Is it just me or is Scottish Power service seriously deteriorating ?

EricMears

I've been with SP for a couple of years now and am noticing a definite deterioration in service.

They've been paying my FIT payments since the start. Their acknowledgement has always said "we'll pay you within 28days" but it used to be a lot less than that

15 Nov paid 4 Dec
15 Feb paid 5 Mar
15 May still waiting !

Supply side haven't been a lot better. My initial DD payments were quite high (I wasn't allowing for SP advantages when I joined so can sympathise that they didn't) but dropped after a few months. However, they've never really dropped to a realistic level that would leave me just a few pounds in credit.

After my last meter readings they decided to drop DD by £3 /month (which is still too high) then emailed with an "IMPORTANT MESSAGE" telling me that (again !).

My last meter readings were submitted on 1st March (and promptly acknowledged by an automated email). Earlier this week they emailed me to say that since I had ignored their request for meter readings they'd decided to use estimated readings !

Pretty academic really as I'm now arranging to leave them (thanks MSE energy saving club) but no doubt they'll be cheapest supplier when I'm next due to swap.

Any chance of a Scottish Power official spokesman explaining why service has gone downhill ?

I may yet decide to switch FIT provider if anyone would like to recommend an alternative. Did I dream it or has it been mentioned here that someone actually pays more than official rate ?

greyteam1959

Would agree with you about the FIT payments mine have followed yours.
In fact I rang then to see if there was a problem because they were so late with the payment !!
How strange...............
As to the dd payments , they recalculated my payments to 82.50 per month then told me they were taking 85.00 per month !!!
Cheeky gits

zeupater

Hi

I think that they have really tightened up on holding onto customer funds as long as possible. There also seems to be a definite ploy to bill everyone early ... I can't remember the point at which a year was officially redefined as having ~330 days, but ScottishPower seem to think that quarterly billing should be based on this short year definition, probably because it generates higher revenues (tier1 billing becomes higher proportion of total).

Our pv & thermal really screws up their billing estimation system therefore they are continually changing our DD up or down, even though we are almost always in credit - this has been going on for so long (involving detailed discussions) that there are notes against our account and everytime the DD is changed I simply request a callback and tell them what we're going to pay (the power of spreadsheets !) and ask for a cheque to be sent for any credit ... there's almost no dispute from their end these days.

Regarding Fits, we also had an issue with SP paying much later recently - previously we were told the exact BACS transfer date when submitting the TGM reading, but recently the official line seems to have changed to say that payment would be made within the period specified on the contract - when the BACS date is queried, the retort is that the agent cannot see that information & when it's explained that this was available previously you're told that nothing has changed and that you must be mistaken .... as if :cool: .... I just classify it as being the inherent dishonesty of the money-grabbing accountants which seem to run British companies these days .. :mad: .. but I doubt that any other supplier would be much better in the long-run.

HTH
Z

EricMears

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

I think that they have really tightened up on holding onto customer funds as long as possible. There also seems to be a definite ploy to bill everyone early ... I can't remember the point at which a year was officially redefined as having ~330 days, but ScottishPower seem to think that quarterly billing should be based on this short year definition, probably because it generates higher revenues (tier1 billing becomes higher proportion of total).

Our pv & thermal really screws up their billing estimation system therefore they are continually changing our DD up or down, even though we are almost always in credit - this has been going on for so long (involving detailed discussions) that there are notes against our account and everytime the DD is changed I simply request a callback and tell them what we're going to pay (the power of spreadsheets !) and ask for a cheque to be sent for any credit ... there's almost no dispute from their end these days.

Regarding Fits, we also had an issue with SP paying much later recently - previously we were told the exact BACS transfer date when submitting the TGM reading, but recently the official line seems to have changed to say that payment would be made within the period specified on the contract - when the BACS date is queried, the retort is that the agent cannot see that information & when it's explained that this was available previously you're told that nothing has changed and that you must be mistaken .... as if :cool: .... I just classify it as being the inherent dishonesty of the money-grabbing accountants which seem to run British companies these days .. :mad: .. but I doubt that any other supplier would be much better in the long-run.

HTH
Z

Afraid that doesn't surprise me ! Every email I get from them refers to their 'award winning customer service' and I keep asking them if the particular example I'm complaining about lives up to that.

Have just sent them this email :-

I submitted my readings on Wed 15th May and received this acknowledgement on Friday 17th May promising payment within 28 days.

Today is therefore the 30th day since submission or 28th day since acknowledgement and there’s no sign of payment in my account.

Since you have failed to make the payment when promised, please add interest to it when you eventually do so.

Don't for a moment suppose it will have any effect but at least I feel better for having sent it.

Still no sign of the Scottish Power authorised rep joining in ! No doubt he or she has been made redundant now that Scottish Power have abandoned any effort to provide good customer service.:D

dreaming

Oh no. My system went live at beginning of April and the forms were sent off to Scottish Power. They came and changed backwards running meter and then I contacted them to make sure they had everything. Had reply on 7th May to say they were currently working on forms received on 20th March. Put e-mail in my follow up folder but haven't followed up - will get on that right away. Surely they've caught up to April by now?

EricMears

Scottish Power used to be very good. Maybe they'll regain that one day . . . . ?

tunnel

I've just tried logging in to my online account with them, I have their site in my favourites. When I clicked login the same page kept reloading, in fact no matter what button I pressed on the page it kept reloading the exact same page. Ended up googling them and using the login link from there to get in and submit some meter readings. VERY frustrating indeed....and not the first time their site has had glitches.

dreaming

tunnel wrote: »

I've just tried logging in to my online account with them, I have their site in my favourites. When I clicked login the same page kept reloading, in fact no matter what button I pressed on the page it kept reloading the exact same page. Ended up googling them and using the login link from there to get in and submit some meter readings. VERY frustrating indeed....and not the first time their site has had glitches.

Have just tried logging in asl weel and the message comes up that they are "improving their site" this weekend but meter reading can be sent via a link.

EricMears

dreaming wrote: »

Have just tried logging in asl weel and the message comes up that they are "improving their site" this weekend but meter reading can be sent via a link.

You can still send in meter readings by email to [EMAIL="MicrogenReads@ScottishPower.com"]MicrogenReads@ScottishPower.com[/EMAIL]

I've always done it that way - it gives me an undeniable record of what I told them & when.

Kernel_Sanders

EricMears wrote: »

You can still send in meter readings by email to [EMAIL="MicrogenReads@ScottishPower.com"]MicrogenReads@ScottishPower.com[/EMAIL]

I've always done it that way - it gives me an undeniable record of what I told them & when.

I've always done that with SSE, but only because it appeared that you had to fill in the same load of details every time. However, that's good advice to do it this way anyway (unless you think staff having to input it is a cause of the delay).

The_Green_Hornet

EricMears wrote: »

You can still send in meter readings by email to [EMAIL="MicrogenReads@ScottishPower.com"]MicrogenReads@ScottishPower.com[/EMAIL]

I've always done it that way - it gives me an undeniable record of what I told them & when.

The only undeniable record you have is that you sent it not that it has been received.