n Power customer Help needed urgently please!

OKP

Hi, I am an n power customer and have been since may 2009. We use them for both gas and electricity. We had 2 direct debits to cover both utilities until we moved home in Jan 2010. We then had only 1 dd . I called npower in march 2010 to query this and was told that as our account was in credit there was no reason to be concerned. We then received a letter telling us that as our account was in credit our new dd amount was only £6 per month. I called again to be told this tiny amount was correct and didnt think anything more of it. Until this week when we got a letter on wed to tell us our dd will go up to £46, and a lovely letter this morning stating we owe £616 for gas- it transpires npower did not set up a dd for the gas and have just realised this month. After 2 hours of phone calls I've got this down to £366
But my question (after this ridiculously long thread, sorry!) is- should we have to pay anything if its their fault and does anyone know how we can avoid paying for their mistake?! And naturally, there is no record of my phone calls or of anyone accessing our account so nothing to prove i've phoned at all. And n power complaints have pointed out our statements would only have shown electricity payments and did i not notice there was no bill for gas.:mad:

DVardysShadow

OKP wrote: »

Hi, I am an n power customer and have been since may 2009. We use them for both gas and electricity. We had 2 direct debits to cover both utilities until we moved home in Jan 2010. We then had only 1 dd . I called npower in march 2010 to query this and was told that as our account was in credit there was no reason to be concerned. We then received a letter telling us that as our account was in credit our new dd amount was only £6 per month. I called again to be told this tiny amount was correct and didnt think anything more of it. Until this week when we got a letter on wed to tell us our dd will go up to £46, and a lovely letter this morning stating we owe £616 for gas- it transpires npower did not set up a dd for the gas and have just realised this month. After 2 hours of phone calls I've got this down to £366
But my question (after this ridiculously long thread, sorry!) is- should we have to pay anything if its their fault and does anyone know how we can avoid paying for their mistake?! And naturally, there is no record of my phone calls or of anyone accessing our account so nothing to prove i've phoned at all. And n power complaints have pointed out our statements would only have shown electricity payments and did i not notice there was no bill for gas.:mad:

A letter would have been worth a thousand phone calls.

But you used the gas and not noticing that you were not billed for it puts you in the double bind of either appearing careless to the point of daftness or fec kless to the point of deceit. The best you can hope for is to pay the arrears over a similar period to the period over which they built up.

Do have a close look at the gas bill. It should be averaged out over the period and the appropriate tariffs applied - not all at the current tariff rates.

nPower

Hi OKP

I am really concerned to hear about your problem.

I'd like to take a look into this for you if that's ok? Can you send your details to [EMAIL="forumresponse@npower.com"]forumresponse@npower.com[/EMAIL].

Thanks
Sally

chanz4

As billed you would be liable for payment, why didnt you give them reads when getting an estimate?

undaunted

Whilst they appear to be guilty of poor customer service (nothing new there!) as I read your post you don't dispute having used £616 worth of gas. Is that correct?

If so you are not "paying for their mistake" you are merely paying for the gas you chose to use & have in fact had an interest free loan and now a reduction of £250 offered to boot.

Much as I believe Npower are a dreadful & often bullying company, in this instance they appear to have been more than reasonable & personally I think you should get it in writing & then bite their hands off at that offer!

If you do not have the £366 you should offer to pay it at an affordable rate (possibly over the same period it accrued in if necessary)