Npower>>>good or bad?

thel60

Hi, I am thinking of switching my dual fuel supply from British gas to NPower. Can anyone give me any info about their experiences with NPower?? I have heard mixed reviews & I`m not sure what to do. Many thanks

Blenheim_2

Other people's mileage will of course vary, but my in my own experience their customer service, approach to dealing with queries and timescale for resolving a billing mistake were nothing short of appalling.

Bad enough for me to look seriously at the whole notion of switching which I had hitherto ignored as too much of a faff. In a way their chronic service did me a favour!

Plushchris

Cheap and not so cheerful is how I would describe them.

If they are the cheapest supplier for you by a big margin then they could be worth a try, if you do go for it make sure you keep on top of things with them, keeping them up to date with meter readings etc. as if they do make any mistakes this is usually where they mess up.

Personally, I wouldnt go to them unless they were at least £150 per year cheaper than the next supplier down the list (so that would probably be never)

Hazzanet

Managed five months with them before losing my temper at their continued incompetence and left fairly sharpish after that. When I eventually got my 'final bill' they had charged me on the wrong tariff, and got the early exit fee wrong. I was so fed up at that point, I couldn't be bothered to complain anymore and let them keep my money just to get shot of them.

As always, this was just my experience and others may have had better/wonderful experiences with them.

ste1985_2

Well, I work for Npower in a contact centre might i add, and have done for the past 5 years, I will totally admit that in the past granted yes the customer service hasn't always been the best and some of the processes with systems haven't been good, However on the positive side, were no longer scripted... were Friendly normal people, complaints have dropped since we became more "personal" and compared to when I as a consumer myself have contacted other companies i honestly hand on heart can say some other company's customer service hasn't even come anywhere close to as good as ours.

In terms of tariff's npowers online tariff Sign on line 19, is very competitive on the market, so would suggest this...

Don't all hate me now that i mentioned i work for them! haha.

A._Badger

thel60 wrote: »

Hi, I am thinking of switching my dual fuel supply from British gas to NPower. Can anyone give me any info about their experiences with NPower?? I have heard mixed reviews & I`m not sure what to do. Many thanks

They are, without doubt, the very worst company I have ever done business with.

When I recently switched electricity supplier, they came out quite considerably the cheapest. But I still wouldn't go back to them, I would rather pay double than suffer again their incompetence, rudeness, unanswered phones, failure to return calls and general inability to run the proverbial whelk stall.

My experience of their 'customer service' is that there isn't any. I don't believe they deserve to be in business.

ste1985_2

A._Badger wrote: »

They are, without doubt, the very worst company I have ever done business with.

When I recently switched electricity supplier, they came out quite considerably the cheapest. But I still wouldn't go back to them, I would rather pay double than suffer again their incompetence, rudeness, unanswered phones, failure to return calls and general inability to run the proverbial whelk stall.

My experience of their 'customer service' is that there isn't any. I don't believe they deserve to be in business.

Im very suprised at the "Unanswered phones" part, Npower has now been given an award for the Fastest answered calls, than any of the other suppliers. We also entered the times top 50 call centres for customer service... we know were in it... just not where abouts yet in comparison to other suppliers.

A._Badger

ste1985 wrote: »

Im very suprised at the "Unanswered phones" part, Npower has now been given an award for the Fastest answered calls, than any of the other suppliers. We also entered the times top 50 call centres for customer service... we know were in it... just not where abouts yet in comparison to other suppliers.

Surprised, are you?

Well I can't even begin to describe my 'surprise' when I was held in a queue (at my expense) watching the clock tick round until your call centre staff went home. Not once. Not even twice. On at least three occasions I didn't get through before the system shut down.

In the end, it took an official complaint to the regulator to get nPower to behave the way it should - and in an off the record conversation with the person I spoke to at the regulator's office, it wasn't hard to work out his opinion of nPower and where it stood in their league tables.

Now, I will admit this was a few years ago. But I don't take prisoners when dealing with third rate companies that clearly couldn't care less. You say nPower has improved and that in some fantasy league table you made it to the top 50 of call centres. Who beat you - those other paragons of customer 'service' the BT call centre, maybe?

You can say what you like about your employers but I will never do business with them again. And if you care to take a stroll back through the comments on this forum, you'll find I'm far from alone.

ste1985_2

A._Badger wrote: »

Surprised, are you?

Well I can't even begin to describe my 'surprise' when I was held in a queue (at my expense) watching the clock tick round until your call centre staff went home. Not once. Not even twice. On at least three occasions I didn't get through before the system shut down.

In the end, it took an official complaint to the regulator to get nPower to behave the way it should - and in an off the record conversation with the person I spoke to at the regulator's office, it wasn't hard to work out his opinion of nPower and where it stood in their league tables.

Now, I will admit this was a few years ago. But I don't take prisoners when dealing with third rate companies that clearly couldn't care less. You say nPower has improved and that in some fantasy league table you made it to the top 50 of call centres. Who beat you - those other paragons of customer 'service' the BT call centre, maybe?

You can say what you like about your employers but I will never do business with them again. And if you care to take a stroll back through the comments on this forum, you'll find I'm far from alone.

In all fairness to the above, i will agree our service wasn't always the best, which i think i mentioned in my first post... I think when i first started 5 years ago, sometimes we had call's waiting over an hour, Just like British Gas last year had about 50 min call waits, but i do defend to a certain degree that Not only because i work for them, but Mainly because i along with many other people i work with all take pride in the service we provide. I appreciate that what you have mentioned is correct, and i don't dispute this, but at the same time, surely it is always possible for company's to improve?

Like i said with the "Time's top 50 Call Centres" we know were in the top 50 but don't know what position, and compared to other major suppliers who entered, we don't know how well we stand.

thel60

Well.......... some of your comments were a real eye opener!!! I at least expected one good review, but there were none! Thanks to you all for your input.... I think I`ll pay the extra £100 a year (after all, it`s only £2 per week) & stay with British Gas. Their service ( although not exceptional) is pretty good, compared to some of your "horror stories" Once gain, thanks for all yur help :~)

GetRealBabe

Hi

I've been with nPower for a while and haven't had any problems. Changed tariffs twice via mynPower and it was done quickly. Emails answered within a day or 2.

Maybe I'll be the only positive review on here but if it was me I'd rather save £100.:)