Npower direct debt price problem??

sargey6

Hi i was wondering if anyone would be able to give me and my wife some advice??
We switched over to Npower in april when we had a salesman come round offering us a deal for cheaper gas & electric. Basically he worked the cost out on a winter bill from our previous supplier and it was quite a bit cheaper so we went with them. The direct debit was 42 pound a month which was all going ok till a couple of months ago when my work situation changed and i missed a few of the payments. Npower cancelled the direct debit and put us onto quarterly bills which was fine for now. The problem was the bill has come and was nearly 300 pound. My wife has been on the phone to them today and apparently the bill is what they have worked out we have used which they have gone through with my wife which is ok but they have said our direct debit should have been 84 pound a month not 42 so now we have got to some how find the extra due to there mistake. Is there anything we can do. I know that is what we have used but i think it is a massive mistake for them to make which they have just apoligised for which i dont think is enough as it works out going with Npower is actually more expense than who we was with orginally. Any help or advice anyone could give us would be muchly appreicated

undaunted

I think you need to look at what your consumption and the unit prices are / were with both Npower and your current supplier.

A salesman promising you a cheaper direct debit is meaningless and misleading unless they are offering a better unit price - EG If "C" says I'll supply you and let you have a direct debit of £20 per month when "A" is charing £84 & "B" has quoted you £42 is that a better deal still?

It would be if the units used x unit price was genuinely coming out at £20 p/m (or even £42 in your case) but if the units used x unit price was the same or higher than "A" was offering you (as you seem to suggest) then it would suggest you were basically being mis sold or "conned" by a saleman who is merely interested in his targets & commissions. You could then have a basis to make a complaint to Npower (perhaps mentioning taking it up with the ERA & energy Ombudsman)

http://www.energy-retail.org.uk/

http://www.energy-ombudsman.org.uk/

If however you are saying Npower are more expensive because you weren't paying £84 p/m before but your consumption has also been higher (due to winter use for example) there may be nothing you can do except pay it and consider switching again.

I'm surprised, it being Npower, that they just put you on monthly billing rather than try and push you to pre payment meter.


Good luck

macman

You've fallen victim to the classic cold-calling con trick of promising lower DD's-never ever sign up at the door or believe the figures they quote you, they are purely there to earn their commission. You've also not helped yourself by failing to read the meter regularly and supply your own readings, which would have alerted you and npower to the fact that your DD's do not cover your consumption, hence the 'catch-up' bill. Unfortunately we are now into the cold weather and your consumption will rise dramatically for the next few months-at this time of year your account should have built up some credit to see you through the winter months, so all you can do is try and negotiate to pay off in stages (though this may be difficult if you've already missed several DD payments).
In the meantime use a comp site to check if you can switch to a cheaper tariff with your existing supplier, as you won't be able to switch until the debt is cleared.

t0rt0ise

Complain to them via the complaints procedure that you were mis-sold the product and see if they'll offer you assistance or put you back with your original supplier.

Plushchris

Nothing to add that hasnt been said by the above..

Take it as a learning experience, dont ever trust salesman that knock on your door, they will not put you on their cheapest deal even in the remote chance they are the cheapest supplier for you as they cant sell online tariffs, they generally will just sign you up to the standard (ie expensive) tariff.

macman

I don't see on what basis you can claim mis-selling. The salesman was probably just a freelance agent and now long gone. Saying that their deal is the cheapest is hardly unusual-every cold caller makes that claim; would you buy from one who said that they were not the cheapest? Just minimise the damage by working out a feasible repayment schedule and get yourself onto the npower's cheapest current tariff.

backfoot

It's not possible to give a defintive answer because we would need to know your consumption levels, before and after the switch. We would also need to know which tariff you were on before and after and the other supplier.

As others have said, it looks extremely likely that you were missold this switch by the technique of just quoting a monthly charge lower than that which was really needed.

They still do this despite supposed regulation not to.

Find out last years consumption and make a complaint to Npower and Consumer Focus about misselling.

The downside is that if you had never switched before, then the Npower Unit rates may be cheaper than the previous ones, despite you being misled on the monthly amount required.If that is the case, I would be arguing for a monthly payment arrangement to recover the arrears.

Perhaps the Npower Rep here can offer some advice because it doesn't look good from the outside.