calling other npower customers.
Discussion
I was with npower and it's predecessors for over 30 years. Never had a problem until the last ten years when the 'bean counters' took over and their desire to put more of my money into their coffers than was truly reflected in Bill readings. Their estimates of my annual consumption never seemed to have any bearing on reality, I put up with it on the basis of inertia until I realised they were ripping me off on their unit price too..
I switched to OVO energy three months ago......a breath of fresh air.....logical website, monthly readings posted on line, and they pay interest if you are in credit. NPOWER deserve the fact that customers are leaving in droves,; their customer service is abysmal and you are putting your finances at risk staying with them.
LEAVE NOW BEFORE IT'S too late!!
I switched to OVO energy three months ago......a breath of fresh air.....logical website, monthly readings posted on line, and they pay interest if you are in credit. NPOWER deserve the fact that customers are leaving in droves,; their customer service is abysmal and you are putting your finances at risk staying with them.
LEAVE NOW BEFORE IT'S too late!!
Not noticed this thread before 
I was with NPower for about 2 years. I sent off meter readings when requested, received m bills etc all in a timely manner. A new boiler resulted in my usage going down and DD being reduced accordingly. Anyway following a price check I decided to switch from NP to First Utility, with the switchover happening in April. Both suppliers confirmed switchover, and I left the Npower Direct Debit open just in case they needed to take a final payment.
Roll forward 4 months and I get a letter from Npower saying I owe them £233! Errr.....wtf? How do I owe it to you when I pay by DD? And why are you telling me this 4 months later!??
So I decide to give them a call. Phone was answered after about 5 minutes worth of automated switchboard responses, only for the Npower person asking me all the same questions again "for security purposes"
I answered all the questions again, only to be told that I actually owe £900!!!!! I then asked why I was being told this after 4 months, why it wasn't collected by DD to be met with "Durrrrrrrr don't know?????????" and passed to another Dept.
Normally I never have problems with this kind of thing. I tend to check everything and keep copies of correspondence. This is the first time I've come across such incompetence. I've asked them to provide details of meter readings and payments so I can check what they're asking for. But really, what a compete shower of 5hite!!!!
I was with NPower for about 2 years. I sent off meter readings when requested, received m bills etc all in a timely manner. A new boiler resulted in my usage going down and DD being reduced accordingly. Anyway following a price check I decided to switch from NP to First Utility, with the switchover happening in April. Both suppliers confirmed switchover, and I left the Npower Direct Debit open just in case they needed to take a final payment.
Roll forward 4 months and I get a letter from Npower saying I owe them £233! Errr.....wtf? How do I owe it to you when I pay by DD? And why are you telling me this 4 months later!??
So I decide to give them a call. Phone was answered after about 5 minutes worth of automated switchboard responses, only for the Npower person asking me all the same questions again "for security purposes"
I answered all the questions again, only to be told that I actually owe £900!!!!! I then asked why I was being told this after 4 months, why it wasn't collected by DD to be met with "Durrrrrrrr don't know?????????" and passed to another Dept.
Normally I never have problems with this kind of thing. I tend to check everything and keep copies of correspondence. This is the first time I've come across such incompetence. I've asked them to provide details of meter readings and payments so I can check what they're asking for. But really, what a compete shower of 5hite!!!!
I work for one of the big six (not Npower) and all the issues desribed are the result of a major system change. From the contact we have with them their system crashes almost weekly, the staff are yet to fully understand the system etc.
The company I work for rolled out the exact same system (SAP) 4 years ago and it took nigh on 2 years to fully understand it and get it to work to an acceptable level despite being incredibly well prepared and each staff member going through a months training.
They'll get back on their feet in a year or so and will be all the better for it but until then it'll be a bumpy ride.
The company I work for rolled out the exact same system (SAP) 4 years ago and it took nigh on 2 years to fully understand it and get it to work to an acceptable level despite being incredibly well prepared and each staff member going through a months training.
They'll get back on their feet in a year or so and will be all the better for it but until then it'll be a bumpy ride.
Countdown said:
Not noticed this thread before
I was with NPower for about 2 years. I sent off meter readings when requested, received m bills etc all in a timely manner. A new boiler resulted in my usage going down and DD being reduced accordingly. Anyway following a price check I decided to switch from NP to First Utility, with the switchover happening in April. Both suppliers confirmed switchover, and I left the Npower Direct Debit open just in case they needed to take a final payment.
Roll forward 4 months and I get a letter from Npower saying I owe them £233! Errr.....wtf? How do I owe it to you when I pay by DD? And why are you telling me this 4 months later!??
So I decide to give them a call. Phone was answered after about 5 minutes worth of automated switchboard responses, only for the Npower person asking me all the same questions again "for security purposes"
I answered all the questions again, only to be told that I actually owe £900!!!!! I then asked why I was being told this after 4 months, why it wasn't collected by DD to be met with "Durrrrrrrr don't know?????????" and passed to another Dept.
Normally I never have problems with this kind of thing. I tend to check everything and keep copies of correspondence. This is the first time I've come across such incompetence. I've asked them to provide details of meter readings and payments so I can check what they're asking for. But really, what a compete shower of 5hite!!!!
They pulled the same stunt with me, final bill 4 months after i switch suppliers, resulting from them reducing my DD, and the £300+ I owed them i have to pay on a fI was with NPower for about 2 years. I sent off meter readings when requested, received m bills etc all in a timely manner. A new boiler resulted in my usage going down and DD being reduced accordingly. Anyway following a price check I decided to switch from NP to First Utility, with the switchover happening in April. Both suppliers confirmed switchover, and I left the Npower Direct Debit open just in case they needed to take a final payment.
Roll forward 4 months and I get a letter from Npower saying I owe them £233! Errr.....wtf? How do I owe it to you when I pay by DD? And why are you telling me this 4 months later!??
So I decide to give them a call. Phone was answered after about 5 minutes worth of automated switchboard responses, only for the Npower person asking me all the same questions again "for security purposes"
I answered all the questions again, only to be told that I actually owe £900!!!!! I then asked why I was being told this after 4 months, why it wasn't collected by DD to be met with "Durrrrrrrr don't know?????????" and passed to another Dept.
Normally I never have problems with this kind of thing. I tend to check everything and keep copies of correspondence. This is the first time I've come across such incompetence. I've asked them to provide details of meter readings and payments so I can check what they're asking for. But really, what a compete shower of 5hite!!!!
king payment card that i have to bring to the post office monthly. No DD as my account is closed. wkers!!'Now with first utility and they are far cheaper and a million miles ahead in terms of customer service.
dfm said:
I cannot wait to leave. I explicity told them not to change my DD and they effing ignored me.
Thats an issue for offgen isn't it ? IIRC a direct debit cannot be changed without your permission, given that you specifically told them not to change it they could be in trouble.
Going to be interesting when I eventually leave.
To be fair to them, even though their bills have been quite confusing, and there have been a couple of bills that have subsequently been subject to a reversal they appear to have settled down now. Last four / five months have made sense.
Due to a boiler change the monthly DD has come down 60odd quid a month and it will be interesting to see if that's enough should we have another cold winter.
Keep track every month and put the meter readings into Excel and calculate what I think the bill should be.
British Gas for all their faults were cock on. NP seems to make life difficult for themselves by having quite irregular billing frequency. They then make a cockup and have to ddo a bill reversal and try to get back on track the month after.
But there are some things where they do seem to be a bit dim. Certainly they made a horlicks of closing my daughter's account when she moved home. A final bill that wasn't actually a final bill as they hadn't calculated using the final reading. Then the Dd cancelled and they had to come begging for money three months later.
To be fair to them, even though their bills have been quite confusing, and there have been a couple of bills that have subsequently been subject to a reversal they appear to have settled down now. Last four / five months have made sense.
Due to a boiler change the monthly DD has come down 60odd quid a month and it will be interesting to see if that's enough should we have another cold winter.
Keep track every month and put the meter readings into Excel and calculate what I think the bill should be.
British Gas for all their faults were cock on. NP seems to make life difficult for themselves by having quite irregular billing frequency. They then make a cockup and have to ddo a bill reversal and try to get back on track the month after.
But there are some things where they do seem to be a bit dim. Certainly they made a horlicks of closing my daughter's account when she moved home. A final bill that wasn't actually a final bill as they hadn't calculated using the final reading. Then the Dd cancelled and they had to come begging for money three months later.
Crafty_ said:
Without meter readings you are stuffed. Lets say you knew your meter reading for January and obviously you can check it now, workout the cost per unit, deduct monies paid and see whats left.
If you can access the bills there will be an estimated meter reading for each one that won't tally with usage.
Whilst British Gas are more than a bit dopey and have a poor way of calculating payments/estimating blls its nothing like that and the customer service people do what you ask if you contact them (at least for the most part).
This is my frustration with Npower as I assumed the readings I gave including the final meter reading from the previous provider would all be there to see online. It's like it has been lost.If you can access the bills there will be an estimated meter reading for each one that won't tally with usage.
Whilst British Gas are more than a bit dopey and have a poor way of calculating payments/estimating blls its nothing like that and the customer service people do what you ask if you contact them (at least for the most part).
My only other hope is going to the provider before Npower who I still have a few accounts with for other services can provide me with the final meter reading I gave them 2.5 years ago.
This is why I'm worried because if Npower do not have my 1st gas meter reading and all other readings between, how can they give an accurate final bill?
I have a feeling this is going to take a long time to sort!
With OVO now and it is a revelation, so much easier to follow the bills and when I had an issue with multiple electric meters all sorted efficiently via email.
Crafty_ said:
dfm said:
I cannot wait to leave. I explicity told them not to change my DD and they effing ignored me.
Thats an issue for offgen isn't it ? IIRC a direct debit cannot be changed without your permission, given that you specifically told them not to change it they could be in trouble.Cabrony said:
I work for one of the big six (not Npower) and all the issues desribed are the result of a major system change. From the contact we have with them their system crashes almost weekly, the staff are yet to fully understand the system etc.
The company I work for rolled out the exact same system (SAP) 4 years ago and it took nigh on 2 years to fully understand it and get it to work to an acceptable level despite being incredibly well prepared and each staff member going through a months training.
They'll get back on their feet in a year or so and will be all the better for it but until then it'll be a bumpy ride.
I've supported SAP for the last year and my employer implemented it over 10 years, it did have teething issues early on but once the core HR and Finance components were in place with release management adopted in a multi-tier landscape it became an incredibly powerful stable application with huge benefits.The company I work for rolled out the exact same system (SAP) 4 years ago and it took nigh on 2 years to fully understand it and get it to work to an acceptable level despite being incredibly well prepared and each staff member going through a months training.
They'll get back on their feet in a year or so and will be all the better for it but until then it'll be a bumpy ride.
As an NPower customer they should have stuck with what they had and delayed migration onto SAP until it was fit for purpose.
One problem I encounter is the lack of business processes and understanding of products by management who want it to come out of the box and work like magic on day one to solve every problem, something very few enterprise tools do these days - I implemented an ICT Service Management tool a few years back which required a considerable amount of customisation to meet how the business wanted to work rather than revisiting processes making future vendor upgrades a real pain. SAP has been branded 'unagile' where I am so alternative products are sourced to do a function (time recording, stores management, crm) then get interfaced into SAP to do any crunching work and outputs. From a user viewpoint SAP GUI is horrid, the web apps feel slow and the new Fiori feels too 'mobile self service' orientated.
Npower - what a complete shower of exceptional ste.
After ringing them up last week and being made to jump through hoops I finally received all the invoices I asked for.
All 9 of them - 3 of them being duplicates, 4 of them covering the same period but showing different charges, different tariffs, and different closing readings.
Went through each bill and, quite quickly, it appears that although they've been taking the monthly DD out of my account they haven't allocated it against my invoice. I have never seen admin incompetence of this level ever
Phoned them up, to be put on hold for 40 minutes, got through to somebody in Collections and explained the situation who said he could see what had happened but had to transfer me to billings. Transferred to billings, went through the same rigmarole, the chap on the other end suggesting he could see what had happened, asks me to hang on, and then the phone is cut off.
A total of one hour on the phone and making the grand progress of sweet foxtrot alpha.
te.After ringing them up last week and being made to jump through hoops I finally received all the invoices I asked for.
All 9 of them - 3 of them being duplicates, 4 of them covering the same period but showing different charges, different tariffs, and different closing readings.
Went through each bill and, quite quickly, it appears that although they've been taking the monthly DD out of my account they haven't allocated it against my invoice. I have never seen admin incompetence of this level ever
Phoned them up, to be put on hold for 40 minutes, got through to somebody in Collections and explained the situation who said he could see what had happened but had to transfer me to billings. Transferred to billings, went through the same rigmarole, the chap on the other end suggesting he could see what had happened, asks me to hang on, and then the phone is cut off
.A total of one hour on the phone and making the grand progress of sweet foxtrot alpha.
Well this could be interesting. Just submitted my monthly meter reading.
Except that since the last reading they have had Meter Plus round to change the meter.
Not that it was a particularly old meter but perhaps with a boiler replacement just over a year ago, a mild winter and decentish summer and autumn so far have been using less gas than expected when signing up for their supply. Maybe that's just tin foil hattery.
Anyway last month's reading was 5911 in 100 ft^3 and this month will be not much above 0001 m^3. No sign anywhere of them having registered the new meter so the tin foil hattery is expecting fun and games on the billing front.
Fortunately I have photos of old and new meters and the change. We shall see.
Except that since the last reading they have had Meter Plus round to change the meter.
Not that it was a particularly old meter but perhaps with a boiler replacement just over a year ago, a mild winter and decentish summer and autumn so far have been using less gas than expected when signing up for their supply. Maybe that's just tin foil hattery.
Anyway last month's reading was 5911 in 100 ft^3 and this month will be not much above 0001 m^3. No sign anywhere of them having registered the new meter so the tin foil hattery is expecting fun and games on the billing front.
Fortunately I have photos of old and new meters and the change. We shall see.
Right, my woes with Npower still haven't ceased.
Since raising my complaint on Aug 14th very little has happened the only sign of apparent movement was a message on my answer phone whilst on holiday asking for a meter reading. I was expecting something in the post when I got back but nada- just a form letter explaining that I can now approach the ombudsman as the complaint remains unresolved.
It's been over a year now since switching.
Any advice on going through the Ombudsman? I'm not one for 'compensayshun' however by this stage and with the utter incompetence I want this both to be resolved and some sort of financial recompense. I only switched in the first place because it was fixed until 2017 and I wanted to avoid the yearly hassle of switching- sadly it's been anything but
Since raising my complaint on Aug 14th very little has happened the only sign of apparent movement was a message on my answer phone whilst on holiday asking for a meter reading. I was expecting something in the post when I got back but nada- just a form letter explaining that I can now approach the ombudsman as the complaint remains unresolved.
It's been over a year now since switching.
Any advice on going through the Ombudsman? I'm not one for 'compensayshun' however by this stage and with the utter incompetence I want this both to be resolved and some sort of financial recompense. I only switched in the first place because it was fixed until 2017 and I wanted to avoid the yearly hassle of switching- sadly it's been anything but
Well my situation is that my first reading submitted on the new meter has been deleted from their website.
As getting to the end of my fixed price deal at the end of next month, at which point would revert to standard rate at large increase, rang them up to resolve it.
They reckon they have it in hand but it seems to me, complete tin foil hat, that they are pissing about so that I miss the end of the next fix price deal that I can see on the website, the others result in huge increases. There's another they claim will appear in a day or so but nothing on there yet.
If I choose to move then will end up on several months of standard tarrif while the useless tarts sort it out, presumably all the while claiming that I owe them 5 grand so can't move, judging by reports from others.
Almost decided to suck it up and go with the current fixed price deal for another year. Get this sorted and blow them out during the year at the earliest possibility for two single supply deals which seems to be the way to go instead of dual fuel.
Arse.
As getting to the end of my fixed price deal at the end of next month, at which point would revert to standard rate at large increase, rang them up to resolve it.
They reckon they have it in hand but it seems to me, complete tin foil hat, that they are pissing about so that I miss the end of the next fix price deal that I can see on the website, the others result in huge increases. There's another they claim will appear in a day or so but nothing on there yet.
If I choose to move then will end up on several months of standard tarrif while the useless tarts sort it out, presumably all the while claiming that I owe them 5 grand so can't move, judging by reports from others.
Almost decided to suck it up and go with the current fixed price deal for another year. Get this sorted and blow them out during the year at the earliest possibility for two single supply deals which seems to be the way to go instead of dual fuel.
Arse.
I've at last got a final bill with their calculations.
It took 6 months and multiple complaints and weirdly it was a complaint that they instigated this time for things to be sorted out. According to the calculations I have overpaid by £1500. Now starts the process of trying to get that back.
It took 6 months and multiple complaints and weirdly it was a complaint that they instigated this time for things to be sorted out. According to the calculations I have overpaid by £1500. Now starts the process of trying to get that back.
You think that's bad?
I've spoken to two separate people, explained whats happened, they've said they understand and will correct my details and that I shouldn't hear any more about it.
I then get a standard "mail merge" apology letter from npower. The only problem being that the letter-fields they were supposed to populate have been left blank. So the letter reads something like;
Dear [insert name]
We're very sorry that [insert reason for apology]. as a result of this we are [explain what actions we are taking]. We're really sorry that [insert mistake] has happened]
It's like they've got a 18 yo apprentice with a GCSE in IT studies working in their customer services department!!
I didn't mind the letter so much but then, a week later, another debt chasing letter turns up. What a bunch of numpties
I've spoken to two separate people, explained whats happened, they've said they understand and will correct my details and that I shouldn't hear any more about it.
I then get a standard "mail merge" apology letter from npower. The only problem being that the letter-fields they were supposed to populate have been left blank. So the letter reads something like;
Dear [insert name]
We're very sorry that [insert reason for apology]. as a result of this we are [explain what actions we are taking]. We're really sorry that [insert mistake] has happened]
It's like they've got a 18 yo apprentice with a GCSE in IT studies working in their customer services department!!
I didn't mind the letter so much but then, a week later, another debt chasing letter turns up. What a bunch of numpties
I apologise for making this into a kind of dreary blog, but it's cathartic.
I've raised a complaint with the ombudsman today, and in doing so now realise that it's exactly one year and one week since I started the switch.
Wow.
Utterly staggering incompetence, I dread to think what my first gas bill will turn out to be.
I've raised a complaint with the ombudsman today, and in doing so now realise that it's exactly one year and one week since I started the switch.
Wow.
Utterly staggering incompetence, I dread to think what my first gas bill will turn out to be.
So, my 'final' bill appeared and apparently my 3 bed 1.5 storey house has an outstanding bill of £1600?!
I pay £100 a month direct debit surely this can't be right?! Going to start investigating now.
FFS, I can't access any of my meter readings either, why didn't I save them elsewhere
I pay £100 a month direct debit surely this can't be right?! Going to start investigating now.
FFS, I can't access any of my meter readings either, why didn't I save them elsewhere
Edited by GP335i on Thursday 6th November 12:43
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