Npower total crapp, don't go there....

fioblack

Hi,

I have just had a nightmare with Npower, it has taken me a whole year to switch from them (they kept rejecting my requests for no reason), during which time I was on a very high tariff. I have now finally managed to get rid of them, but I have ended up owing them £150, when, if I had switched first time when I asked, I would actually be £50 in credit. So basically, I have lost £200 because of them, and that is not counting the money for phones call on 0845 numbers, and the numerous hours of my life wasted trying to sort this mess out.

This message is only really to tell people: STEAR WELL CLEAR OF THEM, they are the worse by far and not worth the hassle. Look at the other threads, their name comes up far more often than others.....

Good luck all,

Fiona

veruccasalt

Dont forget you have just been throught the coldest part of the year when your bills will be at their highest. So you would have had to pay your new supplier for the winter quarter too, so you are probably not really £200 down. Just trying to find a little silver lining for you xx

NonGeographicalMan

fioblack wrote: »

So basically, I have lost £200 because of them, and that is not counting the money for phones call on 0845 numbers, and the numerous hours of my life wasted trying to sort this mess out.

Do you not use the www.saynoto0870.com website to look up alternatives to 084 and 087 prefixed phone numbers. There seem to be a large number of normal priced 01/02 and 0800 Freephone numbers listed there for Npower.

However I would agreed that going to Npower is a bad idea as they clearly try to lock you in with their cheapest online tariffs so you can't afford to switch when their prices go up. Their Sign Online V4 Dual Fuel thing has a £100 bonus only paid once a year after a year with them and then the standing charges for gas and electricity are huge (over £100 each) to create an artificially low price per unit but presumably the standing charges are paid up front at the start of the year so you again lose massively if you switch in month 3 or month 15 rather than in month 12 or month 24. Any company that tries to lock you in like that obviously has no good in mind on tariffs in the future.

TonyBroke

My personal experience with npower is of very very poor customer service, over-complicated bills, and an amazingly high estimated bill - despite phoning in my meter readings - that took so long to get corrected (nearly 3 months) that the next bill had arrived in the meantime. I was glad I'd resisted their suggestions to pay by Direct Debit or I would have likely been overdrawn, and I hardly think they'd have paid the bank charge.

Oh, and when I asked them how often I could expect an official meter reading, they told me that they were only required to read the meter once every two years.

NonGeographicalMan

TonyBroke wrote: »

Oh, and when I asked them how often I could expect an official meter reading, they told me that they were only required to read the meter once every two years.

Scottish Power seem to be reading my meter at least every 6 months. Of course it may help that some of the meter reading companies have now merged and there are meters in the communal store room concerned for 17 flats so they will probably always be trying to get a meter reading for somebody changing supplier etc at least every 3 or 4 months. While they are there I expect they also read all the other meters that meter reading company is responsible for. But this is just as well as I can never get direct access without a special pre-booked appointment with the landlord.:eek::mad:

On the minus side Scottish Power have just bumped up my monthly direct debit again from £75 to £95 per month (they only increase it 3 months earlier from £65 to £75) for no justifiable reason in terms of energy prices and I cannot change it in my online account management and their call centre closes at 1pm on Saturday and is not open on Sunday. I shouldn't need to call the call centre and should be able to manage the payment online.

Unfortunately they have a £100 per annum discount for paying by direct debit so I am loathed to cancel it.

fioblack

veruccasalt wrote: »

Dont forget you have just been throught the coldest part of the year when your bills will be at their highest. So you would have had to pay your new supplier for the winter quarter too, so you are probably not really £200 down. Just trying to find a little silver lining for you xx

Hi Veruccasalt, I know what you mean, but the thing is, the bill is for the whole year (I only ever got one...) and I calculated my loss by calculating how much I would have owed BG on a fixed rate.... and I have lost £200, whichever way you look at it :mad:.

NonGeographicalMan, thanks for the link, no I didn't know of it and it has gone straight into my favourites :T.

To be honest, I have had bad experiences with loads of things, gas, electricity, phone, broadband, etc etc, but I assure you that this tops it all. They have been absolutely unbelievably crap, and I just want to tell people so that they can avoid them, it's really not worth the hassle....

NonGeographicalMan

fioblack wrote: »

They have been absolutely unbelievably crap, and I just want to tell people so that they can avoid them, it's really not worth the hassle....

Scottish Power seem to be good on actual meter reading (although to be honest I think the meter readers may make special extra efforts here knowing that none of the leaseholders can usually ever get access to their own meters at all easily) but rubbish on increasing direct debit levels for no reason and rubbish on not being able to alter the direct debit amount through the online account and not having their customer service department open on Saturday afternoon or Sunday to sort out the direct debit issue that can't be sorted out online.

fioblack

Well, just a quick update on this story, it's so UNBELIEVABLE I have to share it!!!! As it happens, after all of the above, npower accepted to take £25 of my final bill as a good will gesture, which is a bit of a joke, but what can you do???? Anyway, guess what came through the post today? Yep, a final reminder for the £25 that I still owe them, with threats of recovery companies and bad credit scoring and all. Isn't it just great?????? So another 1/2 hour wasted on the phone to sort that one out... on the 0800 number, thanks NonGeographicalMan :-).

Even more than a couple of days ago, please, DO NOT GO NEAR THEM, it's the worst thing that has ever happened to me....

NonGeographicalMan

fioblack wrote: »

Even more than a couple of days ago, please, DO NOT GO NEAR THEM, it's the worst thing that has ever happened to me....

I was tempted with the alleged £40 saving on the tariff for duel fuel (but on nearly £1,000 per annum that 's very small and may vanish at any moment) and more so with the https://www.topcashback.co.uk £40 cashback offer for transferring .

But due to their dual lock in via the once a year £100 standing order rebate and the massive standing charges that you lose out on if moving only a few months in to a year I decided against as this obviously seemed to suggest they were ripoff merchants. Your account of your experiences with them only strengthens my view to stay well clear of them.

fioblack

You've just made my day, I'm so glad one person at least will avoid them thanks in part to me. I rarely bother to share my bad experiences, but they have been so awful I feel it's actually worth taking the time to tell people about it. I really do feel they are worse than the others......

NonGeographicalMan

fioblack wrote: »

You've just made my day, I'm so glad one person at least will avoid them thanks in part to me. I rarely bother to share my bad experiences, but they have been so awful I feel it's actually worth taking the time to tell people about it. I really do feel they are worse than the others......

None of these power companies seem to do things right and they all seem to try to only give their best prices to their latest customers before launching another new tariff only received by later still customers. London Electricity was the worst of all of those I have been with and Northern Electric the least bad (also been with Powergen/Eon, Equipower/Equigas, Amerada and Scottish Power).

I don't have a choice of water company but I always have actual meter readings as the meters is in a hole in the road they just open the cover on and they have never done one thing wrong. They even replaced the water meter automatically after 15 years without me having to ask them to. They are a very small company though which is probably why service is good.;)