NPower - Why, Thou May Have a Solution!

As an update to this little saga, NPower have called to tell us that they were in the wrong to sell us the product in the first place and that our meter isn't supported by them. There are two possible resolutions - either to go back to Eon with a cheque from NPower for the amount we've paid them to date or have our meter changed over to one they can support (which I don't think they want to do as this will cost them money in contractor charges etc.).

I have just had a conversation with the Complaints Department at NPower who's remedy for our problem (and complaint we have lodged with them) is to pass us back to our previous supplier Eon, who incidentally, were just as incompetent hence our reasons for selecting NPower in the first place, if that all makes sense.
Our basic argument is that NPower sold us an electricity supply contract last year promising us a monthly bill of £126. They told us this would not change and we would be consulted when this had to be reviewed. This was more than £50 less than we were paying Eon previously. We were reeled in.
Despite paying this, we have also incurred a debt of more than £800 in usage charges. We were informed of this at Christmas and on January 1st, NPower emptied our bank account to pay off some of this debt. This left us in arrears with our mortgage provider and our council.
Having spoken to them this afternoon, they now do not know when we joined them and have obviously been unable to retrieve the recording of the telephone call we originally had with their sales department. Their suggestion for resolving the problem is to pass us back to our previous supplier Eon. If this includes writing off the £800 in spurious usage charges, I'll be more than happy to do so, but I doubt it very much.
Apparently, according to Eon, we also have an Economy 10 meter. I had no idea there was 'Economy 10'. The only conversations we have had with Eon have been about Economy 7. Because of our 'odd' meter, we do not fit into any of their tariffs so we appear to be paying more than we need to. Why weren't we told about the meter right at the start?
I'm already preparing my letter for the Financial Ombudsman.

Why Make Things So Difficult...?

I visited my mum in hospital yesterday where she is recovering after being assaulted in Spalding on Monday. She is at Boston's Pilgrim Hospital, a fair drive from where I live. I was pleasantly surprised by the car parking as this is normally notoriously difficult and stressful at any hospital. Instead, I was able to get parked quite close to the entrance without having to hunt for a vacant space.
The hospital is huge. It was my first time there, quite a feat given the number of years I have lived in Lincolnshire. It all seemed quite modern and organised.
However, what did strike me as very odd was the lifts and the extraordinary arrangement in place for calling a lift for a designated floor.

Instead of the traditional method of pressing an up or down button, you have to enter your required floor number on a panel. The panel then tells you which of the four lifts you should go and wait at. This actually resulted in huge queues whilst people waited for a lift for their designated floor. It should be noted that the lift will only stop at the floor requested and no other, as I found out when entering the first available lift.

Once inside the lift, there is no way of selecting the floor you need as it has been pre-programmed to stop at a specific floor from the panel in the foyer. As I had simply entered the lift assuming it would operate in the established fashion, I had to exit again to enter my floor selection and await my designated lift.
How utterly ridiculous! Surely this wins the award for the most pointless and complicated procedure? If I had difficulty understanding how it worked then anyone of elder years stands absolutely no chance. The numbers of people who have travelled up and down only to see the floor they want shoot past, must be in the hundreds if not thousands.
Why make something that should be simple and straightforward to use so unnecessarily complicated? Who's brilliant idea was this and has it won them a bonus or hospital management award? Just exactly what was the rationale for making the process of using a lift so difficult? We'll probably never know, but the lifts at Boston's Pilgrim Hospital most certainly win my 'Most Stupid Idea of the Year' Award.