Npower cutting off power for previous tenants debt. Help?!

mrcol1000

We moved into a property a few weeks ago and there was lots of nasty letters address to the previous occupant which we didn't open and just put return to sender and put in the letter box.
This morning someone turned up from Npower saying that this tenant owed thousands of pounds to Npower and they are to cut off the electricty.
The bizarre thing is that when we moved in there was a letter from British Gas saying both electricty and gas are with them and we have stayed with British Gas. So obviously this debt was built up and then the previous tenant moved to British Gas. I didn't think you could do this?

We have rang them about this and they told us to give the letter to our letting agent to sort out but I am worried that my letting agent won't deal with it correctly.

So my question is can Npower cut off our electricty for a debt owed by a previous tenant especially as the electricty is supplied by someone else now? If they did turn it off how are we suppose to get it sorted when its not our debt?

BitterAndTwisted

No they can't cut you off for someone else's debt. Did you take meter readings when you moved in and then give them the correct supplier when you gave them your details?

Just pass all correspondence to the LA as advised. It doesn't mater whether they sort it out or not, it's not your debt

Cardew

You normally cannot switch from one company to another with a massive debt. It is also surprising that someone with gas could run up an electricity bill for thousands of pounds for electricity.

Anyway they obviously cannot cut you off, it is the letting agents problem - thats why the llandlord pays them.

P.S.
As a matter of interest, how do you know they were nasty letters if you didn't open them;)

mrcol1000

Cardew wrote: »

You normally cannot switch from one company to another with a massive debt. It is also surprising that someone with gas could run up an electricity bill for thousands of pounds for electricity.

Anyway they obviously cannot cut you off, it is the letting agents problem - thats why the llandlord pays them.

P.S.
As a matter of interest, how do you know they were nasty letters if you didn't open them;)

The letting agent has advised them and so hopefully that is the end of the matter.
I just wondered if they actually had the legal powers to do it. Thanks for everyones responses.

WhistleBlower

No we can't cut you off for someone else's debt.

If we see a copy of a Tennancy Agreement we'll shut down the old account, pass it for trace collections (to track down the debtor) and open up a clean account for you.

if at that point you don't want to be with Npower you can leave us.

As for the issue with BG, three possible scenarios: It slipped throguh the cracks, it can and does happen, we've had accounts oweing thousands leave us for no apparent reason.
You've got duplicate accounts with both suppliers, might be worth giving BG a ring to make sure they don't think they still have supply or to make sure NPower don't think they have supply when it stayed with BG.
The debtor was traced and it's a closed collections style communication from BGas, in which case let BG know they've gone again. (Not sure of BG's collections process)

If you've had someone round to say they're about to cut you off that would be a "PDV" or pre-disconnection visit. You have approx 8 weeks until it goes further but as the letting agency seem to be on it already, don't worry, just check with NPower if you haven't had a "welcome to npower" letter within a couple of weeks. (Which indicates the old account closed down)

WhistleBlower

Cardew wrote: »

It is also surprising that someone with gas could run up an electricity bill for thousands of pounds for electricity.

You should see the stuff our high value debt team works with. No idea how they do it but we have people oweing £7k or more on both fuels. It's crazy!

c0113tt3

WhistleBlower wrote: »

You should see the stuff our high value debt team works with. No idea how they do it but we have people oweing £7k or more on both fuels. It's crazy!

Ah !! that must be with the gas sculpting, sorry, i couldnt resist.

any chance of whilstleblowing on the gas sculpting?

WhistleBlower

c0113tt3 wrote: »

Ah !! that must be with the gas sculpting, sorry, i couldnt resist.

any chance of whilstleblowing on the gas sculpting?

Like i said before, i don't understand sculpting Seriously it confuses the !!!! out of me.

No idea how customers are supposed to understand it, most of the employees i know look terrified if you ask them to explain it.

c0113tt3

That might explain the varying explanations that are given

welcome to the board, but you will find npower problem / complaints appears to be the highest posting of any energy supplier, which also confirms the poor customer satisfaction statistics. You will have a lot of work on

WhistleBlower

I've been around for a while actually but took a sabbatical when i got sick of the abuse i was getting.

I've decided to ignore it now.

Quite frankly the complaints thing doesn't surprise me at all. You should hear the complaining that goes on in our department when we realise CS F!!!!d up again.

Setting up payment plans that cause people to get further into debt (Which we then have to fix, much to the customers annoyance). Requesting stuff that is not possible. Asking for holds on account for no reason at all, "please hold this" is not a valid reason. Grrrr. All this results in me and my colleagues getting our ears bent by unhappy customers all day.

Anyone got any blood pressure meds i can swipe a few of?

c0113tt3

if you ever advise of npower products, i suppose be balanced with it, for example pointing out the gas sculpting, and pointing out the unfair delays to get the £100 loyalty bonus, and obviously poor customer satisfaction / complaint handling.

As for screw ups, debt, direct debit problems, they are general problems between most energy companies.

apart from that you should be ok