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

SoniaJM

Consumerist wrote: »

When you say you haven't had any problems so far, how long have you been with them and are you receiving regular statements based on your meter readings? Many are not receiving bills and those who do get them find they are based on estimated readings, even though actual readings have been provided.

You may be one of the lucky ones.

Yes I absolutely am one of the lucky ones. (Hoping by posting this it's not going to jinx it though!) I log a monthly reading online, and check my bill against it. I even got the automatic credit back to me at my last bill because my consumption was lower than expected, AND a no quibble reduction in my monthly payments that I requested. I've been with them for just over 2 years.

I'm not trying to rub people's nose in it - I am now genuinely concerned that although I've been lucky so far, if I try to leave it's going to be painful. I'll keep monitoring though.

Pelstone

Switched to Npower in 2008 for a fixed deal however after many telephone calls and promises from Npower ... No bills. Eventually 21 months later and a threat to stop providing meter readings, we received a bill on their standard tariff. We were advised that despite the fact we had a written contract for the fixed tariff we could not have it due to their mistake and it had taken them 21 months to tell us we couldn't have the agreed tariff. I understand from my solicitor it is clear breach of contract however we were advised to get all the available tariffs available from Npower in order to show how much money we had lost as a result but Npower stated that they were unable to do this and offered us what they had considered their best three. We endured continued incompetence with incorrect bills, meter readings taken from meters in our house when we were away on holiday (not sure how they managed these), a massive bill for over £8k supposedly based on actual readings and the list goes on. Over this time Npower have been absolutely hopeless with staff very often rude, accusing me of lying to them when leaving a message on my answer phone and despite providing Npower with the individuals name it was brushed under the carpet. I have a pile of damning paperwork that is a little like war and peace and found the Ombudsman pretty useless because once the judgement was made the Ombudsman failed to follow up. Our situation was complex due to the type of meters we evidently had, due to it being an old house and this was Npower's continued excuse but I arranged for new meters and surprise, surprise! Nothing changed with the new meters they managed one bill with the new meters but then somehow managed to revert back to the old meter serial numbers and despite getting them to come out and validate the new meters they couldn't sort themselves out. Now 6 months after selling the house and moving, having provided them with all the readings on departure we have just received a letter to tell us they're going to send us a bill. I wait with baited breath. I fail to understand how this company is allowed an operating licence when it is clearly unable to provide the service under the terms of its' licence.

College_Worker

I switched my gas & electricity to NPower in November 2013. We received confirmation that everything was set up and the direct debits started to be taken from our bank account. However, we have still not received a bill which includes our electricity and having spoken to NPower on at least half a dozen occasions since last year they have still not set up the electricity side of our account. I have again contacted them as i am concerned that we may end up with a massive bill for our electricity. The response is always the same, its an error and their joining team will sort it out for us. 8 months on i am getting rather concerned that if the diredt debit is not enough i may end up with a massive bill. The response this week is again the same and they have even said it will take at least another 40 days to sort, but my complaint will be closed in 10 days. They are an absolute joke and i would not recommend anybody changing to them.

whydoudoit

Consumerist wrote: »

Sorry, it must have been the phrase "but I doubt I can share here" that misled me.

If you feel you can help then why not share your wisdom with us? Why do you need to see other people's complaint letters?

If there is a technique to solve the problems customers have with npower then we would all be pleased to hear about it; there are plenty of postings of these problems. You have indicated that there are solutions but you haven't yet offered any.

Accepted, if they can upload a letter i can explain in more detail, however, these people can get every penny back and if they have switched then it will work out much better.

tWitcher53

Have been contacted recently by N POWER requiring my final payment, i ended my contract with them back in july 2013 ( middle of the summer ).
How they have estimated i owe them over £100 at that time of the year beggars belief! seeing it is alright for them to take so long in sending this demand i'm sure they will understand it may take equally as long to reply?

chanz4

Well suppose they always have the option of your credit file, when did you last chase for the final bill?

mancmum

Mar 2013 mum had just died and dad moved in to live with me. Account in credit by about 700
July 2013 asked N Power to reduce direct debit as no one living there
NPOWER increased direct debit by £25.00
October 2013 property sold final readings supplied in Nov, requested final bill. Nothing happened.
Then got letter from N Power indicating my Dad had died
Cancelled direct debit
Immediately got letter addressed to me a clause of which threatened me with legal action for non payment.
November chased them for owing money. Now standing at around 1500
December 2013 N Power set up new tarrif for my Dad on property he no longer owned
January 2014 made formal complaint
March 2014 No response from N Power so Ombudsman approached
March 2014 got incorrect final bill promising payment
June 2014 ..Still no repayment made
June 2014 back to the ombudsman.

Can the people who doubt that N Power are taking money from people read this before they make derogatory posts.

It is unfair that N Power can hold so much of my father's money and not be forced at least to pay him the interest he has lost. The initial offer they made of £50.00 is less than they could have got in interest on his money.

It is stupid that once you start to make a complaint against them that they then put all action on hold.

Please PM me if anyone can use this information to take some sort of case against N Power for keeping money that isn't theirs. My Dad is vulnerable and disabled....they know all of this but still did not fast track the repayment he is entitled to.

They are SCUM.

Consumerist

whydoudoit wrote: »

Accepted, if they can upload a letter i can explain in more detail, however, these people can get every penny back and if they have switched then it will work out much better.

Sorry again but I just don't understand what it is you feel you need to see in a complaint letter which will help you explain anything.

Complaint letters normally just explain the facts of the complaint from the customer's point of view, as illustrated by numerous posts in this thread alone. Take any post about people who are owed money by npower and then just explain how they could ensure they get their money back.

Judi11

Just keep posting about this. Still waiting for £600 from NPower after switching from them Oct 2013, with Cheap Energy Club. Have had final bill, complained to Ombudsman and called NPower countless times. We are fully paying EDF now and so they should not be holding on to our money!

Nada666 - you obviously have not been in this situation and I was annoyed at your comments. NPower have £600 of our money earning interest in THEIR bank account and it should be in ours!!

Consumerist

Judi11 wrote: »

. . . Nada666 - you obviously have not been in this situation and I was annoyed at your comments. NPower have £600 of our money earning interest in THEIR bank account and it should be in ours!!

I made the mistake of rising to this clowns bait. Try using the Ignore List in User CP to filter out the sub-zero IQs.