‘I’m not a new customer, I’ve been here for years’

It’s nice when a power supplier gets in touch with a new customer. A “Welcome Pack”, giving all the information you might need, is even better.

But if you’ve been a customer of the firm for several years, then a collection of greetings that keep referring to you as a “new” customer might be a little confusing.

James Doherty spent several weeks being continually welcomed as a new customer by Npower, despite the fact that he hasn’t taken any action to change his electricity supplier for well over a decade.

It started in April when he got a phone call from Npower.

They warned that he’d receive a welcome pack, but told him not to pay any attention to it as it was merely a by-product of them changing his account number. That wasn’t a problem, said James. When new systems are put in place the methods of dealing with the new information and any replacement accounting methods have to be updated.

If this meant he had to have a new account number, then fine. James didn’t mind which number was next to his name on a piece of paper.

But he’s had reason to regret the change ever since.

Npower’s next move was to send a request for a final meter reading before James moved from his flat.

This was odd, and a little worrying, as James wasn’t even thinking about moving house and certainly hadn’t been in touch with his electricity supplier to say so.

Then he got a letter thanking him for choosing them as his new supplier. The next letter was a bill. It covered the period from February to May – but advised him that he hadn’t used any electricity in that period.

But James had been living in his flat all that time.

Unless the lights were being powered by fairy dust he was quite sure that electricity had been used. The bill also said Npower had read his meter on May 27.

But again, unless they slipped in a window (which isn’t likely as James is several floors up a multi-storey) then they hadn’t come through his front door to take a reading.

The shenanigans weren’t finished there.

The next letter said they would be putting him on a standard tariff, but James has a price-fix contract that runs until December.

Then they cancelled his direct debit. He set up a new one – and they cancelled that too!

He phoned them the next day (phone calls to Npower were becoming a daily occurrence) and they said they’d rectify matters.

What actually happened, though, was that they sent a payment card which James hadn’t requested. It was getting ridiculous. To James’ relief, and after many lengthy phone calls, they then assured him it was all sorted. No one could explain why it had all happened, and there were only perfunctory apologies for all the time he’d wasted on the phone to them – much of which was spent in lengthy callwaiting queues before he was connected to a human being.

But there was one thing missing in all of this, a thing that worried James quite a bit.

No one seemed to be able to tell him what his bill was during the months-long wrangling over whether he was a new customer, moving house or paying any amount of money by direct debit. He wrote to Raw Deal. There’s nothing worse than having the threat of a huge bill hanging over you. But James needn’t have worried.

The next letter from Npower had much better news.

James wrote to us to say: “Thank you Raw Deal. It is, indeed all sorted out now – and they have actually credited my account with £60.

“Without your help I’d still be trying to get it sorted. I can’t thank you enough.”