N Power got name very wrong on bill ..can I wipe fuel use over a year old?

mancmum

After receiving terrible service from N Power after the death of my mother and having to take over running my vulnerable father's affairs with a power of attorney. I have received two judgements in my favour from the Ombudsman.

N Power took over a year to sort out things in what was a very difficult time for us.

16 Mar 2013 father moved out of house, final bill not received till 23rd March 2014 but N Power claim they sent a bill in Jan 2013 which I did not receive. Even then, refund of v large credit balance not received until July 2013 three months after Ombudsman judgement. (they should done this within 28 days).

Just the background so you know how !!!!ed off I am with them. The ombudsman has limited power to make these people clean their act up. The award I will receive of 150.00 works out at about £10.00 an hour for the time I have spent on this.

I noticed that the expanded copy of the alleged 3rd Jan 2014 bill was addressed to the "The Executors of xxxx" and I wondered whether this constituted a bill under the back billing policies N Power are now following. If I got sent a cheque to the "executors of xxx" and I was still very much alive, then the bank would not credit it to my account. Can N Power claim that this is a legitimate bill??

Any help much appreciated.

Andy_WSM

mancmum wrote: »

Can N Power claim that this is a legitimate bill??

Any help much appreciated.

A name wrong on a bill does not cancel a debt. It is still money owed. You may ask for the bill to be reissued, as they have done, but your debt (or credit) remains the same. Back billing rule does not apply to reissued bills, only if no bill was issued at all for over a year and you made efforts to obtain one.

mancmum

Thanks. Ah, bit of missing information. I did not actually get the bill they sent. As it was sent to "Executors of...." rather than to the named person it must have had some additional human input to get it generated. It is the human input that has gone wrong for me with N Power. Eg. Categorically being told I would get refund within two weeks....not then being received. I did most definitely try and get a bill. I spent hours trying to get one. Ombudsman says it if appears on the system I must have got it. Its odd that I have every other communication apart from this.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

You seem to accept you owe the debt, so what is the issue here? Trying to nurdle your way out of it because it says "executors of...." instead of your name is never going to happen - not least because

1) It doesn't matter if they get the name wrong, the debt is still owed
2) From what you've said, you appear to be the executor anyway!

matelodave

The name isn't wrong if you are the executor, the executor just presents a cheque with a copy of the letter of administration. I had several when my mum died.
As said you can't wriggle out of a valid bill just because it's taken over a year to sort out - the back billing protocol is very clear on what is eligible and just taking a long while to sort it out isn't one of the criteria.

Cardew

mancmum wrote: »

Thanks. Ah, bit of missing information. I did not actually get the bill they sent.

---

Ombudsman says it if appears on the system I must have got it. Its odd that I have every other communication apart from this.

The Ombudsmen is quite correct. If we could all deny receiving bills, and thus get the back-billing provision applied, many people would 'try it on'.


It also should be remembered that this back-billing provision is not 'Law' but a voluntary Code of Conduct. So for you to try and get money on a technicality has little merit IMO.

mancmum

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays wrote: »

You seem to accept you owe the debt, so what is the issue here? Trying to nurdle your way out of it because it says "executors of...." instead of your name is never going to happen - not least because

1) It doesn't matter if they get the name wrong, the debt is still owed
2) From what you've said, you appear to be the executor anyway!

For clarification.

I am not trying to 'nurdle' my way out of anything. The full facts were disgraceful and the ombudsman has awarded the highest level of settlement. The ombudsman agrees that at least some of the period in question is covered by back billing I would just like a community input on how the back billing is working in practice.

The account was in credit - by about six months usage. My father is very much alive and not dead albeit vulnerable [a category of consumer who are meant to have special consideration]. I spent hours trying to get them to send a bill.

N Power took it on themselves to decide that the use of a Power of Attorney means that someone is dead - it doesn't. It has taken over a year to get back what he was owed to him by a fat cat corporation and quite frankly I will take whatever else I might be entitled to.

Power of Attorney documents are hugely important to those that take on caring for other people and an institution as big as N Power should know how they work. Those of us who take on caring don't need to jump hurdles from plonkers at N Power we work hard enough as it is.

I did offer to settle for 4 hours of the CEO's pay rate.

Court cases are thrown out when the wrong person is named in proceedings and I just wondered if the same applied to this. Legally an executor is a separate entity from the deceased (or in the case the very much alive).

macman

Dream on. Even if the bill were addressed to 'The Occupier', it would still be payable.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

Do you owe them money or don't you? It should be fairly easy to establish. If you are now responsible for the account you are accountable for any credit or debit balance. Give them some meter readings and ask them to bill you.

The rest is a sideshow - do you honestly think companies can't correct nomenclature issues on an invoice? Just because it's a multinational conglomerate, doesn't mean they don't get the chance to correct an error.

matelodave

You may feel a bit hard done by but don't expect everyone to side with you when you are just trying to get it out of your system.

naedanger

mancmum wrote: »

After receiving terrible service from N Power after the death of my mother and having to take over running my vulnerable father's affairs with a power of attorney. I have received two judgements in my favour from the Ombudsman.

N Power took over a year to sort out things in what was a very difficult time for us.

16 Mar 2013 father moved out of house, final bill not received till 23rd March 2014 but N Power claim they sent a bill in Jan 2013 which I did not receive. Even then, refund of v large credit balance not received until July 2013 three months after Ombudsman judgement. (they should done this within 28 days).

Just the background so you know how !!!!ed off I am with them. The ombudsman has limited power to make these people clean their act up. The award I will receive of 150.00 works out at about £10.00 an hour for the time I have spent on this.

I noticed that the expanded copy of the alleged 3rd Jan 2014 bill was addressed to the "The Executors of xxxx" and I wondered whether this constituted a bill under the back billing policies N Power are now following. If I got sent a cheque to the "executors of xxx" and I was still very much alive, then the bank would not credit it to my account. Can N Power claim that this is a legitimate bill??

Any help much appreciated.

Unfortunately I don't think I can help much. One thought is could the fact the bill is incorrectly addressed be evidence it is not a genuine copy but rather a regenerated bill. If so then there is less evidence they did send the bill that was never received.

Having suffered from npower's dreadful service I understand how you feel. I also know that if npower had messed my aged parents around the way that they messed me around then my parents would have been unable to cope.

So unlike some others on this thread I do have sympathy with how you feel.