NPOWER,rang Npower to be put on a lower tarrif. they forget to tick a box to start my already in place direct debit AT A LOWER PAYMENT A DIRECT DEBIT which has been in force over 5 years. I hear nothing from them then get a letter saying i owe in excess of £450.(6 MONTH LATER) i ring which took 4 hours to get though and over 20 calls. they offer me ten percent off the bill i owe as THEY FORGOT TO CLAIM THE DIRECT DEBIT. I get a phone call from a mr jackson who states yes it is their fault BUT ITS MINE ALSO. I didnt check my bank account each month and should of done I apparently SHOULD go in my bank each month and "MAKE SURE " ALL MY DIRECT DEBITS ARE PAID. ( ISNT A DIRECT DEBIT SOMTHING YOU PUT IN PLACE SO YOU DONT NEED TO MAKE SURE ANYONES BEING PAID) i dont have time to go into the bank and sit for hours checking. and shouldnt you of sent me a letter stating the direct debit was cancelled ( i didnt cancel) or sent aletter earlier saying how much was owed or do i wnat to pay by bill or payment card.. NO NOTHING. instead of waiting till im now stuck with you FOR TWO YEARS TO PAY THE DEBT YOU LET ACCRUE. NOT TO MENTION YOU TOOK HIGHER PAYMENTS WTH OUT TELLING ME.then i got a mouth ful off this guy stating " well wheres the money shouldnt it be in your bank account what you done with it SURELY YOU SHOULD HAVE THIS MONEY " i had to explain what I MAY OR MAY NOT OF DONE WITH THE MONEY THEY SHOULD OF HAD. (APPALLING) GOBSMAACKED ISNT THE WORD. YES npower turn it around blame me. dont you think if i had cancelled the direct debit youd know.dont you think its your fault waiting 6 monhts to tell me. your letter state I owed you IT WASNT A BILL. YOU RALISED NO PAYMENTS HAD BEEN COLLECTED FROM YOU THATS WHY YOU SENT A DEMAND NOT A LETTER ASKING WHY HASNT ANY PAYMENTS BEEN MADE..that tells me you realised you hadnt been paid. when querying how do they check accounts that are not paid i was told by mr jackson " we dont employ people to check accounts that are not being paid OR WHY THEY ARE NOT BEING PAID VIA DEBITS. we dont have any one to do it" yes the phone calls were recorded. AND YOU SHOULD HAVE PEOPLE TO DO THIS / I HAVE NEVER IN ALL MY LIFE BEEN SO DISGUSTED TO BE SPOKEN TO LIKE THIS and to be made to feel it was my fault. I DIDNT KNOW YOU HADNT BEEN PAID AS FAR AS I KNEW YOU HAD SET UP A NEW DIRECT DEBIT. THANKS NPOWER NOW IM STUCK WITH YOU FOR TWO YEARS TO CLEAR THE DEBT SORT OF DEFEATED MY PHONE CALL TO BE ON A LOWER TARIFF., MR JACKSON STATED. " WELL IT IS OUR FAULT BUT ITS YOURS ALSO YOU SHOULD OF MADE SURE WE WERE BEING PAID. ( BUT WE THOUGHT YOU WERE) WELL IF YOU STATE ITS 50 PERCENT YOUR FAULT AND 50 PERCENT MY FAULT ... THEN LETS 50 PERCENT SPLIT THE BILL I OWE YOU...

I am on key meters and didn't realise how much the standing charge is per meter, £90 per meter before i even pay for any gas or electric. As soon as i realised i went online and found Ebico who have ZERO standing charges. Bung a change of supplier through, took 2 mins online got my keys 4 weeks later and topped up what i normally would on N Power in a week. This amount has now lasted over 2 weeks on Ebico. If you put £10 on you get £10 with NO charges. If your on key meters avoid companies who are ripping you off. Usually the people with the least amount of money have key meters but are paying these huge standing charges. You dont have to. Ebico's customer service is 10/10 compared to 1/10 for N Power, so pleased i moved wish i hgad of done it sooner instead of sitting freezing scared to turn the heating on

My problem has to be near the top of the league ! key points (any other way I would run out of text) N POWER DUAL FUEL. FOUR YEARS AGO = 1 they renewed my gas meter - it stopped working 2 They ignored info from meter readers and us that its not working 3 They reduced the direct debit to a few pounds ??? don't this give a clue? 4 I kept correcting the direct debit - they kept reducing it. Finally I stop the Direct debit and make a standing order of £150.00 a month so now I know it cant go wrong - WRONG ! - N Power then say I have no payment plan - I explain I do - my own - which will work !! 5 Finally over TWO YEARS later they change the meter THE ELECTRIC METER !!! 6 Then they screw up the Electric bill by charging night and day readings incorrectly 7 Then finally they install new GAS METER HOORAY ? NO - Now the problems really start 8 I have £1500 credit- because I knew I was using gas and kept correcting the direct debit every time those Muppet's put it down! 9 Now they send me a corrected bill for loads of money on all the millions of gas I used when they had no meter (is that my fault ?) 10 I dispute this, so we have to agree a amount used - they pick a time during winter when I had family on an extended stay, I do not agree we argue I then ask them to look into the electric bill that they had screwed up at the same time, so we could agree what the final figure is. 11 SUDDENLY ITS ALL GONE QUIET ! 12 WEEKS LATER I phone up after a getting a bill for £100's and tell them I am in the process of disputing their bills, they tell me the original complaint is settled because I agreed to the resolution by not answering a letter I never received - By the way - THE £1500 CREDIT HAS DISAPPEARED INTO N Powers coffers !! 13 So we start another complaint resolution proceedure. I am now offered £400 or wso and time to pay the extra bill £34 a month extra for TWO YEARS - HOW GENEROUS - considering their repeated mistakes in operating my direct debit ended up with them ESTIMATING ! that this is what I should pay 14 I strongly disagree and want the bills worked out correctly or at least to my understanding ( you ever tried to work out bills going back nearly THREE YEARS when they tie you up with this rate and that rate and bill increases and tariff changes) Einstein could not make sense of it - let alone me ! another Tactic in N powers pocket. 15 N Power still wont answer all the questions - especially how they "allocated" the £1500 credit - So off to the "Unbiased Ombudsman" we go 16 - BIG MISTAKE ! 17 The Ombudsman tell N Power to detail and explain my bills - N Power ignore them I still haven't seen anything Then the Ombudsman tell me the £1500 went towards energy used - even though part of the complaint was that we had not agreed how much energy was used as they had no measurement of it for over TWO YEARS 18 When I ask the Ombudsman why I still have no info. from N Power and Also why was the first complaint shut without my agreement I get a letter saying The Ombudsman will deal with my request for a review ????. 19 I then get a letter (after having a couple of letters over the time span saying sorry its taking so long to deal with my complaint as the office is very busy - NO SURPRISE THERE!!) saying they have looked into it and they think that N Power are being fair in their offer. WHAT !!!!!!!!!!!!! 20 So I now have to contact the Ombudsman again and ask ... Is it really fair that the Alleged Bill has now grown to nearly £2000 (that was the last demand, 6 wks ago)AND The ONE AND ONLY REASON I have this problem is because N Power could not manage my account correctly or respond to my complaint with anything approaching common sense or accuracy. DOES THE OMBUDSMAN REALLY BELIEVE THAT A £400 REDUCTION AND A PAYMENT PLAN IS SUFFICIENT COMPENSATION FOR OVER 4 YEARS OF GRIEF AND FRUSTRATION. 21 Would the Ombudsman be happy with their finding if it was them personally and they had dealt with this for overe 4 yrs and then the one organisation that should have the power to correct and control these big energy powers - just rolls over and Rubber stamps the Energy Suppliers decision - but then who pays the Ombudsman's way ???????? SO - MY FINAL REVIEW = STAY AWAY FROM N-POWER AND THE OMBUDSMAN I will try to update with any further developements - if I can get online whilst I in jail for refusing to bow down to N Power and their lackey the Ombudsman

I was with Eon for years and never had any problems with them and there customer services is brilliant. Theb only reason i changed was that a rep stopped and asked me to change and they would guarentee a cheaper amount. I signed up and set up all the standing orders. I then noticed after a few months that they hadnt taken any monery so i then called and investigated that they had made a mistake which meant i then had to make this up which was fine. After 6 months the payment never went down and i called to investigate to find out that they wer enot cheaper. I made a complaint and they agreed to send me back to EOn on a transfer which meant that EON would bill me for everything and all the money i had paid Npower would be refunded to me. This amount in £900. I have called on various occasiions and been told tommorrow, wednesday next week and to be frank its not on. I am totally disgusted by this and im still waiting 3 weeks later. Im glad ive leftv them and i would never ever do business with them again. Terrible company

I was encouraged by N Power to have a prepayment meter installed after I was made redundant 2 years ago. However I secured employment again 6 months later and I asked to change to normal monthly d/d bills with a credit meter.
They refused. At no time did they tell me I had to pay 45pence a day standing charge for the meter. Last winter they left me without gas for 5 days in -0 temperatures after insisting I needed to top up my meter.
No-one listens in that company! Turned out the meter was faulty and had to be replaced and there was over £40 credit in it!!!
I now have threatened them with Ofgem and will be writing a letter to-day.
PLEASE DO NOT USE N POWER. WE ALL DESERVE MUCH BETTER CUSTOMER SERVICE !

An N Power door-to-door salesperson switched my gas and electricity last year. To be honest, I wish I'd never opened the door!

I was with British Gas and thought I'd switch as British Gas didn't seem to be getting any cheaper and there was a bonus payment incentive to switch to N Power (which I don't recall receiving).

I frustrated with N Power because the guy that filled out the forms for us to switch said, "most of the other flats in this building are averaging £55 gas and electricity per month so we'll set your DD up for that ammount too." This is based on a one bedroom flat.

I liked the fact that I knew where I'd be with my bills - paying £55 per month.

Then in March 2010 I received a balance for £132 with a very confusing statement. Nothing was taken out of my account so I ignored it.

Then in September 2010 I received a balance for £128, again with a confusing statement, which I don't know how anyone is meant to understand. No other letters are sent out in industry jargon so why is it different for energy suppliers?

N Power then proceed to take £128 from my bank account - I don't even know what this is for because the letter that was sent out contains so much jargon it's as if they are trying to conceal something.

I will be ringing N Power to find out what's gone on but in the meantime if anyone has a door-to-door salesperson knock at the door, just ignore them!!

You've been warned!!