Scottish Power, massive bill after 2.5 years

[ScottishPower Company Rep]

Hi Itokuzu

 

Let me look at this for you and I'll sort it out. Sterling Collections are in house and not external debt collectors.

 

Send me your details privately or email onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com and I'll see what is going on. As soon as I receive your details I will put a hold on any debt action while I investigate the account for you.

 

Kind Regards

 

Colin @ ScottishPower

[Itokuzu]

Colin,

 

I have emailed the online complaints email address.

 

I would be obliged if you could confirm receipt.

 

Regards,

Ito.

[ScottishPower Company Rep]

Hi Itokuzu

 

I have received your email this morning. I will investigate the account fully and respond to you via email as requested.

 

Kind Regards

 

Colin @ ScottishPower

[k0612]

I am having an almost identical issue as you with Scottish Power. Moved into a new build in 2007. I periodically phoned them to be told they didn't supply me my flat didn't exist, being disconnected after long periods on hold. I knew they did supply me as had contacted the people who tell you your suppliers. October 2009 after two hours being passed around from person to person and being disconnected I was told an account would be set up in the next two weeks and I wouldn't have to pay back more than 12 months as they were at fault...heard nothing until July 2010. They sent me a bill for £2000 including gas, they don't supply my gas and I've been paying gas for the last three years.

 

I called them, long story short they took off the gas but said after the customer advisor referred to someone that I had to pay whole bill as I was responsible for finding out my supplier!!! So I've emailed customer services and have copies of my phone bills showing all the times I phoned them!

 

I'm so stressed out. Bill is also an estimate as they've never asked for my start meter reading although I've gave them my most recent.

 

K:mad:

[k0612]

I've been reading more on the forum. I wish I'd found this ages ago. Realise I shouldn't have kept calling them and I should have emailed on written to them earlier, as I have no proof of what was said.

 

Like Itokuzu of course I'm willing to pay the for the electricity I've used but I'm really upset that they are claiming I hadn't attempted to find out who supplied me, as they must have phone records of the conversations.

 

k

[Bazooka Boo]

Either way, they cannot bill you any more than 12 months About the Code

[ScottishPower Company Rep]

Hi k0612

 

I am sorry to hear about your situation. If we were the deemed supplier of electricity when you moved into your property and we did not send any correspondence to you either in your name or to 'The Occupier', then we will have to investigate this further and see why this did not happen.

 

Each property will have it's own unique electricity supply number called a Meter Point Access Number (MPAN), and an electricity meter registered to this MPAN. This information is located on a national database called the Electricity Central Online Enquiry Service (ecoes), and all suppliers have access to check the information held against a specific address.

 

What can happen is that this database can be updated with incorrect address information for a given MPAN and meter. This may happen when the property is built and is originally given a plot address which is not changed to the correct address, or it is changed and given an incorrect address. The designated supplier then creates the account based on the information given when creating the supply.

 

In your case, it is possible that you have confirmed your address and our billing system has not shown any record for that given address. This is not to say we are not your supplier. If you confirmed your electricity supply number (MPAN) or your meter serial number, we would be able to check on the national database to see what address your MPAN/meter was assigned to.

 

I would need to investigate the account to confirm all information and whether or not we are entitled to bill you for the entire period. If you want me to check this for you, then just send me your details privately and I will check and get back to you.

 

If you have any other questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Kind Regards

 

Colin @ ScottishPower

[k0612]

I've sent you a private message, I really appreciate you looking into this. I no longer feel confident/ comfortable discussing the bill with the rep over the phone as I have no proof of what is being said.

 

Thanks again k

[ScottishPower Company Rep]

Hi K0612

 

Thank you for providing me with your details. The account is being investigated by a colleague of mine and I have asked that she correspond with you via email as you have requested.

 

Any problems at all please do not hesitate to contact me and I will be happy to help. From the information I have seen already, this will be rectified for you very quickly.

 

Kind Regards

 

Colin @ ScottishPower

[k0612]

Hi,

Just an update on how I got on with Scottish Power. I am now paying the balance of the electricity off and it should be cleared in a few months. They did reduce it to one years past payment, but not until I emailed a letter of complaint and contacted consumer direct(who were helpful).

Even after they had reduced it they sent me out a letter threatening to pass my details onto a legal collection agent, when I had not even received a detialed bill from them yet. Of course I sent another letter detailing how unhappy I was about this, to no reply.

As soon as I've payed off the balance I'm moving electricity supplier, anyone not has issues and would recommend theirs?

K

[ScottishPower Company Rep]

Hi k0612

 

I'm going to get your account investigated to see what has happened with your letter and also why you received another reminder letter. I am on a half day today and off on Monday so will respond if I have the information on Tuesday of next week.

 

Kind Regards

 

Colin @ ScottishPower

[k0612]

Dear Colin,

 

I received a letter of apology today. I unfortunately feel that Scottish Power have only dealt with any complaints or issues I have had when I posted comments on a public forum or contacted Consumer Direct.

 

Therefore Colin, thank you for your help in this matter as you seem to have highlighted the complaint.

 

k

[Bazooka Boo]

Good to see that you finally get a result, with the help of Colin..

[Itokuzu]

Hi all,

 

I have a bit of an update on my problem with Scottish Power;

 

After discussing the matter with Colin on here and also with Scottish Power direct (and after a few false starts where we continually received bills in weird and wonderfully incorrect connotations of our names) we agreed to a repayment plan of £100 per month over 24 months. This was intended to cover £60 usage per month (based on current usage at the time) and an additional £40 monthly repayment of the outstanding amount of £759.79 (although this has bizarrely jumped up to £770 in the bill!)

 

Today, we received our first bill from Scottish Power. If the bill is correct we have used £340.75 worth of electricity from 25th August 2010 until 25th November 2010. We have paid them £400 in this period. So, they say that we have paid £60 towards the debt when we thought we would have paid circa £160 from the £400. Now, within this period we know we have actually used LESS power than ever since we moved in. We have been spending two days away from home every week and have never once had the heating on. We did not think there could be any way that we would be using over the estimated £60 monthly average.

 

Dataserve have been reading the meter every three months for the last 3 years, most recently just over a week ago, so the readings should be correct. The bill states "ACTUAL READING" at the top. The problem is the figures noted in the letter don't make sense. In fact the bill refers to readings and amounts due from the period of 1st Jan 1970 until 1st Jan 1970 (yes, Jan to Jan 1970). There is no explanation as to how they have arrived at the figures and the meter readings simply do not make sense; the start and end readings all say 0. Also, the bill notes two different energy supply numbers... the one on the back is different to the one on the front???

 

Strangely, the only aspect of the bill we can understand states is "energy use comparison". It says we used 2152kwh by the same period last year, but this year the bill states we used 3666kwh. This simply cannot be the case. It then goes on to say that we have used 3635kWh in the last 12 months, so, Scottish Power say we have used more energy since August (and since we started paying them) than we did in the last 12 months. Suspicious? Yes, we are.

 

So, we are perplexed as to how Scottish Power have arrived at this figure if they have used dataserve readings and we agreed earlier in the year that an average usage cost of £60 per month would be reasonable.

 

This bill and our most recent interaction with Scottish Power has left us flabbergasted.

 

Any comments are welcome.

 

Thanks,

Itokuzu.

Edited November 29, 2010 by Itokuzu

[Bazooka Boo]

I think you should now get Ofgem involved to investigate.

http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Consumers/Pages/Consumer.aspx

 

And drop an email to BBC Watchdog...http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/gotastory/

[ScottishPower Company Rep]

Hi Itokuzu

 

Strange tactic my Bazooka Boo but I do not think that Ofgem or Watchdog will have access to the OPs account to provide them with the information that is being requested.

 

Best advise is to speak with us and discuss the queries that you have. There will be reasons for the difference I can guarantee you that. We need to look at the meter readings that have been used to bill the account over the last 2 years to see whether estimated readings were used for a period or whether accurate meter readings have been used for both years.

 

If you have used £340.75 worth of electricity without any heating being on then I would be looking to investigate what is using this much. Purchasing an energy monitor may help you identify this.

 

Again, I will be more than happy to investigate the account for you if you want me to provide you with answers. Just send me the details to onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com and I'll get back to you as soon as I can will full details.

 

Kind Regards

 

Colin @ ScottishPower

[Bazooka Boo]

Not really strange tactics Colin, I know your trying your best, all I am saying is that Ofgem, the industry regulator, should be informed of SP's failings and they can investigate, I don't believe this is the only case where customers are being billed incorrectly?

And as for Watchdog, it won't hurt for SP to have some bad publicity, it usually has the desired effect and will focus the mind, after all this has been going on since May...

[ScottishPower Company Rep]

Hi Bazooka Boo

 

Sorry for the delayed reply. I know that we both want the same outcome for the customer and that is to be clear on the charges being applied to the account and that a suitable payment arrange is in place that both parties are happy with. This latest query I believe is in relation to the customers annual review which now holds a large amount of information (some additional information requested specifically by Ofgem).

 

As this is a new issue and that the customer has questions directly relating to this statement, I felt that your suggestion to go straight to Ofgem / Watchdog to obtain answers to questions the customer has was a little premature. The quickest way for the customer to get these answers is to go direct to the source and contact us. I am 100% sure that I would be able to answer all questions relating to the statement received and I would actually be able to provide this to the customer on the same day.

 

There are a couple of things that have been mentioned by Itokuzu which do not make sense to me at the moment. If we have confirmed annual consumption figures of around 3635 kWh for the electricity then calculating this based on an in area customer (ScottishPower area 18-MPAN) then this calculates as an annual charge of £499.41 (£41.61 per month). I would therefore be surprised if £340.75 had been used between August and November.

 

I am sure that there will be a simple answer to this and that we could address this if the customer was to contact us directly.

 

Itokuzu - Remember I can investigate this for you so let me know if you need my help.

 

Kind Regards

 

Colin @ ScottishPower

[Itokuzu]

Hi Bazooka Boo and Hi Colin,

 

I have spoken to SP twice since I posted on the 29th.

 

On the first occasion they said that the account number I provided them (from the bill) was in fact for another apartment within our building. They said that they do not have an account open for our apartment. This is the same problem I had when I called them a few years back!

 

The second time (when they called me back) they said that they had no idea about how the bill was calculated and that the figures did not make any sense. They could offer no explanation as to why there are two different energy supply numbers on the bill or why the readings are dated 1st Jan 1970. They said they would investigate and revert. This call took place on Nov 30th. I have not heard back from them so will call again after work today and provide you with an update thereafter.

 

Colin, if you still have my details from the last time can you investigate this anomalous bill?

 

Regards,

Ito.

[ScottishPower Company Rep]

Hi Itokuzu

 

Thank you for getting back to us. I was looking to see if I still had your details but unfortunately I do not. Can you send me these again and I will be happy to check this for you. You can either PM me again or send me an email to onlinecomplaints @scottishpower.com.

 

Kind Regards

 

Colin

[Itokuzu]

Hi guys,

 

Yet another update, and I am afraid it is not good news as far as Scottish Power customer service is concerned.

 

I didn't ever receive my promised call back from them. However, I did receive another bill. This time the bill seems fine. The figures look correct and the amounts paid/owed are ok. I can glean from the bill that we are, as suspected, using less electricity per month than we were previously. We calculate our usage has dropped from circa £60 per month to under £50 per month. As a result we have paid off over £200 of the £700-odd we owe.

 

Good news? Not quite.

 

Instead of a call or letter from Scottish Power apologising for the error(s) or explaining the issues I have now received another letter looking for more money. In this letter they claim to have reviewed my account and that my current payments will not cover ongoing use. As a result they have decided to increase my repayment to £147 per month! Now, this is surprising for two reasons; firstly and most obviously if they had actually reviewed our usage like they say they have they would have noticed a decrease rather than increase. Surely this means the direct debit should be reduced, not increased (not that I want that, of course). Secondly, I have a written agreement from a Scottish Power "Senior Complaints Advisor" agreeing the repayment of £100 per month. The letter goes on to say that I "do not have to do anything" and that the payment will come out of my account on the 25th December. Merry Christmas indeed!

 

I am totally pi**ed off with this now (sorry for the bad language).

 

How can Scottish Power renege on an agreement I made with them less than 6 months ago? Surely this is bordering on unethical? I absolutely do not authorise them to take anymore than £100 from my bank!

 

I would complain, but I have already had a senior complaints advisor look at this so what good will it do me? I haven't once had an apology for any of this hassle (not that I wanted one, but I do now).

 

Sorry for such a long post but I am really annoyed. Bazooka Boo, I am now beginning to think that you may be right about taking it further.

 

Any comments would be hugely appreciated.

 

Itokuzu

 

P.S. Colin, I have PM'd you. I trust if you can get back to me you will do so as a matter of urgency.

Edited December 11, 2010 by Itokuzu

[Bazooka Boo]

I agree that Colin can only do so much, and I am very grateful that he is willing to be of such help on this forum, so did you email him with the details he requested?

If so, then I am still of the same opinion that SP need to be investigated by a third part ie, OfGem, it is only then that an outside agency employed to police these companies are able to view both sides of the argument, and then explain to both parties who is at fault.

Seven months is a relatively protracted period to be able to rectify complaints, which is why I IMO would now be escalating this further.

[Itokuzu]

I have PM'd Colin with the details necessary to allow him to review my account. I would like to see an end to this without the need for an arbitrator. That though seems unlikely, because there is something very much amiss with the details and records that Scottish Power hold for us and our home. At every juncture there has been confusion as to where we live, who we are, how much energy we have used, how much we owe and, most importantly as far as the current issues are concerned, a record of our previous correspondence.

 

I think I have been reasonable up till now so I will continue to be reasonable for a few more days. I will try to call Scottish Power again, but I am not wasting my phone bill waiting on hold for another 20 odd minutes like I have been doing every other time (once for nearly 40 minutes). If they don't answer after 10 minutes I am hanging up. Hopefully though Colin will come back to me.

 

I will update you again midweek. If I don't have a resolution by Wednesday I will make a final decision on my position.

 

Thanks again.

 

Ito.

[Bazooka Boo]

It is unfortunate that sometimes there is a need for a third party to step in and show the error of peoples ways, however that is what they are there for and employed to do hence why we must use them when all other avenues fail.

I am a very avid fan of using as much publicity as I can muster in order to highlight to these companies their failures, and it inevitably has the desired effect and complaints are resolved within hours. I do though appreciate that Colin has tried to assist, and there are others on here who give their valuable time to help consumers, the like of Lee Vodafone, and it should be welcomed, as you say give it a few more days, and if Colin hasn't been able to get back to you, then it is your decision as to what is best next.