A COUPLE who opened a cafe in a rural Cork town during a hospitality crisis had their water turned off because of an old note.

Nigel Scouler and Marcella Buckley plowed €80,000 into transforming West End Cafe i Mill Street to a modern restaurant for the locals, who recently lost their only hotel.

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They were up and running in June but were shocked to learn from an Irish Water representative on October 4 that they had an outstanding water bill from before they took out their lease.

And despite pleading with the company not to turn off the water because it would damage their equipment – and being assured they wouldn’t – Irish Water immediately cut off their supply.

Nigel told The Irish Sun: “We told him that we had only taken the lease of the premises since June 1.

“We were shocked to hear about the bill as we had received no communication whatsoever from Irish water and indeed we had received no 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 that the premises were let from 1 June and opened for business on 10 June.

Nigel said: “We were really upset and worried. We explained to the man that Irish Water would 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 run on water.

“To be honest, we were relieved when he explained and guaranteed that there was no way Irish Water would cut off the water supply.

“He actually emphasized that it was company policy not to shut off the water and that this was actually written into company policy.

“He emphasized that we would be given adequate warning if that were to happen, adding that it was only as a last resort that the company turned off the water supply.”

Weeks passed and still the new cafe owners did not receive a water bill.

Nigel explained: “I visited my mum in Athlone on the 5th of November and I received a call from a staff member saying that 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 couldn’t find anything wrong, but then we discovered that Irish Water had cut off our supply.

NO NOTICE

“No one from the company called 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 above the valves that control the flow of water to 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 got no help there. They were so unprofessional that the woman who spoke 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.

COMPANY CLOSED

“We were lucky with the help of our landlord and managed to get the water supply back on without Irish Water that evening.

“But we had to close our business because we couldn’t work without water that day and lost a booking for 12 as a result along with not being able to serve customers.”

On November 8, the couple finally received a bill by email from Irish Water, which they paid within two hours of receiving it.

And now they have been told that Irish Water wants €500 from them to restore the water supply to the cafe.

UTILITY HELL

But Nigel said that since the water was turned off, Irish Water has not been in touch with them to tell them they were turning the water back on, although it appears they still don’t know it has been reconnected.

On the advice of the company that supplied the coffee machine in the cafe, Nigel had water samples from their range tested. The results showed that the quality of the water is exceptionally poor.

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 Irish Water’s actions, as he has more than 40 complaints from business customers and farmers about the energy company.

“We contacted customer service and got no help there. They were so unprofessional that the woman who spoke to us started laughing at us.”

Nigel ScoulerThe West End Cafe owner

He said: “Although there are many complaints, this is the first time I have heard of them cutting off water to any company. Irish Water lacks the ability to communicate with their customers and it only seems after public representatives intervene that they take 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 listen to them.

“People come to us when they have lost hope, hit a black wall of non-communication with the company and are in a state of despair and desperation.

“Irish Water has been in business for 10 years now – you’d imagine they would have managed to learn how to answer such calls and how to contact worried customers either with a phone call or an email.”

ORDER ISSUED

When contacted by The Irish Sun, Irish Water declined to address the issue.

Instead, they used a general statement about working with customers who have difficulty paying bills, before mentioning payment plans.

On the poor quality water, they added: “We can confirm that there are no issues with Millstreet’s water supply where the drinking water supplied meets all water quality standards.”

After The Irish Sun contacted Irish Water, an assistant to company chief executive Neill Gleeson contacted the couple to apologize and admit they were wrong.

They are now investigating to replace the machine damage that needs to be repaired.

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