Scottish Power

magz0506

I have been fighting with Scottish Power for 2 and a half years now, regarding bills going back to 2016. I will be leaving the premises shortly with a huge outstanding bill, hoping to agree a monthly payment plan.  My son will be taking over the tenancy and has applied to a new energy company to change over.  Scottish Power have blocked the switch, which means he has to stay with them.  I didn’t think they could do that to a new tenant ? Can anyone help me please ? Can’t believe the stress Scottish Power have caused me

Robin9

You say "premises" - is this a business ?


If so is the account in the name of your company ?

QrizB

If there's a change of tenant / leaseholder / owner I don't see how SP can block the switch?

Gerry1

Welcome to the forum.

Presumably SP think that your son is merely 'fronting' for you and that you'll just walk away from your huge debt?

Not saying that's what you intend to do, but if he's been living there he may well be caught by Section 13.14 of the General Ts & Cs which states that "If the customer comprises more than one person, all agreements and obligations entered into in the Agreement by the customer are entered into jointly and severally by each of the persons comprising the customer. We may take action against any one or more of the persons comprising the customer..."

judita

You have all my sympathy as I too am in turmoil with Scottish Power.  The short story is as follows:

I am a landlord ("customer") and refurbished an empty property for 11 weeks (mainly using a wallpaper steamer & small sander).  I worked with no heating on as I was too hot otherwise, and I did not work every single day during that time.  Workmen worked on the property but used their own electricity.  I presented SP with correct meter readings when prompted, and subsequently paid all my bills when asked.  A new gas meter was installed following a gas leak after a new boiler was put in, the reading for which wasn't initially recognised as SP didn't have the correct software to take the reading. Sorted, eventually.

The fun started when after paying smallish bills for gas & electricity, a request came to pay an electric bill for £297.  It was paid, then, surprise surprise I received a refund for that amount.  Strange, although I acknowledged I hadn't used much power.  I thought they knew what they were doing, so I put the cheque in the bank.  A similar thing happened for gas too. Then I had a larger electric bill for £417, which I queried after much ping-pong-correspondence.  Firstly I was told it was an estimated reading, then email confirmation stated it was a final reading.  I queried it saying it was too much.  No more threats, they kindly put a hold on the threatening letters I was receiving until they'd thoroughly investigated my case with correct meter readings which I provided again.  No, it was correct.  They offered £50 compensation, which I have not accepted.  My account was supposed to have been closed (and should have been last December). I played them at their own game and billed them £100+VAT for wasting my time, stress and being inept etc, but they haven't accepted my bill as they don't compensate 'landlords' (what happened to 'customer'???)   Why then have I  just received another refund for £393.91 for electric, and an outstanding amount of 4p to pay on my gas bill?  And worse.  In tandem with my current dispute with SP ...

My single, retired lady tenant came into the newly refurbished property on 21.12.20 and was presented with a bill for £2800.  She complained, got this waived, then thought her bills were back on track as she takes weekly meter readings.  She was presented with another bill for £1668, complained strongly, and this too was waived.  They asked her if she knew what the readings were for the previous tenants in 2017-2019.  Why would she?  She referred me to a clip in The Guardian newspaper where one poor soul describes his 'Alice in Wonderland' moment with Scottish Power and strangely, it draws many parallels with both our cases whereby this gentleman cannot extricate himself from their grip.  They're full of apologies, and very polite, and yet you cannot speak to one person alone to deal with your complaint satisfactorily.  Each customer service representative remains incognito when it comes to leaving their surname.  And believe me, we have both spoken to several.  My tenant has written to her MP and to the Ombudsman.

Despite their £200 million spend on a new IT system, it appears SP still pluck £££s out of thin air when it comes to charging customers.

This seems to be a common theme.  My next letter will go to the Ombudsman and my recommendation to all is to avoid them at all costs (which will doubtless rise inexplicably and leave you out of pocket!)

 27.8.21, and ongoing

tim_p

One real quick question :- how did the workmen use their own electricity? Did they use a long extension lead from another site or were all their tools battery powered which they charged elsewhere?

Robin9

@judita  Could you start your own thread (Create post button - top left) please otherwise replies may get confused with magz

The energy section is badly designed - make sure you are under energy and not LPG etc

Cardew

Gerry1 said:

Welcome to the forum.

Presumably SP think that your son is merely 'fronting' for you and that you'll just walk away from your huge debt?

There was a case some years ago on MSE of someone who openly admitted using that tactic for years.