npower - sheer incompetence

egyptiancotton

Smodlet wrote: »

If you were re-billed at the lowest possible rate and given compensation, I would suggest you achieved the best possible outcome at that point.

Exactly the point. I was happy with the outcome and the extra credit as a goodwill gesture. But npower has screwed it up once again by rolling everything back beyond that point before it was all fixed.

Smodlet wrote: »

Complaining to Ofgem is largely pointless as, unless they find in your favour, nothing will be done and they are, apparently, the energy industry's b!tc# with no real power to do anything. They are also very limited in what they can do even were they to find in your favour; just read threads on here from people who have approached them. I can't remember a single one where the poster was happy with the outcome but I have not read them all.

I'd complain about the latest incident which seems to be related but also unrelated; npower hasn't explain why the house move process has been started but it might be linked to the erroneous meter exchange.

egyptiancotton

Had an update from npower today after another case handler took over my complaint. It's not great news.

They had to roll back all bills and payments to July 2016, and then re-bill me up-to-date. Unfortunately, they're unable to recover my old bills but may be able to recover my meter readings. I'm amazed they had to roll back my account so far, after the issue was apparently resolved in April last year.

I'm really annoyed about the whole thing. They offered a goodwill gesture of £20 but I think it's a bit of an insult considering how long the issue has been going on for, how far back they've had to rollback bills, the fact that the complaint wasn't fully resolved last year and now I can no longer access my historic records.

egyptiancotton

In terms of compensation, what could I reasonably expect? It turns out that npower's records showed that I was on a PAYG meter since September 2016, even though this has now been corrected and I've been re-billed correctly. Only in the past few days the issue has been resolved, so it's been ongoing for some time.

egyptiancotton

So npower rolled back all my bills to July 2016 before the erroneous meter exchange on their system in September 2016. I received my new bill last night (July 2016 - February 2018) and the meter readings they used for February are wrong - they're the meter readings I provided for October 2017 and not the ones I provided for February 2018. I've e-mailed the case handler to make her aware. I've completely lost any patience with npower now, this is beyond ridiculous.

egyptiancotton

npower has produced a new bill from July 2016 to March 2018 and there's a debt of £97.75 on the account.

npower offered a goodwill gesture of £30 to close this complaint, but I declined and asked if they would clear the balance on the account as a minimum. The manager increased the goodwill gesture from £30 to £50 and advised that if I'm still not satisfied then the complaint can be passed to the executive team where they'll make a final decision. The executive team will decide whether the offer of £50 will stand or whether the balance on the account should be cleared. When this complaint was apparently resolved last year, a goodwill gesture of approximately £70 was applied to my account, which is why an offer of just £50 is being offered this time, according to the manager.

I'd be very grateful for advice. Given the stress this has caused and the fact that the complaint was never resolved last year, and a new bill has had to be produced spanning such a large period because of their error, am I justified in asking for the balance to be cleared, or should I ask for the complaint to be passed to the executive team for a final decision?

Smodlet

I think you should hold out for the balance to be cleared, given the monumental mess nPower have made of the whole thing. I once had two years' worth of bills wiped and re-done for no other reason than that the online chat idiot did not know what s/he was doing (bet it was a male) This resulted in my having no information for the last two years until the next bill was generated months later, which showed only the last three months so I was unable to see how they had reached the balance shown.

Good luck, HTH.

egyptiancotton

Thanks for the reply. I rang Citizens Advice and explained the whole thing. They reckoned I have a pretty good case, so I've taken the matter to the Energy Ombudsman on the grounds of:

• The complaint spans back to 2016.
• The issue was never resolved the first time.
• They can't guarantee it's been fully resolved now, hence why they've made 'detailed notes' on the account.
• Notes weren't taken properly by previous advisers, so I had to send npower my notes of call conversations.
• I've been messed around a fair bit. I spent over a month chasing the first case handler for updates. I didn't receive any updates at all from him despite being told on numerous occasions by other advisers that I would receive callbacks, and then when I complained again, the case was passed to another case handler.
• I've lost access to all electricity meter readings from September 2016 onwards, despite being told they are safe and recoverable, but luckily I have a few stored on my laptop.
• I've lost access to all previous bills, despite being told they are safe and recoverable, even though I have a new bill from July 2016 to February 2018. I think I have a few old bills stored on my laptop.

npower argued that I was given £70 compensation the first time. My counter-argument is that I had accepted the compensation because I was told the issue had been fully resolved.

I'll wait to see what the Energy Ombudsman says. To be fair to Citizens Advice, they said they'd step in if the Energy Ombudsman's ruling isn't satisfactory.

Smodlet

I did not think anyone could do anything if the Energy Ombudsman's ruling is unsatisfactory. I thought and still think the Energy Ombudsman's role is purely cosmetic, to con consumers into thinking energy companies are actually regulated when, in fact, they are not.

I would be interested to know how this pans out for you, lloydyyy.

egyptiancotton

Smodlet wrote: »

I did not think anyone could do anything if the Energy Ombudsman's ruling is unsatisfactory. I thought and still think the Energy Ombudsman's role is purely cosmetic, to con consumers into thinking energy companies are actually regulated when, in fact, they are not.

I would be interested to know how this pans out for you, lloydyyy.

To be honest, neither did I. When I spoke to CA, they said although there's no guarantee of what the EO's outcome may be, they reckon it'll be a favourable one. And then to my surprise, they said they'll step in if needs be - as they have the clout to sort things out :rotfl: But on a serious note, they said they're able to step in and sort things out, so they'd speak directly to npower to resolve the matter.

Alarm bells started ringing when npower said they had to rollback my account to a last known good point, which they said was July 2016. I questioned why they couldn't rollback my account to just before December 2017 - before the issue happened again but after the issue was originally resolved in April 2017. Then they coughed and said they have reason to believe that the issue was never properly resolved the first time.

I'll certainly keep this thread updated with the outcome. If it was a minor matter, I wouldn't have bothered posting nor pursuing the matter. But as they've made a monumental mess and can't guarantee it's permanently resolved, I wanted to take things further and now I'm glad I have.

Smodlet

If it was resolved in the first place, they would not need to "roll back" anything (undo it all and redo it correctly, doh!) would they? They really must think we are all as thick as they are!

Well done for sticking with it, lloydyyy. I have found the only way to deal with energy/telecoms companies is to treat them as challenged children while ensuring they know there are boundaries I will not allow them to cross, such as shafting me.

Hope I was of some use.