Scottish And Southern Energy

It would appear one of the Big Six, now OVO have paid off so many customer service staff (the companies only redeeming feature) - to further feather the nest of their investors and Tory donor owner, whoms personal wealth has just taken and abnormal boost due to this take-over - speaking to someone is a thing of the past! Citing as they do their prioritising the vulnerable. The irony in this, we are all vulnerable to them, not to mention this Crisis being used to allow them to make more profit by cutting costs.

It does make one wonder why we run around switching supplier only to find the company we have chosen is either in bed with or is secretly owned by one of the Big Six.

Additionally, OVO's Standing Charge is rather high - making us pay for equipment we must have to facilitate the very service itself. In other words these vicious privateers will pay for nothing and we must pay for everything - including their damn yachts!

Finally, switching from SSE has proved difficult historically, as they deliberately drag their heels so as not to lose money unnecessarily. Moving my father, my mother-in-law, spouse and son have all followed the same pattern - NIGH ON IMPOSSIBLE to get away from the grasping sods.

We do not purchase our energy from Scottish and Southern, however they manage our power distrubution. We had a power cut due to a tree shorting the overhead cables in the street,causing a minor explosion. Although the power was off for quite some hours, to restore the service, we were updated on progress continually throught the day. We cannot fault the emergency crews and office staff, excellent service.

Please see below ref to SOTHERN ELECTRIC HOME SERVICES NEW BOILER INSTALLATION

1, made appointment 3rd & 4th July for installation

2, time booked off work for these dates

3 Phone call from SEC 2 weeks approx before installation can’t do 3rd 4th July AS ENGINEER ON TRAINING COURSE can they come 1st and 2nd July, OK but I have to rearrange my annual leave, £50 compensation accepted.

Asked operator if you’re changing the date will you be making sure the Stores for the job will also arrive now on the 1st July? We were assured yes they would stores would arrive at 08.00am engineer 9.00am.

Asked SERVICE for a letter confirming compensation £50 for date change on the 08/07/13 Arrived after 2nd request for letter arrived 23/07/13

4, July the 1st arrives Engineer arrives at 09.00am, Engineers states doesn’t work Wednesdays

keep telling them this (supposed to be on a training course according to Operator!)

, 11am still no stores, engineer states they have been reordered for 01 Sept 2013??

5, Engineer has to go and collect stores from Oxford

6, Installation begins, Engineer finished late 19:30, forgivable due to stores not arriving delaying start. No hot water but can live with that for 1 night.

7, 2nd day July 2nd all work supposed completed 21:30 pm apart from the electrics, engineer uses extension lead to boiler as Temp Measure ( My child should be in bed at 19:30 on a school night)

8, Electrician phones to say will be with us on the 3rd July at 2pm. Turns up 17;30 Another Day off wasted + also says will have to come back to finish earth wire , on Friday .

9, Discover mains water leak in roof, bowl placed under it to catch water, phone engineer to let him know.

10, Engineer phones back to say Work colleague will come over Friday morning to fix leak and plaster wall , work colleague phones to say will be over 7.30 am, I replied that would not be suitable as kids will still be in bed also getting them ready for school , he agreed would go to another job 1st then be at ours 9:00am , 11 am still not arrived so rang him said got stuck on a job , wife to go out shopping and ring him when she was home and would pop straight over , Wife rang at 12:30pm to say was back home left message on answer phone , 16:30pm turns up to fix leak and plaster wall another day past .

11, Original engineer supposed to return to flush heating system and go through paperwork, no show. Call from colleague to say that engineer could not make it today but he/ colleague would try and come Tuesday 9th July

ANOTHER day wasted waiting in.

Summary between My wife and I we have spent 4 days needlessly waiting for people to turn up, that’s 4 days extra off work so far, for a 2day job.

The flue is not straight, also missing fixings on the inside, Boiler needs aligning with flue hole (no more chopping out) says in contract to be made good I can’t see any making good.

The Gas pipe around the Gas meter is touching wall & rubbing, also configuration could be allot better.

Gas Pipe on side of house pushed away from wall taking clip with it. (Pipe too long)

The pipes in the loft are not lagged, nor is there any room between pipes to lag.

My loft insulation used to cover/laid over pipes , loft insulation is there to insulate my loft not pipes , needs to be put back under pipes .

The Blow off/ expansion pipe 15mm the hole drilled has blown an entire brick face off. Brick needs to be replaced. I DONT WANT EXCUSES THAT THIS IS UNAVOIDABLE WHEN IT IS , 2 ways to avoid take drill off hammer when nearing the end of the hole to be drilled or drill smaller pilot hole 1st then drill from other side .

A brick was knocked half out into Childs bedroom; I asked the colleague that was coming to re-plaster wall if he could make sure the brick knocked out was cemented back in place before plastering he agreed, the time taken I can’t see how the brick was re-cemented also the plastering isn’t of the standard that I would expect especially when I’m informed I would have to sand it down after few days! Looks like polyfilla !

Pipe alteration near old boiler none of the pipes supported / clipped.

Waste still awaiting collection as of 19/07/13 MANAGER promised on 11/07/13ASAP MANAGER & SERVICE promised ASAP on the 12/07/13 even promised a rapid! response collection was available .

Finally collected 20/07/13

No carbon monoxide detector as of 25/07/13

Boiler will need to be replaced as Still no power flush as of 19/07/13

See below to comply with BS notice the word Prior

To comply with British Standard BS 7593:2006 Code of practice for treatment of water in domestic hot water central heating systems a corrosion inhibitor should be added to all wet central heating systems at the time of final system fill. Additionally, new systems should first be flushed with a cleaner to remove installation debris and flux residues, and older systems should be flushed with a cleanser (preferably with powered assistance) to remove sludge prior to boiler replacement.

Engineer NO2 text to tell me would be coming to fix faults on Saturday 20/07/13

Dan Arrived 08:00 am 20/07/13

1,Fixed gas pipe to wall and rearranged gas pipe , better than before.

2,Power flushed heating system water was JET BLACK again confirming that no flush was carried out Prior to new boiler being fitted. Dan confirmed that the flush should have been carried out as the very 1st job when arriving on site .

3,Re-positioned boiler to try to get flue straight , would make good (forgot to do) still not 100% straight .

4,Re-positioned pipe work to allow lagging to be fitted , lagging still not fitted in places nor can it as pipes touching , very messy

5, Regulator faulty on gas meter SGN attended and changed (wasn’t picked up by 1st engineer)

Works still to be carried out

1,The Boiler Needs replacing with a new one as Vaillant have stated

If a problem occurs during the guarantee period and the cause of the problem is found to be system debris then it may not be covered by the manufacturers guarantee. This is how not having the system properly cleansed can affect the guarantee. You wouldn’t put used car oil from a 30yr old car into a brand new car , so why would you put 30yr old water, sludge, debris through a new boiler .

As a manufacturer, our products must be installed in accordance with the installation manual and the relevant British Standards.

We can only respectfully recommend that your question is directed to your local citizens advice bureau or Trading Standard office for their comments.

Yours sincerely,

Customer Care GROUP SERVICE

2, Plaster in bedroom still unsatisfactory , as unfinished also needs to be removed to see if brick was cemented back in place or held in with plaster

3, x2 22mm pipes in loft i presume heating flow and return touching each other these my rub causing a leak in the future also lagging can’t be fitted.

4,ENGINEER NO.1 told me that manager would be in touch when he left on Saturday 20/07/13 as of 24/07/13 heard nothing . As this 2 day job is now 23 days later i would expect a far more rapid response than the service I am getting at the moment .

You’ve given me quote

“10 good reasons why I have made the right choice”

All which SSE so far managed to fail me on bar the last one which just says SSEC supply gas and electric .

Rang customer service on Tuesday 23/07/13 as nothing heard from manager as promised , said would get manager to contact still as of 25/07/13 not heard anything .

Also still no carbon monoxide detector 25/07/13, putting my family as risk After being promised one several times.

After installation and then rectification there seems far too many joints in both gas and water pipe work that have been added to correct 1st install the more joints in a system equals more likely to fail / leak

The whole service and installation has been a botch from start to still unfinished

So far has cost me and wife £600 in extra days off work

The last engineer to attend came on a Saturday although no time of work was still an inconvenience as we had a family event .

Manager NO2 visits , agrees been let down and still more work to be done to bring up to quality standard also he notices lime scale filter fitted in wrong place .Also agrees carpet cleaning on stairs/landing.

As boiler not fitted to BS standard I reluctantly agreed not to insist on boiler change under the understanding the system was re-flushed he agrees.

ENGINEER 1 visits again Sat 31st Aug to fix remaining faults,

Found brickwork was plastered in rather than cemented

Also was informed that another flush wouldn’t happen.

So will revert to my original request Boiler to be changed to meet BS standard.

Also the drain off tap at side of house that we agreed would be changed due to being rounded off , but was told this tap was obsolete and couldn’t be changed however it’s still available at plumb centre for £2.48 inc VAT

type B screwed drain 1/2 Brass (Each)

Product Code: 172100

Tues 3rd Sept find leaking pipe in Airing cupboard where lime scale reducer was relocated. Tuesday evening SEC Engineer arrives to fix leak , but has no 15mm pipe to replace leaking one , so supplied him with pipe to fix .. Now have musty/Damp smell on landing and airing cupboard.

ALSO where repair was done the pipes now pushing the wooden cross railings in airing cupboard up, so rather than the rails supported by the wooden rails either side they are now supported/resting on the 15mm copper pipe. So will need altering.

Also engineer noted that the installation inspection tick sheet rear of Boiler installation instructions wasn’t filled in at all , however as it asks was boiler fitted in Accordance to BS7593:2006 and it wasn’t I suspect this is why it’s being left blank

To comply with British Standard BS 7593:2006 Code of practice for treatment of water in domestic hot water central heating systems a corrosion inhibitor should be added to all wet central heating systems at the time of final system fill. Additionally, new systems should first be flushed with a cleaner to remove installation debris and flux residues, and older systems should be flushed with a cleanser (preferably with powered assistance) to remove sludge prior to boiler replacement

Sunday 8th Sept

Had cause to turn heating on , Water leaking from radiator in small room , this radiator was removed By ENG NO1an 20/07/13 to pour Fernox/Treatment into System , this radiator had never leaked before .

TUESDAY 10TH September

Not heard anything so rang SERVICE at Barclays Finance

MANAGER NO1 said Manager NO2WOULD PHONE straight away some 4 hours later a SERVICE phoned from SSE apologising and would get the elusive MANAGER NO.2k to phone me .

Wednesday 11th sept

Mark Bramley from SSE phones 12;13pm , he asks if all was ok with fix i replied no , as the promises and agreements he made with me on his visit to my property were not carried out or overridden by his engineer Dan .

On the drain off I was told that the item was not available and the new one would stick out however since found out , this item is widely available at any plumbers merchant even plumb centre at £2.48 so as i explained I only agreed to leave at it was as before I knew i had been misled .

Mark Bramley and I specifically agreed on the visit that after all the other fixes were done a full flush of the system would be carried out .

This was not carried out , as engineer stated was previously flushed for 5 hrs which is certainly not true 2hrs would be a better estimate , also said it came out as clear drinking water , which I disagree as it still had a tinge of black to it and I certainly wouldn’t drink it however Mark is welcome to drink it .

The whole point of the 2nd flush seems to have been missed as it was agreed to flush out any solder and flux that were left due to the rectification.

Mark Bramley then said he wasn’t going to argue with me ( i would call it a discussion ) and put the phone down on me .

Complaint made to customer services . As nothing gets resolved by putting the phone down on your customers .

14;00 Called customer Service as have leaking radiator fixed

Over all not the service or quality I expected from SSE.

£300 COMPENSATION RECIEVED FROM Scottish And Southern Energy

STILL WASNT ENOUGH

This is really confusing. I don't know who supplies my energy. Is Scottish Power the same company as Southern electric, yes I think it is because Southern Electric is a subsidiary of the Scottish and Southern Energy Group. Now this is where things get complex because I am actually with EBICO so I am not sure who my complaint is with.

EBICO is really cheap but they outsource their customer services to Southern Electric, which is part of Scottish and Southern Energy Group and customer services at Southern electric are absolutely atrocious. The savings made with EBICO are offset by the worst customer service you can possibly imagine. Before I made my purchase I would have liked to know how rubbish Southern Electric are, it also wasn't clear EBICO use Southern Electric for their customer services.

I was contacted at home last week by Scottish and Southern Energy [SSE] of whom I had been a previous customer. Like most 'switchers', I moved away from them some months ago when a cheaper tariff from an alternative provider became available. Apparently, I was deemed by SSE to be a 'valued customer', presumably because I paid my bill on time! I had been selected for a 'special' tariff that was only being made available to preferred customers. This was despite my being told by him that 'thousands of people were returning to SSE every day'. So far, so good. I asked the caller to email me details of the tariff so that I could check it out at my leisure but, apparently, this tariff was so secret, he couldn't do that. The only way I could find out how cheap this new super saver tariff was, meant that I had to 'sign up' for it there and then. Despite pressing the caller for more information, he couldn't give me any details on just how much this new tariff would be until I'd switched! Now here's the rub. He asked me if he could prove that I would save money by switching to the new tariff, would I be interested in doing so. Clearly, yes. Continuing the conversation, he offered to send me details of the 'verbal contract' we had just entered and only then could I check out the prices. The law in Scotland is different to that in England and the caller was Scottish so, presumably, the call and any resulting paperwork would have come from Scotland. I am also Scottish. In Scotland, a verbal contract is binding, unlike that which applies in England. I stressed that I had NOT entered a verbal contract of any kind and at any time so, defeated, he politely rang off. I am not saying that there is anything underhand in these sales tactics but two questions spring to mind :

- if this tariff is so attractive and enticing, why couldn't he simply give me the prices either verbally or by email AND

- if thousands of people are returning to SSE, why did he spend so much time trying to persuade me to switch?

It would be interesting to hear if any other forum posters have been similarly approached.