Boiler Cover (That never was) - Scottish Power

burley81

So.....where to start?!?!

When I purchased my home back in Aug 2015 it came with an old looking boiler. Given we had just switched to Scottish Power to provide our gas and electric I decided that getting some boiler cover would make sense.

So I called SP who told me an engineer would come out and take a look. About a week later an engineer turned up looked at my boiler and told me that they would not be able to cover me as my boiler was too old. I thought fine, no problem I guess I will have to get a new boiler then, which I did but SP had nothing to do with the new boiler.

Fast forward 21 months (it's now May-17)......I am checking my bank statements (I don't recall why) and I notice that I am paying SP twice a month, one for my energy (gas and elec) and another payment of £17.90. Going back through my statements I notice the payments go right back to just after I moved in (Sep-15). I contact SP who tell me the payments are for boiler cover!! I explain to them that they refused me the cover due to having too old a boiler, so I want the payments stopped and a refund made. After a few back a forward calls I get agreement on a refund and that payments were stopped.

Fast forward again it's now Dec-19, having now moved energy provider in Jun-19 I again notice a payment coming out of my bank for £17.90 going to SP it jumps off the page at me due to not being with them anymore. The amount rang a bell, so I trawled back through my statements and noticed the £17.90 has been coming out since May-18.

I contact who I think is SP but find out I'm talking to Domestic & General. I raise a complaint with them, about a week later I am told they can find no record of me on their system despite providing them details such as the direct debit ref number, sort code, bank account etc. I am told to contact SP directly and that D&G are closing the complaint. I ring SP who register the complaint and tell me someone will look in to the issue and call me back in a couple of days. The very next day (I was initially impressed by this) I get the call, I was told that SP are essentially the broker in the process for a service provided by D&G and that they cannot help (not so impressed). I'm told to take the case up with D&G directly, I explained I had and that they asked me to contact SP.

So here I am now I've paid £350+ since May-18 and no one seems able to help me get a refund or explain why after me asking to stop the payments (May-17) they then seem to have automatically started again after a 12 month gap.

I'm going to speak to my bank tomorrow to see if I can claim through them.

Does anyone else have any insights on the best way to resolve this?

Thanks.

Streaky_Bacon

As these payment were taken in error, you should be able to get the money back under the Direct Debit Guarantee, which your bank should process for you.

https://www.directdebit.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/pages/directdebitguarantee.aspx

You probably don't need to waste your time wrangling with SP and D&G regarding who is liable.

However, it does seem to be D&G who provide the insurance, so you may wish to make a formal written complaint to them and then take it to the Financial Ombudsman.

For customer services: call 0800 027 1444 or write to us at Domestic & General Insurance PLC, Leicester House, 17 Leicester Street, Bedworth, Warwickshire CV12 8JP or email us by clicking on ‘contact us’ on our website: www.domesticandgeneral.com

If they continue to take new DD payments, then you'll have to write to D&G (and SP) telling them both future payments need to stop.