Trying to clear a npower balance!!

pfpf

hi guys.

npower are really peeing me off now. leccy meter always read and bills are correct. in 6 years the gas meter has never been read and along with other ongoing problems with npower i have now amassed a fairly large gas bill, none of which i feel is my fault.

theres alot of details behind my story but at this stage i only really have 1 question.

i have an on going repayment arrangement which i now want to slightly change, due to the fact that npower are trying to up my monthy for the useage side of the payment.

i want to continue paying by direct debit only the amount that was agreed that pays the outstanding balance back(£25.00 per month and i refuse to call it arrears)then pay quarterly bills as they arrive, reading the meter every quarter myself if need be. i feel strongly that i shouldnt without a financial payment from npower but if i dont the payment will never finally be settled.

i rang npower today to ask about this and all i could get was "we need your upto date meter reading" all though i did this for them only in august, then got my latest bill last week with my own reading i did, but again only an estimate for the october reading. :mad:

after a heated exchange i gave the reading and was told that the account would be updated overnight and to ring back tomorrow to sort out payment details. however, and this is where my question comes in, i was told "you wont be able to have a monthly direct debit and be able to pay quarterly bills aswell".

i will have to pay monthly DD or quarterly bill. this doesnt help me at all. i want to go down the quarterly bill and read the meter myself but also make inroads to the arrears with my monthly DD.

i just want to know if anyone else has a payment set up like this and what my options maybe for when i ring up tomorrow.

if i can keep a £25.00pm DD and pay quarterly i am happy...surely npower want to help their customers?

thanks for reading.

espresso

pfpf wrote:

hi guys.

npower are really peeing me off now. leccy meter always read and bills are correct. in 6 years the gas meter has never been read and along with other ongoing problems with npower i have now amassed a fairly large gas bill, none of which i feel is my fault..

Well it is obviously your fault as you have allowed this debt to build up over the last six years! Why didn't you provide meter readings yourself?

pfpf wrote:

theres alot of details behind my story but at this stage i only really have 1 question.

i have an on going repayment arrangement which i now want to slightly change, due to the fact that npower are trying to up my monthy for the useage side of the payment.

i want to continue paying by direct debit only the amount that was agreed that pays the outstanding balance back(£25.00 per month and i refuse to call it arrears)then pay quarterly bills as they arrive, reading the meter every quarter myself if need be. i feel strongly that i shouldnt without a financial payment from npower but if i dont the payment will never finally be settled..

So you want to continue paying at a rate that was set six years previous, which is obviously not enough to cover your usage at todays unit rates.

pfpf wrote:

i rang npower today to ask about this and all i could get was "we need your upto date meter reading" all though i did this for them only in august, then got my latest bill last week with my own reading i did, but again only an estimate for the october reading. :mad:

after a heated exchange i gave the reading and was told that the account would be updated overnight and to ring back tomorrow to sort out payment details. however, and this is where my question comes in, i was told "you wont be able to have a monthly direct debit and be able to pay quarterly bills aswell".

i will have to pay monthly DD or quarterly bill. this doesnt help me at all. i want to go down the quarterly bill and read the meter myself but also make inroads to the arrears with my monthly DD...

They obviously want to increase your monthly payments, to cover your usage and to recover the debt that you have allowed to build up, spread over possibly the next 12 to 18 months. This is normal procedure and there would be no point keeping the DD at an artificially low level, just because it suits you!

pfpf wrote:

i just want to know if anyone else has a payment set up like this and what my options maybe for when i ring up tomorrow.

if i can keep a £25.00pm DD and pay quarterly i am happy...surely npower want to help their customers?

thanks for reading.

Their billing system works on either DD or quarterly payments. Why should they set up both systems just for you, when you have allowed this debt to accumulate? When you have cleared your debt, you could then switch to quarterly payments.

pfpf

lol. i posted a long reply...then i edited it to a smaller responce. i have now decided you're not worth the words i typed.

have a nice day.

espresso

pfpf wrote:

lol. i posted a long reply...then i edited it to a smaller responce. i have now decided you're not worth the words i typed.

have a nice day.

Go on, give us a laugh!

tripled

They are partially at fault as they are legally obliged to read the meter every two years. However by the same token you should really have realised that if every bill is an estimate, how could you or they know if you were being charged correctly?

All suppliers I know of can administer an account on a quarterly or monthly dd basis, but not both at once. If the computer systems don't have the capability to do that, what would you expect them to do? Spend millions recoded their system?

The only options really open to you are to put the lot on a payment scheme (where you pay for usage and arrears) or pay it in one go. However, if you ask NPower why they haven't inspected the meter every two years they may give you a small discount.

I know that's probably not what you wanted to hear but you're up the proverbial creek I'm afraid. In future remeber to check your meter readings!

Cardew

pfpf wrote:

lol. i posted a long reply...then i edited it to a smaller responce. i have now decided you're not worth the words i typed.

have a nice day.

So anyone who thinks you are being unreasonable in your request is to be treated with contempt?

If you feel "none of this is my fault" why don't you take the case to the regulator?

It is pretty obvious that with computerised accounting systems they cannot set up a unique system to cater for your wishes. Normally there are different tariffs for DD payment and quarterly billing.

It is a very common scenario for large debit balances to be built up. The Direct Debit system copes with this situation perfectly - you pay an amount that covers your consumption and a further element to pay back your debit balance over an agreed period.

magyar

I'm sorry but I have to agree with espresso and the others. This is your fault, not npower's. You can always call up and enter a bill reading yourself and it's always wise to check (as I wrote that I realised I haven't checked for months!)

I can confirm that npower would have no way of setting up a DD and quarterly repayment plan.

You could take this to the regulator, but to be honest, you probably would get nowhere.

bengal-stripe

pfpf wrote:

have a nice day.

And you!!!!!!!!!!
What a rude person you are.
Obviously, everyone who isn't willing to lick your **** is not "worth the words (you) typed".