Npower not complying with Ombudsman - what next?

joncombe

I have a long standing complaint with Npower over incorrect bills and incorrect payments being taken. This was not resolved by Npower and I escalated to the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman upheld my complaint and their letter states:-

The agreement requires npower to:
• send you a letter of apology for the shortfall in service;
• re-bill your account, from start to end, to ensure that you have been billed correctly for usage at the correct rates; and
• provide you with a £100 goodwill payment.

npower should provide the remedy within 28 days from the date of this letter.

The letter is dated 22nd October. To date Npower have sent a cheque for £100. They have also sent a letter of apology, although it is clearly a standard letter which offers no explanation as to how the problems I experienced occured or what they are doing to prevent it again, just apologies for it. The letter from Npower (dated 16th November) states:-

I have also asked our Billing Team to produce a new statement to cover the entire period you were with us. We hope to have this completed on 19 November 2013 and I will forward this to you as soon as it is ready. To set your expectations, you will receive this by no later than 3 December 2013

This is already later than the 28 days agreed with the Ombudsman (which I make as 19th November - 28 days from 22nd October). However today is the 3rd December and I have no corrected bill (and I have checked my online account with Npower as well).

So what can I do next? Complain again to the Ombudsman? Is there anything the Ombudsman can do because Npower failed to respond in time?

NittyGritty

email complaints team, DONT bother ringing customer services, you will get it sorted sooner. I had same problem with T-Mobile, they failed to meet ombudsmen deadline, however once I got onto complaints team it was sorted eventually.

if they are the same as CISAS,they had no power to enforce the deadline tmobile missed. so I had to chase up them by nagging the complaints team

sniggings

to me it seems you have accepted the 3rd Dec as the deadline, not the 19th.

If you haven't you should have acted before now, so I would work on the basis that the deadline is 3rd, in which case would give them a couple of days grace before you kick off, I know you shouldn't have too but if you are seen to be the reasonable one it can only help your case, it will take longer than that to get the ombudsmen involved again anyway.

So I would ring up followed at the same time with a letter, saying the deadline has passed and what are they going to do about it, the letter is just a backup for proof you ahve tried to sort it.

The phonecall should sort it out, if not then you have been fair and get get the ombudsmen involved again, worth a try though before going down that route again, for the sake of a call and a letter.

undaunted

You can go back to the Ombudsman yes though I wouldn't hold my breath on them doing much about it beyond reminding Npower - with a new deadline perhaps.

You've got your apology and a £100 (it could have been worse!) so as long as they aren'tr chasing you for some incorrect bill why worry? (If they fail to bill you correctly for more than 12m you may be able to look to the E.R.A. back billing guidelines to limit your liability to 12months)

NittyGritty

I agree,i couldn't file another complaint due to them missing deadline, all CISAS said was they would chase it up with T-Mobile, its a case of just nagging the complaints team now, I don't know why (in my case with CISAS) they have the power to give providers 30 days (assuming you win the case) but yet they haven't the power to Enforce the deadline? I,m assuming its the same with the ombudsmen for energy companys...

it took me nearly 2 weeks after the 30 day deadline, after constant nagging with complaints team but it got sorted in the end. just be patient and keep on to them every couple of days,

joncombe

undaunted wrote: »

You can go back to the Ombudsman yes though I wouldn't hold my breath on them doing much about it beyond reminding Npower - with a new deadline perhaps.

You've got your apology and a £100 (it could have been worse!) so as long as they aren'tr chasing you for some incorrect bill why worry? (If they fail to bill you correctly for more than 12m you may be able to look to the E.R.A. back billing guidelines to limit your liability to 12months)

Yes I've gone back to the Ombudsman. They say they have a "compliance team" who will investigate further. I'm not going to waste more time on the phone to Npower, they've made enough hollow promises in the past that I no longer believe a word they say anyway.

I didn't initially asked for financial compensation from the Ombudsman, I just wanted a correct bill (this is the final bill, which I'm still waiting for, switched back in April). After much argument claiming the balance was correct (even though the bill didn't add up) Npower issued another (incorrect) bill - with a different balance from the one they initially claimed was always correct. I contacted them and explained and was told they wouldn't be taking payment and my account was blocked so they would not attempt to take payment for this wrong bill whilst it was resolved. But a few days later they re-instated my cancelled direct debit and helped themselves anyway. I got it back via the Direct Debit gurantee, but at that point I did then ask for financial compensation, as that sort of behaviour is clearly not acceptable. As it as I had to contact my bank and put a block on them taking any further payments (the balance was originally in credit, they refunded the credit leaving a £0 balance but then this incorrect bill was higher, so put my account into debit).

I simply want a correct final bill. Trying to fob me off with bills that don't add up and claiming that it doesn't matter because the balance is right is not good enough.

sniggings

joncombe wrote: »

Yes I've gone back to the Ombudsman. They say they have a "compliance team" who will investigate further. I'm not going to waste more time on the phone to Npower, they've made enough hollow promises in the past that I no longer believe a word they say anyway.

I didn't initially asked for financial compensation from the Ombudsman, I just wanted a correct bill (this is the final bill, which I'm still waiting for, switched back in April). After much argument claiming the balance was correct (even though the bill didn't add up) Npower issued another (incorrect) bill - with a different balance from the one they initially claimed was always correct. I contacted them and explained and was told they wouldn't be taking payment and my account was blocked so they would not attempt to take payment for this wrong bill whilst it was resolved. But a few days later they re-instated my cancelled direct debit and helped themselves anyway. I got it back via the Direct Debit gurantee, but at that point I did then ask for financial compensation, as that sort of behaviour is clearly not acceptable. As it as I had to contact my bank and put a block on them taking any further payments (the balance was originally in credit, they refunded the credit leaving a £0 balance but then this incorrect bill was higher, so put my account into debit).

I simply want a correct final bill. Trying to fob me off with bills that don't add up and claiming that it doesn't matter because the balance is right is not good enough.

Trouble is you are not dealing with Npower you are dealing with someone on a 9-5 job who is probably not very well paid and deals with upset customers all the time, so it just goes over their head.

If you say your bill is incorrect, then I'm guessing you know the correct amount?

Why not ring up, if you get someone on the other end that seems "normal" talk to them, if not hang up and ring back.
Try and forget all that has gone on, repeating it to someone on a phone will likely just turn them off from helping you, keep it simple ask them for a bill for the dates concerned.

You're nearly there now, ring them up and only ask them for what you need, don't go giving them the whole story again, they are likely not to want to get involved if you do, all the ombudsmen will do is probably give them a new deadline, so you will have to deal with them again anyway.

undaunted

I wouldn't ring them either. If I were to bother complaining to Npower again I'd write though I agree with your analysis of their service.

I'll essentially ask the same question again though - as long as you aren't being supplied by them you can't be disconnected, if they aren't able to take money by DDI either then why worry yourself over this. When they send a correct bill if you owe anything you pay it, if they don't do so you don't either. If it goes on too long you could look to going to the back billing rules & ask them to write it off as a result even if you do owe anything