NPower gas 'sculpting'

alleycat`

Well Done DD :T

Cardew

DirectDebacle wrote: »

Persistence pays. Today I received a cheque in full settlement of my claim (£1375)incl court fees and expenses.

At some point I will post my Statement of Claim and the npower Statement of Defence to it as a guide which may help others wishing to claim.

Cardew is it one or two crates of ale you require.:beer:

DD,
Well done.

However I assume that the payment is made without any admission of liability???? or other 'weasel wording'?

To have any real impact, it really needs maximum publicity now, Sunday Times, Which etc.

I am surprised and disappointed that Martin hasn't taken up this matter, or even made a comment about it.

They will 'pay off' the handful of claimants, and get away with the scam on a couple of million others!

DirectDebacle

Cardew wrote: »

DD,
Well done.

However I assume that the payment is made without any admission of liability???? or other 'weasel wording'?

They will 'pay off' the handful of claimants, and get away with the scam on a couple of million others!

They are ambivalent. They do not recognise my claim has any merits, apologise for the shortfall in customer service standards and quote '... we are paying your claim in full and enclose a cheque in your favour.. I have written to the County Court to inform them of this payment and that we will not be attending the hearing on the basis that the claim is now settled in full.'

So they pay out on claims that have no merit. I know you are not with npower Cardew but you might as well wing a claim off to them. It won't have any merits but you might get a few bob lol.

They have paid my claim in full. When you see my claim then you can make your own minds up whether or not it has any merit.

I, not unsurprisingly, have interpreted their comments to mean that my claim has plenty of merits and they have paid it in full because they have no credible defence.

The departure from their offers to others is that they are not saying this is in payment for poor customer service. It is in full payment of my claim which was not in any way, shape or form to do with customer service issues. I see that at the very least as a moral victory.

Crates on the way and I don't want you coming back on here drunk:D

alleycat`

In some ways this is quite clever of NPower.

I assume (I'm not legally minded) that by settling any claim in full it means they kill it from going to court even if anyone still wanted to go that route?

In essence it prevents any legal ruling and cuts off a potential judgment that could be a lot more damaging.

It doesn't take the polish off what you have achieved DD and it really does show what would happen if some of the "big guns" actually got stuck into NPower over this.

On another positive note i know of at least two people that I've pointed at this forum that are now keeping them busy

As for me, I'm still awaiting my written offer to go with that which i received verbally for settlement on "poor customer service".

DirectDebacle

alleycat` wrote: »

In some ways this is quite clever of NPower.

I assume (I'm not legally minded) that by settling any claim in full it means they kill it from going to court even if anyone still wanted to go that route?

In essence it prevents any legal ruling and cuts off a potential judgment that could potentially be a lot more damaging.quote]

In essence you are quite right. The small claims court will decide on money issues (other issues too but with npower we are only concerned with money) If you are offered your claim in full then there is no longer a dispute and nothing for the court to decide. Hence I made this comment,

Keep pushing them. They will either have to keep coughing up or make a stand in court which will expose this outrageous conduct for what it is.

If enough people keep refusing their goodwill payments and take out summonses for the actual amount of money they have been overcharged plus court costs, this will cost npower more than they gained through the overcharge. Sooner or later they will have to call time on it and defend one of the cases. As Cardew rightly points out there are possibly millions of affected customers, many of whom will be unaware of the overcharge. It may well take thousands of claims before npower defend one. So once again Cardew is correct that maximum publicity is needed on this. I have an iron in the fire in that respect but it really needs some widespread media coverage. Personally I don't know where else to go on that point and at the moment even £200 million looks like pretty small potatoes in the current news climate.

My view is not to accept 'goodwill' payments. npower will never admit liability, that would be commercial suicide, so don't expect them to. Apart from a court judgment against them I think I've got about the best you are going to get. They took me to the wire on this too. Offered 'goodwill' payments. Made veiled threats regarding costs if the court didn't award me more than they offered etc. I stood my ground and the offer they have made has come 3 days before the hearing.

Next ray of hope is Ofgem. They are still investigating this matter and the doorstep mis-selling. Perhaps they will get it right this time, find them culpable on both counts and whack them with a hefty fine and a re-imbursement order. Now that would be national news and could see a big drop in their customer base.

I was pleased to learn that you know of others that are pursuing npower, keep us posted if you can.

Finally another of Cardews points. The MSE himself. Yes I am disappointed on the lack of interest. Some months back I PM'd MSE ARCHNA (Mse researcher and author of post #1) but received no response. I would have thought Martin could have spared a 5 min slot on one of his shows to highlight this but no luck so far.

Anyway don't give up. The more that keep chipping away the better and I am sure npower will get their come uppance eventually.

Cardew

As DD points out, the Small Claims court is essentially there to enable us 'small fry' to take on the mighty sharks without bankrupting ourselves.

When a claim is paid in full, effectively the matter is settled for that individual and he cannot really pursue it further. Which is why I was fairly confident that NPower would cave in and pay the claim; and if anyone has the 'bottle' that DD has shown - they will win, Npower cannot afford a court case and the subsequent publicity.

To take them to civil court to get a ruling against Npower that could be used as a precedent would cost many thousands of pounds because NPower would fight it tooth and nail, and justice in UK comes at a price that most of us can't afford!!!

I was talking about this case to an American lawyer(I am in USA at the moment) and he said that he couln't think of a case more suited for a 'Class Action'. US law is dreadful in many respects, but here it would be perfect.

It is a disgrace that Ofgem have not taken this matter up. The water Regulator Ofwat fined Severn Trent many millions of pounds and instigated legal action for an offence that IMO was trivial in comparison to NPower's antics.

Again I wish Martin would show some interest in this case. He rightly basked in glory over the Bank Charges issue, but this would be a bigger victory. Even a note in his Newsletter, if not a full on attack, could get the ball rolling.

DirectDebacle

Cardew wrote: »

Even a note in his Newsletter, if not a full on attack, could get the ball rolling.

Quite mistyfying really when you look at it. This has been featured briefly on Watchdog, written about in the Guardian and been the subject of several articles in the Times. Not a peep from MSE. The news letter goes out to over 2 million subscribers now. You are told how to get money off a Pizza but not informed of massive overcharging by a utility company. Bizarre.

Does anyone know how to get in touch with MSE? I PM'd MSE ARCHNA again yesterday but no response yet.

npower have started to show a chink in their armour now and people should be made aware. Part of my claim (which made up the bulk of the money) was the breach of contract since 1/4/2003. This should be brought out as customers who have long since left npower will probably have legitimate claims.

alleycat`

It appears that everyone and anyone that i speak to about this cannot believe that somebody in a position of "Authority" / "The Media" hasn't done something about this.

A few people I've spoken to have gone so far as to suggest that it can't be true due to the lack of any mainstream pick up on this.

2 for 1 on a pizza does seem an odd thing to be chasing down when millions of pounds are potentially owed to customers.

The other thing that has amazed me is how few people actually retain any gas, electric or water bills and just accept that what they are getting charged is correct.

As for my claim.

I've now accepted an offer from NPower with regards to "poor customer service" that redeems what i thought i was owed back.

I'd like to have taken it further but my wife is 38 1/2 weeks pregnant and I've got more pressing things to be worrying about :eek:

My final acts of protest are to initiate the transfer of my energy away from NPower (i can make a small saving by moving elsewhere) and encourage anyone i know with NPower to examine their bills (if they bothered to keep them) and continue pressing for reimbursement.

I'd like to pass on my thanks to everyone on here that has had the patience to deal with my questions and ramblings and continue to support all those that are still fighting this matter.

DirectDebacle

This may be of interest to some of you considering pursuing a claim.

http://savefile.com/projects/808698866 MS OFFICE 97-2003 version

DirectDebacle

alleycat` wrote: »

I'd like to have taken it further but my wife is 38 1/2 weeks pregnant and I've got more pressing things to be worrying about :eek:

Very pressing;). Congratatulations and I hope all goes well for you and your family. Forcing npower to pay back money and then switching. Worst case scenario for them. Only another 2 million to go. Excellent.