Npower added warrant charges. Now doing round two!

Akslondon

Hi,

I was on holiday and when i came back i have seen a court letter from Npower for 25 August. A week ahead now. It was sent on the 9th.

I called Npower to pay the debt before things get further.
My balance should be £178 but i was told it was £500+
I asked the reason and they said "warrant charges".

I calmly responded saying the court date was 25th so they couldnt add the charges nust yet. They told me it was from the June. Apparently, they have taken court action and were granted to enter my property. But they couldnt access because they didnt have ths right tools.

I have received no letters whatsover regards to so called court-order. I was not notified before or after the hearing. 28 days werent given either or else i would have paid off the balance.

Balance is like £530. But warrant charge is about £300. There are also some agent visit charges on there (there was no one visiting me)

I am happy to pay the bill plus small fees such as those door visits. But £300 for the warrant charge?

My court date is next week and if i dont get this sorted by then, i am scared that they will add another £300 onto the bill.

Can you guys please help me? Do they have the right to request warrant twice. And if they fail to change the meter, can they still charge me?

Theh said they will send proof off warrant but might take 10 days they claimed. It will be too late if i wait for the copies.

I have no idea what to do. I dont want the meter changed either and i want to switch to good old British Gas after this is sorted.

Thank you on advance for your responds..

National_Debtline

Hi Akslondon and welcome to MSE,


This is all very unusual. Disconnection should only be used as a last resort and for a supplier to threaten to disconnect for, what was, approx. a £200 bill originally is very strange. Is it a warrant of disconnection or just a warrant of entry to read your meter? You could make a complaint that they are not treating your fairly and ask them for a breakdown of the bill.


If you say that you are willing to have a pre-payment meter installed then there would be no need for a court order of entry because you are willing (and then they can't disconnect you anyway). Although I couldn't confirm the price of a warrant this does seem high. Any costs for things such as warrants, late payment charges etc. are all passed onto the customer. You would need to check the Terms and Conditions of usage for more details of costs but I think you should try emailing and getting a manager involved - this all seems very unusual.


You could also consider applying to the NPower Trust Fund (www.npowerenergyfund.com) to get the arrears written off and see if that would delay things further.


Laura
@natdebtline

Akslondon

Hi Laura,
Thank you for your respond. I feel that i may have confused you. Warrant is to change the meter.

I dont want them to instal meter. Its too much hassle to deal with paymeters. I always forget to topup as i have memory problems.

Originally the bill was around £490 but i provoded them with meter reading and it was gone down to £178. However, thry suddenly added all those warrant charges and it is now £529.

I havent made a payment since september they said. I though there was a DD set up. But there wasnt apparently.

And because they never sent me a bill, i never remembered to make payment. Month after month has passed without me even realizing. Everything else is on direct debit so i assumed i set this up at the time.

They also havent sent me the court letter to give me tome to make payment.

I am willing to pay it all. Just not the charges for the warrant.

If there was warrant, why havent they accessed my flat? Why havent they changed the meter? And then charge me for the warrant? Now applying for the second warrant. Which means another £300 on top!

Dont know what to do. Applying for a fund takes 6 months. But the hearing is next wednesday. Not sure what to do.

Any suggestions? Who can i speak to? I tried twitter, online chat, phone conversation to no avail. They are all very rude and demand payment.

sourcrates

Hi OP,

I would try and get a meeting with your local citizens advice, or try there online chat, if that fails, phone National Debtline, they will be able to help you.

Akslondon

Npower now sent me a direct tweet notifying me that they have seen my messages here. I dont know what thr purpose of them telling me that. But they fail to respond here and explain me their procedures.

CAB has advised me that they cannot change meter if i am offering a payment plan. They also said Npower has no right to install meter unless they send me the summons 28 days before the hearing. They also have to give me 7 working days before they can change the meter. But npower tweeter team said they come to install meter on the 8th july yet there was no later whatsoever notifying me of that. There was no summons either. But they were quicl enough to add £300+ charges on the account.

If i received the summons, i would have paid them right away and avoid the court charges. I have no other debts and never had problems with debt. This was all because they failed to send me bills and i forgot.

I have both mental and physical ilnesses yet they refuse to setup a payment plan.

CAB is now helping me to start an official complain. If not resolved, it will go to Ombudsman. As i said, if they sent me warning letter of arrears, i would have paid without questioning. They fail to send bills and i am not the first one apparently. They were charged £2m only few years ago yet they still carry on with the same ptactice...