problem with N Power

tranmereforever

Hiya,

have a slight problem with N Power, I asked for a closing bill from them when I moved out of my property, when I didnt hear anything for around a month I wrote again to them asking them for this

They contacted me last week to say that they apologise for it taking so long for them to get back to me and would like to offer me a repayment plan, I am more than happy to do this and its more convienient for me to do it this way

However, a few days before N Power wrote to me I had a letter from a collection agency about the debt saying it had been passed to them

My problem is that I would rather pay this to N Power on those terms but the collection agents are telling me that I cannot pay N Power as its illegal to now and that I have to pay them, when I said to them that N Power had replied after the collection agency got in touch they said that "it doesnt matter you still have to pay it to us "

Im just about to ring N Power up as I would much rather it was on there terms but just wondered if anyone knew if what the collection agency is saying is true or whether they are just trying to get payment

BB78

I had a similar situation with EDF; they didn't bill me for Gas for more than a year then sent me a bill 4 months after switching supplier. I had been supplying readings yet the bill was estimated and WAY OVER & I couldn't afford to pay it in one lump sum.
I wrote to them so many times giving them all the readings I had previously given and asked for a payment plan & they continually ignored me, in the end I wrote to them with a calculation of what I owed and offered £5 a month till the bill was cleared. I found the automated payment phone number on the back of one of my bills & every month called & paid £5 and kept a running total. When I received the threatening letters from their legal dept. they said something about a collection agency, I sent them copies of all the letters I had previously sent & copies of my bank statements proving I had been making payment. After this I received a letter from EDF (not apologising for threatening me & ignoring me!) with a revised bill showing the amount I told them I owed and they were offering me my payment plan; had the cheek to threaten all sorts if I didn't stick to it too!

From my experience in Credit Control if a debt is sold to a Collection Agency then you have to deal with them because they then own the debt, but I didn't think utility companies (especially ones as big as NPower) sold their debts and if NPower offered you a payment plan before the collection agency got involved or wrote to you then NPower should honour it.

If you have to deal with the collection agency they still have to be fair, if you have offered a payment plan which you can realistically afford then they should accept it because there is no benefit in taking you to court. If they took you to court, you would make the same offer; you would ask the court to assess your finances and if the offer is fair then the court is going to accept it. If you've offered £1 a month but its clear you can afford £5 a month they don't have to accept it!

I would write to NPower accepting their payment plan and make payment. Make sure everything always goes in writing and that if you make a payment you get a receipt, cash over the counter at a bank/post office or using a debit card & make the payment over the phone. If for any reason it did end up in court you can then produce the letters and have proof that you have honoured the payment plan and made efforts to repay the debt, which all goes in your favour because the courts don't like being used as a collection service!