Add your feedback on energy supplier Scottish Power

GPS1974

I can provide feedback on SP quite happily.

DO NOT USE THEM!!!!!!!!

Here is our CURRENT experience with them.

Recently my wife and i move home into our dream house. Something we aspired to for the 11 years we have been together.

It was a new build and came with our new Energy Providers etc.

This meant leaving Scottish Power at our old address - on the 20th December 2013.

We perfectly correctly submitted our final meter readings and cancelled our DD. We fortunately took a copy of the submitted webform on this date and copies of the meter reads are stated on this. We also have the e-mail confirming closure of our account.

I also took screen shots of our various account pages showing the closure of the account and our account balance at this point.

NOTE:- We were £155.61 in credit at the point of submitting our final meter reads. Our previous meter reads for dual fuel were given on the 28th November 2013.

So to be clear we are only talking about billing between the 28/11/13 and 20/12/13 and have confirmed closure of our account and confirmed credit balance.

So why on the 23rd December 2013 do i get a demand for £321?

We make a phone call to Scottish Power to chase this to be assured by the useless call centre operative that this was a computer generated bill and to ignore and they would sort the bill issue "shortly".

23rd Jan 2014 - we receive an e-mail demand for £642 and yet our online account still shows the account as closed and in credit by £155.61.

24th Jan - we receive yet another e-mail demand for £642

11th Feb - we receive a further demand for £321 via Scottish Powers online e-mail website service to our account which clearly shows as closed and in credit - wish they would make up their mind how much they THINK we owe them?

13th Feb - i raise an official complaint against them and get a complaint reply that i would get a response within 5 working days.

20th Feb - I recieve a call from Scottish Power to discuss our issue. The guy "says" he sends e-mails to the relevant departments and that this should cease the demands and that he will also try to get our final bill resolved and our refund issued.

21st Feb - a letter arrives from Scottish Power demanding payment of £321 or they may take steps to recover the debt (what debt - we are in credit).

22nd Feb - A letter arrives from "Sterling Collections" (for those that are not aware this is Scottish Powers in house debt agency). Saying that they have been asked by Scottish Power to contact us about our outstanding balance of £321 and that our account is in arrears. It goes on to threaten legal action to gain entry to the property and lays out the legal costs we will face if this is required if their legal action is successful.

I am almost tempted to let these muppets take me to court and see the egg on their faces when i can PROVE i have closed the account on the 20th December and that it is in credit.

I intend to seek:-

1). My refund and interest that i am owed from the 20th December 2013 till the date of settlement.

2). A financial award for the time, hassle and stress factor in dealing with this charade.

3). A full apology IN WRITING from Scottish Power explaining what went wrong and why they were at fault.

4). Scottish Power to ENSURE that my name is clear with ALL credit files.

5). Scottish Power to ENSURE that my name and address is removed from any debt collection registers / agencies.

Thought members here would want to be aware of what a shocking company Scottish Power are and their complete inability to deal with a minor billing issue THAT IS THEIR FAULT to the point they are incorrectly pursuing us for money we don't owe them - to the point we are in fact in credit and they owe us!!!!!!!!

Any tips or pointers on how we can resolve this as i am about to contact:-

Ombudsman
Watchdog
Ofgem

This has tonight been posted on twitter and facebook as us consumers should not have to face bullying tactics from a major company when they are clearly in the wrong.

mikefarnham

The start of the process was so bad I cancelled.
Easy to contact BUT they lie (I have evidence) and do not do what they say they will. almost impossible to get any action on anything. THEY HAVE GIVEN ME THE WORST SERVICE (A CLEAR MISNOMER) I CAN EVER RECALL. THEY DESERVE A BEST IN CLASS AWARD.

A.Penny.Saved

matelodave wrote: »

Getting your refund from Scottish Power - don't hold your breath but don't give up hope either.
I've just got my £133 back after changing from them on 4th November.
It took several snotty e-mails to get the final bill which was eventually produced on 24th December and another one to prompt the refund which appeared in my bank account on 13th January, so near enough 10 weeks. :j

staggered wrote: »

Same problem as many others.

I left Scottish Power ages ago. They still haven't produced a final bill, let alone send me the money they owe me (about £300-400).

I've complained loads of times but am being completely ignored.

I've threatened them with small claims court as I can't really see an alternative.

Avoid at all costs!

I am about to switch and I was quite a lot in credit and I heard many stories of long waiting times for money to be repaid which I did not want happening.

Therefore I phoned them on their freephone number, mid morning and got through after 15 minutes. I told the man the situation and said that I would like a refund of the majority of my balance. He told me that it would be sorted out when my account closes, he was obviously aware that I was switching. I insisted that I wanted a refund and he told me that it could take up to 10 days with 3-5 for BACS. I went ahead with it and 4 days later the money was in my bank account! For some strange reason there were a credit and then a debit of the refunded amount showing on my online SP account so someone might of made a mistake. I did lower my DD about a week before this and they have set it to half what I requested so by the time I switch it should be fairly close to being settled, with them owing me a small amount.

I have no complaints because it has been handled well. Just the question of how long it takes them to finalise it all.

I did have to wait for 50 minutes on the phone when I lowered the DD so it is not always quick.

I have read lots of complaints so I thought that I would balance it a bit and add a more positive experience.

Thank you Scottish Power.

POLAR_BILL

To A.Penny.Saved
My first year was successful with requests every 3 months for meter readings and very prompt on line bills. I was told next bill due 19th December but have not been asked for a meter reading. Also I applied for the warm home discount early January and have heard nothing. My on line account is still at September. At least the direct debit hasn't gone up since my old price fix ended 2 months ago and I will owe them money. However I will be stuck with them till February 2015 as it would cost £50 to leave.

babelfish

Polar Bill, can you not switch to a different tariff with SP - one that doesn't have an exit penalty - and then switch to a different supplier? Im sure I read somewhere on MSE that this was what to do if you want to leave early.

currylover2013

Imo THEY ARE PANTS!

Loose_Canon

I've just left Scottish Power and lost count of the number of calls I have had from them offering me new tariffs. I work out my own comparisons using the published rates and I'm happy with my new supplier.
No way am I going back to SP. They laughed when I told them I had lost count. The call wait is 'estimated at over an hour' and I have also emailed them twice to ask them to STOP calling me, I am in TPS yet they still call.
Never again

Standy

I too am totally disgusted / fed up with Scottish Power! I reignited my online login last October and was surprised to find that the August bill never happened. I was over £1,500 in credit at the time. I have given online readings, verbal readings and no bill ever appeared. I asked for a refund of some of the balance (for Xmas - but I neglected to mention which one! ) and after at least FIFTY phone calls :mad:, emails never answered, call backs that never happen, a string of named individuals who say they are taking responsibility for their mess (admitted to me) and then disappear. I got a call last week for readings and, at last, two bills have appeared. Yet another guy phoned this week and agreed they had screwed up (after I have raised a complaint) and said he would refund the credit balance - so they promptly added the credit amount to my account (in two parts?) and then reversed it off - so I am still over £1100 in credit after a winter bill. They also suggested (on Boxing Day, think they were drunk :beer:) that my DD should increase from ~£180 pm to over £500 pm :eek: when I was massively in credit. Their CS is a JOKE and service is NOT their aim, it is hanging on to MY money as long as they can, interest free! Don't touch them with a barge pole. BTW, their Android App is flippin useless, it might as well be screen wallpaper for what use it is!

POLAR_BILL

babelfish wrote: »

Polar Bill, can you not switch to a different tariff with SP - one that doesn't have an exit penalty - and then switch to a different supplier? Im sure I read somewhere on MSE that this was what to do if you want to leave early.

Hadn't thought of that but I will look into that idea if a better deal comes along. Meantime I appear to be on about the best tariff of the big six. There are some slightly cheaper ones (I am in the cheap energy club) in "other" energy suppliers but I haven't had any real problems with Scottish Power.

A.Penny.Saved

babelfish wrote: »

Polar Bill, can you not switch to a different tariff with SP - one that doesn't have an exit penalty - and then switch to a different supplier? Im sure I read somewhere on MSE that this was what to do if you want to leave early.

I wondered whether this might be possible myself late last year when I was comparing energy suppliers. SP prices came out fairly good but I did not like the sound of the exit penalty and being tied to SP. It's might be worth investigating for anyone in a similar situation.

POLAR_BILL wrote: »

Hadn't thought of that but I will look into that idea if a better deal comes along. Meantime I appear to be on about the best tariff of the big six. There are some slightly cheaper ones (I am in the cheap energy club) in "other" energy suppliers but I haven't had any real problems with Scottish Power.