Npower – Complaint Spiralling out of Control

Rob7000

More disgraceful treatment by npower.

Changing to a new tariff caused my quarterly variable DD to be cancelled because npower were unable to set it up on the new tariff. Numerous calls have been made since 09/02/2015 trying to resolve this. The uncollected bill of £331.81 was paid by telephone. I have been told the current bill for £205.75 will be collected on 07/04/2015.

Then the REALLY SERIOUS problems started. On 23/03/2015 an additional Eleven items appeared on the account each one reversing an earlier bill. A new debit of £272.74 was also posted and reversed. This left the account £2,616.65 in CREDIT.

I then received an email from the “Home Moves Centre of Excellence” (I have neither moved home nor switched suppliers). It stated the complaint “has now been resolved and closed” without stating what had been resolved and without consultation with me. It also stated that the account was £553.46 in debit and required immediate payment. There was no explanation, nor did the amount appear on the account and a bill had not been produced. The account was still £2,616.65 in credit.

I called the “Specialist Complaints Team”. But the complaint had been closed and I was told the demand must be correct, implying I had no option but to pay it. I explained that I submit meter readings every month, I calculate the expected bill, that all bills had been correct and paid in full and that the account was correct and up to date. All of this was dismissed and no explanation was given for what had happened. As far as she was concerned the complaint (which had only been about setting up the DD) has been closed. I spent a long time trying to get this recognised as a valid complaint before she finally said “Well, what do you want to do?” and she reluctantly agreed to have it looked at.

I have not heard from npower since. But today eleven new bills appeared on the account and the balance is now £553.46 in DEBIT. In the space of 4 days the account went from being correct and up to date to being £553.46 in debit with 25 new financial transactions and no explanation whatsoever.

The eleven new bills are a recalculation of bills spanning more than 2 years. An initial inspection shows that they have used some tariffs that were never applicable to my account and some have included a daily rate charge at times when my electricity tariff had a zero daily rate. The mistakes produced an excess charge of £347.71. This being the demanded £553.46 minus the £205.75 not yet collected from most recent correct bill.

There is no justifiable reason to recalculate 2 years of bills and no excuse whatsoever for changing the tariffs and rates that were applicable during that time.

Npower have closed a complaint without any communication with me. They have demanded the immediate payment of £553.46 by email without explanation. They tried to refuse to accept any further complaint. They have recalculated two years of bills and increased the charges by almost £350. This will not be tolerated and this amount will not be paid.

Npower customer service is an absolute disgrace. My account went from being correct and up to date to being an almost undecipherable mess in just two days. This resulted in the erroneous demand for the equivalent of 6 months of energy costs without any explanation. In 60 years I have never been more disgusted with any company than I am with the treatment I have received from npower.

I am now faced with having to force this complaint through all the steps of their complaints procedure before I can get the account returned to its original correct status.

Has anyone else had two years of bills recalculated?

Rob

Davie64

I've got my own NPower story, also going back for getting on for 2 years, which I'm struggling to resolve, and that's why I started browsing on here.

We had old night storage heaters replaced with central heating in 2013. Once it was completed I contacted NPower to switch from their Economy 7 tariff to a standard tariff, as the cheap night rate and higher day rate was no longer going to work for us. I was told to submit readings and I would be switched tariffs. This was in August 2013.

Each on line statement since has merely confirmed that the switch wasn't done. I've had it confirmed that they can see on my account the date I requested the switch and that it would be backdated. I was assured that this had finally been done last October. However on checking the latest statement on line a couple of weeks ago, still no correction despite the account history consisting of numerous debits, credits, cancelled invoices, replacement invoices, and now it says my monthy direct debit is going to almost double. Latest call a week ago - I was told that the higher direct debit wasn't correct but because of the backdating required it couldn't be done there and then and had to go to a different department. Still waiting and checking my online account daily but nothing has changed and it's still quotes my new direct debit amount.

They haven't taken a direct debit on my usual date this month so perhaps the account is on hold while they correct it but I'm not holdng my breath.

Not sure what to do other than keep calling the general number and going through the same thing.

Rob7000

Thanks for the reply Davie64

It sounds like you're having a real problem too.

Mine started on 9 Feb this year and only became a major issue on 23 Mar. I certainly do not intend to let it drag on. As I said I intend to force them to go through the steps of their own complaints procedure.

Step 1 is contacting the complaints team.
I think we are both at this stage now.

Step 2 is having it referred to the [FONT=&quot]EXECUTIVE COMPLAINTS TEAM.
I intend to do this when I am next contacted[/FONT] by npower.

Step 3 if it is still not resolved they will refer it to the [FONT=&quot]Head of Customer Relations for review. If they cannot resolve the complaint they will produce a Final Response Letter[/FONT].

It is only at this stage that the complaint can be taken to the Ombudsman.

I fully intend to progress the complaint through these stages as fast as possible and have the Ombudsman investigate the complaint.

If your account has been put on hold because they are sorting the problem it might finally get resolved. But if it is not I suggest that you insist on progressing to Step 2 and have it referred to the [FONT=&quot]Executive Complaints Team.

Check out "[/FONT][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]PUTTING THINGS RIGHT – COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE"[/FONT] on the npower website.

Good luck.

Rob
[/FONT]

Davie64

Thanks Rob, I've just rung the complaints team. Apparently she can see from my account that I last called on the 16th and the account has now been handed over to the specialist team and to ignore all bills (hard to ignore when my online account says they're about to take double my normal direct debit - i haven't wanted to stop my direct debit in case I ended up owing a lot, as I am on dual fuel so it is the gas too). Can take up to 28 days so will keep checking my online account during that time.

Good luck with your case.

Rob7000

Hi Davie64

Be aware that the Specialist Team is NOT the Executive Complaints Team. Your complaint has NOT progressed to Stage 2. You have to progress it to Stage 2 yourself if it becomes necessary.

I had previously been told to cancel the DD to make sure that a payment was not taken (this was before the demand for £553.46). But that was not possible because even now my bank does not have a DD set up.

It was the Specialist Team who told me the complaint was closed and that the demand must be correct and tried to prevent me from complaining further.

If and when your complaint is put right will npower have to recalculate your bills back to 2013?

If this is the case I do not know how you will be able to check them. In my case the last 2 years of original bills were correct so I can see in every case where the new recalculated bills have used the wrong tariffs and the wrong rates. The number and types of errors is staggering. Just making the comparison and listing all of the discrepancies is going to take many hours. If npower does not agree to re-instate the original (already paid) bills and cancel the demand for £553.46 then I will have to spend that time compiling the complaint to the Ombudsman.

I am sorry I can't be more positive but I have no confidence whatsoever in npower's ability to get things right and none in their customer service and complaints teams.

I hope they do get it sorted for you this time.

Rob

Rob7000

Hi Davie64

I discovered a tweet from ofgem to another npower customer. It says that Ombudsman Services can investigate complaints not resolved in 8 weeks. Because of the length of you complaint it may be possible for you to take your complaint directly to the Ombudsman now.

Check the Ofgen.gov.uk website. You can also telephone them for advice. If you can pass the complaint on to them it will get sorted once and for all.

Rob

Davie64

oh don't worry, I'm certainly not confident of it getting sorted this time, just hoping really.

Yes I realise that it's not with the executive complaints team at this stage. I'm going to give it the 28 days I was advised when I rang this morning...it's already 12 days on from 16th March when it was passed to this specialist team.

As for the error being backdated, yes, every time I call I get them to confirm the date of my original request. Realise it's not easy to work out what credit is due but I should be able to work out electricity useage since then based on the readings I supplied then.

will see what happens in the next 2 weeks then be ready to take it further.

Joyful

If you have a previous complaint relating to the same issue they must backdate your complaint to the original date and link them. This way they cannot get away with closing a complaint until fully resolved.

teddysmum

If I've had a problem I've rung the usual number, asking why the problem has cropped up (I had a change of tariff dd problem in February, due to a computer glitch they knew about) but have always, then, emailed executive complaints, where I've found things quickly resolved.

Rob7000

Hi teddysmum

For me it started with only a DD problem.

Did they recalculate 2 years of your bills and make a demand for hundreds of pounds that you didn't owe and then Executive Complaints put it all right or did you only have the DD problem?

Rob

naedanger

Rob7000 wrote: »

Hi Davie64

... It says that Ombudsman Services can investigate complaints not resolved in 8 weeks.

...

Rob

This is correct. Furthermore if npower did not treat your complaint in line with their own complaint handling process this is further grounds for complaint. So you should make clear to the Ombudsman you concerns about npower's handling of your complaint.