To pay or not to pay

wtc76

Hi all,

Currently living in rented accommodation and our supplier is Scottish Power, landlord doesn't want us to change supplier and as we'll be moving on pretty soon I can't really be bothered to anyway.

Problem is this, I'm fundamentally opposed to paying any utility company via DD, I don't let anyone have direct access to my money and have always believed any pay disputes are better with the money still being in my account rather than theirs.

Scottish Power send me a "letter" every month basically saying that based on current estimates I owe them X amount of money and have to pay by a certain date. This letter contains no information regarding meter readings actual or estimated, dates of usage and no information regarding unit costs etc. Therefore to me this is not a bill and as such I don't pay them, I have phoned them numerous times and explained this only be told this is a business decision and they only send bills every quarter but expect payment based on estimates every month.

I gave consumer direct a call to clarify the position and was shocked when they said this was all perfectly ok and I was obliged to pay. In effect a company is allowed to demand money from me having not billed me.....so much for transparent billing. Is this really the case? I'm appauled that this is tolerated under law, that a company can request any amount of money they feel like and I'm legally obliged to pay having received no bill, no proof of usage and no costs. Surely this can't possibly be allowed.

I should also point out then once billed and I've checked the meter readings I have no problem paying what I owe, I just fundamentally disagree with paying an amount of money decided by the supplier when I have no visibility on how they arrive at these numbers.

I had none of these problems when I was with Southern Electric, they billed me every 3 months with actuals/estimates, I paid them, everyone was happy

Cardew

I assume that this is because they have no credit history on you, and don't want to give you credit of(potentially) £hundreds. - which is in effect what quarterly billing entails.

Refusing to go a Direct Debit can only enhance their concerns. You being 'fundementally opposed' to DD payments is not their problem.

You could offer to pay a returnable deposit - many companies demand this! Or go on pre-pay meters.

Personally I don't find it an unreasonable stance that they are taking. They have many tenants who just vanish leaving bad debts.

I can't think of any other company that you can demand to be given free credit without some form of security.

wtc76

I'm not asking to be given free credit, I'm asking to be supplied with a bill before having to provide payment, that is all. If they wish to bill me monthly this is fine, hell they can bill me weekly for all I care but I do expect a bill before I hand any money over and its as simple as that.

My opposition to DD's may not be their problem but then their opposition to providing billing information isn't really my problem.

Magentasue

But they're not asking you to pay a bill, rather to pay towards the next bill. Like cardew, I can't see a problem with this. Quarterly billing is pretty standard. We get gas from SP and enter meter readings online monthly so that we get an accurate bill generated every month. We have an online DD account, but they may offer online account management with quarterly payment which may suit you.

wtc76

They have never mentioned that option when I've phoned them, will look into it, thanks.

If they are going to send a letter to me every month asking for an amount of money, why not just make it a bill with estimated readings? What difference does it make? Takes no more paper and requires no greater effort.

Name one other good or service which follows this model......

Do BT(who bill quarterly) send a letter each month asking you to contribute to the bill before it arrives? Nope

Do water companies(Who bill half yearly) send a letter each month asking you to contribute to the bill? Nope (none of the 3 I've been with anyway)

Do Tescos stop you at frequent intervals as you go round the store and ask you to contribute to your "projected" checkout bill? Nope

Perhaps I'm just old school Thank god when I move so I never have any dealings with the SP again, worst company ever as far as I'm concerned, worse even than BT and thats a real achievement.

jd87

Wow you sound like a right pain in the !!!.

1carminestocky

I have to say I've never understood this hatred for DD. The DD guarantee is absolutely watertight IME. If you get DD'd for an amount you haven't been pre-warned of you can simply get it refunded by your bank immediately. I do think how you are going about this whole thing is making it very difficult for SP (and if you check my posts I'm not exactly the biggest supporter of the Big 6 suppliers by any stretch of the imagination, lol)

Do you not have ANY DDs set up on your bank account?

Cardew

wtc76 wrote: »

Do BT(who bill quarterly) send a letter each month asking you to contribute to the bill before it arrives? Nope

Do water companies(Who bill half yearly) send a letter each month asking you to contribute to the bill? Nope (none of the 3 I've been with anyway)

What you(apparently) fail to appreciate is that BT bill you for the quarterly rental IN ADVANCE.

Similarly Water Companies bill you annually IN ADVANCE. You get a bill in say April 2009 for the year to April 2010 - they normally let you pay in 2 installments - April and Oct. If you are metered they estimate your consumption for the year ahead.

You may not be asking for "free Credit" but that is exactly what paying quarterly entails.

You have the option of paying by DD - and they can't take any money from your account without giving you plenty of notice.

You have the option of giving them a deposit.

You have the option with SP of paying in advance and getting a %5 reduction on the standard tariff.

It seems that you feel that SP should change their business methods to suit yourself.

real1314

wtc76 wrote: »

I'm not asking to be given free credit, I'm asking to be supplied with a bill before having to provide payment, that is all. If they wish to bill me monthly this is fine, hell they can bill me weekly for all I care but I do expect a bill before I hand any money over and its as simple as that.

My opposition to DD's may not be their problem but then their opposition to providing billing information isn't really my problem.

You want the power before you've paid for it, hence you're asking for free credit.
Perhaps you should go for a card meter?

Patrick20

wtc76 isn't asking for any free credit just to be billed for the service recieved insead of being asked for money that may not be accurate. What is wrong with that? We all know thats not how it works usually with utility companies but it should.

1carminestocky

Is the film Fight Club?