scottish power retaliating!

suttonsue

I went through Martin Lewis's Cheap Energy Club and can't believe the childishness of Scottish Power when I told them I was switching and cancelled my direct debit with them.

I am still on a fixed rate terminating on 31st January and have paid all dds on 1st of month so the next one would fall after the end of the contract period, hence cancelling it. I have quite a bit of credit in it, enough to take care of any balance at switching. I have heard that Scottish Power are also very slow on issuing refunds at the end of the contract so wasn't willing to add to the refund that I won't receive for probably another 3 months.

So what did Scottish Power do?
Firstly they issued another bill for two days of energy. [I had submitted meter readings on 19th and got a bill for that] their next bill was 21st Jan and they based it on two MONTHS' worth of electricity and a quarter of a month's worth of gas - all for TWO DAYS usage! That of course reduced the credit quite a bit.
Then secondly they told me that as I had cancelled the direct debit, they were moving me onto the standard charge. So what happened to the fixed contract to the 31st January????

I've had nothing but trouble from Scottish Power over the period of the contract and will be glad to move over to Ovo.

I hope you can publicise this after the so called 'ease of switching'. I have switched regularly but have never had this problem before!

Nada666

Sorry, but this is you being petty not Scottish Power. There was no reason for you to cancel the direct debit. Not only can they charge the total from now on at standard rates they are entirely free to rebill the last quarter at the higher prices.

Switching is straightforward. You wait and receive the balance back (or pay a final demand.) You are lucky if this is the first time you encountered this - it is standard practice.

suttonsue

I am sorry but I don't agree. It is at the nearly end of the contract. I have paid all direct debits within the tenure of the contract. if I pay a further direct debit, after the end of the contract, then they will have even more of my money in their account for which I will have to wait to have refunded, and from what I understand, they are very desultory in refunding. That surely is not putting money to work to my advantage, the whole point of saving money. Admittedly I have never cancelled a direct debit before during switching because there has never been bad press about refunding from those from whom I am switching. There is with Scottish Power. The fact that they can immediately take you off the contract and put you onto a more expensive one, as a result of this, is I think, something that needs highlighting. There must be many people who do not wish to add to the coffers of the utility companies with further direct debits when in considerable credit at the time of switching.

fed_up_and_stressed

You state you are nearly at the end of the contract ... Ie are still in it and as such bound by its rules.......



As you have cancelled the direct debit they are quite within their rights to end any discounts based on being a direct debit payer (cheaper for the company to administer) . You should have asked them to reduce the direct debit amount to take account of the credit not just cancel it.

Don't mean to be rude but you've not helped yourself here.

suttonsue

I did email them of my intention before I did so and why, but had no response as to what they would do. All I got back was that Scottish Power is very competitive and I should consider their various plans. Then they woke up a few days later when they heard from my bank that I had cancelled. Ok I hold my hands up that I haven't stuck by their rules but I rightly or wrongly assumed that I had to do something about the dd 10 days before it is taken from my account if I didn't want to accrue a big credit for their coffers. I also, seemingly wrongly assumed, that I had paid my last direct debit under the existing contract. They always say they can't change dd's approximately 10 days before they are due. It's a wonder they haven't also charged me for early termination charges as well if that's the case!!! They did state when I told them that I started switching at the beginning of January that there would be cancellation charges until I referred them to the six week changeover allowance period prior to the date of end of contract. Then they backtracked and apologised for the incorrect information given to me by their colleague!!

Consumerist

I'm in the process of switching at the moment and it is my intention to cancel my DD as soon as I am notified that the switch is complete because another DD payment would be due shortly after the expected switching date. Perhaps that might have been a better plan for you.

matelodave

I've switched from SP and though not impressed by the time it took to get my final bill & refund (7 weeks) they did not take any more DD from my account after the switch date. I left the DD open until we got our refund then I closed it. As I used to give them a meter reading every month my bills were pretty well up to date and I was £133 in credit.
If you break your terms & conditions then they are within their rights to put you onto their standard tariff and to try and reclaim any discounts that you might have had

yangptangkipperbang

suttonsue wrote: »

I did email them of my intention before I did so and why,

Telling them that you are going to break the contract that you willingly signed up to doesn't mean that you can do it with impunity !!

At times I do feel sorry for the energy suppliers !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Consumerist

yangptangkipperbang wrote: »

At times I do feel sorry for the energy suppliers !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:rotfl:

Whilst accepting the point that the OP technically may have broken the Ts&Cs, it was hardly a major infringement if a switch was about to complete and the account had been conducted properly up to that point.

I agree with the OP that their response was spiteful and vindictive in the circumstances.

I suppose we must put up with the energy lobby on here as we have had to put up with the banking lobby in the past. We'll live

brewerdave

Consumerist wrote: »

:rotfl:

Whilst accepting the point that the OP technically may have broken the Ts&Cs, it was hardly a major infringement if a switch was about to complete and the account had been conducted properly up to that point.

I agree with the OP that their response was spiteful and vindictive in the circumstances.

I suppose we must put up with the energy lobby on here as we have had to put up with the banking lobby in the past. We'll live

I'm far from an apologist for the big 6 Utilities:o...but don't think it can be described as "spiteful and vindictive" -it won't have been the decision of a human being,nobody will have looked at the OP's account,whether it was in credit or not- but will have been triggered electronically when the bank informed them of the DD cancellation within the contract period.:(

Consumerist

brewerdave wrote: »

I'm far from an apologist for the big 6 Utilities:o...but don't think it can be described as "spiteful and vindictive" -it won't have been the decision of a human being,nobody will have looked at the OP's account,whether it was in credit or not- but will have been triggered electronically when the bank informed them of the DD cancellation within the contract period.:(

But it is within the power of the suppliers, big six or otherwise, to modify their systems - as they have had to regarding early-termination fees within 6 weeks of the end of a fixed contract.

Do the banks now have direct access to energy accounts? Or did a person have to record the cancellation of the DD?