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

naedanger

Medway_Gal wrote: »

I switched my gas and electricity away from npower in April of last year (that's 16 months ago) and NEVER received any final bills despite phoning them asking for one.


Today I received a chasing letter saying I still owe a gas bill for over £200. I don't know what to do, will I get another final electric bill for a similar amount? or should I pay it only to find the electricity was in credit and spend a similar amount of time trying to get it back?


Ofgem's code of practice, says suppliers can't bill customers for energy used more than a year ago, as long the reason for not paying in the first place is the supplier's fault - so I think as I asked for a final bill over a year ago and they didn't send me one, I have a right to complain.


So, do I have to pay before I complain? If so, do I complain to npower first, then when no joy contact Ofgem, or can I go to Ofgem direct now?


Any advice would be welcomed.

Complain in writing to complaintsteam@npower.com

Make sure to say you are complaining.

I personally would not pay meantime as they should not be asking for payment.

In your complaint refer to the following commitment they gave to Ofgem and ask them why they are not following section 2:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/investigation-npower%E2%80%99s-compliance-standards-conduct-standard-licence-condition-25c-and-gas-and-electricity-consumer-complaints-handling-standards-regulations-2008

If they don't cease asking for payment then complain to the Ombudsman.

naedanger

Neagle wrote: »

Below is the new Back Billing Policy that we started enforcing as of 17th June 2014, Prior to that the only rule was ‘customers who have not received their final bill or bill within 12 months will be eligible for a write off’ everyone else receives their final bill or bill within 12 months are liable to pay. I believe that Mr Eagle left our supply in June 2013 and received hes final bill on 13.02.14 hense before 17th June 2014 when the policy was put in place so no write or refund would be giving, I am very sorry Nina that this does sound unfair

Following on from our previous decision to amend the Aged Final Bill cut off from 12 months to 6 months, we have now decided to amend this further by bringing the cut off date down to 4 months.
You will remember this change in Policy followed media coverage and Money Saving Expert highlighting issues around complaints from customers that had left npower or closed their accounts via Home Move, only to receive bills months later.
As a result of our billing issues and system issues, we’ve reviewed this policy again to ensure we do not disadvantage our customers because of our failings. So again to be completely fair, we are again going slightly further than the industry billing code in relation to certain customers affected by our billing issues.
We have also looked at and made some changes to customer accounts where the Final balance is £75.00 or less and the closure date is over 42 days old.
We will now apply the following rules:

The affected customers are those who left us before 13 March 2014 (i.e. up to and including 12 March).


If we haven’t sent a final bill dated before 11 July 2014, they will have any unbilled debt cleared. If the customer owes us money from a previously sent bill, that part of the balance won’t be reduced.


If we have sent a final bill dated before 11 July 2014, they must still pay it. These customers have used a commodity and have been billed correctly; therefore no failing on our behalf. It is only right and fair that they pay for what they have used.


Where the balance on an account is £75.00 or less, and is 42 days or older, we will now write off any unbilled consumption. These will effect customers without an account up to and including 4 June 2014


If a customer has paid money towards their final bill by debit card OR continued to make direct debit payments towards their final bill, but has yet to receive it, these amounts will have been applied to their account and



Ive also been informed that for a breakdown of the account you will need to fill in some forms (I have sent these out and they will be with you shortly), once you receive these forms if you can fill them in and be very specific on the information you would like us to send you then send the forms back to us within 30 days that would be great, the address will be included in the forms where to send them, it will also ask for a £10 cheque to be included as an administration fee.

Which bit seems unfair? According to the above text Mr Eagle left npower in June 2013 and received his final bill in February. So he received his final bill in less than a year. Therefore I don't think he can claim to have any money written off under the back billing code. So if the statement of dates is correct then what npower is saying seems correct to me.

Regarding the last paragraph, npower seem to be treating your request for information as a subject access request under the data protection act. They are permitted to charge £10 for this. However if they never sent you proper bills in the first place I would object to paying.

If you feel you have been badly treated you should complain. If you are unhappy with npower's final response you should complain to the Ombudsman. (There is no guarantee the Ombudsman will agree with you but you have nothing to lose by taking your complain to the Ombudsman, apart from the time spend doing so.)

naedanger

Blueye wrote: »

I can't sleep with stress. For over a year npower have given my mum nothing but grief. Messing up direct debit payments, not taking the money, taking more out than agreed, etc the list is endless. We finished with them when we moved in May and told them of our new address so they could send a final bill. We received a letter in July apologising for all the problems caused and as a way of apology they were not going to send us a final bill. 19/08/14 we received a final bill for over £400 (over period 01/05/14-29/06/14 I think) to be paid by 20/08/14. Sent apparently on 06/08/14 if their date on the letter is anything to go by. I can only presume they're backdating these letters. Rang them up no record of a letter writing off a bill I even read it to them. They would need to look into it. Meanwhile they now tell my mum they will write off £129 but can not send that information to her in writing. It's not what they do. They tell mum she will need set up payment plan of £x over x months as you guessed it totals for the full amount. Mum refused so while they try sort it their end it will automatically be sent to debt collectors now before they are able to sort anything more out. We are bricking it. Mum's going to pay it soon as well, I can tell Any help with contact numbers would be fab. Thank you.

Typical atrocious npower "service".

Get your mother to put her complaint in writing to complaintsteam@npower.com attaching a copy of the July letter. You can draft the email for her.

In the letter say what they must do to settle the complaint e.g. honour their agreement not to send a final bill. Demand they answer in writing. If they phone your mother get her to tell them she requires them to write instead, as she needs evidence of what was said as they keep changing their story. Tell your mother not to get into a discussion on the phone as npower's aim is to get her to agree to something that may not be to her advantage. If they phone and say they will only deal over the phone she should ask them to put in writing that that is their final position. Only by having things in writing can you be sure to settle the matter. (Image she had only been told over the phone, rather than by letter, that they were writing off the last bill. They could then deny at any time they ever said it.)

If you are unhappy with their final response (or they don't give a final response within 8 weeks) complain to the Ombudsman. If your mother still has their letter agreeing to not to send a final bill then she has a very, very strong case.

Medway_Gal

Medway_Gal wrote: »

I switched my gas and electricity away from npower in April of last year (that's 16 months ago) and NEVER received any final bills despite phoning them asking for one.

Today I received a chasing letter saying I still owe a gas bill for over £200...

Update - I rang npower, and after a 40 minute wait was passed through to a nice chap in billings, I told him ofgem said I should not have to pay as it was over 12 months since account closed, and he spoke to his manager and said ok they would write off the debt. I checked my online account the following day, and sure enough the balance was zero owing. So I guess you could call them and hope for the best before worrying yourself silly, or maybe I was just one of the lucky few?

Consumerist

Medway_Gal wrote: »

Update - I rang npower, and after a 40 minute wait was passed through to a nice chap in billings, I told him ofgem said I should not have to pay as it was over 12 months since account closed, and he spoke to his manager and said ok they would write off the debt. I checked my online account the following day, and sure enough the balance was zero owing. So I guess you could call them and hope for the best before worrying yourself silly, or maybe I was just one of the lucky few?

Based on the experiences of others, I would suggest you go online again and print a few copies of your accounts page showing nil balance and the date. You never know when you might need a copy or two - despite what one person in nPower may have told you.

cactusbob

I've just found this thread. I left nPower at the beginning of February 2014. They provided me with gas and electricity for the 14 months I was with them.

Billing for the entire time was a complete shambles. A bill was issued and then a day later it was reversed and another bill issued. Dates for subsequent bills overlapped and to be frank I had no idea what I was being charged for what.

So after leaving I have spent the last 6 months struggling to get an accurate final bill from nPower. I have asked on multiple occasions for a full and accurate billing history. I have supplied my final readings (which EDF my new supplier began with) and still am waiting to receive my final bill.

I think the final gas bill they produced had something like £180 for 2 days of gas use on it, using a final meter reading that they had plucked out of thin air.

Now I am getting sporadic responses in email that don't move anything along, the few times I've tried calling the phone system has said it is over an hour to wait. And on top of that I am now getting weekly reminders to pay an innacurate bill - that are threatening me with debt collectors and an adverse credit score if I don't pay.

Obviously I'm happy to pay what I owe, but not a penny more.

Do these new nPower guidelines on backbilling apply to me. Or can anyone suggest where i go with this now?

Thanks

naedanger

cactusbob wrote: »

I've just found this thread. I left nPower at the beginning of February 2014. They provided me with gas and electricity for the 14 months I was with them.

Billing for the entire time was a complete shambles. A bill was issued and then a day later it was reversed and another bill issued. Dates for subsequent bills overlapped and to be frank I had no idea what I was being charged for what.

So after leaving I have spent the last 6 months struggling to get an accurate final bill from nPower. I have asked on multiple occasions for a full and accurate billing history. I have supplied my final readings (which EDF my new supplier began with) and still am waiting to receive my final bill.

I think the final gas bill they produced had something like £180 for 2 days of gas use on it, using a final meter reading that they had plucked out of thin air.

Now I am getting sporadic responses in email that don't move anything along, the few times I've tried calling the phone system has said it is over an hour to wait. And on top of that I am now getting weekly reminders to pay an innacurate bill - that are threatening me with debt collectors and an adverse credit score if I don't pay.

Obviously I'm happy to pay what I owe, but not a penny more.

Do these new nPower guidelines on backbilling apply to me. Or can anyone suggest where i go with this now?

Thanks

The back-billing guidelines won't apply to you unless npower are now trying to get you to pay for energy used over a year ago, having not billed you for it previously. I think an inaccurate bill still counts as a bill. (Npower made a further commitment but only for those who left before December 2013.)

Regarding trying to get an accurate bill, you could try following npower's complaints process:

http://www.npower.com/home/help-and-support/contact-us/complaints/complaints-handling-policy/

However it seems a slow and flawed process in my view, but probably easier (and less effective) than taking legal action.

Sarahbear666

I'm completely horrified to learn that I am not alone in having to deal with the shocking service! I was niavely hoping that my problems would be isolated and quickly resolved! I admit to being a bit nervous now!


I have just spent 50 minutes on the phone to npower trying to get them to explain why they took £340 dd out of my account today despite having yet to receive a final bill from when I closed the account in May. They couldn't tell me where this charge came from and why I had gone from being £180 in credit in January 2014 (according to my last statement!) to owing them £340 in May! One lady told me my Jan bill was wrong and was cancelled (news to me!) and that I hadn't been paying my dds between June and Dec 2013. I of course have bank statements to prove otherwise. However, the "billing" department didn't say that but couldn't tell me what I was billed for and why! My gas was in credit £100 apparently so with my credit balance from January I have apparently used approx. £600 in electricity in 5-6 months. (In the previous 6 months I was billed for less than £200 for electricity with a similar kwh usage).


Who knows how this will pan out, I've had to agree to await the bill arriving here so that I can see where this £340 figure has appeared from. I have no objections to paying what I owe but this final balance makes no sense!


I am furious that the first I heard of this was on the money leaving my bank! I made an official complaint on the phone, for what that's worth!


Apparently I can get the money refunded by making an "indemnity claim" but I admit to not knowing how to do that, I guess I call the bank but I'm not looking forward to calling another call centre after tonight's fun with npower billing department!


Wish me luck!

cinnamon442

So, we just got a bill through from NPower demanding £54.33 from us for a gas account we closed 10 months ago. It was a prepaid meter and we called on the 22nd November to cancel the account.

They refused to deal with the case on the phone and said they'd write to us in 7 - 10 days with the conclusion to our complaint. So I wrote this statement, called back and read it out to them:

"From an NPower statement a few weeks ago, you said that affected customers are those who left you before 13th March 2014. If you haven’t sent a final bill dated before 11 July 2014, then any unbilled debt should be cleared.

"As you acknowledged in a previous call that you haven’t sent an electric bill, under this statement NPower made the electric part should be wiped clean. It’s a prepaid meter so we don’t owe it anyway.

"In the same statement, you said where the balance on an account is £75 or less and is 42 days or older, you will write off any unbilled consumption.

"The NPower Director Guy Johnson said just over a week ago that you’ve “completely overhauled” your complaints processes and that front line staff should be able to resolve 90% of problems for customers, and I quote, “on first contact” and as this isn’t a complicated case, being a prepaid meter where I have photographic evidence of the meter readings which is time stamped, I want you to resolve this issue over the phone now and wipe both debts."

It worked and they wiped off our debt. Woo! Just thought I'd let you all know, maybe customise the statement to your own case and give them a call! If it works, get the call log number, the name of the staff member and any other details you can about the call too so that if they have another screw up, you can reference the call directly where they said it was wiped off. You should have no more problems!

Tubby21

Obviously having had no energy billing for a whole year has meant that I have been 'flying blind' as far as my energy consumption was concerned. A situation which has obviously caused havoc with my household budgeting. Another overlooked aspect of this situation is that it has effectively removed my right and opportunity to transfer to
another energy supplier, as clearly I had no means of determining the value or otherwise of the energy supplied by npower / or had any basis for comparing this against that of another supplier.

Npower - absolutely the worst consumer experience I have ever had bar none.