to think Scottish Power are a bunch of muppets

[RedToothBrush]

Dear Scottish Power

The last gas / electric bill you sent was the equivalent of how much we have used in last 4 years. You claimed our actual meter reading was a completely fictional number. It wasn't. It was about what it should have been based on our usual useage.

So we complained.

You told us, you had sorted it.

Two weeks later, and we hadn't had a revised bill so we were a little worried. So we called your customer service. We couldn't get through due to the high number of calls you are receiving at the moment. So we requested a call back. The next available one you had was a week later.

You then sent us a nasty reminder. For the same incorrect bill. A lovely four figure amount we have no intension of paying.

So we called again. Sat on the phone for 45 minutes on hold. Eventually we spoke to someone very nice who said they had sorted it. Great. The call back was cancelled.

You even sent us another letter apologising for the delay in sorting the problem due to the high number of complaints you are getting. Fair enough. Its good customer service practice to do so.

However you are a bunch of utter muppets who clearly employ staff incapable of doing their job, as we have just received another bill from you.

This is really quite priceless.

YOU HAVE ADDED THE ACTUAL AMOUNT WE HAVE USED TO THIS FICTIONAL FOUR FIGURE NUMBER SO NOW OUR BILL IS EVEN HIGHER!!!

Thanks for that.

May I congratulate you on your utter fuckwittery.

And guess what, your customer service line currently isn't even accepting new calls because its too busy at the moment. So we can't even ruddy complain about it.

Arrrggggghhhhhh!!!!

Fortunately DH is home today, so he is going to be lucky enough to spend his entire afternoon off on the phone trying to get through to someone rather than spend precious time with me and our new DS. Maybe if he's really lucky he'll even get through to someone with enough training and ability to actually sort mess out.

We are just grateful we don't do direct debit payments with you, as otherwise you would have wiped out our account and bounced the mortgage and other payments and we'd still be trying to sort out everything out.

The sad thing is I doubt you are any worse than any other utility company out there. And the idea of changing fills me with horror, because that involves even more calls dealing with incompetent fuckwits.

AIBU wanting to switch to gas canisters and sticking a few solar panels on my roof so I never have to deal with a utility company ever again?

Good luck to you OP - I was pursued by these twat badgers for 12 months when they weren't even my supplier - had to get the energy ombudsman involved and even then they didn't abide by the ruling until they were reminded. They had to pay us compensation for the stress. It was a fucking nightmare for you and good luck!

YANBU. They are utter knobs. Actually overwrote meter readings I sent in for 6 months then when I queried this faffed around for another 3 before demanding that I send them a photo (!) of the meter as they can't possibly get someone round to read it outside of normal working hours (but won't book a specific time so I could come home/take day off), but also don't trust me to do a reading.

I have given up on trying to get a small amount of money that they owe me back. Last time I spoke to them I was on the phone for an hour and a half before I could even speak to someone. I actually had a bath whilst waiting!!

I'm with another supplier now!

Thank you all...

I did think to a certain extent we were just being unlucky, but after reading how bad your xperiences have been, I did a little googling...

In some ways I wish I hadn't, but at least I know where we stand and just how bad they compare to others. Needless to say, I think we will be changing once we sort this out. Its also making us consider how we handle this complaint (as in, making sure we get relevant information, record it properly and contact them formally to cover our arses, as I have suspicions this isn't going to be the last of it).

The worse thing is their website is saying that their call waiting time is currently 5 to 10 minutes. We can't even get onto call waiting as all their lines are busy.

Yes the SNP are a dreadful bunch

BumpNGrind - I had the same problem. They owed me £300 and I got put on hold for about 15 mins. Someone answered and said they needed to transfer me so they put me back to the back of the queue and it took another 45 mins to answer! Awful service. I put the phone on loudspeaker and was getting the kids ready etc. and then I got in the shower which, of course, meant they answered as soon as I was shampooing my hair.

Mind you I had TERRIBLE service from EDF when I tried to switch from them to Scottish Power. They switched my NEIGHBOUR's supply instead of mine!! The meters had been switched somehow and it too about 9 months to resolve.

Don't call them, life is too short. Email instead.

I have 10 emails to Npower and their 'debt collectors' proving that I said I would pay the bill as soon as they sent me one that was an actual bill and not an estimate. I was even told by the staff at npower not to pay it as I would never get it back.

The bill said £1300, I owe them £200.

It's been 8 months, have now heard nothing. Occasionally I email the debt collectors who very promptly respond and say they're still waiting to hear from Npower with an actual bill.

It is so annoying when they insist on everything being done by phone. Not only do you waste hours waiting for them to deign to answer, you also don't have any proof of what they said.

Penis the trouble we have is it is an actual bill rather than an estimate. Its just that the reading is completely wrong.

DH has emailed them now but is still trying to get through on the phone too.

The emails rubbish 2 though. They take 5 days to respond and then if you ask them a supplementary question that takes a further 5 days.

Oh and its BOTH our electricity and gas readings that are a work of fiction. Not just one.

Red tooth - we're having problems with Scottish Power too. Bunch of clueless intergalactic cockwombles .

We've been waiting for them to arrange installation of prepayment meters since February. Every week we have rung, been told 'there's a fault on the system, call back'. Every week.

Tried to phone in meter readings. Told 'there's a fault on the system. Can't take your reading now. Call back'.

Tried in desperation to arrange a DD. Told 'there's a fault on the system, call back next week'.

Called their complaints line many times. On hold never less than 45 minutes, usually cut off.

We've been promised 'callback in 5 days' too many times to count.

26 Aug - first ever bill from them. No meter readings, remember.
27 Aug - reminder for that bill
3 Sept - final demand email
7 Sept - final demand letter

CAB's 'enhanced complaints squad' (not quite that funky a name but you get the gist) have said we have a very strong case for complaint & are acting for us now.

I'm having the same problem, I got a bill recently for £1180, quarterly bill. I live in a tiny 3 bedroom bungalow where only 1 bedroom is used and has nothing more than a light in it. No heating at all! A washing machine, cooker, kettle in the kitchen. Then a tv and my laptop, I also charge 2 phones. I looked at one part and it said for a period of 14 days I used £208... How the hell did I manage that?! They are sending somebody out to check the meter for a fault.

Well DH has just switched us to Good Energy.

They came out best on comparison for price AND Which? for customer service.

They are useless useless money grabbing bastards - I used them for a flat we were doing up, they added the account to my existing home account, all fine for 6 months. They then decided that only one account could be attached to any one email address, so took one account off and neglected to tell me.

Next thing I know the DD has gone up by 2000% and I can't get hold of them without hanging on the phone for 2-3 hours. I can't do anything online as they have taken the relevant account away. When I do get hold of them to give them correct readings they can't add them on as there is a fault with the system.

I've had final demand after final demand, as I cancelled the DD on the advice of Scottish Power. Just closed the account (this means you get to speak to someone quickly on the phone) and they should owe me about £6-700 - wonder how long it will be before I actually see this money?

Email them if you can. They will eventually reply and you will have a documented trail of correspondence. I know it is beyond annoying re: telephone but after a bitter wasted chunk of my life telephoning them I have found that email works IN THE END.

Oh and I found that if you email then tell them what you expect them to do - it seems to be more effective than a carefully worded email. Ie 'reduce my direct debit to £50' happened straight away whereas asking them to 'calculate a new direct debit' took aaaages.

Pands - unfortunately we've tried emails. With 'Play School' simple 'we want prepayment meters fitting'. All we get back is the (now very tedious) someone will call back in 5 working days

Well they still aren't taking calls...

Defo email - it was having the emails going back to the start of the issue that made our case with the energy ombudsman successful.
Also mention the ombudsman. Ask for a unique complaint reference number.

British gas no better. Have no gas supply but every quarter receive a bill for £0. Ive phoned up to stop this waste of paper and postage and its not possible. Grrrrr.

We've also had that problem of not being able to link two accounts on the same email address. Except actually they can if you moan enough, they just don't like to. Bloody annoying trying to sort it all out though.

Having problems with Scottish power here too... They want me to pay £190 a month for a small two bed house. They say that's what we are using too... I can't believe it. In our last rented property of a similar size we paid £70 and were in credit.