Susan was referred to Energy Know How from the befriending team, she had mentioned that she was struggling with an energy bill.
Sharon called her initially in mid-December 2021. Susan explained that she had received a large bill from Scottish Power for £476.00 which was just for one months’ energy usage and then said that she hadn’t wanted to switch her energy to them.
When Sharon asked Susan further questions, she revealed that two people had knocked on her door about 6 weeks earlier saying they could make her bills cheaper. Susan had prepayment meters with Utilita and as a carer for her disabled son, these helped her to control her spending and she was happy with them.
One of the people at her door proceeded to persuade Susan to hand over her phone – he called a number and instructed Susan to say he had left although he was still there…he was guiding her to answer the questions and had placed the phone call onto the speaker – several times Susan had confirmed she did not want to switch but was assured she was just getting cheaper bills.
Her prepayment meters were converted, and she had just received a bill for £476.00 which she cannot pay as she was used to topping up small amounts regularly. She was very upset.
Sharon was very shocked by the circumstances and emailed the CEO of Scottish Power to make a complaint on Susan’s behalf.
Sharon received a response to confirm that the switch would be reversed using the ‘erroneous transfer’ charter and that she would be returned to Utilita from Scottish Power. It also confirmed that the situation would be reviewed by the manager of the sales team as I had stated clearly that these actions were out of order.
Sharon informed Susan and she was very pleased with this outcome, she was advised to put aside monies that she would have been topping up with as she will have to pay for energy used however, she will be put back on prepayment meters with Utilita as she had requested.
Susan will be very wary of callers at her door and is requesting ‘no caller’ stickers to place on her door to prevent this happening again.