NPower gas 'sculpting'

1carminestocky

DirectDebacle wrote: »

Well Ofgem have sent me hundreds of pages of information in response to the FOI request I made. Will take me days to go through it but the first document is a series of emails between a customer and npower which were copied to Ofgem as evidence. The customer got the usual run around from npower so took them to county court. npower defended and lost. They were ordered to pay the customer back the money AND REFUSED to pay. Customer then obtained a warrant of execution and was ready for the bailiffs to pay npower a visit if they didn't pay up. Outstanding stuff. Customer got the money in the end.

There is loads more from other customers detailing 'sculpting' to Ofgem so they were aware of the main complaint on this thread at the time of their investigation. One email gives Ofgem a link to this thread.

When I work out how to copy and paste a PDF file ( Adobe won't let me do it) I'll put some of it on here. LMAO:rotfl:

:eek: Sounds like fantastic stuff, DD! Well done, mate! :beer: I wonder if The Times have all that info, also? If not, I'm sure they would be interested in having a butchers....

meggsy

DirectDebacle wrote: »

Well Ofgem have sent me hundreds of pages of information in response to the FOI request I made. Will take me days to go through it but the first document is a series of emails between a customer and npower which were copied to Ofgem as evidence. The customer got the usual run around from npower so took them to county court. npower defended and lost. They were ordered to pay the customer back the money AND REFUSED to pay. Customer then obtained a warrant of execution and was ready for the bailiffs to pay npower a visit if they didn't pay up. Outstanding stuff. Customer got the money in the end.

There is loads more from other customers detailing 'sculpting' to Ofgem so they were aware of the main complaint on this thread at the time of their investigation. One email gives Ofgem a link to this thread.

When I work out how to copy and paste a PDF file ( Adobe won't let me do it) I'll put some of it on here. LMAO:rotfl:

:T :T :T

DirectDebacle

1carminestocky wrote: »

:eek: Sounds like fantastic stuff, DD! Well done, mate! :beer: I wonder if The Times have all that info, also? If not, I'm sure they would be interested in having a butchers....

Times are in hand.

Best bit is they defended this claim which was for £446.00 but apparently my claim of £1375.00 wasn't cost effective for them to defend. Can't stop smiling.

Cardew

DD,
Excellent! Excellent!

I am simply amazed that Martin doesn't jump in even at this late stage. His clout will have some effect surely?

1carminestocky

DirectDebacle wrote: »

Times are in hand.

Best bit is they defended this claim which was for £446.00 but apparently my claim of £1375.00 wasn't cost effective for them to defend. Can't stop smiling.

I'm assuming your claim came some time after the one they decided to contest and got their @rses spanked?

c0113tt3

lo guys, i'm back

been moving house, then had to wait to get the broadband installed etc..

glad to see ofgem finally made a decision, although does not cover the full extent of the issues, but still it is finally acknowledged.

Glad to see you are all keeping up the fight

Sterling

Very well done indeed, DD. Your letter asking Ofgem (under the Freedom of Information Act) for your impressively extensive list of copy documentation was a masterstroke in its own right.

Indeed, your letter to Ofgem was itself a superb example of how to write such a letter. So much so, that in case anyone reading this has not seen it, I should mention it is in post #11 on a ‘holding’ thread at the link below. Without such a cleverly worded letter, I doubt that a fraction of the information you now have would have been forthcoming.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=20009921&posted=1#post20009921

Judging from what you have already read thus far (and mentioned in your post) you look set for a very fruitful harvest. For example, the fact npower were unsuccessful in defending a county court action is of course potentially of enormous significance.

Clearly, if that case was a claim that hinged upon a customer being charged for too many units at the high tier rate - and I imagine it was, otherwise it would not be relevant to your written request - then it looks as if the court saw through npower’s ‘tariff years’ and the rest of it, and gave judgement in favour of the claimant.

True, such a judgment by a county court judge or court registrar does not create a binding precedent that obliges other courts to follow suit; nevertheless the said judgement will have been made by a learned and qualified legal expert, based upon the law applicable to the circumstances of the case.

It is therefore much more likely than not, that any other county court would arrive at the same legal conclusion and find for the claimant in similar circumstances. It is also significant that npower did not see fit to lodge an appeal from this judgement. Surely, if they believed they had any chance of success, npower’s lawyers would have lodged an immediate appeal.

In addition, npower’s failure to comply with the said judgement until the claimant was obliged to instruct bailiffs shows in my opinion a lack of business integrity, coupled with a last ditch effort to defend a hopeless position by stalling tactics. I consider such an approach to be unworthy of any company that holds a public licence. I wonder if Ofgem even considered this. I also wonder how Ofgem squared up the above case with how it treated the Energywatch complaint in general.

Best of luck with your reading, DD, and we all look forward to hearing from you in due course. I do hope the Times finds some of it interesting too. I would be most surprised if it didn’t.

On my own front, I have been waiting patiently to hear from Consumer Focus, which was, in turn supposed to have heard from Ofgem by last Friday. If nothing comes by Monday, I will contact Consumer Focus, and enquire as to the delay.

Once again, very well done indeed, DD….wonderful stuff. This at long, long last brings a considerable degree of transparency (perhaps total) as to the manner in which Ofgem handled this matter. As such it should firmly underpin the basis of a review of one kind or another of it, and for a fresh (and speedy) reinvestigation to be properly carried out.

On a general note, as I expect everyone is aware, the MSE site is due to shut down for an upgrade at around 10pm on Friday 2nd April until Sunday 5th April (or earlier if possible). I glanced at the official thread regarding this, and amongst the very amusing posts from self-confessed junkies of the Forum (wondering how to get through the weekend), I found one very long established contributor who warned that on a previous upgrade occasion, some posts were lost.

Taking backups was discussed by DD and Meggsy not so long ago. I have backed-up from page 32 to 56, just in case. I wonder if anyone would like to back up some of the first 31 pages – or perhaps DD and Meggsy have already. It contains a lot of very useful information.

meggsy

Sterling wrote: »

Very well done indeed, DD. Your letter asking Ofgem (under the Freedom of Information Act) for your impressively extensive list of copy documentation was a masterstroke in its own right.

Indeed, your letter to Ofgem was itself a superb example of how to write such a letter. So much so, that in case anyone reading this has not seen it, I should mention it is in post #11 on a ‘holding’ thread at the link below. Without such a cleverly worded letter, I doubt that a fraction of the information you now have would have been forthcoming.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=20009921&posted=1#post20009921

Judging from what you have already read thus far (and mentioned in your post) you look set for a very fruitful harvest. For example, the fact npower were unsuccessful in defending a county court action is of course potentially of enormous significance.

Clearly, if that case was a claim that hinged upon a customer being charged for to many units at the high tier rate - and I imagine it was, otherwise it would not be relevant to your written request - then it looks as if the court saw through npower’s ‘tariff years’ and the rest of it, and gave judgement in favour of the claimant.

True, such a judgment by a county court judge or court registrar does not create a binding precedent that obliges other courts to follow suit; nevertheless the said judgement will have been made by a learned and qualified legal expert, based upon the law applicable to the circumstances of the case.

It is therefore much more likely than not, that any other county court would arrive at the same legal conclusion and find for the claimant in similar circumstances. It is also significant that npower did not see fit to lodge an appeal from this judgement. Surely, if they believed they had any chance of success, npower’s lawyers would have lodged an immediate appeal.

In addition, npower’s failure to comply with the said judgement until the claimant was obliged to instruct bailiffs shows in my opinion a lack of business integrity, coupled with a last ditch effort to defend a hopeless position by stalling tactics. I consider such an approach to be unworthy of any company that holds a public licence. I wonder if Ofgem even considered this. I also wonder how Ofgem squared up the above case with how it treated the Energywatch complaint in general.

Best of luck with your reading, DD, and we all look forward to hearing from you in due course. I do hope the Times finds some of it interesting too. I would be most surprised if it didn’t.

On my own front, I have been waiting patiently to hear from Consumer Focus, which was, in turn supposed to have heard from Ofgem by last Friday. If nothing comes by Monday, I will contact Consumer Focus, and enquire as to the delay.

Once again, very well done indeed, DD….wonderful stuff. This at long, long last brings a considerable degree of transparency (perhaps total) as to the manner in which Ofgem handled this matter. As such it should firmly underpin the basis of a review of one kind or another of it, and for a fresh (and speedy) reinvestigation to be properly carried out.

On a general note, as I expect everyone is aware, the MSE site is due to shut down for an upgrade at around 10pm on Friday 2nd April until Sunday 5th April (or earlier if possible). I glanced at the official thread regarding this, and amongst the very amusing posts from self-confessed junkies of the Forum (wondering how to get through the weekend), I found one very long established contributor who warned that on a previous upgrade occasion, some posts were lost.

Taking backups was discussed by DD and Meggsy not so long ago. I have backed-up from page 32 to 56, just in case. I wonder if anyone would like to back up some of the first 31 pages – or perhaps DD and Meggsy have already. It contains a lot of very useful information.

Hi Sterling, I had the same thoughts, I save the whole thread every couple of days, we certainly don't want all of this valuable information and both yours and DD's hard work to be lost, also the other threads relating to this one

Sterling

Cheers Meggsy – absolutely brilliant (as usual).

DirectDebacle

Sterling wrote: »

Judging from what you have already read thus far (and mentioned in your post) you look set for a very fruitful harvest. For example, the fact npower were unsuccessful in defending a county court action is of course potentially of enormous significance.

Yes it was a pleasant surprise when I read that and equally surprised that it hadn't been widely known. Well not to me at any rate.

Ofgem have given themselves until 9th April to provide the remainder of the info I requested. They have already warned me that they will not supply all I requested. What they do not supply will perhaps say as much as what they do. I have received no correspondence between npower and Ofgem so far. Perhaps I won't. We shall see.

To coin an over used phrase, I regard this as the end of the beginning, not the beginning of the end. With luck the combination of Consumer Focus, the press and customer pressure will lead to a satisfactory conclusion.