uSwitch are ****ing useless - FACT (and npower aren't much better)

[Stan_Lite]

Before I came away to the rig this time, we decided to check if we could get our gas and leccy cheaper, so we chucked our details in uSwitch and right enough, uSwitch said we could save over £200 by switching from Scottish Power to npower. Excellent. So we told them to go ahead and gave them my bank details etc and we were told we would receive a confirmation e-mail within 2 days. I eventually got the confirmation e-mail 9 days after we'd requested the switch. That wouldn't have been a major problem but they had our address wrong. The e-mail said that if any of the details were incorrect, to contact their customer services dept. - so I did.

They replied two days later with this:

Dear Mr Johnson

Re: Enquiry
Thank you for contacting uSwitch.com with your enquiry.

Unfortunately, since it has in facet been longer than 7 days since you processed the switch with us I am unable to make any amendments. In order to do so I sould recommend contacting your new supplier directly.

If you have any further queries regarding Energy, Home Telephone, Broadband, Digital TV, Car Insurance and Financial Service tariffs please do not hesitate to contact us directly on our free phone number.

If you'd like to contact uSwitch, you can do so by replying to this email or by calling our Customer Services team

Not only are they fobbing me off, but they're trying to flog me more of their services to boot

Anyway, I sent npower an e-mail a couple of days ago and I just got their reply now:

Good afternoon Mr Johnson,

Thank you for your email.

After checking our records I can confirm that we have already processed a uswitch application for you at XX XXXXXXX Terrace, as you live at XX XXXXXXX Terrace this application is erroneuos. Unfortunately we have already arranged to switch your neighbours supply to npower, rest assured we will return your neighbours to thier rightful supplier and they will not receive any bills from npower, this process can take 6-8 weeks .

I understand that you have already highlighted this issue as a complaint with uswitch.

To quickly move things forward please re-apply for the correct address, as we have not received any new or amendment application from uswitch. You can apply for our online tariffs at www.npower.com or via uswitch or another online broker. It would always be in your best interests to use an energy suppliers website such as our own or a broker approved by the ombudsman, such as uswitch, moneysupermarket, energyhelpline, ukpower etc.

Kind regards
npower customer service

So, to summarise; uSwitch forwarded a switch request to npower without checking that my details were correct and only contacted me after it was too late for them to amend any errors. They then fob me off to npower, who tell me that they have already switched my supplier at the wrong address - also without checking the details. Also, as is sadly common these days, spelling and grammar in both e-mails are not what one would hope to expect from such large, successful corporations.

I sincerely hope the people at the other address won't be too badly inconvenienced by this debacle

I'll have to remember this when I find someone I dislike. I'll simply arrange to have their energy supplier changed. No-one will check whether I actually live there and by the time my foe realises what has happened, he will be in the middle of a complete shambles.

Rest assured, both parties will be receiving firmly worded e-mails from me in the next day or two. I may have something to post in BBx's complaining thread

[Haly]

Originally Posted by Bigstan

I'll have to remember this when I find someone I dislike. I'll simply arrange to have their energy supplier changed. No-one will check whether I actually live there and by the time my foe realises what has happened, he will be in the middle of a complete shambles.

'You cheated on me with my sister so now I'm going to change your energy supplier to a more expensive one, mwahahaha'

Interesting method of revenge but I like it


On a serious note, that's crappy Sounds a right mess and like you say, hopefully it doesn't mess up anything for the other people too.

[Stan_Lite]

Originally Posted by Haly

'You cheated on me with my sister so now I'm going to change your energy supplier to a more expensive one, mwahahaha'

Interesting method of revenge but I like it

That's pretty much along the lines I was thinking

[Mat]

Well you are "In bed with [my] sister" so expect a tumultuous Christmas

[Mark]

Well that sucks.

Sadly it doesn't surprise me either. This sort of lax checking is rife and it's a good part of the reason so much identity crime goes unchecked until it's too late.

Though it has to be said that nPower seem to have a particularly bad reputation for customer service, and are one of the worst of a bad bunch. Of the energy supply companies I know of, the only one I've heard consistently good reports from is Utility Warehouse.

I'd suggest your trusty housemate has words with your neighbours. I've tried reversing a switch before. All hell broke loose.

[Stan_Lite]

Originally Posted by Mark

I'd suggest your trusty housemate has words with your neighbours. I've tried reversing a switch before. All hell broke loose.

I'm not sure I want them to know we had anything to do with it in case it turns into a complete shambles

[Mark]

That works providing they don't know your name.

Mine was with BT. I went to switch to Talk Talk but then realised they couldn't actually provide the service I wanted, so I tried to reverse it. Meanwhile BT cancelled both my phone and broadband. I ended up having to let the switch go through, then switch back and pay a reconnection fee on the broadband. :/

Somewhat different situation for you but I think you probably get the idea.

[Garp]

That's the kind of thing places like BBCs Watchdog lap up.

[Jonny69]

I don't know ANYONE who hasn't had trouble with nPower. I don't know how they get away with it without some kind of watchdog cracking down on them.

[NokkonWud]

What a farce that sounds.

When we moved to this house (a new build) we (my parents) went for Scottish Power and I know they are very happy with the support they get. Last year they messed around 5 admin statements up, which isn't great as it stopped payments and added to the confusion, resulting in over-payments and then them claiming that nothing had been paid.

They did come through however by canceling all payments with them so that nothing was paid and then wiping our bill for the year as an apology for the inconvenience. The bill was just over £1,200 for 12 months. It's customer service like that, that will keep them on Scottish Power when the renewals come up even if something else is a little cheaper. Sometimes you got to pay a little bit more for piece of mind I guess.