Scottish Power overcharged me £1300 and are evading making a refund

spcustomer

Pineapple88 wrote: »

I have read through all six pages of this thread and I have got to say that am I just as confused as I was on page one! It seems that very little light has been shed on the sitaution in 110 posts which mostly seem to consist of threats an accusations. SPCustomer I understand that you are very frustrated with the lenght of time that the dispute has gone on for but as an outsider reading this it doesn't seem like you really want the situation to be resolved; you appear to only want to prove you point and the longer it goes on the more it confirms your theory (I may be wrong on this, just my two cents worth (and no, I don't work for SP).

Have you contacted the Ombudsman again? If so what did they say?

What resolution do you want to get out of the case? Do you just want the debt to be written off as you believe it is incorrect or do you want a write off plus a refund of £1000?

I am still unclear about how the origianl debt accrued. Was it through non payment or was it a catch up bill (a SP letter on one of the earlier pages apppeared to indicate that your bills had been estimated and this is the reason the £1300 credit was reduced to £300).

I know you have requsted copies of bills which haven't been issued. My exprience of SP is that they bill you every three months but will only send you quarterly bills if your payments need to change (which is more likely with an estimated bill). If your payments remain the same over the year then you will just receive one annual bill. Therefore you should have been sent at least one bill a year detailing your payments and meter readings. Do you have these? If so prehaps you could post details of these and we may be able to work out how the original £1300 credit was reduced? The bills may also be online for you to print off if you do not have them?

You missed half of it. I'm not surprised you are confused.

First of all - in my last post I mentioned that I had made a THIRD try at an ombudsman complaint to the (non) independent ombudsman service.

Secondly, if I have made accusations they will be based on available evidence, but I don't think I have made any. I have very early in this thread talked about newspaper reportage of a magistrate's court case in which some SP employees from the accounts dept were charged with a type of fraud and fined.

As I said in the first entry SP admitted overcharging me by £1300 but only refunded £300 and have failed ever since to account for the other £1000.

And now for the amusement of all: The meter-reader from G4S came when I was not in on the 15th and left a card inviting me to either spend some money on phoning SP's machine or to go on the internet to their site and give a meter-reading. I opted for the second option - but the site can't be found!

So there will be no meter-reading until G4S come back and find me in.

Pineapple88

spcustomer wrote: »

I have found amongst my docs a copy of the contents of my energy ombudsman complaint of 2005. It said this:

do not remember the complaint date.

I caught SP overcharging me some years ago but the problem is still with me. At the time they admitted to overcharging by £1300 and then sent me a cheque for £300 saying the rest was owing. They tried to account for this by saying that they had been underestimating for the last couple of years or so. I asked them to account for themselves by sending me copies of all back accounts for the past nine years and they told me that they would not do this unless I paid them for the accounts. I was not willing to pay for these as the whole matter was of their making

I stopped paying them until I had built up about £1000 alleged arrears and they started threatening me in various ways.

End of copy.

I can assure you I have read every post.

The above quote is what I was referring to. You say that SP say that the reason they did not refund you £1000 was they had been underestimating your bills. Therefore getting to the root of this what happened during this time period would appear to be key to resolving the dispute. Since SP did not provide you with the bills, you will need to dig out your old copies becasue you should have received at least one bills per year which should show you the meter readings. This would hopefully shed some light on what has happened and how it can be resolved.

What resolution are do you want to achieve; what will you 'settle' for?

Also, is this the story that you have been referring to about SP accounts department? If it is then I don't think it proves that SP as a company are out to overcharge and defraud you since the employees if this case were behaving fraudulently to their own advantage (and taking money away from the company). If this is the story, then you should not be using it to prove SP have overcharged you... they were giving people cheap energy!

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/scottishpower-call-in-cops-over-call-986461

Scottish_Power

spcustomer I have updated your account according to the readings you provided in your post on 16/05/13. You can submit meter readings via our free phone automated service 0800 027 8000. You can also register for self-service to view bills (going forward) and submit meter readings on our website https://www.scottishpower.co.uk/ Click my account at the top of the page, then register.

I hope this is helpful.

David

spcustomer

Pineapple88:

I suggest if you want to know what this thread is about you read it properly. Can't say any more.

SP David:

So you have at least reinstated the freefone number and therefore that might need to be removed from my injunction application. As long as it stays reinstated that is a start. I don't remember that number being on the card G4S left, however (which I have currently lost).

The (non) independent ombudsman has written to tell me that I am out of time but they might be able help if I produce a letter from SP saying they feel they have reached their full and final position. As they reached their full and final position from the first (although did not say so) after my first email many years ago they probably won't do anything anyway, saying I am out of time for even that!

And so I will probably still have to go to court to get some satisfaction.

DirectDebacle

spcustomer wrote: »

And so I will probably still have to go to court to get some satisfaction.

Which is what you should have done months if not years ago. First make sure your claim is not out of time. If not then send SP a LBA (Letter Before Action) and if their response is not to your satisfaction then you can commence court proceedings.

Having read the thread I recommend you find someone with a logical and methodical approach to assist you in preparing your claim. Courts are only interested in facts and evidence. As the process goes through its various stages SP will have to serve you with a copy of their defence. No doubt this will be a full explanation of their version of why you are allegedly short of £1000.00 and will more than likely contain documentary evidence e.g. bills to support their explanation.

You can stop court proceedings at any time prior to the hearing. Approx 75% of all small claims are settled before the case is heard.

Expect a counterclaim for the money you deliberately withheld from S.P. To avoid this I suggest you pay them. No doubt you had the good sense to put this money on one side, anticipating that it would have to be paid sooner or later.

Good luck. Let us know how you get on.

[Deleted User]

Eco 7 meters , especially the old style analogue ones are mostly in a complete mess. The customers ( like the OP) dont understand them properly, and neither do the suppliers. In the vast number of cases , if gas central heating is now in place, it is cheaper to go for a standard single rate price for all the units. A lot of eco 7 meters now in place have been changed to that billing, the meters remain in place, but the useage is billed on the total units.
The meters timers, which control the switch over period, are more often so far out of time, that customers are getting the cheap rate ( which is supposed to be in the dead of night 12.30-7.30 am) into a well used heavy useage period, in the evenings or later in the morning. In most cases, people with eco 7 meters will be the ones who "owe " a thousand pounds if the suppliers care to examine the meters correctly.

Pineapple88

spcustomer wrote: »

Pineapple88:

I suggest if you want to know what this thread is about you read it properly. Can't say any more.


.

As noted above I have read each post on this thread.

I am trying to get to the bottom of why the dispute has arose and why SP are withholding the refund from you and bills and meter readings would be the best way of doing this. I have read lots of 'he said/she said' but not seen any billing amounts/meter readings which would help me to see what has happened and when in a factual and logical manner. If you had evidence which showed billing and meter readings this may also help your court case.

EDIT: What evidence have you gathered to take to court?

Scottish_Power

spcustomer wrote: »

The (non) independent ombudsman has written to tell me that I am out of time but they might be able help if I produce a letter from SP saying they feel they have reached their full and final position. As they reached their full and final position from the first (although did not say so) after my first email many years ago they probably won't do anything anyway, saying I am out of time for even that!

And so I will probably still have to go to court to get some satisfaction.

I have sent an e-mail in relation to this point.

David

spcustomer

- or are you talking about the one the other day that says SP have reached their full and final position?

What is the point of trying to communicate secretly with persons who wish to be open and public?

Andy_WSM

spcustomer wrote: »

What is the point of trying to communicate secretly with persons who wish to be open and public?

They are being professional, you are not?
Trying to bully them into submission publicly was never a good approach to take IMO.