Should I get Energywatch involved? Npower

HeatherH

Ok this is my masterpiece that'll be sent in the post tomorrow morning.


Head of Customer Relations
Npower,


Account Number: ###########

To whom it may Concern,
This is my final letter in hope that some of the problems I have had with Npower can be resolved. Most of the staff I have spoken to over the phone have seemed helpful at the time, but from what I always find out later, is nothing actually gets done. This is also the last step til I can finally take my case to consumer direct, as I’m fed up of winning a losing battle with your company. From the receipt of this letter you’ll have 10 working days to reply, before I contact consumer direct.
I have previously sent two complaint letters, complaints were logged, but I have never been given full written confirmation of what has actually been done, and on both occasions I have not been satisfied that the problem had been dealt with. I believe you should have access to my complaint letters, so please read them if needed.
Since the last complaint letter, some erroneous information has been corrected, in the last complaint letter, I stated that I’d been told that my night readings were my day readings and vice versa by a trance employee, it has come to light that this isn’t true, and the wrong readings were just down to a faulty timer switch.
By this time I’d got so fed up with poor service that I decided to change companies. My supply changed over on 1st February 2009, and as far as I know they still haven’t been able to take on my account fully because of the lack of a D86. They also have not been able to exchange my meter either
I discussed my account with many people while trying to figure out what to do with my faulty meter readings, I was passed from pillar to post, and was given various excuses of why my night reading wasn’t going up. It was only when I said “could it be a faulty time switch”, that they said it could’ve been that. After talking to various people it was decided that my night unit usage would be based on the usage that my pre-payment meter showed before the meter exchange. They said it would be seen as 3kw a night, so as far as I was told, this would mean subtracting 3kw units from my day reading rate and charging it to my night reading rate. This simple calculation took ages, and when I enquired about it two weeks ago, I was told that I was going to be sent a bill for £293.45. I was shocked, I couldn’t see any way of how I could owe that much. I rang to question it; the person I spoke to was quite rude and said that’s what is on my screen so that is what you have to pay.
I was advised by consumer direct to take my complaint to the executive level, which is what I did. The person I spoke to, didn’t seem to care that I was confused over the huge bill, but more worried about a charge I’d wrongly received from my pre-payment meter. He promised to look into it, to which even now I have heard nothing. The 10 working day wait ended yesterday, I rang up consumer direct again, and was then told to send my concerns to you in writing.
To add fuel to my anger today I received that revised “bill”, and I am annoyed to say the least! I have looked through the changing of readings, and I’m furious at what your company is trying to do. I am comparing the statements date of issue 6th January 2009 and 2nd March 2009
• The pre-payment meter readings have changed. Why? There was nothing wrong with the prepayment meter.
• The meter exchange day is still not right, first it was 9th May 2008, and now it’s 1st June 2008. Why is this?
• When looking at the numbers below (scanned from the statements) I can see that there is a blatant difference between my usage stated on the January Statement and the March statement which is supposed to cover round about the same time period (plus January usage). There is an extra 2876 units added to the newer bill. Why is this? I understand that it covers January, but nearly 3000 extra?!

Statement - 6th January 2009


Statement - 2nd March 2009



• My day usage should’ve become less, not more! As far as I’m concerned, I paid my last proper bill of £67.84. I then paid another £60 to cover me til my supply was taken over. I was then told that I’d be reimbursed the £70 odd for a mysterious charge that I’d been given from my pre-payment meter, I was also then expecting more of a refund because as far as I’m aware the day units I’d been wrongly overcharged, should’ve been then charged at the lesser rate when being changed into the night reading.

I am appalled by the conduct carried out by your company, not only have they made mistake after mistake, but even after I have left Npower, you’re still trying to grossly overcharge me! The ability of the customer service was one of the very reasons that I chose to leave, and this new bill, has confirmed my thoughts even more.
I apologise to the person reading this, as reading peoples complaints cannot be the easier job, I’m just at the end of my tether and I want to be rid of Npower. I do not believe I owe npower any more money, and the changing of reading numbers has been atrocious. If I’d stayed a pre-payment customer, none of this would’ve happened.
If anything can be done please do so, but if not then I will be getting consumer direct involved as the level of incompetence shown from npowers staff has shocked me.


Yours Faithfully,




Miss Heather Horwood



Sorry for such a long letter thread, but I wanted some feedback before I print it. Is anyone still up this late? x

HeatherH

been trying to make pics smaller, but it's not working

HeatherH

No ones got any thoughts then?

Premier_2

EnglishMohican wrote: »

That is precisely what my mother does have, two separate meters. One meter is for the storage heaters and has a timeswitch which switches the storage heater circuits on and off. When the timeswitch is off, that meter does not turn. It is charged as Economy 7. The other meter measures all the electricity used by all the other circuits in the house whether it be night or day and is charged at the "standard" rate. That includes the immersion heater and any radiators plugged in to a normal 13A socket.

I'm not saying that the OP has that, just that it is possible.

That is extremely rare on a domestic property - the usual the policy is one meter per residential address.

Anyway, as your mother does have 2 supply meters, she does/could benefit from having standard rate electricity during the day rather than the usual premium that E7 normal rates attract

HeatherH

As from yesterday, Npower's head of customer relations has 10 working days to sort this mess out, before I contact consumer direct again.

Watch this space

HeatherH

Just out of interest. does anybody know what consumer direct does? I know they investigate, but how?

Are they going to need copies of everything I have? or is it just with Npower?
Am I able to ask for compensation on to top this because of stress that has been caused?

Cheers
Heather

Premier_2

HeatherH wrote: »

Just out of interest. does anybody know what consumer direct does? I know they investigate, but how?...

In my experience of them (not energy related), not alot!

They'll give you advice on what you can do to help yourself. That may or may not be good advice - I've found in the past its not always correct.

They may pass your complaint onto another authority. e.g. they said a number of mine would be forwarded to Trading Standards but I've never heard anything since.

The only thing they will do is give you a case number which allows them to see that you've made a complaint/asked for advice and details what their reponse to it was.

HeatherH

Ok just updating

I rang up the energy ombudsmen, and I've started a case with them. Now got to wait for them to post me something that I can fill out and also add supporting documents.
I'm hoping this is the start of something positive, so fingers crossed.

HeatherH

Ok so as of 31/03/2009. My money issues with npower have been sorted

This was the last day of their 10 working day deadline, and I got a call from the executive complaints department. They've recalculated my bill and I'm now in credit of around £160!

As much as this is a great result, they still tried to weasel me a little bit, because they gave me the updated readings. they added 240 units to the night reading, but after checking with my readings, they hadn't changed the day reading.

I wondered if I should've left it and run with £160, but me being me, I just had to poke one last time. I rang them up and questioned it, they basically said, oops sorry, we'll fix that for you, and he calculated it over the phone and said I was due back another £55!

They still haven't sorted the readings for EDF to activate my account, but thats another story.

I just can't believe it's taken this long to sort it all out. I'm glad to be rid of npower and their dodgy meter.

Thanks to everyone that helped
Heather

1carminestocky

I'm sure there would be more cynical members who would label npower the Arthur Daley of the energy industry. Not me, of course....