Lisa Thompson received an apology after being charged nearly £8,000 in a billing blunder.
Lisa was confused as to why she was being charged as a credit customer when she used a key to top up.
(Image: Edinburgh Live)
Scottish Power has apologised after slapping a stressed Edinburgh mum with a bill for nearly £8,000 in a billing blunder.
Lisa Thompson, a primary carer and stay at home mum for her autistic son and eldest boy who lives with type one diabetes and autism, was horrified when she received the £7,818.35 bill after experiencing an issue with her top up key.
After a number of bills didn’t arrive and several email exchanges and calls, the 29-year-old claims she was threatened with a credit default with the energy provider demanding the full amount be repaid, reports Edinburgh Live.
Scottish Power have since acknowledged the error and have agreed to fix the issue. She said: “The issue started a few years ago. I spoke to Scottish Power to try to get it resolved and for a while the letters stopped but then I was surprised to hear the debt was still there.
“I’d called on March 11 to sort out a problem with my key as it was being rejected at every shop and I was down to just £4. The key was a problem as my eldest son is diabetic and he needs all of his devices to be charged.
The bill Lisa received.
(Image: Edinburgh Live)
“Not only that but we would also not be able to do the basics like cooking our dinner. My boys both have autism and can be very particular about what they eat, my youngest was very stressed at the thought of the power cutting out on us.
“I called them up and before I could even raise the issue of the key, the debt was brought up. I explained to them I do not pay for my electricity by credit and I use a key. They assured me my electricity would not be cut off but they kept referring to me as a credit customer.
“I decided to call back the next day as my key issue had not been resolved but I was met with attitude. Their only concern seemed to be the debt that does not belong to me.
“I was getting very frustrated as the electricity was close to cutting out and I felt I wasn’t being helped. I was asked to provide a picture of my serial number on my meter and was also asked for meter readings.
“That is when I realised my serial number on my meter did not match what they had on the system.”
Scottish Power sent Lisa through to another team but she was cut off. When she called back she was unable to get assistance as the address she gave for her security question did not match their records.
Eventually the family were sent a replacement key. However their electricity ran out just two hours before the new top up key arrived.
Lisa continued to chase Scottish Power about the debt but again ran into issues around her address and serial number. This is when the mum-of-two realised she was being sent the wrong bill and there had been a mix up.
“I reached out to them and at first I thought it was resolved but it turned out the debt was still there and it had gone up,” she said. “It was like the previous calls had not happened.
“They threatened to put a credit default on my account which would last up to six years and they had given me 28 days from March 21 to pay them the debt despite them knowing the details were incorrect.
“I feel they weren’t listening to me, and if I had been younger then I might not have spoken out and agreed to pay them back bit by bit even though I couldn’t afford it. I have been extremely stressed out by this.”
Scottish Power contacted Lisa and acknowledged their error. They have agreed to rectify the situation and have offered a goodwill payment for the stress caused.
“I’ve been waking up every morning and thinking, have I done something wrong?,” Lisa continued. “I worried I was never going to be able to resolve the issue and I’d been backed into a corner, forced to pay back money I didn’t owe.
“I could never have paid this back. It’s an extremely large amount of money that I don’t think many people have just lying around. I just wanted this resolved, I didn’t ask for any compensation. I’m relieved they finally ended the credit default threat and the letters.
“I hope they take a good long hard look at this and make sure they don’t make the same mistake with anyone else.”
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A ScottishPower spokesperson said: “We’re sorry for the issues experienced by Ms Thompson and are currently working to resolve these. We can see she has been incorrectly billed as a credit customer, while making her top-up payments, and we’re working to ensure all payments are correctly allocated to her account and the meter and address details are correctly aligned.
“Due to the complexities involved, it may take some time to fully resolve everything, but we have stopped all debt activity with immediate effect and there is no risk to her credit record. We have spoken with Ms Thompson to bring her up to date and will remain in touch until everything is as it should be. At that time, we will also discuss a goodwill payment as a result of the issues and inconvenience caused.”