nPower; advice please!

[BanjoMaster]

Has anyone else had problems with nPower? I mean real, ongoing, significant problems? I've been in dispute with them for almost a year now, and they seem blindingly, almost criminally incompetent. I am just about at my wits end with this shit, and I have no idea what to do about it.

The story's long and boring so bear with me: In April last year a guy appeared at the door of the flat to get us to choose nPower. My flatmate, who answered the door, agreed and we officially crossed over to nPower on 17th May. The starting reading nPower used was way, way off the reading we had provided them with, which resulted in our old supplier Scottish Power looking for £350 off of us for two months worth of electricity! nPower continued to bill us from this incorrect reading for months despite numerous phonecalls and letters, and during this time we were getting letters from debt collectors acting on behalf of Scottish Power saying they would be pursuing legal action against us. My dad finally got involved about October and got in contact with the government energy watchdog. This sorted out the problems with Scottish Power almost immediately, but it took nPower another 2 months to even respond to the Energy Watchdog. At this point we get a letter from some guy apologising profusely and saying the situation would be sorted and we would get £20 compensation. he also seemed to think we had payed the outstanding amount, and with the compensation included he said we were over £80 in credit. So we left it there for then. I've just received a new bill through the door looking for the previous unpaid amount still using incorrect readings, electricity up to the 19th still using ficticious readings and with the £20 compensation added to the amount i.e. they are trying to charge us an extra £20 for nothing!

Are there any lawyers or people with previous experience who can help me, because this surely pushes the boundaries of mere incompetence into that of some sort of criminal conduct? I don't know what the **** I'm supposed to do.

Cheers :(

[AndyT]

You need to go back to OFGEM (Energy watchdog). They should be able to sort it out for you.:)

[BanjoMaster]

Hmm, maybe.

Has it not gone beyond that though? This company really does appear to be operated by a team of monkeys. I'm in my final year of uni, approaching exams and hand in dates etc. and, without being a drama queen, I really could do without worrying about this. I also want some acceptable form of compensation as well. Getting letters for six months saying that debt collectors are trying to arrange a 'visit' is not pleasant, especially when there appears to be nothing you can do about it.

Cheers

[AndyT]

Unfortunately OFGEM are the regulatory body of the electricity companies, and it is only them than can impose restrictions, fines, etc. on them.
Have you phoned nPower about the bill? Mention to them that this has been to OFGEM once, and you don't want to have to go there again, but you will if necessary. Also ask to speak to a manager/supervisor of the initial customer services rep that you first speak to if you do not get any joy.

[marty_t3]

Afraid i can't offer any advise but i did have a similar problem with Scottish Power when i changed my Gas supply over to them.

They tried to hit me with a 150 quid bill for the first month as their readings were wrong. Several phone calls, readings, and letters later and it still wasn't resolved (at that point i didn't even live in the house anymore). A few months into it, i called them to see if it was sorted out and i was told that my account was in credit which was what i expected to hear. A few weeks later i got a letter from a recovery agency saying they would be taking me to court if i didn't pay the 150 plus a charge. I called the company and explained then called Scottish power and told them I was having nothing more to do with the matter and that if they wanted another 150 quid they'd have to take me to court. My credit rating is abysmal anyway so it wouldn't make any difference to me if they did pursue it. In the end they dropped it without any letter of explanation or anything.

Months later, I moved into a new flat in Livingston and called Scottish power to get my electricity supply sorted out and i was told that my account was already in credit from my previous address. They send me 40 quid worth of electricity tokens along with my new power card and followed it up a few months later with another 30 quid worth.

[Still_looking]

Agh..NPower. This was covered a while back by Watchdog. They stopped people in the street and then fraudulently signed them up by forging the signature, happend to me. They sent me a bill for around £180 based on my previous reading..which I assumed was just a mistake as I was STILL getting my gas from British Gas :eek: . It took over 9 months to get Npower to stop sending bills which were slowly getting larger and more threatening, all the timet hey were sending me bills..I was still getting my gas from, yep, British Gas. The people at NPower said that it was a computer error and they knew that they wern't actually suppling my gas..but every month I got a bill, then a red bill, then a call asking for the money or they'd take 'further' action, every month I'd have to explain the situation again :mad: . They said that I would take a while for the data to be removed from their computer and that I might recieve another bill..agian! Anyway, eventually they stopped but the amount of hassle I had to go through was fcluking rediculous.:mad:

[BanjoMaster]

There is absolutely no point phoning nPower. I've found that out the hard way. They tell you it'll be sorted, but it never ever gets done. I can't emphasise the level of incompitence enough. I've spoken to two supervisors and that hasn't helped at all. I'm thinking of going to the Judge bit in The Daily Record, see if that'll sort it out.

I am absolutely furious at this. I thought it was all sorted. What kind of morons offer you compensation and then add that to your next bill!? I mean for Christ's sake, come on.

Oops, getting a bit worked up...breath....breath.......