Scottish Power - Worst Company Ever!

Flem

If you are thinking about signing up with Scottish Power to supply your energy my simple advice to you is do not do it!



There customer service team are simply the worst I have ever had to deal with. I will give you a short background into my dealings with them.


I elect to pay my dues to Scottish Power via monthly direct debit so as to avoid any big nasty bills. I have been a customer of theirs for a total of 5 years and my annual consumption of energy has remained pretty constant throughout this time.


I received my quarterly bill, which included actual meter readings, from Scottish Power on the 01st March 2011. This bill, as expected showed my account in credit by £89.98.


Following on from this, I received a letter 2 months later which advised that they had been reviewing their billing records. They then advised me that there was a problem with my account and that I have not had an accurate bill for a period of 45 months. I find this simply unbelievable because I provide them with monthly meter readings, in addition to the quarterly readings that are taken by their meter reader.


Their letter continues to inform me that as a result of their error, I am now due them £621.83. Shortly after I received an updated bill dated 06 May 2011, confirming that my account was now £621.83 in debit. Unbelievably, I then received another bill on the 11 May stating that my account was £512.71 in debit. It appears they can’t even make their mind up regarding the amount of money I require to pay them back. As you can imagine, I was not too impressed with this and tried to contact them. I conceded defeat when trying to contact them via the telephone, after waiting well in excess of an hour. I then proceeded to send an e-mail to their complaint department.


In my e-mail I explained that I was writing to complain in relation to the level of service provided by Scottish Power. I explained that if an error has been made then I would expect my bill to be calculated from the date that the mistake was realised. I can’t accept the fact that they should be allowed to go back this length of time to recalculate my bill; it’s absolutely appalling that they expect me to pay for their mistake. I still haven’t been told what caused this error or why it was allowed to go on for this length of time.


I eventually received a call from one of their advisors who was basically towing the company line which appears to be tough, you have to pay it. Still no explanation as to what has caused the error or why it had taken so long to realise it. He refused to listen to my argument and I therefore asked to be called back by his line manager.


When I eventually received my call back from the manager, it transpired that he hadn’t even taken the time to read my letter of complaint before calling me back! I asked him on several occasions if he had read my letter of complaint, he would not answer my question and eventually put the phone down on me. By this stage I was furious; I could not believe that a company of Scottish power’s size and stature would treat a loyal customer in this way.


I am getting absolutely nowhere with Scottish power and really am stuck between a rock and a hard place. I have begun the process of moving my energy supplier however, I have a feeling that they will try to block me moving until this amount is paid.
Scottish Power is simply the worst company I have ever had to deal with, unbelievably bad. My complaint will be taken to stage two of their complaints procedure shortly and I will keep those who are interested updated with my progress.

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

On a sample of one it is hardly fair to brand any company the worst ever.

What mistake have they made? Could it be swapping off peak and day readings? or SP ignored actual meter readings and substituted estimated readings.

Where a mistake is made, it is not required of any company to write off the outstanding amount. If you had been overcharged you would have no doubt expected a rebate.

That said where the company are completely at fault they will normally make a goodwill payment.

Can you give more detail of their mistake please.

Flem

It is indeed probably wrong to brand them the worst company ever. However, they are most definitely the worst company I have ever had to deal with.


It appears that their mistake relates to the amount that they have been charging me for off peak electricity. I have asked them to fully clarify the cause of the problem in writing. After all, if my complaint was made in writing, it is only fair to expect a response back in writing. This is something which they seem reluctant to do, despite the fact I have asked on four of five separate occasions, why I have not received a response in writing.



All I know for certain is that they have been provided with actual meter readings on a regular basis. If they have made a mistake with the amount they have been charging me, I think that should be their problem not mines.



To use an analogy, an Architect provides his client with design drawings, accepts their payment and closes the account. Both parties are happy. However, the Architect then reviews his books three or four years later and thinks to himself, why did I only charge them that? He then proceeds to try and charge his customer an additional £400. I don’t think anyone would accept that sort of thing, so I don’t see why the big energy companies should get away with what is effectively the same thing.


If I had overpaid I would indeed have accepted a rebate. I expect a company the size of Scottish power to be able to calculate my bill correctly. If they can’t do this then it shouldn’t be my problem. How can I even be sure that they have it correct this time?


I will post their written response when/if I ever receive one.

Cardew

So presumably this is a case of the meter readings for off-peak and daytime electricity being reversed? i.e. you have been charged daytime rates for the 7 hours off-peak(assuming you are on Economy 7), and off-peak rates for the other 17 hours.

If that is the case, they will doubtless maintain that they sent you bills which you should have checked.

Your analogy doesn't hold water I am afraid. They have incorrectly charged you i.e. the bills were wrong. Under UK law they have 6 years to claim back any money owed. It doesn't matter if the company are at fault.

Obviously the above assumes reversed readings; which happens quite a bit.

marks7389

If you're still not happy with the final outcome of the complaint to Scottish Power, or you don't get a final response within 8 weeks, you can take the issue to the Energy Ombudsman. They will investigate and if you accept their conclusion it is binding on the supplier.

Whilst it is likely that you will still have to repay some or all of the amount, you might for example be given longer to pay it.

It would certainly be worth you while going over the details you have to work out exactly what you think the total should be (or get someone to help you / calculate it on your behalf) and not simply rely on what Scottish Power is saying, especially if the amount is changing. That said, if you're paying by monthly Direct Debit is it possible the change between the 6th and 11th May statements may simply have been one more monthly payment?

Changing to another supplier won't make any difference to your obligation to pay the final settlement. Indeed it might result in you ending up with a final bill for immediate payment of the balance if they have otherwise increased your monthly DD to clear the backlog over time. I doubt it will result in the switch being blocked though.

Scottish_Power

Hi Flem,

Sorry to hear about the problems that you have been having.

I deal with escalalted complaints and it sounds like I could help you, even if everything you have been told up to now is correct I will ensure that you get a full explanation of what has happended and why, to date it sounds like you have not had this.

If you want me to help e-mail me at [EMAIL="onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com"]onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL]

Kind regards

Graeme @ ScottishPower

Flem

I received my letter from Scottish power this morning.



They have confirmed that the reason my bill has been amended so drastically is due to an error at their end. Apparently, it was identified that my account was not being billed on Register 03, the off peak register from 30 August 2007 till 12 May 2010.
Perhaps the Scottish power representative on this site could explain to potential customers how they could be so incompetent, that they let an error of this magnitude to escalate over such a long period of time. Then have the audacity to charge their customer for this error.


They claim that they have already written off £1023.32 of debt. To be honest, I could not care less how much they have written off. This mistake was entirely Scottish Powers not mine. I therefore feel that they should write of the entire amount.
They have however offered to allow me to pay these back charges to them in small monthly payments. Thanks Scottish power very much appreciated! Oh and they have now decided that its £563.32 that I am due them. Not the £621.83 or the £512.71 that I was previously advised. I will now be proceeding to stage two of their complaints procedure; no doubt I will get absolutely no further forward.



They have now blocked my access to my account on the internet so that I can’t see what they are up to.


I find it astonishing that a large company would rip loyal customers off in this way. They have already lost my custom and I will be urging all of my family and friends to move away from them. Unbelievable, when you consider the profit margins that this company makes.



One bit of good news is that I have had an e-mail back from BBC watchdog; it appears they are very interested to hear more about this case due to similar complaints!

eurmalian

Ummm... This is hardly them 'ripping off loyal customers'. You have used that electric. Yes, they made a mistake in not billing you for it, but that doesn't change the fact that you've used it in the first place. I'd say that they've been incredibly generous in giving you over £1000 compensation in the first place.

Look at it another way. If you had been entering the meter readings wrongly online and as a result had overpaid, would your response be 'oh well, it was my fault for entering the readings wrongly so even though I haven't used that electric, Scottish Power should keep the money. That's only fair and I'd be ripping them off if I asked for it back'? As that's in effect what you're saying here.

In fact, in the example I've given above, would you even be generous enough to say 'Since it was my fault I'll let you keep £1000 of it and I'll just ask for the remaining £600 or so'? If you would then you're a far more generous man than I am.

I get that you're annoyed at the moment because of all of this, but your rants and claims that this isn't fair and they're ripping you off, when the bottom line is that you would have still had to pay all of this if they hadn't made the mistake, only it would have been spread over the last few years, just really don't make too much sense from an outside point of view...

intermynan

Flem wrote: »

I received my letter from Scottish power this morning.



They have confirmed that the reason my bill has been amended so drastically is due to an error at their end. Apparently, it was identified that my account was not being billed on Register 03, the off peak register from 30 August 2007 till 12 May 2010.
Perhaps the Scottish power representative on this site could explain to potential customers how they could be so incompetent, that they let an error of this magnitude to escalate over such a long period of time. Then have the audacity to charge their customer for this error.


They claim that they have already written off £1023.32 of debt. To be honest, I could not care less how much they have written off. This mistake was entirely Scottish Powers not mine. I therefore feel that they should write of the entire amount.
They have however offered to allow me to pay these back charges to them in small monthly payments. Thanks Scottish power very much appreciated! Oh and they have now decided that its £563.32 that I am due them. Not the £621.83 or the £512.71 that I was previously advised. I will now be proceeding to stage two of their complaints procedure; no doubt I will get absolutely no further forward.



They have now blocked my access to my account on the internet so that I can’t see what they are up to.


I find it astonishing that a large company would rip loyal customers off in this way. They have already lost my custom and I will be urging all of my family and friends to move away from them. Unbelievable, when you consider the profit margins that this company makes.



One bit of good news is that I have had an e-mail back from BBC watchdog; it appears they are very interested to hear more about this case due to similar complaints!

Write off the entire amount!!! You've been fortunate enough to have over £1000 worth of what you owed written off, and you still think you should have more!

You used it didn't you. So perhaps stop being so greedy and accept your compensation, instead of moaning.

Jeez

SwanJon

Flem wrote: »

Imy account was not being billed on Register 03, the off peak register from 30 August 2007 till 12 May 2010.
Perhaps the Scottish power representative on this site could explain to potential customers how they could be so incompetent, that they let an error of this magnitude to escalate over such a long period of time.

I'm not sure it's fair to label all potential customers as incompetent- some of them probably look at the bills they get - you got about 10 with the error. Then if, for example, no consumption or charges were showing they would be able to identify the problem and prepare for it - either by contacting the supplier, or putting the money aside.

intermynan

SwanJon wrote: »

I'm not sure it's fair to label all potential customers as incompetent- some of them probably look at the bills they get - you got about 10 with the error. Then if, for example, no consumption or charges were showing they would be able to identify the problem and prepare for it - either by contacting the supplier, or putting the money aside.

He's calling Scottish Power incompetent, not potential customers :rotfl: