Scottish Power has plunged me into a Mad Hatter world

It seemed a simple enough proposition: to change my electricity supplier at the end of the fixed-term contract. But, more than six months later, I’m still trying to extricate myself from Scottish Power.

I found a new supplier quickly enough. Then, between the change-over date in September and the end of November, I received 10 bills from Scottish Power.

Three were emailed on the same day. All different. All wrong. Some were stamped “actual readings” when, further down, the figures were labelled as “estimated”. They covered a mixture of periods – mostly ending in May or August. The bill up to the actual change-over date professed to be the final electricity bill, but quoted estimated readings.

I assumed that Scottish Power would sort itself out, rationalise the readings, and send me a real final bill. But on 9 December I received an “urgent communication” about a “final reminder”. On my online account I found a gas bill that said I owed £1.58. I clicked on the electricity account and got the gas bill again. No electricity bill to be found.

Unravelling all this proved challenging. I opted for doing it by email, after my experience over a wildly wrong bill last spring when I had spent hours on the phone (on the fortunately free phone number) sorting things out.

I itemised the inconsistencies and errors, and received three apologetic replies, from Evan, Arun and Shashi at the contact centre, each saying this was being referred to the “relevant team”, who would reply in two weeks. I was to ignore the request for payment.

Christmas intervened, but before I had time to sigh at the lack of response from the “relevant team”, I received another “urgent” email on 6 January – threatening surcharges and referral to a credit agency, and giving the name of the director of customer services (ha!), Lynda Clayton.

I emailed Evan, Arun and Shashi, and sent a strong message of protest to Lynda Clayton – which elicited two replies from an “unmanned mailbox” thanking me for my inquiry.

I wasn’t convinced that my email would reach Lynda Clayton – or indeed whether she actually existed – so I wrote to her at head office in the hope that old technology might have more effect. Instead, I received another response from the contact centre, repeating apologies and claiming that a new bill was to be sent. So it was. For the same amount as the previous bill – based on wrong readings from non-existent meters.

Next stop: chief executive Keith Anderson. At least he (or his amanuensis) replied promptly, saying the matter had been “passed to my Director Support Team for immediate priority. Rest assured we are dealing with your issue. Please do not worry – we will sort it out”. Then silence. But not from the mad billing system. I was sent yet another “amended” bill, claiming to be based on readings provided by my new supplier – falsely, as it still cited the old meters. Himanshu and Sarita joined the ranks of my correspondents, along with Evan, Arun and Shashi.

Eventually, I got an email from the director support team that acknowledged the change in meters. Communication improved – Joanne, who was now seemingly in charge, asked for my readings and calculated the new amount, saying it would be waived. But I was still receiving bills – still based on the old meters. I wanted reassurance that I was not going to be pursued forever. Instead, she offered £20 compensation.

Meanwhile, my new supplier couldn’t bill me because the new meter hadn’t been registered, so they made an appointment for a meter inspection, which – as I was away from the house – required an inconvenient journey.

I complained to Scottish Power about that, too, and was at least offered the cost of my fuel, a cheque for which arrived the next day – though without the compensation of £20, which as time went on seemed ever more derisory.

Five days later I received four more bills – one, hilariously, for a period ending on 5 March, five months after I had terminated my contract with Scottish Power – but the director support team was unmoved, despite my pleas to anyone I’d ever heard from (Joanne had given way to Tania – later replaced by Paula), all of whom had mysteriously absented themselves. As had the chief executive.

Two more bills arrived. In desperation I rang the number on the formal letter I’d received from Joanne. Of course, it wasn’t her number.

After several recorded messages in pleasant Scottish accents about paying my bill, I found a human being... in Liverpool (not Glasgow, the address on the letter, and not Warrington where, I discovered, Joanne was based).

They said wearily after my tale of woe: “If I ever get my hands on the person who designed the software for the bills...”

I was aware that a new IT system had caused havoc, requiring more people to be employed in customer services, who became ever busier with escalating complaints – resulting in this Alice in Wonderland situation.

And then – a breakthrough. I finally got to talk to a manager who, in a matter of minutes, examined my complaints, increased my compensation to £70, and promised that my accounts would be closed and I would no longer be pursued. At last: light at the end of the rabbit hole.

Or so I thought. The next day I received another bill, and since then I’ve received a further half a dozen. Will this saga never end?

Scottish Power says

“We sincerely apologise for any service problems experienced by our customers.” It added that it was “committed to delivering the best service possible and treating our customers fairly ... To further improve our customer service, we invested £200m on a new customer management system. All of our customer accounts have now been transferred on to the new system, and we are starting to see some of the benefits of that system being delivered, such as extending our call centre opening hours to the longest in the industry and an ‘industry-first’ online direct debit management service”.

However, the company acknowledged that the process of moving to its new system “has been challenging, and has resulted in service problems for some of our customers. We are determined to put this right. We continue to correct problems, pay appropriate compensation and ensure no customer is left financially disadvantaged. We are all fully committed to delivering continued service improvements, return to the high service standards long associated with Scottish Power, and ensure that our customers realise the very real benefits of our IT system investment”.

In Macaskill’s case, said a spokesman, a recent meter change at her property “was not updated correctly, which led to incorrect bills being issued. We sincerely apologise for any delay in resolving this matter and we have offered £70 as a gesture of goodwill”.