Moray MP Douglas Ross has written to Scottish Gas after after being contacted by customers who can no longer use paypoint to top up their utility pre-payment card after the company ditched this option for a new deal with payzone. Many local residents were annoyed there was no official notice about this change given to customers, some of whom had been customers for decades, the only notice was in small print at the bottom of their receipts.
The agreement means the energy giant’s prepayment customers will no longer be able to top up at their usual newsagent or supermarket after 31st December – they’ll need to go to a Post Office instead.
Douglas said “I’ve been contacted by constituents who are angered that the payment option they’ve used for many years has been withdrawn and they will have to go to their local Post Office or the vastly reduced number of outlets utilising payzone, or top up on line or by telephone.
“Yet again a large national company has seemly given no thought to those who live in more rural or scattered communities. Local residents in New Elgin have said to me that they will now have to travel across town to make these payments rather than nip down to their local shop as they’ve done up until now.
“I have written to Scottish Gas and asked them what do their customers do when they have no direct access to transport and are not in a position to use on-line services. Not everyone uses on-line systems to pay for, or top up their pre-payment cards. This is another example of a big company making changes that suit them, but not necessarily their customers. Gone seems to be the once valued customer service, customer experience and customer accessibility. The fact customers had to find out by reading a receipt after being alerted by local newsagents compounds the feeling that Scottish Gas have treated their customers as an afterthought with this decision.
“This is a decision that has angered a lot of local people and I am determined to do whatever I can to make sure that services like this continue to be accessible as possible here in Moray, and across the rest of Scotland.”