The Daily Novel

How do I know that npower is the unacceptable face of capitalism? Because I have dealt with them since early April when I took possession of a rented flat in the next street.  npower were supplying the gas. I arranged for the gas to be paid by direct debit from my wife’s account.

But during May and June I had a succession of messages from npower asking me for money related to the period  before I had taken possession, and asking me the name of the previous occupier and his address. Which I gave them. All at my own expense on their 0800 number.

When I took possession I arranged for a direct debit from my wife’s account to pay their bills, but for some reason they have not taken the money from that. So when they continued to harrass me into July, I agreed on the second of July to pay them over the telephone £66.56, which was the amount they calculated I owed them the time, immeditately from my own account.  But on the understanding that from henceforth the money should be taken from my wife’s account on the direct debit we had set up, which fits the way we are trying to manage our finances in our new life.

But today, when we went round to the flat we are renting we found a demand from npower for £55.52, which was the amount we owed at an eariler date in June. The letter was pleasantly headed, ‘Our right to enter your property and cut off your gas supply.’ Unless I paid the supposedly owed £55.52 in 7 days.

I also found a letter from a supposed debt collection agency, called energydebt. (This lot obviously thinks it is trendy to have names without capital letters.)  That letter told me that if I did not pay up, they would ‘commence debt collection procedures’. Which I took to mean, send round their heavy men to extract the money from me.

I immeditately rang npower. To explain that I had paid more than what they were asking me for. The first person I spoke to said she needed proof. So I opened up my Smile bank account and gave her the date when my £66.56 left my account to the credit of npower. She said she could find no record of npower having received it, and that they had many accounts, and could I tell her which one. Of course, I could not tell her, because I had paid it over the telephone. So she suggested I should contact my bank and ask them to tell me which of the many accounts that npower has I had paid it into. I told her that this would cost money for money and would npower pay my expenses? Of course, she could not agree to that.  So she told me that I would have to call their ‘customer services.’

I write after speaking to four people from npower. They now agree that they have had my £66.56 but they have not even agreed to send me a letter of apology. They have all regurgitated what they have learnt on their training programmes - calm the customer down, etc, etc. The final call tonight was from their ‘customer services adviser’, who only works between the hours of 6 and 8 in the evening. So she is not in a proper job, and knows nothing at all about my particular case, she is just paid for two hours a day to deliver the claptrap she has been taught on her training progromme.

She told me that they now agreed that they had received my £66.56 on the second of July. So I did not owe them anything at all. But, instead of agreeing to write the letter of apology, which I had said I would accept, she said that I needed to give them a reference number which was on my gas meter, before they would even consider that.

To sum up. npower is a totally incompetant company. They have so many bank accounts that they cannot control their own business. Although I had paid them the money they wanted, they did not know that. Because they have confused my payment with my wife’s. So they have taken my money, but they continue to harrass me for money which they see as part of a separate account. But when they found out, far from offering me an apology, they have continued to harass me.

This makes it clear that npower are not a fit company to be allowed to supply gas to the British public, most of whom, do not have the expertise that I have to questiion their inefficient and dictatorial attitudes.

So who are npower? By following the links I find that they are a part of a German company called RWE.

This all happened before dinner. But after dinner i decided that I should ring the debt colection agency to tell them to call off their bulldogs. I got their answerphone, which was npower. In other words, the debt collection agency npower is threatening me with, is owned by them.

I do not think that British Gas or London Electricity or Scottish Power, with whom I had many dealings with over the years, are pure. But none of them has exhibited the behaviour which I have experienced from npower.

This company should not be allowed to screw the British public with its inefficient and unscrpululous practices.

By co-incidence, at tea-time today, my doorbell rang. And there on the doorstep was a perfectly decent young man, who was urging me to switch my gas supplies to npower.

Clearly npower is employing a huge army of people to get them to choose npower for their supplier. But they  are employing no-one at all to listen to what their existing customers have to say.

Unless they change their ways, they should be prevented from operating in the British market.