npower

squigglette

my mum and dad are currently with npower for their electric and are using a budget key meter, the key has stopped working a few weeks ago the meter reader man said there was something wrong with the meter, my dad phoned them up today to try and get someone to help, my mum is registered disabled and the company has been told that, they told my dad first of all that it was the charging machine in the shop, my dad had tried 3 different shops, he's down to £5 emergency electric, they put him on hold for 5 minutes when the woman came back she said oh you have to switch everything on in the house and use up that £5 electic money otherwise the key meter man technician wont come out, am i wrong in thinking that they always tell us NOT to waste electricity? i just need some advice so my mum and dad can get the help they need because they cant really sit in the dark can they. i mean what if my mum falls down the stairs
i just think its disgusting they said to waste electric like that else they wont come out.
sorry its a bit of a rant :mad::mad:

Terrylw1

Hi,

Your dad obviously either spoke to an inexperienced person or maybe a directord based on the "switch everything on then we can award ourselves a payraise if you all do this!!!" comment. Thats ridiculous.

It sounds like they are saying that they won't send out an engineer to somple put you emergency credit on until it hits £0. Thats ok, but thats not what your dad called them about!

Ok, a few things to consider:

- has the key worked before and the monies paid actually reached your supplier? If so, maybe the key is faulty.

- the meter reader is not an engineer, they are just there to take readings so he/she could very easily be incorrect. The meter itself is very rarely faulty, but it could be the key mechanism which is more likely.

- the till being fault is very likely an excuse, since it would effect ALL ustomers using it.

It may be worth going into the shop & asking for a "replacement" key. Don't asl for a "new" one or they will assume you are a new customer and your payments won't reach your account. With a replacement, they will.

If this doesn't help, then you need an engineer out there sharpish to get it sorted. Npower will then fob you off with "sorry, you'll have to wait X days for a visit". Be firm with them as you cannot possible live without electricity and lets face it, they have also delayed you with poor advice.

There is some legislation about at risk customers who cannot be left without power but I don't think it covers the disabled when there is 1 party mobile. Not sure on that, you could check it out on the Ofgem website, most likely.

Also, not sure what you mean by budget key meter as pre-payment meters are always more expensive than a standard quarterley credit one since they are far more hassle to the Supplier.

Hope you get it sorted.

squigglette

thanks my mum got her social worker to phone them up and a guy came out with a new key, i did recommend they get a meter where they get a bill, then they wouldnt have to worry about it so much, think thats what they will do but i dont think they will be sticking with npower

Terrylw1

Thats great news. It tends to be the key.

Get them to change the meter before you change supplier because your new supplier will be more willing to take you on. Only takes 20 mins to change them.

Make sure you take the reading on the day they take the meter out and the opening reading of the new meter and then take a reading on the date you transfer (give your new Supplier a reading if poss for the tranfer). This way they can't stuff anything else up but at least if they do, you will have the readings to sort it out.

Any credit left on the meter will be used against their first bill, but I would suggest you note it down just incase.

jembie

I am glad you got it sorted.
I hope your parents get to change the meter to a Billed one as I have never been allowed to change to a normal meter as I fail the credit check

faerie_girl

good to hear you situation is resolved.

We are with british gas and when we first moved into our home the engineer came and reset it for us. He told us if we ever had a problem and needed an engineer quickly to tell them their was only about 50p in and it was about to run out. He also said not to be fobbed by the person on the telephone saying their is no-one available because there always is.
Shame it has to be like this - lying to get a good service

Terrylw1

Yeah, the engineers get sick of Suppliers because people think when they turn up on their doorstep that they are from that company. Hence they can get a lot of stick just for that!

Visit times depend on the contracts the supplier has in place which tend to depend on how many customers they have in that region. Also, Suppliers that had an old electricity board region have better contracts than any other Supplier for that region due to customer volume and the fact that they used to be the same company with the Agents prior to privatisation.

They can always get someone there if the Agent has an engineer free or able to work on overtime or pop in on his way back to finish for the day. the trouble is, it costs more to the Supplier.

In the Supplier's defence, to stop staff abusing this ability they have a habit of refusing to let their staff do it. So, whilst many of them may sympathise and ant to help, they are not allowed to do so!!!

squigglette

thanks for all your help :rolleyes:
im glad they got it sorted out now, bad stat when you have to lie tjhough

Pixie28

faerie_girl wrote: »

good to hear you situation is resolved.

We are with british gas and when we first moved into our home the engineer came and reset it for us. He told us if we ever had a problem and needed an engineer quickly to tell them their was only about 50p in and it was about to run out. He also said not to be fobbed by the person on the telephone saying their is no-one available because there always is.
Shame it has to be like this - lying to get a good service

It's not a case of "fobing people off". I have worked for a utility comany - some meter operators are very strict about visiting properties for "emergency top ups". The general rule is that once a customer has less than 50p on their meter, the situation will be classified as an emergency call out, and only then will the meter operators in the customers specific area accept a call from the customer's supplier. It is not a good idea to tell your supplier that you only have 50p left in your meter, when you infact have much more than that. From experience, some engineers are so strict with this that, led by company guidelines, they will actually walk away from a meter that has more than 50p credit in it....a huge waste of time for both the consumer and the supplier.

Terrylw1

But then would the engineer risk calling the customer a liar knowing that Suppliers cause them daily hassle over misbooked appointments?

I guess the engineer walking offsite without performing the work has no problem conning the Supplier out of the visit charge.

Spent a longtime in the industry myself. Customers very often get poor service from Suppliers when it comes to visits as they just don't want to pay out for short notice specials even when they are warranted.

Always the way the middle managers try to cut their budgets.