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

Jomo

I called last wkd to find out what kind of contract I was on. Found out that I was in credit and they dropped my monthly dd accordingly.

I'm on a capped for free tarif though, I suspect I could get cheaper elsewhere...

naked

Scottish power threatened to send bailiffs around several time to collect the £5.50 I owed them for gas accodring to their records even though my account was "in dispute" while they updated the final meter readings which I gave them but they hadn't put on their system.

They've sent me a final electricity bill saying i'm £70 in credit and "I do not have to do anything". I was on prepayment and I don't think I put £70 on my account over the whole time I was with them. One I will be investigating at the weekend...

Scottish_Power

Hi naked

With prepayment meters we record a meter reading every time you top up the meter. This makes it easy to see if we are billing your account to the correct meter readings. It is possible that the statement you have received is not billing your account right up to date. Check the period that we are billing you for and what payments have been credited onto your account.

It may be that we have been amending your account to bill to accurate meter readings, and that we have billed up to a certain period (invoice should be held) and then require to bill the account up to date. The first invoice will show charges up to a given date, say 1st March 2010 for example, if this is done on 1st May 2010, again for example, the first statement will include all payments received up to 1st May 2010 but only charges up to 1st March 2010. The statement might therefore say you are in credit by a certain amount, however the account needs to be billed up to date to show your correct balance.

I hope this makes sense and is something to check when you receive your statement. Make sure the account is billed to date and that the payments are also included up to that date.

If you want me to check your account and find out what is going on then let me know.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

Newcroft

I too, have had trouble with Scottish Power. Joined them on a dual fuel tariff (online, no standing charges) at the end of 2009. First 3-monthly bill was fine. So were the second and third bills.

However, when the 4th bill arrived, I noticed that SP had cancelled the 3rd bill and lumped it in with bill number 4. There were convoluted calculations (cancellations/additions) which I found difficult to understand.

By this time, my tariff had only one month to go before it was due to expire at the end of November. Consequently, I phoned Scottish Power at the beginning of November and asked them about a replacement tariff. It was agreed that I would sign up for another online (no standing charges) tariff, which would involve higher prices.
I asked if the old tariff would be allowed to expire before the new one kicked-in. I was assured that the new agreement would not start until the beginning of December.

Although I wasn't due a bill for another three months, SP sent me a bill for the month of November (and ONLY for November). Half of November was charged at the old rate (which was still current), whilst the second half of the month (which was still current) had been charged at the new higher rate.

I phoned SP and pointed out their mistake. The woman said that it would be rectified. Then, three months later (at the end of February 2011), I received an email from SP, requesting meter readings. As I had always done, I sent the gas and electricity readings to Scottish Power via their online webpage. But nevertheless, I continued to receive more emails asking for the meter readings. Each time, I provided them via the webpage.

Eventually, I sent an email to SP, asking what their problem was. They responded by asking for the readings to be sent by email - which I duly did. Next day, I received another email requesting the readings. In that particular email, I was told that I had been logged on to their website (a few hours earlier) and had failed to enter the readings. I therefore phoned SP and gave the readings to one of the customer support staff.

SP subsequently sent me an ESTIMATED bill for a four-month period (Nov - beginning of March). The bill was extremely difficult to understand and contained Standing Charges. They had put me on the wrong tariff!

Unfortunately, I have lost faith in Scottish Power and am in the process of changing suppliers. Some research on the Internet led me to a firm called EBICO, who have a customer satisfaction rating of 72%. (Scottish Power have a 46% rating).

Whereas with SP, you have to pay for an 0845 phone call when you want to speak to one of their customer reps, all phone calls to EBICO are free (0800) and you get straight through to a human being. The fact that my own energy needs will cost less with EBICO is also a bonus.

The changeover will hopefully take place in 6 weeks time. I can only hope that my departure from Scottish Power will be less frustrating than the last 15 months with them. No doubt they will be asking for a penalty charge (they have a hard neck), however, my bills with the new supplier will be much more simple and easier to understand.

Newcroft

Newcroft wrote: »

I too, have had trouble with Scottish Power. Joined them on a dual fuel tariff (online, no standing charges) at the end of 2009. First 3-monthly bill was fine. So were the second and third bills.

However, when the 4th bill arrived, I noticed that SP had cancelled the 3rd bill and lumped it in with bill number 4. There were convoluted calculations (cancellations/additions) which I found difficult to understand.

By this time, my tariff had only one month to go before it was due to expire at the end of November. Consequently, I phoned Scottish Power at the beginning of November and asked them about a replacement tariff. It was agreed that I would sign up for another online (no standing charges) tariff, which would involve higher prices.
I asked if the old tariff would be allowed to expire before the new one kicked-in. I was assured that the new agreement would not start until the beginning of December.

Although I wasn't due a bill for another three months, SP sent me a bill for the month of November (and ONLY for November). Half of November was charged at the old rate (which was still current), whilst the second half of the month (which was still current) had been charged at the new higher rate.

I phoned SP and pointed out their mistake. The woman said that it would be rectified. Then, three months later (at the end of February 2011), I received an email from SP, requesting meter readings. As I had always done, I sent the gas and electricity readings to Scottish Power via their online webpage. But nevertheless, I continued to receive more emails asking for the meter readings. Each time, I provided them via the webpage.

Eventually, I sent an email to SP, asking what their problem was. They responded by asking for the readings to be sent by email - which I duly did. Next day, I received another email requesting the readings. In that particular email, I was told that I had been logged on to their website (a few hours earlier) and had failed to enter the readings. I therefore phoned SP and gave the readings to one of the customer support staff.

SP subsequently sent me an ESTIMATED bill for a four-month period (Nov - beginning of March). The bill was extremely difficult to understand and contained Standing Charges. They had put me on the wrong tariff!

Unfortunately, I have lost faith in Scottish Power and am in the process of changing suppliers. Some research on the Internet led me to a firm called EBICO, who have a customer satisfaction rating of 72%. (Scottish Power have a 46% rating).

Whereas with SP, you have to pay for an 0845 phone call when you want to speak to one of their customer reps, all phone calls to EBICO are free (0800) and you get straight through to a human being. The fact that my own energy needs will cost less with EBICO is also a bonus.

The changeover will hopefully take place in 6 weeks time. I can only hope that my departure from Scottish Power will be less frustrating than the last 15 months with them. No doubt they will be asking for a penalty charge (they have a hard neck), however, my bills with the new supplier will be much more simple and easier to understand.

Update: I will be changing supplier within the next couple of weeks, however, my dispute with Scottish Power has (apparently) ended. I received a phone call from one of SP's employees, admitting that their billing system was so confusing that they were baffled by their own computer calculations.

Conceding that they had made several billing errors, I was offered an amount to counterbalance their error. The SP employee said that it would be advisable to keep their billing department out of any attempts to rectify the error, as they would probably come up with another INCORRECT calculation.

I am so glad to be escaping from Scottish Power.

Scottish_Power

Hi Newcroft

I would like to apologise for the confusion caused by the incorrect billing of your account. Our customer service team should be able to explain exactly what has happened with your account and also clarify the charges we have applied. I know that there were a number of online customers that were incorrectly taken off the online tariff which caused a great deal of confusion to customers who were trying to access their online accounts and update meter readings.

If you were on a variable tariff (non-capped tariff) your prices may have been affected by our price review on 25th November 2010 which may be the reason for your November statements showing a change to your unit rates. Either way we should have been able to clarify exactly what has been happening with your account when you contacted us.

If you are still confused about any aspect of your account, please contact me at [EMAIL="onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com"]onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL] and I will provide you with the answers you are looking for.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

Newcroft

Hello Colin,

Thanks for offering to help, but the matter has already been sorted, which is just as well. I won't go into any details. Suffice to say that Scottish Power made a real mess of billing over a period of months. You have no idea how confusing it became. Despite contacting support staff several times, I had to make an appointment to speak to a SP troubleshooter. That person conceded that they too were confused by their own errors.

Thankfully, we came to a mutual agreement (and avoided the involvement of SP billing department).

Newcroft

..........

Newcroft

My starting date with EBICO is scheduled for 18 April 2011.
In the meantime, I have received an email from Scottish Power advising that my final 'Dual Fuel' bill will be split into two separate bills. One for Gas and another for Electricity. Oh, dearie me, but this company seem to go out of their way to complicate things. Why have one bill when you can have two. It will be interesting to see how this affects the 'Online Billing' and 'Dual Fuel' discounts. Good old Scottish Power; awkward to the last.
Fortunately, I have drawn up a spreadsheet which will work out my final bill (or should I say bills) to the penny.
Needless to say, I will keep you informed of the final outcome.

Newcroft

Forgot to say that Scottish Power have offered me £40 cashback if I stay with them. That's still £11.06p short of the £51.06 penalty they will be charging me for cancelling their Capped Price contract. Pathetic.