I SUED Npower... and I WON.

DJMC

lstar337 wrote: »

This is how it should be, yes, and IMHO how it should be with the suppliers. They are allowed to chase for the money however.

Chill out. No need to start making accusations. People are just trying to tell you how it is.

Yes, but when you're wrong it is rather annoying!

Have you read up on your contract law yet? Please do so before adding another misleading comment.

I'd post a link to a simple explanation of UK contract law if I were allowed to as a "newbie".

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

DJMC wrote: »

There is no "unpaid debt". Npower sent me bills at the transposed price. I paid those bills in full. The judge understood this and agreed absolutely. What is your legal qualification to disagree with a judge?

Tesco would have no right to chase me as they would have decided to accept my offer of 25p at the till creating a binding contract. If they say at the till "hang on, it's the wrong price" they ARE entitled to vary the contract and I would need to agree to pay the extra 20p or not complete the contract.

Read up on your contract law. Google it.

Another mole?

I'm not a mole, if you bothered to look at other posts of mine I tear into npower.

However, you paid less for your energy than the contract you entered stipulated - x p/kwh. The judge may have agreed with your interpretation, but it doesn't make him/her correct either, and nor does it count as case law.

I'm glad for your sake you "won", but it's a very poor judgement imho, and if it were tested fully npower would have cleaned up.

I'm the third person in succession that believes npower have chosen not to defend for financial reasons. Will you entertain that possibility?

Simon7685

I say well done to you for standing up against them, it needs more people to start doing it.:j:beer::j

I hope they are forced to stump up by the bailiffs and you get your money back. If they can't be bothered to turn up at court that is their hard luck and the judge backed your case and gave you the win.:rotfl:

Moral of the story????
Don't expect to win if you think you are to big to be bothered over £500 and remember the bigger you are the harder you fall:T

Well done You, I hope when I take N Power down the court path I win my case too.

Simon7685

It doesn't matter if N Power took it as a commercial decision or not. The OP turned up presented and got the judgement.

When I ttok Sky TV, Swinton Insurance and Abbey National to court, the first 2 settled in full before the case for commercial reasons, I was still nearly £500 better off thanks. As for the Abbey, they compromised and I got £2500 back.
It is still a moral win and it shows just what we can do instead of just accepting their findings.

Bottom line - They didn't turn up, whether they would have or might have had they turned up is completely irrelevant - THEY DIDN'T and judgement was made against them.

anotheruser

You should take round a couple of big guys and pretend to be one of those people who start pricing stuff up to take away if the company doesn't pay.
I love that programme, yet I don't even know the name... usually on Dave I think.

chanz4

You do know they may not of recieved the paperwork, also they still would be able to appeal. I doubt they would get past their security though

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

Simon7685 wrote: »

Moral of the story????
Don't expect to win if you think you are to big to be bothered over £500 and remember the bigger you are the harder you fall:T

Well done You, I hope when I take N Power down the court path I win my case too.

I doubt npower expected to win. It was to their pecuniary advantage that they didn't contest. If they won, so be it.

I've followed your case with interest, and it would appear that energy has been consumed, and paid for. They haven't sent you a bill, which is admonishable, but what would you take them to county court for? All I can think of is the interest, which would literally amount to pence.

joncombe

It does however sound like you won your case because it wasn't financially worth it for nPower to turn up, even if they could be confident of winning.
They have asked you to pay more for the same amount of electricity, but only because they undercharged you for it in the first place by consistently transposing readings.

I'd be interested to know when these new rules about making sure customers are on the cheapest tariff come in (if they haven't already) how this would apply if the transposed readings meen the tariff the customer on was not the cheapest. It does seem unfair to attempt on insist payment when the customer may not have been on the best tariff but did not realise it because of the incorrect billing.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

joncombe wrote: »

I'd be interested to know when these new rules about making sure customers are on the cheapest tariff come in (if they haven't already) how this would apply if the transposed readings meen the tariff the customer on was not the cheapest. It does seem unfair to attempt on insist payment when the customer may not have been on the best tariff but did not realise it because of the incorrect billing.

'Making sure' will mean writing to them and telling them what they'd be paying on other tariffs available at the same company.

I doubt they'd be obliged to put customers on the cheapest tariff; this would mean entering people into long term tariffs without their consent.

Cardew

IMO also it is a 'surprising' judgement by the Court.

It seems to me that the OP entered a contract to pay NPower Xp/kWh and Yp/kWh and was undercharged.

The OP's case seems to depend on the assertion that Npower had increased their prices, where surely they hadn't increased the price from that agreed in the contract.

Similarly I don't think the OP's Tesco analogy is valid. If the agreed price was 45p and the OP only paid 25p, then Tesco had made a mistake which they could rectify by demanding another 20p.

My understanding is that a company can claim back underpayment for 6 years. Obviously the voluntary billing code, which most(not all) energy companies have signed, restricts any claim for repayment to a 12 month period.

Over the years there have been several cases on MSE where meter readings have been transposed to the detriment of the customer. IIRC in every proven case the company have refunded the customer the full amount.

If the OP's stance on 'contract law' is taken to its logical conclusion the customer has no claim for a refund when he has overpaid.


P.S.
Given Npower's track record over the years - particularly 'Sculpting' - like other posters here I am glad the OP won. However I also think the judgement questionable; I wonder if Npower will appeal? I believe they can on a question of law.