanity and customer service could be learnt from Baba who was very very respectful and empathised to reach solutions. Thank you Baba, it was a privilege to meet you.

I originally left a negative review because I felt the complaint process was going nowhere and I was repeatedly having to chase matters myself. However, after escalation, CCW did step in, pushed Thames Water for a resolution, and helped secure both the refund owed to me and an increased goodwill payment due to the delays and handling of the case.

In particular, I appreciate the direct communication and follow-up from the advisor handling my complaint. The matter was eventually resolved properly and I acknowledge the work CCW carried out to achieve that outcome.

My complaint was resolved by a very helpful advisor (Philip) who contacted the company directly. His intervention resulted in an apology and some compensation for the extremely poor customer service from the water company in question.

I’m really disappointed with the service I received from CCW. My complaint dragged on for four months, during which I was repeatedly passed from one person to another without any clear progress. I had to do a lot of chasing myself, and there were several instances where promised callbacks never happened.

Throughout the process, it felt like everything Thames Water said was simply accepted as fact, with little effort to challenge or properly investigate the issues I raised. This experience has left me questioning how independent CCW really is supposed to be, as I didn’t feel fairly represented or supported at all.

What should have been a simple account transfer moving house turned into 9 months of hell dealing with Southern Water. Even their complaints team got it wrong and I had to lodge 3 separate complaints. Although CCW admit they have no power to force a resolution each time they got involved by contacting SW on my behalf it got them to respond after ignoring me. This eventually led to the correct resolution of my issue.

It was easy to contact CCW and you feel, you have being listened to.Customet service is great and very supportive. Easy reachable and great support given.

From my first contact with Customer Service Advisor OS - she made me feel heard and respected, timeframe for my complaint was appropriate and the outcome was better than expected, this was due to the hard work and dedication of OS

Angie from CCW dealt with my case and was super helpful, kept me informed and got the outcome I wanted.

Excellent service from start to finish. After literally years trying myself to get Waterplus to reverse late payment charges on late payment charges that should never have been charged to us in the first place Angie at CCW took on our case and resolved it with them swiftly to our satisfaction.

Chased Yorkshire Water for over a month - they still haven't acknowledged my complaint.

Called CCW for some advice and help with the complaint.

Spoke to someone called Rahman, zero interest in the complaint, didn't know what he was doing, sounded like he was half asleep and couldn't be bothered.

As usual CCW are useless.

A water company can do whatever it likes to its customers, with 'the independent voice for water consumers' (CCW) providing no help as usual.

I just wanted to take a moment to sincerely thank Phillip for his support in resolving my water issue.
I had been dealing with a matter with the water company from 2021 to 2026, and it was an extremely frustrating experience. I felt as though I was being constantly passed around without any real resolution, and it became very overwhelming for me over time.
After reaching out to CWC, I’m truly grateful that the situation was finally brought to a resolution. I really appreciate the time, effort, and support provided throughout the process.

Thank you once again for helping me get this matter sorted.
CWC/ Phillip your assistance means a lot.

CCW were efficient, knowledgeable, friendly and courteous. They acted straight away to get Southern Water to listen to my complaint and followed up two days' later to see how they could help further. What a great service! These water companies, as monopolies give customers nowhere to go so they can't vote with their feet (as you would do an energy company). The quicker these companies are brought into public ownership, the better!

it wont accept me or listen to my complaint its just like united utilities and water plus only interested if i am praising them the site will not accept my name either

Angie kept us informed throughout the process and we got the resolution we were hoping for. That is the reason for the 5 stars. We still think that it is outrageous that Thames Water took so long to come to a decent decision. If we had not been so persistent, then nothing would have happened. CCW and Angie were good, but the organisation has no actual teeth, and cannot compel the water companies to act fairly. This is of course not Angie’s fault and she was great - despite the constraints of her position.

how-is-ccw-funded
how-is-ccw-funded

CCW costs 36.8p for each bill payer in England and Wales.

CCW is funded by water customers through a charge by Ofwat to water and sewerage companies in England and Wales.

Further information can be found on the CCW website
through their advice-and-support section.

How ironic that one incompetent quango fund another, from the reviews of CCW, they are an equally incompetent organisation.

Update 15/04/2026

Thank you for your reply.

I note that you have failed to provide an answer to what my review stated about the way you are funded.

Update 23/04/2026

Their lack of reply is deafening.

Mike Green the investigator was awesome. He was so professional, understanding, kind and compassionate in how he handled our complaint and kept us informed at every stage.

I would add that one thing that would really enhance this service is, if CCW were given legal powers, to really hold these water companies to account!

Thank you again Mike, your support was invaluable.

I had an issue with Yorkshire Water and their contractor which had cost me a substantial amount of money. I endured huge amounts of wasted time and it took many months of constantly chasing responses (due to YW missing every self imposed deadline) to exhaust both parts of their complaints procedure before being referred to CCW. Zahed was extremely helpful and supportive but couldn't get the resolution I wanted as CCW cannot make financial awards against a water company, something I did not realise was the case. He then pulled large amounts of evidence together to put forward to the arbitrator which produced the desired outcome. Zahed was very knowledgeable and put information across to me in a way that made the process seem less daunting which was reassuring. It was such a refreshing change after dealing with YW to have someone who would actually contact me to advise on progress, a revelation after a year of spending hours on the phone to get nowhere. Thank you so much for your support and advice.

I had an absolute nightmare with Severn trent water authority. There customer care was diabolical, processes were not followed and their complaints service was non existent. I had water coming into my garden that they did not investigate for several weeks.
I contacted the CCW as my complaint was going for over 7 months. A lady called Olayinka took my case on she was professional, kind, listened to my case and understood my concerns. She kept me informed of every stage. I felt supported throughout. She managed to get my case sorted with STW and got what I requested which was an apology for their service failures.
I would definitely recommend the CCW and I will use them if ever I need to. Top marks for speed, customer service. Well done and thank you