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

Martyn1981

Dave_Fowler wrote: »

Quite unbelievable!

Just to get this in writing, I emailed their customer support department giving them a synopsis of what I had been told, asking them for confirmation that what I had been told was correct. Their reply was that I had already received a full answer by telephone and that the details were correct.

We'll see what happens next month when I send in the next set of readings.

Dave F

Strewth Dave! Total muppetry. Still, you couldn't have done any more, so you're in the clear, and in a 'reasonable' world, I can't see any way they can try to claim for the lost units after confirming in writing. TBH, I'd love to know how they are going to talk their way out of paying you a credit for the negative bill, after confirming in writing too! Best of luck.

I left SP 2 years ago, fed up with their silly on-line meter readings system based on 90 days (has it changed?) When I asked them on the phone if they could apply a more lenient system, as 90 days didn't correspond with 1 year. I was told "we can hardly use 91 and a quarter days can we!"

So very very helpful. Course couldn't get them to leave me alone when I transferred to EDF. 2 years on and still haven't had an accurate bill from EDF, though they did decide, finally, to bill me for gas 51 weeks after I switched to them.

Mart.

KevinG

Martyn1981 wrote: »

I left SP 2 years ago, fed up with their silly on-line meter readings system based on 90 days (has it changed?) When I asked them on the phone if they could apply a more lenient system, as 90 days didn't correspond with 1 year. I was told "we can hardly use 91 and a quarter days can we!"

I don't know but they've always taken readings whenever I've submitted them. I generally do this once a month on the same day as my DD goes out so that I have a completely up to date monthly bill.

zeupater

Hi All

Well, ScottishPower are still pretty useless, especially in fixing problems.

The last time I submitted TGM readings by phone, an automated message said that the queue was long and to leave a number for callback (number+#), upon entering I was told that my telephone number was too long !! ... Later on I called again and waited, left the TGM reading and mentioned the error on the callback option needed looking into.

Today exactly the same happened, so I rang the switchboard, who couldn't put me through to any department because they only have extensions by name, not position or department. Some quick research gave me a very senior contact name, so I called the switchboard back and asked for the named individual, relayed the position and am expecting a callback from someone in a responsible position ...

That was 30 minutes ago (and counting) .... not holding my breath, but hope that someone calls back soon or someone's ear is going to be repeatedly bent until it's sore enough ...

Is there still a Scottish Power rep on these boards ??

## Breaking News (30 minutes later) ## .... Before I could submit this post, the phone rang ... already having been (de)escalated to the Customer Services Manager, how may we help ?? .... issue(s) relayed, notes taken, passed to someone in the department to enter TGM reading there and then .... nice as pie, and an assurance that what had been reported would be looked into for improvement(s) ...

That's better, a little service .... the difference between delegation and escalation can be so obvious !! ....

HTH
Z

zeupater

Martyn1981 wrote: »

... I left SP 2 years ago, fed up with their silly on-line meter readings system based on 90 days (has it changed?) When I asked them on the phone if they could apply a more lenient system, as 90 days didn't correspond with 1 year. I was told "we can hardly use 91 and a quarter days can we!" ....

Hi

90 Days ?, wouldn't that be luxury .... ... they've sometimes pushed our quarters to around 80days !! ... on a tiered tariff that certainly works in their favour, that's every time, not on average.

Quarterly reading dates should be on a set date each three months ... be that the first, 15th or last date or the third Thursday in the month etc ... that's what makes sense, and that's what customers can remember, and that's what any IT department worth it's salt should be able to deliver at minimum cost, even if it upsets the bean-counters .... after all, customer satisfaction should be their first concern, else people will vote with their feet (/accounts ) - just as M has already done.

HTH
Z

KevinG

zeupater wrote: »

on a tiered tariff that certainly works in their favour, that's every time, not on average.

What difference does it make on a tiered tariff? It's worked out on a daily basis, not quarterly.

zeupater

KevinG wrote: »

What difference does it make on a tiered tariff? It's worked out on a daily basis, not quarterly.

Hi Kevin

On our tariff tier1 is worked as being the first 226 units per quarter, so you would certainly think so, especially considering the power of the computers which their billing system uses and the supposed intellectual ability of their programmers !! .... however, having received bills for varying length quarters I investigated and found quite a few anomalies !

The result ? .... I now submit quarterly readings, that's 4 readings per year for readings taken on the last day of the month, not on the dates which SP request quarterly readings to be submitted ... this usually means that an estimated bill is raised when they think a quarter ends (which can be considerably premature) followed by a correcting bill when it should have been raised .... they'll learn eventually !!

My agreement is for quarterly billing and that's what it should be. It makes little difference overall because we pay monthly by DD, so the timing becomes paper exercise really, but I refuse to accept that a year consists of ~4.5 quarters just because a beancounter thinks it does and now always check the arithmetic around the tiered charging, especially when the tariff value or contract changes during that particular quarter !! ( there's a hint in there somewhere :cool: )

HTH
Z

Martyn1981

zeupater wrote: »

Hi Kevin

The result ? .... I now submit quarterly readings, that's 4 readings per year for readings taken on the last day of the month, not on the dates which SP request quarterly readings to be submitted ... this usually means that an estimated bill is raised when they think a quarter ends (which can be considerably premature) followed by a correcting bill when it should have been raised .... they'll learn eventually !!

HTH
Z

Hiya Zeup. Glad it wasn't just me, you've just described (my bold) what I was getting, estimated bills, and correcting bills, all because I wanted to submit readings that were consistent. In my case 1st Jan, 1st April, 1st June, 1st October. Perfectly happy to accept that I was being a bit obsessive, but couldn't understand why their system was so inflexible. But it was the attitude that got me. There was me being friendly and chatty, and the rep really turned on me with the 91 and quarter bit.

Talking of petty (and wrong thread really) but just got a PDF from EDF for my TGM readings sent in a couple of days ago. Checked the amounts and (same as last year for this quarter) they've shorted me about 50p on the ESE and 12p on the WNW. No biggy ..... but, I decided to divide the differences by the rate change from Mch going into April (I submitted readings on 29th Mch).

Basically, instead of the 30kWh's I generated on the ESE (30th & 31st Mch) they've estimated 69. For the WNW, instead of the 10.2, they've estimated 31.2.

Best ever on ESE 24 v's their 34.5. And best ever on WNW 12.1 v's their 15.6. And obviously 'best evers' were not set in Mch.

Don't mind them bending things a little in their favour, but at least keep it within the realms of possible. I wonder if anyone in the UK has managed a 34.5 from a south facing 4kWp, let alone a 3.58kWp ESE, split system, with inefficient inverters .... in Mch!!!

Rant over. Oh, and EDF have processed this in 2 working days again, which is staggering, so they are more than welcome to help themselves to a 62p thank you.

Mart.

zeupater

Martyn1981 wrote: »

... I wanted to submit readings that were consistent. In my case 1st Jan, 1st April, 1st June, 1st October....

Hi M

Nearly the same dates as me then, apart from 1st June being 1st July ... :D ... proper calendar quarters .... no wonder they were confused .... :cool:

Z

Martyn1981

zeupater wrote: »

Hi M

Nearly the same dates as me then, apart from 1st June being 1st July ... :D ... proper calendar quarters .... no wonder they were confused .... :cool:

Z

:rotfl: :T :rotfl:

Hiya Z ..... just testing you (or was I testing SP?)

Sent in gas & leccy import readings yesterday morning. But at this time of the morning, I'm not willing to risk stating what that date was!

Mart.

tunnel

Why all the kerfuffle,

I'm an idle oink when it comes to meter reads and SP. They get them when i can be bothered to read and submit and i've never had an issue. That said, the readings are more frequent than quarterly as i like to know what it's costing in comparison to my solar income(sad i know).