Scottish Power Compensation (max)

matchplayer

Have been in dispute with SP for 3 months now! Getting nowhere fast, so decided to move supplier. New supplier took over on 27th Dec & took DD £171. Scottish Power then took £171 on 4th Jan. I phoned & complained asking for immediate refund under the direct Debit guarantee & the fact they currently owed me £1429. I got that figure from the automated call quoting "your final bill as of Dec 27th when you moved supplier is £1429. The guy went on to say, the DD collected on 4th Jan was included in that figure & if I reclaimed it via DD guarantee it would delay that payment being sent to me as it would need to be recalculated etc etc. I figured I had waited long enough, was now overdrawn so yes I wanted it repaid now & the rest can wait, whats another few weeks? got my £171 on 7th January & a cheque arrived today for £1429. Tonight I got phone call from SP, "Your final bill has been calculated & a cheque has been sent out, unfortunately as you made an indemnity claim on your last DD, you have been paid £171 too much! We have a record of your complaint & we are willing to pay £50 compensation for the trouble caused over the last 3 months, with not billing you correctly" I asked them to increase this to £71 & i will repay a round £100? This was refused & I was told there max compensation is £50, does anyone know if that statement is true? I had emailed them asking them for a deadlock letter as they were not keeping to their side of the complaints procedure & keeping me in the loop with updates as promised, final straw was DD after I had left. Should I accept the £50. I told them to phone back next week once their cheque had cleared!

Lady321986

Average compensation awarding by the ombudsman following deadlock or referal after allowing the energy supplier 8 weeks is £25-£125.
They're not likely to offer more because they've compensated for the service failing by offering £50. If however, you've any financial loss bring this up and send proof and they'll add this on to the compensation offer.

backfoot

They will definitely pay more than £50. It is their standard line to offer up to £50. They also have so many complaints a further £21 is not worth arguing.

The Ombudsman may only award you £50 but they will also have to pay the fees for the referral.

I always try to document the time spent in dealing with the problem and evaluate it. If you suffered any financial loss also include those.e.g overdraft fees, phone calls etc.

matchplayer

Thanks backfoot, that was what i was annoyed at, I am self employed & spent at least 4 hours dealing with this. 1.5 of which was waiting on them to answer the phone!

Jimmymac19781

I did a foi and are you aware the ombudsman charges the energy companies every month the complaint remains overdue- so who's benefitting here the customer or the ombudsman

matchplayer

I emailed them referring to their complaint procedure, "if unable to reach a mutually acceptable agreement.....providing a final offer. This is known as deadlock" So lets see agree or Ombudsman?

matchplayer

Got phone call this morning from Scottish Power. They have agreed they have dealt badly with their mistake, have agreed to my request of upping compensation to £71. Which leaves me with a nice round £100 to return from their £1415. Job done!

backfoot

Well done. :T

They played call my bluff and lost.