Electric shocker
I was recently a little surprised to receive a quarterly electricity bill for £16,897.79. If I was in charge of the Blackpool illuminations it would be quite understandable, however as I live on my own in a 2-bedroom terraced house and don't have a cannabis farm in the loft I was puzzled. On phoning them we eventually got to the bottom of it. I'd had a new meter installed (not my idea - theirs) in February 2012. Yes FIVE AND A HALF YEARS AGO. It seems they couldn't be arsed either taking a reading off the old meter before they took it away or reading the new one since. They have been estimating my bill all this time. Eventually, last month, I got a letter from a meter reading company (not my electricity supplier) asking ME to give them a reading. This I did. Presumably the fantasy bill is what you end up with if you go completely round the dial on the old meter and up to the latest reading on the new meter!
I was assured that a new bill would be prepared on the basis of the readings off the old meter that was left on a card beside the new meter.....
No bill arrived. Then on the date the bill was supposedly due they tried to withdraw £16,853.27 by direct debit!! Unsurprisingly this was bounced by my bank. After phoning again I was told they had been trying to contact me but had failed. They seemed quite put out that I wasn't at home during working hours to answer my landline. Eventually about 6 hours later someone was able to phone me on my mobile. I now had to send them a picture of the meter. This I did - with the news that I had of course cancelled my direct debit and would be going to another supplier.
So what have I received today - this letter from these idiots. Even if I hadn't already signed up with a new supplier, their threat to put me on a quarterly payment tariff didn't scare me as that was what I was on anyway!
So I suppose the moral of this story is avoid Scottish Power....
Electric shocker
I was recently a little surprised to receive a quarterly electricity bill for £16,897.79. If I was in charge of the Blackpool illuminations it would be quite understandable, however as I live on my own in a 2-bedroom terraced house and don't have a cannabis farm in the loft I was puzzled. On phoning them we eventually got to the bottom of it. I'd had a new meter installed (not my idea - theirs) in February 2012. Yes FIVE AND A HALF YEARS AGO. It seems they couldn't be arsed either taking a reading off the old meter before they took it away or reading the new one since. They have been estimating my bill all this time. Eventually, last month, I got a letter from a meter reading company (not my electricity supplier) asking ME to give them a reading. This I did. Presumably the fantasy bill is what you end up with if you go completely round the dial on the old meter and up to the latest reading on the new meter!
I was assured that a new bill would be prepared on the basis of the readings off the old meter that was left on a card beside the new meter.....
No bill arrived. Then on the date the bill was supposedly due they tried to withdraw £16,853.27 by direct debit!! Unsurprisingly this was bounced by my bank. After phoning again I was told they had been trying to contact me but had failed. They seemed quite put out that I wasn't at home during working hours to answer my landline. Eventually about 6 hours later someone was able to phone me on my mobile. I now had to send them a picture of the meter. This I did - with the news that I had of course cancelled my direct debit and would be going to another supplier.
So what have I received today - this letter from these idiots. Even if I hadn't already signed up with a new supplier, their threat to put me on a quarterly payment tariff didn't scare me as that was what I was on anyway!
So I suppose the moral of this story is avoid Scottish Power....