NPOWER - Diabolical Service

Nash30 · 23 March 2015 at 1:10PM

Please can anyone offer some advice on how to proceed>

On 2nd May 2014 -I transferred my account from NPower to Scottish Power.

6th May 2014 _ my final DD to NPOWER for £100.00 was taken from my account.

July 2014 - I received an electricity bill reminder ( I had not received a previous bill) for £173.00 from NPOWER, which I paid via Online Payment

3rd September 2014 - I received another electricity reminder (no previous bill was received) from NPOWER for £173.30. I called to see if this was an error, and was told it was a co-incidence but one bill was for electricity and the other was gas. I made the on-line payment on 8th September.

20th February 2015- I received another reminder (again no previous bill) for £370.90. I called to see if this was an error and was told no by the first adviser that this was the outstanding balance, I explained that NPOWER had NOT supplied by gas or electricity since April 2014...I was then transferred to another person, who subsequently transferred me to another person - 15 minutes later I was transferred to Vivian Wardle from complaints team - who explained ALL of the bills had been an ERROR. On this basis surely I asked for my money back and was told the team needed to deal with the complain before I could get a refund!

27th February_ I received a letter regarding my complaint explaining that it was being dealt with by the complaints team.

4th March - I received a letter from NPOWER with a Payment card attached to make my payments and stay in control of my bills!

I called on 7th March at 10.30am and after a very lengthy process was put through to an advisor, who was rather abrupt, and when I asked to speak to Vivian Wardle (complaints advisor), he hung up on me.

I sent a written complaint on 8th march and have not recevied any response.

I called today and was told that my complaint was with the 'specialist team' and the advisor Janice then informed me that they would be issuing a FINAL BILL

This service is by no way acceptable.

NPOWER have held my money £343.35 for over 6 months.

Please advise on legallity:

a) NPOWER having my money for over 6 months, can interest be incurred?
b) Incredibly poor service
c) Eligibility of compensation
and any other comments

Thank you

footyguy · 23 March 2015 at 3:26PM

Nash30 wrote: »

Please can anyone offer some advice on how to proceed>

On 2nd May 2014 -I transferred my account from NPower to Scottish Power.

6th May 2014 _ my final DD to NPOWER for £100.00 was taken from my account.

July 2014 - I received an electricity bill reminder ( I had not received a previous bill) for £173.00 from NPOWER, which I paid via Online Payment

3rd September 2014 - I received another electricity reminder (no previous bill was received) from NPOWER for £173.30. I called to see if this was an error, and was told it was a co-incidence but one bill was for electricity and the other was gas. I made the on-line payment on 8th September.

20th February 2015- I received another reminder (again no previous bill) for £370.90. I called to see if this was an error and was told no by the first adviser that this was the outstanding balance, I explained that NPOWER had NOT supplied by gas or electricity since April 2014...I was then transferred to another person, who subsequently transferred me to another person - 15 minutes later I was transferred to Vivian Wardle from complaints team - who explained ALL of the bills had been an ERROR. On this basis surely I asked for my money back and was told the team needed to deal with the complain before I could get a refund!

27th February_ I received a letter regarding my complaint explaining that it was being dealt with by the complaints team.

4th March - I received a letter from NPOWER with a Payment card attached to make my payments and stay in control of my bills!

I called on 7th March at 10.30am and after a very lengthy process was put through to an advisor, who was rather abrupt, and when I asked to speak to Vivian Wardle (complaints advisor), he hung up on me.

I sent a written complaint on 8th march and have not recevied any response.

I called today and was told that my complaint was with the 'specialist team' and the advisor Janice then informed me that they would be issuing a FINAL BILL

This service is by no way acceptable.

NPOWER have held my money £343.35 for over 6 months.

Please advise on legallity:

a) NPOWER having my money for over 6 months, can interest be incurred?

If I understand you correctly, you only actually formally demanded the money 14 days ago via complaint.

The supplier has up to 8 weeks to resolve a complaint, because that is how long you have to wait before you can ask the ombudsman to assist.

It now transpires that you don't have a final bill yet, so I can't see how you can legally be demanding £343.35 is owed to you.
No supplier is likely to repay any credit on a closed account until such times as a final bill is prepared

It can take up to 12 months to produce a final bill (because any longer and the 12 month back billing policy could well apply)

Howevber, now you have a complaint in the system, they have 8 weeks from that complaint to get you a final bill (else it's off to the ombudsman you could go)

Nash30 wrote: »

b) Incredibly poor service

There are no legal requirements per se relating to the level of customer service received (particularly perveived) as far as I am aware.

Nash30 wrote: »

c) Eligibility of compensation

None that I can see

Nash30 wrote: »

and any other comments

Thank you

You may wish to consider seeking independent legal advice.
The internet, especially open forums, is no place to obtain such advice.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays · 23 March 2015 at 3:55PM

Nash30 wrote: »

Please advise on legallity:

a) NPOWER having my money for over 6 months, can interest be incurred?
b) Incredibly poor service
c) Eligibility of compensation
and any other comments

Thank you

To sum up:

Yes
No
No

bebewoo · 23 March 2015 at 4:04PM

I can understand how Nash would be unhappy when most normal energy companies can provide a final bill in a few weeks on receipt of final reading.

Nash30 · 23 March 2015 at 5:42PM

Thanks for your replies.

Perhaps I did not make it clear that I was told the £173 was the last bill, was then told the £173.35 was the last bill ( a month later).

I really don't think they have any idea what they are doing!

As a business woman I struggle to comprehend how a business can continue to run with such poor customer service.

nPower · 28 March 2015 at 9:21AM

Nash30 wrote: »

Please can anyone offer some advice on how to proceed>

On 2nd May 2014 -I transferred my account from NPower to Scottish Power.

6th May 2014 _ my final DD to NPOWER for £100.00 was taken from my account.

July 2014 - I received an electricity bill reminder ( I had not received a previous bill) for £173.00 from NPOWER, which I paid via Online Payment

3rd September 2014 - I received another electricity reminder (no previous bill was received) from NPOWER for £173.30. I called to see if this was an error, and was told it was a co-incidence but one bill was for electricity and the other was gas. I made the on-line payment on 8th September.

20th February 2015- I received another reminder (again no previous bill) for £370.90. I called to see if this was an error and was told no by the first adviser that this was the outstanding balance, I explained that NPOWER had NOT supplied by gas or electricity since April 2014...I was then transferred to another person, who subsequently transferred me to another person - 15 minutes later I was transferred to Vivian Wardle from complaints team - who explained ALL of the bills had been an ERROR. On this basis surely I asked for my money back and was told the team needed to deal with the complain before I could get a refund!

27th February_ I received a letter regarding my complaint explaining that it was being dealt with by the complaints team.

4th March - I received a letter from NPOWER with a Payment card attached to make my payments and stay in control of my bills!

I called on 7th March at 10.30am and after a very lengthy process was put through to an advisor, who was rather abrupt, and when I asked to speak to Vivian Wardle (complaints advisor), he hung up on me.

I sent a written complaint on 8th march and have not recevied any response.

I called today and was told that my complaint was with the 'specialist team' and the advisor Janice then informed me that they would be issuing a FINAL BILL

This service is by no way acceptable.

NPOWER have held my money £343.35 for over 6 months.

Please advise on legallity:

a) NPOWER having my money for over 6 months, can interest be incurred?
b) Incredibly poor service
c) Eligibility of compensation
and any other comments

Thank you

Hi Nash30

Thanks for your post.

I'm sorry and disappointed that you've had issues trying to get clarity on your final bills.

If you can send me an email using the details on our profile page, including all your account details and your final meter readings (these will be the start readings for your new supplier), I'll make sure a final bill for both fuels is issued. Under the UK code of practice, we won't charge any extra for any energy used more than 12 months ago, after any payments; due to the billing issues we've reduced this to 6 months for those customers who've left our supply. I'll check your account to make sure any reductions owed are applied.

If you can mark any correspondence as MSE or for my attention, I'll know to pick this up for you. As we don't obtain interest on payments received we wouldn't offer interest back to customers, however if there is any credit remaining once your account has been corrected, I'm happy to look at a small goodwill gesture if appropriate for the length of time this has taken to be returned to you.

Kind regards

Jess

NPOWER - Diabolical Service

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