Npower Switch-over Limbo - Help!

Perdita

On 10 August 2013 I used the Cheap Energy Club to make a switch to npower Online Price Fix October 2014.
I had a confirmation letter; subsequently I had several more letters from npower advising me of changes to their price structure, although this wouldn’t affect me. However, nothing came through about getting a closing meter reading, so I tried to call. After over 20 minutes I gave up. I tried again on 24 October with more success, although it still took up to 20 minutes. I was put through to “Joiners and Leavers” where my details were confirmed and, as I understood it, re-entered. I was told it should take 14 working days for registration to complete and that the next step would be a letter from npower to request meter readings and confirm start date. Great!
When nothing had come through by 15 November, I phoned again. The advisor was unable to give me a time frame for the completion of the switch. My overwhelming feeling was disbelief. Did this company actually want my business? When I mentioned feeding back my experiences to the Martin Lewis website, the advisor immediately offered to escalate my case to another level of investigation and within the hour I had a call from someone in a Complaints Department. When I asked why the switch was delayed, I was told there were technical issues relating to registration. Apparently, I was now in the hands of a special section within customer services dedicated to investigating these complaints, and it was going to take another month to investigate my case, at which point npower would contact me. The advisor took meter readings in case the switch happened in the meantime.
So here I am. Instead of benefiting from a better price I am actually out of pocket as my fix with my current provider has ended, and I am now on their standard tariff. I have no confidence that the switch-over will be achieved this year – in fact, it feels like it may well be closer to October 2014 (when the new price-fix is due to end)! I have to say that all the people at npower I have spoken to have been very friendly and appear to be doing their best to help. Several have mentioned a “good-will gesture”/ “compensation” from npower to ensure I don’t lose out. The problem is I now have no confidence whatsoever. I also note from press releases at end of November that the company is making redundancies and looking to outsource the back office to India. I dread to think how this might impact the ongoing investigation process, especially if the people dealing with it are the ones to get jobs in jeopardy notices.
My questions are:
I can’t be the only one suffering this. How have others got on?
Also, from the original sign-up (email) you have 14 days to change your mind. Obviously, we’re way beyond this but am I entitled, given the situation, to terminate the switch and how can I ensure that npower, who have all my details, will not suddenly look to take money or come over all legal?
Your feedback is much appreciated.

yorkieorchid

I also signed up to the dual fuel online price fix Nov 2014 in October. Nothing but problems here too. I may be wrong but i think under this tarriff are we not able to switch before Nov 2014 with no penalties?