Scottish Power ombudsman remedy

lucasdaddy

Hi just looking for a bit of advice.

Ive had a complaint with Scottish power since 06/14 regarding my energy account closure as when i left to go to another supplier Scottish power failed to close my electricity account, and were charging me for 6 weeks after i officially left them.

I complained to them and got absolutely nowhere they said i was correct and closed my account but closed it from the day i rang them not the day i left. I tried numerous times to get them to check with British Gas the dates and close from the correct date which they failed to do and just sent a letter telling me i had the right to go to the ombudsman.

I contacted to ombudsman in January this year who dealt with it for me and myself and Scottish power agreed on a remedy of closing my account from the correct day and paying me back my credit balance and also a £150 gogw.

The ombudsman gave Scottish power 28 days of the 24/02/2015 to implement the remedy unfortunately nothing has materialised.

I contacted the ombudsman today to chase it up and they say they allow Scottish power 85 days before they pass the details on to the regulator and then said i can raise a new complaint.

My question is what will actually happen now as I've tried to look up what happens if the remedy isn't resolved but cant find anything?

Sorry for the long story but just wanted to give the background details.

Thanks

Dan

matelodave

I'd guess it's the Small Claims Court - SP would struggle to defend themselves against an ombudsman's ruling.


Try sending them a letter before action telling them that's what you are about to do and then do it if they don't respond promptly. Perhaps a few more cases in court would motivate them more than a toothless ombudsman or regulator

naedanger

lucasdaddy wrote: »

Hi just looking for a bit of advice.

Ive had a complaint with Scottish power since 06/14 regarding my energy account closure as when i left to go to another supplier Scottish power failed to close my electricity account, and were charging me for 6 weeks after i officially left them.

I complained to them and got absolutely nowhere they said i was correct and closed my account but closed it from the day i rang them not the day i left. I tried numerous times to get them to check with British Gas the dates and close from the correct date which they failed to do and just sent a letter telling me i had the right to go to the ombudsman.

I contacted to ombudsman in January this year who dealt with it for me and myself and Scottish power agreed on a remedy of closing my account from the correct day and paying me back my credit balance and also a £150 gogw.

The ombudsman gave Scottish power 28 days of the 24/02/2015 to implement the remedy unfortunately nothing has materialised.

I contacted the ombudsman today to chase it up and they say they allow Scottish power 85 days before they pass the details on to the regulator and then said i can raise a new complaint.

My question is what will actually happen now as I've tried to look up what happens if the remedy isn't resolved but cant find anything?

Sorry for the long story but just wanted to give the background details.

Thanks

Dan

You are not alone:

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/jan/29/scottish-power-complain-ombudsman-ruling-uphold

and

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/oct/11/scottish-power-ombudsman-bills-compensation

I had a similar problem. Npower failed to implement an Ombudsman decision and in addition closed my complaint before any of it was resolved (and fiddled its official complaint statistics).

I complained about the Ombudsman not doing enough to enforce their own decision. However I lost the substance of that complaint although I was awarded £75 because of the Ombudsman's communication failures.

In short beyond taking legal action to enforce the decision I don't think there is much you can do to hurry them along. (If you do try to enforce via the courts make clear you are not wanting the complaint re-examined and that you are only seeking the enforcement of the Ombudsman's finding.)

However I would take up the Ombudsman's suggestion and start a new complaint with SP. Make clear the new complaint is about a new matter i.e. SP's failure to follow its complaint process. I would seek £25 compensation for that failure and increase the amount to £50 if you need to take that complaint to the Ombudsman.

You could also complain to Ofgem that SP is breaching it licence conditions by not following its complaint handling process. (However Ofgem won't help you with your complaint but if they get enough similar complaints they may investigate further. However they are already well aware of the mess SP are in so I don't really think writing Ofgem will do any good.)

I expect the matter will be resolved by SP within the 85 days. If not then write the Ombudsman again at that time.

(PS I had never heard about this 85 day limit before.)

lucasdaddy

Thanks very much for your advice appreciate it

footyguy

lucasdaddy wrote: »

Hi just looking for a bit of advice.

Ive had a complaint with Scottish power since 06/14 regarding my energy account closure as when i left to go to another supplier Scottish power failed to close my electricity account, and were charging me for 6 weeks after i officially left them.

I complained to them and got absolutely nowhere they said i was correct and closed my account but closed it from the day i rang them not the day i left. I tried numerous times to get them to check with British Gas the dates and close from the correct date which they failed to do and just sent a letter telling me i had the right to go to the ombudsman.

I contacted to ombudsman in January this year who dealt with it for me and myself and Scottish power agreed on a remedy of closing my account from the correct day and paying me back my credit balance and also a £150 gogw.

The ombudsman gave Scottish power 28 days of the 24/02/2015 to implement the remedy unfortunately nothing has materialised.

I contacted the ombudsman today to chase it up and they say they allow Scottish power 85 days before they pass the details on to the regulator and then said i can raise a new complaint.

My question is what will actually happen now as I've tried to look up what happens if the remedy isn't resolved but cant find anything?

Sorry for the long story but just wanted to give the background details.

Thanks

Dan

:huh:

You don't need any new complaint, at least not against Scottish Power.

You want the ombudsman to assist you in getting Scottish Power to abide by the full & final resolution proposed and accepted by you.

I have no idea why they expect you to wait almost 3 months. Scottish Power were given 28 days to comply. On the 29th I would have phoned the case handler.

naedanger

footyguy wrote: »

I have no idea why they expect you to wait almost 3 months. Scottish Power were given 28 days to comply. On the 29th I would have phoned the case handler.

Unfortunately that does not work. The Ombudsman refuses to put you through to the complaint handlers. Also they generally ignore letters (once it gets to this stage) or simply write stalling letters etc. Or at least this was my experience. And complaining about the Ombudsman is also not very productive, again in my experience.

The Ombudsman probably does have no enforcement powers but why they wait 85 days to notify the regulators just shows the level of dreadful service that seems to being tolerated within this industry.

lucasdaddy

I contacted the ombudsman as soon as the 28 days were up. The remedy implementation team were then apparently dealing with it i waited 3 more weeks for a letter to say they were chasing it up with Scottish power. Then nothing until i contacted them today and the guy said they allow then 85 days? not sure why when they have 28 days to resolve which is in 2 days time according to them. I was told at that point they pass the details on to the regulator and i then have the option to raise a complaint again regarding the failure to implement the remedy. Think i am just being strung along by all party's to be honest id have a lot less stress if i just forgot about it .

footyguy

lucasdaddy wrote: »

I contacted the ombudsman as soon as the 28 days were up. The remedy implementation team were then apparently dealing with it i waited 3 more weeks for a letter to say they were chasing it up with Scottish power. Then nothing until i contacted them today and the guy said they allow then 85 days? not sure why when they have 28 days to resolve which is in 2 days time according to them. I was told at that point they pass the details on to the regulator and i then have the option to raise a complaint again regarding the failure to implement the remedy. Think i am just being strung along by all party's to be honest id have a lot less stress if i just forgot about it .

Sounds like an unacceptable delay to me, or a lack of clarification as to what is causing the delay. I suggest you raise a complaint, not against Scottish Power, but against the Ombudsman following their complaint procedure.

Or if you prefer, you can just forget about it :cool:

footyguy

naedanger wrote: »

Unfortunately that does not work. The Ombudsman refuses to put you through to the complaint handlers. Also they generally ignore letters (once it gets to this stage) or simply write stalling letters etc. Or at least this was my experience. And complaining about the Ombudsman is also not very productive, again in my experience.

The Ombudsman probably does have no enforcement powers but why they wait 85 days to notify the regulators just shows the level of dreadful service that seems to being tolerated within this industry.

Nonsense .

lucasdaddy

footyguy wrote: »

Sounds like an unacceptable delay to me, or a lack of clarification as to what is causing the delay. I suggest you raise a complaint, not against Scottish Power, but against the Ombudsman following their complaint procedure.

Or if you prefer, you can just forget about it :cool:

The Mrs would have my head if i let it go now I've moaned on for the last 12 months about it :rotfl:

naedanger

footyguy wrote: »

Nonsense .

Unfortunately not. Completely factually accurate.

I did complain about the Ombudsman through the proper process, which includes the requirement to write to the Ombudsman's CEO. However he also ignored my letter and reminder. The Independent Adjudicator did award me £75 for Ombudsman's failings to communicate (but did not agree with the substance of my complaint, being that the Ombudsman had not done enough to ensure their decision was implemented).

Do you not find it odd that people have written to the national papers if it was as easy to get the Ombudsman to take action as you appear to think?