Email received from Npower today which I have forwarded to the ombudsmen and await the SRA

"Good afternoon Mr .....

Thank you for your letter requesting that a hold is placed on your account while you wait for the information provided by subject access request.

Just to make you aware

due to the Ombudsman complaint being closed as they informed us you had not responded to them within the relevant time scales, we would not look to place a hold on your account.

Having checked our records there is still a hold in place until 6 December 2016.

I will not amend the end date for this hold however,

following this date reminder letters will be issued if a payment plan is not put in place for the remaining balance of £6200. This could also have an impact on your credit file.

If you are looking to provide further representations regarding your complaint you will need to contact the Ombudsman directly with this information.

If they feel the issue needs to be addressed they may contact us and request that we re-open your case.

I trust this clarifies things for you.

Kind regards"

from your experience what happens if the SRA is not returned within the 40 days window?

I have downloaded the consumer handbook and aim to purchase a telephone recording on cyber Monday.

When is the retrun date? Send them a letter reminding them that it is approaching and you still have received no response.

There is nothing much else you can do. The reminder won't make any difference but at least it lays down a paper trail.

from your experience what happens if the SRA is not returned within the 40 days window?

I actually had this happen to me with my former utility supplier (out of statutory time limit and incomplete when it did arrive).

ICO website advised to send a letter before action giving 14 days notice before forwarding the case onto them.

CAG advised to send a letter before action giving 14 days notice before taking action through the County Court, copying the ICO into all correspondence.

I followed the second piece of advice, although if you are thinking of taking N-Power to court for other matters, you might wish to include DPA breach as part of your whole claim rather than as an additional claim.

All that said, reading through your thread, your SAR is expected to come through by 12th December? Is this still the case?

As BankFodder says, a reminder will not make any difference at this stage, although have they cashed in the payment for processing your SAR? A reminder might at least prompt them to cash this in if not, or to give them a gentle nudge to get on with it if they have.

Just one comment in relation to the above post: sending a letter does not even amount to a gentle nudge. Npower like dinosaurs and you prick them in the tail and they don't feel in their brain – they may not even have a brain.

All it does really is to lay down a paper trail so that if you end up having to make a claim or a counterclaim on the basis of the DPA breach, it compounds their wrongdoing that they have been reminded and yet they still ignored/breached the deadlines.

Hi thanks for the post

Kindly see an update since I last posted on CAG.

I note they mentioned a technical issue on June 10th 2016 and state the recording was inaudible.

I have the consumer survivors guide and voice recorder on hand.

Apologies for the delay on my part.

Will keep you posted.

Kind regards

CAG Forum Dec 16.pdf

Thanks for the attachments above. Please will you not post attachments in JPEG. Post them in PDF format.

I notice that the second attachment appears to be something that should have been posted up as part of the thread. You will be helpful if you would simply post information to us directly to the thread and not into an attachment.

I notice that you are trying to go through the disclosure and that you are getting a bit sidetracked by Christmas. Not at all surprising. Take your time do it thoroughly and come back when all the other distractions over and it has your full attention and you can tell us what you have found.

Happy New Year Caggers thanks for your responses to date.

Making headway with SAR disclosure and have found evidence of my final bill amounts and back billing write off applied after 9.3.16 which is when they initiated reminders for incorrect final bills.

Following 11 reversals between 28.8.16 to 1.2.16 post final bill calculations as of 28.8.16 which were supposedly correct, and sent to myself. I can confirm I've never seen these documents until 9.3.16

Internal dialogue amongst different users/operators attest to this fact RE: final bills, back billing and reversal errors.

I am reading each section of SRA carefully, distilling everything into a leading document with named headings and index references. Not complete yet but the basis of my arguments are in good stead.

Exchanges between us since I last posted:

8th December - Reminders received for payment or financial arrangement set up

12th December - I Respond with an update that I’m still unable to draw any conclusion and require more time, to handle disclosure coupled with festive plans and pending family issue.

19th December - Reminders received for payment or financial arrangement set up

21st December - Acknowledgement on in response to my letter on 12th December, providing a new complaint number from Head of Customer Relations.

29th December - Reminders received - Urgent action required highlighted in red

6th January - I Respond via email and letter explaining my present position, following my previous letter on 12.12.16 given the matter had escalated to a family crisis. I let them know I am statutory leave of absence relating to time off for dependents, with supporting documents. Requesting they put the account on hold.

9th January - Response acknowledged but ignored, and they continue to prompt me to contact financial solutions to pay or enter a payment arrangement.

11th January - I respond - Reiterating my position - “Regrettably my position at present compromises my abilities to enter any prospective agreement relating to this complaint, hence why I have tried to maintain communications at every opportunity, most recently with supporting documents.”

13th January - Response acknowledged and ignored despite being referred for counselling for stress and anxiety. They mentioned they will organise to send out my password for the CD-ROM to access audio recordings, which Id requested on the 12th December 2016.

13th January - Reminder via Telemessage envelope from npower via BT, Date 9th December (references online indicate preparation to escalate to debt collection activity)

I now intend:

A) Go back to the ombudsmen with the new insights, to open a case again for further review.

B) Prepare CP31.14 letters to prevent any ongoing debt recovery action which is their next step.

C) Continue handling SRA disclosure and prepare particulars of claim to counter argue/claim should this escalate to court which is highly likely. (may I ask for some guidance on this please)

I have kept all communication in writing due to past experiences of poor case handling.

Soon I feel the time is right to engage on the telephone with pre-prepared questions set out. Although when using the voice recorder, I must state at the beginning of the call that I am recording the conversation for it to qualify as evidence to be later used in court.

A little disappointed I have not had any response from any of the admins here considering I have followed your guidelines and purchased your consumer survival handbook.

Since my last post I am still in deadlock with npower.

Whilst the matter is pending can npower share the disputed debt amount with credit reference agencies?

My research says this is illegal? I am writing a stern letter to consumer disputes and reporting this as fraud

Look forward to any responses

Thanks Caggers

not sure where you got the idea that a CPR stops debt recovery?

and no its not illegal [that criminal law this is consumer civil law]

so the only thing it can be is unlawful.

however no it is not unlawful anyway.

your remit is to use the sar to prove you do not owe this money

which looks like a back billing issue whereby they've charged the wrong rate and now wish to run it back or they are now saying you weren't paying enough to cover usage in the period...so which issue is it please

so without all the other twaddle you've written.

...which issue is it please