Scottish Power dodgy behaviour again.

Newcroft

ian1969uk,

When I left Scottish Power a number of weeks ago, I took part in a thread on this forum. In reply to one of my posts, the rep from Scottish Power had this to say:

Hi Newcroft,

When we are finalising a customers account during the process we remove their online access, this is something we are looking to change for the future.

Once we have your final readings we send gas and electricity bills seperately by normal post, if you have a credit balance a cheque will follow, if you have a debit balance we would intend to take this as a final Direct Debit payment. The date we intend to take the payment will be confirmed on the bill.

If a final Direct Debit doesnt suit you, simply cancell it at the bank and we will send you a bill with a giro slip, alternatively contact us and tell us how you would prefer to pay. If required we can spread the balance over a couple of payments.

If you are having problems you can e-mail me using [EMAIL="onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com"]onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL]

Kind Regards

Graeme @ ScottishPower


The thing is this; Scottish Power do not use your present DD to claim any monies owed. Instead, they split my dual fuel bill into separate bills. One bill for elec and another for gas.

They then (without giving me any notice) claimed the final amounts from my bank, by starting 2 new DD's. One to pay for the elec and another to pay the gas.

All of this happened to me despite being in credit; there was no need for SP to claim any payment from me using the normal DD, never mind starting a further 2 DD's.

If I were you, I would be contacting the SP rep on this forum and complaining.

ian1969uk

Thanks, I have emailed the rep and will post any updates.

A formal complaint to the ombudsman will also be prepared in case they try to:

a) charge me higher rates
b) charge me any exit fees despite me leaving them due to their price rises
c) try to get away without paying the £105 online energy reward
d) delay refunding me the significant credit after the 1st August

Truly one of the worst companies I have ever had the misfortune to deal with.

Newcroft

I remember my father switching from Scottish Power to Hydro Electric, approx 15 years ago. He followed the procedure to the letter, and was not in debt. The changeover went smoothly on the part of Hydro Electric, who by this time were providing my father with both gas and electricity. Nevertheless, Scottish Power continued to bill him for many months.

Despite many, many phone calls to Scottish Power, they refused to accept the fact that they had lost a customer. It was only after a solicitor's letter that SP finally conceded.

No, SP haven't changed much.

backfoot

Ian,

I have alerted DirectDebacle to this thread and if he is able to help I am sure he will chip in.

Unless the T&C's have changed since DirectDebacle challenged SP on the other thread, I think you will find you are in the right.

Personally, I find the SP actions in this case quite wrong and shows the disdain with which they treat their Customers.

backfoot

Mulson wrote: »

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

It's normally good etiquette on the Forum to disclose if you have any interest or connection with the topic being discussed.

It would obviously be fair and reasonable for the Original Poster to be aware of any advice being given by Scottish Power employees, in case they were advising from a biased position.

ian1969uk

backfoot wrote: »

It's normally good etiquette on the Forum to disclose if you have any interest or connection with the topic being discussed.

It would obviously be fair and reasonable for the Original Poster to be aware of any advice being given by Scottish Power employees, in case they were advising from a biased position.

Ah, that explains a lot, thanks.

Just another example of SP's shocking behaviour.

ian1969uk

Had this response from SP (not from the rep on here):

Dear Mr Walker

Thank you for your email dated the 5th July 2011.

I am very sorry to hear that you have decided to leave Scottishpower.

I have checked your account today and see that the direct debit has in fact cancelled on your account, because of this your account has now reverted to our Standard Quarterly cash product which does offer higher unit rates.

Once a direct debit has been cancelled with your bank our system automatically reverts your product to our Standard product.

To avoid this we could have simply suspended you direct debit payment for another month and this would not have had any effect on your unit rates.

In order to avoid you being charged higher rates, what I can do is re instate your direct debit and then we can suspend the payment for next month and then also exercise your right to cancel to avoid any cancellation fees.

Can you confirm if this is something that you would be willing to do.

I can also confirm that your reward payment will be applied to your account by 1st August 2011.

We look forward to hearing from you in due course.

Kind regards

Have to say I'm not minded to trust them not to take the next payment!

ian1969uk

I notice Mulson has gone very quiet now he's been outed :rotfl:

backfoot

Unfortunately, he gave very poor advice and an unhelpful attitude.

Exactly the opposite of his suggested outcome with a resolution of your problem.

ian1969uk

I sent them this in reply to their email:

Hello

I have made the last payment due on this agreement on 1st July 2011 by direct debit. My contract ends on 31st July 2011, so there is no other direct debit payment due in the contract dates. Therefore, I have not breached any agreement as I have paid the entire agreement through direct debit. This is the only requirement of my agreement with you. The 1st July payment covers the whole of July in advance, so you have no grounds for increasing my unit charges nor applying any cancellation fees.

Can you kindly direct me to the point within your terms and conditions that states I need to leave a direct debit instruction live after the final payment is due? I think you will find that this term does not exist within your own terms and conditions.

After receiving the email about the price rises, I was advised in this email that if I changed supplier as a result of your ludicrous price increases, no cancellation charges would apply.

Unless you can show me in your terms and conditions where I have breached the contract by closing the direct debit instruction AFTER the final payment has been made, then I expect the following:

1. The same unit charges will apply to me for July 2011.
2. There will be no cancellation fees applied to the account.
3. The online energy reward will be applied to my account as agreed.

There will be no final payment due to you on final meter readings due to the large amount of credit in my account. Therefore you have absolutely no reason to require access to my bank account. I am sorry, but given the way your company has behaved in this matter, I simply do not trust Scottish Power not to take another payment from my account, even though this is not needed or warranted in any way.

Please confirm that my points 1,2 and 3 above will apply. Further action through the ombudman will be taken if you attempt to apply exit charges or higher unit prices.

Regards

Ian