Gas transferred without my knowledge, please help

LisaB1970

Bear with me this is a long one.
I have been with SSE for both gas and electricity for several years. I had a debt with the gas so have been paying it off using a card meter. I got a letter from SSE just before christmas saying i owed £240 so i called them and told them the debt was being paid via the meter. They informed me that I switched supplier on 4th July 2014...i have no knowledge of this. They told me payments towards the debts has stopped on that day and they had not received any money from me since. I told them i was still using their card, and said I not to worry they would report it as an erroneous transfer and it would be sorted but i needed to contact my current supplier as they would have the money and it could be returned to SSE. I had no idea who this was so after a few phone calls finally discovered it was Scottish Power. I called them and told them i had never agreed to change and that i would like the money the meter had been deducting from my payments to be sent to SSE. They told me that no payments to the account had been made since they took it over, but they would agree to the erroneous transfer. They told me to call SSE again because I had been using their card to top up the meter as they should have a record. So i did, and they dont. SSE told me to call Scottish Power and ask them to look into it. I did, and they still say they have had no money. I am then informed it cant be classed as an erroneous transfer as it was done over 3 months ago. To date I am receiving emails and phone calls from SSE demanding i pay the £240 i owe TODAY to avoid further charges. I have paid it! I asked Scottish Power how it has not flagged up that my account is on a prepayment meter yet they have not received any money....they couldn't answer me. They also said they will send me a new card to "reset" the meter. I asked if the payments towards the debt to SSE would be wiped off, they said no, but i do not believe them. I sent a complaint to Scottish Power via email 10 days ago...and have had no response, other than an email saying they will respond within 5 days! I called SSE again to ask for the account put on hold as i am trying my best to sort this out. The woman asked if i kept all the receipts from the shop from each time i paid but i haven't. Once the money was credited to my meter I had no reason (so i thought) to keep them. She asid "most people do"...what????? Seriously???
So now i don't know what to do. I have been paying £8 a week towards this debt since July but no one can find the money. I have spent hours on the phone to both suppliers and am getting nowhere. Please, can someone help me, its not a lot of money, and i cant pay it as i am in an IVA and have no spare money. I am so stressed by all this and don't know what else to do.
Thanks

ljonski

see last post here and email CEO of SP

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5163012

I would be making an official complaint and getting the Ombudsman involved if no joy! Hth

System

May help. I believe that the same rules apply in England. Not sure about Scotland.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/wales/consumer_w/consumer_energy_supply_e/problems_switching_energy_suppliers/youve_been_switched_to_a_new_gas_or_electricity_supplier_without_your_consent.htm

LisaB1970

Thank you for your responses. I did call the Ombudsman for advice and they told em to complain in writing which I did. They said give them 10 days to respond. That 10 days is up on Monday. That will be 10 working days.
Im so frustrated and very upset that no one from Scottish Power will help me. I find it difficult to believe that I have been using an SSE card to top up my meter, yet they are saying they have not had the money. I also find it hard to believe that Scottish Power have had the account since 4th July last year, they claim to have had no payments to it, yet this has not been flagged up. I also do not believe that using a Scottish Power card to reset the meter will sort it all out. I'm being chased for a debt i know I have paid, but neither have the money. The question is.... if neither have a record of any money being paid, and Scottish Power have an account for a prepayment meter that has no payments recorded on it....how the hell can they know i have been paying? Does the meter log it? Does the card log it? I am so confused!

CashStrapped

Did you top up the card with a debit card? If so, you may at least have a record of the transaction on your bank statement, although that would just show a shop transaction. Worth a look.

LisaB1970

I always pay cash. I have started keeping the receipts but only have a couple of weeks worth

dogshome

You have been the victim of an "Erroneous Transfer", which has actually been caused by an error of Scottish Power or one of their customers
The rule is when this happens, is that the 'innocent' customer should not suffer any financial dis-advantage, which with paying out £240 that you don't owe you most certainly have.

When SSE were advised of and acted on the transfer they would have closed your account, so whilst you were still feeding them money via your SSE card, their system had no account number to credit the funds to and would have placed the money an in Orphan Account.

If you have made any error at all, it was relying on phone calls to SSE's Customer Service Desk to diagnose the problem and rectify it, when the truth is that many of these staff have little authority to take any action and scant knowledge of the back-office systems.

WRITE to SSE heading the letter Complaint, setting out the history of this saga and demanding that they search to find your payments within their own system, and provided that your payments have been in line to collect the 'debt' in the agreed manner, that they immediately return your £240 payment

Joyful

Make sure you don't use their card until you check the screen for how much debt you have left and what you are paying it. Also make a top up and photograph the receipt and the debt screens on the meter.

An ET can go back over 3 months so insist on it.

chanz4

the payments will be sitting in a siemens suspense account, with no supplier assigned. get sse once back to raise a misdirected payments query and it will get resolved it does take time

chanz4

dogshome wrote: »

You have been the victim of an "Erroneous Transfer", which has actually been caused by an error of Scottish Power or one of their customers
The rule is when this happens, is that the 'innocent' customer should not suffer any financial dis-advantage, which with paying out £240 that you don't owe you most certainly have.

When SSE were advised of and acted on the transfer they would have closed your account, so whilst you were still feeding them money via your SSE card, their system had no account number to credit the funds to and would have placed the money an in Orphan Account.

If you have made any error at all, it was relying on phone calls to SSE's Customer Service Desk to diagnose the problem and rectify it, when the truth is that many of these staff have little authority to take any action and scant knowledge of the back-office systems.

WRITE to SSE heading the letter Complaint, setting out the history of this saga and demanding that they search to find your payments within their own system, and provided that your payments have been in line to collect the 'debt' in the agreed manner, that they immediately return your £240 payment

doesn't work this way, the old supplier raises a claim a refund isn't made to the op

LisaB1970

SSE have already done a misdirected payments search and have found nothing. I have already complained to Scottish Power, on the 19th January. I have had no response other than "we will contact you in 5 days", but they have not.
SSE tell me to take it up with Scottish Power.
Scottish Power tell me to put their card in the meter to reset it.
I am worried if i do this all traces of the payments I have been making will be wiped off as they say nothing has been paid to the account with them since they took it on 4th July last year. They say they won't look at tracing is as as far as they are concerned nothing has been paid to the account.
SSE have put the account on hold for 2 weeks. I am at my wits end with this. Someone somewhere must be able to trace this money, yet both are saying they cant.
I can't get into any debt whilst in an IVA, and i am so worried this is going to affect my agreement.