Problems with NPOwer, Can anyone help?

[Deleted User]

Thanks again Terryl1,it gets worse,a lot of the time the suppliers have got that used to us lot doing it wrong they have "switched " the reads so that doing it "wrong " is right.Then I come along who knows his meters,puts it in the correct way and that messes up the status quo.I once got a BBC watchdog item going on this very issue,but they only concentrated on the very few who were overcharged not the 98% who were undercharged because that did nt make good telly.Nearly every dual rate electric meter I see have some means of telling which reads equals which period of the 24 hours, be it blinking cursors or readings, "rate now" or simply as happens with the latest meters it shows the read which is current, but there are a few meters where we have absolutely no idea which is night or day.in these cases the occupier has got to do the homework and figure out which is which,they are the only ones who can reliably do that.The old mechanical meters which are much more reliable, never had that problem,(just their timers go out)
I, and two other colleagues have highlighted this at our meetings,management have taken no notice at all and most of us are out there now bunging anything they see with a 1 on it into the low, and 2 into normal. I have given up,roll on smart meters

Terrylw1

I know what you mean sacsquacco! You get customers set up at CoS the wrong way round and then a good reading comes in and it goes haywire.

I hate this "swap it round, it looks right" culture because in the above CoS the customer gets billed for years incorrectly until again, the billing rejection gets to someone who knows what they are doing. Training and short cut "my part of the process works, downstream is not my problem" management self servers is a big problem from my experience.

There's just no excuse for a lot of this transposition issue and you often find its because a manager prefers his dept to be on target than do the investigations causing the dept to fall behind. Managers hiding situations from directors is common do how can they improve services when people are protecting their bonuses?

Sometimes entire reports may be scrapped becausse they are not understood!

Elexon and ofgem don't do what they should, but aren't some of the I staff hopping from o e supplier to another at time, so where is the motivation. It needs someone to come in and tighten them up.

bigbillbert

Npower! A complete nightmare, Two bills in 2days.One £276 in credit, very nice.The second £559 in credit, nicer still.Endless phone calls ,each with a promise to sort my account out. The latest i'm £1300 in credit, they then take a dd of £358/ month trebling my payment of £103.The billing system is a complete joke. There holding more credit on my account than my anual bill and trebling my payments!!!!!

jalexa

bigbillbert wrote: »

they then take a dd of £358/ month trebling my payment of £103.

Welcome to the forum.

Did they "take" it without notice?

Some people do have problems with their utility billing but most people don't. Is there a reason you are aware of why the account is in such a mess?

innovate

jalexa wrote: »

Is there a reason you are aware of why the account is in such a mess?

It's probably not so much a case of the account being in a mess - more likely npower as a whole are in a mess.

Recently had a terrible experience with npower. Never had that much trouble before, in over 25 years, the last 3 of which have been with npower (with the same meters, in the same house). Payments have always been by Direct Debit, and there have never been any payment arrears.

They wrote to me last November to remind me that my tariff deal with npower came to an end last December - excellent customer service. I shopped around, then found that another tariff with npower would be my best deal, so tried to arrange with them to switch to this tariff. This should have been straight forward but they wouldn't, at first, let me want to arrange this until after the old tariff had expired. One complaint later, and they confirmed in writing I would be on the new tariff from the day after the old tariff expired. As you would expect, they wanted meter readings (got gas + leccy with them) on the last day of the old tariff. I provided these online on the day, they confirmed they had received them and would use them for the next bill. So far, so good.

Then 3 weeks later they emailed and asked for meter readings - sure, I submitted them same day, they confirmed by email they had received them and would use them for the next bill.

Another 2 weeks go by, they leave a voicemail asking for meter readings - sure, I submitted them same day, they confirmed by email they had received them and would use them for the next bill.

Then 10 days later, a man with an npower badge (I think) turns up to read the meters. I am bemused but he says this is quite normal, they need to read the meters themselves. Fair enough.

Roughly 3 weeks later, npower ask per email for meter readings............... and we repeat what we had done before. When they ask yet again just a few days later, I am finally fed up with submitting meter readings every few days and never getting a bill in close to 9 months. The lack of a bill was all the more disturbing since I had changed tariffs over 3 months ago, and never received a closing bill for the old tariff.

So I call npower and ask when I will get a bill. They say they can't raise a bill since - - - get this !! - - - they only had meter readings that were lower than their estimates! Don't think I had laughed as much in a long time - - but they maintained, readings (mine, and those of their meter reader) couldn't be lower than their estimates, LOL! More than that, when I asked them which of my meter readings they were unhappy with, they said I hadn't provided any, even though they had confirmed my many submissions in writing, and they had just told me my readings were lower than their estimates. My brain is starting to hurt severely at this stage..............

Another complaint later, I finally got a bill. Which looked very wrong to me (even though I do admit, I find their bills mainly totally incomprehensible). So I complain again, and in the end they re-issue my bill, over £300 lower than their first bill! I am also offered a large amount of compensation, which I gladly accept as a fair payment for all the time I had to spend to get a bill that looked correct as far as I could tell.

The re-issued bill comes on paper, via snail mail (I have been on "paperless" with them for almost 3 years). So far, that corrected bill doesn't show online.

That was about 3 weeks ago. Since then, I had 2 requests from npower, within 4 working days of each other, by phone to submit meter readings. I would understand the 2nd request if I hadn't submitted the readings on the same day as their first request, and if I hadn't their written confirmation also on the same day.

I wouldn't normally have gone on a forum with this sad story, since they sorted my complaints in a satisfactory manner. But they have since resumed their incessant requests for meter readings, so I have lost all confidence in them and think they are just plain out of control on their meter reading and billing. People need to hear about these issues so they know there are others out there suffering from the npower incompetence.

I'd really like to leave npower now but unfortunately I am only 5 months into a 24 months contract. So I suppose it will be just more annoying requests for overly frequent meter readings, lack of bills, lengthy complaints and more compensation. I'd be delighted to be proven wrong, though!

Terrylw1

innovate wrote: »

It's probably not so much a case of the account being in a mess - more likely npower as a whole are in a mess.

Recently had a terrible experience with npower. Never had that much trouble before, in over 25 years, the last 3 of which have been with npower (with the same meters, in the same house). Payments have always been by Direct Debit, and there have never been any payment arrears.

They wrote to me last November to remind me that my tariff deal with npower came to an end last December - excellent customer service. I shopped around, then found that another tariff with npower would be my best deal, so tried to arrange with them to switch to this tariff. This should have been straight forward but they wouldn't, at first, let me want to arrange this until after the old tariff had expired. One complaint later, and they confirmed in writing I would be on the new tariff from the day after the old tariff expired. As you would expect, they wanted meter readings (got gas + leccy with them) on the last day of the old tariff. I provided these online on the day, they confirmed they had received them and would use them for the next bill. So far, so good.

Then 3 weeks later they emailed and asked for meter readings - sure, I submitted them same day, they confirmed by email they had received them and would use them for the next bill.

Another 2 weeks go by, they leave a voicemail asking for meter readings - sure, I submitted them same day, they confirmed by email they had received them and would use them for the next bill.

Then 10 days later, a man with an npower badge (I think) turns up to read the meters. I am bemused but he says this is quite normal, they need to read the meters themselves. Fair enough.

Roughly 3 weeks later, npower ask per email for meter readings............... and we repeat what we had done before. When they ask yet again just a few days later, I am finally fed up with submitting meter readings every few days and never getting a bill in close to 9 months. The lack of a bill was all the more disturbing since I had changed tariffs over 3 months ago, and never received a closing bill for the old tariff.

So I call npower and ask when I will get a bill. They say they can't raise a bill since - - - get this !! - - - they only had meter readings that were lower than their estimates! Don't think I had laughed as much in a long time - - but they maintained, readings (mine, and those of their meter reader) couldn't be lower than their estimates, LOL! More than that, when I asked them which of my meter readings they were unhappy with, they said I hadn't provided any, even though they had confirmed my many submissions in writing, and they had just told me my readings were lower than their estimates. My brain is starting to hurt severely at this stage..............

Another complaint later, I finally got a bill. Which looked very wrong to me (even though I do admit, I find their bills mainly totally incomprehensible). So I complain again, and in the end they re-issue my bill, over £300 lower than their first bill! I am also offered a large amount of compensation, which I gladly accept as a fair payment for all the time I had to spend to get a bill that looked correct as far as I could tell.

The re-issued bill comes on paper, via snail mail (I have been on "paperless" with them for almost 3 years). So far, that corrected bill doesn't show online.

That was about 3 weeks ago. Since then, I had 2 requests from npower, within 4 working days of each other, by phone to submit meter readings. I would understand the 2nd request if I hadn't submitted the readings on the same day as their first request, and if I hadn't their written confirmation also on the same day.

I wouldn't normally have gone on a forum with this sad story, since they sorted my complaints in a satisfactory manner. But they have since resumed their incessant requests for meter readings, so I have lost all confidence in them and think they are just plain out of control on their meter reading and billing. People need to hear about these issues so they know there are others out there suffering from the npower incompetence.

I'd really like to leave npower now but unfortunately I am only 5 months into a 24 months contract. So I suppose it will be just more annoying requests for overly frequent meter readings, lack of bills, lengthy complaints and more compensation. I'd be delighted to be proven wrong, though!

It would be good to get a complaint so you can get it the ombudsman 8 weeks later. Then ask the ombudsman whether they will rule you should be allowed to switch.

Clearly, whoever is managing these people has no control at all!

undaunted

innovate wrote: »

It's probably not so much a case of the account being in a mess - more likely npower as a whole are in a mess.

:T

So I call npower and ask when I will get a bill. They say they can't raise a bill since - - - get this !! - - - they only had meter readings that were lower than their estimates! Don't think I had laughed as much in a long time - - but they maintained, readings (mine, and those of their meter reader) couldn't be lower than their estimates, LOL! More than that, when I asked them which of my meter readings they were unhappy with, they said I hadn't provided any, even though they had confirmed my many submissions in writing, and they had just told me my readings were lower than their estimates. My brain is starting to hurt severely at this stage..............


Clearly you have more patience than me, don't think I'd have been laughing at this point!


I wouldn't normally have gone on a forum with this sad story, since they sorted my complaints in a satisfactory manner. But they have since resumed their incessant requests for meter readings, so I have lost all confidence in them and think they are just plain out of control on their meter reading and billing. People need to hear about these issues so they know there are others out there suffering from the npower incompetence.

Actually I reckon they are just plain out of control (period)!

Have you actually been compensated or have they just promised it so far?

innovate

undaunted wrote: »

Have you actually been compensated or have they just promised it so far?

Got the compensation cheque day before yesterday, yes - - and it cleared into my bank today.

I just have to wait with bated breath now for my next bill, and hope it follows on correctly from the manual correction bill they issued.

don_quiote

Switched supplier last November, had been with Npower, was £150 at least in credit with them. I was advised to cancel direct Debit after change to stop both companies taking money. Problem now is despite writing emailing (telephoning is a joke) I have yet to receive a final bill for either gas or electric, and am getting pretty hacked off, they've had my money for over three months now. Any suggestions