Npower are truely awful (NPower)

Member Name: leenewham

Product:	NPower
Date:	07/09/01 (328 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: NONE

Disadvantages: Agressive sales techniques, Incredibly bad service, Wont let you change to another supplier

Well, here is the latest update on my Npower escapade.

The story so far:

NPower came to my house offering me a trial for NPower with the promise of cheaper gas. These people were really insistant and invited themselves into my home. I didn't like that, but as what they seemed to be offering was a cheaper deal than British gas at that time, I thought I would take them up on their offer of a 3 month trial (that's what they said!)

Nearly 3 months passed and nothing happened. I signed no paper or form. Then British Gas writes to tell me that the supply of gas is being changed to N-Power and they are sorry to lose me as a customer.

So now my gas is permanently being supplied by N-Power (which was not a 3 month trial!).

Later I tried to change my supplier to Powergen as it was cheaper. Powergen wrote to me stating that N-Power would not let them supply my gas as there was an unpaid bill. That bill was paid and then a while later I got the same letter from Powergen saying the same thing. I got no 'final' bill from N power. I got fed up and left it. (My electric is now with Powergen and they have been completely trouble free and very helpful).

Then a little while ago I got a final demand from N-Power for a bill I had not paid (or even received!).

I was going on holiday that day so phoned my flat mate from the airport and asked her to send them a cheque for £69.30. When I got back from holiday there was a letter from N-Power stating that they were sending someone around to cut off my gas. So I paid the bill on my credit card.

I got home and had a go at my flat mate for not paying the bill. She then produced her bank statement which showed that they had cashed her cheque. I called Npower and asked for the refund. They told me to write. So I wrote enclosing the copy of her cheque and asking for them to refund my credit card.

I kept phoning and calling, but they just weren?t
interested, the staff were not very helpful and even after slating them over the phone, telling them about what had happened, they had the cheek to say "thankyou for calling Npower!"

The next instalment in this saga was that I received a red bill for £109. "Please pay in 7 days' it said. I hadn?t received even received the first green first billl! And how can an estimated bill be almost twice the amount of the estimated bill? And why were they charging me this amount of money when they already have £69.30 of mine sitting in their bank account earning interest for 2 months?

So I lost my temper and called them. I shouted at the poor girl on the phone and I thought she was going to cry. I demanded to speak to a manager and at last got to speak to one. She said that they the finance department had all the details and were dealing with it and I should here from them soon. At last the matter would be resolved I thought!

Nope?

2 more weeks, many more calls (I kept my cool this time) and still no refund on my card. So I wrote them a letter threatening to contact the consumer group Which and the consumer program ?Watchdog?.

I waited for their response? and nothing.

My next attempt to get them to get them to refund my money was to write this story from my previous comment in an e-mail and get everyone I know to forward it to as many people as possible. customerservices@npower.co.uk got a copy of the e-mail.

Again I waited for their response? and nothing.

In the end I resorted to www.dooyooo.co.uk I e-mailed every letter and comment that had been made about npower on the dooyoo.co.uk site (for there are a lot more comments and complaints about Npower than any other energy supplier) to the following address (I advise anyone who is having problems with them to do the same)

rory.gibson@npower.com

I told then that unless they repaid my money I was going to take every opp
ortunity to give them bad publicity. I told them how many people read this site and how many potential customers they had already lost, and that there would be more if you take into account ?word of mouth?.

I got a phonecall that same day. He was incredibly sorry and appologetic. He said that they were using the money overpaid on my account to pay off the new bill, (£109) which meant that I now owed Npower only £39.70. Also, as an act of goodwill, they were paying for the rest of my bill so the slat was now clean.

I am now with powergen witth my gas and electricity. I have had no problems. The staff are very friendly. I have no problems with them?so far.

So to sum up. If you have a problem, try every means to solve it. E-mail seems to be a really effective medium. Big companies spend a lot of money in advertising. They do not like bad publicity. Websites such as this provide a real opportunity to get companies to change because not only does it give us a voice, it makes us visible.

Using the reviews that have been written here ended months of hassle, worry and expense for me. Well done to dooyoo and everyone who contributes to this site.

We can make a difference.


P.S. Many Thanks to Rory, the only helpful person working at Npower. Sorry if you suddenly get lots of e-mails!

Summary: