Npower said my dead uncle owed £1,000 — so sent in debt collectors

I HAVE been trying to sort out my late uncle’s Npower account since March 2014. He suffered a stroke/heart attack on March 2, 2014. At that time he expressed concerns about his electricity bill. I investigated and discovered it was 13 pages long!

There appeared to be three bills, totalling £2,092.65 — yet he lived in a small one-bedroom bungalow, went out every day for his meals and took his washing to the launderette.

My uncle passed away on March 29, 2014. I contacted Npower on April 1, providing final readings and asking for a correct invoice to be sent to my address.

After waiting several weeks, I discovered that Npower had sent the invoice to my uncle’s old address.

I asked for the bill again and received nothing until a debt collection letter was sent from Phillips & Cohen Associates, dated June 11, 2014, demanding £1,316.30.

I contacted Phillips & Cohen three times before it sent me a photocopy of the supposed final bill, which was an estimate.

I contacted Npower yet again to give it the readings.

On September 12, I received a further letter from Phillips & Cohen demanding £1,326.20. Again I complained; again I was promised a correct bill.

But, again, I received the same demand, this time on November 18. However, the letter also contained a copy of an Npower invoice for £1,003.94.

I have tried many more times to resolve this issue without success.

Mrs S. A., Northumberland. yoUR full letter lays bare the 18 months of stress and anguish that Npower and its appointed collector, phillips & Cohen, put you through. Neither has responded adequately to your numerous attempts to get a correct bill, based on readings you repeatedly supplied.

Npower’s behaviour in particular displayed a lack of compassion and understanding for someone who is bereaved and struggling to sort out the estate of a relative. The firm proved unresponsive and hopelessly incompetent.

phillips & Cohen (which on its website highlights ‘compassionate recovery’) compounded the situation by sending robotic letters in a robotic fashion, some of which failed to reflect the invoices accompanying them.

your full letter details 14 occasions on which you attempted to obtain a correct bill based on the final meter readings you supplied — yet time and time again you were met with a baffling level of ineptitude.

For example, more than a year after you had informed it of your uncle’s death and asked it to write to you at your address, Npower sent a bill, dated May 24, 2015, to his address.

phillips & Cohen then wrote to you on July 6, 2015, offering a final settlement of £987.15, saying this was a saving of £329.15 on the supposed debt of £1,316.30. yet the Npower invoice it enclosed showed an actual bill of £1,019.80. Four days later on July 10, 2015, phillips & Cohen wrote again, quoting a balance of £1,316.20.

When I contacted Npower it finally took your case seriously. In a statement it said there had been ‘some miscommunication’ and that is why this matter took so long to sort out.

Well, that must be the understatement of the year.

on reviewing your case, Npower initially reduced the outstanding amount to £500. I told the firm that given everything it put you though, it should write off the bill altogether — and I am pleased to say that is what it has now done. Npower admits things went wrong from the start. It does have a dedicated bereavement service, with a team trained by Macmillan — and you should have been directed to this.

Instead, the account made its way to phillips & Cohen. Representatives of this firm were also extremely contrite and admitted that the account had not been handled as it should have been.

The firm intends to issue a formal letter of apology to you.

It also provided the following statement: ‘We always strive to provide the best possible service and so we were disappointed to hear about Mrs a’s experience.

‘on behalf of our client and ourselves we will be sending a bouquet of flowers by way of an apology. We remain committed to working with our client to further improve their processes in order to try and eliminate future issues of this type.’ I AM 72 and have been retired for just over two and a half years. On April 28 I completed a Short Tax Return and posted it by recorded delivery. I have a confirmed delivery date of April 30.

I believe I am due a rebate of more than £400, but have not received any response. On August 12 I wrote again, but I have still not received any response.

J. P., Cheshire. yoU provided HMRC with everything they needed to process your tax rebate, including your bank details. yet you waited and waited and heard nothing. you wrote and again heard nothing.

Well, finally, five months after sending your tax return you have received your rebate.

a spokesman tells me that your return was dealt with by HMRC staff as normal. Well, if a fivemonth wait is normal, it’s just not good enough. HMRC has called you to apologise for the delay in you receiving your money and to check whether you needed anything else.