The fun never stops eh? Although this is on behalf of a relative, not me this time. As succinct as I can keep it: 1) Relative joins nPower January 2013 shortly after moving to a new property 2) Meter readings provided - nPower setup a monthly direct debit for £65 (dual fuel) 3) Relative became aware in June '13 that account had been setup incorrectly. Relative was only being billed for electric. 4) Took a couple of days to sort and more than one phone call, but a new direct debit of £90 was setup. This included the arrears as a result of nPower's mistake. 5) In September '13, relative had some maintenance work carried out on electricity supply. Discovered during this that they were still only being billed for electricity (although direct debit of £90.00 was being sent every month). 6) Relative was eventually told by nPower that there was a serious error with their account and the issue would be escalated. Was promised a return call - this did not happen. 7) Relative called nPower in December '13 as had still not heard anything. Was advised account issue still remained unresolved, and also that the account itself was showing as circa £300 in credit, plus a direct debit/dual fuel discount on top of this. 8) No return call from nPower. Relative phoned again - was advised complaints team were handling it and would get in touch the same day. This never happened. 9) Towards the end of December '13, relative phoned nPower to inform they would be switching to another provided because she was unhappy with their poor service. 10) Relative switched to another provider in January 2014, more or less 12 months after joining nPower. 11) Relative heard nothing more from nPower until April '14; they received two reminder letters from nPower for a combined total of circa £800. One letter was for gas, one for electric. 12) Relative spoke to nPower; disputed the sum and was advised that a full breakdown of charges, payments and usage would be sent in post (they initially refused to send this unless a letter was sent in, although they eventually changed their tune). 13) Relative contacted nPower again (need to check date but think June '14). Was advised this issue would be escalated to the executive complaints team. Was also advised more reminders would be generated automatically and that they could safely be ignored until the complaint was resolved. 14) Relative began to receive (what they presumed to be) nuisance calls that were essentially just prerecorded messages. As it turned out, these two companies (Westcot and Pastdue) were actually two separate debt collection agencies instructed by nPower; each sent a letter in September '14. Interestingly, some of the information printed on one of the letters was also incorrect (e.g. account number) 15) Realising now the earlier advice of nPower to ignore payment reminders was false/incorrect, a letter was sent to each of these DCA's stating the account was in dispute. A statement was also made regarding OFT debt collection guidance (unfair to pursue when in dispute). For good measure, Westcot had their implied right of access to the property withdrawn (as they had stated they would visit the property to collect payment). Relative also filed a complaint with the ombudsman around this time. 16) Pastdue wrote back to relative confirming they had received letter. Stated that account had been placed on hold and they would try and obtain invoice showing full breakdown of balance. No further correspondence received from these guys. 17) Westcot also wrote back. Merely stated the balance, that it related to the electricity supply and provided a billing period (which was seriously incorrect!). Stated they looked forward to receiving payment within 14 days. They have started phoning relative daily once again. 18) Ombudsman rejected complaint, stating that the date from the original issue was too far back for them to investigate. However, did advise that if relative obtained a deadlock letter from nPower they can then investigate. 19) Relative wrote to nPower towards the end of October '14. This outlined the dispute, a summary of the (in)action so far and a request for a deadlock letter. Sent recorded delivery, confirmed delivered, no response so far. 20) Relative wrote another letter to nPower last week (similar to above). Sent recorded, not showing as delivered yet. Considering resending later today if not arrived. --- Other misc. information: - Relative has log burning stoves and only uses anywhere from £6-10 a month in gas for hot water. No heating of any kind (excluding hot water of course) is necessary from ~March to ~September due to property being extremely well-insulated. - Current electricity consumption averages about £45.00 a month. - nPower is instructing two separate debt collection agencies to collect a portion of the "debt" even though the account was dual fuel. As per Citizen's Advice regarding harassment from creditors: "Using more than one debt collector at a time to chase you for payment" - so does this count? - Relative has been diagnosed with depression and anxiety. Self representation is unlikely to go down well. - Relative has sadly not recorded all phone calls. They have however, kept detailed notes, dates and times of each phone call with nPower - including the person they spoke to. --- Next steps: Should relative: a) Just keep sending letters to nPower at £1.72 a pop until they hopefully provide the information? b) Send a final LBA to nPower detailing the harassment (if applicable), filing a small claim if ignored? c) Wait for nPower to take relative to court (if ever) and potentially claim on legal cover provided by house insurance for representation? d) Something else? Personally, given the chain of events, problems with the account and overall billing issues nPower has had recently, it would sound like they are physically unable to account for the money they are demanding. Who knows.