Scottish Power trying it on with Cancellation Fees !!

Kev64

I received an email from Scottish Power on 13th April, telling me that my capped tariff ends on 31st May and that "If you notify us that you wish to change supplier before 1st June 2013 and if we receive a request for your supply from another supplier within 15 working days, we will not move you to our standard prices or apply a cancellation charge.".

I used the MSE comparison service here and that concluded that EDF offered the best deal. I switched to EDF via this site, on the same day (13th April).

Today (10th May) I get a phone call from Scottish Power trying to tempt me back by asking would I consider staying if they found me a better deal, and also if I stayed, I would not incur the cancellation charges being applied to my account !! When I enquired 'what cancellation charges ?!', the chap told me that any new supplier must notify them within 16 days before the end of my contract in order for cancellation charges not to apply. He explained that EDF had notified Scottish Power too early (i.e. outside the 16 day window) and therefore I would incur cancellation charges.

This smells like horsesh*t to me and I'm livid that they are prepared to try to pull this stunt in order to stop me leaving.

Can anyone confirm that I am within my rights to challenge this with Scottish Power please ?

I found a BBC Watchdog page Here, that talks about switching suppliers and in it they state "The Ofgem regulations mean that consumers who are affected by a price rise have thirty days to inform their supplier that they want to leave, and if a termination fee applies to their tariff they don't have to pay it."

The only way I can see Scottish Power getting away with this is if the normal expiry of my fixed term, capped tariff (with no option to continue on a similar alternative tariff without a price increase) does not actually place me into Ofgem's category of a 'Customer who is affected by a price rise'.

Could anyone offer me any advice please ?

Many thanks !

Kev.

Wywth

Kev64 wrote: »

I received an email from Scottish Power on 13th April, telling me that my capped tariff ends on 31st May and that "If you notify us that you wish to change supplier before 1st June 2013 and if we receive a request for your supply from another supplier within 15 working days, we will not move you to our standard prices or apply a cancellation charge.".

I used the MSE comparison service here and that concluded that EDF offered the best deal. I switched to EDF via this site, on the same day (13th April).

Today (10th May) I get a phone call from Scottish Power trying to tempt me back by asking would I consider staying if they found me a better deal, and also if I stayed, I would not incur the cancellation charges being applied to my account !! When I enquired 'what cancellation charges ?!', the chap told me that any new supplier must notify them within 16 days before the end of my contract in order for cancellation charges not to apply. He explained that EDF had notified Scottish Power too early (i.e. outside the 16 day window) and therefore I would incur cancellation charges.

This smells like horsesh*t to me and I'm livid that they are prepared to try to pull this stunt in order to stop me leaving.

Can anyone confirm that I am within my rights to challenge this with Scottish Power please ?

I found a BBC Watchdog page Here, that talks about switching suppliers and in it they state "The Ofgem regulations mean that consumers who are affected by a price rise have thirty days to inform their supplier that they want to leave, and if a termination fee applies to their tariff they don't have to pay it."

The only way I can see Scottish Power getting away with this is if the normal expiry of my fixed term, capped tariff (with no option to continue on a similar alternative tariff without a price increase) does not actually place me into Ofgem's category of a 'Customer who is affected by a price rise'.

Could anyone offer me any advice please ?

Many thanks !

Kev.

So are you affected by a price rise or is it just that your existing tariff is coming to an end? :huh:

If it's a capped tariff, I didn't think they could raise the price above the agreed cap during the term of the agreement.

Kev64

My capped, fixed term tariff ("Capped Price Energy June 2013 (Version ") was coming to an end.

chanz4

the rules dont apply to tariffs coming to an end

maxtweenie

Seems to me they think they can charge the cancellation fee as you appear to have left them during the fixed period. Personally, I think they are being ridiculous but you need to check the exact wording in the email they sent you on 13th April.

Kev64

The exact wording is as per my original post, i.e.; "If you notify us that you wish to change supplier before 1st June 2013 and if we receive a request for your supply from another supplier within 15 working days, we will not move you to our standard prices or apply a cancellation charge.".

Whilst I did not personally notify them (I just used this very site to switch), they, along with all the other suppliers say you don't need to contact your existing supplier when switching as they will do it for you. They can hardly advise customers switching TO them not to worry about contacting their existing suppliers and then penalise their own customers for doing exactly that !

The only thing I can think of, is that maybe EON (and this site ?) took longer than the 15 working day limit to notify Scottish Power, though how I can be penalised for that I don't know, as I completed the switch request here within an hour of receiving the email from Scottish Power ! That isn't what the bloke from SP said though - he said EON had notified them too early (!).

I'll ring them tomorrow and see what they have to say for themselves. Worst case scenario - they insist on charging me, then I'll just cancel the direct debit before I get their final bill. When they send me the final bill, I'll pay them the exact amount, minus the 'cancellation fees'. If they want to sue me for trying, and failing, to rip me off, then so be it. Bring it on.

joedenise

The 15 day period Scottish Power are talking about is of 31 May not the date of the e-mail you received from them, so they are perfectly within their rights to charge you a cancellation fee as you left them too soon before the end of your fixed rate period.

Denise

KM1234_2

Unfortunately I don't see any valid grounds on challenging this outcome with Scottish Power as they clearly stated you should contact them to exercise your right to cancel, yet you chose not to do this.

If you switch energy supplier it takes a minimum of 28 days to complete, as you recieved a phonecall on the 10th May it certainly seems those timescales have been met. The advisor whom you spoke with at ScottishPower said that EON have applied to early, I can only assume this relates to the fact the completion switchover dates have been agreed before your contract comes to an end and that the cancellation fee is valid.

Using a comparison website to switch energy company is a general standard, they don't go into great detail with every single customer using them as to notify the current supplier about exact packages they're on and not to charge cancellation fees as they're exercising the right to cancel.

Personally I think you should bite the bullet and learn from this mistake, if you avoid paying the cancellation fee you might be at risk from collection agencies becoming involved thus affecting your credit rating.

Kev64

joedenise wrote: »

The 15 day period Scottish Power are talking about is of 31 May not the date of the e-mail you received from them, so they are perfectly within their rights to charge you a cancellation fee as you left them too soon before the end of your fixed rate period.

Denise

I disagree. If I sent you a letter saying you needed to do something "within 15 working days", You would naturally assume I meant from the date of the letter. If they have chosen to be imprecise with their wording, it should not be to my detriment.

keith1950

If you don't want advice why bother asking ? You get good advice off several people and prefer to argue the point that you originally are asking about.

Worst case scenario - they insist on charging me, then I'll just cancel the direct debit before I get their final bill. When they send me the final bill, I'll pay them the exact amount, minus the 'cancellation fees'. If they want to sue me for trying, and failing, to rip me off, then so be it. Bring it on.

So you're not bothered about destroying your credit file when they pass the debt onto a debt collection agency.

Nada666

Just to repeat what others have said (though it might be pointless):

technically Scottish Power are correct and in the short term you should pay up and comply with demands etc to avoid credit marks or difficulties.

If you like you can make a formal complaint that you found the wording misleading and responded differently to the intent of the protection. On the one hand you made a mistake on the other a 'normal customer' may be judged to be mislead. Whichever way a formal complaint will go is irrelevant. You should behave sensibly now to avoid complications.