SCOTTISH POWER owe me £80 due to a faulty gas meter. They admit this, but three weeks have passed now and despite countless phone calls to them, taking up God only knows how many hours of my life that I’ll never get back, this refund shows no sign of being forthcoming anytime soon.

Every advisor that I’ve spoken to (and believe me, there’s been many) has assured me that the card, with the money on it, would be sent out, including the latest one who “promised that it would be sent out immediately by registered post” (spoiler alert: still waiting).

Every time I call, I ask to speak to a manager but not one will come to the phone. It has to be raised as an open complaint, and they’ll call you back. So far, I’ve raised five of these complaints, guess what? Yes, you’re ahead of me, no call-backs.

Even when I finally convinced them to fit a replacement meter (after it took almost £45 over two nights), the engineer who came to do the work knocked on my door, halfway through the job, to say that he had to go to Kirkcaldy for a part, and he never came back! Two hours later, a second engineer arrived knowing nothing of the first visit.

To be fair, he stepped up to the plate and the new meter is working, but to activate it he had to put it on the emergency credit facility, as the old card wasn’t compatible with the new meter.

I again contacted the company, as I required not only the card with my £80, but an SPO5 card for me to top up my meter. They,once again, (how gullible am I?) assured me that they would be sent out straight away.

Finally, last Wednesday, postal communication sent to me by Scottish Power ... joy of joys I thought. No, I should’ve known better, shouldn’t I? For some reason, I’ve been sent not one, but two letters, both containing SP01 cards, which you need to activate a new meter, which was already done by the second engineer, and, surprise surprise, not one of them has my £80 on it.

More phone calls to them, in one of which, after waiting over an hour to get through, I was cut off.

I’m writing this correspondence as I once again wait, not so patiently, to get through to them again.

If anybody can tell me of a worse customer service than Scottish Power, I’ll be very surprised.

Eric Travers,
Gellatly Road,
Dunfermline