Hi, Sorry, I can't remember the name of the magazine but it was a Business/commerce type publication I was thumbing through whilst waiting in a customers reception area. Cheers. Big Grambo

Hi, Data Protection Act - Ignored S.A.R.s I've just read that in Scotland a private individual cannot go to court in order to force the banks to give up the requested information under the data protection act. This can only be done by a government appointed organisation. Is this true? Cheers. Big Grambo

Hi, Bank of Scotland (The friend we could do without) After reading some of the threads about follow on claims for bank charges in the small claims courts being thrown out as incompetent, I had a chat with a lawyer and he said that my claim for £5700 plus interest would be considered as 'ordinary cause' in the Scottish court system. He also said that the cost of taking this to court would be around £1500 plus V.A.T. To his credit he went some length to explain that it was not all sweetness and light and what could happen if the bank decided to put up a fight and won. I would be held liable for the banks court expenses as well as my own and at the end of the day I would not get a lot of change out of £6,500 I have just refused the bank of Scotland's opening offer of £3595 and, despite the risk, I am seriously considering taking this to court. Because they have largely ignored my requests to provide me with all of my statements for the last 5 years, my lawyer suggested a process that is often used in such cases which involves claiming for a larger amount (£9,500) and this would force them to reveal the (true) lesser amount as part of their defence and in light of their revelations I would amend my claim accordingly. My lawyer also made it very clear that backing out of the case, even before it got to court, would make me liable for the other party's costs incurred in the preparation of their defence. Which could still be a significant portion of the £6,500 figure I mentioned earlier. Does anyone have an opinion on these comments or can they suggest a different course of action? Cheers. Big Grambo

Hi, Interesting points raised here, my thanks to everyone for their responses. Cheers. Big Grambo

Hi, I sent a S.A.R. to the Bank of Scotland for 5 years of statements on 3 accounts. So far they have only sent statements for one of my accounts and even then there is still 14 months worth missing. On the statements I've received so far the charges total £5,272.00 (£6,131.00 with interest). I sent them another letter last week pointing out that the 40 day time limit was fast approaching and they still had not provided all the information. I got a letter this morning (entitled 'Your bank Charges') offering £3,595.00 as full and final settlement with no admission of guilt. The letter states that I need not do anything as the money will be credited to my account in 14 days unless they hear from me first. As I'm inclined not to accept their offer anyway. I was wondering if I did accept, by doing nothing, would this complicate any future claims. Bearing in mind, they don't appear to be asking me to sign anything and at this stage I have not yet asked for any charges to be repaid. Should I accept their goodwill gesture and continue with my claim ? I live in Central Scotland and the Bank of Scotland's head office is in Edinburgh. Answers on a postcard please you may win a major prize!!! Cheers. Big Grambo

Hi, Bank of Scotland I've a similar problem. I live in Scotland and on 20/3/07 I requested 5 years of statements, from the H/O in Edinburgh, on each of my 3 accounts and I only received statements for 1 account and there is still a years worth missing from them!!! I sent them another letter last week reminding them that the 40 day limit was fast approaching and I had not yet received all the statements. I got a letter this morning offering a goodwill payment of £3,595.00 if I agree to go away. The charges detailed on the statements already amount to £6,171.00 with interest so I'm not inclined to accept unless they up their offer significantly. Cheers. Big Grambo

I sent one subject access request letter by recorded delivery to the Bank of Scotland (cos they appeared to ignore the hand delivered one 12 days earlier), on 20/3/07 asking for 5 years of statements on each of my three accounts and authorised the bank to debit a £5 or £10 fee as required for each account. So far I've only got statements for one account (and there is still a years worth missing) and no statements for the other two accounts. The nice customer services letter, which accompanied the statements,suggested that was all they were going to send. And so in order to avoid further delays by suing them in court I sent another strongly worded letter with a copy of the first again requesting the missing statements. The Bank of Scotland's response was to make me an offer, this morning, of £3,595.00 as a 'goodwill go away gesture'. The charges on the statements I've received so far already total £6,171.00 inc interest. In anticipation of them not providing the requested information, I've made an appointment with a solicitor and I intend for him to fire a couple of warning letters across their bow and perhaps sue the bank under the Data Protection Act. I'd be grateful if anyone could suggest a better course of action. Cheers. Big Grambo (Graeme)

Hi , I'm in the strathaven area and I have a similar ongoing complaint with Scottish Power. I argued with them that I could not be held responsible for their failure to properly set up my gas and electricity account three years ago when I moved in. And I refused to pay an extra £1,400.00 after they had been telling me that there was no problems with my account within the last two years. After some negotiations with them, in Feb 2007, during which I listed their various short comings in a complaint letter they went from 15% of a reduction to 20% and then onto 25% and their final offer of 50% all of which would not have been offered if my case had no merit. I have refused each of these reductions and I am now continuing my complaint with the Energy Supply Ombudsman. Energy Ombudsman Service : Home Tel: 0845 055 0760 But before you do that, you could direct your complaint, as I did, to the Scottish Power team manager who handles such cases. His name is David Kennedy and his telephone number is 01355 814 292 or you could direct it towards his boss Lisa Cunningham who is the operational manager within the contact centre. Both are based in East Kilbride. My experience so far has been that they will paint the scenario that yours is a one off and isolated case and they will try to bully you into submission. So you might take some comfort from the fact that you are not the only one in Scottish Power's territory with a complaint against them. If you know you are in the right, stick to your guns and don't let em get away with it !!! Best regards . Graeme A

Hi, My sister complained to Scottish Power about the amount of electricity they were using. They had moved house to a similar sized property and the electricity cost was much higher than their previous house. Scottish Power will argue that it is impossible for their meters to be faulty blah blah blah. They said that the cost of having the meter tested by an independant organisation would be £250.00 and if the meter was faulty they would refund the £250.00 and discount her outstanding bill. Scottish Power warned her that if the meter was found to be in perfect working order the £250.00 charge for testing would be added to her bill. In her case, she was certain the meter was at fault and she asked for the test to carried out. Eventually, the electricity meter was found to be faulty and she was compensated by £300.00 and had the £250.00 test fee credited back to her account Caution. The moral here of course is be sure of your facts. My sister monitored their power useage on an almost daily basis over a 6 month period before taking this risky step. An extra £250.00 on top of an already large bill is the price of getting it wrong!!! I hope this info will be useful. Cheers.

Hi, Cheers for that!! Yes I've still got all the original paperwork. Although our more recently I've been e-mailing directly to David Kennedy, who is a team manager based in East Kilbride, and all his responses are time and date stamped. For the benefit of others out there with a complaint against Scottish Power, David Kennedy mentioned to me that all complaints to customer services in Glasgow are forwarded to him and allocated a case number. His boss is Lisa Cunningham and she is the operational manager. David Kennedy's telephone number is: 01355 814 292 Best regards. Big Grambo

You may consider asking them to check and calibrate your meter. I had heard of a meter over running by as much as 50%.

Hi, Does any one have a similar experience? I would be grateful for any suggestions as to how to proceed. Here is the opening text of my recent letter to Scottish Power's customer service department in Glasgow. "In response to a debt collector’s letter threatening legal action and in addition to my earlier correspondence, which appears to have been ignored, I am again writing to complain about several failures on the part of Scottish Power which are detailed below. Wrong names and account numbers on bills being sent to my address. Debt collectors arriving at my door seeking payment on these unpaid bills while Scottish Power assures me my account is paid up to date by direct debit. Errors or incompetence in Scottish Power’s billing system (reference letter: CSS\**\**) means that my duel fuel account has never been properly set up. Whilst Scottish Power has led me to believe I have been paying for gas and electricity, I am now informed that the electricity supply portion of my account has been unpaid for 2 years. Resulting in a unexpected bill of £1,448.00 While Scottish Power sympathises it makes no excuses or apologies for billing errors and instead offered a scant 15% reduction on the bill by way of compensation and proposed a ridiculous repayment plan of a £161.00 per month which, as an unemployed person, I can ill afford. Given the level of incompetence displayed so far and the wrong billing information. How do I know that the final bill is accurate? How can Scottish Power assure me that I’m not paying for someone else’s electricity? After all, there are several other people with a similar surname residing within this postcode. All of Scottish Power’s correspondence states that an adviser will visit me on a specified date to discuss my account. Which is a prospect that I would relish, but of course no one ever turns up!!!!!!" Since that letter was sent Scottish power have offered discounts of 20%, 25% and most recently 50%. I expect to pay something for the gas and electricity I've used in the last quarter and offered to pay £400.00 if they absorbed the remainder. They declined this offer and as they had moved their discount offer to 50% I increased mine to £450.00 in exchange for complete settlement of account. And this offer has since been refused as well. As of 16/2/07 Scottish Power now refuse to negotiate further and I am still waiting for their official letter on their position before I take this to the next level. I've pointed out to Scottish Power that if their billing system was up to scratch in the first place, I might have considered their gas and electricity to be too expensive and I may well have switched to another supplier if they had been able to supply accurate billing in the first place !!! I feel that the billing error is their problem and not mine and as I've stated before I expect to pay something for the utilities used in the last quarter. Also, Scottish Power's charter on customer care makes very interesting reading. Can anyone suggest how I proceed from here to the next level? Best regards. Big Grambo