npower raised price of electric units, left with shocking bill.

jalexa

spiro wrote: »

All of the above may sound harsh but we are all adults and should take some responsibility to control our lives and not expect companies to do all the work for us which sounds more like a big brother state to me.

I agree with the underlying sentiment but the "big brother state" remark is bizarre.

In your advocacy of either "lawlessness" or "laisse faire" you have conveniently ignored a point clearly made in red by the immediately previous poster.

The OP alleges a "price increase" notification retrospectively found in a previous bill did not include notification of price as required by the terms and conditions. Anyway the NPower representative in this thread stated "we do send out letters to inform customers when their tariffs end" but has chosen not to clarify whether the word "all" was deliberately omitted. Neither has the NPower rep commented on another poster's comment that the "proof" would consist of a blank letter. And was the price increase notification the "maturity notification" or a price increase notification on a "guaranteed discount" tariff?

backfoot

spiro wrote: »

When a tariff ends you should be free to choose what tariff you want not be put on a tariff a computers says is the cheapest for you because there are too many variables. Just imagine the outcry if they moved you to a tariff that you were tied into for 2 years and 2 days later they dropped their prices.

Everyone on this Forum uses a computer so how hard is it to set a reminder that your tariff is going to end and you need to search for the next good deal?

Customers are always put on the standard tariff unless they instruct the supplier to put them on another tariff. OFGEM has never disagreed or objected to that practice in all the enquires into the market.

All of the above may sound harsh but we are all adults and should take some responsibility to control our lives and not expect companies to do all the work for us which sounds more like a big brother state to me.

Yes in a perfect world of IT consultants to the Utilities Sector, we should all set up a computer reminder to control every aspect of our lives. Most people don't have the discipline for such, but I willl make a note for the future.:)

I wasn't advocating default to a 2 year rate fixed rate product. It was good of you to exaggerate the point to make my suggestion unworkable. I presume the OP had come off a standard online variable product and I assume there is a current equivalent.

What a coup for good customer service it would be to transfer to this, rather than the expensive default option. Why is that so difficult? ( Don't say ETC's. They aren't a real cost but a set of made up charges).

NPower and other Suppliers do nothing to engender good service but rather operate around an attritional conflict zone when something is not in their favour.

NPower have lost nothing other than the overcharging of the OP and their dismal response speaks volumes.

They don't even have a robust system, by the looks of it, to even produce a copy letter. My advice to the OP, given their obstructive approach, is to exploit that weakness and make them regret their unsympathetic stance.

oasismark

UPDATE: Resolved

Just had a long chat with Andrew from npower executive complains. Nice bloke.

I gave feedback that the tariff end date needs to be on the front page of each bill, clearly to be seen and that a tariff does actually end and change in price significantly. I still do believe that page 7 of a bill is not 'informing the customer' enough.

He stated they would not do a rebill at all. So this is now resolved by a generous goodwill gesture of £100 and spreading the payments across 24 months.

Im happy with that, its brought the monthly payment down a lot which was the main worry and matter is now closed.

Thanks everyone for help and info.

backfoot

Fantastic news. Well done and thanks for letting us know.:T

nPower

Hi oasismark,

Andrew is a very nice bloke indeed!

I'm glad to see this is now all sorted for you, and the feedback you've given about the bills is being fed back to the business.

Best wishes,

Adam