Npower breach of Ombudsman's 28 day ruling

amberrye

The Ombudsman ruled that Npower should sort our complaint within 28 days. This has not happened neither have Npower even attempted to try to resolve things, such as taking meter readings, detail a payment plan, etc.


The Ombudsman's ruling was that Npower must also keep us updated every 28 days about the situation. This also has not happened.


Apart from a standardised letter sent to us by Npower, more than 28 days have now passed since then and no contact from Npower.


They have therefore breached the Ombudsman's ruling.


Who do I go to now to complain about this - Npower or the Ombudsman?


Feels like we are going to be stuck between Npower and the Ombudsman forever, with nothing happening and really us just wanting to be rid of them and move to another supplier.

Cardew

Unfortunately they are Ombudsman's recommendations not rulings and are not binding on the energy firms.

amberrye

That's so annoying!


When I posed the question to the guy at the Ombudsman office, who rang to tell me of the ruling, he said basically Npower have no choice, they HAVE to comply with the ruling, there's no option not to, it would never happen!

chanz4

they cant force payment plans either, as they have no juristriction

Cardew

Technically they examine the case and make a decision. Their letter informing you of their decision normally ends:


'If you or xxxxx utility company do not accept our decision, then either party can write to us etc'


I agree in almost every case a utility company will accept the decision if it is just an individual case. However I was making the point that the Ombudsman doesn't have teeth to enforce their recommendations if Npower haven't replied in 28 days. They will just write to them again

Badger10

Exactly the same has happened to me. nPower has totally ignored ombudsman's decision. Ombudsman will not reply to my letters. I spent hours preparing the case. I was told by ombudsman that nPower had to comply. It seems the ombudsman service is just a waste of time. It makes a ruling then washes its hands of you. I would have thought it was its job to make sure nPower complies. So what do you do? I've been told it's the independent assessor next, so I'll see what they say. What an absolute farce. I would be very interested in Martin Lewis's take on this.

naedanger

Cardew wrote: »

Unfortunately they are Ombudsman's recommendations not rulings and are not binding on the energy firms.

Why do you say this? The following link explains that the Energy Ombudsman was established by act [of parliament] and the Ombudsman has the power to make energy companies apologise, explain or pay compensation.

http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN06428.pdf

naedanger

amberrye wrote: »

The Ombudsman ruled that Npower should sort our complaint within 28 days. This has not happened neither have Npower even attempted to try to resolve things, such as taking meter readings, detail a payment plan, etc.

Npower keep and publish statistics on the number of Ombudsman cases that are outstanding 28 days after the ombudsman decision was made. The following is a link:

http://www.npower.com/home/customer/#tab-2

You will need to hit the complaints tab that is a few paragraphs down the page.

There they show they have had no ombudsman complaints outstanding after 28 days since May 2014. So not only have npower not complied with the Ombudsman's ruling they are fiddling their complaint statistics.

I suggest you complain to Ofgem that npower are fiddling their complaint statistics (and so breaching their licence conditions), which seems to me to be a very serious matter. The email address for ofgem is consumeraffairs@ofgem.gov.uk. You need to make clear your complaint is that npower are breaching their licence conditions by not implementing Ombudsman rulings and failing to keep accurate complaint statistics. (Ofgem do not investigate individual disputes.)

I made a similar complaint to Ofgem, who said they were interested in hearing about it. I have not had an update but did not expect one as I am fairly sure Ofgem will be required to keep any investigations confidential. Obviously the more people that tell Ofgem what is going on the better.

naedanger

Further point for the original poster, put in a new complaint to npower, being that npower have failed to implement the Ombudsman's remedy in the agreed timescale for no good reason. Ask them to implement the original remedy and ask for further compensation. If they don't both implement the remedy and pay the further compensation within 8 weeks go back to the Ombudsman.

If you simply pursue your original complaint you will be ignored and receive to further redress for all the additional inconvenience. The Ombudsman seems to have no process for dealing with such cases. They don't even report the supplier (here npower) to Ofgem for failing to comply with their licence conditions.

Cardew

naedanger wrote: »

Why do you say this? The following link explains that the Energy Ombudsman was established by act [of parliament] and the Ombudsman has the power to make energy companies apologise, explain or pay compensation.

http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN06428.pdf

You are correct. Perhaps I should have said the original decision is not binding on either party.


However it is difficult to see what teeth they have if a company ignores their decision.

NittyGritty

amberrye wrote: »

The Ombudsman ruled that Npower should sort our complaint within 28 days. This has not happened neither have Npower even attempted to try to resolve things, such as taking meter readings, detail a payment plan, etc.


The Ombudsman's ruling was that Npower must also keep us updated every 28 days about the situation. This also has not happened.


Apart from a standardised letter sent to us by Npower, more than 28 days have now passed since then and no contact from Npower.


They have therefore breached the Ombudsman's ruling.


Who do I go to now to complain about this - Npower or the Ombudsman?


Feels like we are going to be stuck between Npower and the Ombudsman forever, with nothing happening and really us just wanting to be rid of them and move to another supplier.

from personal experience (although not with Npower) your best bet is to continue emailing the CEO I did this when I took a mobile company to ombudsman I won my case along with compensation, they gave the mobile company a similer deadline to comply with the decision, they failed to meet this, so I just pestered the CEO with emails, a week later I finally got my compensation along with an apology, plus an extra (small) goodwill gesture


I suggest you do the same, (don't use customer services) always use the CEO email to contact them.