Scottish Power Debt

[Asbestross]

Hey all,

 

Thought I would bring you all up to date with my ongoing battle with Scottish Power.

 

Basically I was with Scottish Power for Gas in a previous property. I changed supplier, never received a final bill nor any further correspondence and left the property some 2-3 months after leaving Scottish Power. Having gone through my credit file recently, Scottish Power have a default registered against me for the end of 2009.

 

Chronological order of events:

 

17/09/12 Queried default with complaints department, told unequivocally that regardless of whether I received Default Notices etc, their Default Notices are not bound by Consumer Credit Act and they dont legally have to send them.

17/09/12 Sent recorded letter requesting copy agreements / default notices / statement of account / final bills etc.

21/09/12 Final bills received, all with estimated readings. Default notices received dated 14/07/2009. No agreement. No T&C's. No statement of account.

27/09/12 Submitted Subject Access Request.

05/10/12 Received data as per Subject Access Request. No agreement still. No T&C's of account. No record of any meter readings. No agreement details and their statement of account shows the alleged debt was written off at the end of 2010.

06/10/12 Latest correspondence to Scottish Power, advising that numerous documents were missing from the SAR (Agreement, T&C's, Final readings etc) and that their failure to provide these only raises assumptions that they do not possess such information, or that they are deliberately with-holding personal data and such in breach of DPA. No response as yet to this correspondence.

 

A couple of questions if anyone could be so kind as to help with these.

 

>What format does a Default Notice have to be in, in respect of an energy supplier which is not bound by CCA?

 

>Scottish Power have declared that as I previously made a payment, this automatically counts as full acceptance of their terms and conditions (which they failed to provide). Is this correct?

 

>They failed to give any indication as to how they deduced the final readings for the final bill; and refuse to comment on the matter. Do they need to ensure that accurate readings are used before a final bill can be generated?

 

As per all documentation I have received as part of the SAR, all statements etc. All show this account as having a £0 balance. One of the statements clearly details Written off. Yet, they are adamant that I still owe the amounts in question.

 

If their own documentation shows a balance of £0, are they legally obliged to update my credit file? If they dont, do I have grounds to issue court proceedings?

 

Thanks for any help, greatly appreciated.

[caro]

Just because a debt is written off doesn't mean it can't be pursued or isn't owed. In accounting terms it's prudent to assume after a certain length of time that a debt may not be collected so shouldn't show on the company's balance sheet as an asset. If it is collected at a later date the write off can be reversed.

 

Did you provide SP with final readings and a forwarding address when you left the property?

[Asbestross]

Thanks for your speedy response Caro.

 

No, Scottish Power were not informed of my change of address; simply because as I had not heard from them for three months after switching I assumed that I had no further relation with them. Obviously a mistake on my part. Final reading was provided to the new supplier, but having consulted with them it is vastly different to what Scottish Power based their final bill on. EDIT: Scottish Power in previous correspondence confirmed that they used the meter reading as provided by the new provider for their final reading but have failed to provide any details of this in the SAR.

 

In all the documentation they provided I had a bill dated 13/01/2009 saying my account was £47x.xx in credit. Then the next document was the final bill dated 01/03/2009 (which I never received even though I was still at the property then) detailing period of 29/12/2008 - 17/02/2009 was £59x.xx and this amount was outstanding. Totally disregarding the credit balance etc. If I genuinely owe the money I will pay, but all the paperwork all the statements just do not add up and their complaints department refuse to even look at it. All I have back is 'This is the amount you owe, pay and your default will be marked as satisfied' completely disregarding my concerns.

 

Thanks again,

[caro]

Have you got documentation from the new supplier, or can you get them to provide copy bills from the period in question. If so, I suggest that you send them to SP and get them to recalculate.

 

Do you think it likely that they might owe you?

[Asbestross]

To be honest, Im not that concerned if they actually owe me money. I'm more concerned that they've just dumped a default on my file without verifying the actual amounts and without any efforts at contacting me (up to leaving in July 2009). They also had my mobile number for the past three years and never made any attempts to call either. I'll contact the new supplier again and request the opening reading in writing so I can send this to SP.

 

Their bills are a joke though, Credit Note states it replaces invoice number Y8xxxxxxx. Final bill states balance including invoice number Y8xxxxxxxx (which the credit note replaced). I feel like they know they've messed up big time, and refuse to accept liability because they know the repercussions of registering an invalid default on someone's credit file for 3 years. But thats my personal opinion...

 

With this amount dating back to 2009, wouldnt a recalculation fall under the backbilling regulations also? As said, i'm happy to pay, but their Blasé attitude and reluctance to investigate makes me believe there is more to this than meets the eye. Just feel like i'm hitting a brick wall at every turn though when dealing with SP. Think I'll give them another 7 days to address the information missing from the SAR, and if this isnt addressed will raise a complaint to the ICO and send a LBA.

 

I am more than willing to have this go to court if needs be though.

 

Thanks again

[caro]

The back billing regulations apply if it's their fault. You'd need to be able to demonstrate this I think.

 

I'm thinking that if you were in credit by £47x 3 months earlier, is it possible that you didn't owe them anything so they shouldn't have defaulted you?

 

How long is it since you sent the SAR?

[Asbestross]

The statement showing credit was 12/01/2009, final bill was 13/03/2009 showing usage up to 17/02/2009. So in reality the account was in credit 5 weeks prior to the final bill. I find it extremely hard to believe that I used £800+ worth of gas in 5 weeks, considering with the new supplier and no change of habit my usage is approx. £60 per month

 

SAR was sent ~15/09/12.

 

Thanks again

Edited October 9, 2012 by Asbestross

[rdm2006]

Get the new supplier to provide you with a copy of your initial bill that will have the initial meter readings on it