Scottish Power (Scottish Power)

Member Name: Gary Wong

Product:	Scottish Power
Date:	10/12/08 (151 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None

Disadvantages: Totally Useless

Scottish Power are a joke! Their customer service may as well be non-existent.

I've been living in my current flat since June 2007 and have been with Scottish Power from the start. My previous flatmate (who was the account holder at the time) moved out earlier this year and the account is now in my name. I opted to switch over to their online service because they said they could offer me a discount if I did, and paid my last bill off in July. Fine so far.

A a couple of months back they asked me to submit my meter readings online - which I did. They later sent someone over to verify the readings. Fair enough.

But then I receive an email from SP saying that all of the previous bills for my flate dating to January 2007 (when my ex-flatmate moved in and set up the account) have been estimated totals and that I now owed them an outstanding balance of £518.

Yes this annoyed me, but if that's what I owe then I'm more than happy to pay if off.

And so I call up their customer service helpline to set up a direct debit plan (there's no way I can afford to pay off £500 in one lump sum at the moment with Christmas just around the corner - and on top of all my other bills, rent etc). It's been three weeks now and have I had any luck getting through to somone? No.

Everytime I call they tell me that all the operators are busy and then hang up on me. Only today (after about 20 attempts) did I actually get through - only to be put on hold for half an hour! So 30 minutes after I initially made the call I hear the dial-tone again. Just when I thought I could finally speak to someone, after two minutes of ringing, it takes me back to the start!!!

And to make things worse every other day they send me an email telling me that my payment is x amount of time due - it's not even like I'm trying to avoid paying off the balance. I just literally can't get through to someone to set up the direct debit!

And whilst I'm on this rant... What is up with that automated identity verification when you try to call them? Totally useless. No matter how many times I say 201 (whether its two-zero-one or two-O-one) it never recognises my house number!

Summary: Don't Bother With SP