Fed Up With NPower. Any Advice?

SpecialBrew_2

On Friday 28/11/14 I rang nPower and asked why my monthly direct debit for the electric had jumped from £90 to £110. I was told that meter readings were needed before they could sort this out, which is reasonable enough. I took the readings and rang nPower back with them to be told that the payments for the electric could come back down to £90 and that I was to be refunded £130.36 in credit from the electric account, but that the gas could not be billed because of some glitch on their end and that I should expect a phone call from them later that evening. No phone call came.

So on Monday morning (1/12/14) I rang them and was told that the gas still could not be billed, but the woman I spoked to assured me that it would be sorted and that she would ring me back before the end of her shift at 1.30. She didn't.

I rang back that afternoon and spoke to someone who told me that the gas could still not be billed but that he could at least process the electric refund, which he said would take up to five working days. He also said to expect a phone call regarding the gas account. I'd already learned not expect one and wasn't surprised when I didn't get one. By then I'd already worked out that nPower lack the competency to deal with two things at once and decided I'd get the electric credit refunded to me before I tackled the gas bill, as I was getting a bit sick of phoning them.

The next day, however (2/12/14), I was ringing them again, to ask why the monthly electric bill had mysteriously risen once more to £110. It was duly taken back down to £90.

On the Thursday evening (4/12/14), I was pleased to see that the £130.36 credit refund from the electric account was in the bank, so the following day (5/12/14) I rang re the gas bill, which by now had been billed. Credit amounting to £283.52 was on the account so I requested a refund of £200 and told them I would leave the £83.52 in there. As with the credit refund from the electric account, I was told this would take five working days to process. 'It HAS gone out now, though?' I asked. 'Oh yes, I'm authorised to issue credit refunds of up to £200 and I've just sent it out'.

Yesterday (15/12/14), with no sign of the promised refund I phoned nPower again. The guy I spoke to told me that my credit refund request had had to go to a supervisor immediately after my previous phone call because it was for such a high amount, but that the full £283.52 had been sent out straight afterwards. It hadn't been five WORKING days, he said, and that it would be in my bank account today. My daughter was ill yesterday and I have a stack of things to do, so it was only after I put the phone down that I thought to wonder why this £283.52 was still showing as credit in my nPower gas account online if it was on it's weary way to me.

This morning, unsurprisingly, there's still no sign of the money in my bank and it's still showing as credit in my nPower gas account online. I could really use this money now, so I'll have to ring them again. By my reckoning I have already made seven phone calls to them in just over a fortnight and they can't be trusted to be straight with me at all. Asking to speak to a supervisor would be useless as I would not put it past anyone I speak to there to just pass the phone to the equally unqualified person sitting next to them. I have got plenty more to keep me busy besides constantly ringing nPower to wring my own money out of them and writing forum posts the size of War and Peace. Does anyone have any idea how I can get this finally sorted out today? Thanks.

System

E-mail them with the word COMPLAINT in the subject line. Detail your complaint and ask for a complaint number. In my experience, a separate department deals with complaints and generally have more time to look at the detail.

SpecialBrew_2

Thanks. I rang the complaints department this time, to be told that there was nothing now to refund because the money appeared to have gone out at their end, but that I could talk to a guy who knew more about the issue when he started his shift at 1.00. I rang back again later this afternoon and spoke to a woman who told me that nothing had gone out at all, not a bean, and that I should never have been told the full £283.52 credit could be refunded when a refund of £130-something was all that could be returned to me.

She then said that she could refund £113 now and a small balance at a later date. This amounted to about as much bull as my brain can process in a day and so I agreed. She gave me a complaint reference number and told me that the complaint would be closed once I'd received my full refund entitlement. Whatever they end up deeming that to be. She apologised that I had been 'misled', to which I told her that I'd have understood being 'misled' once, but not repeatedly. I can expect to see the latest alleged refund within 7-10 working days (the time frame seems to have expanded at the same rate the refund figure has shrunk).

I'm starting to think that I'll see the real Father Christmas a lot sooner.

Cardew

It has been established that publication of such statements on the internet can render the author to the liable to legal action.


Frankly I am surprised that MSE haven't deleted/amended the title.

Cardew

As someone(who?) has amended the title of the thread - I have deleted most of my post!

nPower

SpecialBrew wrote: »

On Friday 28/11/14 I rang nPower and asked why my monthly direct debit for the electric had jumped from £90 to £110. I was told that meter readings were needed before they could sort this out, which is reasonable enough. I took the readings and rang nPower back with them to be told that the payments for the electric could come back down to £90 and that I was to be refunded £130.36 in credit from the electric account, but that the gas could not be billed because of some glitch on their end and that I should expect a phone call from them later that evening. No phone call came.

So on Monday morning (1/12/14) I rang them and was told that the gas still could not be billed, but the woman I spoked to assured me that it would be sorted and that she would ring me back before the end of her shift at 1.30. She didn't.

I rang back that afternoon and spoke to someone who told me that the gas could still not be billed but that he could at least process the electric refund, which he said would take up to five working days. He also said to expect a phone call regarding the gas account. I'd already learned not expect one and wasn't surprised when I didn't get one. By then I'd already worked out that nPower lack the competency to deal with two things at once and decided I'd get the electric credit refunded to me before I tackled the gas bill, as I was getting a bit sick of phoning them.

The next day, however (2/12/14), I was ringing them again, to ask why the monthly electric bill had mysteriously risen once more to £110. It was duly taken back down to £90.

On the Thursday evening (4/12/14), I was pleased to see that the £130.36 credit refund from the electric account was in the bank, so the following day (5/12/14) I rang re the gas bill, which by now had been billed. Credit amounting to £283.52 was on the account so I requested a refund of £200 and told them I would leave the £83.52 in there. As with the credit refund from the electric account, I was told this would take five working days to process. 'It HAS gone out now, though?' I asked. 'Oh yes, I'm authorised to issue credit refunds of up to £200 and I've just sent it out'.

Yesterday (15/12/14), with no sign of the promised refund I phoned nPower again. The guy I spoke to told me that my credit refund request had had to go to a supervisor immediately after my previous phone call because it was for such a high amount, but that the full £283.52 had been sent out straight afterwards. It hadn't been five WORKING days, he said, and that it would be in my bank account today. My daughter was ill yesterday and I have a stack of things to do, so it was only after I put the phone down that I thought to wonder why this £283.52 was still showing as credit in my nPower gas account online if it was on it's weary way to me.

This morning, unsurprisingly, there's still no sign of the money in my bank and it's still showing as credit in my nPower gas account online. I could really use this money now, so I'll have to ring them again. By my reckoning I have already made seven phone calls to them in just over a fortnight and they can't be trusted to be straight with me at all. Asking to speak to a supervisor would be useless as I would not put it past anyone I speak to there to just pass the phone to the equally unqualified person sitting next to them. I have got plenty more to keep me busy besides constantly ringing nPower to wring my own money out of them and writing forum posts the size of War and Peace. Does anyone have any idea how I can get this finally sorted out today? Thanks.

Hi SpecialBrew

Thanks for your post.

I'm disappointed that you've been given so many different answers regarding the delay in your refund. Just to let you know, front line advisors (Customer Enquiries, Billing etc) are able to refund up to £200.00 without the authorisation of a manager. Senior Advisors (Complaints, Exec Complaints, Social Media ) and Managers can refund up to £500.00 without authorisation, anything higher needs to be approved by someone senior, increasing in seniority depending on the amount. Due to this process, some refunds can take longer than others depending on their value - the normal timescale for a small refund is 3-5 working days by BACS, 10 working days by cheque, though our frontline advisors should be providing a 28 day timescale for anything over £500.00, as each one is approved individually.

Please be aware, that any credit accrued at this time of year is normally allocated towards winter usage which is typically higher due to the changes in weather. As people who pay by monthly Direct Debit pay an average over the course of the year, we'd therefore expect them to be a little bit ahead after summer and a little bit behind after winter, averaging out over a 12 month period to hopefully leave a zero balance.

I am more than happy to investigate this further and chase the refund up for you if you can send us an email with your account details in. If you've not provided meter readings within the last month, including these will also help assess the credit on your account. Please contact us using the details on our profile page and include your account number, address and MSE username so we can refer to the original post if needed.

Regards

Jess

System

Twenty Eight days to approve a payment of £500+: no wonder customers hold energy companies in such low esteem. Has NPower not heard of Faster Payments?

Andy_WSM

nPower_company_representative wrote: »

though our frontline advisors should be providing a 28 day timescale for anything over £500.00, as each one is approved individually.

That's really shameful. Not a good advert for nPower, although to be fair to you, a search for nPower on this forum would put anyone off!