npower - being taught a lesson

naedanger

If like me you have received dreadful customer service from npower the following might cheer you up slightly.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/money/personal-finance/man-wins-3000-npower-after-3936566

I particularly liked reading npower bleating that the customer (successfully) sent in debt collectors to their head office.

dippydolly

I'm sure a lot of people will be smiling at that article, and a few thinking of following suit. Must be a Yorkshireman.:j

chanz4

its a good result, however if your supplied by them where do you think this money comes from?

imho

chanz4 wrote: »

its a good result, however if your supplied by them where do you think this money comes from?

Their profits.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

imho wrote: »

Their profits.

Wrong.

It'll be added to the legal expenses ledger. npower will always want their profit margin to be largely consistent, so the higher the expense ledger, the higher prices will be. That's just how business works I'm afraid.

naedanger

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays wrote: »

Wrong.

It'll be added to the legal expenses ledger. npower will always want their profit margin to be largely consistent, so the higher the expense ledger, the higher prices will be. That's just how business works I'm afraid.

If npower increases its prices to offset the costs arising from its gross incompetence then its customers are free to move to other providers, which will hurt npower's profits.

Of course if its customers don't move then npower may be able to keep its profits constant regardless of their abysmal service. However that would not be a good reason for denying customers who have suffered losses through npower's dreadful service from recovering those losses through the courts as the person in the article has done.

chanz4

but this guy seems to sue anyone and everyone inc bg , its not like hes even giving it to charity

naedanger

chanz4 wrote: »

but this guy seems to sue anyone and everyone inc bg , its not like hes even giving it to charity

If he was suing people without good cause he would lose in court. The fact is the courts upheld his complaints, in other words the court decided they were justified.

If the amount he claimed was not a reasonable reflection of his losses then npower could have defended the case.

What he gives to charity is his business.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

naedanger wrote: »

If he was suing people without good cause he would lose in court. The fact is the courts upheld his complaints, in other words the court decided they were justified.

If the amount he claimed was not a reasonable reflection of his losses then npower could have defended the case.

What he gives to charity is his business.

Wrong.

The amount he claimed could have been double his actual losses and npower still wouldn't have defended it. They would only consider defending when the benefit of winning it is larger than the cost to defend. We've seen on this forum a number of times npower simply don't turn up in court - it's too expensive.

npower's in house legal team probably haven't done litigious work since their training contract, and last I heard they were instructing Bond Dickinson and Nabarro, who don't exactly come cheap.

naedanger

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays wrote: »

Wrong.

The amount he claimed could have been double his actual losses and npower still wouldn't have defended it. They would only consider defending when the benefit of winning it is larger than the cost to defend. We've seen on this forum a number of times npower simply don't turn up in court - it's too expensive.

npower's in house legal team probably haven't done litigious work since their training contract, and last I heard they were instructing Bond Dickinson and Nabarro, who don't exactly come cheap.

Why they did not contest the action is pure speculation. It might have been because they knew they were in the wrong. The fact is the customer won his case in court.

Losing the case has not just cost npower a few thousand pounds but also a lot of bad publicity. (Though maybe their reputation is so bad that further bad publicity has little impact on their business).