What do you do if the Ombudsman gets it wrong??

richpb7

Back in December 2011 I discovered a problem with Npower's billing, and have gone through all the official complaints procedures since then. I eventually went to the Ombudsman for help, and they found in my favour, but Npower challenged the ruling and produced a bill which I'd never heard of or seen in their defence. The Ombudsman agreed it was valid, and changed their mind.

I've managed to get a copy of this bill, and it clearly shows a meter reading from 2009 that has been re-dated 2011. Npower appears to have lied in order to change the Ombudsman's mind, and it seems to have worked! Trouble is I've pointed this out to the Ombudsman, but they won't talk to me, they say they won't accept any more evidence (apparently only the energy company has the right to appeal) and the case is closed - and closed in Npower's favour, not mine.

I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do next ... has anyone any advice? It's a very weird position to be in, and I seem to be out of options.

withabix

Did you use the energy they have charged you for?

Terrylw1

OK, the Final Ruling has to be signed by you within 28 days to become binding to you and the supplier. Did you sign it? If so, did the supplier produce their evidence after this? If so, I would suggest you remind the ombudsman that they should produce a new Final Ruling giving you a further 28 days.

The energy ombudsman has been shown to be quite poor on threads on here. They seem to be of limited experience and one poster stated that they are not viewed by senior peope unless you complain. One poster complained that the ombudsman was not considering their complaint due to their error and based on advice on how to tell them they were incorrect by posters on here and making a complaint, they backed down.

There is a complaints procedure that says you initially let your complaint handler that you wish to complain. It can then go to someone more senior. You can even complain to BIOA who they are a member of it you take it even further.

The TOR is on this page.

http://www.ombudsman-services.org/governance-os.html

There is nothing in there about a supplier having the ability to appeal or present new evidence after the Final Decision. This tells me that the ombudsman decided to re-open your complaint and I find it ridiculous that they didn't go through the same process with you!

It would be good to prove that reading as false. How do you know it is? Have you got evidence of reads from earlier dates than the bill which are higher? If you post, you might get more info on here from people about how readings are stored so you can challenge the ombudsman to check for that evidence to prove the reading is incorrect.

richpb7

withabix - I didn't use the energy from the 'fake' bill, the numbers were wrong.

Terrylw1 - Thanks for the comprehensive reply, good to see that I might not be so out of options. I've not signed the Ombudsman's ruling, seeing as I don't agree with it. Surprised to hear that others have had issues too, I don't know whether to be reassured or alarmed!

The original decision in my favour came on the 15th of June, but then I received a mail on the 23rd of July which just stated "I have received a request for a review of the Report", no mention as to who, why, what, etc. I asked for some clarification, and was told "npower has raised representations in response to the report". Finally on the 30th of August I was told that they had changed their mind in Npower's favour and that "There is no appeal against the final decision and this letter now ends the process of investigating your complaint".

I know the meter reading is fake, because as you say I have copies of all the old bills, so it's black and white to me. I've told the Ombudsman this, and pointed out exactly where the issue is, but they just won't talk to me - they ignore my emails it seems.

As a last desperate measure to get them to see sense, and after sending all the figures, I decided to create a chart showing graphically exactly how the bills portray the situation and send it to the Ombudsman, hoping it might tip the balance. They've not responded, but I add it here in case it helps.



I have until the 27th to make my decision.

jalexa

richpb7 wrote: »

I don't have personal experience of the Energy Ombudsman scheme (though I do of the Financial Ombudsman Service) and yes I have experienced this last minute "unchallengeable" challenge. Unfortunately the process is defined by the scheme and I don't think "incisive perception" of the Adjudicator is guaranteed in a poorly funded model.

With experience I have come to recognise several things; the "puny" financing model makes the organisations .... puny and therefore risk averse towards commenting about supplier systemic error. And that is not to blame the schemes. Secondly there is a much better funded Regulator which (in my personal experience) does everything possible to avoid even noting specific "documented allegations" of systemic issues with suppliers. Edf direct debit to name but one. Ombudsmen are not Regulators.

What the scheme should do is ensure the complainant does not suffer financial detriment as a result of supplier error using as a test the detriment which existed at the conclusion of the suppliers complaints procedure. I appreciate you might not want to post every detail but there there must be much NPower complaint outcome detail not posted.

I am sorry to have to observe that you didn't answer withabix's question. What your later graph shows is that the first and last readings plotted are consistent with trends. There is one early "rogue" reading and allegations of later "roguery" but the latest reading plotted suggests a consumption answer to withabix but not a payment answer. In fact the first "rogue" reading is absurd. It is plotted as a zero meter register reading. Is that really what the bill stated?** With no financial impact?

Indeed your post is silent on monthly payment adequacy but the graph shows clear payment inadequacy extending for an entire year sometime after the rogue zero reading despite quarterly customer and/or estimated readings. While it is NPower's responsibility to manage the payment adequacy in accordance with the tariff terms & conditions and the direct debit payment scheme description it is a customer's choice to accept (or not) each statement.

Is your complaint that they didn't manage payment adequacy, they offered inadequate redress and you suffered financial detriment as a result?

** An aside for the benefit of others dealing with supplers. Do not let issues fester. You are entitled to have recourse to the complaints procedure on the first occasion you are not 100% satisfied with a customer service outcome.

Wywth

There is no right to appeal against an ombudsman's final decision. (but you don't have to accept their suggested resolution)

You can however consider legal action if you feel there are valid grounds.
(If it is claimed you owe the supplier money, and you don't agree with the ombudsman's final suggested resolution, then expect the supplier to pursue you through the courts if necessary, which of course you can opt to defend)

richpb7

With regards to the monthly payments, I've not put all the data up not necessarily because I'm concerned about privacy but more because there's just so much data to digest and understand. There is obviously a fair bit more to this case, which I don't mind sharing, but I didn't want to deluge this forum with all my issues.

The long and short of it is that something went wrong with electricity payments, although I was sending meter readings for whatever reason they weren't being used, and hence I got into a large debt. What I originally asked Npower for was a payment plan to pay the debt back, but also that the back billing code should apply as from my understanding the supplier should shoulder some responsibility in these cases. Whether that's right or wrong may be debatable, but that is what the code actually says, so that's what I asked for.

What actually happened was that Npower raised my direct debit to enormous levels, rapidly spinning me into credit with them, but leaving me overdrawn, worrying over day to day costs, and forcing me to cancel the family holiday. I don't think that was a fair response from Npower.

The early 'rogue' reading was actually 100, not 0. No idea why they plumped for that.

As for monthly charges, their online billing system also failed so I couldn't read some bills, and other bills just stated very low consumption for electricity. It was me who first asked Npower to look into matters in October 2010, as I was concerned that things weren't right.

richpb7

I should have said that the graph does show monthly payments, but they were set so low that they're not very apparent until they were increased so dramatically in December 2011. The initial low payments is what I raised with Npower in October 2010, but after four separate engineer visits and several meter readings the monthly payment was actually lowered by Npower, not raised as I expected.

Given all the data that they had by then, I just thought I must be being very frugal - we had after all switched to low energy bulbs, and I was always trying to make sure things were turned off etc. - it never occurred to me that Npower had made such a !!!!-up.

Bear in mind that these initial payments were very similar to what I had been paying Eon back in early 2009, so they weren't stupidly low by any means for those days.

jalexa

richpb7 wrote: »

I should have said that the graph does show monthly payments, but they were set so low that they're not very apparent until they were increased so dramatically in December 2011.

Ah, now I understand the "green" and the "2600%".

IMO (probably now irrelevant due to the passage of time and the Ombudsman decision) NPower were in breach of "Back Billing sub-clause 7" in December 2011...

"The supplier has failed to reassess regular payments within the previous 15 months based on accurate information available to them, or have failed to communicate the need for and use of a customer own reading at this time"

Your case just adds to recent posts which illustrate an apparent lack of Energy Ombudsman fitness on billing generally (and specifically Direct Debit). You may not have had your case upheld but with the final decision do you remain in financial detriment (holiday excepted)?

I can see from your graph many learning points for you but I do not think it should be necessary to be "expert" to be treated correctly by suppliers. Neither should it be necessary to be "expert" (in complaint formulation) to be treated incisively by an ombudsman scheme.

Sadly there seems to me to be an organisational "smug contempt" protected by narrowly drafted terms of reference and an unchallengeable say so. We get what Government allows Regulators to allow.

richpb7

Thanks - that kind of summarises what I thought too, the whole thing is very odd. Just hope it's all incompetence rather than collusion.

I'm certainly out of pocket, there are all the extra charges and interest payments I've had to pay, and am still paying, whilst Npower now have hundreds of pounds of my money. As for lessons to be learned, I've not mentioned the birth of my son or the fact that I was hospitalised for a bit back in 2010/2011 - without which I might have been more on the ball, but I can hardly blame Npower for that :-)

The only other thing I can think of is start a new complaint with Npower about overbilling. The original complaint was about underbilling and mis-selling, but ironically due to their latest !!!!-up I've now been overbilled instead. Maybe that would work? Can you challenge again, but with a separate complaint?

jalexa

richpb7 wrote: »

...whilst Npower now have hundreds of pounds of my money...

On that narrow issue you are entitled to request a credit balance to be returned at any time. The supplier must comply or explain why not. (SLC27.16 I think). So set a trap?

It is quite difficult to contest a requirement for an autumn credit balance though that mainly depends when your "review year" starts (or ends). Something for you to find out if you don't know.