Scottish Power - On line problems.

peteuk

I found out yesturday that Scottish Power are having problems with their on line account system.

I first highlighted the problem in September, which they have seem to put as a one off. Whichis fair to be honest, however it reoccurred in Novemeber and now I have been told that there is 4 other cases and the IT peeps are looking into to.

The problem occurs when you log into you account to input readings. When you log in the system takes a balance of your account and shows you this. However when you then enter readings it the second system that bills you shows you a second ammount, this then appears to change all you previous totals.

Thankfully I took screen shots of my account and have proven to SP that the problem does occure. Of course when you phone them, their system adds up so as far as they are concerned its not a problem.

The advice I have been given as a temp fix is to log in, enter readings then log out and log back in. That will give me the true ammount.

IF YOU ARE ON A ONLINE BILL TARRIF I WOULD SUGGEST TAKING SCREEN SHOTS OF YOU ACCOUNT BEFORE YOU ENTER THE READINGS. JUST IN CASE THE ERROR OCCURS TO YOU.

I will add that Scottish Power have been a little slow in sorting this, however I have been given serveral apologies and have recieved compensation for the trouble. Which I have been thankfull for.

Just goes to show what might be a one off, can re-occure and to others.

Scottish_Power

Hi peteuk

From the information you have posted this is exactly what I would expect to happen with your account and I will explain why. Your online account will show a balance on the account which will take into account the gas/electricity charges up to the last bill generated (say 01/08/10 for example) however it will include all payments made up to date. Your account balance (prior to you updating any new meter readings) may show a credit of £200 for example. If you then update meter readings and generate a bill up to date your account balance will be adjusted accordingly. If you used £200 of gas/electricity from 01/08/10 then your new balance will be zero.

Is this the situation you were experiencing?

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

peteuk

No...and as expected Scottish Power dont seem to have sent the info down the chain of customer services.

What happens is.

You log on the account and it shows a total at that current time for instance (see below)

01 Dec 10 payment recieved £50 Balance £100 credit
01 Nov 10 payment recieved £50 Balance £50 credit
01 Oct 10 Payment recieved £50 Balance £0.00

but then when the new readings are put in it changers the whole screen.

02 Dec Bill £50.00 Balance £0
01 Dec 10 payment recieved £50 Balance £50 credit
01 Nov 10 payment recieved £50 Balance £0
01 Oct 10 Payment recieved £50 Balance £50 debit.

The email sent from the tech peeps is somewhat confussing but the bottom line is I told SP about this in Sept and they did nothing now more cases are occuring they seem to be doing something about it.......

first time it happened they credited my account £40, now they have written off my next bill....you dont do that if there isnt a problem.

Scottish_Power

Hi peteuk

I am online with ScottishPower myself and I have not noticed this situation before and I will investigate this myself. If you send me your details I can investigate this further, otherwise I am working with the information that you provide in your post.

The only time that a balance will be relevant to you is when both payments and charges are both up to date. If your account says that you are £500 in credit yet you have not been billed for the last 3 months then this credit balance is irrelevant. If you update meter readings and generate a statement each month, your account will provide you with an accurate balance.

I would be keen to investigate this further for you and if you are happy for me to do that then send your details to [EMAIL="onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com"]onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL] and I will pick this up and respond directly to you.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower