Scottish Power pre payment problems

[johnny11]

Hello sorry this post is a bit long but it has been ongoing for a while

 

I have been a pre paid customer of Scottish Power for approximately two years.

 

Just before Christmas 2013 I broke my pre payment card.

 

I phoned and after being on hold in excess of 45 mins I eventually spoke to an operator.

He said he would send a new card in the post.

 

I asked what I would have to do to change meter and pay by direct debit.

He said it would cost me £62 and he would have to do a credit check.

I agreed to both and he said my credit was A1.

 

According to experian they searched me on 18th of December so everything was fine on this date.

He said he would arrange to have my meter changed and call me back.

He also set up a direct debit.

After three days my new card arrived and instantly started taking £15 for credit.

 

I phoned and after being on hold in excess of 45 mins I eventually spoke to an operator.

He said that my meter was set to recover £15 a week to repay a £500 debit.

He also told me that I had to pay my debts?

 

I asked what tariff Iwas on and he said it was pre payment.

He realized that this couldn't be correct.

He would look into it and call me back.

This to his credit he did.

 

He explained that he could see money coming into my account and gas being used

but for some reason the computer had not put the two together.

He assured me he would sort this out but it would take him 10 days he would then re contact me to arrange changing my meter.

I told him I was not happy and wanted to complain and that I didn't think I should be charged the £62 to change my meter.

He said I would have to take that up with someone when he had sorted out the error.

 

I would like to point out that at no time was I contacted about any arrears

or offered a payment plan or means tested in any way.

After 10 days nothing happened.

 

I phoned and after being on hold in excess of 45 mins I eventually spoke to an operator.

 

I explained the problem and he said that he had no idea why I had been told what the previous operator had said.

He said that all the information was on the screen and he explained to me that for the first year

I had paid in money but Scottish power had not taken it.

There was therefore £485 in a black hole that he could see.

 

He also said that for the second year they had taken my payments

but during the whole two years they had not charged me for gas.

 

He said he would put that right immediately and that my account would look strange.

He said it would go from being £400 in credit to £500 in debit when he had charged me for gas

but not to worry as we knew there was £485 in the black hole that he would recover.

 

He arranged for a meter change for the afternoon of Feb 3rd 2014

as I would be home from work then and that he would waive the £62 fee.

 

After this the meter seemed to take more money for debt. It remained at £15 but was much more frequent than once a week.

 

I phoned and after being on hold in excess of 45 mins I eventually spoke to an operator.

 

I informed her of the problems I was having and I was now struggling to pay other bills.

And that I was incurring bank charges as a direct result.

 

She said she would try and charge up my meter and put me on hold.

After a while without reply she hung up.

I decided that I would have to wait until the 3rd of February.

 

When the 3rd of February arrived I had not received any notification so

 

I phoned and after being on hold in excess of 45 mins I eventually spoke to an operator.

 

She said that the meter appointment had been canceled on the 24th of January because no one lived at the address?

I asked who had done this?

She asked what I was expecting I told her I was expecting a change of meter this afternoon.

She said the engineers worked till six oclock so why was I calling now?

I reminded her of what she had just said but she denied saying it?

She put me on hold while she looked at my account.

 

She returned and told me the engineers had called that morning but no one was in.

She said she would get them to call again and she would phone back at seven oclock to confirm they had been.

Neither of these happened so

 

I sent in a complaint. Then later that week.

 

I phoned and after being on hold in excess of 45 mins I eventually spoke to an operator.

 

I explained to her that financially things where desperate because of the excessive gas charges.

She said I had overpaid by £74 and she would send this.

 

After a few days.

 

I phoned and after being on hold in excess of 45 mins I eventually spoke to an operator.

 

I asked what was being done about my meter they said they would send an engineer to reset my meter.

He came but said he was not resetting my meter Scottish power would have to reset my meter.

He also said that Scottish power "do this all the time" and that they where "palming me off".

All he could do was put £10 emergency credit on that I would be charged for any way.

 

I phoned and after being on hold in excess of 45 mins I eventually spoke to an operator.

 

She said he was wrong she told me to put my card in the meter and push a series of buttons.

She asked what the meter was displaying?

I told her it now said card invalid.

 

So now I was short of money but couldn't get any gas anyway as my card was now not working.

She told me to go to a shop on the other side of town she would give me a code number and they would give me a working card.

 

I went to this shop but they said they did not deal with Scottish Power.

She tried the code number anyway but the machine would not accept it.

 

I phoned and after being on hold in excess of 45 mins I eventually spoke to an operator.

 

He said he would send me a new card. After a week I had still not received my card.

 

I phoned and after being on hold in excess of 45 mins I eventually spoke to an operator.

 

He said he would send a new card and an engineer to reset the meter but I must be present.

I asked why I needed to be present for the engineer when I wasn't present when it was originally increased

before Christmas he said he would look into it and let me know?

 

I left work early again to wait for the engineer who again put £10 credit on.

The next day the new card arrived and seemed to work correctly.

 

After this I transferred my account to British Gas.

 

I was phoned by somebody asking why I was leaving Scottish Power.

When I began to explain he told me to contact the Ombudsman.

I found this strange that you would rather deal with the Ombudsman

than spend 15 - 20 minutes listening to customer and trying to resolve his problems.

 

I did pass my case to the Ombudsman but he informed me that they had not bothered to reply to him?

He said he would base his decision on my statement alone.

He has found in my favour but I have queried the amount.

He has contacted them at least twice to ask you to suspend any further action.

 

I was phoned by an operator to try and get me to pay the £500 that is showing on my account.

After I explained to her what was happening she agreed that they had made a mistake

and she would contact accounts to get my balance set to £0.00 and she would suspend any further action.

Clearly she has not done this.

 

I have made several phone calls and sent various emails/complaints all of which have been ignored.

According to my online account I currently have eight complaints registered all of which have been ignored?

This is only the complaints they have registered and does not take into account all the other communications

that have been ignored (emails and phone calls).

 

I am now receiving threatening letters from there debt collectors.

 

I have also received a letter from Scottish Power that is clearly a demand for money as you can see the heading of the letter

through the over-sized envelope window.

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Also should the back billing agreement come into force?

Edited June 29, 2014 by johnny11
To make it more legible

[dx100uk]

few blank lines via the edit post icon might not go amiss and a bigger font.

 

dx

[dx100uk]

font done

 

i'll leave you to add some blank lines please

[johnny11]

Sorry about that was a bit frustrated when writing. Hope thats better.

[johnny11]

Just an update.

Today I recieved a letter from there collection company. They are adding charges and are threatening to put a default on my credit file. They are also threatening court action to arrest my bank account or goods.

The question I would like to ask is if it does go to court, will I be notified by the court. And can I be present to argue my case?

[nottslad]

you would have to be notified before anything gets to court, and I would bet my bottom dollar if you defended the case you would win.

 

In this situation, I think you really need to raise this with Scottish Power's CEO - check http://www.ceoemail.com for the email address. Make it clear that this is in dispute and any further actions on their part will be classed as harassment.

 

It might also be worth involving your MP or local paper - this is clearly not on.

[johnny11]

Thanks for your reply nottslad. I am in Nottingham myself.

[johnny11]

I have had a reply from the ombudsman. He basically says they should check my account and put things right. He also says they should pay me £22 for not keeping the appointment to swap my meter and £75 for inconvenience, phone calls and being without gas for six days. He also said the onus was on me to provide a printout of my balance. I have checked my email to him and the printout was clearly on it?

 

This is just my opinion but Scottish Power would be mad to answer any complaints people make to them. It's far cheaper to ignore all of there customers and just pay up £90 when the Ombudsman tells them to. Assuming they now acknowlege him.

[johnny11]

Just an update. Getting quite worried now as I have been contacted by Sigma Red. They have upped the amount owed to £598.61 and also threatening legal action and registering on my credit file?

They are doing this at the same time as Insight Collections and Scottish Power are actively seeking payment. And Scottish Power have assured me my account is on hold?

[dx100uk]

the only people that can actually do anything are Scottish power.

 

ignore the no powers dca's

 

just silly threat-0o-grams.

 

dx