So, we had a letter through the post a month or so ago from NPower addressed to somebody who doesn't live here.
We live at number 1 and the wife recognised the name as the person who lives at number 11 (he's taken in packages for us in the past).
We pop letter around, post it through door, wait a few days and then think nothing of it.
Chap from number 11 calls around and tells us he's trying to move to NPower and it looks like they have got his address wrong. He called them up and they told him "process is too far gone...will need to wait for it to fail".
So no checking from NPower, no confirming names and addresses. So we speak to our energy company (Ovo) and warn them. They tell us nothing on the system to indicate we are moving, we are under contract anyway and there would be a penalty if we moved anyway.
A few days later we receive an email from Ovo saying "Sorry to hear you are leaving.......you will owe us this penalty for leaving early"
We call them up, explain we don't want to move, never did want to move. They tell us that NPower will keep on attempting to make the change even if Ovo reject it. They suggest we give NPower a call and get this sorted.
We go back to person at number 11 who calls NPower and is again told by them that the process can not be stopped.
Fast forward another week and once again Npower put in the request to move, this triggers Ovo's automated system once more (apparently ruling said that energy companies are not allowed to automatically reject moves (everything needs to be done manually) as it might stop people freely moving around.
So here we are. NPower are attempting to take over as our energy supplier. We never asked them to, filled in any paperwork or signed any contract. They tell their real customer they cannot halt the process and they will not speak to us when we call as we don't have an account number.
Ovo say they are bound to act on the request (watchdog rulings etc.) and each time we need to call them up and tell them to reject.
It just seems mad to me that I could just grab a random name/address combination and tell an energy company I want to move to them and this process will begin without any checking or confirmation that I have anything to do with this address!
I'm sure this will eventually sort itself, but we feel we're far more involved with this process when really we shouldn't be.
Not really sure of our next course of action. No material loss at the moment, so not seeking compensation - just want this to all end.
Rant really - but if anyone has any advice, always happy to hear.
We live at number 1 and the wife recognised the name as the person who lives at number 11 (he's taken in packages for us in the past).
We pop letter around, post it through door, wait a few days and then think nothing of it.
Chap from number 11 calls around and tells us he's trying to move to NPower and it looks like they have got his address wrong. He called them up and they told him "process is too far gone...will need to wait for it to fail".
So no checking from NPower, no confirming names and addresses. So we speak to our energy company (Ovo) and warn them. They tell us nothing on the system to indicate we are moving, we are under contract anyway and there would be a penalty if we moved anyway.
A few days later we receive an email from Ovo saying "Sorry to hear you are leaving.......you will owe us this penalty for leaving early"
We call them up, explain we don't want to move, never did want to move. They tell us that NPower will keep on attempting to make the change even if Ovo reject it. They suggest we give NPower a call and get this sorted.
We go back to person at number 11 who calls NPower and is again told by them that the process can not be stopped.
Fast forward another week and once again Npower put in the request to move, this triggers Ovo's automated system once more (apparently ruling said that energy companies are not allowed to automatically reject moves (everything needs to be done manually) as it might stop people freely moving around.
So here we are. NPower are attempting to take over as our energy supplier. We never asked them to, filled in any paperwork or signed any contract. They tell their real customer they cannot halt the process and they will not speak to us when we call as we don't have an account number.
Ovo say they are bound to act on the request (watchdog rulings etc.) and each time we need to call them up and tell them to reject.
It just seems mad to me that I could just grab a random name/address combination and tell an energy company I want to move to them and this process will begin without any checking or confirmation that I have anything to do with this address!
I'm sure this will eventually sort itself, but we feel we're far more involved with this process when really we shouldn't be.
Not really sure of our next course of action. No material loss at the moment, so not seeking compensation - just want this to all end.
Rant really - but if anyone has any advice, always happy to hear.
