Scottish Power fined £18m for poor customer service

Due to its poor customer service, Scottish Power agreed to pay £18m as a fine to Ofgem.

In a sarcastic review of the company’s treatment of customers, Ofgem said that Scottish Power provided a poor customer service to its clients, attracting more than one million customer complaints between June 2013 and December 2015. Dermot Nolan, Ofgem’s chief executive, said Scottish Power’s treatment of gas and electricity customers had been “discernibly worse” than its peers. Speaking on BBC Radio programme, he added: “This is a significant amount of money. It’s basically because Scottish Power failed to treat its customers fairly over a sustained period of time.”

According to an Ofgem investigation, it was found that over call handling, complaint resolution and billing were the main issues. Many customers had to wait for unacceptably long periods before their calls were answered.  Furthermore, complaints were handled poorly and took too long to be resolved. More than 300,000 customers received late final bills, meaning some did not promptly receive money they were owed.

Nolan added that whatever be the reasons, customers should not be provided a poor customer service. He said: “I don’t care how they messed up; it’s their requirement to get the IT right. If they produce poor quality service I frankly don’t care why.”

Commenting on Scottish Power’s settlement, Tom Lyon from uSwitch.com said that by imposing such a big fine, Ofgem was sending a warning shot to the energy industry that consumers must be treated fairly.
Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong. ~ Donald Porter

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