Scottish Power - Problem with Direct debit payments

Jason.rangou

I apologise first of all if this thread is not in the correct place.

The problem I have is with Scottish Power, every month they are taking a direct debit payment of around £70, however, because we have recently renovated our home to make it energy efficient we are no longer spending anywhere near that a month and everytime the direct debit is taken they seem to be racking up a nice buffer to earn interest on.

Can somebody please advise our rights as to how we can claim back our money. I have called them and spoken to a young customer services representative and they have advised me that "it is for our own good so we don't owe them anything", as I am not one to argue I thought it best to contact yourselves to see where we stand, the money in the account can range from £100-250.

In this current climate every little that we can have in our bank is helpful.

allan673

have you thought about just asking for quarterly billing and paying on receipt of bill? thats what i do now.
the dd discount i was getting was wasnt anything to shout about, they just annoyed me as they were upping my dd all the time even though i was £250 in credit. i just put a set amount away each month to cover the gas bill. i feel more in control now.

nomoneytoday

Ask them for the credit balance back and a review

mothershipton

i emailed scottish power and told them that I was monitoring my spending and not using as much power so asked for a reduction. I suggested an amount and they changed it. I would also ask for a refund as £250 is a lot of your money in their bank account, Just think how many customers they have. I also switched to online banking and put in meter readings monthly which i also quoted to them.

but if they are difficult just say you will pay quarterly. OK you will lose the direct debit discount but its not that much anyway.

good luck

Thespender

mothershipton wrote: »

i emailed scottish power and told them that I was monitoring my spending and not using as much power so asked for a reduction. I suggested an amount and they changed it.
but if they are difficult just say you will pay quarterly. OK you will lose the direct debit discount but its not that much anyway.

I called them up today becuase they changed my DD amount and it is far too much for what I am using, they said they couldn't do anything without having current readings, as I was at work I couldn't give them the readings but they flatly refused to do anything without them. I'll get the readings and try again tomorrow?

Out of interest if they say they won't change can I just cancel the DD and tell them I will pay as and when the bills come through? I don't have any contract with them now as it finished last year, I calculate they are taking £120 per quarter more than what they should:mad:

Jason.rangou

Thanks for all your advice, just to update you all, I tried contacting them yesterday but after 20 minutes on hold I decided enough was enough and hung up.

I will try again today.

Edit: Just to add Scottishpowers online freephone numbers are 0800 027 1122
01925 515121

Jason.rangou

I have just spoken to Scottish Power the c/s representative told me that because I am an online customer I have to pay via direct debit, he also advised me that I am receiving masses amounts of discount because I am using dual fuel, online and paying via direct debit. Also he says that his PC shows thatthe direct debit is set for the right amount.

Now I am not silly and I don't roll over for big companies easily but before I start shouting my mouth off I wanted to ask for some advice. The way I see it is that these companies are screwing us. We have to stick by their rules in order to have our cheaper prices, meanwhile they rake a nice little earner from our over payments.

The question is where do I go from here, do I go with the flow or do I pay a little more to have free control over what I do with MY money?

What would you do?

Ada3050

If you want control of your finances then the only way is to cancel the DD.

I had the same hassle with scottish power and cancelled mine.

If everyone did the same and saved the same amount each month no one would be in debt to these companies.

Hintza

The things to bear in mind are the next few months bills Dec, Jan and February will be the most expensive so factor that into your calculations.

Have you got a copy of how much you used last year? Try and figure out where you stand using those figures.

Do the sums and if you still feel by March that you will be in credit then it is probably worth kicking up a stink, if not in credit or near break even then just leave it.

But if you decide to have a fight at least have some sort of calculations to use as ammo.

ali_p_4

I have spoken to scottish power today regarding my direct debit - payment also too high- versus quarterly bills. I had my figure recalculated but was also told that quarterly bills have been stopped by them . Presumably to new customers or people wanting to change back.