Energy Dispute Saga

 

I am in dispute with an energy supplier, specifically Scottish Power.  They're not even my energy provider and yet according to them I owe them several thousand pounds.  Their customer services are polite and helpful but after 6 weeks I still have been unable to get anyone to sort it out.

Settle in, it's a saga!!!!!  Read to the end for the punchline 🙄🙄🙄

When my son and his wife moved out of the flat they settled their final bill and closed their account.  No issues.

The flat was empty for over 4 months with just the minimum heating left on to prevent a burst pipe in the cold weather, as per my insurance. When the flat was sold I asked Scottish Power for a final bill and that's when the issues began.

They asked me for lots of paperwork to prove I was the landlord etc and I sent it all by email.  As requested by them.  So far so good although this took many phone calls and emails.

Then, they simply sent an estimated bill several times despite having actual meter readings.

I finally got an accurate bill of £202.07 for the 4 months and I paid it.

THEN they sent me back dated bills from 3rd May 2020 and that's where the fun began!!!!!!

To cut a very long saga short, according to their records (!) someone closed my son's account in May 2020 and immediately reopened it my name.  WTF!!  No one from Scottish Power ever contacted either of us to ask for the proof that I now know is needed to open and close accounts.  So how that's even possible I don't know.  Zero contact from them at the time or even in October 2023 when my son closed his account.

My son continued to receive bills from May 2020 to October 2022 as usual and paid them by DD.  He has all the bank proof if needed. 

So, for the last month I have been getting 2 texts, 2 phone calls and an email on a DAILY basis and letters demanding I pay these back dated bills.  All automated so can't actually respond to a real person.  According to them, I have a debt of over £2,000 for the last 2 years in unpaid bills!!

Emails take 48 hours to turn round from their end and sometimes they just reply we can't sort this by email please phone us.

Every time I phone them to sort it out, I'm on a 40 min call with someone different each time and it just makes it worse.  I've sent all the paperwork requested via email as evidence.  I've even been on the phone while sending the email and the guy at their end opened it and read it back to me.

Finally I got a sensible person who said he could see exactly what the problem was, opened a Promise ID and said don't worry it will all be fixed within 14 days.  

7 days later (Monday) I get an email saying the team sorting out my issue don't have the ability to download any of the documentation I've sent by email (as per THEIR request) and could I please contact them to arrange sending a more 'readable' format.  WTAF!!!! 😠

The last 3 times I've phoned I haven't even been able to get through as they cut off the call after 2 mins saying there is too high a demand to speak to anyone and suggest their chat bot on the website.  Which doesn't have the subject area of sorting out erroneous billing!

Even though I know I don't owe them a single penny, it's still very stressful.  I've had to put my phone on mute so I don't hear the ping of the texts or phone calls.  I can't begin to imagine how someone with genuine fuel poverty issues and debt must feel.

Next stage is to involve the Energy Ombudsman.  I was on their website last night and I meet all the criteria.  I have to wait for a Deadlock letter from Scottish Power before I can proceed so I'm guessing I still have a few more weeks of this pish!!!!

Oh and to top it all off, last night around 11pm my son got a text message from his closed Scottish Power account saying they'd refunded his over payment on his bill of £2,578.47 and yep it was already deposited in his bank account 😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮

You can't make this stuff up!!!!! 😒