scottish power

[jen_br]

Hi Guys

My neighbour is with SP and basically his DD went up by 70.00 a month he had no warning and this made him really OD.

He called and they said they "emailed him" but he has no record of this and they can't prove it apparently.

Any thoughts what he can do.. its a lot of money.

[Pixie]

Re: scottish power

I'm not sure what he can do Jen.

I'm with SP too and I've been emailed when they've increased my DD.

[pompeyfaith]

Re: scottish power

Send a complaint email to this guy, that will get it escalated

http://www.ceoemail.com/se.php?id=9566

[garlok]

Re: scottish power

We are with Scottish Power Manweb and they have such a bad reputation here in North Wales we utterly refused to pay them via Direct Debit and that was almost 12 years ago now. Nothing has apparently changed. We offered Standing Order only (to remain in control) they refused so we said quarterly bill only and only based on a verified physical reading of the meter. Regulators turn a blind eye as usual.

regards
G

[helmsman]

Re: scottish power

We are with Scottish Power Manweb and they have such a bad reputation here in North Wales we utterly refused to pay them via Direct Debit and that was almost 12 years ago now. Nothing has apparently changed. We offered Standing Order only (to remain in control) they refused so we said quarterly bill only and only based on a verified physical reading of the meter. Regulators turn a blind eye as usual.

regards
G

We too are with scot pow and I will not do a d/d they are set up on internet banking and I send them money each month and pay whats owed if anything every time a bill is due.

[jen_br]

Re: scottish power

I think thats going to be my advice to him sad innit.

[SaltnVinegar]

Re: scottish power

Scottish Power sent notifications of change to DD by email - if they have an email address. This is not followed up by a letter, so if your friend doesn't use email particularly often then its likely they missed it, or it may have even gone into a junk folder by mistake.

However SP also have a habit of sending these email notifications with less than the 10 working days the DD Guarantee requires. If this is the case your friend should argue that SP have not given them sufficient notice according to the DD Guarantee and that they are entitled to a refund of the extra amount taken.

If SP refuse to do this then I'm afraid the only way to fight back is to cancel the DD for next month, and as others have said make monthly card payments online, or send cheques.

Garlock - Scottish Power were also telling you porkies - they do accept standing orders, I know as I had one set up with them

It doesn't surprise me though that they fobbed you off, either poor training of their flying monkeys, or they just don't want people on S.O.'s as they can't control the amounts.

The utilities companies may now argue that DD payments are meant to follow a 'sine wave principal' but this is not how DD was sold to the masses when first introduced (i.e. a consistent monthly payment so you could budget across a whole year). Another example of a strategy introduced through duplicity which only benefits the retailer not the customer, but is dressed up otherwise.

Best
SnV

[garlok]

Re: scottish power

Hi SnV,

Thanks. I thought that might be the case but didn't have the know-how then to argue it so we just acted as awkward as we could with them and said we had paid our utilities bills within the time frames by cheque on a quarterly basis for the previous 30 years or so and that is how we would continue.

regards
G

[SaltnVinegar]

Re: scottish power

Hi SnV,

Thanks. I thought that might be the case but didn't have the know-how then to argue it so we just acted as awkward as we could with them and said we had paid our utilities bills within the time frames by cheque on a quarterly basis for the previous 30 years or so and that is how we would continue.

regards
G

Best way mate - though they try to discourage you from doing so by introducing a higher tariff and 'admin fees'. Once we have cleared our balance, which will be in the next couple of months, we will be going back to paying quarterly for our bills also.

You know that the whole admin fee is bollox - if you can pay a quarterly bill by debit card online (but still incur the admin fee), what is the extra admin overhead over taking a monthly payment? The systems are still automated and flag up overdue accounts (which then introduced a human being into the process) regardless of whether you pay monthly or quarterly.

The real reason is that having customers with positive balances allows them to make huge amounts of money in interest payments, and also allows them more capital to purchase energy options when its cheap, savings of which never get passed on to the consumer. Thats how they make their money, more so than on the supply/demand side of the business.

SnV