Scottish Power and Past Due Credit

[lorna2012]

Sorry if I'm posting this in the wrong place...

 

I have two defaults with Scottish Power (one for a gas account, one for an electric).

Scottish Power have confirmed this with me including dates and I am responsible for it.

 

When trying to negotiate a F&F settlement,

they tell me it is being dealt with (but would not confirm or deny if it has been sold on to) Past Due Credit and to deal with them instead.

 

You go around and around in circles with SP - they won't let you speak to any form of customer compliance/credit.

Even their 'complaints' side of things refuses to give you contact details for that dept.

 

SP are really beginning to p me off, and I am considering complaining over and above their heads.

 

Past Due are really dragging their heels as well.

I have found an email address for a human () with a bit of google detective work.

 

I read constantly that this DCA are a bunch of cowboys which doesn't fill me with much hope that my CRA is actually going to be amended when I do pay up.

 

Not only that, but no-one has actually responded to my email besides asking me to confirm I lived at the property and what dates.

 

I get the feeling that by being so lax there is probably a problem with the debt but in all honesty, I

just want to pay it off now, have the CRA and fight over a bad debt later (if that is the case).

 

I have a tight deadline to get rid of these defaults before I have to wait a year for another promotion (I get credit vetted)

and I do not want to wait that long, nor do I really have the timescale to SAR, wait til the 39th day and then try and sort out a F&F.

 

I just don't know who I am meant to deal with, SP or PDCS?

 

Either way I'm complaining about one shop - it is ridiculous, its like they don't even want to take my money but continously write me letters demanding it!!

[i hate bailiffs]

as there is a default on your credit file that will still show for 6 years if you pay them off tomorrow it will still show

 

i would deal direct with Scottish power and bypass the monkeys

 

they may take full and final settlement but watch out what they do with the discount they offer,sometimes they pass it on to another debt collector

 

if they being difficult £1 per month

[lorna2012]

Oh I know it'll still show, but as long as the debt is paid, its all work care about.

Its having unpaid debt that goes against me - I'm not someone who relies on credit so it kicking about for the next couple of years til it drops off

(sadly I was more daft a couple of years ago than I am now) doesn't really bother me from that perspective.

 

In 6 months I'll do what I see recommended, take out a subprime credit card, use it for food shopping and pay it off in full every month to avoid interest and build up a good profile.

 

Scottish Power,

when I dealt with their helpful complaints team (yes that was sarcasm)

just kept repeating "you need to deal with PDCS".

 

When you ask for their compliance team/credit management, you get the same response.

SP just seem like a complete nightmare and honestly after this experience I will never bloody use them in my own home again. Awful lot.

 

I have no idea who to go to over and above the heads of those I've already spoken to in order to get some common sense.

 

edited as I wrote collections instead of complaints - chance would be a fine thing to actually speak to someone in the relevant dept!

[citizenB]

We do have a Scottish Power Rep on the forums - I will send out an S.O.S for you. I doubt that you will receive a response until Tuesday now, though.

[lorna2012]

I think it was one of the SP reps that just kept fobbing me off with writing to the DCA. Marie I think.

 

I don't see why it is so hard for them to give me an email address for the credit management team to deal with myself. Asked if the debt had been sold on - declined to confirm or deny (ie, SP still own it). At this moment in time I'm composing a complaint email to the Customer Service Director, and seriously contemplating CC'ing the SP CEO. It seems to work when dealing with other businesses.

[citizenB]

Make sure you reference your letter - OFFICIAL COMPLAINT - they are obiged to comply within 8 weeks.

[lorna2012]

thank you I do really appreciate the help I have had off this forum. Yesterday I paid off one default and when I see that turn to a little Satisfied marker I can breathe a sigh of relief!!

[lorna2012]

email bounced to Keith Anderson CEO - oh well will just have to send it recorded delivery instead. I detest SP - bunch of idiots.

[lorna2012]

After submitting a final stage complaint, I get an email this morning from someone else at Scottish Power who, after I make a phone call when she addresses none of the points in my complaint, tells me that it is not Past Due Credit but LCS that are dealing with my account. Nice to see the left hand knows what the right is doing at SP - two different people in the same department telling me to contact two different DCAs! When I said that this was appalling, I was told to just give LCS a phone and pay them over the phone! Trying to explain why I wanted everything in writing was like banging my head off a brick wall. Why am I going to give out money over the phone if it can't be established 100% who is even dealing with the account? I have it in writing that their complaints team told me to contact Past Due - now I am being told to contact someone else?!

 

And they wonder why I'm beyond angry and wanted to speak to a manager...

 

Awaiting a callback from a manager at SP with regards to this. I don't expect any better from a DCA (and PDCS acknowledged awareness of the accounts but whether or not that was a ruse to get money out of me I have no idea) but I do expect better from a big organisation like Scottish Power. Disgust and anger doesn't even begin to describe how I feel. People make bad decisions with debt, sure, but do they deserve that kind of poor treatment? I am so angry right now.