Scottish Power - Can't get off Standard Tariff.

Cate1976

My husband & I agreed back in September to pay enough each month based on 12 month average plus an extra £45 to pay off our debt, total being £165 month. We were told that if d/d bounced then it would be fairly quickly that they would go down pre pay route which was fair enough.

All went well until November's d/d bounced on 13th, I got the email on the 15th letting me know and saying they would attempt again on 28th. To avoid risk of having pre pay fitted, I paid the £165 via their website thinking this would stop them trying to take the d/d again on 28th.

Checking my bank a/c online 29th November, I saw that Scottish Power had tried to take the d/d on 28th which is going to cost me £10 in charges. The £10 charge isn't as big a deal as Scottish Power trying to take the d/d after I'd paid November's bill.

I then made sure that the money was in the a/c in time for December's bill going out on 13th but it didn't so I left it to see if it went out last Monday. Next thing I know is I get email saying we need to pay them £345.89 which I haven't got. Yesterday, I got an email saying that if it's not paid they'll refer it to debt collector. Last night I was looking online at the available tariffs and decided to go on the online one that is fixed price until Feb 2015. I couldn't do it last night as our meters are on the outside front & side walls of the house.



This morning I've done a few things in the following order:

1) Gone outside and got the meter readings.
2) Gone onto Scottish Power's website and paid £165 which is what December's d/d should have been.
3) Tried to enter meter readings but it says they can't be done automatically, but to send them which I did and they'll reply within 2 working days which will be Friday.
4) Tried to change onto the tariff I want but when I clicked on 'change my Service', the page that came up said:

Access to this option is temporarily unavailable as we are currently updating your account

This should be complete within the next three days and access to this option will be available once this has been completed.

This may be because you have told us you are moving home or we are updating your product.

Please try again later.

Cynic in me suspects either of the following:
1) They've shut down the change product service due to it being Christmas.
2) They're blocking me from changing tariff due to debt.

The other maybe unlikely one is that I can't change tariff until they've processed my payment which could take 5 working days.

I might be able to pay more off the debt next Monday but not guaranteed. Is the £165 payment today going to be enough to stop them sending it to debt collectors & fitting pre pay meters? Pre pay meters won't be practical for me as I can't always get to the few shops in my town that do the top ups, that's unless Scottish Power is one of the companies that allow online top ups on pre pays? Also my house is rented & don't know how landlord would be about pre pays. I have 3 children under 5.

First priority is getting onto the tariff I want. i don't mind paying £165 month by d/d and will make sure that money is in my account but d/d option isn't showing on my account on their website. If I can't pay monthly by d/d then I'll probably pay £45 week.

ps. Could someone tell me how to upload a screenshot?

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

I doubt they're stopping you from changing tariff due to debt.

I wouldn't worry about the PPM threat, it'll be many more weeks before they start to arrange bailiffs etc. If you phone and explain the situation they should be fairly understanding. If not, write a letter headed complaint, saying that they took the DD on dates not agreed, and this has caused the problem.

I'd take the tariff change situation at face value, it's been a busy time for energy firms with all the price rise/decrease shenanigans. Add to that the holiday season (even SP staff are allowed a few days off!). Try again in a few days, the difference in tariff for a week is pretty small, maybe £2.

Cate1976

Thanks for the reply, good to know they're unlikely to go down ppm route immediately. I don't have a problem with staff having this week off at all. I'm not happy that they've shut the option to change tariff. It might only be £2 week but I'm trying to save money where I'm able to.

Cate1976

In today's post, there was a letter from Scottish Power saying they haven't received the payment and if I don't pay within next 7 days, the account will be passed to legal collection agent. A home visit will also be arranged to obtain payment which will cost me an additional £22.62 in additional fees and credit rating maybe affected. Letter is dated 18th December. Most annoying thing is that they've done this after trying to take Novembers payment when I'd already paid it. Is it worth me even trying to ring them to:

1) Get on the tariff I want to be on.
2) Go back to paying £165 month by d/d or paying £45 week. The £45 week would get debt paid off slightly quicker.

I could possibly pay the remaining £180.89 in 2 payments next and the following Monday.

I would like the Scottish Power rep to answer some of these questions before I ring them.

Cate1976

Yesterday evening I checked my emails and there were 3 from Scottish Power:

The first saying thanks for payment and it'll be processed in 5-7 working days, hopefully this will be quick enough to avoid debt being sent to collection agent.

The next was an auto response to me giving them my meter readings.

The third was saying that they have the readings & I'll get a bill within 5-7 working days.

No email saying anything about my request to go onto the online tariff fixed price until February 2015. Cynic in me suspects that they're not letting me on the tariff due to the debt.

Last month I filled in the application for the £135 warm home payment (entitled due to circumstances listed in broader group).

I'm not sure whether some of the circumstances that qualify us for warm home mean they can't force us onto pre pay meters?

Cate1976

I checked my account online yesterday and the payment I made on Monday was showing as well as an updated balance which is £397 debit.

I then looked to see if I could change tariff and I could. Yesterday afternoon I went out and took photos of the meters and went online to change onto the online fixed price until 28/02/2015. Set the dd date for 28th each month as I'm expecting the dd to be high due to the debt. Got email back saying it'll take up to 3 working days to change and I can't access my account online during the changeover.

Think the problem earlier in the week could have been me submitting readings before trying to change tariff instead of doing it on the tariff change page.

Regarding the debt, if the dd is set higher than it was previously, I'll ask them to set it back to £165 month which'll be £120 for usage and £45 towards the debt. Hopefully they won't decide to put us on prepay meter, if they insist on us having pre pay meter, would they set it so the standing charge gets taken on the day most convenient for us or does it come off on the day fixed by Scottish Power? I would probably top up on Mondays. When fixing the amount taken, do they do it at fixed % of household income or do they do it based on affordability after allowing for rent, council tax, food and other essentials?

sniggings

if you are on benefits than you can use directpay, the benefits people take only £3.60 a week for debt and then work out your usage and take for that, if over 25% of your benefit money they have to get your agreement to pay the money, if under 25% then they just go ahead and take it off your benefits each week, better than a meter, but tbh once you get used to a meter they are not too bad, I have one, it's with British Gas and they allow top ups from home, they send you a card reader so I don't have to go to one of those naff corner shops to top up (why are PP always in the worse shops?), it's coming out in 2 weeks so I can change to a better tariff if I find one.

I bet this is where you say you're not on benefits :rotfl:

Cate1976

We're not on the JSA/IS/ESA type benefits, we do get CTC & WTC, husband works 25 hours week. Our nearest Paypoint shop is the co op 5 minutes walk away. We are willing and want to pay off the debt but it needs to be at level affordable to us after other bills have been paid and saving for clothes. We need to save for clothes for all three kids.

Cate1976

Just logged into my account & I'm now on the online fixed price till February 2015 tariff, monthly dd. Only thing now is to see what this is set at.

sniggings

Cate1976 wrote: »

Just logged into my account & I'm now on the online fixed price till February 2015 tariff, monthly dd. Only thing now is to see what this is set at.

what it's set at? surely if it's a fixed tariff you knew what it was set at before you asked to be switched to it?

Cate1976

They didn't tell me what the dd would be when I asked to go on the tariff. I've checked my emails and the dd is set to £155 month. This seems a little on the low side to allow for usage & paying off the debt so am going to try to pay £10 week. Will post what my account online is estimating the next 12 months usage to be.