I wouldn't even give 1 star if there was an option!!!
We signed up with NPower after moving into a new flat last year. From the onset, the billing was very confusing. The website and the paper bills are packed with jargon and fine print and it's nearly impossible to make sure you are being billed correctly.
We finally decided to switch suppliers and that's where the real trouble began. We got a final bill for nearly £300 when our monthly gas and electric all year had only been around £50pm. When I called to question the issue, I was told that this was the correct amount. I spoke with 3 different agents and used the online chat 2 times as well and continued to get the same unhelpful response. Everyone I spoke to agreed that this number seemed extremely high compared to our normal usage, but insisted that this was, in fact, the correct amount and there was nothing else they could do for me.
Finally, on my 5th interaction, a customer service person suggested that perhaps our ending meter read was incorrect. When I investigated further, I found out that they had taken an "Estimated End Read" and that, indeed, it far exceeded the correct number. At this point, our new company needed to work with NPower in order to calculate a new estimated end read. We were told this could take a few weeks to sort out. I informed NPower of the issue and they assured me that they would put the account on hold while the issue was resolved so that my account wouldn't be passed onto collection agencies.
Unfortunately, this promise was not kept and a week later I started receiving texts, phone calls, and letters from collections agencies. I called NPower and they said that, unfortunately, the account had already been passed to the collection agencies and I would have to deal with them directly. They gave me a phone number to call and it was THE WRONG COLLECTION AGENCY?! So I had to find out myself which agency had our account and try to sort it out with them.
This went on for 2 MONTHS!!!! To make matters worse, NPower gave our electric bill to one collection agency and our gas bill to a different one!! So, for 2 months, I called the collection agencies, NPower, and my new supplier trying to stay updated on the progress of our account. Even though I reported the issue to all parties, I continued to get late payment notices and the collection agencies told me that NPower was adding additional administration fees to my debt as the bill was still not paid!!
Finally, the new estimate was agreed upon between NPower and my new company, but it still took NPower ages to send me a final bill! I even called them personally to give them the new estimate as I was told by an NPower customer service rep that this would help to speed up the process.
Every time I called NPower, they seemed to have NO RECORD of my previous phone calls and so each time I had to explain the entire predicament.
When I finally got a new bill it was still higher than our average bills had been, but at this point I just wanted to be done dealing with NPower. They sent me some weird card with crazy instructions on how to pay off my final bill. The final bill looked like a child's math homework with all these bizarre calculations on it. I'm still not confident that it was correct.
All in all, NPower were extremely unhelpful and unorganized. I have never had such a horrible experience. Someone actually tried to call me to ask if I was satisfied with my experience and if my issue had been resolved - but he also had no idea what my issue was and had no record of the proceedings!!
I WOULDN'T RECOMMEND THIS COMPANY TO ANYONE!!! I am always polite, organized, and respectful of customer service representatives. I believe this company has a deep-rooted organizational problem and therefore customer service workers are left floundering - unsure how to properly resolve people's issues.
Be warned!!!