Warning: npower accept new customers without sending them a Contract

chanz4

I bet they are doing admin move in rather than homemoves, if they do they first no docs are sent

*Jane*

Promised contract that they said would take 3 to 5 days has still not been recieved. So I really dont hold much hope that I will recieve my £50 that they owe me.

25.6_Pre-contract_oblig

lamialex wrote: »

This is not my first post in this thread unfortunately...
I was in a house where they had used Npower for a year so I decided to keep on using them but they never told me on the phone that I would have to pay a £30 cancellation fee if I decided to leave them.
Since I never received anything from them, I could never read about that cancellation fee either.
Because they were so useless I decided to move to another company, I had enough of all those calls I had given them in the ast few months to try to sort out our new account.
So I was really annoyed to see about that cancellation fee that they never pointed out to me, I'm sure they must have a record of that chat on their system and also the fact that I never received a contract.
I refuse to pay this cancellation fee but how to not pay it?
Can they sue me?
They are so useless and a group of cheats it seems!!!!
Thanks for your help.

Hi lamialex,

While I totally sympathise with you IANAL and I am finding it difficult to advise.
In principle you may have a case: you did not know about the £30 cancellation fee if you never received any Contract or other paperwork from npower.

In practice.
If you have been paying by DD npower could take the money.
If you are paying by another method you could withhold the £30 cancellation fee.

You will have to pay for all the energy used.

If you don't pay in full npower can block the transfer to another Supplier.
While you are still with npower they will continue to charge you (which will be to their advantage - cash flow).

You asked, "Can they sue me?" - I very much doubt that they will. For the £30 cancellation fee?

25.6_Pre-contract_oblig

TCSNC

i HATE NPOWER......! 5,600 bill! on aconomy 7 1 bed flat
i moved into a small one bedroom flat with my ex partner in 2010, we contacted npower to open an account...
all was fine (but no contract was ever sent too me) paying by direct debit of £60 pound a month bearing in mind we both worked 5 days aweek so didnt use alot... i seperated from my partner in August 2011 i contacted NPower to change the account name into his.... then recieved a letter in November 2011 stay thanks for letting us know about your account change we have now changed the name to WAIT my name that was originally on the account!
anyway i contacted the relevent ppl to say i had moved out council etc etc... anyway in May 2012 my ex partner which is still living at the address gave them a metre reading... a week later there are bills being forwarded from him to my new address for £5,600!!!!!!! i had paid just under 2000 punds for the 17 months i lived there so this was on top of that! £7,600! i told them this numous times and never heard anything since 6/12... they are now calling me today refusing to change the account and say i need to pay....! first off how can a one bedroom flat on D/N rate with storage heaters use that much??? they refused to look into the complaint and have just sent me a DEAD LOCK letter... they have not looked into the supply even though i said there must be something wrong with the metre or the original readings from when i moved in it is near on impossible! all they did was send a metre reader man round! .... i dont know where to go with this concidering i moved out ages ago but refuse to send this to my ex partner... i have a letter saying in Novemeber 2011 i was 154 pound in credit this is after the letter regarding the account change and the fact they had a TYPO and had my name changed to MY name! but for me this letter is them acknowledging the request HELP!!!!!!!

*Jane*

Still not recieved my contract. Anyone know who I can complain to?

TheSilentOne_2

*Jane* wrote: »

Still not received my contract. Anyone know who I can complain to?

If you have made a complaint with npower themselves then you can go to Ofgem/Ombudsman but you would need to have a complaint reference number from npower's complaints first to show you have gone down the necessary channels.

TheSilentOne_2

If you are the kind of person that has peace of mind when paying via Direct debit then this may interest and most likely shock you.

It seems that this 'new system' is making yet another mistake. For an unknown number of customers accounts the Direct debit is not only taking out the monthly amount as normal but also taking out the full balance on the account.

So, if your account is in a credit position then this wont be a worry but if, after the heavy winter bill or amended account, you may have a large debt then this is also being taken.

Is there anything this system can do without complaint or failure?

npower are also trying to achieve number one status for customer services, yes I laughed too.

TheSilentOne_2

TCSNC wrote: »

i HATE NPOWER......! 5,600 bill! on aconomy 7 1 bed flat............

Things to look into:

When you started with npower did you give them an actual meter reading or was this based on estimated reads?

If this was based on an estimate then it could be way off and may have been estimated for a while. This would mean the previous tenant having low or average bills and then if you gave a reading after being there a year, for example, it could then produce a large bill.

Have the readings been transposed? (Night reading been added to the DAY rate and vise versa)

This can sometimes create large bills but also being an Economy 7 meter (DAY/NIGHT) it can also create small bills too depending on how the readings are transposed.

Do/Did you have an immersion switch (To override hot water/heating)?

This switch is used to turn on the hot water tank and heating when the meter is in the DAY rate. These are usually 3Kwh so can cost 45p/50p per hour, so if this is switched on permanent when you moved in and didn't know about it then it would cost between £10:80 and £12 per day.

£7,600 still doesn't make sense going from 2010 to May 2012 even considering some of those above points.

I would advise if you have been given a complaint reference number then you could ask once more for them to review it but if it is refused then you will be going to Ofgem/Ombudsman.

I would also advise that you speak with your local Citizen Advice Bureau as they could look into this for you, and with your permission can phone npower to discuss this matter on your behalf.

TheSilentOne_2

lamialex wrote: »

This is not my first post in this thread unfortunately...
I was in a house where they had used Npower for a year so I decided to keep on using them but they never told me on the phone that I would have to pay a £30 cancellation fee if I decided to leave them.
Since I never received anything from them, I could never read about that cancellation fee either.
Because they were so useless I decided to move to another company, I had enough of all those calls I had given them in the ast few months to try to sort out our new account.
So I was really annoyed to see about that cancellation fee that they never pointed out to me, I'm sure they must have a record of that chat on their system and also the fact that I never received a contract.
I refuse to pay this cancellation fee but how to not pay it?
Can they sue me?
They are so useless and a group of cheats it seems!!!!
Thanks for your help.

If npower did not state over the phone regarding the cancellation fee, (Usually associated with an online or fixed tariff), or send relevant paperwork to advise on terms and conditions then you could pay for the energy used and leave the £30.00 still on the account and raise a complaint.

The chances are that it would be wiped as part of a goodwill gesture, unless they have proof (Phone recording) but in the case of being sued I very much doubt it as it would cost a lot more than that to action.

If this did go to a complaint then I am sure it would be written off as a goodwill gesture as they have a lot of complaints to deal with regarding their new system and would be a quick fix.

Hope this gives you some help.

TheSilentOne_2

*Jane* wrote: »

Promised contract that they said would take 3 to 5 days has still not been recieved. So I really dont hold much hope that I will recieve my £50 that they owe me.

Everything is sent 2nd class post and when I worked there I generally stated 7 to 10 working days to make sure it got to the customer in that time but then I was going off the old system that did work, albeit classed as slow compared to this new system.
Was the £50 an incentive? If so then I would suggest calling them and they can raise a missing incentive form.