A COUPLE who opened a cafe in a rural Cork town during a hospitality crisis had their water cut off over an old bill.
Nigel Scouler and Marcella Buckley ploughed €80,000 into transforming the West End Cafe in Millstreet into a modern diner for locals, who recently lost their only hotel.
They pair were up and running in June but were shocked to learn from a representative of Irish Water on October 4 they had an outstanding water bill from before they had taken their lease.
And despite pleading with the utility not to shut off the water as it would damage their equipment — and receiving assurances that they would not — Irish Water promptly shut off their supply.
Nigel told The Irish Sun: “We told him we had only taken the lease on the premises since June 1.
“We were shocked to hear about the bill as we had received no communication whatsoever from Irish Water and we certainly had not received a bill from them.
“We told the representative that we had no problem paying any money due from June 1.”
The couple, who are both in their 50s, contacted their landlord Gerry O’Leary who explained the premises were let from June 1 and opened for business on June 10.
Nigel said: “We were really upset and worried. We explained to the man that Irish Water should not turn off the water as it would damage the oven and coffee machine which have a combined value of around €30,000 and both operate on water.
“To be honest, we were relieved when he explained and guaranteed that there was no way Irish Water would turn off the water supply.
“He actually stressed it was company policy not to turn off water and that this was actually written in the company policy.
“He stressed we would receive adequate warning if that was to happen, adding that it was only as a last resort the company shut off water supplies.”
The weeks passed and still no water bill was received by the new cafe owners.
Nigel explained: “I was visiting my mum in Athlone on November 5 and I received a call from a staff member who said there was no water in the cafe. I thought there must be something wrong with the plumbing and contacted the landlord.
“A plumber checked everything and could find nothing wrong, but then we discovered that Irish Water had cut off our supply.
NO NOTICE
“No one from the company called into the cafe to tell us this was happening and to add insult to injury we found a note from them stuck to the manhole cover over the valves controlling the flow of water into the cafe.
“It said, ‘Sorry we missed you’, but the cafe was open so there was no reason they could have missed us. We were absolutely devastated and shocked.
“We contacted customer service and received no help there. They were so unprofessional that the woman speaking to us started laughing at us.
“We asked how we could pay for the water, when a month after we told Irish Water to send a bill and we would pay it immediately, we were still waiting for it.
BUSINESS SHUT
“We were fortunate with the assistance of our landlord, and managed to get the water supply back on without Irish Water that evening.
“But we had to close our business as we couldn’t operate without water that day and lost a booking for 12 as a result along with not being able to service customers.”
On November 8, the pair finally got a bill via email from Irish Water which they paid within two hours of receiving it.
And now they have been told Irish Water want €500 from them for restoring the water supply to the cafe.
UTILITY HELL
But Nigel said since the water was cut off, Irish Water has not been in contact with them to tell them they were putting the water back on, even though it would appear they still do not know that it has been reconnected.
On the advice of the firm who supplied the coffee machine in the cafe Nigel had water samples from their supply tested. The results revealed the quality of the water is exceptionally bad.
Nigel added: “We had to put in special filters in the coffee machine because of the poor water quality which are very expensive and have to be changed regularly.”
Cllr John Paul O’Shea, candidate for Fine Gael in Cork North West, said he was not surprised by the actions of Irish Water as he has over 40 complaints from business customers and farmers about the utility company.
“We contacted customer service and received no help there. They were so unprofessional that the woman speaking to us started laughing at us.”
Nigel Scouler
He said: “While there are many complaints this is the first time I have heard of them shutting water off to any business. Irish Water lacks the ability to communicate with their customers and it seems only after public representatives intervene they take some action.
“I’ve seen people with astronomical bills who know they couldn’t have used the amount of water to justify these, but the company fails to engage and to listen to them.
“People are coming to us when they have lost hope, hit a black wall of non-communication with the firm and are in a state of despair and desperation.
“Irish Water has been operating for 10 years now — you would imagine they would have managed to learn how to respond to such calls and how to contact worried customers either with a phone call or an email.”
APOLOGY ISSUED
When contacted by The Irish Sun, Irish Water refused to address the issue raised.
Instead, they used a generic statement about working with any customers who are experiencing difficulties paying bills, before going mentioning payment plans.
On the poor quality water, they added: “We can confirm there is no issue in the Millstreet water supply where the drinking water being supplied meets all water quality standards.”
After The Irish Sun contacted Irish Water, an assistant to company boss Neill Gleeson contacted the couple to apologise and admit being in the wrong.
They are now looking into compensating for the machine damage which had to be repaired.
