Scottish Power refusing to let me cancel

wernotamused

Hi everyone!

I recently used money supermarket to switch energy supply to Scottish Power. I received a welcome email from Scottish Power on the 16th of October. I also received a Welcome pack by post on the 17th October, dated 15th of October.

On the 19th October I sent a cancellation notice email to Scottish Power, well within seven working days of receiving their Welcome email (as per the instructions on their own email from 16th October) and promptly received an automated response saying that they had received my email and would respond within 48 hours

On the 23rd October Scottish Power sent me an email saying: "Your cooling off period of 7 days has now passed as you signed the contract on 11th October 2012. The transfer of your supply is now in progress."

The Welcome pack I received by post on the 17th October, dated 15th of October, informed me that if I want to cancel my contract i must tell them "within seven working days from the date you receive this pack".

Scottish Power are clearly lying that my cooling off period has passed and are refusing to accept my cancellation notice.

I sent them an email today, 23rd October, telling them the above and I am waiting response. I will keep you posted!

Cardew

On the 23rd October Scottish Power sent me an email saying: "Your cooling off period of 7 days has now passed as you signed the contract on 11th October 2012.

Strange terminology as nobody signs a contract.

You haven't said the date when you used Moneysupermarket, was it 11th Oct?

As your cancellation email was sent on 19th that is over 7 days.

So the question is when does the 7 days cooling off start, when you apply(11th)? or from date/receipt of welcome letter(15th/17th)?

Even if SP are correct about the 11th being correct, you can just switch away or does the SP tariff have cancellation charges?

Even if the latter you can sometimes get cash for switching that covers those costs.

wernotamused

Thanks for your reply.

Their welcome email sent on the 16th of October states:

"We want you to be completely happy with your decision to join ScottishPower, but if you’ve changed your mind and want to cancel your contract, you must tell us within seven working days from the date you received this e-mail."

Therefore it is 7 WORKING days from receipt of welcome email.

I hope that clears everything.

Scottish_Power

Hi if you e-mail [EMAIL="onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com"]onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL] with details I can look into this for you. Thanks David @ ScottishPower

chanz4

ask your supplier to put an objection in place. Although they dont have to.

Terrylw1

Its possible that the email was triggered late and the actual date was closer to the 11th but you've got proof to challenge this so raise a complaint.

grizzly1911

When I switched at about the same time I read it as 7 days from the date you pressed confirm on the comparison site screen/program.

If it is the one that ends Jan 2013 it didn't have a termination fee so just switch again if they don't come up trumps. I am sure they will it is just the process that is out of control.

wernotamused

Good news everyone!

I sent an email to the customer service director of Scottish Power complaining about their refusal to accept my cancellation notice. I sent the email on the 23rd October to:
CustomerServiceDirector@scottishpower.co.uk

They sent me an email a few hours later saying:
"I can confirm that the agreement with ScottishPower has now been cancelled and your gas and electricity supplies will remain with your preferred supplier"

I am happy it was sorted, but I wonder how many of their customers fall for their retention tactics.

Thank you for your replies!

Terrylw1

offpeak wrote: »

retention tactics are in play as I've seen them regularly; the issue is that the most exposed are often the older and vulnerable who really need heating and use much more energy as they have become less mobile and stay at home, who trust older established utilities whose strong brands are often abused by a younger generation of staff on targets to deliver retention results, who don't use forums or email - the issue raised here is just the tip of the iceberg I fear

Whilst I agree with you regarding shady activities, its not a younger generation but people who have little integrity or are pushed to achieve targets to save their jobs. I'm pretty sure that shifty sales staff have been around long before deregulation of these industries.

In terms of the strong brands...they can only blame themselves.