What can I do about NPOWER bill?

MileEnder

Hi all,

I posted this int he Utilities forum, but this also seemed an appropriate place - I'm new here, so hope that's ok.

Basically, Npower are trying to charge me for a bill of £518.74 for electricity at an old address - but for dates over a year after I moved out!!

The house was a shared, rented house where I lived for just 3 months - April 2008 to end of June 2008. My name and one other person's were on the bill. We did not have any previous relationship before living together, and I have no idea as to the whereabouts of this person now.

At the end of the tenancy, I informed Npower of our leaving and asked for a final bill, which we paid in full. We also had to give a copy of this to the property agents (to return our deposits).

Fast forward to April 2010. I start receiving letters from Npower demanding money for the above property. No dates mentioned at this point. I call them and it turns out the date for the bill is from 16 June 2009 to 14 October 2009 - over a year later. After a few more calls I discover that they do have a record of me paying a bill up to my leaving date, but after that they are vague and sound as if they are confused.

I call my old property agency who say they have a record of my tenancy; they in turn speak to Npower and presumably tell them of the dates I lived at the property, and I send an email to the person at Npower with all the information so far, and to ask them to stop sending me 'Final Reminders'.

The letters continue - here I am today.

I am trying to get a copy of my tenancy agreement of my following house - so I can prove I moved out and lived somewhere else! I am just waiting for my landlord who is a bit slow but will get there eventually (hopefully). I suppose the main problem is not having any paperwork related to the final bill. But I know they've got it on their system!!

Can anyone help??

I would like to know how to tackle them on this - I want to complain about the money I cleary do not owe, plus the fact I am getting letters threatening: debt collects/bailiffs, attachment of earnings order, County Court Jusgements and the affect to my credit rating.

Thanks in advance.

Andy

fluffnutter

I'm not an expert, but I do know that you won't get a CCJ unless the court issues one, and I can hardly see how any court could rule in NPower's favour given the circumstances. How did you inform NPower of your leaving? Was it by phone call? Or letter? Keep banging on to them about finding either a transcript of the call or a copy of the letter. How about the electoral roll? Are you on this? If so, it should have your dates.

It's up to them to prove you owe the debt, not the other way round. If you're brave, just stand your ground, amass as much evidence as you can and let them take you to court.

vuvuzela

MileEnder wrote: »

Hi all,

I posted this int he Utilities forum, but this also seemed an appropriate place - I'm new here, so hope that's ok.

Having it in a single place means you get a single thread with useful answers, people don't duplicate effort, best way to do things.

MileEnder

Thanks Fluffnutter,

I informed them by phone call. I didn't forsee any difficulties at the time - I think we gave meter reading over the phone and got sent an appropriate bill - I'm sure the bill was clearly marked 'final bill' or came with a letter to that effect. I probably did keep it for some time but everything seemed to go through smoothly.

Keep banging on to them about finding either a transcript of the call or a copy of the letter.

I will!

Having it in a single place means you get a single thread with useful answers, people don't duplicate effort, best way to do things.

I'll direct the other thread to this one....

Thanks
Andy

Zandoni

Have you tried speaking to a manager on the phone?

undaunted

UI suggest that you don't try speaking to a Manager on the phone but put everything you do / say in writing. Npower's customer service & ability to actually listen to customers is notoriously bad!

MileEnder

Thanks for the advice so far...

I've now sent a written, formal complaint to Npower, after some advice I received on consumeractiongroup.co.uk.

In this, I outlined ervything that had happened with as much information as possible, clearly spelling out why they are obvously at fault, and then asked that they send written confirmation that:

-I don't owe any more for the address
-They haven't taken legal action or instructed debt collection agencies
- Have not made any negative entries to my credit reference files.

The responses I have received have made me feel much more confident about stading my ground. I'll post an update when i know more.

Judith_W

Sounds good. If you had posted on the debt free wannabe forum, they would have suggested you send a prove it letter. It might be worth going on that forum and seeing what would be included. They are great at giving advice about questioning debt

Sandoval

vuvuzela wrote: »

Having it in a single place means you get a single thread with useful answers, people don't duplicate effort, best way to do things.

Nah, people who frequent one forum don't necessarily frequent another.

There's no detriment to having two threads, one might well get a useful response that the other doesn't.