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Advice on Scottish Power
Starting_again
Posts: 3 Newbie
in Energy
Hi all,
I'm new to MSE so I apologise if this is in the wrong thread.
I'm looking for some advice on where to go or what to do next with regards to my energy supplier ScottishPower. I'll try to keep it brief whilst providing as much information as I can (sorry)
Up until January 2018 all was well with my gas & electricity bill.
In May 2018 I entered a debt relief order (DRO) and I was advised to include the arrears I had with SP into the DRO.
At the time of the DRO the arrears for SP came to £317.00 and this was for both gas & electricity. At the time I was paying these arrears off at £5.00 per month on top of my monthly direct debit payments.
My monthly payments were £133.00 a month for duel fuel and £5 a month for arrears meaning they were taking a total for £138 a month in two separate transactions.
In October 2018 I was contacted by the insolvency practitioner who asked for bank statements. Upon this they told me I was still paying £5 a month to SP which I shouldn't have been doing as this was included in the DRO and they advised me to get in touch with them and ask them to stop taking the payments.
I did this and spoke to someone from SP's insolvency team. They had no record of the DRO and asked me to send them a copy of the DRO paperwork showing the arrears to SP being included. I sent this via email.
For a few weeks I spoke on the phone with a guy from SP's insolvency team who repeatedly apologised for the time it was taking to resolve my case, apparently they were looking into it (they always called me) In the end I received a phone call in December from SP saying that my case had been resolved and that the debt had been written off as per the DRO.
I continued to call every 3 months to give my meter readings over the phone as I have always done (I have been with SP for 8 years at the address I'm at now and for 5 years at my previous address)
In April this year (2019) I called with updated meter readings as normal and was told that the system couldn’t bill my account up to date and I was placed on a fixed 2 year tariff. My new monthly payments of £190 were to start from April and that the amount included arrears. When I asked about where the arrears had come from I was informed they had no idea but would look into it for me.
I continued to pay the £190 a month. In July I decided to update my meter readings via the app (the first time I’ve never called up to do it) but after 4 days the app was saying that it couldn’t accept my electricity reading so I called up instead. While on the phone I asked to change my direct debit date to the middle of each month (instead of the end) to coincide with my new pay day and if I could have an updated balance of what I owe which currently stood at £558.19 debit according to my account online, but she said I couldn’t as my readings were in accurate.
The lady on the phone asked me to go and get her the readings while I was on the phone. She tried to put in the readings I gave her from the boxes while on the phone but it wouldn’t allow them to go on the system. Only the gas was reading actual, the electricity was estimated.
She asked me to send her an email showing the meter readings that day and that she would ask someone to call me back on the 13th August which didn’t happen. At this point of the phone call she said I was now £404.12 in debit not the £558.19 that it was showing on my online account.
After I didn’t receive the scheduled call back, I called the same day (13th) and spoke to someone else who said that the electricity reading had been input into the system incorrectly somewhere down the line as the reading for the 6/3/19 showed 29642 yet the reading for the 8/8/19 was 29490 and that's why the system wouldn’t accept my meter readings and was showing an estimate.
After explaining the situation he looked into my account and said he could see that the insolvency balance of £403 had been deducted. I explained that the balance was actually £317 that was included in the DRO. After looking a bit more he said that he couldn't actually see if it had been fully resolved and taken off my balance so he would re-open the complaint to find out what actually happened with the DRO balance of £317. I never asked for this to be re-opened. He then proceeded to put me on a new fixed rate tariff which put my monthly payment at £150 starting in the middle of September.
He broke this down into my monthly current duel fuel fee of £134.59 and £15.41 towards the arrears which currently stood at £557 debit. He then scheduled a call for someone from the complaints department to call me on the 16th August and explain if the original DRO debt was actually resolved or not.
On the 16th August I spoke with a lady who said she was looking into my compliant and would call me back within a week as she couldn’t understand why my electricity reading wouldn’t be accepted on the system. She also said she could find no evidence of the original compliant from October 2018 and the email showing the meter readings from July. I’m still waiting that call back, even though I have the original emails in my sent box. I offered to forward them onto her but she said not to at the minute.
In September a direct debit of £248 went out of my account instead of the £150 that was set up (and according to the emails I was sent showing this) so I called back to ask what was wrong and to inform them that I would need to revoke the direct debit as I couldn’t afford that much, but would pay the original agreed amount of £150 that evening online once the DD had gone back into my account.
I was then informed that I was actually in credit on my account of £1,243.85 and they had no idea why the direct debit had been taken so high, especially as they could see it had been set up for £150 on their system but they could only put it down to my compliant being looked into.
I then gave updated meter readings over the phone.
I queried this amount as I had previous been in debit and never in credit, to which I was told that it was correct and they had gone back and erased the original charges from the £317 that was included in the DRO the previous year.
I was informed that I could request a refund which I did over the phone.
Someone from SP called me back a few days later regarding the refund and I was told it was actually incorrect and that it hadn’t been authorised as my complaint was still being looked into, at this time it showed me being in credit of over £600 with a refund of £995.85 pending.
At the end September I received a cheque for £995.85 from SP so I called back again and asked about it after previously being told it hadn’t been authorised. I was informed that my account was in credit and that if I had received a cheque I could go ahead and cash it.
(I called again for the next 3 days regarding this and each time I spoke to someone different and they all said the same, I was in credit and the refund was mine to cash)
The guy on the phone said that it looked like my account had an invoicing/billing error dating back to October 2018 and that he was going to raise a request to Resolver and they would be in touch soon. I received a reference number for this complaint escalation.
At the beginning of October I received a text message saying my complaint had been resolved and to click the link to chat about it or to call up.
When I spoke to the lady the day after the text message she advised me that my compliant had been resolved and I had been billed from 2013 to the end of September 2019 and I was now in debit by £1842.08 for duel fuel. When I asked about this she said that was an updated bill and thats all she could see. I explained that I had actually been a customer since 2010 and she said the systems merged in 2013 and thats why I had been billed from there.
I then explained that I received a refund which I was told I was entitled to and asked why if I was in debit but she could only apologise for the information I was given. I then asked what my monthly payments would be set at and she said that the debt has to be taken back over a maximum of two years meaning my monthly payment for the debt is £76.75 a month and my monthly payment for duel fuel is currently showing £127.21 making my monthly payments £201.96.
After informing the lady that I couldn’t afford that amount each month she said there was nothing I could do and that I could only pay that amount, nothing less or SP would issue proceedings to put a payment meter in the property.
She said it looked like my compliant to Resolver hadn’t been taken on and advised that I needed to escalate it to level 3 online.
I went ahead an escalated it to level 3 while on the phone to the lady but yet again have had absolutely nothing back.
At the end of October I called SP again with my meter readings, after receiving an email asking for them and asked why I hadn't received anything back regarding my complaint being escalated to level 3. The guy on the phone told me he could see it on the system and would re-send it and someone will me back within 48 hours.
I call SP again yesterday only to be told that someone will be in touch with me and that it would take 10 days not 48 hours.
I’ve lost all faith in the company and I’m more than happy to pay back what I owe but I'm confused at how I can go from owing £317, which was included in a debt relief order to now owing over £1800 in 12 months when I’ve been making payments each month and calling up every 3 months with updated meter readings.
It doesn’t make sense and I seem to be getting no where speaking to different people on the phone from different departments.
Since this started in October 2018 the only payments I have missed have been in September 2018 (all though the £5 arrear payment was paid here towards the debt, even when it shouldn’t have been) and the payment in September 2019 was £150 instead of the £248 dd payment they tried to take.
When on the phone yesterday I explained that I'm so stressed out about it but the guy told me nothing can be done and that I have to wait for SP to call me back. I the mean time I'm not allowed to switch to another rprivider as SP will block the switch.
Please, does anyone have any advice on how I can take this further (If I can) as even escalating a complaint to level 3 is getting me no where and I don't know where to turn to next or what to do.
I'm new to MSE so I apologise if this is in the wrong thread.
I'm looking for some advice on where to go or what to do next with regards to my energy supplier ScottishPower. I'll try to keep it brief whilst providing as much information as I can (sorry)
Up until January 2018 all was well with my gas & electricity bill.
In May 2018 I entered a debt relief order (DRO) and I was advised to include the arrears I had with SP into the DRO.
At the time of the DRO the arrears for SP came to £317.00 and this was for both gas & electricity. At the time I was paying these arrears off at £5.00 per month on top of my monthly direct debit payments.
My monthly payments were £133.00 a month for duel fuel and £5 a month for arrears meaning they were taking a total for £138 a month in two separate transactions.
In October 2018 I was contacted by the insolvency practitioner who asked for bank statements. Upon this they told me I was still paying £5 a month to SP which I shouldn't have been doing as this was included in the DRO and they advised me to get in touch with them and ask them to stop taking the payments.
I did this and spoke to someone from SP's insolvency team. They had no record of the DRO and asked me to send them a copy of the DRO paperwork showing the arrears to SP being included. I sent this via email.
For a few weeks I spoke on the phone with a guy from SP's insolvency team who repeatedly apologised for the time it was taking to resolve my case, apparently they were looking into it (they always called me) In the end I received a phone call in December from SP saying that my case had been resolved and that the debt had been written off as per the DRO.
I continued to call every 3 months to give my meter readings over the phone as I have always done (I have been with SP for 8 years at the address I'm at now and for 5 years at my previous address)
In April this year (2019) I called with updated meter readings as normal and was told that the system couldn’t bill my account up to date and I was placed on a fixed 2 year tariff. My new monthly payments of £190 were to start from April and that the amount included arrears. When I asked about where the arrears had come from I was informed they had no idea but would look into it for me.
I continued to pay the £190 a month. In July I decided to update my meter readings via the app (the first time I’ve never called up to do it) but after 4 days the app was saying that it couldn’t accept my electricity reading so I called up instead. While on the phone I asked to change my direct debit date to the middle of each month (instead of the end) to coincide with my new pay day and if I could have an updated balance of what I owe which currently stood at £558.19 debit according to my account online, but she said I couldn’t as my readings were in accurate.
The lady on the phone asked me to go and get her the readings while I was on the phone. She tried to put in the readings I gave her from the boxes while on the phone but it wouldn’t allow them to go on the system. Only the gas was reading actual, the electricity was estimated.
She asked me to send her an email showing the meter readings that day and that she would ask someone to call me back on the 13th August which didn’t happen. At this point of the phone call she said I was now £404.12 in debit not the £558.19 that it was showing on my online account.
After I didn’t receive the scheduled call back, I called the same day (13th) and spoke to someone else who said that the electricity reading had been input into the system incorrectly somewhere down the line as the reading for the 6/3/19 showed 29642 yet the reading for the 8/8/19 was 29490 and that's why the system wouldn’t accept my meter readings and was showing an estimate.
After explaining the situation he looked into my account and said he could see that the insolvency balance of £403 had been deducted. I explained that the balance was actually £317 that was included in the DRO. After looking a bit more he said that he couldn't actually see if it had been fully resolved and taken off my balance so he would re-open the complaint to find out what actually happened with the DRO balance of £317. I never asked for this to be re-opened. He then proceeded to put me on a new fixed rate tariff which put my monthly payment at £150 starting in the middle of September.
He broke this down into my monthly current duel fuel fee of £134.59 and £15.41 towards the arrears which currently stood at £557 debit. He then scheduled a call for someone from the complaints department to call me on the 16th August and explain if the original DRO debt was actually resolved or not.
On the 16th August I spoke with a lady who said she was looking into my compliant and would call me back within a week as she couldn’t understand why my electricity reading wouldn’t be accepted on the system. She also said she could find no evidence of the original compliant from October 2018 and the email showing the meter readings from July. I’m still waiting that call back, even though I have the original emails in my sent box. I offered to forward them onto her but she said not to at the minute.
In September a direct debit of £248 went out of my account instead of the £150 that was set up (and according to the emails I was sent showing this) so I called back to ask what was wrong and to inform them that I would need to revoke the direct debit as I couldn’t afford that much, but would pay the original agreed amount of £150 that evening online once the DD had gone back into my account.
I was then informed that I was actually in credit on my account of £1,243.85 and they had no idea why the direct debit had been taken so high, especially as they could see it had been set up for £150 on their system but they could only put it down to my compliant being looked into.
I then gave updated meter readings over the phone.
I queried this amount as I had previous been in debit and never in credit, to which I was told that it was correct and they had gone back and erased the original charges from the £317 that was included in the DRO the previous year.
I was informed that I could request a refund which I did over the phone.
Someone from SP called me back a few days later regarding the refund and I was told it was actually incorrect and that it hadn’t been authorised as my complaint was still being looked into, at this time it showed me being in credit of over £600 with a refund of £995.85 pending.
At the end September I received a cheque for £995.85 from SP so I called back again and asked about it after previously being told it hadn’t been authorised. I was informed that my account was in credit and that if I had received a cheque I could go ahead and cash it.
(I called again for the next 3 days regarding this and each time I spoke to someone different and they all said the same, I was in credit and the refund was mine to cash)
The guy on the phone said that it looked like my account had an invoicing/billing error dating back to October 2018 and that he was going to raise a request to Resolver and they would be in touch soon. I received a reference number for this complaint escalation.
At the beginning of October I received a text message saying my complaint had been resolved and to click the link to chat about it or to call up.
When I spoke to the lady the day after the text message she advised me that my compliant had been resolved and I had been billed from 2013 to the end of September 2019 and I was now in debit by £1842.08 for duel fuel. When I asked about this she said that was an updated bill and thats all she could see. I explained that I had actually been a customer since 2010 and she said the systems merged in 2013 and thats why I had been billed from there.
I then explained that I received a refund which I was told I was entitled to and asked why if I was in debit but she could only apologise for the information I was given. I then asked what my monthly payments would be set at and she said that the debt has to be taken back over a maximum of two years meaning my monthly payment for the debt is £76.75 a month and my monthly payment for duel fuel is currently showing £127.21 making my monthly payments £201.96.
After informing the lady that I couldn’t afford that amount each month she said there was nothing I could do and that I could only pay that amount, nothing less or SP would issue proceedings to put a payment meter in the property.
She said it looked like my compliant to Resolver hadn’t been taken on and advised that I needed to escalate it to level 3 online.
I went ahead an escalated it to level 3 while on the phone to the lady but yet again have had absolutely nothing back.
At the end of October I called SP again with my meter readings, after receiving an email asking for them and asked why I hadn't received anything back regarding my complaint being escalated to level 3. The guy on the phone told me he could see it on the system and would re-send it and someone will me back within 48 hours.
I call SP again yesterday only to be told that someone will be in touch with me and that it would take 10 days not 48 hours.
I’ve lost all faith in the company and I’m more than happy to pay back what I owe but I'm confused at how I can go from owing £317, which was included in a debt relief order to now owing over £1800 in 12 months when I’ve been making payments each month and calling up every 3 months with updated meter readings.
It doesn’t make sense and I seem to be getting no where speaking to different people on the phone from different departments.
Since this started in October 2018 the only payments I have missed have been in September 2018 (all though the £5 arrear payment was paid here towards the debt, even when it shouldn’t have been) and the payment in September 2019 was £150 instead of the £248 dd payment they tried to take.
When on the phone yesterday I explained that I'm so stressed out about it but the guy told me nothing can be done and that I have to wait for SP to call me back. I the mean time I'm not allowed to switch to another rprivider as SP will block the switch.
Please, does anyone have any advice on how I can take this further (If I can) as even escalating a complaint to level 3 is getting me no where and I don't know where to turn to next or what to do.
0
Comments
-
First things first.
What are your meter readings ?0 -
I’m not sure what they are today (I can get them though if that’s what you need?)
But I have a low and normal for electricity and a gas meter reading.0 -
- Stop using the phone, conduct everything in writing. If they call you, tell them to write.
- Send a much shorter version as a formal complaint, bullet points in date order, ask for deadlock letter. Also send it to their Chief Corporate Officer (details on the ceoemail website)
- Send meter readings monthly.
- Check whether you can move to a cheaper SP tariff.
- Go to the Ombudsman when you receive the deadlock letter, or after eight weeks if you don't.
0 -
Thank you Gerry
Sorry to sound dumb but what’s a deadlock letter?
Do I ask for this when I send a formal complaint?
I’ve asked if I can move to a cheaper tariff but apparently I’m already on the cheapest one.0 -
A deadlock letter confirms that you and the company can't agree. Before investigating, the Ombudsman will need to know that you've exhausted the company's complaints procedure, or eight weeks have elapsed.
You're probably already there, but you need to formalise things by calling it a complaint and asking for the deadlock letter, then the clock officially starts ticking. It may also nudge them to get their act together.
Check the tariffs by entering your annual consumption (actual meter readings, not estimates) into some whole of the market comparison sites and seeing whther any Scottish Power offerings are cheaper. Try Citizens Advice and Which?0 -
Rather than recount every detail of all the confusing shenanigans, it might be better to find a statement with actual meter readings where everything was OK, and then work out the cost of the all kWh you have used since then versus all the payments you have made since then (and any write offs).
Even if you don't factor in any changes in the tariff costs and the gas calorific value, the result should give a reasonably accurate indication of whether you now owe them or they owe you.
You could use this summary as a basis for your complaint letters to SP and the Ombudsman: something short, punchy and factual is much easier to understand. If it's as long as War and Peace, the recipients simply won't have the time and the patience to plod through a blow by blow account of who said what and when !
You might find this thread useful, with post 4 outlining how to do the sums.0
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