Question for the Scottish Power Company Rep

Leblanc_2

I received a telephone call from Scottish Power with a special offer, (Online Energy Reward ) to change our energy supply to them.
After completing the calculations I agreed to the switch provided I received full details of the offer in writing. I was told that I would receive this by e-mail after completing the changeover. This I did, and I was then transferred to a Team Leader to confirm that the changeover process was in order. I sought reassurance that I would be receiving the above e-mail by return. The Team Leader said that I would not be receive an e-mail but that I would be receiving a Welcome Pack instead and that the 7 day cooling off period would run from the date of receipt of the pack.
I subsequently received an e-mail the same day, confirming that I had signed up, BUT there were no details concerning the offer AND the e-mail stated that the 7 day cooling off period was to run from the date of the receipt of this e-mail.
This is wholly unsatisfactory. I was given two pieces of misleading information, i.e. initially from sales, then from the Team Leader.
I then e-mailed Scottish Power and explained the above. I received an e-mail today in response, which did not address my concerns and simply asked me to telephone the sales team again.
I contacted sales again this morning and asked for the missing offer details, and was told it would be posted out and it should be within the 7 working day period. To expedite matters, (as I was obviously concerned that the clock was now ticking) I requested the offer details with tariffs etc, be sent by e-mail, and this was agreed to. I have just received an e-mail which has scant information. There is nothing about cashback, or other discounts, or the fixed duration etc. For electric [FONT=&quot]it states that the first 225kWh [/FONT]is at 23.21p. I was told over the telephone that it was 125 units at 23.21p.
The sales staff were pleasant, but I do not appreciate the goal posts being moved once you have signed up. In the current environment of misleading energy sales, Scottish Power will need to ensure that their changeover processes are above reproach. I am now re-considering whether I will continue with Scottish Power.

King_Juan

I've had a similar issue just recently. I was called, made a cashback offer to switch yet received no details of the offer made in my letter. As this was my main reason for switching, I phoned SP only to be told by everyone I spoke to that they knew nothing of the offer! I had to raise a complaint and 7 days later I was called to confirm they had listened back to the original call and would be honouring the offer (even though i shouldn't have been made the offer because it wasn't a Thursday!). It seems that SP are using external agents to get business and there could be a mis-communication between themselves and the agents. My advice to you is to raise a complaint with SP and they will sort it out for you - despite the confusion I found SP very helpful and fair with sorting this out for me.

Leblanc_2

Thanks for your input King Juan.

I sent another e-mail to sales concerning the scant info in the last e-mail. The person has replied saying that he has passed matters on to another team to investigate, and they will respond within 5 working days.

Everything seems to go so well when someone is selling you something, but falls down as soon as the first hurdle is reached.

I am not impressed!

Scottish_Power

Hi Leblanc

I am very sorry to hear about the poor service you have received. This is unacceptable and the information you have given will be fed back to ensure any mis-communication or training issues are highlighted and action is taken to ensure this does not happen again.

It is not fair to advise a customer that they have 7 days from the date of an email to accept our offer if the email does not provide any information regarding the agreement. I will raise this issue with the sales team to review how the email is worded.

We do not offer an electricity tariff which charges 125 kWh at a specific rate. Our billing system cannot be adjusted so that we do and so if this was offered to you in error, we are very sorry and if you do not wish to transfer based on the correct rates then we can raise an Erroneous Transfer so that you remain with your current supplier.

The tariff that you have been offered will provide you with very competitive rates.

As King_Juan states, we can listen to the sales call to check what information was given to you at the time. If you have aleady raised a complaint then this will be fully investigated for you. Please let me know if you have any outstanding issues once the complaints team have responded to you.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

Scottish_Power

Hi Leblanc

I stand corrected. It has been brought to my attention that our Price Tracker Energy April 2011 tariff (which offers a 2% discount on British Gas's standard monthly Direct Debit prices for gas and electricity until April 2011) does offer a Primary rate for the first 125 kWh used per quarter. All other tariffs including Online Energy Reward offer a Primary rate for the first 225 kWh used per quarter.

Sorry for any confusion.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

Leblanc_2

Colin,

I was contacted by Customer Services this am. They had listened to the sales telephone conversation and confirmed that I had been given incorrect tariff details.

The transfer has been a problematic one, with misleading information (in addition to the incorrect tariff) from 3 different sources, ie the sales person, their team leader, and subsequently the Welcome Pack. This led to a total loss of confidence in Scottish Power.

This has also involved me in e-mails and telephone calls over the period of a week, to try and sort the problems out.

This should not be happening, and at the end of it all, I am told by Customer Services "I can only apologise".

I have now cancelled my transfer application with Scottish Power.

Leblanc_2

Colin,

The problems with Scottish Power just keep coming.

After my phone call and apology from Customer services this am in which my cancellation was noted and accepted, I received an e-mail asking for my meter numbers. I sent a reply saying I had cancelled because of misinformation.
I then received a very lengthy e-mail by return, saying that my 7 day cooling off period had expired, because I had agreed to the changeover on the 20th May and today was the 27th May, so I must notify my supplier of the transfer!!!!

This is now a 4th interpretation by Scottish Power of the '7day cooling off period'.

In this one it is no longer 7 working days and apparently includes the day of the changeover.

Scottish Power really needs to sort out its staff training, and the information provided regarding the 7 day cooling off period.

If I get just one more problematic e-mail or communication or interference from Scottish Power, I am going to pass all the information over to the Energy Ombudsman.

Scottish_Power

Hi Leblanc

This is shocking service and I am very sorry that you have had to experience this. From the information you have provided within this thread, there are a number of training issues requiring attention with the agents that have dealt with your account.

The email you received will unfortunately be an automated email that is sent to you once your application to transfer has been accepted. The fact that we then replied to your email contradicting information that had already been given to you (cancellation accepted) is just not good enough.

Following the information you provided regarding the email and the confusion this caused, we are looking at removing the cancellation statement from the emails.

I would like to escalate this matter to ensure that we do not provide this kind of service again. I would be grateful if you could contact me privately and provide your application details so that I can escalate this to the relevant bodies.

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

eschaton

scottishpower_company_representative wrote: »

Hi Leblanc

This is shocking service......

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

That's Scottish Power's motto.

I will be leaving very soon.

Yogibear

eschaton wrote: »

That's Scottish Power's motto.

I will be leaving very soon.

I just received an email from Scottish Power saying my contract comes to an end on the 1 st June but not to worry as they will keep me on the same tariff for another year,on reading the t&cs I see if I cancel or move to another supplier after 14 th July and before June 2011 they will charge me a cancellation charge of £30 and £20 =£50 what a bl**dy nerve.

Leblanc_2

scottishpower_company_representative wrote: »

Hi Leblanc

This is shocking service and I am very sorry that you have had to experience this. From the information you have provided within this thread, there are a number of training issues requiring attention with the agents that have dealt with your account.

The email you received will unfortunately be an automated email that is sent to you once your application to transfer has been accepted. The fact that we then replied to your email contradicting information that had already been given to you (cancellation accepted) is just not good enough.

Following the information you provided regarding the email and the confusion this caused, we are looking at removing the cancellation statement from the emails.

I would like to escalate this matter to ensure that we do not provide this kind of service again. I would be grateful if you could contact me privately and provide your application details so that I can escalate this to the relevant bodies.

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

Colin,

Thanks for the offer, but I have already provided all the details on various e-mails and over the telephone when Customer Services contacted me.

I have now moved on, hopefully to a less problematic energy company.

At the very least Scottish Power have taught me an important lesson, ie never to agree to a contract until the full details are available in written format.

I have done this with the new company.

On a general level, the introduction of competing energy companies was meant to improve things for consumers. The energy companies have done their best to muddy the waters and make pricing as opaque as possible, to prevent comparison. In addition some of their employees are operating dishonestly in providing eroneous information and motivated to do this either through the pressure of targets and or bonuses. The whole system needs to be cleaned up, as is evidenced by the sheer number of problems aired on this site.