Npower waste of time

Lewigreg081281

Hi I have seen dramatic increase in my bills over the last year and I have been in constant contact on numerous occasions and I have spoke to various people and departments.

We are out of the property from early morning to around 7:30pm and we are quite savvy with turning things off etc. So i couldn't see where the increase was coming from. Basically yesterday I spoke to a guy who seem to know what he was doing finally and he couldn't believe I had never been advised that our tariff and meter was not right whatsoever and it was clear from the information on his screen. He sorted this and said that I had been paying over the odds for electric for over a year - he himself was shocked that nobody had helped in the past.

see complaint below for the full story, I have also been in contact this morning and the complaint was not logged properly so it was shut down again bad customer service on their part. It was a good job i rung this morning apparently the manager is ringing me back this afternoon

I am not an happy customer what are my next steps? should I contact ofgem? I am considering a switch does anyone recommend a supplier?

Please read below:

I am writing in reference to a complaint that I believe as already been issued. However I am not 100% sure it is being dealt with appropriately with the conversations I have had today. We live in a 2 bedroom property that is only electric based and we are currently on the standard economy 7 tarrif. Basically our bill has been increasing dramatically time and time again for more than a year myself and my partner have been in touch with yourselves regarding this increase time and time again. We have spoke to numerous customer service departments along with the energy efficiency line on a few occasions.

We are very savvy with our electric and make sure plugs etc are turned off at the mains where possible and nothing is left on standby yet we constantly received the increase. The last time we spoke to the efficiency line they went through all the electric points within the property and came to the conclusion that our electric boiler was causing the high usage due to this heating water all day long.

The boiler system heats water immediately it is not a storage heater as I mentioned on numerous occassions the exact model is Electra Mate 2000 as I have also told the energy efficiency line in the past.

Today i called as for the last few months we have been turning this off as advised and only switching it on for a few hours in the evening as I was told that this was working out at 50p an hour and was the problem.
During the phone call this morning I asked if I could be provided with the readings from june - aug 08 and june - aug 09 so I could see how much the boiler was affecting our consumption. I was told that I couldn't be provided with this until my next bill on the 22nd Sept.

They said they couldn't advise me further however they could put me through to the retention dept. I was transfered to the retention dept and spoke to a guy called Grant Stevenson who was great. He looked into our account and advised us that changing our meter and also to an online tariff we would be looking at a decrease from our current annual payment of £899.25 to £634.62 which is a dramatic difference.

I asked Grant why over the last year i have been in contact that I wasn't advised of this as a way of decreasing our payments. Grant said he couldn't believe the fact that nobody has advised us of this in the past year as it is very clear from our usage that the meter and tariff wasn't working for us. He said that basically we have been paying over the odds for over a year. He put everything in place for the change and I asked if there was a complaints procedure as over a year of not being told this before is unacceptable and I find this disgusting as a customer.
Grant said that I would have to raise a complaint with the customer service department so he had a word with them and transfered me back through. I made the complaint and then later in the afternoon I rung the complaints department as from my last year of misadvice I wanted to be sure the complaint had been made.

I spoke to a lady called Natalie Fielding who was again a complete waste of time. She brought up the complaint on the system and constantly said it wasn't Npower's responsibility to advise on how they could help cut a customers bill by tariff or meter changes and that Grant had 'gone beyond the extra mile' (her exact words) to help us out. I find this a total joke I think over the year Grant has been the only one i've dealt with who has actually carried out his role correctly. Surely a customer service department and efficiency line are there to advise customers if they are not happy. I then asked Natalie how she would of dealt with the problem as i had explained I had took all the relevant information off my bills and have contacted all the right people. She too said that she would take the information and ring the same departments I had. She said she would 'ask' if there was a way of making the billing cheaper I had already explained that for the last year I had constantly asked the same question. Surely at this point it would be where Npower would 'advise' me further. Therefore everything Natalie said regarding it not being Npower's responsibility to advise on how they could help cut a customers bill by tariff or meter changes is totally contradicting.

At this point she said there is nothing she could do and I would not be receiving any compensation. I said I couldn't believe this so she transfered me to her manager after being on hold for a while she then came back saying her manager wasn't available. I asked for the managers name she then said I couldn't have it and that she would be passing the complaint back to the retention dept to Grant and his manager??

Feeling I wasn't get anywhere i ended the phone call and the called the retention dept - speaking to Grant once again. I explained this and he couldn't believe it and again stated I had been mistreated. I am not happy with the whole situation and want this solving

cheers people

L

Buddah1

Hi
Ive been in dispute with Npower since November last year.If you have talked to the complaints department and got no joy out of them.Your next step is to wright to the Executive Compalints manager and if you get nothing from them in 10 days contact the Energy Ombusman.
They told me to write three paragraphs

first. outline the problem
Second. your complaint
third.how you want it resolving

and state you expect a reply in ten days,failing that contact the Energy Ombusman.
You may have a faulty meter .

good Luck

Buddah1

Executive Compalints Manager
Executive Complaints Team
Eighth Ave
Team valley
Gateshead
NE11 0SX

Lewigreg081281

thanks, my next step was ofgem I am just waiting for this manager to get back to me (not that im expecting a call any time soon)

Have you not managed to get your complaint sorted then?

Lewigreg081281

is it correct that staff shouldn't advise you of meter or tariff changes when it is quite clear they aren't working for you and the fact you clearly ask what can the do to reduce the bills? I had also given them all the relevant info.

thanks

Buddah1

Not sure about the staff and meters,my mother in law had hig bills and she ask scotish power to at a look at it and it was found to be faulty

Lewigreg081281

I was thinking of getting the meter checked who do I contact for to do the check?

For the amount of electric we use the bills are a joke. Are the providers responsible for the meters then?

I hope you get your problem sorted, from what I have found they seem to be ripping people off all over the country

L

Vestra

Wait what's the problem? You have an economy 7 meter but don't use the cheaper off peak electric? If you wanted to be on a single rate tariff YOU would need to request this.

Seemore_2

If you have been with npower for more than a year but have only seen your bills increase in the last year could it be you are simply not on the best tariff?

It is quite easy to compare by going to the npower website and clicking on the compare npower prices button. By accepting any new quote you can switch online.

Lewigreg081281

The problem is I have asked about tariff changes and meter changes before and they have fobbed me off saying the bill would level out in time and then they have continued to put me through to the efficiency line. It has taken over a year to get through to somebody who has actually done his job properly and helped me out plus admiting I have been paying over the odds for over a year and the fact he couldn't believe nobody has seen this before when it is quite clear from the information on my account.

Vestra

Lewigreg081281 wrote: »

The problem is I have asked about tariff changes and meter changes before and they have fobbed me off saying the bill would level out in time and then they have continued to put me through to the efficiency line. It has taken over a year to get through to somebody who has actually done his job properly and helped me out plus admiting I have been paying over the odds for over a year and the fact he couldn't believe nobody has seen this before when it is quite clear from the information on my account.

So do you have an economy 7 meter but not using the off peak hours. Or is this regarding another tariff?