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

Newcroft

Hello Graeme,

Thank you for your offer. It's such a pity that you are here for damage limitation purposes only. Otherwise, there would be no need for your presence here.

Be rest assured that I will contact you should I experience any further difficulties with your company. Nevertheless, I will let the posters on this forum know the outcome of my departure from Scottish Power. It's only fair, isn't it?

Unfortunately, in my last post, I stated that I owed £7.77p to Scottish Power, when in fact, I should have said that Scottish Power owe me £7.77p. When you're in your 60's, and confronted with firms like Scottish Power, it's so easy to become confused and intimidated. Simple things like basic arithmetic seem to be a thing of the past when dealing with firms like Scottish Power.

Nevertheless, my spreadsheet (after consultation) has been confirmed to be correct. The sum of £7.77p (which SP owe me) is correct (unless of course, Scottish Power renege on their own contract (including discounts). Time will tell.

Newcroft

Update:

As posted earlier in this thread, I recently left Scottish Power (with whom I had a Dual Fuel online tariff). My reason for leaving was due to SP's billing department (repeated errors in all bills since November 2010).

Well, I have now received Scottish Power's final bills. As expected, they split my final 'dual fuel' bill into 2 separate bills; one for GAS and the other for ELECTRICITY. And, as I forecast in one of my earlier posts, they managed to botch it up again. Both bills should have been for the period 03 March - 17 April 2011.

The separate GAS bill (03 March - 17 April 2011).
Whilst the billing dates were correct, the amount of online/dual fuel discount was wrong. Ok, the amount of error was only about 70p, but just the same, arithmetic is arithmetic. The amount of VAT was therefore wrong. And, according to the bill, I was £0.63p in debit (when in actual fact I should have been £8.37p in Credit). I therefore telephoned their Call Centre and pointed out the mistake.

The separate ELECTRICITY bill (04 January - 16 April 2011).
The billing period for this bill should have been from 03 March until 17 April (same as the gas bill). However, as you can see from the above heading, the period for which they billed me was from January to April. I therefore telephoned the SP Call Centre and managed to sort out the confusion. (Although I could go into the details of the conversation, I won't. Believe me, it was confusing! Suffice to say that an understanding was reached). I am in credit and should be receiving a cheque from SP in approximately 10 days time.

Now that the affair is virtually over, I appreciate more than ever, the importance of good quality customer service. In my experience, Scottish Power did not provide this. Whilst their call centre agents were courteous throughout, their billing system was absolutely shocking. Bills from November 2010 onwards were inaccurate to some extent, which confused not only me, but also the billing staff themselves, and an SP manager who looked into my complaint. In her email response to me, the manager stated, "I will confirm Mr. xxxxxxxx that I myself am now confused and I totally agree with your comments made." I am so relieved that during my time with Scottish Power, I took the trouble of keeping an up-to-date spreadsheet. Because, without it, I wouldn't have been able to keep track of what I really owed.

Only a few days ago, Scottish Power sent an employee to my home address to see if I could be persuaded to remain with them. During our conversation, the employee conceded that my new supplier provided good customer service. Needless to say, I have no intention of returning to Scottish Power.


My new provider, on the other hand, is the same company that has been supplying dual fuel to my elderly father for several years. During that time, the bills have been error-free. Telephone calls are answered much quicker. You don't necessarily have to contact them on more costly 0845 numbers either. And in the event of a bill having to be amended, the new supplier's call centre staff have authority to amend the bill there and then while the customer is still on the phone. Customers are actively encouraged to ask for an agent by name, should the customer experience further difficulty with a problem. This ensures continuity. The reason I know this is because I deal with my father's utility bills.

So that's it. It's all over and I feel such a relief at getting rid of Scottish Power, albeit I had to pay a cancellation charge. Nevertheless, for my own peace of mind, it was worth it!

oldandhappy

Scottish Power are giving us the run around with our final Bills. Our readings have been passed on to SP from our new supplier but we have received an ESTIMATED electricity bill only that is at least one third over priced. They refuse to take our readings and stated the ones they used for our bill was from our new supplier..Untrue and being disputed which is just delaying the changeover. Gas bill yet to be received.Never would be go back to this company

Scottish_Power

Hi oldandhappy,

The change of supplier process can sometimes cause problems especially when agreeing transfer reads, this may however be something I can help you with.

If you want me to have a look at your account and see waht is causing the delay please e-mail me at [EMAIL="onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com"]onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL]

Kind regards

Graeme @ ScottishPower

Newcroft

Latest Update:

Scottish Power are just off the phone to me. They wanted to know why I left them. Give me strength, I have already told them umpteen times via telephone and email system about my displeasure with their billing system! I even explained the situation to a Scottish Power employee who was sent to my home address.

Now, in an effort to entice me back as a customer, they want to offer me 'favourable rates' compared to the rates I'm presently being charged by Ebicon. Not on your Nellie Duff !!! They won't get me back unless they radically revamp their customer support system and vastly elevate their reputation.

The man who phoned me this afternoon was puzzled as to why I had been prepared to pay a cancellation charge. When I tried to explain in detail, he suddenly lost interest. No surprise there then, eh?

I am losing patience with this company. Utterly useless.