Title here

Rude, unhelpful, harrassment, accusations....Until you sign up with them

Remember the good old days ? An Halcyon time of the wireless, petrol at 70p a gallon, Valerie Singleton on Blue Peter, gas from the Gas Board, Electricity from the electricity board, and no such thing as call centres.

This story, sent in by one of our readers, typifies the sort of treatment handed out by zealots employed by the new breed of "power" companies that sprang up after deregulation. But before we move on, it has to be said that we are pro competition. It is healthy and drives down costs and prices.

Our reader writes:-

I recently moved in with my boyfriend, in his cousins house. A house that had previously been rented out to students for a number of years.

I have always had my electricity and gas supplied by PowerGen, and never had a problem. When I moved, I naturally wanted to use my old supplier and thought it would be easy to have them move with me. I was in for a nasty surprise.

I went through the usual process of having the meter read, and discovered that NPower provided the Gas and Electricity in the new house. The problem was, that the previous tenants had moved without informing NPower and they were reluctant to let PowerGen take over the supply to the property.

After about 7 phone calls, I managed to get them to allow the Electricity to be switched over, proving that I was new to this property and that the previous tenant had not left a forwarding address. Ok, fine, next the gas.

I was put through to a different department, same company, but completely different people dealt with the gas. The first lady I spoke to rudely told me to settle the outstanding bill before she would allow PowerGen to take over the supply of my gas. I explained that I had just moved in and that I had no idea who the last tenant was, or where he was. She then said," Well how do I know that ? You might be him"

I protested, not only at being called a liar, but because I am a girl and don't sound anything like a man. She said I would have to prove this. Astonished, I asked how, she said that was up to me and put the phone down on me.

I was perplexed and when my boyfriend came home and heard the story, he called NPower to try to sort it out. Now, it must be said that neither of us are confrontational, and we both prefer to take the path of least resistance. However, NPower just would not believe us.

We spent hours, and I mean hours, holding for the Customer Services dept over a number of days, only to be told that we had to prove that we were not the last tenant and they want to see the deeds to the property to prove we do not own it.

No problem, we asked for their local office so that we could go and show our passports. We were told that this was not acceptable, as we could have changed our names !!

This went on for weeks. Eventually, late one Friday night, a Private Detective knocked on our door. he was sent by NPower to ascertain the whereabouts of the last Tenant, and determine whether or not we where that person. We told him of the saga, and he was sympathetic. We showed him proof of who we were and he told us that his report would be to the effect that we were not the last tenant and had no responsibility for his bills.

Great, we made a new application with PowerGen, and thought that this would be the end. We thought wrong/

A week later, PowerGen called to tell us that NPower were still refusing to release the gas to them. Now, remember, they had already done this with the electricity.

Worn out, angry, frustrated, my boyfriend called them again. We sat for over an hour on hold before actually getting through to a human. He once again explained the situation and included the latest events in relation to the Private Investigator. The VERY rude woman on the other end said that they had never heard of this PI firm and that we must be making this up to avoid paying our bills. My boyfriend objected to be treated this way, and she hung up.........

This is now 4 months after we moved in. We just want to pay our bills. we always pay our bills and have a good track record with our normal supplier. This obnoxious company simply refused to let us and now tell us that they are coming to cut us off.

Whilst all this was happening, we received 43 letters to the old tenant. Each of which was sent back with a letter explaining that this person had moved on without leaving a forwarding address.

Again, we tried to call and could not get through. My boyfriend called their sales number, which was answered within seconds, surprise, surprise. He asked to be put through to Customer service and was told that it was impossible, as sales did not have the ability to do this. He would have to call back on the Customer service number, which was now firmly imprinted in his memory.

The next day, we had a letter addressed to us from NPower. Finally we thought, they acknowledge we exist and that we are not the previous tenant. When we opened it, it was an invitation to sign up for an account with them !!

Now, my boyfriend is a little smart, so he called, signed up for an account, which was instantly approved, then we re-applied to PowerGen to take over this new account and it worked !!!!!!!!

4 months, many, many hours on the phone, lies, rudeness, harassment, ignorance, and all we had to do is sign up for an account with them.

We think that these intimidation tactics are policy and in place to get people to buy from them.

You cant easily get through to customer service when you want to, but you instantly get through on the sales line.

This was a traumatic and frustrating experience. The people who work for NPower customer services are rude and obnoxious.

As consumers, we have the right to choose who supplies our power and gas. At last, we are with the company that has always given us good service and is not problem to talk to when you need advice or have a query.

NPower is the worst company I have ever had to deal with and something should be done to stop them from bullying and hurting people like us.

Our Comment.

There was a time when you could walk into your local branch of any utility company, and speak to a real live person. Face to face, it is difficult not to resolve the issues. On the phone, the all too prevalent practice of refusing to give a name and hanging up is making life very difficult for the consumer.

This behaviour by NPower is typical of the detached way in which these companies now operate. They are not customer focused, they don't train their staff properly, and those damn automated attendants that keep you on hold for anything up to an hour are hateful, especially when some recorded message keeps telling you that your call is important to them !!

NPower should be ashamed of themselves, and we wonder what the reply to our notifying them of this story will be.

Check back for updates