npower - sheer incompetence

egyptiancotton · 17 December 2017 at 9:40PM

Having a bit of a nightmare with npower at the moment...

September last year I had my meter safety inspection. A few months later, my npower account was thrown into cayos - I had two account numbers instead of one, my tariffs had disappeared, lost my bills, meter readings, etc. It turned out that the meter safety inspector had gone back to npower and told them I had changed to a PAYG meter which wasn't the case. It took npower a month and a half to find out what had happened and why. npower had to roll back months' worth of bills because I had been charged at the standard rate instead of my fixed rate. I was re-billed at the lowest rate and compensated for the hassle.

Friday this week, I received a text from npower thanking me for telling them that I'm moving home. My first thought was, "Oh, here we go". I logged into my account to check what was going on and found out that my electric tariff had disappeared, my bills and meter readings have disappeared, and my credit amount has been grossly miscalculated. I complained to npower and they promised to look into the issue and get back to me. Less than 5 minutes after speaking to them on the phone, they called me back and said they had taken a look into my account in the background and the problem is more complicated than they thought, and they strongly suspect it's linked to the erroneous meter exchange update that happened earlier this year. I don't understand why it could be linked because my account and bills have been fine since then.

They know they're in the sh*t this time. I just don't understand how they can be so incompetent.

matelodave · 17 December 2017 at 10:58PM

Hopefully you've been keeping copies of your bills and statements and not just relying being able to view them on line because if it all goes everso wrong you wont have any documentary evidence of where you are.

You dont have to print out loads of paper but just download PDF copies or even screenshots and save them. You should also keep them for several years after you leave your supplier - just in case

nPower · 18 December 2017 at 9:43AM

lloydyyy wrote: »

Having a bit of a nightmare with npower at the moment...

September last year I had my meter safety inspection. A few months later, my npower account was thrown into cayos - I had two account numbers instead of one, my tariffs had disappeared, lost my bills, meter readings, etc. It turned out that the meter safety inspector had gone back to npower and told them I had changed to a PAYG meter which wasn't the case. It took npower a month and a half to find out what had happened and why. npower had to roll back months' worth of bills because I had been charged at the standard rate instead of my fixed rate. I was re-billed at the lowest rate and compensated for the hassle.

Friday this week, I received a text from npower thanking me for telling them that I'm moving home. My first thought was, "Oh, here we go". I logged into my account to check what was going on and found out that my electric tariff had disappeared, my bills and meter readings have disappeared, and my credit amount has been grossly miscalculated. I complained to npower and they promised to look into the issue and get back to me. Less than 5 minutes after speaking to them on the phone, they called me back and said they had taken a look into my account in the background and the problem is more complicated than they thought, and they strongly suspect it's linked to the erroneous meter exchange update that happened earlier this year. I don't understand why it could be linked because my account and bills have been fine since then.

They know they're in the sh*t this time. I just don't understand how they can be so incompetent.

Hello lloydyyy

Thank you for your post

Please email your account number or address to the email showing in our signature; a member of the team will be happy to look into your bills and what's going on.

Thanks

Beth

egyptiancotton · 18 December 2017 at 9:55AM

nPower wrote: »

Hello lloydyyy

Thank you for your post

Please email your account number or address to the email showing in our signature; a member of the team will be happy to look into your bills and what's going on.

Thanks

Beth

Hi Beth,

Thanks for getting in touch. A formal complaint has already been raised and I've been told an update will be provided within 7-10 days. I'll be happy to send an e-mail to the address in your signature but the complaints team are probably already looking into the issue as we speak.

I've no idea what's happened or why but unfortunately I haven't got a backup of my meter readings nor bills, apart from a few meter readings for the past few months stored on my phone. The advisors I spoke to said all my meter readings and bills are safe on the back-end systems, and it should be a simple job to replicate them to the front-end. I relied on my account to be my single source of information but I won't make the same mistake again. But as soon as the issue has been resolved, I'll be looking to switch supplier. The erroneous meter exchange was apparently resolved months ago and it would seem the issue has come back to bite once again.

egyptiancotton · 18 December 2017 at 11:53AM

MABLE wrote: »

I have been backwards and forwards over the years with N Power and my experience is only positive. To me the are one of the best companies to deal with.

I normally find the secret is to give regular meter readings and then in my case everything goes like clock work.

I normally give meter readings every month and then also when the bills are due.

To be fair, the advisors I spoke to did give me confidence that the issue will be sorted. They held their hands up, admitted fault, and assured me everything will be put right.

egyptiancotton · 19 December 2017 at 9:59AM

Just a quick update. I logged into my account this morning and noticed I now have 2 account numbers instead of 1 (exactly the same issue as the erroneous meter exchange that happened previously. And my electricity account is marked as standard PAYG instead of standard DD, and the electric meter read on 26/09/16 is wrong - which is when the meter inspector had reported that I was on a PAYG meter.

Looks like my account has been properly messed up. I'm still waiting to hear back from npower but I'll update the thread when they get back to me.

Smodlet · 19 December 2017 at 11:51AM

Just another day at nPower. If they can find a way to screw something up, they will. The Putting It Right Dept. is permanently out to lunch and, if you ever do get through, they somehow make it all the customer's fault.

Are you sure your "complaint" is not really "feedback", OP? You must be getting special treatment, then.

Good luck!

egyptiancotton · 19 December 2017 at 12:12PM

Smodlet wrote: »

Just another day at nPower. If they can find a way to screw something up, they will. The Putting It Right Dept. is permanently out to lunch and, if you ever do get through, they somehow make it all the customer's fault.

Are you sure your "complaint" is not really "feedback", OP? You must be getting special treatment, then.

Good luck!

Thanks for the good luck, I think I'll need it.

It's definitely a complaint - one of the advisors called me back and logged a complaint on my behalf, and npower admitted fault. It's absolutely beyond a joke how this erroneous meter exchange has caused a problem 9 months down the line. I'll let you know how I get on.

hareng · 19 December 2017 at 10:56PM

Unfortunately ive had worse than that from 80% of other suppliers, there all as bad.

egyptiancotton · 20 December 2017 at 2:57PM

I can see npower has stripped out the rest of my electricity meter readings and added their own, which are completely wrong. They've added one for 26/09/16 which I know for a fact is wrong because it was the reading submitted by the meter inspector, and I have screenshots of my meter readings up to 06/10/16. The other two readings for 27/04/17 and 23/10/17 are also wrong because I have meter readings for the past few months stored on my phone, and I'm pretty sure I have a few copies of some bills from this year on my laptop.

I last spoke to npower yesterday and the advisor said that the case handler is trying to reverse the state of my account back to a known point when it was all in order. I noted to the advisor on the phone that the state it's in now is what it was like after the meter inspector had wrongly told npower I had changed to a PAYG meter, and why not just reverse my account back to the state it was in after the issue was resolved months ago. The advisor said that the account needs to be rolled back to a 'last known good point' and assured me that even though it looks messy now, all my bills and meter readings are safe and the issue will be resolved. In that case, what on earth was the point in the last case handle reversing 8 months' or so worth or bills, re-billing me at the lowest rate, and adding credit to my account as a goodwill gesture?

What an absolute mess. At this rate I'll be taking my complaint to Ofgem :mad:

Smodlet · 20 December 2017 at 4:47PM

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. 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.

Basically, we are all at the mercy of energy companies because they are not regulated in any meaningful way. When you think about it, it is not in the government's interest to regulate them as they make their shareholders too much money... I wonder how many of their shareholders are MPs.

npower - sheer incompetence

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