NPower abusing OAP's in the middle of winter!

chanz4

Is the other supplier disputing the final / start reads

pooch

Andy_WSM wrote: »

If you're angry, you probably wouldn't like me to point out that it's not even the end of meteorological Autumn yet, let alone "the middle of Winter". Winter starts on the 21st December.

Actually, meteorologists and climatologists define winter as December 1st through to the last day of February
(heard this on a BBC radio weather broadcast earlier this week)

What you are referring to as starting on the winter solstice (around 21st December) is the astronomical winter

sheffield_lad

Monsieur_Bob wrote: »

The final bill was received on the 22nd October.This shows a credit of £197.69. Thanks for the advice regarding writing them a letter, but it really shouldn't be needed in my opinion, if they owe the money then why all the prevaricating? My mum accuses them of attempting to 'give her the run around' when she attempts to get this sorted over the phone.

There has to be something your not mentioning here, otherwise the monies would have gone back at the first request. You may here stories of utilities withholding money but there is normally a genuine reason for it they won't just withhold credit for no reason.

What reasons did they give?

Monsieur_Bob

macman wrote: »

4-6 week is not unknown in order to issue a credit when the account is closed.
NPower are acting perfectly correctly in refusing to discuss your mother's account with you in the absence of instructions from her-have you not heard of the Data Protection Act?

Yes, I have heard of the data protection act, friend. Her account with npower ceased to be active on the first of October, so that's nearly 10 weeks ago now.

My mother requested that I be allowed to do this over the phone [and I've done this with other organisations through her stating this via a phone call]. They agreed that I be allowed to do this, then when I phoned refused to talk to me. She phones to do this again, to be told that she must phone them on the same day, prior to me phoning, to say that I'm phoning and must continue to do this every time I want to phone them on her behalf. They've never mentioned that it has to be put in writing. The 3 times last week when I try to contact them on their complaints number, after waiting on hold for around half an hour, they hang up on me.

This has only been happening for approximately the last month, as I presumed she would be able to get it sorted on her own. They sent her the cheque to settle the credit she was due on her electricity account around a month ago, we fully expected to receive both together as they stated this would be happening when she initially phoned to ask when they would be refunding the amount she was in credit by on both her gas and electricity accounts.

Monsieur_Bob

howee wrote: »

There has to be something your not mentioning here, otherwise the monies would have gone back at the first request. You may here stories of utilities withholding money but there is normally a genuine reason for it they won't just withhold credit for no reason.

What reasons did they give?

They haven't given a reason. The final gas bill says £197.69 in credit, the meter readings haven't been questioned and are correct, they agreed to send her the money she's owed within 14 days when she first contacted them, they've not sent any letters saying anything different since. My mum can't get any sense out of them, that's why I've been trying to talk to them personally. From doing some research online, npower seem to behave in this way regularly. I can understand your incredulity Howee, but I honestly can't see that anything is amiss, if the final bill is in credit and all the meter readings are correct. I just think that they try to keep hold of every customer's cash for as long as possible. Think about all that interest which that money makes for them, even if they hold onto it for an extra month.

Monsieur_Bob

chanz4 wrote: »

Is the other supplier disputing the final / start reads

No. Her new energy supplier hasn't questioned this, she has changed supplier and has just received her bill for November, I've gone back through her past bills with npower and everything seems to 'tally up'. She's obviously been paying for her gas during the summer and as the gas central heating isn't as 'active' during the summer months, she's paid more cash in direct debit than she's used.

sheffield_lad

Monsieur_Bob wrote: »

I just think that they try to keep hold of every customer's cash for as long as possible. Think about all that interest which that money makes for them, even if they hold onto it for an extra month.

Fair enough from what you say it should have been sorted. The above statement is tosh though, it sounds a plan but you would have to make every employee aware of such a policy. Do you think that would be part of the training for any utility? 'Don't let them have their money back for a week or so we make interest on it'

No, its just nonsense posted on bb boards.

Good luck with it like I said if that's whats happened there should be no issue with a refund.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Monsieur_Bob wrote: »

No. Her new energy supplier hasn't questioned this, she has changed supplier and has just received her bill for November, I've gone back through her past bills with npower and everything seems to 'tally up'. She's obviously been paying for her gas during the summer and as the gas central heating isn't as 'active' during the summer months, she's paid more cash in direct debit than she's used.

- reading these boards, as I do, it seems to be around the 6th week after the final bill
- your scenario is around 6 weeks since your mothers final bill, you might want to add another xmas mail delivery week to it

macman

£200 would not be an abnormal amount to carry through as a credit at the start of winter (i.e October).
As you say, 10 weeks from switch is an unacceptable delay in making the credit. What you need to find out though is why. Have you kept the DD open so they can credit it, or will they have to supply a cheque?
But if your conspiracy theory was correct, then they would do this to every customer, which they clearly don't.

Monsieur_Bob

howee wrote: »

Fair enough from what you say it should have been sorted. The above statement is tosh though, it sounds a plan but you would have to make every employee aware of such a policy. Do you think that would be part of the training for any utility? 'Don't let them have their money back for a week or so we make interest on it'

No, its just nonsense posted on bb boards.

Good luck with it like I said if that's whats happened there should be no issue with a refund.

Thanks. Perhaps that's the case, perhaps not, it makes financial sense to do it though. Especially when the customer has already left for elsewhere, they've nothing to lose apart from the customer not returning in the future.
After this experience, I wouldn't be surprised at anything that npower do. I've encountered poor customer service before, but this honestly feels like they are attempting to exploit someone because she's old and not as 'on the ball' as someone younger. I honestly think she would never get the cash back if she didn't have other people willing to deal with them on her behalf, and it seems like they are being wilfully obstructive in not wanting me to represent her.