Scottish Power - is there any contract in place here?

[rik1301]

Good morning all.

 

Short version : Scottish Power (SP) took over my energy supply without my permission or prior notification and are charging me a much higher tariff. Is there a contract in place and do I have to pay?

 

 

Looooooong version : Up until December 2016 I was a happy customer of GB Energy Supply (GBES). Documentation was received in early December from Coop Enregy (Coop) welcoming me to them and assuring me my supply would continue as normal, keep supplying meter readings etc, nothing to worry about.

 

Around March 2017 I received a bill from SP addressed to a party not known to me and a property number with an extra digit in it which doesn't exist on the development. Naturally I assumed it was a mis-delivery and put it to one side, intending to return it. More of the same arrived and eventually curiosity got the better of me so I opened one and saw a debt for several hundred pounds. I rang SP to inform them of their errors but they would not discuss the matter as I wasn't the accountholder, and I should put any further communications from them back in the postbox marked not known at this address. Fair enough, so that's what I did.

 

July rolls around and Grosvenor Services have mailed the "Current Occupier" that they want paying £400 for a SP debt. I met the Grosvenor guy at the property and have a pleasant chat with him about the errors of SPs ways in the honest belief that it was all some huge mistake, but it transpired that the meter numbers on their bill match the numbers on my meters (!) indicating that SP were in fact the current energy supplier.

 

He contacted his SP source on the phone while I was stood there and explained the situation that 1) I was not the person named on the bill (and I provided DL proof to support this) and 2) as far as I was concerned my supplier was GBES (now Coop) and my direct debit payments were up to date and I had not received any notification from them about a change in my supply(ier), nor had there been any communication from SP either. After carrying out some background checks on the supply and myself they concluded that there had been some huge mix-up somewhere which they would look into and sort out, and also put me back to how I was after I told them I didn't wish to have them as my supplier and I was quite happy with GBES/Coop. I was assured all this would be put in writing to me and later that afternoon I had an email from Grosvenor stating that they had no further interest and the case had been referred back to SP.

 

Perhaps naively I thought that was the end of it. I was in the middle of dealing with a death in the family so didn't have time to be wasting on sorting out SPs messes. I did ring Coop to see if they could cast any light on the matter from their end but I got bored of sitting in the queue after 10 mins and gave up, fairly happy that I was worrying about nothing seeing as they were still sending me PDF bills after submitting my monthly reading to them on the (still active) the GBES portal.

 

No further communication - written or otherwise - ever materialised from SP.

 

In November 2017 bills started rolling in from SP again, now addressed to the "Current Owner/Occupier" and with a £500+ debt which has since been referred to Face2Face debt recovery. Puzzled by why this whole saga was still a thing I rang Coop again to find out what was going on and to my amazement they casually informed me that they ceased being my energy supplier in December 2016 (!) but when pressed with questions such as how have SP ended up being my supplier, when did I give you permission to make the switch, why I am still receiving bills from you and why are you taking money for an account that has apparently been closed for 12 months, no answers or explanations were forthcoming. Coop have since admitted in a later communication that there had been "a breakdown in communications for which we apologise" but that's all. As I write they are processing a refund for all payments received since the account was closed.

 

So I am left with Scottish Power as my energy supplier which I never asked for nor agreed to, nor wish to have either due to their sky high tariff and abysmal reputation for customer service and incompetency.

 

My question is : in these circumstances is there any contract in place between SP and myself and do I owe them anything from a legal perspective? I appreciate the natural response here would be to simply send them the refunded money from Coop, but the aggro this has caused me and the fact they decided to force themselves upon me as my energy supplier without me having any say in the matter really does not sit well with me. They have completely ignored my request to put me back to how I was with Coop and such tactics should be punished imho.

 

I welcome your advice.

 

Thanks.

[BankFodder]

I suggest that you begin by sending the Co-op an SAR. I should also write a formal letter the Co-op putting them on notice that they have allowed your account to be transferred to another supplier without your permission and that you want to begin a complaint to the energy ombudsman. Make sure you do this in writing. Send the letter today or Monday by recorded delivery. Tell the Co-op that you are taking action to make sure that your account remains with them and that as far as you are concerned you are completely up to date in your payments and you were advising them strongly not to refund them until the matter has gone through the energy ombudsman process.

 

Send the SAR in a separate envelope so that there is no confusion. Accompany the SAR by a cheque so that you can keep an eye on its progress.

 

Write to SP and put them on notice that you do not have any contact with them and that you are a customer of the Co-op and that if you're business has been transferred to them then it has been without your permission and that you have begun a formal complaint about it.

 

Tell them that your account with the Co-op is completely up to date and you have no intention of paying SP anything at all.

 

Get ready for a tough ride on this. Come back here when you get further information. If you read our customer services guide and implement the advice there then by all means have telephone calls with both companies but make sure you record everything.