Scottish power - Formal complaint still getting nowehere

lazytoad2001

Good Morning All 

Looking for help, advice, reassurance or considerably more patience! 

We moved into a home in November with a Scottish power pre payment meter in, for whatever reason it doesn't work properly. After multiple phone calls going around in circles with unsatisfactory responses I issued a Formal complaint via Resolver. They made contact very quickly after doing so however after the initial discussion I have heard nothing from them since now over 3 weeks. I have responded to the complaint in Resolver chasing a further response no response at all. I can escalate the complaint in 8 days to Customer Service Support. 

I feel like I'm getting nowhere, im accruing bills of an unknown value and quite frankly they do not give a stuff. In the face of rising energy prices this is just not ok and leaves me really uncomfortable and it looks like at the moment its impossible to change supplier. 

Does anyone have any advice on getting this resolved with Scottish Power before I finally loose my mind at having to chase and chase and better chase a company who am supposed to be the customer of. 

Chris_English

What's the actual issue with the meter? Do you believe that it's recording more usage than is actually happening?

lazytoad2001

Hi Chris, recording usage but not using the credit added to the meter therefore we have no clue how much "money" we are consuming. As the property is new to us we have no historical data to go on either. 

MWT

lazytoad2001 said:

Hi Chris, recording usage but not using the credit added to the meter therefore we have no clue how much "money" we are consuming. As the property is new to us we have no historical data to go on either. 

Fully understand that this is not acceptable for a pre-pay meter, but for your own sanity just take regular meter readings and calculate the cost of your consumption so you can put that money aside. 

Andrea15

I can add my 2c here.
I have direct experience with a non functioning prepayment meter (the display was not displaying) through a property I let out. My old tenant spotted it, but because of Covid (yes... I know...) they couldn't replace it. However, the silver lining is that she was NOT responsible for paying electricity. After she left I couldn't get the meter fixed /changed, but I had IN WRITING from SP that the new tenant would NOT be liable for electricity until that got fixed. That took several phone calls and complaints, but got there in the end. Now the meter has been replaced but it took something like 18 months to get it sorted.

This is the letter from SP

I am writing in reference to your complaint number above and our telephone conversation on 20th October 2020.

Following our discussion we agreed on a course of action to resolve your query. As you have tenants moving into the property within two weeks of our conversation, I advised we would not be able to book an appointment within that time. We have to allow ten working days from the time of the call to the date of the appointment and after that it is subject to availability.

As discussed the best course of action is to allow the tenant to move into the property, set an account up for themselves and then have the new tenant book an appointment. This means the appointment would not be cancelled through the Change of Tenancy process. If the tenant encounters any issues they will be able to raise a complaint that would be attached to their account, ensuring that it is handled on the live account.

As agreed, I can confirm that neither yourself or your tenant will be charged for consumption while the meter is blank. The only charges applicable will be standing charges. You will start to be charged normally once the meter has been exchanged.

As resolution to the complaint, we agreed upon a £20 cheque as compensation. I have processed this through and you will receive this within 10 working days.

I am sorry for any inconvenience you have experienced because of this issue as it is clear from our conversation that this has caused you unnecessary upset. I can assure you that this is not the standard you should expect when calling our customer service centre and I am disappointed to hear that your query was not dealt with in an efficient manner.

Whilst I view any complaint with disappointment because it means that we have failed to meet your expectations, cases such as yours give us the opportunity to review our standards of service and put things right for the future.

I trust that the information above is to your satisfaction but please let me know if there is anything else I can help with now or in the future. You can contact us on 0800 040 7005 to revisit your complaint.

Yours sincerely,

lazytoad2001

Andrea15 Thank you thats very helpful and at least means I dont feel like the only person with this issue. Looks like you had similar issues as me trying to get contact with them too. Thank you