Npower Investigation Update

Mynewt

Well Npower aren't that silly, they've tied it into there terms and conditions so they're acting well within their rights, just not within the bounds of fairness so a small claims court is unlikely to find in the consumer's favour - however nice the thought is.

Npowers discount is advertisment enough of its own unfairness but unfortunately there are too many people that let the pound signs cloud their judgement and moreover skip reading the all too important fine print.

DirectDebacle

I think there may a chance of some consumer satisfaction here. I have little knowledge of what npower (maybe other suppliers too) have been up to in this respect, but whatever it is, does not seem fair. If the terms and conditions (contract) are believed to be unfair, then they can be challenged.

Assuming complaints to npower have fallen on deaf ears, then a complaint can be made to the Energy Ombudsman. They may decide it is not within their remit to deal with it. I am no big fan of the Energy Ombudsman but if they would deal with it, I can see advantages in using their service.

It is free to the customer but costs the energy company money.Whether or not the complaint is upheld. As the sums we are talking about are relatively small, informing npower you are going to make a complaint to the Ombudsman may be enough for them to pay up. The Ombudsmans fees would be far more.

If the customer does not agree with the Ombudsmans decision they do not have to accept it and can go elsewhere for redress. County court or trading standards for example.

A legal challenge under the Consumer Protection From Unfair Trading Regs 2008 could be brought.

Now whether anyone would be prepared to go this far or not I really don't know. It could be quite interesting if someone did. We know npower do not like the threat of court action and this has caused them to settle many claims in the past. This might be no different.

From little acorns......mighty threads will grow;)

meggsy

Mynewt wrote: »

What I was referring to was their policy of removing the discount from customer's who changes tarriffs during the year. I remember vividly speak to a large number of their customer's whose tarriff ended mid-way through the calendar year and were informed by Npower that as they had a change of tarriff since the last reward, the clock started again on the date of change of tarriff.

The penny is dropping here :rolleyes:

I had a problem earlier in the year with the annual discount not being paid on the anniversary date (March) until I kept on at them, I was told the discount would appear on my next statement, eventually they re-billed, I posted here ..
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1569801&highlight=

It has just occurred to me that I changed tariffs from sol7 to sol13 ! The new tariff began on 5th November 2008.

I'm on twice yearly billing which should be March and September, however they also produced a statement in June !

DirectDebacle

Now whether anyone would be prepared to go this far or not I really don't know.

meggsy ?

meggsy

DirectDebacle wrote: »

meggsy ?

You called DD

I did get the discount applied to my account when they re-billed and knew nothing about the clock starting again on the date of tariff change, so this doesn't really apply to me, but I have this morning emailed Consumer Focus to see if they have any knowledge of this practice

Mynewt

DirectDebacle wrote: »

It is free to the customer but costs the energy company money.Whether or not the complaint is upheld. As the sums we are talking about are relatively small, informing npower you are going to make a complaint to the Ombudsman may be enough for them to pay up. The Ombudsmans fees would be far more.

This is a myth - it only costs the supplier if they uphold the complaint. If they decide there is no merit in the consumer's complaint then the provider recieves no fines, no charge,, no nothing.

DirectDebacle

Mynewt wrote: »

This is a myth - it only costs the supplier if they uphold the complaint. If they decide there is no merit in the consumer's complaint then the provider recieves no fines, no charge,, no nothing.

Thanks for that snippet. I was only 'thinking aloud' as to how such an unfair practice could be challenged.

meggsy

Mynewt wrote: »

Well Npower aren't that silly, they've tied it into there terms and conditions so they're acting well within their rights, just not within the bounds of fairness so a small claims court is unlikely to find in the consumer's favour - however nice the thought is.

Npowers discount is advertisment enough of its own unfairness but unfortunately there are too many people that let the pound signs cloud their judgement and moreover skip reading the all too important fine print.

Hi Mynewt, I contacted Consumer Focus and had a reply within 10 minutes ! Need to check a few things before I reply and have been looking at the t&c's, mine, on the website and on the back of the bill, but I can't find any reference to discounts being lost when changing tariffs, could you point me in the right direction please ? Many thanks

notbritishgas

Do not wish to defend Npower in any way but I changed from SoL4 to SoL 10 about 18 months ago and it did not affect my £100 discount in any way as it was paid as normal. The criteria is that 12 monthly direct debits are paid.
I will agree that it is paid on the next bill after the anniversary date which will be longer than 1 year and initially it was all paid onto the electricity account but the last one was split over the 2 accounts.

Mynewt

The infomation I have is sketchy at best as it came from now ex-npower customers, and some posts of the other forum I frequent. So it could be possible the infomation I've reiceved is unfaily biased, or has important pieces missing, and indeed it could be as with the "tarriff-year" issues Npower have stopped this practice as well, I wouldn't put anything past Npower at present.

As for challenging unfair practises, the best thing to do is vote with your feet and change supplier. Failing that raise your complaint with their complaints team, following their complaints procedure right up to the involvment of Consumer Focus and OFGem. I would imagine that given enough complaints of a similar nature OFGem would get around to do something about it.