**NPOWER** Please help!!

fashnu

Please bare with me on the below. I will try to keep as short as possible:

Move into my first flat in November '12 and the exsisting supplier was Npower. Didnt see a problem with this so I went with them for my electric. (No gas in flat..underfloor heating)

Set up my account and gave meter read and direct debit details over phone..all was well.

2 months pass by with no word from them, online or by post. I contacted them to be told that 'I am in a que waiting for my account to go live but they are getting new systems implimented and I will get a bill and account sorted within the week.

Another month passes and still nothing. I send an email to have no reply. I again call to ask what the hell is going on as Im getting really frustrated by the lack of help from these people. The woman on the phone tells me 'No account has been set up in my name for this address.'

Well! That just great!! Suffice to say I get it sorted again this time with a new meter read. I send my direct debit details online.

ANOTHER 2 MONTHS PASS and I finally get a bill!! Its now June!! The bill comes to £1235. :rotfl:

Im laughing because otherwise I would be going to the head office with a baseball bat.

Again I send my direct debit details to them so they can start taking monthly payments aaaaannnnd....still no word.

Today I get up to the mail and find a 'Collections Direct' letter saying I owe £1235 and that I should get a shift on paying it sharpish. In a fit of rage I phoned them ready to go ballistic at the poor teenager/halfwit/employee from Budapest to only hear a message saying the offices are closed for an upgrade to their computer system and phone lines!!!

Im seriously losing the will to live and whilst they are messing around my bill keeps going up. All I want to do is make payments but they are more bothered about sending me debt collection letters than actually helping me! Its now been 8 months and I have done everything I can to get it sorted.

Is there anything at all I can do to complain about these chimps? Im actauklly tempted not to even pay them out of spite. Please help me anyone!

Thankyou for your time

Ryan

Nada666

So you were fully aware that the debits had not been set up and no instalments were being taken. You have the right to be annoyed and you have the right to demand they provide you the prices and offers (such as £105 annual discount) that would have been given. But other than that adjustment it was up to you to set aside the money you knew you were spending so that when a bill came through you could pay it.

NeverEnough

Problem is, as the OP has said, they have NOT set up the account and instead have gone direct to debt collection!

OP, you should write to the Npower complaints team - keep copies of all correspondence and escalate to the Ombudsman if they continue to ignore you. You should also ensure you set aside sufficient to cover your bill when it eventually arrives. All the utility companies seem to be complete rubbish at everything except ripping the public off, unfortunately.

DirectDebacle

Ensure you have evidence of the date you took possession of the flat. Tenancy Agreement for example. Ensure you have the meter reading for when you moved in.

The only information you need to give to the collection agency at this stage is that you are in dispute with npower. Request they make no further contact with you until such time as the dispute has been resolved either with npower or by the Ombudsman Services (energy). You will not correspond with them any further on the matter until then.

Make a formal complaint to npower in writing by post or online. Preferably both.

chanz4

don't npower do their own collections in house

25.6_Pre-contract_oblig

Hi fashnu,

Welcome to the Forum.

I agree with NeverEnough and DirectDebacle make an Official Complaint to npower in writing. Don't give the collection agency any of your time or information, deal with npower.

Follow npower's procedure, in the PDF, that you can download from their site

http://www.npower.com/home/help-and-support/contact-us/complaints/

Tel: 0800 316 9328

Make sure you get a Complaint Number.

It can be very difficult dealing with npower because they are relying on a 'new computer system' that is "not fit for purpose". I found that my patience was sorely tested.

Your case, where npower failed to set up an Account for you, and all the subsequent issues is another very sad example of the 'broken system' in action, as documented in the long thread:

Warning: npower accept new customers without sending them a Contract
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4273611

Unfortunately, you are not the only one who has been badly let down by npower: there are many thousands of us.

25.6_Pre-contract_oblig

[Deleted User]

Hi Fashnu, we ve had one of the longest stretch of cold weather I ve ever had in 14 years trudging the streets. It went on from November to mid April hovering around the zero 0-3 C. mark for 5 months. you have a very expensive form of heating. It was going to be a whopping bill anyway whichever supplier you had dealt with. I would suspend the basball bat retribution until you get a proper bill worked out on precisely how many kwhs you have used

nPower

fashnu wrote: »

Please bare with me on the below. I will try to keep as short as possible:

Move into my first flat in November '12 and the exsisting supplier was Npower. Didnt see a problem with this so I went with them for my electric. (No gas in flat..underfloor heating)

Set up my account and gave meter read and direct debit details over phone..all was well.

2 months pass by with no word from them, online or by post. I contacted them to be told that 'I am in a que waiting for my account to go live but they are getting new systems implimented and I will get a bill and account sorted within the week.

Another month passes and still nothing. I send an email to have no reply. I again call to ask what the hell is going on as Im getting really frustrated by the lack of help from these people. The woman on the phone tells me 'No account has been set up in my name for this address.'

Well! That just great!! Suffice to say I get it sorted again this time with a new meter read. I send my direct debit details online.

ANOTHER 2 MONTHS PASS and I finally get a bill!! Its now June!! The bill comes to £1235. :rotfl:

Im laughing because otherwise I would be going to the head office with a baseball bat.

Again I send my direct debit details to them so they can start taking monthly payments aaaaannnnd....still no word.

Today I get up to the mail and find a 'Collections Direct' letter saying I owe £1235 and that I should get a shift on paying it sharpish. In a fit of rage I phoned them ready to go ballistic at the poor teenager/halfwit/employee from Budapest to only hear a message saying the offices are closed for an upgrade to their computer system and phone lines!!!

Im seriously losing the will to live and whilst they are messing around my bill keeps going up. All I want to do is make payments but they are more bothered about sending me debt collection letters than actually helping me! Its now been 8 months and I have done everything I can to get it sorted.

Is there anything at all I can do to complain about these chimps? Im actauklly tempted not to even pay them out of spite. Please help me anyone!

Thankyou for your time

Ryan

Hi fashnu,

I'd like to take a look into this for you and see if there's anything we can do. It does sound like there has been a delay in setting up your account and, therefore, your direct debit, which you had asked for.

If you can send me the details in an email (address if on my profile page), I'll get onto this right away.

Many thanks,

Adam

January20

OP, you're lucky you got a bill! My last bill was in March and my next bill is not due until mid-November!

In the meantime, npower are refusing to change my DD ie to lower it to the summer months payment so I'm still paying a winter DD! Which is £30 more a month that I should be paying!

When I've tried to change the DD, they've requested a meter reading (I'm now well acquainted with my meter!) only to tell me that their new computer system won't accept the reading because of the type of meter I have.

I've nearly got £300 worth of payments in my account (ie when I log in my account shows I'm in credit by nearly £300) with no idea how much I have used and they make it sound like it's some sort of savings plan lol!

The minute this is sorted, I'm changing my supplier. I'd really advise people to stay away from npower!

Nada666

January20 wrote: »

OP, you're lucky you got a bill! My last bill was in March and my next bill is not due until mid-November!

In the meantime, npower are refusing to change my DD ie to lower it to the summer months payment so I'm still paying a winter DD! Which is £30 more a month that I should be paying!

There is no such thing as a 'winter DD' instalment unless you are paying quarterly by direct debit - you are supposed to pay the same flat rate all year round. You have your bill from March, you should be able to work out what your actual balance is.

I take it by saying your balance is £300 this is only taking up to Feb/Mar usage? There's another four months to pay for off that balance. If this is not the case and you are £300 in balance including usage through to end July then, fair enough, you may have a credit of £100 too much. Maybe you should be able to knock £8 or £10 off your instalments. But not £30.