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What not to say

08 August 2008

The great man chuckled about some of the utility companies' greatest consumer gaffes, recounted recently by the Guardian's erstwhile consumer champion Anna Timms.

Energy supplier TXU once told an overcharged customer: "Our computers don't automatically send refunds." Npower apparently told a customer owed £900 that the reason she hadn't been paid was "because she was owed so much".
As for technical cock-ups, the following was a hard act to follow. Engineers from Seeboard carried out routine maintenance on Catherine Reay's house and reconnected the supply with two live wires and no neutral. She cottoned on when she flicked the light switch and her appliances began bursting into flames. Reay said the energy supplier told her she should be grateful the house was earthed the way it was. "Otherwise my taps and light switches could have gone live."
Phew.

Tags: customers, electricity, Npower

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