npower victim

sal1234

i am posting here because i dont know what else to do. i have not been supplied by npower for over a year. when i left i tried to enter the final readings but their system would not let me (it said the account was closed). i emailed them the readings. they ignored them and billed me with some readings they appear to have made up (the final readings they are using do not match the opening readings of my new supplier). i submitted a complaint via their online form. they ignored it. they billed me again. i submitted a complaint again. this went on for about 3 months. at the end of this time my online account showed them owing me £150. so i just let it go. about two weeks ago now they started sending me final demands with threats of ruining credit and court action. i submitted complaints. they ignored them. now i have 2 final demands, one of which has expired. what should i do? i am not able to use a phone. i can only contact them by email (which they state on their site is a valid way to contact them), but they jsut ignore all emails and conplaints that i send them. i must have submitted 50 or more such messages by now. i once wrote them a letter. they ignored it. i contacted the ombudsman, they said that because i had originally contacted npower over 9 months ago they would not help me. so what can i do? i cannot phone them. they ignore my letters and my emails. i noticed an "npower representative" user in these forums. i emailed them. they ignored it. really, i am at the end of my tether. i am considering paying what i think i owe via their web site and then leaving it alone. but what will they do then (they think i owe them more because they have been using the wrong readings for more than a year now, all attempts by me to correct the error are ignored). i have some mental problems that prevent me doing many things, one of which is leaving my house. if they send me letters to go to court i will not be able to go. i cannot pay the full amount they demand because i cannot afford it. i would appreciate any attempts to help me with this because i really dont know what else to do.

naedanger

sal1234 wrote: »

i am posting here because i dont know what else to do. i have not been supplied by npower for over a year. when i left i tried to enter the final readings but their system would not let me (it said the account was closed). i emailed them the readings. they ignored them and billed me with some readings they appear to have made up (the final readings they are using do not match the opening readings of my new supplier). i submitted a complaint via their online form. they ignored it. they billed me again. i submitted a complaint again. this went on for about 3 months. at the end of this time my online account showed them owing me £150. so i just let it go. about two weeks ago now they started sending me final demands with threats of ruining credit and court action. i submitted complaints. they ignored them. now i have 2 final demands, one of which has expired. what should i do? i am not able to use a phone. i can only contact them by email (which they state on their site is a valid way to contact them), but they jsut ignore all emails and conplaints that i send them. i must have submitted 50 or more such messages by now. i once wrote them a letter. they ignored it. i contacted the ombudsman, they said that because i had originally contacted npower over 9 months ago they would not help me. so what can i do? i cannot phone them. they ignore my letters and my emails. i noticed an "npower representative" user in these forums. i emailed them. they ignored it. really, i am at the end of my tether. i am considering paying what i think i owe via their web site and then leaving it alone. but what will they do then (they think i owe them more because they have been using the wrong readings for more than a year now, all attempts by me to correct the error are ignored). i have some mental problems that prevent me doing many things, one of which is leaving my house. if they send me letters to go to court i will not be able to go. i cannot pay the full amount they demand because i cannot afford it. i would appreciate any attempts to help me with this because i really dont know what else to do.

Npower's service is absolutely dreadful and your treatment seems at the worse end of the scale.

Unfortunately the nine month limit the Ombudsman quoted is, I think, correct. However could you limit your complaint to a more recent event. When did npower say they owed you £150 and then when did they first say you owed them money? If the date they first said you owed them money was within the last nine months then I would complain to the Ombudsman about that event.

Also are you a vulnerable customer. See the following link for details:

http://www.consumerfocus.org.uk/get-advice/energy/households/help-for-vulnerable-consumers

If you are a vulnerable customer then you may be able to get help from the Citizens Advice. See item 2.1 bullet point 3 of the following link.
http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN06428.pdf

Do you have a record of all your previous correspondence?

sal1234

i dont know if i'm a vulnerable customer. it would depend what you mean by disability or ill health.

i already contacted the cab. they replied and asked me questions and mentioned something called a ehu. i answered their questions but never heard anything else from them, although it was only the end of last week so maybe they will help. i'd forgotten about them to tell the truth. i hope they help.

i have all the letters npower have sent me and screenshots of all the messages i have sent them. there is no other correspondnce i think. i havent thrown anything away that i can think of and i have all the emails their computer sends back whenever you send them something.

i didnt know i could complaint to the ombudsman again. i thought that was it. npower posted a bill to the online account within the last 9 months and it matches the paper ones i started getting, so i'll try complaining to the ombudsman again. thank you very much for pointing me in that direction because it gives me some hope.

naedanger

sal1234 wrote: »

i dont know if i'm a vulnerable customer. it would depend what you mean by disability or ill health.

i already contacted the cab. they replied and asked me questions and mentioned something called a ehu. i answered their questions but never heard anything else from them, although it was only the end of last week so maybe they will help. i'd forgotten about them to tell the truth. i hope they help.

i have all the letters npower have sent me and screenshots of all the messages i have sent them. there is no other correspondnce i think. i havent thrown anything away that i can think of and i have all the emails their computer sends back whenever you send them something.

i didnt know i could complaint to the ombudsman again. i thought that was it. npower posted a bill to the online account within the last 9 months and it matches the paper ones i started getting, so i'll try complaining to the ombudsman again. thank you very much for pointing me in that direction because it gives me some hope.

You need to be careful drafting your complaint to ensure the Ombudsman does not throw it out as being time barred. Therefore do not complain about anything in the distant past but rather about npower's current ongoing action against you. (So I think you can complain about them currently billing you for a debt you don't owe but don't make your complaint about the £150 they owe you from over 9 months ago, since that would get your complaint thrown out.)

In fact I would restart the complaints process afresh. (Sorry this may seem like you are getting nowhere but if you start afresh and stick to everything being in writing and to tight timescales I think everything will be sorted eventually.)

If I were you I would send npower an email headed complaint to complaintsteam@npower.com. (Keep everything in writing.)

I would say I was complaining about their ongoing action to chase a debt based on incorrect bills. (Say what is wrong with the current bill e.g. that they disagree with earlier assessments etc.) Ask that they stop sending your reminders until they issue an accurate bill. If they are not willing to do this ask that they send a deadlock letter so that you can take your case to the Ombudsman. I would inform them, clearly at the end of the email, of any special needs you have as you did in your first post.

Then if they do not provide you with a correct bill within 8 weeks take your case to the Ombudsman.

If they send any other bills meantime just keep referring them to this complaint.

After 8 weeks take your case to the Ombudsman. Explain that your complaint is about the ongoing incorrect debt collection.

You might also wish to send your MP a summary of your problems. (Don't rely on them to help but it is possible they may take an interest.)

sal1234

o dear. i hope i havent messed it up again. i was filling in the ombudsman form and sent it before i read your reply. i dont think i messed up the dates. i quoted the date when i started getting the latest bills, which was a month ago (i had had nothing from npower for many many months before that, more than 9 anyway).

i will send another message to complaintsteam@npower.com, but i've used that address before and never had a reply, so i'm not hopeful. i have told them many times that i cant use a phone, but their computer just sends me an email telling me to phone them.

i dont think i can wait 8 weeks because the npower letters threatn court action from today. it was that that made me post here to begin with, the fear of that i mean.

i will try the mp too. i think i've dfound who it is.

thank you.

naedanger

sal1234 wrote: »

o dear. i hope i havent messed it up again. i was filling in the ombudsman form and sent it before i read your reply. i dont think i messed up the dates. i quoted the date when i started getting the latest bills, which was a month ago (i had had nothing from npower for many many months before that, more than 9 anyway).

i will send another message to complaintsteam@npower.com, but i've used that address before and never had a reply, so i'm not hopeful. i have told them many times that i cant use a phone, but their computer just sends me an email telling me to phone them.

i dont think i can wait 8 weeks because the npower letters threatn court action from today. it was that that made me post here to begin with, the fear of that i mean.

i will try the mp too. i think i've dfound who it is.

thank you.

I don't think you will have messed up. But as you are now complaining about npower's letter from a month ago the Ombudsman is likely to say you need to give npower 8 weeks to answer. (Which they probably won't do anyway.)

The Ombudsman is slow anyway so I don't think you will get a quick answer even if they don't sent it back until you have given npower 8 weeks.

Not sure what you can do about the current threats. Hopefully CAB will advise.

nPower

sal1234 wrote: »

i am posting here because i dont know what else to do. i have not been supplied by npower for over a year. when i left i tried to enter the final readings but their system would not let me (it said the account was closed). i emailed them the readings. they ignored them and billed me with some readings they appear to have made up (the final readings they are using do not match the opening readings of my new supplier). i submitted a complaint via their online form. they ignored it. they billed me again. i submitted a complaint again. this went on for about 3 months. at the end of this time my online account showed them owing me £150. so i just let it go. about two weeks ago now they started sending me final demands with threats of ruining credit and court action. i submitted complaints. they ignored them. now i have 2 final demands, one of which has expired. what should i do? i am not able to use a phone. i can only contact them by email (which they state on their site is a valid way to contact them), but they jsut ignore all emails and conplaints that i send them. i must have submitted 50 or more such messages by now. i once wrote them a letter. they ignored it. i contacted the ombudsman, they said that because i had originally contacted npower over 9 months ago they would not help me. so what can i do? i cannot phone them. they ignore my letters and my emails. i noticed an "npower representative" user in these forums. i emailed them. they ignored it. really, i am at the end of my tether. i am considering paying what i think i owe via their web site and then leaving it alone. but what will they do then (they think i owe them more because they have been using the wrong readings for more than a year now, all attempts by me to correct the error are ignored). i have some mental problems that prevent me doing many things, one of which is leaving my house. if they send me letters to go to court i will not be able to go. i cannot pay the full amount they demand because i cannot afford it. i would appreciate any attempts to help me with this because i really dont know what else to do.

Hi sal1234,

Please could you email us your account details using the email address on our profile. I'd be more than happy to help resolve this for you.

Thanks
Chris :-)