What to do when the Ombudsman is of no help?

Tommy83

I had my complaint against Scottish Power referred to the energy ombudsman earlier this year after waiting 15 weeks for SP to resolve it themselves.
I outlined what i wanted as a resolution, but the ombudsman didnt offer this and as i was unhappy with the decision they came to i rejected it.
I am now hitting a brick wall at both ends. SP are refusing to discuss the issues relating to my complaint anymore as they say i have exhausted their internal complaints procedure, and the ombudsman are refusing to discuss or re-evaluate my case any further as i rejected the adjudicators decision.
Both are just referring me to the other and i feel like the ball in a game of tennis!
I have spoken to various departments at SP, and emailed every high up person there that i could find details for. I did receive an email back from someone who works as kind of a PA to the board of directors but she is refusing to answer my questions and just tells me to contact the ombudsman, which i cant because they wont discuss it anymore.
I am well and truly stuck on my next move.

System

Not a lot that will not involve time and your money. By taking a complaint to an Ombudsman, you have in effect agreed to a third-party review of your complaint and resolution. The Ombudsman rarely makes anything but a token award.

Quote: If the consumer decides not to accept our final decision they lose the right to the resolutions offered but can complain in another way, to the courts for example [emphasis added]. In this situation we have no further involvement in the complaint and the case is closed. Unquote

If you go to Court, my understanding is that the Ombudsman's decision will be taken in to account. You have the right to complain about the Ombudsman's review process.

This might be the time to put this one down to experience.

Rubidium

Perhaps you realise now that it is not for you to tell the ombudsman what you want as a resolution!

What would the point of the ombudsman if they were not allowed to come to their own decision based on the facts presented to them.

You have requested independent adjudication and have rejected their findings as presumably your expectations are unreasonable, move on and learn from this.

FOREVER21

Rubidium wrote: »

Perhaps you realise now that it is not for you to tell the ombudsman what you want as a resolution!

What would the point of the ombudsman if they were not allowed to come to their own decision based on the facts presented to them.

You have requested independent adjudication and have rejected their findings as presumably your expectations are unreasonable, move on and learn from this.

But that is in fact the way the Ombudsman system works they do in fact ask when you submit a claim what resolution you want.

However in most cases you usually have o accept a compromise.
It would be interesting if the OP gave some facts about their grievances.

SammenForLivet2

Your next step will be the court service, or small claims service, as you have exhausted all alternative re-mediation services, I'm afraid.

Tommy83

From what i can gather SP set me up on the wrong payment plan when i joined (quarterly cash instead of dual fuel monthly direct debit), I rang numerous times but it took them over 6 months to get it sorted. They took irregular direct debits during this time as well as me paying a lump sum over the phone too. Then it finally got sorted and a monthly direct debit started to come out.
I gave regular meter readings for both gas & electricity and then got hit with a £500 bill out of the blue 15 months later. They have said this is because the direct debit i had been paying was for gas only but i was under the impression it was for dual fuel as that is the tarrif they should of set me up on.
They had the wrong electric meter serial number for my property and also hadnt added my house to the national database, plus for a while i had 2 seperate accounts running for some unknown reason.
They took the £500 from my account on a seperate direct debit despite promising they wouldnt and i had to get an indemnity refund.
No one could give me an explanation as to what had gone on so i started a complaint.
They then ceased to take anymore direct debits.
They rang me 3 weeks later to resolve my complaint and i accepted this offer of resolution. 12 weeks later they had still not implemented the terms of it and they advised me that as more than 8 weeks had passed i should contact the ombudsman.
I did this and asked was asked by the ombudsman what i would like as a resolution.
I said i wanted an explanation as to what had gone wrong, and for them to implement the offer of resolution i had accepted (i sent them a recording of this phone call along with numerous other recordings of calls where i am trying to rectify the errors they kept making).
I was offered £100 goodwill (my account was now supposedly nearly £1000 in debit due to them not taking a direct debit for 6 months with no explanation as to why), a promise to bill me more accurately in future and reinstate my direct debit, and a written apology.
I declined this offer.
Now the ombudsman wont talk to me on the matter anymore as they are saying i declined their offer.
Scottish Power wont talk to me anymore because i went to the ombudsman.
All i am being offered is a payment plan, and they are refusing to send me a bill showing the amount of gas/electricity used since i became a customer, less the payments i have made, despite having my initial and current meter readings for both. I cant trust that the amount they say i owe is correct as they have failed so frequently leading up to this.
They are also trying to back bill me more than the 12 months Ofgem stipulate they can despite the fact that it was them that caused all of this. When i mention this they just ignore it.

System

Presumably, you gave the EO all the above information. If so, then you have no further recourse against the supplier - other than legal action through the Small Claims Court - as you have rejected the EO's resolution. If the EO thought that the Back Billing Code applied then this would have been a key part of the resolution. Sadly, there is nothing in the Ombudsman's Code to say that it has to keep you or the supplier happy.

FWiW, the consumer does have as much responsibility as the supplier for ensuring that all payments paid on account will cover the energy used. I fear that you have been too hasty in rejecting the EO's adjudication. They will not re-open the case just because you feel that the adjudication is unfair.

Tommy83

Hengus wrote: »

Presumably, you gave the EO all the above information. If so, then you have no further recourse against the supplier - other than legal action through the Small Claims Court - as you have rejected the EO's resolution. If the EO thought that the Back Billing Code applied then this would have been a key part of the resolution. Sadly, there is nothing in the Ombudsman's Code to say that it has to keep you or the supplier happy.

FWiW, the consumer does have as much responsibility as the supplier for ensuring that all payments paid on account will cover the energy used. I fear that you have been too hasty in rejecting the EO's adjudication. They will not re-open the case just because you feel that the adjudication is unfair.

I didn't know of the ruling about the back billing until just recently as I have been forced to look into things in a lot more detail now. But they made no mention of it during their investigation.
I had a direct debit running for over a year with payments each month before they sent me a bill for 15 months worth of electricity. In my eyes they had fixed the problem I rang half a dozen times about at the start, and I thought that I was paying the correct amount as it would change when I supplied meter readings every few months.
The direct debit is still set up on my bank account but the last time they took it out was in April.
What else could I have possibly done to ensure that I was paying for the energy used?

System

Tommy83 wrote: »

I didn't know of the ruling about the back billing until just recently as I have been forced to look into things in a lot more detail now. But they made no mention of it during their investigation.
I had a direct debit running for over a year with payments each month before they sent me a bill for 15 months worth of electricity. In my eyes they had fixed the problem I rang half a dozen times about at the start, and I thought that I was paying the correct amount as it would change when I supplied meter readings every few months.
The direct debit is still set up on my bank account but the last time they took it out was in April.
What else could I have possibly done to ensure that I was paying for the energy used?

As I have said above, your problem is that you agreed to go to the EO and you have turned down the EO's final offer ( fair or otherwise). Sadly, you no longer have the right to ask either the supplier or the EO to re-open the original complaint just because you have now heard about The Back Billing Code. I am sure that had the Code applied then the EO would have considered it before coming to a determination.

It would seem that the supplier is now playing hard ball and, with the EO on its side, it can do so without sanction. Personally, I would now check to see whether the charges for electricity are valid: if they are, I would ask for time to pay. The last thing that you want is the debt collectors at your door.

Rubidium

Tommy83 wrote: »

What else could I have possibly done to ensure that I was paying for the energy used?

You state that you have given regular meter readings and that you "supposedly have a debt of nearly £1000".

As you have meter readings, know your tariff unit rates and daily standing charges, you can easily check exactly what you owe against the payments that you have made.

All invoices should be available on your online account to download clearly showing all of this information. The back billing code only applies if you have not been invoiced.

You have had some problems but you have been offered more than most would ever get awarded by the ombudsman but you have refused to accept their independent adjudication, so you are now on your own!

macman

I might be worth taking a civil action through the small claims process of the county court, because in many cases it seems that large companies don't bother turning up to defend small claims-in which case you would win by default, despite the Ombudsman's decision.
But of course you will have to finance this with no guarantee of success.