SSE complaint?

[Kati]

We moved to our current house in October 2013 and have a pre-pay meter for both gas and electric with SSE. Not long after moving in, e found out that the gas meter was taking money off our payments to claim back the previous tenant's debt. After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing (and following their complaints procedure ALL the way through) we got the gas meter completely wiped clear and they repaid what had been taken in error. Everything has been great since, with us never even going onto emergency in the whole time (although we did think the electric was being used a bit quick)

Forward to today

We get a 'lovely' letter in the post today from the PAYG service team:

Reducing the time to pay back your arrears

We recently reviewed your PAYG electricity account and we've identified the weekly debt recovery rate on your meter is lower than our default recovery rate of £4 a week.

To bring your debt recovery rate into line with our default rate, an adjustment message will be sent to set your meter to recover £4 a week. This message will be sent on or around 12th January 2015 and your meter will be automatically updated from your first purchase after this date. Please note that this recovery rate will be recovered regardless of the amount of electricity you use.

There was a bit more to the letter, but it's just about contacting them if we can't pay £4 a week.

My problem here, is that we do not have any debt with SSE. When we moved here, both our previous electric accounts were paid up in full, and as we are on a pre-pay meter here, there should be no arrears whatsoever.

Added to that, the account number they have put on this letter is not our account number (for electric or gas) and the letter is addressed to just one of us (when our accounts are in both our names) I have the feeling that this might be a scam.

Any ideas/advice before I email their CEO? (bu***r their complaints procedure this time :lol I am going for a full refund of everything they have taken to date if not more!

[wales01man]

Re: SSE complaint?

We had problems with them when we asked to have a pr payment meter changed to a credit one when we moved here 4 weeks ago. After a lot of hassle on the phone we got them to change it and give us 10 quid compo for all the shite they gave us on the phone.
Meter was changed today we are signing on with EDF who we were with at last house and I will delight in them to stuff their account.

[nemesis45]

Re: SSE complaint?

Formal Complaint to the CEO, you have no debt so any deductions are wrong is the exact way to go!
if no reply in 3 working days send it again and keep on doing it.

[Kati]

Re: SSE complaint?

Something like this?

My address

Dear Mr XXXXXXXX,

I am writing directly to you as CEO of the energy supplier who provides our gas and electric supplies in the hopes that you will intervene on my behalf before I am forced to go to the ombudsman and the media to obtain a solution to the problem that has just arisen.

My family have lived at the above address since October 2013 and from the start we have had problems with your company. To begin with, our pre-pay gas meter was deducting money weekly to recover a debt from the previous tenant of our rented property. I telephoned your customer services department numerous times over the following months before finally resolving that issue (we had three new gas cards and five engineer visits) and have had no problems with the gas supply since.

You can imagine my surprise today (Thursday 11^th December 2014) when we receive a letter from SSE informing us that the “debt recovery rate” for arrears on our electricity meter has been found to be lower than the default rate. As such, your company is going to be sending a message to our meter on or around the 12^th January 2015 to ensure that this rate is altered.

The issues we have with this are fourfold. Firstly, we are pre-payment customers and as a result we should not have any arrears with your company. Secondly neither my partner or myself (our gas and electricity accounts are in both our names) have had any notification of debt or that deductions were being made from our electricity meter for the repayment of arrears. If we had been informed previously, we could have questioned this prior to today’s notification letter. Thirdly, the letter received today (dated 4^th December 2014) was addressed to my partner only, while every letter we have had from your company has been addressed to us both – meaning that SSE are not addressing the letter to the account holders. In addition to these three issues, I have to also point out to yourself that the account number heading this letter is not the same as either our gas or electric account numbers – meaning that we are now unsure if the letter actually relates to our account at all.

It seems to me that the problem we had with the gas meter (now rectified) has also been happening to the electric meter – meaning that for the past fourteen (14) months we have been getting money/credit deducted from our electric meter in an attempt to recoup the previous tenant’s debt. I now expect an official investigation into how such a thing can occur to be promptly implemented and a full cash refund of the amount which has so far been stolen from our top-ups on the electric meter.

As a team member on a well-known consumer forum, I have already started a discussion into how this sort of thing can happen and I have no qualms about ensuring my voice is heard in regards to this matter.

I can be contacted regarding my complaint via the address above, or alternatively through my email address (XXXXXXXXX) and will endeavour to reply within a reasonable timescale to any correspondence.

I would appreciate it if you would personally ensure that this matter is dealt with in a timely manner and as such will expect a reply to this letter forthwith.

Yours sincerely,

[jasper89]

Re: SSE complaint?

Im in a similar situation and recieved the exact same letter? Has to be a scam?

[seduraed]

Re: SSE complaint?

but what is the scam ? Is there a phone number on the letter ? I think this may be the sting , false debt letter worry the user and get them to ring and the "debt" on the phone to a fake bank account.

[Kati]

Re: SSE complaint?

I'm not sure if it's a scam or not (although it IS kinda dodgy as our letter had the wrong account number and wasn't addressed to both account holders).

My email to the CEO seems to have done the trick anyhow ... I sent it after 6pm thinking I might get a reply either Monday or Tuesday. Just before 7pm however, I get an email back from the guy telling me he is going to personally make sure it is looked into asap and we will be refunded all the money they have taken through the meter since we moved in

[Wombats]

Re: SSE complaint?

Glad you are getting it resolved. I've just spent about 20 minutes trying to find a scam of this nature for SSE, but have found nothing. Most companies send templatd letters for this sort of issue, so I don't think another person receiving the letter confirms a scam.

The genuine phone number for anyone concerned is:

Electricity 0800 048 2391

Gas 0800 048 2392

or visit their website here:

http://www.sse.co.uk/contactus/

[Kati]

Re: SSE complaint?

I got another email today

Dear XXXXXXXXX
Thank you for your email to our CEO Alistair Phillips-Davies, he has passed your complaint onto me to complete a full review of your account. Please rest assured he has full access to all our communication. I am sorry you have had to contact us under these circumstances, I will try to resolve your complaint as soon as possible.

I have completed a review of your electricity account and can confirm we have been taking £3.00 per week of debt repayment from your meter, I am really sorry this has happened. I have requested we issue a message to your meter to stop the recovery of debt, this can take a further three to five top ups before it stops. As you have been repaying this debt since you have moved in, I have calculated you are due a refund of £180.00, as you may need to make some more top ups before the message is stopped, I have added a further £6.00 on to this to cover another two weeks. Due to the service failing on our part I have also added a further £30.00 as a gesture of goodwill.

I have requested a cheque for £216.00 to be issued to you today, please be aware this can normally take 14 days however due to the Christmas season this may take longer.

I am keen to resolve this matter to your satisfaction therefore it is important to let you know about our Complaint Handling Statement and Procedure, which can be found on our website:

http://www.sse.co.uk/HelpandAdvice/ComplaintsProcedure

Again I am sorry this has happened and I hope the above actions go some way into rebuilding your faith in SSE. If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact me, you can email me back directly or if you prefer, you can call me on 0800 048 3511 Monday to Friday 8.30am – 4.30pm.

Kind regards

Well done SSE is all I can say :santa_cheesy::santa_smiley: