Scottish Power dodgy behaviour again.

ian1969uk

I am leaving Scottish Power at the end of the month and moving to Ovo. Scottish power are aware of this and have confirmed my intention to move.

I allowed my last direct debit to go through on the 1st July, and then cancelled the direct debit with my bank. I am £300 in credit.

Even though there will be no more direct debit payments due to Scottish Power, they have now written to me to say that as I have cancelled my direct debit I will pay more for this last month as they will charge me at standard rates.

That is outrageous and I have emailed them to tell them I don't accept this and will complain to the Ombudsman if they do this.

How can they think they can get away with this when:
a) they won't be due another payment as my switching date has been confirmed as 1st August.
b) I am £300 in credit, more than enough to cover my usage for the rest of July.
c) despite being in credit I let the final payment due to them go through with no issues.

I haven't had a response from them yet but this is just another reason I am glad to be leaving this awful company :mad:

Mulson

It can only be assumed that you were on a product which was only available to customers who agree to pay monthly by Direct Debit.

By cancelling the DD at the bank you have just gave them the excuse (and right as part of the terms and conditions of the product) to increase your prices and seeing as you area leaving them anyway, why would they do you a favour?

I can't imagine getting irate and making claims of ombudsmans complaints will make any difference in the slightest.

ian1969uk

I have paid this month's payment by direct debit so that doesn't make sense. They aren't due another payment anyway, so there will be no need for any other method of payment.

What would you have suggested, let them take the August payment as well, even though Ovo are taking their first payment on the same date?

ian1969uk

Mulson wrote: »

It can only be assumed that you were on a product which was only available to customers who agree to pay monthly by Direct Debit.

By cancelling the DD at the bank you have just gave them the excuse (and right as part of the terms and conditions of the product) to increase your prices and seeing as you area leaving them anyway, why would they do you a favour?

I can't imagine getting irate and making claims of ombudsmans complaints will make any difference in the slightest.

This bit of your post wound me up. They aren't doing me any favours!

I leave them on 31st July. I have paid my payment for the whole of July, in advance, on 1st July by direct debit as agreed. Therefore I have adhered to the terms for the full duration of the contract with them, and paid every single payment in the way agreed.

What part of expecting them to stick to their side of the contract (ie pricing) is them doing me a favour?

Mulson

What's your transfer date?

If your still on supply and cancel the Direct Debit you will be in breach of the product qualifier and they have the right to cancel the product on your account.

I probably would have waited to the very last day to cancel the DD if I couldn't afford to make payments on both accounts. You would have got it back anyway by credit if an additional payment was taken and your account was in credit at final reading.

I certainly wouldnt be making a big deal about it.

ian1969uk

Why wait until the last day?

I wonder how they even found out about the cancelled direct debit when they weren't due to make another payment!

Transfer date is 1st August so they have no need to have access to my bank account anyway. You say you wouldn't make a fuss about it, so you'd just happily fork over higher prices would you?

Ridiculous.

Mulson

ian1969uk wrote: »

This bit of your post wound me up. They aren't doing me any favours!

I leave them on 31st July. I have paid my payment for the whole of July, in advance, on 1st July by direct debit as agreed. Therefore I have adhered to the terms for the full duration of the contract with them, and paid every single payment in the way agreed.

What part of expecting them to stick to their side of the contract (ie pricing) is them doing me a favour?

Thats not how paying by monthly DD works for paying for your energy bills. You don't pay a month in advance as the energy company have no idea how much your going to use in any particular month.

The monthly DD is an agreement to make regular payment towards a credit account.

Your analogy is like saying to Barclaycard that I will make a £100 payment to cover my credit card bill for the month and then go out and spend £3000. You can't then argue with them afterwards that you had already paid it at the start of the month.

ian1969uk

That might hold some water except that I paid them £95 on 1st July meaning I was £300 in credit, enough to cover 3 months usage. They will have no need to access my account, and I wasn't going to leave the DD open so they could help themselves to another payment taking me to £400 in credit.

Sorry, but you're talking rubbish. Payments are in advance and I have paid the whole contract up by DD, so they will be in receipt of a formal complaint if they do this, no matter whether you think it worth it or not.

Mulson

What won't hold any water is your complaint, but don't let me stop you wasting your time.

backfoot

Ian,

This thread may be of help as will DirectDebacle who is one of the best if not the best advisor here.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3102196

I think the point was conceded by Scottish Power but perhaps DirectDebacle or Colin the SP will clarify.

ian1969uk

What part are you finding so hard to understand?

I agreed to pay by direct debit for the duration of the contract. The contract ends on 31st July. The next direct debit would have been 1st August, outside of the contract period.

What part of the deal have I broken?

The terms say that payments must be made by direct debit, not that there must be a direct debit open to them for until the very last day of the contract.

I have made all payments in the way specified in the terms. They do not need to access my account again as I have plenty of credit in the account (even more when they apply the £105 credit they owe me for still being with them on 7th June). This will more than cover the minimal usage for the rest of July.

So I ask again, what part of the deal have I broken? When thinking of your reply, bear in mind that their terms say payments must be made by direct debit. They have been, and no further payment is due. The terms do not say that once the last monthly payment has been made, they still need an open direct debit until the last day of the contract.