Add your feedback on energy supplier Scottish Power
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Hello,
I am wondering if anyone can help, we have been having problems with Scottish Power and any feedback from people with experience of our problems would be much appreciated. We set up a direct debit with them last year, given that they state on their website that they review the amount every 3 months we thought everything was fine and we were using electricity at the right rate as our direct debit didn't increase and I had meter readers coming round. We recently received a bill for the past 12 months which has the title "The amount you pay monthly by direct debit is decreasing"- the reason given in the letter says that this is due to the fact that we use less energy than they at first predicted we would. The next page of the bill shows the new direct debit figure which is actually over a 50% INCREASE in the amount and below is our 'in debit' figure showing that we owe them a lot of money- this has never been mentioned before and is not alluded to anywhere in the bill. When I phoned them they said the actual direct debit amount IS decreasing, but they extra money is to pay off the large 'overspend' as all our previous bills had been based on estimates. On the next page of the bill in the payments taken it shows that for a number of months at the beginning of the year they failed to collect our direct debit, so we owe them this money too. This has never been mentioned to us at all, the only evidence is in writing on this bill. My issues are:
-Surely it is their responsibility to collect direct debits- on the phone they assumed full responsibility for 'computer failures'
-They only have record of one meter reader coming to take a reading over the past 12 months therefore they have no record of G4S people being sent round to our house at any other time- as a woman who is alone in the house during the day I find this irresponsible. We also assumed because these readings were being taken and our direct debit wasn't changing that nothing was wrong. If we had known how much energy we were using 6 months ago we could have assessed the situation and cut down.
-The bill they sent us makes no sense whatsoever as obviously we have used more electricity than they thought we would and the amount they are charging us monthly will mean that by this time next year we will be in even more debt to them.
Any help would be much appreciated. I have looked into the direct debit guarantee but it's all a bit confusing!! Thank you!0 -
Direct Debit Guarantee is not relevant - that is just to protect you from un-expected debits being taken not for debits not taken.-Surely it is their responsibility to collect direct debits- on the phone they assumed full responsibility for 'computer failures'
-They only have record of one meter reader coming to take a reading over the past 12 months therefore they have no record of G4S people being sent round to our house at any other time- as a woman who is alone in the house during the day I find this irresponsible. We also assumed because these readings were being taken and our direct debit wasn't changing that nothing was wrong. If we had known how much energy we were using 6 months ago we could have assessed the situation and cut down.
-The bill they sent us makes no sense whatsoever as obviously we have used more electricity than they thought we would and the amount they are charging us monthly will mean that by this time next year we will be in even more debt to them.
Any help would be much appreciated. I have looked into the direct debit guarantee but it's all a bit confusing!! Thank you!
They have a responsibility to take instalments but no liability. You are also expected to monitor your own balance and anticipate any differences. At any time you could have checked the readings on your meter and checked the reading used on a previous statement to check what state your account actually was in real terms.
If you do not bother to monitor things yourself (a one-minute job once a three-month or six-month) then you have to ride the consequent eventual increase in catch-up instalments.0 -
This is really a shocking company. I have been with them for three months but they still can't "set up" my gas or give me a bill. They blame the new computer system but surely any change should be tested fully before implementation. I intend to leave them at the earliest possible moment, which will be as soon as they know they are supplying my gas.Je suis sabot...0
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10 months and my account still isn't set up, god knows what my bill is, as above by far the worst company I've ever used. Scary thing is they report to CRA's, just waiting for them to do me over with their incompetence. Going to ombudsman for what is worth. Saved all emails for the past 10 months, gave up calling.0
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We've been with SP for a few years now and it took a while for thinks to settle down. Our previous supplier was Atlantic something or the other. At the time we did go for the Green Online tariff, now withdrawn, and SP shifted us to the Standard online. The communication was good and provided two months in advance. The switch happened earlier this month.
I thought I would check out the MSE's CEC. I was surprise to see the price quoted for SP Standard Online tariff about £500+ more than the actual price quoted on SP website (£1188.62). Think I'll stick around with SP because the cheapest was Extra Energy at £1412.0 -
I'm currently with SP.
A cheaper tariff was released on 21st August and unlike my current tariff it has no exit penalties. So far so good.
I had carefully checked the new prices on the pdf on SP's website, entered the inclusive VAT figures on my spreadsheet and called them to switch to the new tariff, only to be told that the new tariff would cost me more because prices on their system were higher; their system showed the published VAT inclusive prices did not include VAT when their pdf (and the comparison on mse's cheapenergyclub) clearly and unambiguously showed they did include VAT!
It was obvious to me comparing the new tariff with the previous tariff(s) that their system was incorrect and the prices in the published leaflet were in fact correct. Sadly the computer said no.
The SP employee was as polite and helpful as possible however they did not switch me to the published prices because of this perceived discrepancy, promising me a call back in the week.
(I'll bet it doesn't happen...)
Later on I logged in to my account rechecked and saved their online comparison (which appeared to use the correct figures) and attempted to change online to the new tariff , which may or may not have been successful (no confirmation mai!). To add to the mess the website would not accept my meter readings....and so it goes on with Scottish power. This is just another problem in a very long line of problems I've had with them, each one consuming huge amounts of time, phone calls, emails etc.
They were quite good before they upgraded their systems about a year ago. There is absolutely no excuse for their system to show a set of VAT inclusive prices as being pre VAT, it's a monumental error. I dread to think what the knock-on effect will be. Get your act together SP.0 -
I'm confused.
In November 2014 I switched from BG to SP, following the Energy Club recommendation. I had been paying BG £98 monthly by Direct Debit. Based on past usage, SP signed me up for £72 monthly - so far so good, thank you.
In June 2014 I had an email from SP, advising that my payments were too low and would be increased to £139 monthly from July - what! - and I'm a pensioner. The reason given was that my consumption of gas and electric had increased - no idea how.
I have all the figures relating to kWh's used but am having problems dealing with this.
I had major surgery during the summer, so did not have the strength to deal with this until now.
Very worthwhile Forum.0 -
Scottish Power's website is awful when you want to download messages and bills. The page doesn't indicate what you have downloaded when you use the back button from the download page. I ended up downloading messages and bills at least twice each. The dates don't correspond with the dates on the documents either. Anyway, the switch went fine last September but last month (August) I had a message that said the DD was going up by around £50 from what was calculated when I signed up for the fixed rate tariff. Turns out no one had read the meters for nearly a year. They assumed I was using more (why?) than the exact figures for the previous year. I bunged in the exact readings and lo and behold I was in credit. I emailed a request to recalculate the DD and the email reply said that's done - to a figure around £20 less than the original. Come the DD day and they took the new increased amount. I phoned (NOW AN 0800 NUMBER!) and ignored the call back option - got to speak to someone immediately. She told me I could make an indemnity claim to my bank (hassle). I said I had wanted to continue the original payment. Can't do that. So agreed to accept the reduced amount and see what happened. She also offered a better tariff (I assume exit fees not payable if you stay with the same company) but the savings didn't tally with CEC figures. She said it was being pulled tonight. Hmmm. Declined the offer. However when I read the costs breakdown in CEC I see that it includes over 6 months at SP's standard tariff (Ofgem requirement apparently and utterly useless IMHO). That explains the difference I suppose. Now have headache and will look on CEC tomorrow to see if tariff still there! Will also put in new figures and see what I get. Mixed review really, but it shouldn't be this complicated. Whatever happened to Atlantic? They were brilliant.0
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A word of advice when switching away from Scottish Power : When you receive notification from your new supplier that the transfer is complete you should cancel your Scottish Power direct debit immediately via your bank. Scottish power continued taking payments from my account until I noticed and stopped it via my bank. Scottish Power now say they will take at least a month to investigate the issue and sometime after that I may receive a refund.0
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