Conned by npower salesmen

gabbleRatchet

bod1467 wrote: »

It may have been sold as a fixed monthly charge based on expected usage. So the question then would be - was the usage more, less or the same as expected?

Edit: OP replied as I was typing.
So, what was the actual usage? Did it match (near enough) your previous usage?

If anything it would have been considerably less. We had an old (1980s) power guzzling tumbledryer in the kitchen which we chucked a couple of months after changing to npower and we didn't replace it.

nPower

Hi gabbleRatchet,

I'm sorry to hear that you feel you were quoted incorrectly by our sales rep.

If you'd like me to take a look into this and see what we can do, just pop an email to [EMAIL="forumresponse@npower.com"]forumresponse@npower.com[/EMAIL] with your account details and query.

Best wishes,

Adam

DVardysShadow

gabbleRatchet wrote: »

Perhaps you should try reading it again.

I was told by the salesman that the tariff was fixed for the first year and it wasn't.

Is that any clearer?

What evidence have you got that you can put before a court that the tariff was fixed?

'cos if it is just your word, you have an uphill struggle. Have you raised your dispute with nPower in writing?

gabbleRatchet

DVardysShadow wrote: »

What evidence have you got that you can put before a court that the tariff was fixed?

'cos if it is just your word, you have an uphill struggle. Have you raised your dispute with nPower in writing?

Yeah exactly. I have the original contract with the amount they quoted but I can't see anywhere on there that it says it's fixed. It was the fact that they said it was fixed that persuaded me to change and obviously that was where the lie was.

I also spoke to the salesmen's supervisor on the phone to confirm I was happy with the deal but I can't remember the exactly wording of that conversation. npower say thay have a recording of it but obviously won't let me hear it.

So it is just my word against theirs.

gabbleRatchet

nPower_company_representative wrote: »

Hi gabbleRatchet,

I'm sorry to hear that you feel you were quoted incorrectly by our sales rep.

If you'd like me to take a look into this and see what we can do, just pop an email to [EMAIL="forumresponse@npower.com"]forumresponse@npower.com[/EMAIL] with your account details and query.

Best wishes,

Adam

I spoke to your complaints department several times on the phone and wrote 3 or 4 times and the end result was that they just passed it to a debt collection agency

Hintza

gabbleRatchet wrote: »

If anything it would have been considerably less.

So do you know what your usage was?

Who took meter readings or were they estimates?

You have a copy of the contract that states you have a fixed tariff for 12 months?

Did they just tell you your DD was going to be less than you were paying?

What tariff did they offer you?

What tariff/s did you actually pay?

When did you change to them and when did you move away from them?

arcon5

gabbleRatchet wrote: »

As I stated in my OP they based the amount I would pay monthly on my previous usage. It was the tariff that kept rising NOT my usage

Ah, we finally get to the actual problem, they changed their price per unit during the year.....

Did you receive any letters notifying you of price rises?

Did you pay by DD or Quarterly? If the latter, was the contract perhaps based on payment being made via DD? I know most energy companies will switch you to a standard tariff automatically if the DD is cancelled.

You say the contract doesn't say anything about it being fixed, do you have anything that does? Welcome letters perhaps?

gabbleRatchet

arcon5 wrote: »

Ah, we finally get to the actual problem, they changed their price per unit during the year.....

Did you receive any letters notifying you of price rises?

Did you pay by DD or Quarterly? If the latter, was the contract perhaps based on payment being made via DD? I know most energy companies will switch you to a standard tariff automatically if the DD is cancelled.

You say the contract doesn't say anything about it being fixed, do you have anything that does? Welcome letters perhaps?

I thought I'd made that fairly clear. The salesman based my monthly payment on my previous usage. I used less power during the period I was with them than I had in the period they used to estimate my monthly payment but it rose from £68 to over £100 within a year.


As I've already stated it was the salesman who said the tariff was fixed and confirmed by his supervisor on the phone.

If I had it in writing I wouldn't have started this thread.

As in the thread title, I'm saying the salesman was at fault, not necessarily npower

Hintza

gabbleRatchet wrote: »

but my monthly payment rose from £68 to over £100 within a year.

When it started rising did you not query it then? Still sounds like all you have got is a supposed conversation with a salesman, what you should have is a contract or some other documentary evidence on what was agreed.

fluffnutter

It's taken a while to get there but... you believe you switched to npower on the basis that their tariff was fixed for 12 months. In reality though, the tariff increased during the year.

I expect that the product information you will have received on switching clearly stated that tariffs could be subject to change (provided npower follow contract law, e.g. notify you of said change and allow you to withdraw without penalty). Did you read this information?

However.. that aside, if you genuinely feel you were misled, i.e. the salesperson said 'The tariff will not change, guaranteed' then you possibly have a case for misselling. At the very least, npower should be spending a little more of their time listening to you and less of their time washing their hands of dodgy sales staff.

In terms of the debt collection agency, simply stating that the debt is denied should mean they return the debt to npower and cease contacting you. At that point, npower should technically start communicating again. I notice that a representative has commented on this thread so I hope that things have finally started moving in that direction.

It might be wise to be a little clearer with npower than you have been with us (and a little less defensive perhaps? ). It's taken 20 posts before you've told us the whole story.