MSE News: Npower to pay £1m after customer complaints soar 3 December 2013 at 10:21AM in Energy 58 replies 9.1K views

Former_MSE_Helen

"Npower has today published an apology and promised to pay £1 million to vulnerable households following its poor service..."

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Npower to pay £1m after customer complaints soar




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Nada666

Yet again a 'penalty' being paid only to those who do not require any further help. Poorest, as usual, totally ignored.

ellie99

"Npower to pay £1m"...

nice headline, but just how does paying that money to charity and a crisis fund solve anything?

I've got an official complaint open with Npower, I've had one letter from them (sent to the wrong address) telling me they have technical problems...and I don't need to contact them.

I want to change to a cheaper supplier, but can't face the stress of doing so with the unresolved problems I have with npower.

By all means give to charity, but they really need to be targeting help to the people who have been waiting many months...that donation isn't going to help them.

dogshome

Hmmm - n'power taking 300 extra staff to resolve problems

Would be these be the same 300 UK staff they are fireing to outscource Customer Services to the far East, or is the out scourced staff they are refering to?

droiderm

The worst thing is, Ofgem seem to be supportive of the way they are handling the issues.

It's not good enough.

I have been waiting nearly 2 months for my final bill, yes they owe me money. I have a complaint open with them. They can't say when my final bill will be ready, but there is an implication it may go on longer than 56 days that they allow for a complaint.

That could be more than 4 MONTHS for a final bill. Ofgem should be fining them heavily.

Nada666

I blame privatisation. If companies were still in the public sector then they would have access to wonderful IT syste... oh, wait. Never mind.

undaunted

It's about time someone did something about Npower - though I have little more faith in Ofgem or the Energy Ombudsman than I do in them

MissMoneypenny

droiderm wrote: »

I have been waiting nearly 2 months for my final bill, yes they owe me money. I have a complaint open with them. They can't say when my final bill will be ready, but there is an implication it may go on longer than 56 days that they allow for a complaint.

That could be more than 4 MONTHS for a final bill. Ofgem should be fining them heavily.

NPower offered me compensation for their poor customer service or "problems with their new computer programme" as they called it. I switched while I was waiting for my final bill and they had enough of my money to pay the last bill together with the compensation they offered and they agreed to the direct debit being cancelled; all in writing (email) from them of course.

I had been with my new supplier for a while when I finally got an email from NPower saying my final bill could now be viewed: amount owed £0.00.

Richie-from-the-Boro

I blame privatisation - and I'll tell you why. If companies were still in the public sector then there would be no difference whatsoever. It would still stink, and yes, essentially it would be no different other than that the GOV of the day would at least have a handle on the price lever, 25 years later, it, privatisation has failed. Leccy & gas and the whole industry is uncompetitive, consumers are now coughing up £3.6 more than they need to each year. Year on year relentless rises and the same lack of investment these islands needed then and need now. A domestic consumer rise of £300 quid a year since 2010.

25 years later, it, privatisation has failed - and I'll tell you why, the big 6 domination of the market have a 98% domestic and an 82% business market share. Its based on, and virtually unchanged from the old regional monopolies. The very fact that not one single new entrant has managed to make a challenge to the big 6 dominance speaks very loudly for itself, the distribution of share has not changed since the early move from regional leccy boards. The fact that [Which] 75% cent of customers are still on the 'standard', most expensive tariff offered by suppliers is yet more evidence that the retail market is not working in the way that a competitive market should. If the market was working as it should moving market share would force energy companies to drive down on costs with lower prices and cheaper tariffs.

I blame privatisation - and I'll tell you why. Market share has not changed at all and until it does there is no incentive to make changes, a well-functioning wholesale market would make a start on prices but only retail competition will redistribute market share. Worrying about investment levels and the extortionate windy mills of low carbon credentials is pointless until we fix a 25 year old broken market.

plunt

im curious to know if this effects new customers as I signed up to move over to them mid September and still they havent done anything!

MillicentBystander

Nada666 wrote: »

I blame privatisation. If companies were still in the public sector then they would have access to wonderful IT syste... oh, wait. Never mind.

At least there would be the potential for only one c*ck up as opposed to 6 at the moment (I do remember BG's THREE HUNDRED MILLION POUND computer system being so bad that they ended up sueing the suppliers.). Perhaps because these suppliers are free to up their prices by any amount they require each year so that they can cream off that £50 per household profit they really aren't that interested in getting value for money when they buy their equipment/improving efficiency etc.