Scottish Power the worst

Hoof_Hearted

I think it's a Scottish Power policy never to return money to a customer....

toosey

fishook wrote: »

It took them ages to transfer me. They lost my first reading. If you try to call them be prepared to stay waiting on the phone for hours before someone answers. All I can say is the are the current cheapest for me with no switching fee.

It took me from the end of September to December to get a refund after I had switched. I had to lodge a complaint with OFGEM to get any progress. It was promises after promises that it would be soon sorted
This was September 2014 and one week ago ( Mid Feb 2015) I received a phone call from SP asking me if my complaint had been resolved to my satisfaction - I gave him a right ear bashing

Medstudent

My Scottish power ordeal is almost over.

I switched away from them Last September but they then kept taking DD of 32 pounds. Having spent a few months calling them about it and nothing happening I made a formal Complaint. 1 week before it got to the 8 week deadline I called and suddenly they could refund me in 5-10 days (after before being told this was impossible). Which happened! Unfortunately I noticed another DD went through in that time. Called again today. They suggested faster this time to use the DD guarantee as only one payment, have called my bank and all sorted. That should be in my account by the end of tomorrow. Hopefully that is the end of it. If not, they get the ombudsman.

Froglet

Hoof_Hearted wrote: »

I think it's a Scottish Power policy never to return money to a customer....

I feel almost guilty that both my Mum and myself have had good service from SP !! We have both applied for,and received, our warm home discounts 2 years in a row.


When Mum was in a reasonable amount of credit at her yearly review they automatically refunded it.I run her account via my computer as she does not have one.I rang about changing her meter from a two rate one to the standard one and a very helpful chap organised it all and true to their word turned up on the allocated day.I also at the same time changed her to a cheaper tariff no problem.


I decide I would like to have the majority of my credit refunded and pay a lower direct debit as I too have changed to a better tariff and it was done within days.


I have been with them several years and had the odd small problem but always got it sorted out.It does depend on who you speak to,i have been lucky recently with calls answered quickly and a very helpful guy called Darren.

Peter999_2

Incredibly I still haven't actually been able to leave Scottish Power.

They are genuinely a lost cause, absolutely hopeless. Just incredible that they are that bad.

I officially "left" them at the beginning of Febrary as the bills were just completely wrong (I submitted meter readings and yet the bills always said estimated). I have now joined Eon (seem ok so far) but still have an open account at SP.

They generated 5 bills in 5 days and all contradicted each other, they then refunded me £40 for gas (no idea if this is right or not) but they will just not let go of the electricity.

I have tried and tried over 3 months to get them to close the account, generate me a final bill and refund me. The latest was an email from them on 30th March apologising and saying there was an error with their invoicing and would take 5 working days to resolve. They promised that if they couldn't reslove in 5 working days they would update me - surprise surprise this did not happen.

I've now had to contact them yet again but have no faith whatsoever that they will actually resolve this and close the account.

If you are considering them at the moment, just do not bother and look elsewhere.

noodle_doodle

I've been a steady customer of Scottish Power for 5 years

At the start of this year they started sending me letters saying I hadn't been paying my £100 monthly payment, which I quite clearly had. every reply to a complaint email I've sent and every telephone call I've had with them agrees, their system is wrong. They still send me letters, now they've sent me a letter saying my account is now in their hands of their Escalated Collections process. I am thinking about suing the useless !!!!!! for stress.

NeilJ66

There's some shocking stories on here. I've just bought a property and therefore I'm on a deemed contract with.... Scottish Power!
The first thing I tried to do was go through their 'moving in' procedure online to set up an account, only to be told that it wasn't possible due to an error and it suggested I contact Customer Services, not a good start then... I e mailed them and to their credit within 2 days I had an account set up, with my opening readings registered and the correct meter serial number showing. Early days yet, I'm happy to stay with them for now and see what happens.

Froglet

I think it all depends on who you get when you ring.I have had some useless people who say they will help and don't.One spouted so much rubbish in a broad Scottish accent that I gave up even trying to understand.Yet when I rang someone called Darren he not only listened and sorted out everything,but he also rang back 2 days later to give me an update.


They ought to employ more people like him.

scofmann

I joined up today specifically to post a rant about SP, glad to see others are in a similar position!

I moved into my property in September. It's owned by my fiance's family so we're informal paying tenants. I called SP during our first week there with meter readings and opted to pay quarterly for electricity (the monthly amount they stated was stupidly high). The gas in the property is on a pre-payment meter. I received my meter card in the post that week and was expecting my first electricity bill around Xmas.

By mid-January I still hadn't heard from them so called to query the situation. I was told of a problem with systems and gave them a new meter reading. During this 3 month duration I was continuing to receive bills for past tenants which I returned. I confirmed with SP over the phone that these people no longer lived there and provided moving-out dates where possible. The bills are still arriving as of last week.

When it reached early March I again called to see what was happening. No record of previous calls, no record of meter readings (my opening meter reading now lost due to a phone breakage). I again relayed information and was assured that the matter was being dealt with.

When it reached April I decided to email customer services. Last week they stated that there is no record of my calls, meter readings or even my name on the electricity system, though they are aware of me due to the gas meter.

I have reached my limit of trying to do their job for them. Obviously I now owe 8 months worth of electricity to them, though I'm not sure how they can confirm exactly how much. What is to stop me transferring to a more competent energy provider and letting SP do the leg work on finding out what is owed? I will be happy to pay this amount but I can no longer tolerate this level of incompetence.

Cardew

scofmann wrote: »

Obviously I now owe 8 months worth of electricity to them, though I'm not sure how they can confirm exactly how much. What is to stop me transferring to a more competent energy provider and letting SP do the leg work on finding out what is owed?

Welcome to the forum.


Firstly the losing supplier(SP in your case) can, and will, block the switch to a new company if you owe money.


As you have now sent an email and had a response, may I suggest a different course of action - DO NOTHING.


If they haven't sorted it out after 12 months you will get all electricity prior to the last 12 months free under the 12 month back-billing rule.


Even if you do get a bill before the 12 months are up, you will have a very good case for getting a 'goodwill' reduction and time to pay off the debt.


In your phone calls you did ask to be put on their cheapest tariff of course!


I would compile a diary now of meter readings, phone calls etc.