NPower give in over prepayment charges

sillymoo_2 · 15 August 2006 at 9:03PM

Thought everyone would like to know that NPower have now decided that I do NOT owe them nearly £300 as they first insisted. It happened like this. in order to switch to a cheaper supplier I had to have my prepayment meter removed and a normal meter installed. I had this done and shortly afterwards NPower sent me two bills, one for gas and one for electricity stating that I owed them nearly £300. Eventually they worked out that it was because my meter had not been wound up to take account of tariff rises....this took numerous phone calls (all done on a 'sales' freephone no. of course!!)
I argued I did not know that I owed anything and they said that was because I hadn't had my meter read for 6 years, and I should have known that my meter was wrong, and I should have informed them so they could come and alter it, and they sent me copies of bills that they said they had sent to me.....however....on digging out my paperwork it clearly states that on a prepayment meter NO bills will be sent, and shortly after a tariff changes THEY will arrange to come and alter the meter! As they sent me 'copies' of bills that I'd NEVER had, I sent them copies of THEIR letters, stating the above, all the time fending off letters threatening court action.
It is with pleasure that I can now report that they have seen the error of their ways and now agree that it was up to them to alter my meter, and that I didn't actually have any bills sent to me!!
Thought this might be useful for anyone future battles....

bulchy · 15 August 2006 at 9:22PM

Good for you sillymoo. I've got a dispute going on with npower just now, they havent answered the last 2 letters I sent them and if I dont get any word from them soon my dd is going up to £227 in september :eek: its nice to hear someone can get them to realise there mistakes, you've given me some hope that they are human after all :rotfl:
Sue

Xbigman · 16 August 2006 at 5:46AM

Thanks for updating us. A lesson for everyone to keep all the bumpf they send out. Having a letter saying their will be no bills is the best defence against their telling you to check your bills there is!
Regards

X

TMFTP · 16 August 2006 at 3:28PM

Also just reported nPower to energywatch for shady practices in enticing new customers in - as a result of them trying to put our bill up by £90 a year.

They state they'll pay a "bonus", which will be shown on your annual bill. The bill they use to recalculate payments.

When I complained, it appears they will show the bonus on the first bill you pay after you've been with them for a full 12 months - this is a very different thing. It appears we won't see our bonus until October - 15 months after we joined.

False, misleading advertising, in my opinion - we'll see what energywatch have to say.

Not impressed with nPower in the least.

karas1981 · 26 August 2006 at 4:23PM

you should have had your meter read in the six years, or at least displayed your meter reading at some time in that period , the cards they post thru your door state your meter display is required, even if you have a prepayment meter, they do this so that people do not fiddle, cutting off their supply and short cut across the wires, basically all you have done is ignore the required readings they ask for. and kept a closed door to them.
Really all though you seem rather proud of keeping them from putting up your meter rates, you have just burdened the rest of us, with the money you got away without paying, someone has to pay for the £300, and it will be us.
THANKS A BUNCH,

TMFTP · 29 August 2006 at 12:23PM

Not at all. If they say they will come and read the meter - then don't - then your anger should be aimed at the company who fail to follow their own process, then waste further time and money trying to cover their backsides or scare potentially vulnerable customers intyo paying for their mistakes.

You don't work for nPower, do you?

;-)

sillymoo_2 · 23 September 2006 at 9:34PM

I am sorry you feel that I have caused others to be paying my bills....however I have always paid my bills, have never obstructed anyone from reading my meter nor have I EVER had a notice saying my meter needed to be read my myself or anybody else.....NPower have already admitted this, and it clearly states this in their official blurb....my meter will not be read, but only estimated by them on a yearly basis and bills WILL NOT BE SENT OUT...so how was I meant to be able to pay a bill that I knew nothing about...and what amount of bill would it have been if I had been without a meter reading for 20 years and not 6....why do you think I was on a prepayment meter.....because I wasn't in a position to pay a large bill, so I WAS being responsible...albeit paying over the odds...by pre-paying so I wouldn't land you wonderful people with any of my debts....I lay this firmly at the door of NPower....oh by the way I'm so sorry if you are still with NPower as your bills must already be astronomical, so i would be annoyed too.....I now pay less than HALF what I did with them....thanks to switching advice with Martins Money Tips..(I also pay a quarter less car insurance, half my contents insurance and have VERY small phone bills...AND always find a freephone number for large companies, even if it means going through European Sales (RAC...lol))
Very happy Sillymoo!!:rotfl:

masonic · 23 September 2006 at 9:55PM

karas1981 wrote:

Really all though you seem rather proud of keeping them from putting up your meter rates, you have just burdened the rest of us.

No, NPower have burdened the rest of you by breaking their own T&Cs. Energy suppliers have no excuse for not predicting that they need to adjust peoples prepayment meters after imposing large price rises. Prepayment customers pay more for their energy because of their method of payment. They are entitled to the service for which they are paying a premium.

NPower give in over prepayment charges

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