Npower - billing error

cbcov1984

Afternoon all, I appreciate this is a bit long winded but I wondered if anyone had experienced something similar to the below and what, if anything, they were able to do.

My girlfriend and I moved out of a flat over a year ago (May 2012) and supplied a final meter reading to Npower at the time of moving out. We received a final bill a month later, paid it and thought that was the end of that. On the 2nd of August 2013 we received a rather ambiguous bill from Npower relating to the period in which we were in our flat which claimed that we were over £400 in credit. My girlfriend phoned them up and asked if this was the case to which they said yes and subsequently refunded us the £400 back.

We have since come back from holiday to find a bill, again relating to the flat which we left over a year ago, stating that we now owed £400 (the amounts were not identical but related to the same period). I phoned up Npower to query it and they were unable to provide me with an answer there and then and said they would get back to me. Two days later they phoned me back and said that we shouldn't have been refunded the £400 and that we now owed them the money back.

When I queried why this had happened they were unable to provide me with a clear answer and I all I was able to fathom was that a new bill was incorrectly issued based on an estimate of our energy usage (despite the fact we gave them actual readings for which we received a bill for over a year ago) at the flat and given the amount we paid on our final bill we had overpaid and were therefore owed money when we weren't. They gave an excuse of multiple systems etc.

This has completely rocked my faith in my Npower bills being correct but I don't feel I am in a position to argue with them as to what is right and what is wrong. I have asked them to send me a breakdown of our energy usage and bills paid for our time in the flat before I pay anything back to them but I don't have much faith in them being correct.

I don't mind the fact that we owe money, what I do mind is the being messed around, trudging through old bills, both online and paper and the time spent on the phone trying to get to the bottom of it. What also bothers me is that being told you are owed £400 and being paid it could land people in a spot of financial bother if they are then told they owe it back.

Has anybody experienced something similar? Do I have a cause for complaint?

Thanks in advance,

Chris

Nada666

cbcov1984 wrote: »

This has completely rocked my faith in my Npower bills being correct

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

You're new, here, aren't you? Oh, yes, first post, you are. Welcome. Stick around for a day or three and quickly find out why that is so funny.

twinni

good luck with a complaint - they only take written complaints if you ring and ask for a address they are rude and obnoxious , I've just had to call regarding my fathers account (I am authorised speaker on there) I spoke with a JULIE HYDE from peterlee branch and can only say the experience ha left me shocked and shaken , rude obnoxious and offensive all rolled into one , training must be something special , make it very hard to complain , use far too much jargon to put you off complaining and there is a new barrier at every step of the way, disgusting company . I am now having to go through the process of finding a new supplier for my elderly father. good luck

nPower

cbcov1984 wrote: »

Afternoon all, I appreciate this is a bit long winded but I wondered if anyone had experienced something similar to the below and what, if anything, they were able to do.

My girlfriend and I moved out of a flat over a year ago (May 2012) and supplied a final meter reading to Npower at the time of moving out. We received a final bill a month later, paid it and thought that was the end of that. On the 2nd of August 2013 we received a rather ambiguous bill from Npower relating to the period in which we were in our flat which claimed that we were over £400 in credit. My girlfriend phoned them up and asked if this was the case to which they said yes and subsequently refunded us the £400 back.

We have since come back from holiday to find a bill, again relating to the flat which we left over a year ago, stating that we now owed £400 (the amounts were not identical but related to the same period). I phoned up Npower to query it and they were unable to provide me with an answer there and then and said they would get back to me. Two days later they phoned me back and said that we shouldn't have been refunded the £400 and that we now owed them the money back.

When I queried why this had happened they were unable to provide me with a clear answer and I all I was able to fathom was that a new bill was incorrectly issued based on an estimate of our energy usage (despite the fact we gave them actual readings for which we received a bill for over a year ago) at the flat and given the amount we paid on our final bill we had overpaid and were therefore owed money when we weren't. They gave an excuse of multiple systems etc.

This has completely rocked my faith in my Npower bills being correct but I don't feel I am in a position to argue with them as to what is right and what is wrong. I have asked them to send me a breakdown of our energy usage and bills paid for our time in the flat before I pay anything back to them but I don't have much faith in them being correct.

I don't mind the fact that we owe money, what I do mind is the being messed around, trudging through old bills, both online and paper and the time spent on the phone trying to get to the bottom of it. What also bothers me is that being told you are owed £400 and being paid it could land people in a spot of financial bother if they are then told they owe it back.

Has anybody experienced something similar? Do I have a cause for complaint?

Thanks in advance,

Chris

Hi cbcov1984,

This sounds very odd and I understand that you want to see your account overview before doing anything.

I'd like to speed things up so could you email me at the address on my profile page and I can get this moving for you and see what's happened here?

Kind regards,

Adam

chrisbp

Help me please... I am so confused NPower has messed my head up with their billing. They told me I was in credit on two occasions and when I asked for money owed to me after waiting and hassling them for two weeks they said I am now in debit. My online credit show £846. then suddenly changed in an afternoon £247 in debit. I was on a pre-payment meter and separate gas tariffs. I changed to duel fuel and an online energy save and now I am in no different position then when I was on separate tariffs. I submitted readings and never got a correct bill. They upped my direct debit which I did then changed my tariff to online energy saver 2015. So now I owe them more. They said it was a long winter but this was in July of this year.... They never issued me my first bill for at least 10 months, and was in debit, so I paid more money. I am online energy saving and still paying more then I was on a prepayment key meter and gas. They never sent me football vouchers and issued me a £20.00 refund which supposedly came of my bill. They issued a £20.00 refund for missing an appointment for putting in a credit electricity meter (I now am in debit for £10.00). I want to leave them and switch but do I pay £60.00 to get out? I have never been so misled and so unhappy. I don't want to turn my gas on.... Thank you please help.

Wywth

chrisbp wrote: »

Help me please... I am so confused NPower has messed my head up with their billing. They told me I was in credit on two occasions and when I asked for money owed to me after waiting and hassling them for two weeks they said I am now in debit. My online credit show £846. then suddenly changed in an afternoon £247 in debit. I was on a pre-payment meter and separate gas tariffs. I changed to duel fuel and an online energy save and now I am in no different position then when I was on separate tariffs. I submitted readings and never got a correct bill. They upped my direct debit which I did then changed my tariff to online energy saver 2015. So now I owe them more. They said it was a long winter but this was in July of this year.... They never issued me my first bill for at least 10 months, and was in debit, so I paid more money. I am online energy saving and still paying more then I was on a prepayment key meter and gas. They never sent me football vouchers and issued me a £20.00 refund which supposedly came of my bill. They issued a £20.00 refund for missing an appointment for putting in a credit electricity meter (I now am in debit for £10.00). I want to leave them and switch but do I pay £60.00 to get out? I have never been so misled and so unhappy. I don't want to turn my gas on.... Thank you please help.

Presumably you have a bill or statement now that shows where the £1000+ has gone?

If not, have you asked for one?

You can switch supplier, presumably to a reasuringly more expensive one, at any time. Whether or not an early exit fee applies will depend on the terms of your specific tariff - have you checked?
I'm sure they will clalrify if you call them

If you do switch supplier, they will want the £247 (plus whatever else you use, less any further payments you make) shortly after they give you a final bill.