Scottish Power mess going on for over a year...

stumpytrumpet

Hello all,

I'm in a dispute with SP which has been going on for over a year. The energy ombudsman have been involved since February but is this length of time normal?

Here are my issues in short:
1) SP didn't set up my dual fuel account properly way back in July 2013 and no money was being debited from my bank account for 7 months.
2) Despite myself contacting them on numerous occasions, each time I've been told something different as to when problem will be solved- within the hour, a day, week etc, until even they don't know.
3) Have not been able to properly access my online account. Resulting in me not knowing how much energy they reckon I've used and how much I actually owe.
4) Online account says I'm actually in credit.
5) Once SP began taking money in March 2014, they have taken well over the agreed DD amount each month. No pay plan was instigated to check affordability.
6) Went through SP's own complaints procedure. I began paying off bills over the phone through their complaints dept. only to be messed about with how much I owed and how much I'd paid.
7) SP have severely overestimated my energy usage over the year by a quarter for both gas and electricity. This is despite me giving accurate readings to them via e mail.
8) The energy ombudsman is involved. They called for SP to rectify problems by August 26th this year but they didn't. SP sent me a letter saying that they're "working hard" to correct the problem but have given me no date as to when this will happen. Spoke to the ombudsman and they've reissued their resolution.

I'm in the process of switching my suppliers but what's worrying me now is that could the switch be held up while SP sort their mess out? Has anyone experienced this sort of thing and how long did it take to fix?

Stumpy

naedanger

stumpytrumpet wrote: »

Hello all,

I'm in a dispute with SP which has been going on for over a year. The energy ombudsman have been involved since February but is this length of time normal?

Here are my issues in short:
1) SP didn't set up my dual fuel account properly way back in July 2013 and no money was being debited from my bank account for 7 months.
2) Despite myself contacting them on numerous occasions, each time I've been told something different as to when problem will be solved- within the hour, a day, week etc, until even they don't know.
3) Have not been able to properly access my online account. Resulting in me not knowing how much energy they reckon I've used and how much I actually owe.
4) Online account says I'm actually in credit.
5) Once SP began taking money in March 2014, they have taken well over the agreed DD amount each month. No pay plan was instigated to check affordability.
6) Went through SP's own complaints procedure. I began paying off bills over the phone through their complaints dept. only to be messed about with how much I owed and how much I'd paid.
7) SP have severely overestimated my energy usage over the year by a quarter for both gas and electricity. This is despite me giving accurate readings to them via e mail.
8) The energy ombudsman is involved. They called for SP to rectify problems by August 26th this year but they didn't. SP sent me a letter saying that they're "working hard" to correct the problem but have given me no date as to when this will happen. Spoke to the ombudsman and they've reissued their resolution.

I'm in the process of switching my suppliers but what's worrying me now is that could the switch be held up while SP sort their mess out? Has anyone experienced this sort of thing and how long did it take to fix?

Stumpy

I'm in a similar position, albeit my complaint has not been as long outstanding as yours.

I can't help feeling that in your situation the mess Scottish Power have created will probably adversely affect your switch in some way. If that happens you can complain but there does not seem to be any mechanism for preventing problems being made worse by suppliers or for forcing them to comply with the Ombudsman rulings.

In my case the problem is with npower. They have still not sorted out a transfer (requested in October 2013) and it has been over 100 days since the Ombudsman told them to fix the problem in 28 days.

I have now started a complaint against the Ombudsman for not replying to reasonable questions and not putting enough (or indeed any) pressure on npower to comply with the Ombudsman's ruling. The Ombudsman admitted they had not replied to me and that their service was below standard. However I was not satisfied with their response since it did not take me any further forward. I have now taken my Ombudsman complaint to the next stage.

Npower have also closed the case prior to it being resolved which is against complaints handling regulations requirements. However they just ignore me when I raise this (and other) points.

Npower has been ranked worst company in the UK for customer service and Scottish Power ranked second worst. So the problems we have had do not seem to be that exceptional.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/household-bills/11100390/Npower-worst-company-in-the-UK-for-customer-service.html

Terry98

naedanger wrote: »

I have now started a complaint against the Ombudsman for not replying to reasonable questions and not putting enough (or indeed any) pressure on npower to comply with the Ombudsman's ruling. The Ombudsman admitted they had not replied to me and that their service was below standard. However I was not satisfied with their response since it did not take me any further forward. I have now taken my Ombudsman complaint to the next stage.

I would be interested to know the procedure for complaints about the Ombudsman. Do you complain to Ofgem?