Npower - 3rd Party telephony?

dglp

Was looking at my bill for the autumn quarter a couple of weks back and saw that there are two charges for '3rd party telephony' and 'agent visit' totaling about £35.

No explanation of what these are, and am wondering if anyone here can point me to credible info.

FYI, prior to that, this past May, I had a credit reversal amounting to over £1,000. I was debited £1220, then credited £1100 on the same day. No explanation.

lvf

Those types of charges are normally applied as part of a pre-disconnection visit, however they could realistically be for any type of visit you have had. I immediately thought PDV because of the telephony charge as well, but the agent visit could also refer to any meter checks or anything else they have sent someone out to your property on your request for.

The debit/credit is a mystery without any more information. Have you tried contacting them? Seems like they are going a bit silly with your account! I, for one, would love to know why they are applying these to the account if it were mine!

chanz4

They are telephone pdv charges, kick a stink as their sap system is poor and they will remove.


No other visit should be charged for

dglp

Npower is such a waste of time to contact that I only do it when I've got something really specific to sort out.

Thanks for the explanation of PDV. I will await further miscommunications. I got a whole load of disconnect notices late this summer, followed by a very oblique letter from the head of customer service apologizing for an unspecified mistake involving billing. So I suppose this is part of that.

Or maybe it's part of the funny credit debit thing. Or both.

Npower. never a dull moment.

[Deleted User]

Were these "pre disconnection notices "justified ?. If you ve had any of these they should be top of your list to deal with, not binned.
Any charges levied for locksmiths and installing prepays will be loaded as debt on a prepay meter..approx £250. Existing prepays which have been damaged/tampered the charge is over £200 for a new meter.
I ve got one this week to deal with, I m doing my best to avoid a locksmith but when the occupiers just carry on with blinkers and think nothing ever gets done , they will be in for a shock.
Do your best to contact the right people at Npower to avoid them blundering on. I know how bad they are, they ve got £300 of mine and seem intent on hanging on to it

dglp

sacsquacco wrote: »

Were these the "pre disconnection notices "justified ?

That's a tricky question. I can never tell whether the amount on my quarterly bill is based on reality or on something Npower has made up, then decided is wrong, and removes. So I pay a monthly amount based on my previous year's annual average. Npower reps have complained about this, but their accounting leave me no choice.

When the notices started arriving - and their claims were out of line with what my online account said - I was even less confident there was anything worth responding to.

Maybe they'll follow through, and maybe I'll be living in an unheated house. But those notices were months ago and nothing's happened.

My concern here was that charges appear on my bill unrelated to any reality. I have no record of a phone call, nor of an agent visit. So I think those charges are just as spurious as the mysterious credit and debit on my account.

In essence, I'm asking why Npower is able to charge for something that hasn't happened. If this is just another bit of inept fakery on their part, and it somehow escalates into a disconnection, I will be surprised, but it's not as though anyone has proper control over what happens.

[Deleted User]

Highly unlikely of a disconnection, thats very rare. Usual method is to install prepay meters, load it with any debt ( that they consider to be owed ), to be repaid weekly.
When it gets as far down the line as a notice to disconnect its after many meter readers have been visiting for years, leaving callback and appointment cards. If none of this has happened it sounds like the usual Npower disorder. Npower would need a warrant, signed and looked over by a Magistrate who would see if the property has been attempted to be accessed at all times up to 8 pm.
Either way its best to arrange an appointment to let Npower see the meter. You dont want to return home one day to find new meters installed and a couple of people entering your house uninvited

chanz4

really easy way to stop their warrants is to raise a formal complaint about not been treated fair, if they refuse goto the ombudsman although they cant rule on the plans they can put pressure on them to.


They shafted a lot of my mates work wise

dglp

Disorder is the order of the day!

As mentioned earlier, the telephony and agent charges don't seem to have any connection to reality. I've had no missed calls, no note in the postbox.

The series of late payment notices disappeared just as mysteriously as they appeared. Almost as though the collection people have a delayed connection to the earlier credit & debit reversal.

My guess was that something went wrong with the billing system, collection notices got sent out, and then eventually an apology, but the chain action had already been started, so the collection notices then went out, and eventually stopped just as oddly as they started.

The telephony and agent visit charges may well be a knock-on effect of the original billing mistake. It's just that I have no way of knowing - just as Npower won't know themselves, given the chaotic nature of their systems.

chanz4

they use an external system called tallyman which is separate from SAP, once a billing block is placed it kills the collections cycle.

chanz4

I can tell you one tip and they will fall for it, and its fully legal send them a cheque with on the back by banking you accept all the terms within the letter. In the letter put that they accept it in full and final settlement of the debt. Get a witness to the letter and post, they will cash and read the letter later