scottish power owes me money

[sparky321]

hi can anyone advise me, i know that scottish power owes me money, i have proof of it as my statement shows a credit of 128 pounds. (i requested this last week got it 2 days ago) i am not with them any more and this amount is shown on my final statement from them. I have been calling them since july when THEY sent me a threatening letter from their collections dep..SPM COLLECTIONS....saying i owed them £501.00 which i found funny as i am on a prepayment meter so i knew it was their mistake, turns out my payments on my key top ups were going to EDF electric by mistake. I have found out that they have been sent the money and more by EDF which now means they owe me my money back £128.00. not a lot i know but i have children and struggling so I want that back. Everytime i ring them (0845 number at that...my phone bill)...they keep promising to send a cheque, i have been waiting months for it. My question is can i claim interest on this money and add late payment charges in the same way that they threatened me with these costs when they asumed incorrectly that i owed them money, it seems only fair eh?...they wrote to me in the first instance (SPM COLLECTIONS)stating that if i do not pay them £501.00 immediately then i will incurr a minimum of £250.00 charge on top as well as late payment fees added on, so i think i should also charge them this amount as the boots on the other foot so to speak, anyone know if i can do this, id also like my calls paid for too as i have called them every week sometimes on phone for an hour. thanks for any help guys xxx;)

[sparky321]

one more thing, i lodged a formal stage 1 complaint about the money owed last week and have a reference number for the logged complaint. they have apologised but nothing more done since. x

[sparky321]

is there anyone who can advise me, following my complaint about scottish power via consumer direct i have recieved an offer from scottish power today by e-mail. The complaints manager has....wait for it...offered me a bunch of flowers and chocolates as well as £10.00 for my phone calls. OH MY GOD... whilst I am a sucker for lovely flowers and chocolates I get enough of these from my husband lol, he buys these for me just for being a good wife not for putting me through months of stress and worry of court action etc, i wonder if they would accept flowers and chocolates if i owed them money lol i doubt it somehow. Has anyone got any ideas how to respond to this, hope someone reads this and can help. thanx xxxx

[sparky321]

hi, i sent 2nd complaint to consumer direct saying I was not happy with the offer of flowers and chocolates and that I would like the compensation that I asked for origionally, this was the response from consumer direct. They have said that as my overdue credit payment from scottish power was sent to me on 13th oct i have to allow 15 days to get it. Also it says that scottish power are under no obligation to compensate me for harrassment and stress etc and they are allowed to offer me what they want as a goodwill gesture. I cant believe this, I thought they were there to assist not condone bad customer service. They have refused to forward my refusal of flowers and chocolates to scottish power saying that there is no legal obligation to offer me anything for the stress or inconvenienc. What a joke, so as i thought its ok for us to be harrassed, ignored, and to be owed money without fighting for our rights. The letter I recieved from scottish power SPM COLLECTIONS in july stated that i owed them money £501.00 and they threatened me with intended court proceedings, to sieze my goods,plus added costs of £250.00, plus late payment fees, But now they have owed me money for 3 months It seems im not legally allowed to do anything about it. This is not right, im fuming. Any advice guys im thinkin of goin to watchdog with this one.

[slick132]

Hi Sparky - looking in as asked.

 

Whilst I understand your anger at how you've been treated, I have to agree with Consumer Direct.

 

The £10 for phone calls as a gesture of goodwill is actually reasonable, given that calls to the 0845 number cost 2p/min. The flowers and choccies on top are a bonus.

 

The only way you could have got interest from SP was if you'd sought advice sooner (or at least before they came up with their offer). You would have given them a warning and then filed a court claim for the money. Only THEN could you have charged them 8% from the date the money was due to you.

 

You can't file a court claim now, because they've offered you all they should plus a tiny bit more. A judge wouldn't award you the interest because they have already paid you in full (or they will have done in a day or two).

 

Sorry but, in these circumstances, I see nothing further you can do about this. So take their offer, enjoy the chocs and put the £10 towards a treat for you/your family.

 

As you say, it would be different if you owed them, but thats just the way it is sometimes. Move on, and learn a lesson from this...... next time, don't wait so long to take action. THEN you can claim for interest and out-of-pocket expenses on top.

[sparky321]

hi slick thanks so much for your reply, just wanted to let you know that i did request interest on my money owed before they made offer of flowers as this was put forward to them on 13th oct via consumer direct.

 

The only reason they got back to me was because i asked for this or i would still be waiting. The e-mail was not sent in response to my origional complaint direct to them because they did not have my e-mail address until i gave it to consumer direct.

 

they offered flowers and chocs today 15th oct AFTER being asked for interest on my money owed. In the email i was told by complaints senior manager today that they had recieved my complaint FROM consumer direct and apologised that the staff at scottish power failed to provide the level of service im entitled to and was then offered flowers.

 

The reason i left it so long before this was because i was fool enough to be taken in by their promise of payment since july. As i requested interest before their offer of flowers which i have proof of through consumer direct so can i still claim 8%.

 

Also just checked my phone bill and no sky do not charge 2p/min one call which lasted 19 minutes cost £2.28, another call 31 minutes cost £1.99, 13 minutes 87p etc. over 3 months that makes me out of pocket dont u think. It takes 10 minutes to actually go through recordings then going through the whole story over and over I have over 11 different names that i spoke to plus various managers which i had direct line numbers for all giving me the same apologies and promises.

 

Total is more than £10.00 by my calculations. I didnt leave it too long before taking action , as far as im aware i followed the correct procedure since july and gave them plenty of chances to respond correctly until eventually going through the correct complaints procedure and then going to consumer direct. I was told by scottish power in the first instance that i have to wait up to 8 weeks before any answers are due, it was only because of me chasing them up that it got dealt with to start with because a manager told me in august after 4 weeks of my origional 1st call that my account hadnt even been looked at yet, she promised to deal with it, a week later i called her to be told she had gone on holiday and no one had done anything yet.

 

This was when i first made complaint. Was not aware that i had to get a complaint ref number and found out it was not logged. I have only given you a brief summary above of all the c..p they put me through which is why i am angry.

 

Under any other circumstances I would have been happy to accept the flowers and chocs, i am not by any means an ungrateful person, but i draw the line somewhat at being given the runaround. The only reason a cheque was supposedly sent out on 13th oct was because they recieved my complaint via consumer direct the SAME DAY (wot a coincidence)so it shows they were ignoring my plea for my money all this time. I have a recorded phone conversation on my phone dated 29th sept saying the money is still in my account and yet another promise to get it sent next day, that was nearly 3 weeks ago so how come only sent 13th oct.

 

Can you see why im angry. Hours and hours of it for a bunch of lousy flowers. Sorry to rant, im a very quiet person but this has got me mad. thanks again for your time xxx

Edited October 15, 2009 by slick132
put in paragraphs to make post readable

[sparky321]

oops error above 0845 19 minute call cost £1.28 etc x

[sparky321]

ps. oh and i did get complaint reference number from SP eventually on 7th oct which was when i was promised yet again my money will be sent following day, hence the reason i called consumer direct on 13th oct. that call lasted 60 minutes not got bill for that call yet but would have cost approx £3-£4.00. x

[nottslad]

In line with Ofgem guidance, a complaint is any display by a customer of dissatisfaction, you should have been given a compplaint reference long before now, or at the very least it should have been recorded as a complaint.

 

After 56 days from the original contact regarding the complaint, if your supplier have still not resolved the issues, then you are entitled to escalate the complaint to the Ombudsman.

 

In this instance, I would recommend you decline the offer of flowers and chocolates, particularly as you state on another post you suffer hayfever and are dieting (Lol) and request further financial compensation, do this via email and save a copy, as well as a delivery report and read receipt if possible

[sparky321]

wow thanks for that nottslad well my 1st complaint was on 27th july after getting their unbelievable first letter,so yes definately well over 56 days ago. the only contact i had from them after months of me calling was a phone call from them 29th sept (which i recorded) promising to send it next day. That was about the 15th promise altogether. thanks so much sorry my posts are so drawn out, i reckon i could write a book on it lol xx

[nottslad]

I would be inclined to send them something like:

Dear Director of Customer Services,

Thank you for your email confirming that you have raised a refund of my credit balance of £128.00, which I look forward to receiving shortly.

 

As you will be aware from the history of my account, my first complaint regarding this matter was on 27th July 2009. On numerous occasions, I have been promised a refund, and nothing has turned up. I have spent countless hours contacting yourselves regarding this matter, which has cost me large sums of money calling 0845 numbers, which I can substantiate with copies of my Sky telephone bills if needs be; some of these calls have cost in the region of £3.00!

 

Taking into account the amount of stress this matter has caused me in chasing up a resolution due to the incompetence of your customer service staff, and the additional costs incurred by myself, I feel you should reconsider the amount of compensation you are willing to offer, I do not feel £10.00 is adequate to cover the cost of the telephone calls, never mind an offer of a good will gesture!

 

I do very much appreciate your offer of flowers and chocolates, however with the current economic climate, re-imbursing my costs would be much more suitable.

 

May I also point out that your staff have also not acted in accordance with Ofgem guidance by not registering my complaint sooner, a complaint is defined as any display of dissatisfaction by a consumer, by my second call this should have been registered and I should have been given a summary of your complaints procedure. I am now fully aware that after 56 days from the date of my initial complaint, I am able to escalate the complaint to the Energy Supply Ombudsman, however, because your staff did not follow the correct procedure I was not aware of this at the time; this is obviously serious training issue which needs to be addressed as soon as possible for compliance reasons.

 

I look forward to receiving your response as soon as possible

[sparky321]

o h my god that is BRILLIANT xxxxxxx thankyou so muchxxxx im going to copy that out now. How kind of you xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[nottslad]

No worries hun, hope it gets you somewhere - let me know xx

[slick132]

Hi Sparky,

 

I realise how angry you are and agree that you have every right to feel you've been treated badly.

 

However, the lesson you should learn from this is to act quickly and, if you get the run around, then take decisive action.

 

In your case, the only way to easily get interest back on your money which they held onto, was for you to file a court claim, which you didn't do.

 

Sorry, I was wrong about the 0845 phone call charges as shown here on the MSE site - Say no to 0870: cut call costs to these hideous numbers... There, I've learned something new today - 0845 nos. are "Lo-Call" but cost 6p/min which is flipping outrageous.

 

If you have clear proof that you spent more on calls than the £10 offered, you still have the right to demand that you are properly compensated. Calculate what you KNOW (from phone bills) you spent, then estimate what you THINK you spent (unbilled).

 

If it comes to more than £10, you can still demand what you're owed on top of the £128.

 

In which case, write to SP (via Consumer Direct if you want) seeking the required amount. If they refuse to pay, take them to court and seek 8% Statutory Interest on the £128 and the phone costs.

 

Just to keep this in perspective though, 8% int't on £128 over 3 months comes to £2.56 and it all hinges on whether your actual call costs exceeded £10.

[sparky321]

thanks slick, im going to write to them with the letter from nottslad coz its brill but il definately add up my calls first, gonna phone sky to get all call amounts dates and times over phone. iv only got last months bill handy which is no where near the amount spent and that totals £7.69 just for september calls. need to get july, august and octobers now. Looks to be around £30 plus. just out of curiosity is the interest of 8% calculated daily, weekly or monthly coz your figure of £ 2.56 for 3 months is a bit low isnt it ? that works out less than 3p per day based on 90 days surely not lol x iv got more than that in my kids penny jar lol x I might be wrong though coz im hopeless at figures, just worked it out on calculator x

[nottslad]

8% would be annual interest hun, if you divide it by 12, that's 0.66% per month, so 66p per £100, so it really isn't a lot of money at all, go with the claim for the cost of your calls and if they refuse tell them you're off to the Ombudsman - i'm sure they'll then pay out as they have to pay a few hundred quid to the ombudsman as soon as you complain to them x

[sparky321]

oh ok thanks didnt realise it was yearly no wonder its so low lol, told u im hopeless at legals lol x just amazes me how they can charge so much late payment fees and stuff if we owed them money. seems so unfair, looks like i might end up with daffodils after all lol x thanx again nottslad u r cool xxx:D

[slick132]

I don't think the FOS would be involved here, or perhaps Nottslad is referring to Ofwat.

 

Statutory Int't is calculated on a daily basis so I did a quick calc'n as follows to get a 3 months figure:-

 

128 x 0.08 x 3/12 = 2.56

 

or on a daily basis

 

128 x 0.08 x 90/365 = 2.52

 

The daily figure is 128 x 0.08/365 = 2.8p/day

 

That is why I think that, although there is a principle involved, the outcome may mean it's really not worth all the effort.

 

But go ahead with the letter as you suggest and see what happens.

[nottslad]

No slick, I was referring to the Energy Supply Ombudsman, the authoratative body for complaints to the energy sector, Ofgem regulate the suppliers and Ofwat regulate water suppliers

[slick132]

Haha, Stupid me - OFWAT !!

 

Don't know why I thought we were d/w a water Co ??

[sparky321]

ha ha slick u nutter xxxx you gonna get me confuddled lol x