Bereavement and Scottish Power

SpotlandRules · 5 October 2017 at 10:32AM

In March, my friend was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She admitted to me that she was in a mess with her gas and electric, along with her rent and council tax, so I sat down with her and attempted to sort out.

With Scottish Power, they agreed a repayment of £31 a month (towards the debt) and £60 a month (towards her usage). We moved her onto SP's then cheapest tariff and all was fine.

On Sunday (1.10) she sadly passed away, and I contacted SP yesterday to inform them, I spoke to the bereavement team, who told me that the account would be passed to probate, to see if the information which I gave them was correct, namely, that she lived in rented accommodation. They then told me if this was correct, then the account would be written off.

I have just received this email from from, which I am very upset about and it is extremely tactless.

"Dear Estate Of Mrs xxxxxxxx

We’re sorry to hear that you’ve chosen to leave ScottishPower. Your final gas and electricity bill for the period 2nd October 2017 to 4th October 2017 is now ready and the amount due for payment is £1777.22.

We will collect this payment on 18th October 2017. If you cannot pay the final amount in full, please call us as soon as possible to set up a payment arrangement.

Please see My Messages for more information on how this has been calculated.

Thanks for being with us and we hope to welcome you back in the future."

Nothing like sending out a generic email, when the account holder has passed away.

System · 5 October 2017 at 11:19AM

Left and right hands come to mind. Speak to The Bereavement Team at SP and ask them whether they would be happy to see a copy of this e-mail in a National newspaper?

Scottish_Power · 5 October 2017 at 1:06PM

SpotlandRules wrote: »

In March, my friend was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She admitted to me that she was in a mess with her gas and electric, along with her rent and council tax, so I sat down with her and attempted to sort out.

With Scottish Power, they agreed a repayment of £31 a month (towards the debt) and £60 a month (towards her usage). We moved her onto SP's then cheapest tariff and all was fine.

On Sunday (1.10) she sadly passed away, and I contacted SP yesterday to inform them, I spoke to the bereavement team, who told me that the account would be passed to probate, to see if the information which I gave them was correct, namely, that she lived in rented accommodation. They then told me if this was correct, then the account would be written off.

I have just received this email from from, which I am very upset about and it is extremely tactless.

"Dear Estate Of Mrs xxxxxxxx

We’re sorry to hear that you’ve chosen to leave ScottishPower. Your final gas and electricity bill for the period 2nd October 2017 to 4th October 2017 is now ready and the amount due for payment is £1777.22.

We will collect this payment on 18th October 2017. If you cannot pay the final amount in full, please call us as soon as possible to set up a payment arrangement.

Please see My Messages for more information on how this has been calculated.

Thanks for being with us and we hope to welcome you back in the future."

Nothing like sending out a generic email, when the account holder has passed away.

Hi SpotlandRules,

I am so sorry for your loss and I sincerely apologise for the email you have received and for the distress caused.

So we can investigate why you were unfortunately sent this email, could you possible please email me the account number or address of the account this is in regards to, to [EMAIL="social@scottishpower.com"]social@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL]?

Kind regards
Faye

SpotlandRules · 5 October 2017 at 7:18PM

I have been in contact Faye, and was told that because it was the landlord had taken back control of the account and asked for it to be transferred.

As I am chair of the TRA, I have a bit of power with my Housing Association, so I asked them if they had applied for a transfer.

This is my landlords reply. As the tenancy has not yet terminated (I am handing in the keys tomorrow), no transfer request has been made.

Sorry, SP, but even when you get the chance to be open on how such a mess up could occur, it seems you have deliberately misled me.

I will not give you the satisfaction of misleading me again.

Bereavement and Scottish Power

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