Scottish Power is in the firing line after a record number of complaints for an energy company in the last quarter of 2014.
A new billing system has been blamed after some customers weren’t receiving bills while others issues weren’t being rectified. Complaints rose by a monumental 488% throughout the year.
Scottish Power has stepped up to the mark and hired 700 new customer service advisors to handle complaints. It’s not the only energy supplier to encounter billing issues after the installation of a new system as we saw British Gas dealing with a similar situation earlier this year.
Citizens Advice chief executive Gillian Guy said:
“New billing systems are routinely failing energy customers. In the last few years, four of the largest firms have introduced new billing systems, and their implementation has caused chaos for consumers. Thousands of customers have been hit by delayed and incorrect bills which have resulted in extreme frustration and significant debts.”
Scottish Power’s retail and generation chief executive Neil Clitheroe said:
“The levels of service fell short of our expected standards and, although there have still been challenges, we have been working hard to make significant improvements in recent months. Recently our call answering times have been amongst the best in the industry and outstanding complaints have been reduced significantly.”
The record number of complaints placed Scottish Power at the bottom of Citizen’s Advice complaints league table with almost twice as many complaints as the second worst performer, Npower.
Let’s hope Scottish Power can take this in its stride and retain its customers but we predict more customers will start jumping ship as smaller energy suppliers become ever more popular.
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