Got a letter from npower saying I'm now on Sign Online 21

lpgm

I started the switch to npower's Sign Online 20 tariff last month.

Today I got a letter from them saying: "Unfortunately we can't set you up on the tariff you asked for because of the kind of meter you've got." And that I'd be set up on the new Sign Online 21 tariff, which is, of course, more expensive.

I've just phoned them and they admitted making some kind of mistake - someone hadn't realised I was Economy 7 or something. So apparently I'm back to Online 20 and that's what I'll be charged.

Anyway, just thought it was worth mentioning. I have a feeling this mistake wouldn't be picked up and corrected unless you call them and get it sorted right away.

richiec

I've just had the same thing happen to me.
I was a Npower customer and my fixed price contract expired on 31st Dec. Used Moneysupermarket to get some quotes and decided to go for Npower Online 20. Applied online on 4th Jan.
This morning received a letter from Npower informing me that my tariff had been changed to Online 21 !!!!!
Rang Npower to be told that Online 20 had expired on 3rd Jan. When I said I was planning to find another tariff I was informed that it would cost me £ 40 ( dual fuel ) to change to another supplier.
Rang Moneysupermarket who confirmed that I applied for Online20 and have told me to go back to Npower and inform them that my application ( contract ) was for Online 20 and that Moneysupermarket will support this.
I'm waiting for a reply but am very concerned that other individuals may not notice this !

pencekeeper

Rang Npower to be told that Online 20 had expired on 3rd Jan

IIRC, my Go Fix Gas was set to expire on the 4th of January though luckily I changed both my Gas and Electric tariffs to SOL20 in the last week of December.

If SOL21 is much more expensive than SOL20, then I assume they had a lot of people coming off products with both an end date of 4 Jan, and a get out fee. That is, a lot of people on that date who want to change to a SOL product.

Note to self: watch out for fixed dates in the future. Npower may well ditch a more competitive product the day before they expect an influx of customers needing to change product from whatever crazily expensive tariff they automatically put you on to.

I'm happy to be told that the above is wrong and cynical.

pencekeeper

Actually working out the difference for me between SOL20 and SOL21:

Gas: Over 30% increase
Electricity: Over 16% increase

Bloody 'ell!

richiec

I've been back to Npower who tell me that they are not prepared to move me onto Online 20 as that tariff was withdrawn on 31st of December but was allowed to stay available until 3rd January. They say that it is Moneysupermarkets fault. They are prepared to let me switch to another supplier without the £ 40 fee.
I've now been back to Moneysupermarket who once again say that Npower should honour the application and dispute the claim that it is their mistake.
I've submitted a written complaint to Npower and Moneysupermarket are investigating.

wendyselondon

I've had the same letter - saying that "because of a problem with my meter" I can't be put on the tariff I requested (SOL20) and will be put on the Standard Electricity tariff instead - "we hope you are OK with this". NO!!!! I'm not!!!! It would cost me 30% more and I applied mid-Oct 2010.

I phoned up today and asked them to tell me exactly what the issue was with my meter; after a long wait, they said I can be put on SOL20, they just didn't have enough details to do it originally. Supposedly they needed my email address - which was supplied in Oct 2010. Anyway, they SAY I'm on SOL20 now.

The cynic in me says that sending this letter to a proportion of their customers will be a nice little earner, if most people don't bother to check...

smithh15

I got the same letter but for sign online 19 and now I've been told I'm now on signonline 20! so they should definitely put you on that tariff as they sent me the letter for signonline 20 on the 25th Jan, so it isn't expired at all.

Kinson

I've just had this letter through after successfully transferring electricity and gas suppliers to nPower on 29th Jan 2011.

The letter arrived today and was dated 3rd March 2011 and asked if I was OK with them hiking up my price by 30% (sure, why not!). This is nothing to do with availability of tariffs (e.g. expiry of offer etc.) as far as I can see.

Phoned them up to be told that this was due to "my bank being Santander" and how their systems don't recognise this bank. As you can imagine I was scratching my head pretty hard at this reasoning...

Needless to say that they changed me back to SOL20. To be fair to them there was no hassle whatsoever and I was on the phone all of 5 minutes. Apparently I'll get a confirmation letter in a couple of weeks so we shall see...

ceedy

After our winter quarter bill seemed a bit high ( esp considering its the 1st since we had our new super efficent boiler in). got me thinking.!
So started doing few comparision sites, and although I could never find my actual tariff, Britgas always seemed to beat Npower.
Queried this with Npower and it seemed my tariff ended in January ( first I've heard of this) and my traiff had been "brought inline with the standard one"
I.e I had been paying more..:mad:
When I queried this, was told " it was in the papers! :rotfl:.

And we have notified all our customers.. NO ! they haven't :mad: . otherwise I wouldn't have asked.

So presently switched now to a cheaper than standard tariff.

Now do I jump ship to Them!!!! as british gas is still cheaper , for the sake of £200..

NB. Npower never seem to want to reply to written queries . with written replies, its always a phone call.. vocal replies is nice and throwaway init!

C.

vrevdrjc

I have had a similar letter telling me the "kind of meter" meant I had to go to the Online 22 tariff. It was complete nonsense of course. A quick phone call sorted it out and saved me being subject to the 9% increase they would have benefitted from. This is surely NPower "trying it on" in the assumption that a large proportion of customers just won't challenge the letter. Surely this must be illegal? Who should this be flagged up to? Trading standards? Ofgen?

BillTrac

This thread really makes me worry. One of npowers lying/conning 'sales' people have tricked my ex-fil to switch to them. He's 89 and thinks everyone who knocks his door tells the truth..:eek: The conman entered a warden controlled building, completely ignored the no cold-calling/no buying at the door pinned to the front door of every flat, ignored the 'I don't want to change' comment and completely mis-led an old easily confused man.

Bob even believed the lying t**t when he said that he was paying too much for his electricity before seeing a bill!! He lives alone, in a one bed room flat with no real gadgets so can't really see how much less he can use.

I bet npower must be proud of their staff(even if they don't directly employ these scumbags they are still responsible)

Way to go npower:T