Being messed around by Scottish Power - please help?

Kiwipiegreen

Hi all!
We've been having issues with Scottish Power and I do not know how to proceed.
When we switched in October, they were unable to get the information they needed from our gas meter and asked us to send a picture of it. The picture was sent in February and we thought nothing of it, until we got a bill in June saying our DDi were going up from £20 to £100pm and we were £1700 in debit to them because they hadn't received opening readings from us!! After a lot of back and forth with them, with them estimating our opening readings based on a week's worth of readings, we though we'd cracked it.. until they took £216 from us on Friday and are refusing to give it back. They suggest doing an indemnity claim to get the £216 back (and £103 from early August that we hadn't noticed previously!) but we are worried that it will leave a black mark on us and we have a mortgage offer to accept soon..
They will not let me speak to a manager, or anyone with any sort of authority. They claim they cannot do a same day transfer as the money has not yet cleared with them. It also takes 30 minutes to get through to them on an 0800 number and they promise call backs that they do not honor!

Does anyone have any advice? We want to go to the FOS but we don't know what good it will do!

JJ_Egan

Do you have meter readings from when you switched ??

Robin9

and presumably you read your meter in November and every month since - in which case the only consumption in dispute should be Oct - Nov 2016.

trickytree1963

Making a claim under the Direct Debit Guarantee will not affect your credit rating, and its probably the fastest way of getting the £216 back.

Robin9

Have you a final bill and reading from your previous supplier ? This will be the reading that SP agreed

Robin9

To add £20 is an extremely low DD and probably always unrealistic

Robin9

Well Kiwipiegreen can you update us please ?

Did you have a final bill from your previous suppliers and have you been supplying monthly readings ?

Could you give us meter reading as of last October and of today please and then we could have a stab as to how much you owe.


My theory : £20 was big underestimate of your true consumption and SP adjusted your DD with the aim that your account should be in balance in October. Hence the new DD of £100 - was this actually £103 which they took in August. Perhaps a second adjustment and an uncollected DD from July resulted in £216.

I've no idea where the £1700 fits in unless it was SP's best guess having had no readings.