No Standing Charge

FairyNuff_

I have had horrendous problems with NPower since I moved to this address 13 months ago, regardless of the fact I've been a loyal customer for 13 yrs previously. I'm subject to the bedroom tax and living on less than £20pw after all bills and debts, I've actually gotten really good at this And in the throws of starting my own business as after over 300 applications in the last year, I have had no luck finding a job.
The problem began when, in early Dec 2012, I received a bill for £340 for the gas alone. Now I knew this to be a ridiculous amount since I had only had the gas connected in late Oct and have always been an extremely low user. If they checked their records from my old address, they would have seen this. They forced a prepayment meter on me, set to take £4.50pw before using any gas. I spent the entire winter in one room with the heating on at no more than 13 degrees, sometimes I was even in bed with a hat and gloves on too!
As you can imagine, it was a miserable winter for me.
Ok so late Feb, another bill arrives, this time for £146, remember, I have been paying the meter all through the winter. I just about exploded, I could not believe that this bill was just getting more and more out of control. Of course I rang them and was sobbing my heart out till it became clear that this was the accurate and only bill!
Basically, right then I was massively relieved, as you would be and so incredibly happy. But then I started asking questions, I mean how did this happen and why was I forced to live in the conditions I had, and why had some of the staff spoken to me in such a disrespectful way in the 20 or so calls I had made during this dispute?? Not free calls by the way. They out and out did not believe me, and stopped just short of calling me a liar, that my gas had not been connected most of the time period they had billed me for.
Well the first thing I did was insist they change my meter back to a normal domestic one, which they did 3 weeks later, for free. Then, after sleeping on it and remembering how I had felt, as if I was living in a Dickensian novel, I called and made a formal complaint about the way I had been treated and their mistake.
How convenient, they claimed to have lost all recordings of phone calls from my number!
Ok so in March, they conceded that they were at fault and dropped the £146 bill
Next thing that happened was I got a text from LLoydsTLC telling me I had gone over my limit, I looked online and discovered NPower had taken £54, way more than the £20 agreed. I called the bank immediately and told them it was the wrong amount so they recalled it there and then. I called NPower straight after, the complaints dept ...again, and disputed the amount. That was when they informed me of the standing charge introduced in May for gas set at 44.4p a day! They insisted they had sent a letter out but I have received no such letter. And that I actually owe them £74 and £54 was my new monthly DD! I have used next to no gas at all throughout the summer and have paid faithfully my £20pm, I am still being slammed with a further £74 bill!
I even worked out, according to the figures and costs they gave me, the gas I have used comes to just over £12. So with all charges, I have paid, or will pay if they have things their way, over £176 for that tiny amount of gas! The guy kept saying for most of the 45 min call that there was no way he could do anything about that charge.
Until that is, I started saying I was leaving. Then magically he was able to offer me a much lower rate of £57 a year! It was something called October 14 but it would tie me in for another year, and my contract ends tomorrow. So I said I would think about it. We set a new rate of £28pm and I left it at that.
Ok fine, I had seen that there's a company called Ebico who have no standing charge so that day, 2 weeks ago, I applied to them after comparing rates etc.
6 days later, I get the same text from my bank, and go look and omg they had taken £54 again!
Thank you LLoydsTSB for your text service, if it wasn't for that I wouldn't have known for a while after, till charges had been applied by the bank.
This time I lodged a formal complaint and she offered me a £25 goodwill gesture with profuse apologies saying 'It should never have happened' ...No kidding!!
So yesterday I receive 2 things from Ebico, one a card to say they welcome me on board and the other a letter to say that as I had told them I had a normal domestic meter but the register says that I'm actually on a prepayment meter, I am being turned down and would need to apply again with the correct info!
!!!!!!??? :eek: Npower were quick enough to register the prepayment meter, I had it no more than 5 weeks, but in the 6 months that have passed since they removed it, they have not bothered to let the register know still!!!!
Omg these people are driving me totally nuts.
Ok so now, I have got in touch with NPower, they apologised, I made a formal complaint because now that adds a further 2 weeks of daily standing charges to my bill while I apply afresh, 2 weeks have already passed! I then rang Ebico to let them know this was happening and they told me it takes another 2 weeks on top of that, for the info at the register to be updated.
OMFG! I cannot effing believe NPower! They are the absolute bane of my life.
What I want to know is
A} Do I have a good case against them to win a sizable amount of compensation?
And
B} Is this something I should now take to the ombudsman?
I feel that they have messed me around long enough now on their own terms.
Honestly I'm at my wits end with these people, any help or advise you can give me would be gratefully received.
Thank you so much
Fizzy xXx

nPower

FairyNuff_ wrote: »

I have had horrendous problems with NPower since I moved to this address 13 months ago, regardless of the fact I've been a loyal customer for 13 yrs previously. I'm subject to the bedroom tax and living on less than £20pw after all bills and debts, I've actually gotten really good at this And in the throws of starting my own business as after over 300 applications in the last year, I have had no luck finding a job.
The problem began when, in early Dec 2012, I received a bill for £340 for the gas alone. Now I knew this to be a ridiculous amount since I had only had the gas connected in late Oct and have always been an extremely low user. If they checked their records from my old address, they would have seen this. They forced a prepayment meter on me, set to take £4.50pw before using any gas. I spent the entire winter in one room with the heating on at no more than 13 degrees, sometimes I was even in bed with a hat and gloves on too!
As you can imagine, it was a miserable winter for me.
Ok so late Feb, another bill arrives, this time for £146, remember, I have been paying the meter all through the winter. I just about exploded, I could not believe that this bill was just getting more and more out of control. Of course I rang them and was sobbing my heart out till it became clear that this was the accurate and only bill!
Basically, right then I was massively relieved, as you would be and so incredibly happy. But then I started asking questions, I mean how did this happen and why was I forced to live in the conditions I had, and why had some of the staff spoken to me in such a disrespectful way in the 20 or so calls I had made during this dispute?? Not free calls by the way. They out and out did not believe me, and stopped just short of calling me a liar, that my gas had not been connected most of the time period they had billed me for.
Well the first thing I did was insist they change my meter back to a normal domestic one, which they did 3 weeks later, for free. Then, after sleeping on it and remembering how I had felt, as if I was living in a Dickensian novel, I called and made a formal complaint about the way I had been treated and their mistake.
How convenient, they claimed to have lost all recordings of phone calls from my number!
Ok so in March, they conceded that they were at fault and dropped the £146 bill
Next thing that happened was I got a text from LLoydsTLC telling me I had gone over my limit, I looked online and discovered NPower had taken £54, way more than the £20 agreed. I called the bank immediately and told them it was the wrong amount so they recalled it there and then. I called NPower straight after, the complaints dept ...again, and disputed the amount. That was when they informed me of the standing charge introduced in May for gas set at 44.4p a day! They insisted they had sent a letter out but I have received no such letter. And that I actually owe them £74 and £54 was my new monthly DD! I have used next to no gas at all throughout the summer and have paid faithfully my £20pm, I am still being slammed with a further £74 bill!
I even worked out, according to the figures and costs they gave me, the gas I have used comes to just over £12. So with all charges, I have paid, or will pay if they have things their way, over £176 for that tiny amount of gas! The guy kept saying for most of the 45 min call that there was no way he could do anything about that charge.
Until that is, I started saying I was leaving. Then magically he was able to offer me a much lower rate of £57 a year! It was something called October 14 but it would tie me in for another year, and my contract ends tomorrow. So I said I would think about it. We set a new rate of £28pm and I left it at that.
Ok fine, I had seen that there's a company called Ebico who have no standing charge so that day, 2 weeks ago, I applied to them after comparing rates etc.
6 days later, I get the same text from my bank, and go look and omg they had taken £54 again!
Thank you LLoydsTSB for your text service, if it wasn't for that I wouldn't have known for a while after, till charges had been applied by the bank.
This time I lodged a formal complaint and she offered me a £25 goodwill gesture with profuse apologies saying 'It should never have happened' ...No kidding!!
So yesterday I receive 2 things from Ebico, one a card to say they welcome me on board and the other a letter to say that as I had told them I had a normal domestic meter but the register says that I'm actually on a prepayment meter, I am being turned down and would need to apply again with the correct info!
!!!!!!??? :eek: Npower were quick enough to register the prepayment meter, I had it no more than 5 weeks, but in the 6 months that have passed since they removed it, they have not bothered to let the register know still!!!!
Omg these people are driving me totally nuts.
Ok so now, I have got in touch with NPower, they apologised, I made a formal complaint because now that adds a further 2 weeks of daily standing charges to my bill while I apply afresh, 2 weeks have already passed! I then rang Ebico to let them know this was happening and they told me it takes another 2 weeks on top of that, for the info at the register to be updated.
OMFG! I cannot effing believe NPower! They are the absolute bane of my life.
What I want to know is
A} Do I have a good case against them to win a sizable amount of compensation?
And
B} Is this something I should now take to the ombudsman?
I feel that they have messed me around long enough now on their own terms.
Honestly I'm at my wits end with these people, any help or advise you can give me would be gratefully received.
Thank you so much
Fizzy xXx

Hi FairyNuff_

I 'm sorry to hear about the problems you've had. If you could send me your account details and a brief background of your complaint and I can get this looked into for you. Please email me at the address on my profile page.

Thanks

Carmel