Npower have been taking my money even though i dont have an account with them

[teeze666]

Hi all,

 

Could some one please give me some advice on a problem with Npower that I have.

 

In May 2013 I used Uswitch to change my gas supplier from British Gas to Npower.

 

As far as I knew at the time the switch went through and Npower started to send me bills

and take my monthly direct debit from my bank account and I always paid on time.

 

At the end of december 2013 British Gas sent me a letter stating that they were going to cut of my gas and elec for non payment of bills.

 

I immediately rang Npower and asaked them what was going on as I had dutifully paid my gas and electric on time.

 

Npower said the account was definitely with Npower and that I should call british gas, which I did.

 

British gas confirmed to me that they had never given ownership of the account to npower and it was not their problem,

 

"and by the way we have been reporting your missed payments to the credit reference agencies

and if you do not pay £££'s now we will arrange for a DCA to come and steal your belongings".

 

I then paid up the minimum payment they would accept there and then and

set up a payment arrangement with them.

 

Worst of all as it was a standard rate it was more than what it would have been had i actually been on Npower's tarriff.

 

I then called Npower and asked them what the hell they were doing and

asked why they have been taking my money by direct debit if my account is with British Gas

- They could give me no answer.

 

I started a complaint with them and expected the matter to be resolved

immediately especially as they have hundreds of my hard earned pounds in their coffers.

 

6 weeks later and I had heard nothing back.

I called Npower again to ask where my money was and they said that they were waiting for British Gas to release the account

and would credit the overpayment to my account.

 

I never told them that I wanted to be with Npower (why would I after all this?)

 

So it now turns out they are trying to take over my account and lo and behold BG ask for a final repayment on what is still owed - which i don't have.

 

I have 2 more weeks to go before i can invoke the wrath of ofgem (8weeks after initial complaint)

and it has gone so far that i want to nail Npower to the wall for this given the stress it has caused me

and my partner and the fact that Npower still have 6months worth of my utility bill cash which i need to pay off British Gas.

 

I've been having a look around the site and can't find a similar thread so any advice welcome. Thanks.

[Conniff]

So how did Npower know you wanted to use them if BGas didn't say.

 

Whoever is at fault here, make sure your reclaim includes 8% statutory interest from the date you started paying Npower.

[teeze666]

So how did Npower know you wanted to use them if BGas didn't say.

 

Whoever is at fault here, make sure your reclaim includes 8% statutory interest from the date you started paying Npower.

 

I originally signed up through uswitch to npower.

 

But as there was 63 pound on my old bg bill (back in may 2013)

BG did not release the account - at least that is how i understand it.

 

I even had a "sorry you're leaving" letter from BG and welcome letter from Npower".

 

Yet Npower then continued to take money from my bank account even though it was an "erroneous transfer".

 

Since i complained to them BG have told me that Npower have tried to take control of the account

(10 months after the original switch did not go through).

 

I've been completely reasonable with both companies, but it is getting beyond a joke now.

 

Thanks for the heads up on the eight percent.

 

I will look into that.

 

But whio is at fault in your opinion.

 

BG or Npower

- I think it is Npower as they have no claim of the account.

 

Should i be making the complaint against BG, or both?

[i hate bailiffs]

if you do not pay £££'s now we will arrange for a DCA to come and steal your belongings". .

 

A DCA can do nothing of the sort not ever

They have no such powers and never will have

 

You need to be dealing with these awful company's in writing and writing only

Any conversation on the telephone is pointless as you are speaking to someone who does not care and you are simply wasting there time as they have more important things to do!

[Conniff]

Then BG is at fault here. They can only refuse a changeover if there is £500 or more outstanding.

[teeze666]

Then BG is at fault here. They can only refuse a changeover if there is £500 or more outstanding.

 

that is interesting. the outstanding amount was no where near £500. I have kept all of my bills etc from both utility companies. I will give ofgem a call tomorrow to see where i stand and then start the letter writing. thanks for the advice i'll post on here what happens next. hopefully some useful advice to anyone else in a similar situation.

[dx100uk]

if Npower took the money by direct debt

and sent no bill each month

 

then go get it back via your bank under the DD guarantee.

 

dx

[teeze666]

thanks for the advice.

 

I have now raised a complaint with ofgem and sent all the correspondence etc. and

will post here any developments and the outcome.

 

at last it feels like something is being done.

 

As an aside,

 

npower tried again to take control of the account since my last post.

 

i asked them what they were doing, but they gave me the brush off with "its not showing on our system" crap.

 

my credit report shows the account opening at the end of feb and being closed a few days later.

obviously,

I've sent this info and a copy of the credit report to ofgem

- but it beggars belief!

[rebel11]

Hi teez

 

If you feel your personal data has been breached or you have wrong information on your Credit File:-

 

http://ico.org.uk/complaints

[Surfer01]

Firstly have you checked to confirm that the meter serial number showing on your bills is actually yours as this could be causing the issue. The part I cannot get my head around is that you had the letter from BGAS stating that you are moving to Npower. This confirms that the registration of your MPAN has commenced and that there is no turning back unless you request an objection to be raised.

There is a possibility that at the last moment BGAS raised an objection to you leaving them and the registration process was stopped, however Npower have assumed that the registration has gone through and processed the account. You cannot be charged twice for the same consumption.

Once you have confirmed the meter serial number, the next step is to find out from BGAS why the supply was never transferred to Npower. If BGAS raised a last minute objection, then they are at fault for not notifying you and some serious compensation needs to be considered. Plus if the the DD was cancelled by you, then it should have triggered a warning to BGAS anyway. If they cancelled it, then they have shot themselves in the foot again as it proves that they were letting the supply transfer.

Secondly as the registration was never processed Npower should not have been billing you! Again some serious compensation from Npower. With a bit of luck between them they will end up paying for your year's supply.

[teeze666]

Firstly have you checked to confirm that the meter serial number showing on your bills is actually yours as this could be causing the issue. The part I cannot get my head around is that you had the letter from BGAS stating that you are moving to Npower. This confirms that the registration of your MPAN has commenced and that there is no turning back unless you request an objection to be raised.

There is a possibility that at the last moment BGAS raised an objection to you leaving them and the registration process was stopped, however Npower have assumed that the registration has gone through and processed the account. You cannot be charged twice for the same consumption.

Once you have confirmed the meter serial number, the next step is to find out from BGAS why the supply was never transferred to Npower. If BGAS raised a last minute objection, then they are at fault for not notifying you and some serious compensation needs to be considered. Plus if the the DD was cancelled by you, then it should have triggered a warning to BGAS anyway. If they cancelled it, then they have shot themselves in the foot again as it proves that they were letting the supply transfer.

Secondly as the registration was never processed Npower should not have been billing you! Again some serious compensation from Npower. With a bit of luck between them they will end up paying for your year's supply.

 

Thanks for the insight surfer01. Its funny you talk about transferring the wrong meter. There were some "erroneous" transfers to begin with. I'll try and explain..

 

When i moved into the property it had recently been converted from a house into four flats. i was recieving two bills from BG (one from the previous meter which was no longer at the property and one for my flat). I informed BG that the bills from the previous meter could not have been for my flat as they were dated from over a year before according to the bill dates. BG accepted this after some investigation and had the "phantom" meter removed a few weeks after i had moved in.

 

I then used uswitch to change suppliers as discussed in my original post. This is the only time where i can see that things may have gone wrong with the meter serial numbers, but i've just now checked my bills against the serial numbers on the meters again (to be sure) and the ones i provided are correct. also, i only requested the switch after the other "phantom" meter issue was sorted, or so i thought.

 

The bg dd was never cancelled by me, so it must have been done at their end and looking back through my statements they never took any further payment from me even though there must have still been an amount owed. It all seems to add up to the switch going through (which is what i thought at the time especially as the Npower DD started). As ive said before i have no idea what to make of it at this stage.

 

Having bills paid for a year would be great, but i'd settle for being on anything but the BG standard tariff which i am at the moment. I'd like to change but to worried that this would just compound the issue at this stage.

 

Like i said, i'll keep post up any worthwhile info here as i get it. It's only been about 2 weeks since ofgem have been involved, so it may be a few more weeks yet before i see any sort of resolution.