Page 1 of NPower Nightmare

A bit of advice would be appreciated.

To cut a long story short we received a bill for £120 from Npower last June/July, by accident the GF paid it into the gas account rather than the leccy. Only realised this had happened when they demanded the cash again about a month later, and seeing as we get the gas from them anyway we let them, know what had happened, trouble was the gas lot said this hadn`t been paid. After sending evidence to them twice that it had been paid they eventually discovered it was due to them changing their bank account and Natwest not updating their records, and NPower said they would sort it.

That was around Xmas, all sorted we thought, oh how wrong. Got a letter on Saturday saying we were to be cut off on Wednesday this week, spoke to Npower on Saturday were told not to worry as they could see a note on the system saying the money was to be transferred but hadn`t been actioned for 2 months, were told we`d get a phone call from a manager to confirm this, did we heck.

Rang today, said there was nothing on the system about this, but they would get it sorted and we wouldn`t get cut off. GF wasn`t happy so she rang again later, again even though I had been told an hour earlier it was in hand, she was told that there was nothing on the system again.

Have now been told that the money is on it`s way back to her bank account as of Friday?? But still on system that we`re to be cut off and it`s gone to a debt collection agency, they say they`re sorting it but if I get home tomorrow to no PC/Sky/Freezer god help Npower.

Any advice? Apart from change supplier as that will happen as soon as this is sorted.

This kind of thing gets right on my f***ing wick.

Ive been in a similar situation myself and through no fault of your own you can find your credit rating completely taken up the arse (albeit in my case, temporarily) and your life disrupted while services are being threatened and debt collection agencies are being called in.

I hate the fact that the onus is always on the little guy to get it sorted out and be lumbered with the burden of proof. What happened to 'the customer is always right'? As you've said, Npower have lost themselves a regular payment now.

It just vexes me that sloppy systems management and cut price zombie staff can just arbitrarily take a bat to your whole life. As you said, through no fault of your own, you will be living in fear of getting cut off until you get this sorted out. And they wont make it easy for you!!

Like I said, it's the fact that you've got to do all the running around and fix their mistake that gets to me.

Erm….sorry that's no help.but I feel for you brother ;)

I cant offer any advice other than I wouldnt touch Npower with a 10 foot s***ty stick..they hijacked my British gas account (The first I knew of it was the letter from British gas saying they were sorry to lose me as a customer...when I finally found out it was Npower who had taken over my account they told me I had transfered it!...I asked for them to send me proof ..a letter with my signature etc and they suddenly backtracked and sad it must be a mistake... :¦ ) after a very heated phone call in which I told em I would not be paying any bills they sent me and I wanted transfering back to British gas with immediate effect it was all sorted...but I wonder how many other folks they have scammed by this `mistake`

I get the feeling they dont know their arse from their elbow...

Like the others, I can`t offer any advice either. It`s like banging your head against a brick wall with these utility companies. This is another Npower rant...

I was with them a while back, and we got charged an astounding £400 for our gas. The thing was, during the time they charged us, our boiler wasn`t working for a month and a half anyway. So there was no feasible way we could of used that. But we couldn`t do anything about it. I rang the national helpline number, and they basically said there wasn`t alot I could do either. In the end I had to pay it reluctantly.

Would NEVER go with them again. >:(

We had hassle with Scottish Power and got Energywatch involved - it was sorted within the week.

Give them a call - http://www.energywatch.org.uk/

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This item was edited on Tuesday, 29th March 2005, 18:08

Cheers all, definitely moving (the thing is my account was hijacked by powergen last month and I got it moved back to NPower), due to be cut off tomorrow though they`re saying it won`t happen. If I`m not on here tomorrow night you know why.

I`m just in the process of moving from NPower too. We`ve tried to resolve a payment isse with them for over 2 years - I`ve finally got fed up of waiting, and the only way to get all straight is to move supplier and start with a clean slate.

NPower tried to charge me for energy used in a property I no longer lived in - over a year after I had moved out. They threatened me with all sorts, even after they told me on the phone that it was their mistake, and I eventually told them were to stick it. Never had any comeback. Bunch of ameatuers who don`t know there arse from their elbow.

I`m pretty sick of energy companies as a whole to be honest. SWEB kept screwing my bills up, estimating everything, not to mention increasing there prices on what seemed to be a weekly basis. I have since switched to Scottish Power, who made a total balls up of the transfer by losing my opening readings and charging me for about 2000 units of gas I hadn`t used. After lots of threats they suddenly `found` my opening readings and `sorted` it. Then one month they took about £20 more from my account on direct debit than had been agreed, so I had to get that payment recalled screwing up my monthly payments. I`ve just noticed that they have switched me from a no standing charge tarrif to one with a standing charge without any consent on my part (just how they think this works out cheaper I`m not sure). If I could actually get through to them on the phone I would be giving them hell. I thought online engergy accounts were supposed to be cheaper and easier! Not, it would seem, with Scottish Power.

Top top it off, the chrges for my water/sewerage have gone up by about 20% this year, not to mention another increase in council tax. Cost of living keeps on rising, my wages don`t! I should just quit my job and become a chavtastic benefit whore.

Still got electricity, time to start looking for a new supplier.

Quote:
Top top it off, the chrges for my water/sewerage have gone up by about 20% this year, not to mention another increase in council tax. Cost of living keeps on rising, my wages don`t! I should just quit my job and become a chavtastic benefit whore.


Dont even get me started. With all the increases in utilities and the unmitigated, unjustified, w***ness that is the constant increase in my council tax, im about 20 or 30 quid a month worse off. Of course my annual pay review doesnt increase my wages quite so rampantly.

I tell you this country (world?) is heading for a big f***ing fall. The cost of living is so p*** takingly high it makes me sick. If you want any kind of standard of living, your household needs at least 2 incomes or the best you can hope for is a room or bedsit somewhere. It just cant be sustained.

My GF and I want to try for kids when we get married, but every time we think about it we think `When can we do it?`. We live in probably the most expensive county outside London, our council tax is a joke and our utilities seem to go up at random. Neither of us could, with a wee bairn, afford to be out of work (she earns significantly more than me), but childcare costs are astronomical. In addition to the fact that to live within an hours travel of work we could barely afford a decent sized family home. And the mrs and I pull in nearly 55k between us!

In the end we just figured `F*** it, we`ll just do it. If we kept on thinking like that, there`d always think of a reason not to`.

I tells ya, I f***ing hate this country.