Scottish Power cancellation charge (when switched!)

Premier_2

scottishpower_company_representative wrote: »

Morning all,

The cancellation charge issue is not as simple as you would think.

If a cancellation charge has been charged and you are under the impression it should not have been you should contact us directly for your own explanation as it is not a one size fits all scenario.

If you wanted to transfer and reject the price increase when in contract you did need to register your right to cancel, this means contacting ScottishPower directly not your new supplier contacting us to start the registration process. Once your right to cancell has been registered you have a 15 working day window for your supplier to contact us to start registration.

As I said every case can be reviewed on its own merits so if you do not believe the charges to be correct then contact us to get confirmation.

Kind regards

Graeme @ ScottishPower

scottishpower_company_representative wrote: »

Morning all,

Reading through the posts since my post of yesterday morning it is clear that the cancellation charge issue is one which the majority do not like. This is something I will pass on to the business improvements teams.

I am satisfied that our billing system does only apply cancellation charges when it is correct to do so. As previously stated there can be scenarios when common sense is required and each case will be reviewed on its own merits.

Kind regards

Graeme @ ScottishPower

Unfortunately, I for one do not share your confidence in your billing system.

I contacted your company by email (see my earlier post). There was no explanation of why I was charged in the first place, (remember I had previously been advised it would be waived!) but to your company's credit they did respond well within 24 hours not questioning the error, and confirming I would be refunded the fee charged (in my case £30.64 for the electricity part of the dual fuel supply).

It is not a case of not complying with the terms to have the fees waived, as I was on a dual fuel with your company, and have moved to a new supplier on a dual fuel tariff. Therefore the notices would have been sent the same time and transfers of both fuels occurred on the same day, and the gas fee was already waived by your company.
It make no sense that the electricity fee was applied, other than because of an error by your company, and presumably the fact it was so quickly agreed to be refunded without question only goes to support this belief.

backfoot

It's quite amazing that despite a reasonably small sample of MSE Users, there is ongoing evidence of a high volume of 'discovered by customer' errors.

I too, like the reliable poster, Premier, don't share SP's assurance regarding the billing system and associated procedures.

It seems to me, rather than just have the word of Graeme, SP should provide more substantive evidence.

It would be quite a simple matter to perform some basic data enquiries of the billing system.

1. Since the latest price increases announcement, how many termination fees have been charged.
2. How many single termination fees have been charged for dual fuel customers. (Premier's example).

In my view none of these returns are likely to justify Fees because they will all of been switched either at the end of tariff term or because of a switch.

There may be other data queries which may help and posters may have some thoughts.

I believe it would be better for a voluntary disclosure by SP.

Would a FOI request be possible?

DTDfanBoy

Scottish Powers customer service is an absolute joke. I rang them last Wednesday to request that they remove the cancellation charge and bill me at the correct unit rates. After some promting they finally agreed that I was not liable for those charges. They promised they would correct my gas bill, and also promised to find out where my final electricity bill had dissapeared to.

Today I received a bill from Scottish Power, it turned out to be the missing final electricity bill, the bill is dated the day after I contacted them. Despite the reassurances I received, this bill is also incorrect. I have been charged at post increase rates and like many others, the penultimate bill has had a cancellation charge applied.

Why is is that Scottish Power always seems to hide these incorrectly applied charges, on a bill that the customer will never receive in paper form. Surely it's bad enough that they incorrectly charge customers this fee, but to me it seems downright deceptive to include them in a bill that they know a customer will never receive.

My patience has finally expired so a formal complaint is now on the way to Scottish Power.

Also not trying to highjack the thread, but am I correct in thinking that a notification on my bill that x amount will be collected from my account on day X, is insufficient notice when it comes to the direct debit guarantee. I'm know that I receive written notice, complete with an outline of the direct debit guarantee, from most other companies when they change a DD amount,the only notice I have received recently from SP is the bill itself. I'd much rather have the money sitting in my account if this is the case.

backfoot

Can you just clarify why the penultimate bill is one you wouldn't receive? Is it an online bill?

As I have stated before,we received six final bills. Two of them were not actually sent for gas. Graeme says he now sent them but my relative is on holiday,so I haven't yet gone through them.

The way SP have dealt with these final bills/termination fees/pre increase adjustments is mindboggling. I defy anyone to look at them and be assured that they are correct. Graeme personally talked me through the electrcity ones but I have to confess I am still confused.

I am also left with a feeling that we have been charged Primary rate units when I wonder why.

The other frustration is that they remove your billing history from the online system. That means it is impossible to view and recheck the number of units charged for the year at Primary/secondary as well as any other matter.

I can honestly say,that in all my experience, both financial and industry, I have never known anything so essentially simple presented in a more confusing and complex manner.

Of course all these things are of the Industries/ Scottish Power's own making in their race to ever more tariffs and complexity.

DTDfanBoy

The penultimate electricity bill I received as an online bill, I'm fairly sure I won't receive it in paper form as I have yet to receive my penultimate gas bill which was issued several weeks ago.

You can still gain access to view your bill history, although they have never communicated to me how this can be done. This method works for me, so will hopefully work for others.

Attempt to gain access to your online account as usual, entering your email then password, you will be declined access but should then be redirected to another login page, the title of which should read "Login to your final account". You then need to enter your account number and postcode to gain access.

Your original account number will not allow access, you must either one of the new account numbers you were issued on your final bills. This should allow you to view your bill history again.

In my case it shows bills various recent bills I have never been sent, which also contain cancellation charges. The problem I have is that the closing balance of my original account (dual fuel) , does not equal the combined opening balances of my new accounts, one for gas and one for electricity.

Just to top things off I've just checked through my final electricity bill, and for some reason they have moved my actual meter reading back a month, and based the final bill on an estimated reading. I don't see how the can claim to have an adequate billing system, when such errors keep appearing on a regular basis.

I have to agree about the complexity of the billing system, when even their own staff can't understand it, it must be time to look at other options. Surely a simple running balance sheet would help to simplify matters, it has to be easier that trying to piece together various bills, especially when the billing periods overlap, and opening balances don't correspond with previous closing balances.

It's just a shame they don't seem to want to listen to their customers, assuming their current level of customer service continues, I'll be pushing this through to the ombudsman, hitting the big companies in the pocket seems to be the only way they'll actually take notice.

jalexa

scottishpower_company_representative wrote: »

I am satisfied that our billing system does only apply cancellation charges when it is correct to do so.

Since I think that was a response to a challenge in my earlier post I feel I am entitled to continue the issue.

You say "you are satisfied...". Do mean by that that *you* have been assured by more senior management (how senior?) that that is the case?

Regardless of the answer, do you (or your senior management) have any explanation for the posts of informed posters, to the contrary?

Is it the case that the billing system is "compliant" but ignorant (of procedure), incompetent or "casual" staff are "overriding" the compliance features of the "compliant system"? Or "competent" staff are being wrongly "instructed"? Or some other explanation?

Which is it? There has to be an explanation.

backfoot

DTDfanBoy wrote: »

In my case it shows bills various recent bills I have never been sent, which also contain cancellation charges. The problem I have is that the closing balance of my original account (dual fuel) , does not equal the combined opening balances of my new accounts, one for gas and one for electricity.


I have to agree about the complexity of the billing system, when even their own staff can't understand it, it must be time to look at other options. Surely a simple running balance sheet would help to simplify matters, it has to be easier that trying to piece together various bills, especially when the billing periods overlap, and opening balances don't correspond with previous closing balances.

.

The solution was:

Customer gives notice of switch (directly or via new supplier)

SP mark the account to continue on current tariff prices until final bills produced.

One final bill as per other other bills.

Sorted.


Instead, they have made up compliance issues to try and trap the unwary.

So that they, produce six final bills.
Non consecutive opening balances.
Amounts billed on a standard tariff then 'apparently' cancelled'.
Estimates inserted to match tariff termination dates.
Overlapping billing periods.
Temination fees or post increase prices charged in error.
Dual fuel contracts containing one set of termination fees.

How it all backfired horribly. Even their Spokesman said it's not that simple in one of the earlier posts.
It sure isn't :eek:

Premier_2

DTDfanBoy wrote: »

...You can still gain access to view your bill history, although they have never communicated to me how this can be done. This method works for me, so will hopefully work for others.

Attempt to gain access to your online account as usual, entering your email then password, you will be declined access but should then be redirected to another login page, the title of which should read "Login to your final account". You then need to enter your account number and postcode to gain access.

Your original account number will not allow access, you must either one of the new account numbers you were issued on your final bills. This should allow you to view your bill history again.....

This is they way mine works too. There was something in an email about this, but I admit it wasn't very clear.

You do initially lose access to everything, but as you say, it does later come back the way you explain ... and you can't access it until you get your final paper bills anyway as you need those new account numbers they create.

I don't know how long the access will remain, but do as I did and download all the historical bills so you keep them on your own computer
(You even get electronic versions of the final bills the same as the paper ones, so don't get confused - you need to log in with each different new account number to get each of these)

samba

I also switched due to the recent price increase and followed all the rules. I am still waiting for my final gas bill but they managed to apply the new tariff when they shouldn't have. Fortunately there was no cancellation charge and one quick phone call got the incorrect charges refunded. However my penultimate bill showed a balance of about 70 quid in credit which is not mentioned at all on the closing bill. Hopefully it will be on the gas bill when it finally arrives.

backfoot

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/household-bills/8798890/Energy-firms-flout-rules-by-charging-you-to-switch.html

meggsy provided this relevant link on the wider thread.

It looks like we need to update Consumer Focus about the numerous shortcomings exhibited in this thread.

The dogmatic approach of SP and inflexibilty of the billing system to cope, with matters of their own making, means that problems are likely to continue.

In the meantime Customers are just scratching their heads trying to unfathom it.