MSE News: Warning: Npower's slapping ex-customers with huge bills

Amber39

I switched from n power in October 2013. I never received a bill so I rang them in 2014 to see what was going on. There was a lot of confusion over the bill and they said they would investigate it and a complaint was logged. I kept in touch with them and they stated that they had not adjusted figures and their computer could not print our final bill. In may2014 I gad a phone call from n power to say that our complaint was still being looked into. Then out of the blue last week they took £550 out of our bank account. We have no money to pay our mortgage or bills as this came out of the blue . What can we do? We did tell them that we are relying on one salary at the moment as I am on long term sick.

patanne

Ring your bank and get them to refund under the direct debit guarantee. Don't take no for an answer it is your right to be notified in advance quite apart from anything else

quiggles

I left Npower well over a year ago and they made the whole transfer process really long winded and tortuous and today I have received bills for £62.22 for electricity and £273.38 for gas.

Complaint banged in to their website straight away - ridiculous!

:mad:

SnowMan

Despite my switch from Npower to Scottish Power on 27th May, I have received a threatening letter from Npower today saying my payments have fallen behind by £22.46 and demanding I pay this by 29th June. They say if I don't pay it that they may charge me a £10.50 debt collection fee and get a debt collection agency person to visit me and charge me £23.50

In reality my account is in credit and I am awaiting a final statement which Npower are refusing to action. Taking into account my usage up to the switch date which is not reflected in that credit my final bill should be for about £2.

When I rang up Npower they said that the letter was sent out for a 'good reason' even though it is clearly nonsense. They are completely unapologetic. They refuse to send me a final bill and finalise my account.

It really is time for OFGEM to take away Npower's license.

Box_of_Frogs_2

I left npower because they kept messing up my billing. They said it was because their new computer system could cope with one of my meters going round the clock ie 9999 back to 0000! After 10 months of trying to get a bill they told me they thought I was owed about £200 but when the bill finally arrived it said I owed them over £600!

Despite repeated requests they were unable to supply statements to back up the money they said I owed so I took them to the Ombudsman. After a couple of months the Ombudsman said they had reached agreement with npower that I should pay them when I received an accurate bill! That was what I had been waiting for for over a year, during which time I had lost patience and moved to Scottish Power.

They then agreed a reduced amount of £474 which they said could be paid in instalments.

I asked them to agree a payment plan for me and waited and waited for them to get back to me.

14 months after I left them they have now sent a bill, a final demand and a threat to pass my debt to a debt collector.

They really are a shambles - I still don't believe the amount they say I owe them is right but how else can I challenge them when the Ombudsman seems as clueless as them!!

giggsuk

I'm not sure how this has even happened, but having moved into a house with a prepay meter I wanted it changed to credit meter.

After a few problems where a new main fuse was needed this was eventually done on 3rd November 2013.

I have today received a reminder for the outstanding balance on the prepayment meter account. I did not receive a paper bill, but having checked my online account there is a bill dated 6th May which shows the payments I made on my prepay key, but also has estimated energy use, but it is impossible to build up debit on a prepay meter!!

I'm astounded they've managed to come up with this bill, and even more so that it took them over 6 months to let me know. Just tried to call them to be informed the call queue is over an hour!!

What a terrible company!

giggsuk

Have attempted to call again to get this resolved (please see previous post) but received a message that the phone lines are closed so they can answer the people in the queue!

Will not be happy if this ends up with me getting a final demand etc :mad:

foggycat

I left Npower in April and provided both Npower and my new supplier with gas and electricity readings my new supplier used the readings while npower used the electricity reading but decided to use their own estimate for gas and added almost 200 units to the reading and then sent out a final bill. I paid the bill in full so I could be rid of npower and advised my new provided of the difference between the readings ( they said they would log a complaint against npower) I have now received another final bill from npower ( still using their meter readings) and phoned them up I have provided them with the correct readings ( again) and the final final bill has reduced from £172 to £91 I can not understand how they can have a final bill followed by another final bill. I have had so much hassle from their bills on the last 2 bills they had me using 33000 kilo watts of electricity per year which was more than 3 times the amount I was using.

Patri2901

MABLE wrote: »

Appreciate your honesty but as they say dont bite the hand that feeds you.

Also during my time with NPower was trouble free except they get pestering me for meter readings even though I advised them on a monthly basis. In the end they just wore me down.

Ive written npower a 4 page detailed complaints letter, yet received a phone call today telling me they are sending copies of the letters they sent. I keep everything and they NEVER sent notification of price increases. It took over 18 months and lots of complaints to even get copies of the bills as we had never received them. They are lying about sending these letters, but how can I prove this? They do not have to prove they sent these, but I have to prove, which I can, my letters. All they have done is tell us to write to the Ombudsman. They actually want us to do this so I am wondering why?

SnowMan

SnowMan wrote: »

Despite my switch from Npower to Scottish Power on 27th May, I have received a threatening letter from Npower today saying my payments have fallen behind by £22.46 and demanding I pay this by 29th June. They say if I don't pay it that they may charge me a £10.50 debt collection fee and get a debt collection agency person to visit me and charge me £23.50

In reality my account is in credit and I am awaiting a final statement which Npower are refusing to action. Taking into account my usage up to the switch date which is not reflected in that credit my final bill should be for about £2.

When I rang up Npower they said that the letter was sent out for a 'good reason' even though it is clearly nonsense. They are completely unapologetic. They refuse to send me a final bill and finalise my account.

It really is time for OFGEM to take away Npower's license.

Just rung Npower to try again and get them to sort this issue.

Npower say their systems are down. They claim that data protection legislation prevents them taking my name and account number to look into the matter later and that the only option is for me to call back after 4pm. They are telling all customers this:rotfl:

After I said that data protection law did not say this he spoke to his manager and agreed to take my details and call me back later.