Npower - we don't know who you are but can you give us your cash?

[sssshhhh]

I have recently moved into a new flat. The day I moved in I rang Npower to set up my gas account. the flat has a pre-payment meter and on the phone I was told if I wanted to pay monthly by Direct debit it would take up to 6 weeks to sort out, so for the time being I decided to stay on pre-pay. At least I'd have no bills as moneys a bit tight at the mo, I guessed I could monitor my gas usage more closely if I paid as I went along. So this was agreed and they sent me my pre-payment card 2 days later.

Yesterday I had a letter through the door addresses to The New Occupier and obviously my address underneath. The letter stated that I owed them £42.50 and if I didn't ring them up and pay them within 10 days they would send the debt to a collection agency. So this company has basically sent a letter out to a person who they don't even know the name of asking for money that a previous tenant may or may not have owed (as far as I am aware the prev tenant was on pre-pay too).

Has any one else ever come accross something like this? I am going to ring them monday morning, but don't know if I'll be able to refrain from laughing down the phone. It's just ridiculous!!

[WHISTLED]

Never had the problem but im pretty sure someone else posted on here a few weeks ago about the meters and that there was a standing charge in addition to pre pay.

Obviosuly its funny though

[Angua]

IIRC the standing charge gets taken off whenever you put in a topped up card. So if you put £10 on the card a percentage will be the standing charge so you actually get less than £10 worth of gas. Strange they are taking so long to change the meter over (only took us a couple of weeks).

[sssshhhh]

Originally Posted by Angua

IIRC the standing charge gets taken off whenever you put in a topped up card. So if you put £10 on the card a percentage will be the standing charge so you actually get less than £10 worth of gas. Strange they are taking so long to change the meter over (only took us a couple of weeks).

They do take off money for the standing charge every time I top up the gas. I don't know why they said it would take so long to swap over either. Although it did take a phone call to Npower, then Swalec, then British Gas, then Npower again twice to actually find out who the supplier was at the time I moved in, as I had no gas whatsoever when I moved in

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm starting to dread this phone call Monday morning

[Angua]

Surprised you haven't had to ring Transco as well

[Octal]

I think my first call would be to the CAB office, not to Npower, incompetent bunch of idiots

[die5el]

have a look at this site http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/ you have to sign up its free but well worth it

[Angua]

Energywatch can be helpful too!

[greencreeper]

I can take up to several months to sort out meter issues with NPower. I had problems at both my current, and previous addresses - the records said I had different meters to what I actually did have, which from what I can gather, creates a paperwork nightmare.