ScottishPower arreas but not my fault, what can I do?

Jen66

Ok so 2015 Scottish Power started taking a charge of £18 for boiler cover, we never asked for this and never authorised them to take it. Eventually in Sept 2016 they refunded us for all the £18 taken and cancelled the direct debit.
Fast forward to march 2017 we receive a usual annual bill as to what energy we have used and how much they estimate we will use and our bills were to increase from £116 to £198.
We started to look around at other providers then received another letter advising they were amending our D/D to £298!!
We called to ask why such a hike and was told we were in arreas by £752!
After disputing this they realised they had cancelled the wrong D/D in oct 2016!

Now our joint acc has enough money in to cover bills, sometimes we put more in and at the end of the month any left is transferred out and spent on the kids activities clothing etc, essentials basically. We never noticed that the d/d had been cancelled and Scottish power never advised us either!
A complaint was logged and a call back promised, 2 days later no callback and over 2 hours on hold still no resolution. I called today a week later (today) to be told the complaint was closed! They couldn't tell me why, in error she thinks!! Anyway they offer me £52 off the total arreas of £752 as a goodwill gesture, I refuse and set up a new d/d for future payments but want the complaint left open, I call the ombudsman and they transfer me to a ring fenced dept within Scottish Power, they have offered £150 off the outstanding and said it was my duty of care to check my online account (which I have had no access to since feb and when I did have access it didn't tell me I was in arreas or my d/d had been cancelled)
She's looking into how many times I called wtc and will call me back Monday.

So I'm after some advice really! I know I have used the energy and so I need to pay (I've set up a repayment plan) BUT I feel this was their error with no contact with us whatsoever. Where was their duty of care? I cancelled the last d/d of £298 as I felt there was a complaint in the system and needed to be resolved before paying, they sent a letter the next day asking why they couldn't take the d/d!!

I feel I am happy to go halves as like I said I have used the energy and I always pay my bills but should I stand firm on this issue and ask them to go back to the ombudsman if they won't budge?

Thanks (& sorry for the long post 🤦🏼!♀️)

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

Firms do make mistakes, as you did by not checking your bank account more carefully!

Given many complaints handled by the Energy companies and the Ombudsman, for you to be offered £150 in compensation is far more than most people have received - and for more serious complaints. It is rare that the Ombudsman suggests more than £50 or £100.

I would take the money!

matelodave

Did you never check your bank account or energy bills. Most people would notice afir chunk of money left over at the end of the month. My problem used to be too much month left over at the end of my money.

As the ombudsman says, you also have a duty of care and can't just lay the blame on someone else because you failed to use your common sense. Being offered £150 sounds like an excellent result especially as you have contributed to the problem.

Just take the money, learn the lesson and don't be greedy.

teddysmum

I can't imagine how someone, who is living close to their means, could miss being £100 better off every month.

SammenForLivet2

You've done really well getting £150 from Scottish Power based on what's been described, if it was me and for the firm I work for, I doubt that I would award more than £50.00 - and that's a push. The average amount of compensation for a let down like this is the £20-30 mark. Well Done - I'd jump at the deal if I was you

Shavuot

Jen66 wrote: »

Ok so 2015 Scottish Power started taking a charge of £18 for boiler cover, we never asked for this and never authorised them to take it. Eventually in Sept 2016 they refunded us for all the £18 taken and cancelled the direct debit.
Fast forward to march 2017 we receive a usual annual bill as to what energy we have used and how much they estimate we will use and our bills were to increase from £116 to £198.
We started to look around at other providers then received another letter advising they were amending our D/D to £298!!
We called to ask why such a hike and was told we were in arreas by £752!
After disputing this they realised they had cancelled the wrong D/D in oct 2016!

Now our joint acc has enough money in to cover bills, sometimes we put more in and at the end of the month any left is transferred out and spent on the kids activities clothing etc, essentials basically. We never noticed that the d/d had been cancelled and Scottish power never advised us either!
A complaint was logged and a call back promised, 2 days later no callback and over 2 hours on hold still no resolution. I called today a week later (today) to be told the complaint was closed! They couldn't tell me why, in error she thinks!! Anyway they offer me £52 off the total arreas of £752 as a goodwill gesture, I refuse and set up a new d/d for future payments but want the complaint left open, I call the ombudsman and they transfer me to a ring fenced dept within Scottish Power, they have offered £150 off the outstanding and said it was my duty of care to check my online account (which I have had no access to since feb and when I did have access it didn't tell me I was in arreas or my d/d had been cancelled)
She's looking into how many times I called wtc and will call me back Monday.

So I'm after some advice really! I know I have used the energy and so I need to pay (I've set up a repayment plan) BUT I feel this was their error with no contact with us whatsoever. Where was their duty of care? I cancelled the last d/d of £298 as I felt there was a complaint in the system and needed to be resolved before paying, they sent a letter the next day asking why they couldn't take the d/d!!

I feel I am happy to go halves as like I said I have used the energy and I always pay my bills but should I stand firm on this issue and ask them to go back to the ombudsman if they won't budge?

Thanks (& sorry for the long post ����!♀️)

Contact the supplier, agree what you owe and make arrangements to settle

If you want to go halves, who do you expect to pay the other half of what you owe?
Have you tried crowdfunder?

anniecave

When we had a complaint with npower based on a £1500 bill including several things they'd done wrong, the most they would offer is £50 off!