Back billing, deadlocked dispute, and recovery action.

Newcad

PS. It still hasn't answered my question about debt collectors being instructed during a deadlock situation.

But they did back off pretty quickly once I informed them it was deadlocked and with the ombudsman.
So whatever the law says about it they were not taking any chances of risking a possible harrassment complaint.

Chrysalis

Good news, glad you didnt just stand back and accept it.

Newcad

I knew that they were not allowed to bill as the had done, because of the back-billing principle in the Standard Conditions of supply.
Mine was quite an unusual case because they hadn't been billing at all for over 4 years before I left them.

But it does make you wonder though just how many people don't know about it and so pay for back-billing when they shouldn't have to?

I'm waiting now to see what Scottish Power do next.
I've already calculated how much is owed for those 2 months they could have billed for correctly, based on an actual meter reading taken shortly before I moved out and my final reading so it should be close.
(Meter readings divided by days x days they could have lawfully billed).
I still need to study the back billing principle again to weigh up if I think they are now allowed to charge for those 2 months or not.
It seems telling that the Ombudsman didn't say anything about that, but did make the point that I could challenge any new billing produced. (Almost as if he was trying to point something out with out actually going so far as giving advice).

Chrysalis

No question is a certain amount of ignorance across customers.  I think someone mentioned here Ofgem monitor complaints, and can potentially take industry wide action if they feel it affects enough people, but the odd stand out disputes will just be resolutions for the individuals raising the dispute.

Newcad

Further Update.

There is now a new twist in this tale, we are going round in circles again.

Remember I said:

I'm waiting now to see what Scottish Power do next.

Whilst I had expected perhaps some more games from Scottish Power, I hadn't expected them to simply ignore the direction from the ombudsman regarding back billing and also say that they had now complied.

They say that they have recalculated the billing, but it's identical to the old one - date for date and amount for amount - it's even laid out, spaced etc, exactly the same on the page. It looks like they have just added a bit to the bottom of the old bill and changed the dates at the top, and I doubt that they have even touched the rest.

As I say they have at the bottom added a box and deducted one 'Reversal of Debt Advisory Charge' and a 'Goodwill Payment'; both of which the ombudsman had also directed them to do.

But the direction to apply the back billing principle from 22 Aug 2017 to 24th March 2021 has simply been ignored, and they have still only applied it up to 03 June 2020 the same as previously.

Plus-
The figures given on the letter saying what they have done are incorrect, the amount for the 'Goodwill Payment' is repeated in 2 places - once on it's own and again as a total with the RDAC so that on the letter it looks as if they have deducted more for those than they actually have on the billing.
There's a figure on the letter that they say they have applied to the account on 24 March 022 and say is "the correct adjustment" for the back billing but it doesn't appear anywhere on the billing. (and isn't correct anyway).

They also state that they have removed all debit markers from my credit files, but they are still showing on Clearscore.
OK I know that removal can take time, and TBH I'm not that bothered about it, but they way they have been messing about I'm not just going to take their word.

So I'm now drafting a response while sat waiting for a call back from the case officer at the ombudsman to discuss where we go next.
I'm now being very careful with the language I use in communications, the way they are still messing about we might just end up in court after all.

Newcad

I've just had a phone call from the ombudsman case handler.

He has been back to Scottish Power and spelled out to them that they are only permitted to bill from 24 March 2021 to 02 June 2021.

(He has actually told them exactly how much they can bill for, which he has calculated himself from 2 actual readings which we have in that period, one being the final reading of course. I've already done a similar calculation based on the same 2 readings so it should be the same).

Scottish Power now have 5 days to comply or he will escalate it within the ombudsman service.

PS. I also informed the case officer that when they do bill for those two months I will be disputing that bill on the grounds that, as it wasn't correctly billed/charged at the time that they could have done in March 2022, it is now too late to do so. But that will be a different dispute of course.

CSI_Yorkshire

Newcad said:

PS. I also informed the case officer that when they do bill for those two months I will be disputing that bill on the grounds that, as it wasn't correctly billed/charged at the time that they could have done in March 2022, it is now too late to do so. But that will be a different dispute of course.

I expect that to fail.

Newcad

I have noticed that there seems to be a fair number of pesimists on MSE forums

For my part I expect to be sucessful again, and it is my dispute/case after all.

Newcad

I thought that I would update this thread with the (lack of) progress in my case.

It's now been 8 months since I started this thread.

Scottish Power are still failing to comply fully with the decision of the Ombudsman which was made in May.

They have now removed references to the 'debt' from credit reference agencies.
They have, at least for now, stopped instructing new debt collection agencies to chase the 'debt'.

However they have not issued corrected billing as instructed to do, multiple times now, by the Ombudsman.

Indeed I have had no communication from Scottish Power whatsoever since the end of July, and the Ombudsman has had no response from them since the end of August.
The Ombudsman has given them yet another poke.

At the moment Scottish Power appear to have accepted that they were in the wrong, but for some reason are being unwilling to fully correct their errors and bring matters to a close in any proper manner.
Instead they seem to be choosing to leave things in limbo.
(I have my own speculations about just why they may be doing that).

QrizB

Remind us - do you think you owe SP, or do SP owe you a refund?

If you owe SP, leave it to them to bill you. If they don't do so in the next six years (five in Scotland), the debt is likely to be statute barred.