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

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

naedanger wrote: »

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.

I have every sympathy. Npower are useless. That doesn't mean people shouldn't have to pay for energy used - hiding behind a minor nomenclature issue doesn't change that.

Andy_WSM

naedanger wrote: »

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

I sympathise with anyone that chose npower as a supplier, however, for every person that tries to get out of paying a bill everyone else's bills go up a little bit more. Bottom line is they are a business, the share holders will expect them to make £xx a year, so if people wiggle out of paying on a technicality the costs go up for everyone else.

naedanger

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays wrote: »

I have every sympathy. Npower are useless. That doesn't mean people shouldn't have to pay for energy used - hiding behind a minor nomenclature issue doesn't change that.

Personally if I had been the Ombudsman then based on what the original poster said, and on my own experience of dealing with npower, I would have judged, on the balance of probability, that the letter was never sent.

From what I have seen Npower seem to be a complete mess. To have their terrible service inflicted on you (or worse your relatives) and then to have the Ombudsman give Npower any benefit of the doubt (given their terrible record) will not be nice.

If I was in the same position as the original poster then I would have no goodwill towards npower and if there was any legal loophole I could use, then I probably would do so. Whereas in normal circumstances I would go out of my way to pay my bills e.g. chasing for bills that were never received. (I suspect the original poster would do likewise.)

naedanger

Andy_WSM wrote: »

I sympathise with anyone that chose npower as a supplier, however, for every person that tries to get out of paying a bill everyone else's bills go up a little bit more. Bottom line is they are a business, the share holders will expect them to make £xx a year, so if people wiggle out of paying on a technicality the costs go up for everyone else.

If npower had to pay proper compensation for the trouble they caused then everyone else's bill will go up (or npower profits down). However that is not a good reason for not properly compensating customers that have been badly treated.

Also if npower make a complete mess of billing then I don't see why the Ombudsman should be giving them much benefit of the doubt when deciding whether they did what they said they did. (If they had a good record of doing what they said then that would be different.)

Andy_WSM

naedanger wrote: »

If npower had to pay proper compensation for the trouble they caused then everyone else's bill will go up (or npower profits down). However that is not a good reason for not properly compensating customers that have been badly treated.

Also if npower make a complete mess of billing then I don't see why the Ombudsman should be giving them much benefit of the doubt when deciding whether they did what they said they did. (If they had a good record of doing what they said then that would be different.)

But npower are already compensating the OP to the tune of £150 - and they will have had to pay the ombudsmans fees for dealing with the complaint.

naedanger

Andy_WSM wrote: »

But npower are already compensating the OP to the tune of £150 - and they will have had to pay the ombudsmans fees for dealing with the complaint.

£150 is not much compensation for a year of anxiety. Of course they had to pay the Ombudsman's fees since it was their bad service that required an Ombudsman to sort it out.

Much cheaper for npower to pay a small amount of compensation to the small proportion of customers who take their complaint all the way to the Ombudsman than pay for staff who can actually sort things out when they go wrong.

Cardew

naedanger wrote: »

I would have judged, on the balance of probability, that the letter was never sent.

Do you think letters are produced using a quill pen and the author inserts it into an envelope and personally posts it?


The letter will be on the database of the computer for Npower to recall.


So do you think on the 'balance of probability' it was on the computer and someone went down to the post room, sifted through tens of thousands of letters and extracted the paper copy to destroy?

naedanger

Cardew wrote: »

Do you think letters are produced using a quill pen and the author inserts it into an envelope and personally posts it?


The letter will be on the database of the computer for Npower to recall.


So do you think on the 'balance of probability' it was on the computer and someone went down to the post room, sifted through tens of thousands of letters and extracted the paper copy to destroy?

Do you think mistakes cannot be made e.g. two letters going in the same envelope, a letter or batch of letters not actually getting printed, a letter getting missed between the printer and dispatch etc?

Npower is a company that cannot program the most basic validation rules into their system (see below). Why should I believe that their printing and dispatch system is any more robust?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/energy-bills/10984961/Energy-firms-mega-blunder-the-500m-electricity-bill.html

A company that makes such a mess of so many simple tasks is definitely capable of making a mess of printing and sending a bill in my view.

If you think they are incapable of error then I guess you are either not a customer or lucky.

mancmum

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays wrote: »

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.

Yes it should be easy shouldn't it. Unfortunately N Power has completely messed it up for thousands of people and that is why they have been subject to an MSE campaign and the Ombudsman is launching a special investigation in to them. The dispute arose because I did give them meter readings, again and again having to hang on the line for hours when actually I should have been caring for my dad. They didn't send the final calculations, then they set up a new tariff, then they put the direct debit up even though there was no usage in the house, then I got a letter to me advising me they could take legal action against me after cancelling the direct debit seemed to be the only way to stop them taking money off my Dad. Am I angry, have I been badly treated, yes. Yes I gave them the chance to correct an error. Finally after ombudsman settlement they agreed to repay the credit balance. But they took 12 weeks to do it and only then did it after yet more phone calls. If it was your aged dad who had always paid their bills promptly would you be content? Would you be happy to wait for a year to get a bill?

The sharing of information on this site helps people realise when mega corporations are at fault and I for one am glad its here.

And just for the record ... any money N Power pay won't come to me it goes to my father's account.

mancmum

The bill in question was not done as part of the standard run. It was done as a final account and then it was further filtered as being a high value refund. So if you are a pensioner and they have a lot of your money they take longer to process your refund.