Scottish Power - should I complain?

FacelessNumber

Hi.

I would appreciate some advice. We moved house last March and were initially with British Gas. Over the summer I thought our gas bills seemed a little on the high side but assumed it was the bigger house etc.

We then switched to Scottish Power Fixed in November. Over the first quarter with them my gas bill was ridiculously high, so I soent a while going over the bills and realised that I was being charged for an imperial meter instead of metric (therefore my usage is being multiplied by 2.83). I contacted both British Gas and Scottish Power in January to explain - turned out the meter number they had was one digit wrong (passed from BG to SP).

I had a refund from BG in April. SP have still not adjusted my bills!! They have agreed not to raise my direct debit as there is a query but this seems a very long time to sort this out! I last called them in May and they told me it could take another 90 days.

I feel this is becoming an unreasonable length of time to sort what surely isn't that complicated a problem? I am considering sending a letter of complaint but want to make sure it is justified! Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Simon7685

If they have identified the mistake, there is no reason why you should not make a complaint. After all it would seem that they owe you money, however they will be in no rush to reimburse you and it would not surprise me if they said they would offfset any money owed against future bills, which is common practice with a lot of companies nowadays.

dogshome

Well done for realising the Metric v Imperial error.

The fact that BG have investigated the problem, found your challange to be sound and re-imbursed you the overpayments you made to them, shows that error is absolutely clear with no 'maybe' factors

For SP to to require a further 90 days to rectify your account is astounding, and that they are insisting on still collecting your D/Debits based on an Imperial meter conversion factor, is just beyond belief.

You need to WRITE to SP, heading the the letter Complaint ( This is a magic word in the Utility world that triggers procedures that SP must follow)

PS
You say you moved in, in March 2012 - Is there any way you can contact the previous owner of this house ?
When you moved in, you inherited the Gas Billing formula that the previous owners were paying, and it was as wrong for them as it was wrong for you - BG owe these people a heap of money which they won't get unless they claim it -The claim can go back for 6 years