Dom Davis (The Blog)

Now that nPower had my £40 I thought I was in for a long and protracted period of letter writing that would start with them sending me the final statement and end with me getting satisfaction. As has happened many times during the saga I was, once again, wrong. Just as I was phoning the Chinese for my dinner my mobile rang. It was the minion from nPower. It turns out he’d made a mistake (I retorted with “I thought you had”). It turns out that the final bill was in fact nearer £2 and he’d worked out the amount that the current bill was over, not the amount I was supposed to pay. £2 sounds a lot more sensible for the usage we had over that month and certainly better than £40. Of course the £40 payment had already gone through so there they were having taken nearly a year to sort the bill out, with a final demand for an incorrect amount having not acted on my previous call and me being overcharged to the tune of 20 times the size of my bill. Not a strong bargaining position. They knew this and instantly started with the actions they were going to take to placate me. The £40 would be refunded in full. The bill would be cancelled. A letter of apology would be sent and a cheque for £25 would be issued.

Now in the grand scheme of things £25 may not seem like a lot but you’ve got to remember that I only had nPower providing energy for a month and the house was empty for that month. The gas bill was pence. The electric bill was nothing and they’re giving me money. nPower have actually paid me to use them… and I still wont ever touch them with a barge pole again.

The only downside to this resolution is that I don’t get to write my indignant letter of outrage demanding an apology and recompense, although I may still write once the cheque has come through and demand I get written confirmation that nPower will never contact my mobile number or home number ever again unless they’re going to give me more money.