Well, there it is everybody (above)! My real McCoy retro electricity bill from npower for a six month period totalling £15,573.99p exactly.
Oooh eck! How can I pay that then? Is it accrued interest that’s made it so high, considering it dates back to 2012 and 2013 and we only received it a few weeks ago?
It’s very strange tho’ cos we don’t really use much electricity – well at least we didn’t think so – because our house is heated by oil and we have two log burners. The only thing we use electricity for is powering doing the washing and watching a bit of telly!
But I don’t mind telling you it gave us a bit of a shock haha!
Here’s what happened when we phoned up npower to discuss it.
“Hello, you are through to npower, my name is Joan, how may help you today?”
“Hello, I’ve just received an electricity bill from you for £15,573 and 99p, I think it might be wrong.”
“I’m sorry to hear that sir, if you would give your name … etc etc etc. … and I can look into this for you.”
I did what was asked and this is what was said: “Yes sir, I can confirm that your bill is correct… if you have problems paying it immediately I can offer staged payments.”
Well, I must admit I was a bit shocked and said: “What do you think I’ve been doing to get a bill this high? Running a cannabis farm?”
She replied: “Well, actually sir these are the types of consumption we see when people have.”
I was a bit taken aback by that!
“So, Joan, you think this bill is right – and if you think I’ve been running a cannabis farm in my lounge don’t you think you’d better call the police?”
Joan went silent.
“Well,if you the bill indicates something untoward and it’s correct then perhaps you should.”
Uncomfortable silence.
“Don’t you care about the law Joan?”
Squirming silence.
So, I took a chance: “Joan, if you’re not going to get the police to investigate this bill, because if it’s correct as you say – and as I have confirmed I don’t have a cannabis farm – then it sounds extortionate to me … and we all know what extortion is don’t we.”
“I do not like the way you are speaking to me sir and if you continue in this aggressive and threatening fashion then I will be forced to hang up on you.”
I finally raised my voice: “Joan, this isn’t aggression, this is frustration! You just confirmed to me that I owe you nearly £16,000 and suggested I might be running a cannabis farm … and I think you think you’ve done a good job because you offered and easy payment scheme!”
That was obviously too much for Joan who hung up on me and probably needed counselling because somebody had the temerity to argue over a bill!
Well, do you know what everybody? A few days later it was sorted out … we actually had an outstanding balance on our account of 67p.
Well, I never.
#electricshock #joancannabis #npower #bill #cannabisfarm #retrobillilikehim #consumershock #paymentmistake
