My 'not so wonderful' experience With Scottish Power

Overview of my dealings with Scottish Power Gas
Overview of my dealings with Scottish Power Electricity

Original Electricity Bill
Increased Electricity Bill

Original Gas Bill
Increased Gas Bill

Letter Blocking switch

Latest Gas bill
letter with statement of accounts for the year

Time line - As it has Happened

Thursday 12 March 09
I first tried to contact Scottish Power by phone as I had received no reply to my letter.
I rang 08452 700 700 at 3.05pm and got a reply at 3.10pm
I was then transferred and at 3.15pm was still left holding and gave up.

Tuesday 17th March
See Letter
I spoke to Marc on 0845 213 0205, I was told it was not his brief.
I was referred to 0845 272 7000 and spoke to Alex who could not help.
I was then referred to 0845 270 3010
I was further referred to 08452 700 700 and spoke to Rory.
I complained about the 100% increase in my electricity bill and was told that I was stuck with it till December 09, the same applied with the gas.
Gas Bill One
Increased Gas Bill
I said when I had notification of the gas bill, I had rung Scottish Power Date? and was reassured that the rate would be the best available.
With regards to the electricity bill I had received no notification, Rory informed me that it had been sent by Recorded delivery (which would be a first for Scottish Power) after a certain amount of irate discussion he said he would accept 28 days notice providing the account was cleared.

Thursday 3rd April
See Letter
See Proof of Postage
I had received no reply to my letter dated 20th March, so I rang again on 0800 027 7211 and was told that Scottish Power had no objection to me changing my supplier within 28 days of payment of any outstanding monies owed. I followed this phone call up with a Recorded Delivery letter see below.

The correspondence is set out below regarding the procedure I adopted:

8th March
Letter of complaint to Scottish Power and request for the electricity contract they claim to have - No reply

20th March
See letter
Notification sent to Scottish Power to terminate Gas and Electricity supplies, further request for the electricity and gas contracts they claim to have - No reply

3rd April
See Proof of Postage
Letter sent by Recorded Delivery Ref: BR019859808GB
This was signed for at their office in Spean Street, Glasgow on 7th April. I referred to my phone conversation on 3rd April and my letter requested the exact amount required to settle the account. - No reply.

10th April
Gas Bill One
Increased Gas Bill
I later received a bill for gas.
I then sent them 2 cheques for £3,888.82 to clear the balance. Which covered a period of 3 months 31 Dec 08 to 31 Mar 09.

As I was in the process of moving my accounts to another supplier, I decided to speed up the payment, so rang Rory and asked him to take the money out of my account via Debit Card and return the cheques. Scottish Power took £3,977.29 out of my account which was an extra £88.47p and then also submitted the cheques which cost me a further £20 to cancel.

So not only have I been subjected to a 100% increase in energy charges, I have incurred those extra costs of £108.47p.

10th June 09
The story does not end there, despite Rory's agreement on 17th March to accept 28 days notice if the account was cleared, Scottish Power have since objected to the transfer of my accounts and that is the position at this time. Indeed, they have so far blocked my attempts to switch my account to Powergen.

10th August 09
Latest Gas bill
letter with statement of accounts for the year
Another twist in the story. After cancelling a bill for £3548.53 (for three months) they sent me another bill for £3200.81 for the final six months. This is all shown on the statement of accounts that the Scottish Power accounts department sent me.

The statement of accounts show that there is a £509.92 outstanding balance and the letter states that i owe them £857.64. I think that this proves that one department does not know what the other is doing.

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Letter from Make it Cheaper (10th June 09)

ATTENTION                                                                                         10 June 2009

Dear XXXXXXXXX

I am writing to inform you that your previous Electricity supplier Scottish Power has blocked your transfer to Powergen.

With your help we can quickly resolve this situation. Please could you call Scottish Power and ask what reason they give for objecting to the transfer as some electricity suppliers use unsupported objection reasons as a tactic to prevent you from leaving.

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