NPower Direct Debit Problem

nightswimming

I rang NPower on the 13th December to change my bank details to my new 123 account. My payment was due 2nd January and the direct debit still wasn't set up at the bank and they didn't take payment from my old account either so I rang again on 4th January to see what was going on.

Bloke I spoke to said there must have been a glitch and re-set the DD, nothing to worry about.

Then I got an email saying because I didn't have a DD set up and had missed a payment a was being put onto the standard tariff. So I rang the complaints department on 9th January.

The lady I spoke to (after the call-back service cut me off the first time) said that there was a problem with their system and they were unable to set up direct debits with Santander! She would send me a mandate which I needed to take into my bank for them to set up the DD at that end first and then forward the mandate to Npower.

The mandate arrived on Monday and today I drove to town, paid for parking and went into my bank - to be told they are unable to set up DDs this way and it is NPower's responsibility to set it up.

I am beyond cross and am this close to switching even though my tariff is quite a bit cheaper than any others.

I never thought I would be desperate for a company to take my money!
:mad:

Anyone overcome this problem?

macman

The adviser is clueless-you need to complete/sign the mandate and send it back to NPower. They then contact your bank with it and it's set up from there.

nightswimming

So because they can't do it electronically, they just need a signature to do it manually? Why on earth didn't she just say that!? What a waste of time.

:mad:

macman

Just the same way DD's always used to be done..

Noelyboy

Hi
I am having the exactly the same problem as you, numerous calls, been cut off , registered a complaint via email and have still not got my direct debit set up with Santander. Despite resetting the direct debit( as you did) I've got nowhere.

scaredofdebt

You don't need to complete a mandate it's all done electronically via nPower.

There was a problem with Santander accounts but I believe this is now resolved, although the system is still flaky and doesn't always work first time.

Best bet is to cancel the DD with the bank first then get nPower to reinstate it, you may need to try this a couple of times though.

nPower spent £250M on a system that is THAT good.

ExtraMask

scaredofdebt wrote: »

nPower spent £250M on a system that is THAT good.

That's just the purchase price for the cheapest version, God knows how much they've spent trying to convert it from a banking software to billing.