Why does Scottish Power keep taking £86 from my account?
PLEASE can you put a halt to Scottish Power taking an unauthorised £85.51 from my bank account every other month? The latest payment was taken on September 27, and it was the third time this has happened since March.
On the two previous occasions, I had to make a special trip to the bank to get it repaid. I wrote to the firm’s chief executive, but I did not get a reply.
However, I did get a phone call from customer services and £20 compensation, but only after I had a long and upsetting talk with someone who did not seem to understand accounting.
My gas and electric bills are up to date; I give my meter readings via my internet account and know right away how much I am going to pay. Mrs E. C., by email.
It seems you like to pay your bills in what would now be seen as the old÷ fashioned way, by submitting a meter reading and then paying what is owed. the last one you sent was on February 19 — presumably because none has been requested since then.
so what could possibly have gone wrong? Well, you selected a new product on march 19 and scottish Power automatically requested from your bank account the amount then owing, which was £85.51. But when you saw the money go out, you assumed it was a mistake and claimed it back via your bank’s direct debit indemnity system.
scottish Power’s system then automatically requested the payment again. so you claimed it back again. this seems to have happened in a two-month cycle.
someone from scottish Power has now spoken with you and apologised for the way the payment was taken. You should have been offered the option of carrying forward what was owed, or being billed up to the date of the product change.
It has refunded the £85.51 and, by way of an apology, added £50.
Incidentally, when you write to the chief executive of a very large organisation, I don’t think you can expect a personal reply. the idea is to jolt them into action.
this worked to an extent with the £20 payment, but how much more it would have helped if the person dealing with your complaint had taken a proper look at your account and uncovered the cause of confusion. I MADE a reservation via hotels.
com for one night’s accommodation at a pub. It said it would take payment on arrival.
Once there, we decided to stay another night. The proprietor then demanded £160 for the two nights. I explained the original night was being paid via hotels.
com, but she insisted the full amount should be paid to her. Our bank statement shows
hotels.com took £70 and the pub took £ 160. I have had numerous frustrating conversations with hotels.com, which initially said the pub had no record of our payment.
It is blaming the pub, and keeps saying I need to speak to the pub proprietors, but they have been very unhelpful. A. G., via email.
HavIng seen your full email trail, I’m sure you’ve made a note never again to visit the pub in question.
If these people want to survive in the hospitality business, they will need to work on their customer service.
I think the pub is 100 pc in the wrong. It should never have taken payment for two nights and, once the error was known, it should have refunded one night.
Having said that, I felt it would be simpler to deal with hotels.
com and let it handle the pub. the website looked at your case again and offered you a full refund and goodwill gesture.
I’m sure you’ll be writing a full review of the pub and its staff’s obstinate attitude for a few travel websites. I certainly would. ON AUGUST 6, I rang the AA to take up membership and £109 was taken from my account. On August 13, I rang to cancel.
I was told my money would be returned, except £ 20 for administration costs.
On August 26, I received a letter saying that my money had been returned to my account, but when I checked, it was not there.
I contacted the AA, which said I would have to send a copy of my bank statement to show I had not received the money.
On September 1, I received paperwork and a membership card. I called the complaints department, but I was kept on hold for 30 minutes before I gave up and rang off.
I am a widow, living alone and suffer from Parkinson’s disease. As you can imagine, I find this very stressful. Mrs C. W., Cumbria.
no douBt at periodic times during those 30 minutes on hold, you had to listen to messages saying how important your call was to the aa.
the firm says that some miscommunication led to your refund not being paid promptly, once you had decided within the ‘cooling-off’ period that you did not want membership.
It appears that one of the agents with whom you spoke didn’t complete the process to authorise your refund.
the aa has now refunded your £109, waiving the £20 administration fee. It has also sent you a cheque for £50 for the distress you suffered.
a spokesman said: ‘ We have been in touch with mrs W. she is happy that we have made the refund and sent a cheque for £50, for the obvious distress she suffered in trying to sort out the issue, along with our best wishes and a sincere apology for the delay.’