Scottish Power Platinum - Very Poor service - Avoid

oxfordhippo

Just a warning to anyone tempted by the service promise included in the Scottish Power gas+elec utilities tariff.

I had that on my mothers house for peace of mind.

Her central heating and hot water was out this morning, so I rang Scot' Power approx. 9.30am Friday 18th Oct ( just in case this becomes a week long thread! )

I was promised it would be treated as urgent as she is elderly, and that the engineer dept. would call me to arrange an appointment today ( no warning they might just not bother.... / sorry - be too busy, and also too busy to let me know ) ).

Yes - you guessed it......come 6.45pm I had still heard nothing at all, no missed calls, no voicemails etc.


I rang them 6.45, stated we were still waiting. Was given an apology-ish - and was promised a call from the Home Comfort team ( ironic name for their dept. ) within 15-30mins = by 7.15pm latest.

Yes - you guessed it again, come 8pm still no call from them. No missed call. Not using my phone - full signal etc.

Rang them 8pm - oh, nothing we can do now - we will send a follow on e mail to the Engineer dept - but evidently no way we'll get a call out tonight. No one you can talk to, no senior manager to offer any guarantee an engineer will visit tomorrow ( Saturday ) etc. - utterly left high and dry.

They claim they've had a huge influx of repairs this week. But they don't think to warn you - and their terms guarantee a repair visit in 12 hrs.....Utterly lame. Not reliable!

Only take out this tariff ( and pay they extra they lump on it for the servicing ) if you are prepared to go a few nights without any heat.....

If their is a Scottish Power rep out there......what level of customer care do you think should be given as standard - and just how far below that are scot' power falling.....

Could anyone not from Scot Power suggest the best ways to get out from this tariff, and claim a refund given their completely inept performance?

Many thanks.

Smudgy1312

I have this contract and this year have been unable to get the service done despite numerous emails, phone calls and letters to Customer Services.I finally have been told today that due to the number of recent boiler breakdowns I will not be receiving the annual boiler service and safety check agreed in the Platinum fixed energy Jan 2014 contract, this is a clear breach in the terms and as I cannot receive any refund I will be looking into possible legal action? i would advise anyone thinking of taking the Home Comfort premium care offered with Scottish Power to think again.

Pincher

What a profitable business model. Charge a million customers £1 each. Hire two engineers, one for England, one for Scotland, job done. Don't even need a big script. Just say we will get back to you, and send the engineer to anybody who says they will sue. Call the police if anyone threatens to suicide bomb the office, saving an engineering call.

One born every miniute: The tariff includes service and repairs, what a bargain!

jasperstwins

I rang the home comforts emergency helpline Monday morning 9th December once I had discovered that I had no hot water or heating working in my house to arrange for an engineer to come and fix whatever the problem was with my boiler, straight away I was given an appointment for the next working day but was told itwas an all day appointment so no times could be given I just had to wait in all day up to 6pm.

Tuesday 10th December, a very pleasant man named Scott from your outsourced contracted company City Technical Service arrived and was here for some hours before declaring that the main circuit board in the boiler had blown, (my husband had actually witnessed the engineer accidentally spilling water onto the main circuit board in his attempt to remove water from the 'sub water pump' in the boiler) but he would order another one and be back the next day to fit it and stated that Scottish Power would call to confirm as all appointments had to be agreed by them.

It got to 4pm on Wednesday 11th December when I called Scottish Power to find out if the engineer was still on route to come back to me, to be told that the engineer had not been able to get the part needed but it had been re-ordered and should be available for the engineer to collect from a local depot and come and fit the next day, again an all day appointment, when I asked why had no-one from Scottish power called me to explain this I was told that someone should of and that they couldn't see on the system why.

Thursday 12th December just after 3pm another pleasant man called Dean from City Technical Service turned up with the part needed only to inform us after another couple of hours that the last engineer (Scott) in his efforts to fix the boiler had also blown the main power switch to the boiler and now that needed to be ordered, Dean informed me that he would try to order the part but as everything had to go through Scottish Power first it would be in my best interest to call Scottish Power in the morning and double check that the new part had been delivered to the local depot and would be collected by an engineer and had an appointment to come fit it along with the 1st ordered part.

Friday 13th December I rang Scottish power as instructed to be told that the part had been ordered but they could not fit me in for an appointment as there were no more slots available for that day and the next appointment would not be till Monday 16th December.

I am sure like any sane person reading this you can understand why at this point I became very upset and demanded to talk to a manger to explain to me why an engineer could not be allocated to finish fixing my boiler as this had been an ongoing matter for 5 days now and they wanted me to wait another 3 days, I have a family with 3 children and had not had any hot water or heating for what would be 8 days, in anyone's book this surly is to much to ask any customer, as specially with a company the size of Scottish power being one of the big 6 in the country.

This is when over the next 5 days starting on that same Friday the 13th that the home comforts team began to become totally incompetent passing me from pillar to post with bear face lies and half truths, first talking to Alistair (no surname) who assured me that he would find out from the engineers what was going on and call me back, he never did, Paul MacCormack who tried getting through to the engineers several times finally came back to me stating that it had all been sorted and an engineer had been booked to come to me the next day Saturday the 14th which at the time was such a great relief to hear but was told it has to be another all day open appointment so someone had to be at home so I cancelled my work appointments again only to be called by Sharon Whiteman from the home comforts teamon the morning of the 14th December to be told that she had spotted in the appointments that an engineer had been booked in, but called to tell me that there was no engineer coming as the part that was ordered was not available for collection till Monday 16th December, by now the last sane nerve I had broke, I was totally distraught, outraged and now in tears, I went out and brought 6 electric heaters to warm the rooms in my house and keep my family from becoming ill, at a cost of £419.88 (receipt to follow) which I will expect your company to be paying for.

Monday 16th December again waiting in all day I took it upon myself to call Scottish power around 3pm to check if an engineer is still on route sometime that day to come to me, Shauna from the home comforts team tells me NO as the part is still not available but sees on the system will be at the depot next day, Arhhhhhhhhhhh, Tuesday 17th December I called in the morning to find out what was going to happen that day and was told by Austin that yes from what he could see on the system an engineer was booked to come to me sometime that day, I let it get to 4:30pm and called again to check to be told by Azim sorry NO the part is still marked as unavailable, I now blew my top and demand to talk to no one else apart from a manager in the department that can make an authority decision to get this matter sorted once and for all. After been passed around the department yet again, been told things like 'there was no managers on shift' to 'they are not allowed to pass things like this over to them' and even refusing to give me managers names and that someone will 'call me back' but I refused to hang up and stayed on line till I was passed to Steven McLean who said he was a manager and after reading the notes on the system understood my anguish and assured me that he would get this sorted, after holding on for over an hour at first, and then Steven calling me back several times a total of 3hours later, he confirmed to me more then once that the part had now become available and would be collected from the local depot by an engineer but I could not be booked in for an appointment till Thursday the 19th December as there were now no available slots and this was not considered an emergency even though upto that point my family had not had hot water and my electric bill was now going through the roof due to using electric heaters and I personal because of this matter am totally stressed out and exhausted and now have become ill.

Thursday 19th December, Scott the 1st engineer that came from City technical Service turned up after 3:30pm but yet again after nearly 2 hours told me that the boiler was still not working due to some cables that were with the new parts were not compatible with the boiler and that he had been on the phone to his boss and was trying to get the right cables and if possible he would return the next day to fit them, but he would get his boss to call me in the morning and keep me upto date regarding the cables, needless to say Friday morning 20th December my daughters birthday no one called, I rang Scott the engineer to be told that his boss was now on the case and trying to source where these cables could be obtained and that he would call as soon as he had information, at 3pm I called Scottish power as I wanted it on record and asking them about this new order of parts and was told yes the operations manager of City Technical Service was trying to get them and someone from Scottish power would call me back, no one did, I called Scott again around 4pm and he told me he would get his boss Charlie to call me which he did and try to assure me that they had upto 8pm to order parts so he would call me back before then, he never did and when I tried calling him at 7:50pm the call went straight to voice mail.

Saturday 21st December, called Scottish power to be told by Ross on ex202040 not sure but it looks like someone should be coming to you Monday 23rd December so please be sure to be in as this is an all day appointment......................

The only thing I have left to say regarding this whole matter is that it has been handled totally disgracefully, regardless of what happens I will be cancelling my home comforts contract with Scottish power and want the total fee that I have paid refunded in full £183.04, the cost of having to buy electric heaters in order to keep my family warm £419.88 (copy of receipt will be sent), being a self employed consultant and having to cancel appointments on 7 days (so far) when an engineer has not shown up, at my basic rate of £60 a day £420 plus my soring electric bill which I have no idea will cost.

In this day and age with the vast amount of technology that we have at hand and knowing that practically anything can be sourced and obtained anywhere in this country within 24 hours if needed it astonishes me with the amount of money that Scottish power boost every year in profits that the company use this antiquated system, plus having to wait in all day is ridiculous when other companies are offering either a am or pm service in order to reduce disruption in the customers busy life.


This email was dated the 22nd December 2013 and sent to the heads of Scottish power including Keith Anderson the CEO, their complaints department, BBC watchdog and will be sent to the Energy Ombudsman if there is no reply from Scottish power within 7 days.


Needless to say no engineer turned up on Monday, it is now Boxing day (18 days) and this outrageous saga continues so I will be taking legal action.