If you left SCOTTISH POWER, chances are they still owe you money

SPwillrobyou

I recently found out that SCOTTISH POWER could have been charging me £600 per annum LESS than I have been paying for fuel. How did I find this out? I went to the USwitch site and found out.
So I decided to go with British Gas for my gas and electricity, as they have a plan that will save me that same amount.

When I phoned SCOTTISH POWER to tell them I was switching, they informed me that I'd have to pay a penalty for leaving them as 'my contract with them wasn't quite a year old', even though they had signed me onto this new plan when my old contract finished.

When asked why I was leaving, I explained that despite having a plan that would save me £600 a year, they signed me onto another - knowingly charging me more. 'We could switch you over to that plan' the woman explained. 'No thanks' I said, 'you should have done that anyway if your business was customer-focused and you cared about customer retention'.

Now that the switching procedure is over, Scottish Power have sent me final bills indicating I am owed just over £130. I've paid them by variable standing order for many years and assumed they'd put it back in my account. BE WARNED - THEY DO NOT. You have to phone them up and ask for it back and EVEN THEN, they say 'they'll get a CHEQUE authorised' and send it. Incredible as they can take money from your account instantly each month!

I find their action from start to finish reprehensible and they should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.

Orange, my mobile phone company, have a totally different (customer orientated) approach. They monitor my usage and inform me if I could be saving money by switching to another plan. THIS IS HOW IT SHOULD BE.

SCOTTISH POWER could learn a lot from this.

LESSONS LEARNED:
1. When your existing contract ends, go to USwitch and shop around for the cheapest deal. IF YOU DON'T, YOU'LL GET SHUNTED ON TO A NEW TARIFF THAT WILL COST YOU DEARLY.
2. SCOTTISH POWER WILL NOT PUT YOU ONTO THEIR CHEAPEST DEAL. It's up to you to find it and ask for it.
3. MOVE FROM THE PLAN THEY PUT YOU ON STRAIGHT AWAY OTHERWISE YOU'LL HAVE TO PAY A PENALTY TO CHANGE LATER. (They do warn you of this in writing when they put you on to the new plan but the letter is so sweetly worded that you're not bothered at the time because you believe they've put you onto the best plan for you. THEY HAVEN'T).
THIS IS SHARP PRACTICE. THERE SHOULD BE A LAW AGAINST IT.
4. When your final bill comes and you're in credit PHONE THEM UP AND ASK FOR THE MONEY BACK OR YOU WON'T RECEIVE IT.
5. Customer retention means nothing to Scottish Power. I've been with them for 5 years yet they're happy to lose me through trying to con me.
6. AVOID SCOTTISH POWER like the plague.

Finally: IF A CUSTOMER HAS BEEN PAYING THEIR BILLS BY STANDING ORDER FOR YEARS THEN ANY REFUND SHOULD BE INSTANTAEOUSLY CREDITED BACK TO THEIR BANK ACCOUNT. THE CUSTOMER SHOULD NOT HAVE TO PHONE UP AND ASK FOR IT. AND IT SHOULD NOT TAKE ANOTHER 10 DAYS + CHEQUE CLEARANCE TIME. THIS IS FURTHER PROFITEERING

sheils6

Well said - bet you feel better for saying all that. I left them 2 years ago and had bother with the transfer and had to chase the money they owed me too. E-on has let me change my plans with them twice and never charged me the £30 they are allowed too so I am happy with them.

Premier_2

SPwillrobyou - I hate to spoil your rant, but I'm afraid all energy companies ( that offer a range of tariffs) operate in the same way.
(apart from keeping your money after you left which seems to have been a hiccup in your specific case)

SPwillrobyou

Thank you Sheil6, YES I feel a lot better letting others know what a swindling racket Scottish Plunder is. Also, the penalties they charged me were DOUBLE as i used both Gas and Electricity. That's £100 to leave them.
And if you write to them, they don't give a fig. There's very little we as consumers can do - other than leaving them.
When it comes to essential services, we are held to ransom every time - it's very frustrating.

SPwillrobyou

Premier: "apart from keeping your money after you left which seems to have been a hiccup in your specific case)" - not at all. I just contacted my Dad who left them a couple of months back and... surprise, surprise, he just checked his bank statements and didn't get his refund back either. He's just phoned them up and been told that they'll raise a cheque for him too, which'll take 7 to 10 days.

Hiccup? No. It's standard operating procedure.

Premier_2

Tell me, what plan did you agree to that is costing you over £600 a year more? What possessed you to opt for that plan with the early exit fees? (because it's not the one they would have put you on without a request)Did you use a comparison site? If so, what tariff was it, what supply area do you live in and what is your annual usage in kWh please?

kimdunja

I too have had problems with SP - with my previous property and with my dad.

However, Colin, the SP rep on here is extremely helpful and resolved my issues within a week - if he offers help, take it. It is a shame he has to do this, and that SP can't get it right the first time round. However, Colin is very good.

Scottish_Power

Hi SPwillrobyou

I am very sorry to hear about your situation. I appreciate your comments and agree with your customer retention message.

The situation you refer to regarding your tariff being changed onto a new tariff (which includes a cancellation charge) was a popular topic with customers this time last year. This was introduced to encourage customers to remain with their current supplier for longer rather than chop and change every couple of months when someone introduced a new tariff. You will find now that a lot of suppliers will offer their best tariff along with a cancellation charge if you change tariff or supplier within the contract period.

I note your comments regarding Orange who you say will monitor your usage and inform you if you could be saving money. I am also an Orange customer (some years now), however is this not something that you have to contact them about to confirm whether you can be changed onto a better tariff? The reason I mention this is that we offer the exact same service. We previously offered this and it was called our "Savings Challenge" where we encouraged customers to contact us and review their tariff. We would then discuss the available tariff and see whether we were offering a more suitable one for you. This similar service is currently being marketed on our website and called "Perfect Match". Click on the link below and then select Perfect Match at the top. Although it is quite Tongue in Cheek, you can either call us direct or fill in our quiz to highlight to you the best tariffs we have for you.

http://www.scottishpower.co.uk/your-home/existing-customer/home.aspx

The fact that your credit balance was not refunded to you automatically, highlights to me that the account was either closed to estimated meter readings (and would not be issued until the readings were confirmed) or that the automatic refund option was changed for some reason (the account would need to be checked to see if and why this was done). Under normal circumstances, credit balances on closed accounts are automatically refunded by cheque within 10 working days when the account has been closed to accurate meter readings. I am sorry that you are unhappy with this. Unfortunately this is a commercial decision and implemented across the business.

I am unaware of a tariff that we offer where we will apply a cancellation charge of £100. Our cancellation charges have been £30 for electricity and £20 for gas. Can you confirm what tariff you were on and I will check this for you as you should not be charged £100.

Please let me know if you have any further questions and I will be happy to help.

kimdunja - Thank you very much for your kind words.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

clairehi

Hope you feel better now...I am an ex SP customer too. This really is a case of "buyer beware" and is what MSE is all about.

Re your points
1. Applies to all energy suppliers not just SP
2. Applies to all energy suppliers
3. If you do 1. and 2. above should not apply, but I agree with you they should not auto transfer customers to a deal with tie in penalties was this not stopped in the end?
4. This is a bit naughty of SP, and I was caught by this too as I was slow to send in a final meter reading so had to phone up for a cheque when I realised they were not going to pay me automatically. But I did get paid
5, 6 Many energy suppliers offer incentives such as cashback for new customers but do not offer the same incentives to retain existing business. It is exactly the same for insurance. It can only be economic for them because the majority of consumers cannot be bothered to do points 1 and 2 above. EDF gave me £60 cashback for joining them, which was £60 earned for a couple of phone calls and maybe 15 mins to fill out a form on line.

Zaksmummy

Same thing happen to me, although they sent me my electric account refund promptly I had to ring up and ask for my Gas account refund, even though they had sent a final account letter for both utilities. Also I had cancelled DD before changeover as I was in credit still, and they put me onto standard tarriff, but thankfully it was only for a couple of weeks.

CharlieBilly

These contracts are anti competitive I dont know why the regulator allows them to get away with it its not in the customers interest