Scottish Power - default notice

bwgames

Hi,

I've been having an ongoing saga with Scottish Power.

I moved into this property in July, to discover upon calling them to sort out electricity, that they had the wrong electricity meter recorded for my flat (on National Grid's database apparently).

Gave them the right details (correct meter serial, readings), they said they'd sort it out (possibly sending someone out) and I set up a monthly payment. In September, I moved to nPower.

Got the final bill (£50) from Scottish Power, to discover they still hadthe wrong meter details. I rang them up, to be told "oh we took the wrong meter reading? Sorry, gotta take it up with nPower. It can't be the wrong meter, the National Grid database is always correct!", despite telling them it wasn't just a wrong meter reading, it was the wrong meter etc and that I'd told them all this. Also pointed out that I was definitely sure it was the wrong meter, and that the new meter was the correct one (proved by turning it off/on). Faxed and posted them a letter explaining all this, and rang nPower and they said they'd also look into it and that it could take up to three months(!). No written response from Scottish Power.

October rolls around, and Scottish Power start sending the overdue letter reminders. I post them another letter, recorded delivery.
End of October, BCW start sending me letters. I write to them with a copy of the letter I've sent to SP and get the standard response "we will contact SP and ask them for instructions".

SP have just responded with a default notice! At the bottom they say 'if this account is in dispute ring 01638..' which I will do later, but I don't hold out much hope for any sense if they ignore faxes and letters.

nPower have also written to me saying that it'll take longer than originally said to get back to me and that they'll be in contact. (At least they replied!)

What do I do to get a proper response out of SP?
I've been more than reasonable in trying to get SP to sort this, with contacting them etc. I believe its up to SP to sort this, as I told them about the incorrect meter serial when I opened the account etc.

dogshome

Hi bwgames - I know you have written to Scot. Power, but the key is to head the letter
Complaint, which then puts it onto an official track whereby that SP must respond within fixed time limits, and also within time limits either resolve the problem or issue a "Deadlock Notice" that allows you to escalate the your complaint to the Ombudsman
Good Luck

Scottish_Power

Hi bwgames

Sorry to hear about the inconvenience you have been caused.

When you first contacted ScottishPower to confirm that the meter details we held for you were incorrect the account should have been placed into dispute so that further investigations could be carried out. This also stops any further debt action on the account until the matter is resolved.

If none of the above was carried out by us, and you changed supplier, we are now unable to arrange a site visit and this can be carried out by your new supplier to ensure all relevant systems are updated accordingly.

I would suggest contacting us using the details shown at Stage 1 in the link below:

http://www.scottishpower.co.uk/Home_Energy/Customer_Services/Making_a_complaint/

When you contact us it would be helpful if you were able to confirm the correct meter reading when you moved into your new property and the meter reading you provided to NPower when you changed supplier. Make sure that a dispute is added to your account to stop any debt follow up action.

If you are able to provide accurate start and finish meter readings for relevant dates, we may be able to amend our charges so that we charge you for the gas/elec that you have actually consumed. This way you will be able to clear any outstanding balance for ScottishPower and once NPower have carried out a site visit to update the correct meter details, you will be billed on the correct meter details (serial number and readings) going forward.

Contact us as soon as you can to stop the debt action. If you want to send me the relevant details then use our email address shown in the profile page.

I hope this information helps. Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower