SPM Collections rears their Head again to a former Scottish Power customer.

Jaylith

Hi,

I do no think that I am alone in people having bad experiences with Scottish Power. I shall commence with my rant and my request for advice...

I have received one of 'those' letters from SPM Collections threatening me with court action, arrestment of bank accounts etc for a bill that is 3 years old. It is for an address I lived at back in 2006. When I moved out of the property I provided Scottish Power with my final meter readings and then got sent a final bill of £327.

I immediately disputed the bill as there was no way a single person in a 2 bedroomed, lounge, kitchen, bathroom flat could possibly have used that amount of electricity in a quarter. I hardly ever cooked etc. Anyway, so it has dragged on all this time to present day Aug 2009 after:-

1. The 'Account' being passed to numerous debt collection agencies ( which they cannot do legally, without first resolving the disputed account which they were not willing to do, and informing the debtee, me in this case, of the debt collection agency they will be 'selling' the debt onto.)

2. I managed to deal with a couple of agencies and made a few payments back in 2007 and 2008 to bring the balance down.

3. Investigating and realising that I did not have to deal with agencies as this was an ongoing disputed account.

4. Making numerous calls to Scottish Power directly over the period of 2007, 2008, Aug 2009 to resolve the account and negotiate payment plans which I was more than happy to do.

Which brings me to the final point of having called Scottish Power directly in July and actually being put through to SPM tel Number - 01698410311. I explained to them that I had been made redundant back in February from my job, got a new job in retail on minimal wages so I was not able to afford their £89 a month for 3 months plan and could only afford £15 a month because of financial constraints.

They took a payment of £15 over the phone in July as well. I set up a DD anyway as I was hoping to be able to pay that amount but realistically this is the financial analysis of the recesiion

Weekly Wage - £150 x 4 = £600 a month. Sometimes a 5 week month in terms of pay £750.

Rent & household bills - £375
Loans & Credit Crds - £140
Mobile & Internet - £45

---

Total - £560


£750 - £560 = £190 for food, travel £ 70 & upkeep. No luxuries at all.

£600 - £560 = £40 for food etc.

That is the current position. And they are not willing to accept any offer of payment. What can I do? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I have exactly this same situation with British Gas for an old gas bill of £560. Same property, same time length and same dispute

I should really complain but have not done so

PNPSUKNET

with closed bills they have to accept what you can afford, its normaly best togo to the cab and they will accept it. But to be honest That bills not really that high. Any letters if you didnt provide a fwd address would go to the property and then be passed external for a trace by experian via the agency