Scottish Power renege on agreement....

Kevsfx

Evening all. I've been trying to contact SP, with no success so far, so I thought it might be useful to get other people's assessments of my situation in the meantime.....

On 2 October I received an email from SP letting me know that my "Online Fixed Price Energy November 2013" offer was coming to an end - that email contained a link where I could sign up for their "Online Fixed Price Energy November 2014" Offer - after a bit of price checking, I went for this offer and on 4 October I received an email from SP thanking me for signing up to the offer and noting that they would automatically move me to the new offer on 1st November 2013.

Today (4 November) I have received a letter from SP letting me know that their standard prices were rising on 6 December, and that my prices would be increasing from this date. No reference is given to the "November 2014" offer which I have already signed up for. I have checked my online account today and note that it still shows me as being on the "November 2013" tariff.

Now, either this is a mistake on their part or, for some reason, they have decided not to honour the agreement entered into on 4 October. Naturally I'm aware of the recent price increases but thought nothing more of this since I had already entered into a new fixed price deal - if I had known that this might not be the case (i.e. that SP would ignore the email they sent me on 4 October where they said they would put me on an offer which, in the original email "Guaranteed fixed prices until 31st October 2014"), then I would have shopped around, and entered into a new deal as soon as it became likely that there would be Scottish Power rises.

Because I have not previously been made aware that Scottish Power had (potentially) reneged on the agreement, I have not had the opportunity to shop around before my deal came to an end..... this doesn't seem right or fair to me...

Any thoughts on this? I'm hoping it's all a mistake on SP's side, but I'm not holding my breath......

Mr_K

Sounds like a standard letter, maybe their systems hadn't updated to you joining the new tariff. They prepare these mailshots weeks in advance. However probably best to ring and ask if you're not sure, rather than anybody second guessing on here.

matelodave

Did you not read the letter with understanding rather than getting het up - it say if you have already switched to another tariff or supplier then disregard the letter. They also suggested that there was a considerable amount of leeway in the application of the increases if you were in the process of tariff or supplier changing. The paper had writing on both sides which tried to explain the situation but obviously you couldn't understand it

I would suggest that as you have already initiated the switch then it would be good to ignore the letter like it says

NittyGritty

Kevsfx wrote: »

Evening all. I've been trying to contact SP, with no success so far, so I thought it might be useful to get other people's assessments of my situation in the meantime.....

On 2 October I received an email from SP letting me know that my "Online Fixed Price Energy November 2013" offer was coming to an end - that email contained a link where I could sign up for their "Online Fixed Price Energy November 2014" Offer - after a bit of price checking, I went for this offer and on 4 October I received an email from SP thanking me for signing up to the offer and noting that they would automatically move me to the new offer on 1st November 2013.

Today (4 November) I have received a letter from SP letting me know that their standard prices were rising on 6 December, and that my prices would be increasing from this date. No reference is given to the "November 2014" offer which I have already signed up for. I have checked my online account today and note that it still shows me as being on the "November 2013" tariff.

Now, either this is a mistake on their part or, for some reason, they have decided not to honour the agreement entered into on 4 October. Naturally I'm aware of the recent price increases but thought nothing more of this since I had already entered into a new fixed price deal - if I had known that this might not be the case (i.e. that SP would ignore the email they sent me on 4 October where they said they would put me on an offer which, in the original email "Guaranteed fixed prices until 31st October 2014"), then I would have shopped around, and entered into a new deal as soon as it became likely that there would be Scottish Power rises.

Because I have not previously been made aware that Scottish Power had (potentially) reneged on the agreement, I have not had the opportunity to shop around before my deal came to an end..... this doesn't seem right or fair to me...

Any thoughts on this? I'm hoping it's all a mistake on SP's side, but I'm not holding my breath......

its just a standard letter, I received one today also, however ive moved to npower 2017 deal which came into effect on the 30th of October, (so I,m no longer with SP)

if you want any assurances just ring them,

Kevsfx

matelodave wrote: »

Did you not read the letter with understanding rather than getting het up - it say if you have already switched to another tariff or supplier then disregard the letter. They also suggested that there was a considerable amount of leeway in the application of the increases if you were in the process of tariff or supplier changing. The paper had writing on both sides which tried to explain the situation but obviously you couldn't understand it

I would suggest that as you have already initiated the switch then it would be good to ignore the letter like it says

Helpful that, thanks. In actual fact it says "data for this mailing was generated on 21st October 2013. If you have recently moved to a new product, etc, etc". I took that to mean, quite reasonably I think, that you should disregard if you have moved to a new product since 21 October; as stated above, I agreed a new tariff on 4 Oct, so they had this data on 21 Oct. As also stated in my message, my online account still shows the old tariff... Now, I don't know how quickly these systems update, but again I would think it reasonable to expect it to show my current (ie new) tariff, if everything had gone ok. Perhaps I expect too much of a business of this size.

As for your suggestion that I cant understand a simple letter; very helpful. Perhaps I have put the cart before the horse here, but as stated above there is no indication on my account that the new tariff has come into effect and the letter certainly appears to support this.

This all being said, I hope you're right.

Kevsfx

Mr_K wrote: »

Sounds like a standard letter, maybe their systems hadn't updated to you joining the new tariff. They prepare these mailshots weeks in advance. However probably best to ring and ask if you're not sure, rather than anybody second guessing on here.

Thanks to both Mr K and NttyGritty for the reassurance. I will attempt to call them again tomorrow just to make sure....

Froglet

Don't worry,kevsfx.I am in EXACTLY the same position as you,regarding everything you have put.I too received the letter this morning,having already signed up online weeks ago for the same Nov 2014 tariff and yet nothing was getting updated on my account.I tried to phone but it was going to take over an hour to answer! So i emailed.

Tonight at 9pm i logged on yet again and at last they have updated my account to show the new tariff. However,although i gave them my meter readings last thursday,ready for the new tariff, they have still not made up the bill.I expect it will follow at some point.

I think they are just incredibly busy but it is not really an excuse.

Oh and welcome to this brilliant site!

Kevsfx

Froglet wrote: »

Don't worry,kevsfx.I am in EXACTLY the same position as you,regarding everything you have put.I too received the letter this morning,having already signed up online weeks ago for the same Nov 2014 tariff and yet nothing was getting updated on my account.I tried to phone but it was going to take over an hour to answer! So i emailed.

Tonight at 9pm i logged on yet again and at last they have updated my account to show the new tariff. However,although i gave them my meter readings last thursday,ready for the new tariff, they have still not made up the bill.I expect it will follow at some point.

I think they are just incredibly busy but it is not really an excuse.

Oh and welcome to this brilliant site!

Thanks for this. It's reassuring, both that you're in the same position and the fact the someone else felt the need to check it out with SP. Hopefully my account will update shortly. I'll learn to expect a little less from them in the future....

Froglet

Having been with them some years i have always said how good they were, never had a problerm at all.But now..well ,let's see how it goes but i would no longer praise them I'm afraid.Days of worry and not being able to get through is not good service at all.