SSE offering me £80 goodwill but should I go to the Ombudsman?

KeithStewart

I have had nothing but a poor service from SSE in the past 12 months. When I first changed to them in March last year I was advised by the man who came to do an open meter reading that I had a smart meter so no monthly meter readings will be required. At the end of the 12 month contract I was astonished to find that I owed a lot and that monthly meter readings should of been done (but nobody told me this). I had since complained about this and we arranged over the phone a 3 month payment plan of £180 per month to pay off the outstanding balance. I have still not received anything through the post to confirm this despite them on the telephone saying I will receive a letter. I also tried to organise someone to come and do a final reading but they said there were no Saturday appointments available for over 4 months and they do not work evenings - I have no holidays left to take time off and cater for weekday daytime appointments as I share custody of my children and ALL of my work holidays are used for when they are off school.

Last week I had problems where an extra direct debit payment for £43.13 had come out of my bank after the contract ended for the gas account. I telephoned them to complain and they sent out a cheque - wow was that a pain in the a*** trying to cash that during lockdown!

Yesterday, Monday 18th May I looked at my banking app to find £493.17 pending to come out my bank account today. I tried to telephone but couldn't get through so I sent them an email instead. It seems this company can't do anything right!

This morning I received an email back... Is a £80 goodwill payment a figure I should accept or should I go through the Ombudsman services? Afterall they haven't just messed things up once. Any help would be much appreciated. The email reads as following:

-----

An update on your complaint

Firstly, I’m deeply sorry to hear of any upset or inconvenience that SSE have caused and that you feel the need to consult with the Ombudsman. I’m disappointed to see that your complaint was not resolved successfully and due to this, your complaint has been escalated to me in line with our complaint procedure. I have now taken ownership of your complaint until you are happy with my investigation and the action I have taken.

 

I understand that the complaint started due to SSE estimating your meter readings and this caused a catch-up bill. I also understand that you thought SSE could take reads as your meter previously had smart functions.

 

It may help if I explain, we gained the supply on 15 March 2019 for electric and 18 March 2019 for gas.

 

A meter operative went to your property on 03 April 2019 to take reads for the bill that was due but although they successfully read the gas, we amended the read and used an estimate instead as the actual read was less than your opening reading. The electric however, was read wrong so therefore, we also used an estimate. This was the first service failing. The operative would be able to advise that you meter was indeed a smart meter, but they may not have known that we were unable to support this.  I am sorry for the miscommunication.

 

You contacted SSE on 10 March 2020 and a complaint was opened to investigate why we had used estimates and we then offered appointments to read your meters, but none were suitable. My colleague Jonny took over the complaint on 06 April 2020 by which stage the supply had left SSE.

 

Jonny amended your closing electric read using actual reads that you provided and revised the final bill. The gas final balance was transferred over to the electric account and a payment plan was arranged for £180.00 per month for 3 months to clear the total outstanding balance of £540.00.

 

I am very sorry that that the Direct Debit payments have still been taken from your bank, the final payment plan should have cancelled these payments being taken. I understand that Jonny has sent a cheque from your gas account for £41.13 and the reason he has sent by cheque is due to the Direct Debit being closed on our system.

 

In regard to your Direct Debit of £493.17, our system has since updated after the original payment plan was set up and as a result of this, has amended the Direct Debit. I’m truly sorry this has happened and has forced you to contact us again. Unfortunately, I cannot stop this payment from being taken however, you can call your bank to arrange an indemnity claim as this will return your funds and the balance will be back with SSE. I can then re-arrange a final payment plan with you.

 

Due to the service failings found and the upset caused -

 

·         Estimated read in April 2019

·         Direct Debit taken £41.13

·         Direct Debit taken £493.17

 

I am happy to offer you a goodwill payment of £80.00 as a resolution, I hope this is to your satisfaction.

 

I think it’s important that you have all the facts about how I’ll deal with your complaint. If you’d like to read our Complaint Handling Statement and Procedure, you can find it on our website:

 

sse.co.uk/about-us/sse-and-you/making-a-complaint

 

If you’d like a paper copy, please let me know and I’ll be happy to send you one free of charge.

 

I would ask that you please let me know if you accept my goodwill offer as soon as possible and I can get this added to the electric account for you. Alternatively, should you remain unhappy and wish to contact the Ombudsman or if I have missed anything then please let me know as I am happy to help.

 

You can reply to this email or call me on 0345 071 9833. If you call and I’m not available, one of my colleagues will be able to help or arrange a good time for me to call you back. I’m available Monday and Tuesday, 9.15am to 5pm and Wednesday, 9.15am to 2.45pm.

 

I hope to hear from you soon.

 

Yours sincerely

Terri Henderson

Customer Service

MWT

KeithStewart said:

This morning I received an email back... Is a £80 goodwill payment a figure I should accept or should I go through the Ombudsman services? Afterall they haven't just messed things up once. Any help would be much appreciated.

£80 now or wait at least several weeks if not months and then find that the ombudsman agrees that £80 is adequate...

The odds on getting a higher award from a complaint are not high as they have already acted to fix the first problem by sending you a cheque and have explained how to fix the second problem by asking your bank to recall the erroneous DD.

I'd take it.

KeithStewart

MWT said:

KeithStewart said:

This morning I received an email back... Is a £80 goodwill payment a figure I should accept or should I go through the Ombudsman services? Afterall they haven't just messed things up once. Any help would be much appreciated.

£80 now or wait at least several weeks if not months and then find that the ombudsman agrees that £80 is adequate...

The odds on getting a higher award from a complaint are not high as they have already acted to fix the first problem by sending you a cheque and have explained how to fix the second problem by asking your bank to recall the erroneous DD.

I'd take it.

Thank you

Cardew

The normal criteria for the ombudsman to award compensation is the customer suffering financial loss rather than being messed about; so I doubt if you will be any better off with a formal complaint.

You might squeeze another £20 or so 'goodwill' out of SSE

Takmon

KeithStewart said:

I have had nothing but a poor service from SSE in the past 12 months. When I first changed to them in March last year I was advised by the man who came to do an open meter reading that I had a smart meter so no monthly meter readings will be required. At the end of the 12 month contract I was astonished to find that I owed a lot and that monthly meter readings should of been done (but nobody told me this). I had since complained about this and we arranged over the phone a 3 month payment plan of £180 per month to pay off the outstanding balance. I have still not received anything through the post to confirm this despite them on the telephone saying I will receive a letter. I also tried to organise someone to come and do a final reading but they said there were no Saturday appointments available for over 4 months and they do not work evenings - I have no holidays left to take time off and cater for weekday daytime appointments as I share custody of my children and ALL of my work holidays are used for when they are off school.

Last week I had problems where an extra direct debit payment for £43.13 had come out of my bank after the contract ended for the gas account. I telephoned them to complain and they sent out a cheque - wow was that a pain in the a*** trying to cash that during lockdown!

Yesterday, Monday 18th May I looked at my banking app to find £493.17 pending to come out my bank account today. I tried to telephone but couldn't get through so I sent them an email instead. It seems this company can't do anything right!

This morning I received an email back... Is a £80 goodwill payment a figure I should accept or should I go through the Ombudsman services? Afterall they haven't just messed things up once. Any help would be much appreciated. The email reads as following:

That seems like a more than fair offer considering that you really should have been checking your bills/account to make sure the readings were correct and taking readings yourself just for your own records. The majority of problems with energy supplies people have is when they don't take their own readings and don't check their bills for a long period of time. So make sure you do this in the future.

Also as they say if you ever get a Direct Debit taken incorrectly the easiest way to get this back is to contact the bank and they will reverse it and put the money back in your account pretty quick. 
It might also be a good idea to open an bank account that you can pay in cheques using a photograph because it's so much easier than having to visit a bank.