Scottish power default

linziw2004

I have received a default from Scottish power. After suffering with depression last year and struggling with Bill's I was in contact with scottish power to set up an arranged payment to help pay off previous debt. They arranged one amount with me but then tried to take a totally different much bigger amount out of my account which I didnt have, this happened on 3 occasions so then went down the road of requesting a payment meter. 5 times a date was arranged with one department then had a letter with a totally different day, sometime I had to cancel this due to work and others waited in all day on both dates for nobody to turn up. This has gone on for the last 9 months. I have just noticed that 5 months ago they have put a default on my account. Do they have the right to do this when I have been trying to resolve the issue but they have been making it impossible? Thanks

chrz

I can only advise existing and prospective customers to be very wary of this company. Their customer handling and account management results in corruption of personal data, safety risk and credit risk. 

Scottish Power continue to refuse to operate my account and respond to my inquiries by repeatedly pretending that I am no longer a customer. Scottish Power have corrupted the data on my account and have so far refused to correct it despite my supply to them of their own account data which I have taken from my account record on their own website. 

This all became apparent I had a strange phone call suggesting some difficulty setting up my boiler and radiator cover. The caller also told me that I had left Scottish Power for British Gas. I have not. I moved to a new tariff with Scottish power when they made me a belated better offer. As an existing customer I expected the move to a new tariff to be easy.  How wrong could I be! 

When I log into my account today I find a message saying "We're really sorry you've decided to leave us". Scottish Power seem to wish that I had. 

I moved to the Online Exclusive tariff following Scottish Power's offer to me by phone. I have sent Scottish Power's own confirmation of my new tariff taken from Scottish Power's own record of my account three times. 

I am very concerned that this Scottish Power will force me to accumulate debt and to be at risk at home if my boiler cannot be serviced. 

How does this kind of customer support meet Scottish Power’s customer care standards? Do they have any? 

Gerry1

chrz said:

The caller also told me that I had left Scottish Power for British Gas. I have not.

This could be an Erroneous Transfer.  You need to start by finding out who is really supplying you.

For electricity, find out who is your DNO via https://www.powercut105.com/findoperator, then use your DNO's website to find your supplier.

For gas, use https://www.findmysupplier.energy/webapp/index.html

MWT

chrz said:

This all became apparent I had a strange phone call suggesting some difficulty setting up my boiler and radiator cover. The caller also told me that I had left Scottish Power for British Gas. I have not. I moved to a new tariff with Scottish power when they made me a belated better offer. As an existing customer I expected the move to a new tariff to be easy.  How wrong could I be!

Sounds like the phone call was from British Gas, had you already started the switch to them at the point when Scottish Power made their 'belated better offer' ?

If so, when you accepted the offer, did you contact British Gas to cancel the switch?

BarrySmart

Scottish Power have been contacting me for providing a service at my address for the past 5 years, constantly asked to provide meter readings. 
I have never received their service, except for boiler breakdown coverage. They have been told, they are useless.

MWT

linziw2004 said:

I have received a default from Scottish power....

...Do they have the right to do this when I have been trying to resolve the issue but they have been making it impossible? Thanks

Even if the payment plan had been actioned correctly and the credit meter installed they are still entitled to record a default on your account because the original bill was not paid on time.

Due to recent events I'd have thought it is going to be difficult to get a pre-payment meter installed for some time now so if you have the ability to pay a little extra to start working down the debt I would certainly consider doing that.

... and obviously try to make sure you are paying in full for whatever your have been using in recent months while you wait for the meter...

Gerry1

This thread is getting messy: we now have three people's cases all mixed together.  It would be simpler to have a new thread for each new case.

MWT

BarrySmart said:

Scottish Power have been contacting me for providing a service at my address for the past 5 years, constantly asked to provide meter readings. 
I have never received their service, except for boiler breakdown coverage. They have been told, they are useless.

Use the links in Gerry's post above to check and confirm who your actual provider is, it wouldn't be the first time that someone got caught in a deemed contract that they were not aware of...

... once you have the answer please start a new thread if you need further help...

chrz

Thanks for all the advice. This is what happened next - Coincidentally, I took a phone call from Danielle at Scottish Power at 17:45  April 3rd. This was a planned customer care call to see if I was satisfied with Scottish Power’s service in the last year (bad timing!). Within 45 minutes she had understood the problem and set up acceptable new contracts for gas and electric supply and for boiler maintenance. I am very grateful for Danielle’s straightforward and exemplary response; It is unfortunate that no-one else at Scottish Power showed this kind of interest and effectiveness in providing a fix. 

Scottish Power acted without my consent, and I welcome their admission of this in an email yesterday. Scottish Power were aware that they and I had agreed that my account was to be moved to the new tariff, and that there was to be no transfer. If Scottish Power actioned a British Gas request for transfer this would indicate that no effort was made to check my account. I have asked for copies of all records. 

Scottish Power’s cooperation with British Gas in their attempt to acquire my contract raises difficult questions which will be passed to the Energy Ombudsman in due course. 

Scottish Power’s complaints process offers a response in some days. They responded to my Trustpilot post in around 2 hours, so kudos and 5 stars to Trustpilot. 

chrz

BTW, yes thanks, I cancelled my approach to British Gas and received a prompt acknowledgement of cancellation. IF BG continued with the process in spite of its cancellation (yet to be proved) then this is something else for prospective BG customers to watch out for. Gerry's advice above re finding you supplier is great, and in my case shows BG as expected. BG will in due course bill me for a few weeks' supply. However, with no contract between me and BG I will may have no need to pay. When they bill me I will raise a complaint against them which will also get the Energy Ombudsman in due course. Also important to note that Scottish Power initially said that we would have to through a weeks-long procedure to get BG to deal with an Erroneous Transfer before Scottish Power could reinstate or replace my contract. As you can see above this is not so, and action was taken immediately. 

MWT

I would not assume that this is over yet, and if your supply is current shown as being with BG then I would still suggest that you proceed with the erroneous transfer process and do monitor who is registered as your provider until it shown that it has returned to Scottish Power.

You will have to pay for all that you have consumed, but once the transfer has been reversed that will be Scottish Power, not BG.

... and if the transfer was indeed erroneous and your cancellation was within the cooling off period there will be £30 compensation from BG heading your way.