Add your feedback on energy supplier Npower

naedanger

lynne1985 wrote: »

I would advise everyone to stay away from Npower i joined them in Feb 2013 for gas and electricity and have just received my 1st bill October 2014!! Told any balance over 6 months would be wiped off so i stuck with them and surprisingly they have wormed their way out of that.

If you believe you have been misled or badly treated then complain using their official complaint process. Unless you are fully satisfied stick with the process and after 8 weeks take your complaint to the Ombudsman.

Npower complaints process

Put everything in writing to the email address given. In practice npower may try and fob you off or even ignore you completely. If so, assuming you believe your complaint is justified, take them to the Ombudsman.

bobbiesox

I've been with Npower since I moved into my property. They have been nothing but hassle the entire time.
The property had pre-paid meters which cost me £60 each to have removed! They then told me for the next 6 months that I was still on pre-pay for my gas, yet produced me an astronomical gas bill??
Hours of phone calls later they sorted it out with £40.00 compensation going to my bank account.They applied it to my electricity account.
I once paid my gas and electricity during the same phone call and they applied the entire amount onto the electricity because i'm not on 'duel fuel'?? I then received a demand letter for the gas bill and a threat to take me to court!!! Further time spent on the phone and they managed to transfer the additional credit from my electricity to my gas 'on this one occasion' I asked if any of the staff at Npower have any initiative and who in their right mind would over pay on one bill and not pay the other?? Npower make me absolutely furious!

That said, Npower seem to be my best option on price and tariff and I'm planning on switching through CEC for the better tariff.
My other option would be Scottish Power, but seeing as they have been seriously reprimanded by ofgem and currently have 75,000 late bills which need to be reduced to 30,000 by the end of December, (along with other improvements they need to make by the end of January) or they face a ban on taking on new customers!!

go to ofgem.gov.uk/publication...face-sales-ban (as a new user I cannot post with links)

Better the devil you know. I'm in it for saving money.

rrtt

Hi Bobbiesox

Just a suggestion but I find Ovo vastly cheaper on rates, has better tarriffs, and brilliant customer service (brilliant NOT just by comparison with nPower which, let's face it, would scarcely be a recommendation! but is truly excellent in its own right).

Had similar experiences to you in my dealings with nPower (which supplier I inherited on move to current house) - won't go into all the tedious details which everyone's heard from thousands of others before me, but I think if I just stick to the factual in saying they were totally inept, incompetent, inefficient, right hand didn't know what left hand was doing, failed to read meter, failed to tell me that I could read meter myself if I went to hardware store and bought a key for £1.30, failed to communicate with anyone except their bailiffs, required me to spend 7 hours over 2 days dealing with their wretched call centre during which time I nearly had a nervous breakdown ... I'm mystified as to why they have any customers left!

Anyway, between today 17/11 and 20/11 is my switchover period to Ovo, yippee, can't wait!! (was previously & happily with them at old house for 3 years - very happily actually, as they pay 3% interest rate on all the money lodged with them by DDs upfront, which is vastly better than any Bank interest rate!)

teddysmum

I've been with Npower for years and only had two minor problems, both of which were sorted,with accompanying (unrequested) £30 compensation.


I was about to leave, assuming that Sainsburys, Co-op or OVO were much cheaper(though I discounted the latter after their site and customer service person were unable to give a sensible quotation due to an ongoing software fault), but luckily checked the NPower November 2015 tariff and found that it was cheaper.


This was cheaper than my current November 2014 rate, so transferred early as moving is penalty free. However, the new January 2016 (again with no escape penalty) rate is even better, so I'm about to move again and will keep a regular monthly check on rates, just in case.

Ferris

I'm torn... £50 a year saving by moving to npower from EDF (only joined them in August), plus cashback (£30 from CEC or £45 from TCB). But is it worth it? Reading some of these accounts, I'm tempted to think not, but then is it a case of only those with bad experiences sharing them?

rrtt

Ferris wrote: »

I'm torn... £50 a year saving by moving to npower from EDF (only joined them in August), plus cashback (£30 from CEC or £45 from TCB). But is it worth it? Reading some of these accounts, I'm tempted to think not, but then is it a case of only those with bad experiences sharing them?

I hope you've factored in the time you'll waste if you're one of the thousands of unlucky ones who have problems with them Ferris! I ended up on about 20 hours wasted after inheriting them as providers for house I bought, of which about 8 hrs was on the phone (of which probably half on hold). At only even £10/hour, I consider that definitely not worth it - and that's not including the sheer stress and frustration - it was like being in some nightmarish Kafka novel which there was no rationality to, or escape from ... Thankfully, am now switched over to Ovo!

Ferris

rrtt wrote: »

I hope you've factored in the time you'll waste if you're one of the thousands of unlucky ones who have problems with them Ferris! I ended up on about 20 hours wasted after inheriting them as providers for house I bought, of which about 8 hrs was on the phone (of which probably half on hold). At only even £10/hour, I consider that definitely not worth it - and that's not including the sheer stress and frustration - it was like being in some nightmarish Kafka novel which there was no rationality to, or escape from ... Thankfully, am now switched over to Ovo!

Thanks for that. I'm yet to have any major problems with energy companies, and I'd like it to stay that way .

But EDF don't exactly have a good rep either, and every time I've contacted them they've sorted things out quickly and efficiently (online live chat is a revelation to modern day customer service: everything in writing, no backing out of that!). So are npower that much worse? I notice they don't offer live chat, for a start...

rrtt

Ferris wrote: »

Thanks for that. I'm yet to have any major problems with energy companies, and I'd like it to stay that way .

But EDF don't exactly have a good rep either, and every time I've contacted them they've sorted things out quickly and efficiently (online live chat is a revelation to modern day customer service: everything in writing, no backing out of that!). So are npower that much worse? I notice they don't offer live chat, for a start...

Can't answer that Ferris, sorry, as have never used EDF. Ovo customer servces are excellent tho (one reason I chose them, others being their cheapness compared with nPower, their 3% paid for whatever money of yours they have upfront - better than any bank! - and availability of Economy 10 in my area which is like economy 7 but at 3 different periods of day, ie 1-4pm, 8-10pm, and midnight 5am GMT).

taram_2

House 1, everything went to plan, very happy with their service and rates.

House 2, switched to Npower due to previously being happy and slowly things went wrong, ended up nearly 1k in credit in 14 months, despite sending in monthly readings and living in a small 1 bed house by myself, so paying almost 200/month for dual fuel by the end!!

House 3, they swore their policies had changed, and since that house was already with them, I said okay. No bill for a year despite everything set up correctly. Still no final bill and I've been gone three months.

House 4: already with Npower... I switched the first day I moved in.

Avoid like the plague.

verntern

All complaints about NPower are true and valid. A chaotic energy company. They rarely reply to queries. In my case, every time I provided meter readings they sent an online bill. No problem to me I was always in credit. Now after finally switching away from them needing to chase a £261.96 refund of credit. Online account says 'refunded', yet to see it in my bank account. NPower a disaster of a company. Needs further investigation by the Ombudsman and shutting down.