Scottish Power - extremely dodgy practices going on!

ian1969uk

Can the Scottish Power rep please explain why they have moved the qualifying date for the Online Energy Reward from 7th June to 31st July?

When I signed up, it said I qualified for the reward if I stayed on the tariff until 7th June 2011. The email I recently got about price changes states that to qualify for the reward I have to be on it until the end of July. It also says that to switch, I need to notify by the end of July. Is this so the company can then say I am leaving before the qualifying date and get out of paying the reward?

Oh, and while I am ranting, what's with this arbitrary 15 days for the new supplier to contact you? How am I supposed to be able to influence how quickly a new supplier acts?

I will never, ever be a Scottish Power customer again!

Premier_2

ian1969uk wrote: »

...
Oh, and while I am ranting, what's with this arbitrary 15 days for the new supplier to contact you? How am I supposed to be able to influence how quickly a new supplier acts?

I will never, ever be a Scottish Power customer again!

It was in your old terms; you agreed to it.

It's to prevent you giving notice that you wish to instruct a new supplier (and so keep the pre increase prices) and then never instruct a new supplier meaning SP would have to continue supplying at the old rates for ever.

All suppliers have very similar terms if you read them.

ian1969uk

It was in my terms that I qualified for the rewards on 7th June, but they seem OK shifting that back to the end of July.

Are you saying that this doesn't look like they are trying to get out of paying the reward?

Premier_2

I know nothing of the rewards. You would need to post links to both the old and revised terms if you wish me to advise on that.

Essentially you cannot change the terms of a contract. It's a bit difficult with utilities since they can't decide to just stop supplying either, hence why they have this work around which allows them to give notice of a change of terms and allows you to go and get a new supplier

All I posted about was the fact that you can keep the old prices whilst you get the new supplier on-board ... within reason, and that's why the 15 days term has always existed, so that it is 'within reason'
It's 15 working days, btw, that's 3 weeks at least.
(plus the 30 days notice they give you that allows you to give notice back to them that you intend to switch supplier (they actually are giving more like 45 days notice on this occassion - how dodgy is that of them? ) - the 15 working days term only starts from the date they receive that notice from you)

ian1969uk

http://www.scottishpower.co.uk/pdf/Online_Energy_Reward.pdf

That is the detail of the original offer, clearly says 7th June 2011.

The email now says:

"The Online Energy Reward discount of £105 (incl. VAT) for Dual Fuel will be credited to your account before 1st August 2011 as long as you have remained continuously on the Online Energy Reward product until that date"

It's very shady, and what makes me think they are trying to get out of paying the reward is this, from the same email:

"If you notify us that you wish to do this (switch) before 1st August 2011 and we receive a request for your supply from another supplier within 15 working days, we will not move you to our standard monthly direct debit charges or charge the agreed cancellation fee"

Premier_2

Have you spoken to SP about this? What have they said?

(The SP rep is not here weekends - the call centre is open now!)

This seems all quite confusing. I think they may have confused themselves. The tariff appears to be a fixed price tariff, so presumably you are not affected by the recent price change announcement, so I'm not sure why they are offering to release you from the tariff early without applying the early exit fee.

Are you sure they have not changed some other terms? e.g. presumably term 9.8 no longer applies (as it is no longer allowed) so perhaps they have revised their terms and if you don't wish to accept those terms they have offered you the opportunity of getting out now ?

It would be debateable whether the revision to that term 9.8 is to your disadvantage anyway, as Ofgem claimed they made the change to help customers, not disadvantage them

delia

I am on the SP Online Energy Reward Tariff. I am going to switch to EDF Online Fixed Saver V2. Just spoke to Jane at Scottish Power (after 20 mins of holding!). She cancelled my account and said SP need to be informed of the transfer by EDF within 20 days. She confirmed that I will receive the £105 reward payment (as I was with SP on 7th June), I will not be transferred to SP's Standard Tariff on 1st Aug and I will not be charged a cancellation fee. Hope this allays some concerns.

ian1969uk

Thanks delia.

Now the question is who to switch to. Very tempted to try Cooperative Energy, their comparison suggests they will be £200 a year cheaper than SP's standard rate and after my recent experiences with SP, the simplicity of Co-op and no tie-ins seems quite attractive.

delia

Hmmm.
With my usage, Co-Op's variable tarriff comes out at £60 p.a. more expensive than EDF's fixed tarriff. There is £30 cashback for EDF if you click through from MSE to Money Supermarket.

ian1969uk

It's not just about the cost to me though, I am sick of the behaviour of the 'big 6' and paying a bit more for a more ethical provider might just be worth it.