Left Scottish Power but they created new DDs

JohalaReewi

Over the weekend, the final letter from scottish power arrived which revealed what had been going on.

8 nov - electricity account closed £20 in credit
18 nov - gas account closed £130 in credit
24 nov - final bill received
26 nov - cancelled scottish power DD (now EDF customers and owe SP nothing).
1 dec - scottish power create two new DDs and take £42 using one of them even though the account is closed and they owe £150.
12 dec - scottish power send final account and say that the money they owe will be paid by cheque in the next 2 weeks. Why not send the cheque with the final account?

Scottish Power

Premier_2

JohalaReewi wrote: »

...Cancelled the Scottish Power direct debit. ...

Who did you contact to cancel the DD?

Edit:

I see this was cancelled direct with your bank.
Ask your bank for their evidence from the Originator (SP) that you agreed to a new DDI. Without this the bank will not have agreed to a new DDI on your account - if they did, it is they that are in the wrong...big time!!!
For a start, the bank itself would be liable for the DD's it deducted from your bank account plus any consequential losses you may have incurred, (Note: Not the Originator) but the breach in customer assurance which would possibly see them having brought the whole DD scheme into disrepute would be the huge thing (if such an event did actually occur)

As the SP rep correctly says, they cannot create a new DDI their end without your permission

Scottish_Power

Hi JohalaReewi

From the information you have provided I would like to address our position regarding final Direct Debit payments.

You confirmed in your post that on 8th Nov your electricity account was closed and that on 18th Nov your gas account was closed. When any account is closed (i.e. the account has been billed to the meter readings provided by your new supplier) and we have issued a final statement which shows a credit balance, no further Direct Debit payment will be taken. You will also be advised on the final statement when the credit balance will be returned to you.

A Direct Debit would only be taken if one account was not closed. From the information you have provided, it is possible that the gas account was not closed until 12th Dec and we then informed you of the credit balance. A gas statement may have been issued to you on 24th Nov however it may not have been a final account (if it is a final account it will confirm this on the first page).

Just to confirm, no Direct Debit payments are taken if boths accounts are finalised with credit balances on both.

If you would like me to confirm exactly what has happened on your account please your details to the email address held within our profile page.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

JohalaReewi

scottishpower_company_representative wrote: »

Hi JohalaReewi

A Direct Debit would only be taken if one account was not closed. From the information you have provided, it is possible that the gas account was not closed until 12th Dec and we then informed you of the credit balance. A gas statement may have been issued to you on 24th Nov however it may not have been a final account (if it is a final account it will confirm this on the first page).

Final gas bill dated 18 Nov (but received 12 dec). Says FINAL ACCOUNT on it.
Also shows the DD being taken and grabbed back on 1 dec so obviously printed after 1 dec.

Just to confirm, no Direct Debit payments are taken if boths accounts are finalised with credit balances on both.

So this must mean that although the gas account was switched on 18th Nov and a final bill had been prepared, SP hung on to it for a couple of weeks so they could take another chunk of money before finally closing the account?

I still feel that SP have been very underhand and this should be a warning for anyone wanting to switch away from SP to keep a very close eye on what happens to their DDs.

JohalaReewi

Premier wrote: »

Ask your bank for their evidence from the Originator (SP) that you agreed to a new DDI. Without this the bank will not have agreed to a new DDI on your account - if they did, it is they that are in the wrong...big time!!!
For a start, the bank itself would be liable for the DD's it deducted from your bank account plus any consequential losses you may have incurred, (Note: Not the Originator) but the breach in customer assurance which would possibly see them having brought the whole DD scheme into disrepute would be the huge thing (if such an event did actually occur)

This is very interesting. I have had problems with BOS who claimed exactly the opposite. I did try to convince them that they were in the wrong but they wouldn't have it. Had to close the account to stop a rogue company recreating the DD over and over again.

I think the SP rep shone a light on what happened. I started a duel fuel account with gas & electric starting the same day, SP set up a single DD to collect both gas and electricity in a single payment but behind the scenes, there were also 2 single gas and electricity DDs lurking. When I switched, my electricity account went first so SP activated the 2 single DDs so they could keep collecting the gas. I cancelled the duel fuel DD unaware of the 2 other DDs which SP used to grab an extra gas payment even though the gas had switched by then and the account was £130 in credit.

lynne56

I was thinking of switching from SP. I have only been with them 5 months, but I am a bit wary now. I pay by direct debit. Uswitch says I could save over 600 pounds by moving to edf. What do you think chaps?

Premier_2

JohalaReewi wrote: »

This is very interesting. I have had problems with BOS who claimed exactly the opposite. I did try to convince them that they were in the wrong but they wouldn't have it. Had to close the account to stop a rogue company recreating the DD over and over again....

Hopefully you switched banks to! Else what is to stop them doing the same again?

This is a failure of the bank if true. You really need to escalate this under the banks complaints pprocedure. The are pursuing the wrong avenue otherwise.

Be very clear. Once a DDI is correctly cancelled at a bank, there is no way a new one can be created (or the existing one re-opened) unless you have given permission to the Originator to do so. The bank is fully responsible to ensure this has taken place and is fully liable for any losses otherwise incurred.

Premier_2

lynne56 wrote: »

I was thinking of switching from SP. I have only been with them 5 months, but I am a bit wary now. I pay by direct debit. Uswitch says I could save over 600 pounds by moving to edf. What do you think chaps?

Hi, and welcome to MSE lynne56 :hello:

Don't be wary about the supplier.

If you are in any way concerned, it should be with the bank if you believe the story. However you are fully covered by the terms of the DD guarantee. Are you with BoS?

Scottish_Power

Hi JohalaReewi

Thank you for confirming the details on the final gas account. The invoice should be received by you within 7 days from the date it is generated. Taking almost a month is not normal and this should be taken up with the Royal Mail to find out what caused the delay.

If the final gas statement is dated 18 December and your account is in credit then we have no reason to apply for a Direct Debit in December. I am unsure what you mean by the Direct Debit being taken and grabbed back in 1 Dec. Does this show as a Direct Debit payment being taken and also being re-appplied to the account on the same day?

There are no underhand tactics at all. There are processes in place for Direct Debit customer's that work for all our customers. If you were moving to another supplier and you left the Direct Debit in place, the final invoices would be issued to you confirming either the final Direct Debit due to be taken to clear any outstanding balance or the credit amount to be refunded to you.

The advise that I would give to anyone who wishes to cancel a Direct Debit before the account is closed is to contact the supplier directly to make sure that this is actioned straight away.

As always, if you would like any further information just let me know.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

Scottish_Power

Hi lynne56

I am not allow to sell or promote ScottishPower on this forum however I would like to update a general comment which should apply to most customers. If you are a average consumer and you are being quoted a saving of £600 per year on uSwitch, I would doubt that you are on the best tariff with your current supplier.

The advice I would give is to contact your current supplier, find out if you are on the best deal, then you can decide where to go from there. The best tariff with your current supplier might mean that you would still make a saving by changing or that you would no longer make a saving.

Hope this information is of help to you.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower