cancellation charges

kazula

i want to know if scottish power as the right to charge me a cancellation fee for switching to a new supplier

KimYeovil

Yes, they do (not for switching, but for terminating early an existing contract.)

kazula

i was told that i only had to stay over 28days with them then i could switch i have been with them over 2 months and i was not happy with the way they went about it, i was not informed that i had a contract for any length of time with them.

thanks
that does answer my question

KimYeovil

If it is a standard domestic tariff then, yes, you are right, there should only be a one month contract. I had presumed you were on a fixed or capped tariff. If you are not then there should not be any penalty. What is the name of your tariff? Are you sure it isn't just the balance of fuel used that you are being charged?

(Note that British Gas have abandoned this one month contract arrangement - their default online tariffs now have leaving penalties. I had not heard Scottish Power had joined in but maybe they have.)

KimYeovil

As far as I can see, only Scottish Power's "Capped Price Energy April 2010" and "PriceSure Energy" have cancellation charges. As they are a capped and a fixed tariff respectively, this is normal practice.

kazula

i should have checked properly it was one of those people that come to the door i did not realise until i have just looked at the application that he has ticked the fixed price energy when i never asked for that and he never said thats what he was offering so it looks like i have had the wool pulled over my eyes i will need to check the application better next time. thanks for your help
karen

KimYeovil

Bad luck.

You could in a couple of months (after the cold spell so you're not paying them for lots of heating) switch back to Scottish Power using a cashback site and use the £62 to £87.50 cashback to get your £50 back. Then leave again immediately you receive the payment.

caroline_ward

kazula wrote: »

i want to know if scottish power as the right to charge me a cancellation fee for switching to a new supplier

I have just discovered that scottish power have a cancellation fee but I am in the process of making an official complaint about the way this product was sold to me. I am also going to argue about the general terms and conditions in which it states that the contract can be terminated with 28 days notice. I will let you know how I get on

bry1986

never use scottish power, they have sent me a final bill when i was on pre-payment saying i owe them money (£29) for the electric usage which i basically pay as i use so i shouldnt have this bill, but i had a gas bill the same day saying i was in credit of £31.
Now i have had a letter saying i could go court, bailiffs, taking money out of my income, etc. are these people for real? surely they owe me more even though i believe i dont owe them anything but threatning letters really has got on my nerves,
i shall be ringing them monday

KimYeovil

bry1986 wrote: »

never use scottish power, they have sent me a final bill when i was on pre-payment saying i owe them money (£29) for the electric usage which i basically pay as i use...

That is no different from any other supplier. Pre-payment meters measure how much you use and take payments on account. They are not always updated immediately with price changes etc. If they did the premiums would be even higher. You owe the money.

bry1986

They can update the tariff prices everytime i go and top up at my local, i am using a key so in my eyes i have paid for what i have used, if i wanted to pay the bills instead i would of had my meter changed to pay monthly quarterly or whatever, and if they didnt do the price changes tough luck to them, at the end of the day its like topping up your mobile, you pay 20p per minute for a call but couple of weeks later your provider said we had changed this to 30p per minute during that time so you owe us an extra 10p for every minute you were on the phone for, will never happen. So why they think they can i never know, i always pay bills but this is just greediness, like i said they owe me more i am in credit with the gas they can use that. Also after informing them about i am in credit they then go and send me court letters when they owe me money aswell, absolutley crazy