The Observer - 04.08.2019

Section:OBS 2N PaGe:55 Edition Date:190804 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 3/8/2019 9:46 cYanmaGentaYellowblac

• The Observer
  Cash 04.08.19 55

Anna Tims

Your

problems

I have never been a customer of

Scottish Power, but when I moved

last year I started getting welcome

letters from the company. It took

days on the phone to persuade it I

was with British Gas.

Over the following months it allo-

cated several account numbers to

me, and then switched my supply

over from British Gas.

Eventually, I was reassured the

meter numbers attached to my

name would be removed; soon after

that, my neighbours upstairs had

their power switched off.

British Gas reinstated my elec-

tricity account but with the address

of my neighbour. Their address

subsequently appeared as a pre-

vious address on my credit report,

and it took weeks to get this sorted.

Just weeks later, a letter from

Scottish Power confi rmed a new

account had been set up for me.

Fed up with both companies, I

transferred my electricity account

to Bulb Energy. However, Scottish

Power continued to bill me.

It said it would put a lock on the

erroneous account to stop bail-

iffs appearing at my door, and con-

fi rmed that the bills should have

gone to the fl at downstairs.

Eight months later a debt collec-

tor arrived to serve me a warrant.

The address was “Flat 1” instead

of my Flat 1/1 and the meter num-

ber didn’t correspond to mine so I

refused to accept it. He suggested

the next step would be for my meter

to be forcibly removed. I have had a

year of this hassle.

PW, Helensburgh

Your ordeal is depressingly similar

to that of another British Gas cus-

tomer hounded by Scottish Power

for £7,000 and threatened with bail-

iffs despite never having held an

account with them. As in your case,

this elderly lady’s fl at had been con-

fused with a neighbour’s because of

a near identical address format.

Also, as in your case, Scottish

Power only stopped its pursuit when

the Observer waded in.

At that point it conceded that it

does not supply you and you owe it

no money, and that the debt collec-

tion agent was directed in error “due

to the incomplete nature of the fl at

addresses held on our records and

the central database”. It has paid you

£250 in goodwill.

British Gas declined to comment,

but confi rmed that your address had

been wrongly recorded.

It’s not uncommon for meter

numbers in conversion properties to

be assigned to the wrong fl at if more

than one goes by the same door

number, but when the confusion is

identifi ed companies should update

their records speedily.

If they don’t, customers can

take their complaint to the Energy

Ombudsman.

After a tragedy, Tui

insists I forfeit £1,800

I booked a package holiday to

Greece for myself and my partner,

via the Tui website. Tragically, my

partner died two months before the

trip. We had travel insurance but

we were not covered for his death –

he had longstanding but generally

well-controlled mental health prob-

lems, but he took his own life.

I checked the terms and condi-

tions on the Tui website and saw

that I would lose 50% of the holiday

cost – £1,800 – by cancelling, plus a

further 20% if I left it until the next

day. I therefore cancelled immedi-

ately, as directed. Three weeks later,

there was no sign of the 50% refund.

I checked my holiday dates on the

Tui website and saw the hotel was

fully booked, which suggested my

holiday had been resold.

Tui customer services said that

if I’d phoned, my case would have

been referred to the “exceptions

department” and not handled

under standard terms and condi-

tions. She assured me she would

contact this department and get

back to me later that day. She didn’t.

I tried again daily, always to be

told the same thing. I then visited

my local Tui shop which promised

to chase a response, but in vain.

When I tried customer services

yet again I was told the £1,800 can-

cellation fee would stand as I had

cancelled online rather than by

phone. To keep £1,800 for a holiday

that has been resold is unaccepta-

ble profi teering.

SJ, Swansea

Tui was criticised last August after

deducting £400 from the refund to a

widower whose wife had died sud-

denly before a holiday.

You were eventually refunded

half of your holiday cost a month

after you’d cancelled. It is true that

Tui has no legal responsibility to

refund the full amount as its terms

and conditions make clear – and it is

standard practice for travel compa-

nies to retain at least a percentage of

a cancelled booking. Ethically, how-

ever, you should have been treated

differently – and you were, once

Tui’s press offi ce was informed.

It apologised for giving you

the runaround and refunded the

remaining £1,800.

In cases of bereavement, always

call a company to explain. Most will

consider making an exception under

the circumstances.

If you need help email Anna Tims at

[email protected] or

write to Your Problems, The Observer,

Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1

9GU. Include an address and phone

number. Publication is subject to

our terms and conditions: see http://

gu.com/letters-terms

I’m not a customer, but I

get sent bills and bailiffs

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