npower problem

spongism

I wonder if anyone has had similar problems with Npower???

I moved into my new house last October, and I did not receive any gas or elec bills from npower for 5 months until I decided to switch to Atlantic Energy. Straight away I received a elec bill which I paid and a gas bill from npower for nearly £400 which I queried as I live alone in a terraced house and was way above what I had been paying previously (more than double). The person on the phone agreed and said they would look into it and I would receive a new bill, this was the start of May.
On 9th May I received a letter from collections direct saying that I must pay immediately or contact npower which I did and explained that the bill was going to be reissued with a new amount. I still have not receieved any bill from npower despite chasing it up on a couple of occasions. I am now with Atlantic energy and have been since middle of May.
What do I do, I have tried to pay but it appears no bill is going to come, or is it likely they have passed the debt on?

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

Even if NPower tried to pass the debt on, I doubt if Atlantic would accept it.

Simply write(phoning is useless) To NPower stating what you have said above and send it recorded delivery.

superstylin

hi spongism. no you're not the only one. we received a bill about 2 months ago that had incorrect meter readings on them. i disputed the bill and gave correct readings a week apart so they could calculate it properly. it's been a month now, with a phone call to npower each week, asking for the new bill and nothing has arrived. i guess i may have to try the suggestion from Cardew about writing in as well

kuler

Hi Spongism
Not much help, but I too have found NPower customer services to be completely useless. I've phoned up to ask about the tariff my girlfriends' parents are on, and had three different answers after finding out the heating offpeak timings were not as they had said. So - what have they done? They're sending out someone to look at the meter (I'm convinced this will be a waste of time and am sure they just don't know the timings but I don't want to stay up 24hrs a day to check them myself!) (oh, and first telling us one date for the visit, then another!). Oh, and they said they would get someone from 'the back room' to call me back the next day, as they supposedly know more .... I'm still waiting 2 days later. Oh, and they haven't responded to my e-mail enquiry.

Ok, no use for you, but to anybody else reading this, AVOID NPOWER like the plague, even if they did happen to be cheapest (which I doubt). I think the only way someone's going to help you is if you write to the complaints department.

Best of luck with Atlantic - they seem to have a good rep.

Kuler

tripled

kuler wrote: »

they said they would get someone from 'the back room'

I wonder why they keep them in the back room...? It has raised some interesting disturbing thoughts in my mind which I don't think I should share on a famlily forum

spongism

hi, thanks for the replies, when i said are npower likely to have passed the debt on? I was meaning to collection agencies and not atlantic,

it was because after they initially told me they were holding my account while investigating the readings I received the letter from collections direct a week later saying i must pay straight away or contact npower, when ringing npower they had not held my account like they said they would but said they would do it straight away though I was not convinced.

Since then, apart from contacting them chasing the bill I have not heard anything, (apart from asking me to come back to them cos they are cheaper now) maybes it has just got forgotten about in the switch (i was suprised they let me switch when owing them for over 6 months gas) just a bit worried that might get a letter from a collections agency

Individual_11

Hi spongism

Npower could have objected to your transfer to Atlantic if they had big issues with it. The normal reason for an objection is that you owe them money. The way it's dealt with is that if you owe a large amount of money they send you a bill and clearing that will allow the switch. In anycase you then get a small final bill. This happened to me on a business supply and I had to pay the supplier over £400 to clear the account so they'd allow the switch then pay the final bill off. As they have not stopped the transfer I see little reason to panic!

I would also suggest that it is unlikely that Npower will pass you to a collection agency. They have their own collections team and the process would involve them sending you various reminders (red ones) and then threatening disconnection of your supply. But don't worry - suppliers HATE to disconnect as it's a big hassle and bad pr for them. It also gets into all sorts of other issues. If they were going to disconnect then they WOULD write to you first in plenty of time and they have to get a court order too so don't lose sleep worrying about that. Most likely they'd send you another bill first!

My view would be to do one of two things:

1) I'd echo Cardev's comments and write to them recorded delivery and tell them what is what. Explain you were sent a bill which you disputed and you've never been sent a correct final bill.

2) Keep your head down. The reminder has probably been flagged off the system so the dead account is sitting in limbo. It is there and one day someone will probably find it and maybe chase it up with you - so do keep something in the bank to cover it.

I personally would not worry - but if you do feel it will keep you up at night, then write recorded and keep a copy of the letter and proof of delivery from the royal mail website.

If they really mess you about trying to sort it out threaten to go to EnergyWatch (and go to them if you need to) - that usually will help get things moving.

And as for tripled's comments about the back room - from experience it's a much nicer place to work than in a call centre!

Good luck

I_11

Individual_11

kuler wrote: »

I've phoned up to ask about the tariff my girlfriends' parents are on, and had three different answers after finding out the heating offpeak timings were not as they had said. So - what have they done? They're sending out someone to look at the meter (I'm convinced this will be a waste of time and am sure they just don't know the timings but I don't want to stay up 24hrs a day to check them myself!) (oh, and first telling us one date for the visit, then another!).
Kuler

Hi Kuler

Can you give me a bit more on yr issue? It sounds like they think yr meter is incorrectly programmed - so sending someone out to fix it would be the right thing. The off-peak timings are standard for all suppliers - it would cost too much to re-programme all meters otherwise. I assume you have a dual register meter (one with units of normal energy and Economy 7 or off-peak units)?

Thus the engineer should find this a quick fix when he or she comes - if that's the issue!

There is no excuse for not turning up when they say - one of my pet hates - but in defence of all suppliers the meter does not belong to them! It belongs to the local distribution company (so who depends on where you live). Sometimes trying to get them out to look at a meter is like pulling teeth, so you may have to be patient. No excuse for the back room boys not calling you back tho - that's just poor.

I_11

tripled

Individual_11 wrote: »

And as for tripled's comments about the back room - from experience it's a much nicer place to work than in a call centre!

I don't doubt that at all :rotfl:

anniecave

spongism

npower can't disconnect you as they are no longer the supplier.
"Collections Direct" are part of npower anyway - they use this logo so it doesn't look like npower but it is.

Did you take a meter reading when you moved into the property? Was one taken when the changeover of supplier took place? Were both these readings used by npower?

If a correct supply changeover reading wasn't used then you are going to have problems with Atlantic as well.

If those readings weren't used, then tell npower specifically what the readings should have been, even if you have told them before.

if the correct readings were used, do you have another sort of query with the current bill from npower?

spongism

Hi anniecave,

I did take readings when I moved in last November but when i switched in May and got my first bill of npower I had misplaced the readings, I paid the electricity as it looked right but queried the gas as it was way way over my past usage and I took daily readings over the following week to confirm this.

When I switched I supplied meter readings to atlantic energy and received a final bill from npower for the electricity but no final bill for the gas or the original bill that was in query.

I have since had bills from Atlantic for both electricity and gas which have been paid and are fine, I think I am just going to do what has been suggested and keep the money to one side in case I do eventually get the bills of npower.

Does anyone know when will they no longer be able to chase payment for this, I have seen people saying 12 months for not receiving a bill but would this apply if I had a bill which I queried.