Being locked in

ETWhoopsie

I've been in a dual fuel online contract with ScottishPower that had a tie-in for 12 months which ended last November. When prices increased I did my comparison and identified a cheaper alternative.

Before I had time to change, I got an email from Scottish Power saying that they were going to lock me in for a further 12 months but if I didn't want this then I could opt-out by transferring to the standard tariff - SO i OPTED OUT as I knew I was changing supplier, so believed any penalty would be small.

My transfer has taken forever (I wonder why) but my point is.

(a) There is a penalty for changing supply of either exit penalties (for being tied in for another 12 months) or
(b) the increased cost of gas and electric at standard fuel tariff for the period between end of tie-in and change to new supplier.

Surely this is an Unfair contract term as I have never heard that a company can lock you in this way?

Martin Lewis - are the companies allowed to do this?

Further - having opted out early January (or so I thought) I then had a visit from a SP rep on Monday - who said he was there to read the meter but turned out to be a sales consultant. Although I had a letter from my new supplier saying electric was transferring on 23/02, he insisted I was tied in til end of March. I told him about my optout and he said I was tied in til March. I found him to be quite intimidating, so asked him to leave.

HELP - can these utilities treat customers in this way?

Premier_2

This is not unfair. If you think it is, you'll have to challenge it in court - they are the only people who can decide on whether something is fair or not.
Early exit fees are used to try and pursude customers to stay with an existing supplier/tariff for a specified period in return for cheaper prices than you would be chargd on a standard tariff with no early exit fees.
You can't expect to have it both ways.

When your deal was coming to an end, you would have been contacted advising you what tariff you were going to be placed in (unless the terms you originally agreed to already specified this).

If you didn't want that and wanted the standard tariff (with no early exit fees) you needed to contact them before you were moved to the new tariff. The transfer would then happen on the day the existing contract expired. Transfers of tariffs with the same supplier can take place instantaneously.

If you are now not on a standard tariff, then you are in the deal they informed you about. Sounds like you are going to get a double whammy! Early exit fees (from the deal they moved you to in November) and the increased charge of the standrad tariff you later asked for.