Scottish Power issue

hotclubdeparis

I'm having a bit of a problem with Scottish Power and wondered if anyone had any advice?

We are moving house this week (hopefully picking up the keys today, yay!). The person we are buying from is with Scottish Power so we phoned them to get some details of their packages. Whilst my partner was on the phone they said what they would do was set us up an account and put us on a package and if we didn't want to go with them after we'd got some quotes elsewhere that was okay, all we would need to do was phone up an cancel by the end of this week and we would not be charged.

Whilst my partner was on the phone he set the account up with both mine and his details on so we could both speak to the company.

We've found a better price from another supplier, so my parter phoned them this morning, only to be told that as he had agreed to the package we would have to pay a £50 release fee so we could switch elsewhere.

He had to go to work so I phoned them back to try and discuss this (after all we were told that if we cancelled before friday there would be no charge), but they refused to speak to me saying my name was not on the accout! I know he gave them all my details, I was sitting next to him when he did it! All they would say as we'd agreed to sign up so we would have to pay the release fee.

I've spoken to someone else and they have said something about either a 7 or 14 pay "cooling off period" where you should be able to cancel things you have bought over the phone, but wasn't really sure of anything else about it.

Can anyone else give us any suggestion? I'm not impressed at have to pay £50, when we were told we could cancel free before friday (also a little unimpressed they seem to have lost my details!).

dogshome

Hi hotclubdeparis - Act Quickly - Send an Email heading it Complaint stating the facts about your earlier conversation and the 7 day change-your-mind option you were verbally given, and that you are notifying them of your wish to Switch within the 7 day timeframe

You should quote yur account number in this, but the chances are you have not yet been notified of what it is, so quote whatever info. you have got - Previous occupiers A/C No.? Date of conversation?

Scot Power may well later deny you were given this option - The information given out by Phone Service Desk staff cannot be relied on - but with this Email on record you can take the matter to the Ombudsman if you have to

hotclubdeparis

My partner has just got home and called them and then put me on the line.
In all credit the lady I've just spoken to has been very nice about it and they have said they will wave the cancellation fee, so a result there!
Apparently the first guy we spoke to should have told us about the cancellation charge as they will waive it because he didn't do so.
Whoo, all sorted!

davidgmmafan

I'm not sure what it means when you say we'll buying from X company. You need to know who the supplier is NOW and register with them, since you will have a deemed contract with them. You are of course free to choose your supplier and that takes at least 28 days.

Premier_2

hotclubdeparis wrote: »

... they have said they will wave the cancellation fee, so a result there!...

Not really what I would call a result.

It doesn't appear you agreed to the contract/tariff in the first instance. You can't agree to a contract unless you are made aware the terms of that contract.

So no cancellation fee would have applied anyway to wave to (or even waive)

You can't set up an account until you are legally responsible for the property, whereupon you will be expected to supply meter redaings. You can request any available tariff at that time, and if you don't expect to be put on the suppliers standard (expensive) tariff which will not have any early exit fees.

Any agreement come to by a previous account holder with their supplier will not affect you ... even if they are an employee of that supplier. I would lodge a complaint against the individual concerned as I suspect he has attempted to act inappropriately anyway. Perhaps he requires further training in his role...?

Next time you want to speak to a supplier, call them directly rather than calling a person you are buying a house from

Moneymatta

Scottish Power has not been able to send bill details to online customers for some time, only the total amount. If you want to analyse your bills, or indeed check the readings - a good idea, you cannot do this. I have recently gone to dual fuel with them and the it is not possible to distinguish to which fuel discounts and vat apply. Also whilst they put the dates from and to the do not confirm by putting the number of days used in the calculation. Regulations (recommendations?) say they should do this.
EDF is the same in respect of days.

Back to the comparison sites!!!!!!!!!

Cheapest is not necessarily the best.

Scottish_Power

Hi hotclubdeparis

Sorry to hear about your situation. From what you have posted, it sounds like you have not had a clear explanation on the process of changing supplier. If you agreed to a contract tariff, i.e. a capped or discounted tariff which comes with a cancellation charge, then the cancellation charge can be removed if you decide within the 7 days that you do not wish to proceed on this tariff. Transferring to another supplier can take between 4 and 6 weeks from the date of the agreement, therefore ScottishPower will still be liable to charge you until you transfer to your new supplier.

Make sure that you keep a note of the meter readings when you moved into the property and also the meter readings that you provide for the transfer dates. When you receive your final bill from ScottishPower, check that all meter readings match.

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

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

Photojonic

Moneymatta wrote: »

Scottish Power has not been able to send bill details to online customers for some time, only the total amount. If you want to analyse your bills, or indeed check the readings - a good idea, you cannot do this. I have recently gone to dual fuel with them and the it is not possible to distinguish to which fuel discounts and vat apply. Also whilst they put the dates from and to the do not confirm by putting the number of days used in the calculation. Regulations (recommendations?) say they should do this.
EDF is the same in respect of days.

Back to the comparison sites!!!!!!!!!

Cheapest is not necessarily the best.

Have just discovered this myself... recently moved into a house already supplied by ScottishPower and just submitted a first meter reading after a month online to see how much it works out at. Mysteriously an extra 3 units of Electricity appeared on the readings. I can see how much my bill is online, but can't find anyway of working out how they got to that figure (as my own calculations based on the prices I've been told over the phone do not match)

Having read this post an discovering I may not get a proper bill that tells me exactly how my bill was calculated makes me wonder if it's worth paying that little bit more for the peace of mind that I'm getting billed properly...

Scottish_Power

Hi Photojonic

This was an issue that we were aware of and our IT specialists have been working hard to resolve. I have been advised that the fault is now sorted and you should have no issue viewing your full bill.

Let me know if this is not the case and I will escalate the matter for you. Also, let me know if you would like me to clarify any charges that have been applied to your account.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower