Following poor service I decided to close my electricity and gas accounts with npower and switch provider in spring last year. Last July, I received a letter to say that it had taken so long to close my accounts my final bill would be written off. But I then started getting reminders for payment and each time they were for different sums.
When I last called customer services in September I was told by npower that it could not find a record of my final bill being written off, despite being told it could see it on previous calls. I sent a copy of my letter on 4 September and did not hear any more, so assumed the saga was over. Then, in April this year, I received two demands, for gas and for electricity.
Once more I called and the person I spoke to again confirmed that my final bill had been written off, and said that a stop should have been put on my account to prevent further letters being sent out. But again I received further reminders of money owing, including two automated telephone calls. I won’t bother to call npower any more as I have called so many times, and whatever it tells me the problem continues.
My mother was diagnosed with cancer on New Year’s Eve, and having to deal with this at the same time has put a huge strain on my family. VM, London SE13
Yet another complaint about npower, and one that shows how switching providers is not always straightforward. To add insult to injury, npower managed to use different surnames at various stages of communication.
Npower has apologised for the worry caused by this saga, but insists it is not at fault. You switched from npower at the beginning of June last year, and it sent you a final bill a month or so later. As you were in credit it refunded the final balance (£16.31) automatically. But what complicated things was that, after the account was settled, you made an indemnity claim with your bank in August for £99 – and in doing so, placed the npower account back into debt to the tune of £82.69. It then received a payment of £32.32 on 1 September, which has left you with a debit of £50.37.
Npower says it sent you a letter in June last year to say it would be writing off the final balance, but this did not apply because you were actually in credit when the final bill was calculated. Given your circumstances, and the nominal amount it asked you to pay, it has agreed to write this off as a goodwill gesture. It has made contact with you to explain the actions it has taken to resolve this rather long-running saga.
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