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  • Just transferred to a new tariff where we were quoted a payment of £56 pcm. Now we have got an email saying they have estimated what our usage will be and put the payments up to £67 before we have even made one payment. They just love over estimating our usage.

    I got fed up with them constantly overestimating so I switched to Quarterly Direct Debit instead. You get the same DD discount as monthly but only ever pay the actual bill amount.
  • donnajunkie
    donnajunkie Posts: 32,412 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    I got fed up with them constantly overestimating so I switched to Quarterly Direct Debit instead. You get the same DD discount as monthly but only ever pay the actual bill amount.

    That wouldn't work for us as we usually aren't in when the meter reader calls. That means that often gets estimated also. I sent a couple of emails yesterday and I dont know if they were seen but our account has been adjusted again. They have recorded my meter readings even though it seemed like it was rejecting them again. They Also changed our credit from £25 to £134. It's amazing how they do things. 10th December £137 in credit, 18th December £25 in credit, 23rd December £134 in credit.
  • See below for a previous post.

    Since then nPower have re-opened an account in my name at my old address and sent bill and demands there. Only by pure chance did I bump into to that homeowner who commented that he had been putting lots of nPower letters return to sender - so I called nPower...

    They then opened up another new account here, have used 'made up' meter readings despite having real ones, and moved the transfer date to our new supplier.

    I arrive home today to another 'relax, your new account is on its way' letter, brought round from my old house...

    They have also sent the complaint letters and £50 compensation cheque to the old address, and most importantly the letter confirming that we were done, closed and owed nothing to nPower that I requested. According to the manager it is 'rare' nPower have such issues!!!!

    I am now taking it to a full complaint to ofgem, and for the first time ever feeling like gong for a proper financial compensation out of pure exasperation and frustration.

    Once again I am over 20 months leaving the shower of incompetents and corporate disaster that is nPower. I am also going to let the new account they set up run through to whatever ends happen - I am not calling them. Bring on a court case, I am sure our scottish Sheriff court will enjoy hearing this one...
    From: mattXXXXXXXXXXX@hotmail.com
    To: paul.massara@rwenpower.com; executive.complaints@npower.com
    Subject: Please help me leave nPower


    Hello

    I really need your help, as your call centre and executive complaints team are not able to help me.


    My account number is XXXXXXXX, current address is XXXXXXXXXXXX.


    We moved house in May 2014, and took nPower with us as dual supplier from our previous address (at XXXXXXXXXX), where we had been with you for a year.



    In September 2014 we applied to leave nPower to EON.


    In November 2014 we had not moved, and it became apparent that bills had been mixed up between the two addresses, and an additional direct debit set up for the new house, and so we were making two payments. This meant (without telling us) that nPower had refused the transfer to another supplier.



    The electricity bill for the old property (significantly smaller than this one) remains high, however our comparison for the last 7 years was an all-electric house on storage heaters.


    Through November and December, nPower managed to take over the supply of the old property we no longer lived in, and then hand it on to EON. This all had to be reversed. Twice.


    Any complaints we had raised up until then were opened and closed the same day - without our agreement - as according to nPower they were 'resolved'. No they were not.


    By the end of December we were finally able to leave nPower.


    All this time we had been requesting our money back - we had been told in November that nPower had £500+ of our money held in credit. By February this had reduced to £350. By the time the refund was issued in March it was £250. All this time, since September, my access to the online account had been closed, so I could not check out the figures (and still cannot). It took months to get this repayment.


    The same week we had a refund issued, we received an additional bill for £100 or so. This was followed less than a week later by a threatening letter for payment - despite taking months to refund me!


    Since February, nPower have tried to re-take over our account again. Twice.

    I am now 'stuck' with nPower as no-one can explain why the account keeps being pulled back as an erroneous transfer. I have been told variously it is EON sending the account back (impossible according to EON and Ombudsman), that the outstanding bill prevents it (which I have been told to ignore), that the on-going complaint prevents it, or as I still have an account at the old address (no I do not).


    Your staff in the call centre all want me to speak to the executive complaints team. This team neither answer emails or call me back - over the seven months of issues, I have been called back three or four times only. They have not responded to emails - even to acknowledge their arrival.



    I am now in a position where executive complaints don't call or respond to emails. Call handlers cannot action anything, or explain what is happening. You have no contract with me, no direct debit set up - I do not know even what terms or deal I am on!


    According to to my latest call, you may even have the old house meter number attached to this account at the new property...back where we started in September.


    I really, really want to leave nPower.


    How am I to do this permanently, when you can 'reach in' to my new supplier and keep requesting me to return?

    Also, please can we resolve what money I do or don't owe nPower, with some clear bills being sent or access to my online account back.



    Regards


    Mxxx Xxxxxxxx
  • rrtt
    rrtt Posts: 227 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Matt, if that email hasn't resolved the problem within a week, just go to your MP with it. Seems to me as though only really high-powered intervention is going to sort it. I once had similar ongoing problems, (albeit not with nPower) which were quickly resolved with my MP's polite boot up their backside ;)
  • I was thinking a court would have a bigger boot!
  • Praise where it is due.

    npower had my final meter reading on the 26th January 2016 and I had the mailed final bill in my hands by the 30th January. And it is correct. I owe them under 1 months direct debit payment just as I had calculated.

    Well done npower.
  • I joined Npower for gas in october 2013 and cancelled my contract two months later, because they refused to accept i had a credit meter and kept sending me charge keys!! I heard nothing for two years and then received a reminder in December 2015 for an unpaid sum of £147, which I am now being hounded to pay. Ive spent hours on the phone trying to sort this out and ive also logged a complaint. The final straw was this Tuesday when I received a letter acknowledging my complaint and a second telegram threatening me with a debt collection agency! Quite possibly the worst company ive ever dealt with!
  • Cerissa
    Cerissa Posts: 7 Forumite
    edited 11 February 2016 at 11:33PM
    In our last house, we switched before we moved in. Npower kept sending us letters, addressed to 'The Occupier', suggesting we owed them money.

    I had three separate phone calls, where I explained that they were mistaken, that we had never been a customer of theirs, and provided evidence that we'd been with the same supplier for six years. Each time, the rep apologised profusely and they said I wouldn't be bothered again.

    Then I got more letters. One suggested we owed £25,000. One said they were sending debt collectors.

    Another said they were getting a warrant that would allow them to break into our house.

    We were literally NEVER a customer of theirs. You would think they would know this, given that they kept referring to us as 'The Occupier'.

    Was resolved in the end by me going to the CAB, and getting the approved set of words to get to executive complaints. They asked for copies of my bank statements. I said no way. They then asked for a copy of my lease. I said no way. I did the broken record thing, and eventually got an apology and they said they were 'waiving' the bill.

    Um no, you just stopped trying to extort money with menaces from a random person.

    It's the equivalent of me picking a random person, telling them I'm their energy supplier, and that I will break into their home if they don't pay me thousands of pounds for a service I am not providing.

    They should be dissolved. And prosecuted. If I had the money, I would sue them.
  • Smodlet
    Smodlet Posts: 6,976 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 19 February 2016 at 6:22PM
    How do you switch energy tariffs without changing supplier and make more than the £30 offered by the wonderful MSE?
    Be with npower! They are incapable of handling 3rd party switches even between their own tariffs. They closed my account, opened a new one with all my history disappeared, including my rather large credit balance, cancelled 2 years' worth of bills and generally messed up in ways unimaginable to anyone outside of npower, I'm sure. 3 complaints and £60 of compensation later, my DD is still not showing correctly though I am assured it is sorted now. One shall see.

    In total fairness, almost all of the customer service reps I have spoken to have been courteous, professional, friendly and customer-focussed, especially Mitchell; he's wonderful. I cannot fault any but the ***** in web support, who spoke to me as though I were a nuisance-retard. There's another £10 she's cost them in compo.

    Just puttin' that out there.
  • Smodlet
    Smodlet Posts: 6,976 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I have had a tariff applied to my electricity with the correct month and year in its name but the wrong unit rate and standing charge applied. 50% too high! If I had not clicked on the TIL link (tariff info label) I would never have known until being overcharged. Who knew there could be two tariffs with almost the same name appear and disappear in a matter of days? All because the government have decided energy companies may offer only four different tariffs at any one time, so the solution they choose is to change them every five minutes! Fortunately, we have by law 14 days to change our minds without penalty charges. Unfortunately, it takes most suppliers so long to deal with 3rd party switches we miss out on a whole lot of cashback as we cannot use this facility to change again once a switch is in progress. I could have made £30 a week for the past month if the process were quick enough... just saying.
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