Scottish Power cancellation charge (when switched!)

backfoot

la_tronc wrote: »

I emailed Graeme for an explanation and one of his colleagues sent the following reply:

"I am sorry that we have fallen down again in this process.

I have checked and the right to cancel proformas were raised, so cancellation charges should not have been added. I have brought this to the attention of the team responsible and made them aware for future reference."

I got the cancellation charges reversed on my final/penultimate bills, the pre-increase prices have now been used and I got a goodwill gesture credit of £30.70, the balance on my electricity account.

Hopefully they will now fix the problem and Graeme will stop being in denial about an issue that seems to have affected a lot of customers.

I am sure readers/posters can see the significance of this statement.

I asked SP,quite reasonably, whether they would perform some basic IT data enquiries to retrieve all cases where termination fees had been charged.

They have been silent on this and while none of us individuals can force a huge organisation to do anything, it is so very obvious that there could be serious potential overcharging going on.

It is SP's full interest to be open and to respond to customers natural frustrations for their own reputation. Sadly the dialogue here seems to have dried up despite more incidents being reported.

leicsmark

backfoot wrote: »

Would you please make a formal complaint to Consumer Focus. It is worth adding that from reading this forum that many other customers are being incorrectly charged either for termination fees and/or at post increase prices.

This will add to the growing number of formal complaints which is likely to encourage a formal enquiry into these practices.

As you rightly identify,this is a matter of principle and you may help those customers who may have missed the errors.

Do I need to wait for the response from Scottish Power before formally complaining? I agree though that OFGEM need to force SP to look at their records and issue refunds for those without the knowledge or understanding to check their bills forensically. I'd be happy to write a letter to Consumer Focus.

backfoot

It is worth registering a formal complaint with SP, as CF may want to tie up your complaint with it.

That doesn't stop you alerting CF and it is in the interests of other customers to do so.

As we can see,there is a breakdown in the procedure.

SP have operated a procedure where they charge the fees/new rates unless they overide it with a manual pro forma and after having tied the two things up.

It is not surprising things have gone wrong,given the volume of customers involved in switching following price rises.

A sensible approach would have been the other way round with a default of no charges and the proforma used to add charges where necessary.

elektra

leicsmark wrote: »

I have just noticed that I have been charged the new tariff from 1st August and so have been overcharged by a few pounds. Its not much but I think the principle here is that this could be many hundreds of thousands of customers.

Reading this, I also am interested to know if I was charged for the exit fee which they promised wouldn't apply. I don't seem to be able to access the penultimate bill online. When I go to login, it says that my email address is not recognised. There isn't an option to put the account number or postcode in. Can anyone advise?

Thanks.

p.s. this situation is surely blatant incompetence or deliberate deception.

Have you tried going to https://www.scottishpower.co.uk/myfinalaccount

You will need to enter your individual elec or gas account number which should be shown on your final paper bill. Once in, you should be able to see a copy of final bill plus some bill history.

wakeupalarm

Scottish Power 6m customers, 75% don't switch so 25% do = 1.5m customers. 1.5m x £20 overcharge = £30million pounds overcharged and that doesn't included the post August price increase which say adds another £15m

So £45million pounds overcharged to customers and in Scottish powers pocket. Cancellation charges are probably not counted when they make there submissions to OFGEM about prices to customers compared to their costs. So more hidden profit for Scottish Power.

backfoot

As it happens, Tippytoes, I have just written to senior personnel at Consumer Focus alerting them to these problems. I was happy for Graeme (SP Rep) to have a dialogue here, or with me personally as he has my number. As those discussions have broken down, I felt it better now to put it in the hands of the Regulatory Bodies to investigate.

It would be excellent, if you feel as strongly as I do about this, for you to make similar contact.

I can give you the appropriate contact by Private Message if you or anyone else wants to pursue it. Alternatively,just use the normal CF complaints procedure.

Your case is precisely the one that I have described as it has occurred in many cases.

There seems something highly suspicious in the telephone contact that was made to you. You have obviously also drawn the same conclusion.

backfoot

Tippytoes wrote: »

Yes, I'd like the contact details, please.

Might be worth reporting to local CAB as well. I know that they monitor things like this and campaign for improvement and change.

Private message sent.

Please do what you think is appropriate. It wouldn't hurt to let CAB know as every bit of publicity will help.

Premier_2

Premier wrote: »

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.

Credit where credit is due ... got my refund cheque today :beer:

backfoot

Premier wrote: »

Credit where credit is due ... got my refund cheque today :beer:

I am pleased you got the amount returned which was incorrectly taken.

I wouldn't share the acololade you have given them.:o

leicsmark

elektra wrote: »

Have you tried going to https://www.scottishpower.co.uk/myfinalaccount

You will need to enter your individual elec or gas account number which should be shown on your final paper bill. Once in, you should be able to see a copy of final bill plus some bill history.

Thanks for this. Managed to do it. They don't advertise that link on their site.

Luckily no cancellation charges applied. My penultimate bill was generated the day before I told them I was leaving so there wasn't the opportunity to hide the charge in there.

Still chasing them for the few quid of post Aug 1st charges though. I'll also never go with Scottish Power again after reading all the evidence on here so it will cost them a lot more in the long run.

I'm now with co-op for gas and npower fix for electricity which worked out cheaper than dual fuel. There is a Co-op price increase announced on the gas but I don't care, reducing consumption is the way forward, not chasing the big 6 in circles for the sake of a few (potential) quid.