SAVING ADVICE based in Grimsby. They claimed that they had done a survey in the area and found that edf was the cheapest-admittedly so it was the cheapest but why hide behind half truths....don't treat people like idiots.....if you work for a specific supplier say so...

Chloe, Hull, UK

I have worked for npower, edf and also british gas door to door. The problem in my opinion is the agencies that the energy companies employ to carry out their direct sales. They are a law unto themselves and will stop at nothing to get your signature.......ie i worked for one of these agencies

Chloe, Hull, UK

I just had an NPower salesman come to my door about one hour ago. As I've only recently moved here from Canada and am not too knowledgeable about the electricity system here - I foolishly signed the agreement as he had me thinking he was from the council or something and that they were going around the area getting people discounts on their gas/electricity. Anyways, as soon as he left I realised my foolish mistake, and now need to make sure I cancel this 'agreement' - and don't answer the door to anymore salesmen!!!

Neil, London,

I had same bad experince from Npower,as my mother can't speak good english and i was at work , salesman from Npower asked my my mother to sign on contract as this is formal update from gas and electricity board, my mother didn't sign it and called me on my mobile, i just asked her to pass phone to salesperson, after asking few questions he left my house, but he tried his best to sign her. NOW YOU PEOPLE SAY NPOWER SHOULD BE FINE or NOT?

Ajay Pandya, Stanmore, London

I hold Power of Attorney through Court of Protection for an elderly person , nearly 90, who suffers from confusion. nPower have dealt directly with me since this happened. However, when I began the process of moving this person to a cheaper supplier, all nPower's correspondence suddenly began to go to person, not to me. Worst was that they restarted the account and told person to phone within 14 days to stop this happening!The letter was mislaid, or put aside in confusion, and I only found it by chance. nPower customer service said when asked by me if it was a mistake (are we English polite!), said 'I'm sorry to say it probably wasn't a mistake at all.' This is targetting the vulnerable at it's worst. No response to letter of complaint.

C Williams, Leeds, UK

I had £355.80p taken from my bank account by NPower, I have never in my entire life signed to NPower and I was trying to get the
Co-Op and NPower to give me aproper explanation, but they seemed to think because I got the £355.80p back as soon as I complained the matter was dealt with. Now this has re-awakened my interest in the matter as it is obvious I was by no means the only one!

Carlton B Morgan , Newport , Gwent

During December 2006 after a cold call from an n-power agent I signed up for duel fuel after he told me his company could supply the same service for £16.50 per month less than B-Gas. When I received the standing order mandate it had gone up to £73.00 £16.50 MORE! I was horrified and have been trying ever since to have the contract I signed honoured. n-power just will not listen and don't want to know and fail to answer the points I've raised. To say I regret moving to n-power is the understatement of the century. I'm 64 of age and have I've never dealt with such a rubbish company in all my years. To any one thinking of dealing with them I would say BUYER BEWARE. I am now paying 85% more than what the n-power agent advised me!
John - Whitley Bay T&W

John Jeffrey, Whitley Bay, Tyne & Wear

My new next door neighbour, who doesn't speak good English, knocked on my door to ask me who he should get gas with. I told him he could get it from anybody and to check on the internet. He was surprised and said that in his previous home he signed up to N Power because he was told by one of their salespeople that they 'control the area'. He honestly had no idea there's a free market in energy.

LJ, london,

I have switched suppliers on many ocassions and I am presently with npower. I was approached proffessionally by a door door sales person and was happy to switch away from BG. You cannot assume or suggest that all npower sales people are the same. unfortunatly you always a few who gave a bad name to the rest. My suggest is for all energy companies to look carefully at the type of people they employee to represent them. It isnot the company it should be the individuals we should be blaming. The competitive environment gives us the opprtunity to choose the supplier we want to be with. I would not like to go back to the old ways of having BG and Eastern Electricity as the only chioice of supplier. As far as the sales tactics are concerned all energy companies should be blamed for employing such rogue sales people which give them a bad name it is not just npower.

A Meah, sunderland,

About 4 years ago an NPower saleman prepared a contract to change my energy supplier to NPower from my existing supplier. I had no knowledge whatsoever of this until I heard from my existing supplier stating how sorry they were that I was leaving them. I contacted NPower and was told that as I had signed the contract, I had to change! It transpired that a miracle had happened - the woman who had lived in my house before me had signed the contract. The fact that she had been dead for 10 years obviously was no obstacle for NPower. This article doesn't surprise me in the least; I'm only pleased that you are highlighting their behaviour. People should know.

karen, beaconsfield,

Can't the law be used so that the householder who has been conned doesn't have to pay a penny for the gas/electricity - but the utility that did the conning has to pay the original supplier - after all if " suppler1*" illegally gains the business from "supplier2*" - then it's "supplier2*" who've been defrauded of the revenue and should get their money back..

* please fill in with the appropriate utility company of your choice

dave, kent, UK

I think npower are being unfairly singled out. It's ludicrous to think that this is just rife within npower, who are actually one of the most customer friendly companies i've experienced. EDF are the worst i've known for aggressive salesmen.

I think it's easy to go over the top over sensational articles. The reality is that the vast majority of sales staff in all companies work very honestly but a small % of bad experiences take the headlines.

The energy supply industry is riddled with potential flaws but the negativity towards energy suppliers is generated mainly because they send bills we don't like to pay.

Marc, Middlesbrough,

In March 2007 my gas supply was transfered by NPower without my knowledge. When I contacted them they alleged I had signed a contract. At no time had I signed or even been in contact with NPower. After sometime they admitted that they had erroneously transfered my meter to them from my prefered supplier. They alleged that they had sent an erroneous transfer to my prefered supplier and that they had refused to process it. Subsequently I had to spend a lot of time and money trying to get the matter sorted out. Complants to the "Executive Complaints offered little help and in fact was ignored so that I could not finish their conplaints proceedure. By not finishing the complaints procedure I was unable to complain to energywatch, ofgem or the energy ombudsman. Not that it stopped me. Energywatch were obstructive and only got involved when I threatened to report them for dereliction of duty.

Terry Harrison, Walsall,

Suspend the company and switch all it's customers to a cheaper alternative for six months before giving them the "option" f switching back. See if that focuses their minds towards not cheating.

James, Glasgow,

Now there's a surprise, salesmen lie to customers to gain sales. I wonder if there is anything in common with say sub-prime mortgages? This sort of conduct has repercussions that do long lasting social and economic damage. This is greed, pure and simple.

Graeme Blundell, Sevenoaks, Kent.,

Dear Maggie, may I suggest the career search pages of the Npower website....

Mike L, Chippenham, Wilts

This sounds like 'Attempting to gain pecuniary advantage by deception', contrary to the Theft Act.
Time to call in the police, methinks.

John McAllister, Bristol, England

It seems that government and regulator are blind or being paid by NPower. NPower sales team’s rogue technique exposed by watchdog few months back but NPower don't want to change their tactics neither regulator or government are using their power to protect vulnerable people from rogue company. I heard many instances that have similar experienced by un-efficient, completely rogue sales team from NPower. Instead of completing exposing rogue mission of NPower here, The Times needs to go ahead and need to make sure that NPower (Rogue Germany Company) either change their sales tactics by enforcing government to take firm action. Otherwise NPower will continue the same sales technique by asking their sales team to go underground for few weeks, which happened when Watchdog have exposed them.

David Quin, Manchester,

Why are people so soft on cold callers? When I am hassled by one, I say no and shut the door in their face or put the phone down instantly. They do not get a chance to start the second sentence of their script - if they even finished the first one. There is no need to be polite to these people, as they are trying to exploit us. If everyone did what I do, there would be no cold callers.

Oliver Chettle, Bedford,

Have you noticed one or two comments supporting them (out of the dozens received)? Do you have a feeling like me, that there just might be a slight chance they're from colleagues of the "persuasive" salespeople the article is all about? Don't give up do they?

David Thompson, Driffield, UK

Our 10 year old boy answered the door while I was in the Kitchen, 3 weeks later we found we had switched to NPower. Even worse, at work we were with NPower who put the rates on up our 'fixed price' contract mid term and then said we couldn't leave for another 3 years!

Paul Bennet, Bristol,

One British Gas doorstep salesman actually expected me to sign up for a change of supplier while refusing to tell me exactly what energy prices he was offering! When I insisted on being told what price he was offering for electricity and gas, before signing, he said - "It doesn't matter what the price is, you'll be better off for seven years, guaranteed" !! When I still refused to do business on those terms, he turned really nasty and I was glad when he eventually gave up and took off.

Nasty, scruffy- looking piece of work, too. I'm surprised British Gas let him represent them.

Peter Lloyd, BLACKER HILL, South Yorkshire

I believe that Npower should be punished for this fraud. I was also fraudulent lured into switching from my old supplier to Npower, because I was told about ridiculous rates from Npower which I beleived but on sighting their magazine a two weeks after I realised that I was been duped and had to switch back to my initial supplier after 1.5 months. I was so bitter because they were far more expensive than my initial supplier. I am even ready to testify against them before any panel where need be. They are frauds and need to be penalised accordingly with huge fines because they are criminals.

Emmanuel, London, England

I've had the npower treatment too. I had someone on my doorstep telling me that the whole neighbourhood was signing up to npower so it would be cheaper for me if I did this too.

Who did they think they were kidding?

K John, London, UK

I had a 19 year lad from n power come over 2 weeks ago telling me he was from watchdog and was telling me that my service provider was overcharging its customers and advised me if i switched to N Power it would be better for me in the long run. as i said no for over 20 mintues he kept on going until i took his name and details before he left

Barry, Harrow, London, England

I nearly fell for their trick about 3 years ago, a guy came to the house and asked who I was using for Gas and Electricity, I told him N power for Electric and British Gas for Gas, he asked me to sign a form to say that I had spoken to him, needless to say i didn't,

steve kirby, manchester,

Nice to see this being brought out in the open, but I'm surprised the nPower spokesman is expressing surprise; this has been going on for years. About 4 years I was caught out myself by it, tricked into filling in a form (which I did partly to get rid of the guy, who said he was not personally able to provide details of the price benefit) without being told the real reason. I did cancel my new account within 24 hours of being found out, and complained, but it really was despicable. The young guy (roughly my age) who got the better of me should be ashamed of himself as he was presumably pulling exactly the same trick on grannies and 'vulnerable' types.

Since then I will of course not even enter into conversation with these doorsteppers from energy companies; they are roughly on a par with 'Parking Attendants' in my estimation.

Adam Neilson, Birmingham,

They tricked me too. A saleswoman (Polish) told me that I would save hundreds of pounds. I signed and then checked her assurances online. It didn't confirm. I send them a cancellation letter. They didn't cancel - told they could only cancel after 28 days. Got a huge bill 3 month later (wasn't informed about price increase). NPower uses unacceptable sales methods.

Mr V Z, London,

Interesting story because according to npower
We're the "UK's No.1 Domestic Electricity Supplier in Customer Satisfaction"
Perhaps someone should take them up on that claim

Leon Saunders, Cheltanham,

For many years, I have made a point of doing no business whatsoever at any time with any company that has called in person or by phone or has sent unsolicited advertising.

With callers from fuel companies, refuse to tell them who your present supplier is, as it's private, protected information and they can't find out. Say that you're more than happy with your supplier. They don't have a clue how to deal with a deviation from their script and usually leave quite quickly.

British Gas were very persistent after I switched supplier, with one salesperson telling me that they target non-customers every three months. I wrote to demand that they remove my details from their database under the provisions of the Data Protection Act and although they didn't acknowledge my request, I haven't been bothered for several years.

I, for one, would like to see all cold-calling outlawed, for whatever reason it is done.

Roy, Coventry,

Francis, the 'people behind this company', so far as I know, are the Germans.

jojo, glos,

At 66 years of age, I'm glad I'm on my way out. As a retired language teacher I don't think I'd be able, any longer, to explain to a student of English, as a foreign language, what is meant by "common decency".

Edmund Burke, Kingston upon Thames, England

The Npower sales person that came to my door didn't say he was from the electricity board, but said everything else that your describing in this article - he wouldn't take no for an answer, even though I said several times that I didn't want to switch. His polite but very aggressive sales tactic left me feeling very uncomfortable and cohersed.

I called them to cancel the contract as soon as I could. I'm really glad the Sunday Times has publicly shamed them. I hope no-one else switches to Npower.

I wouldn't ever switch to Npower now - no matter how much money I was saving!

K Jefferies, Oxford,

I think it's a shame a few bad apples spoil an industry where people have a very long colling off period to READ what they've agreed to. This is particularly unfair to the energy industry, where everyone has a maximum 28 contract with a supplier. In the phone industry I believe you can often get suckered into a far, far longer arrangement. So if you don't read what you've signed, it goes ahead, and you're unhappyt, you're "stuck" if you like, for a maximum of 28 days. I'm sure there will be a number of nice guys in this industry. Standing there trying to pay their mortgage. Being perfectly honest with their eventual customers, where the rest of the world walks by in a blinkered view of I can't ever change, which is fundamentally what companies like British Gas would like you never to do. I believe, from my own research, that Npower are around 20% cheaper than British Gas. Working in the sales industry myself, I've sold as I'd like to be sold to, and I'm skint due to these.......... !

Mustafa Chance, Hampshire,

How naive must you be to think this doesnt happen with every energy company or every business in the land.

If your so naive to agree a contract without checking things out first it serves you right especially when fraud is so common these days, regardless of you ethniticity, age or state of mind.

Just because a group of money-hungry pratts do this shudnt take-away from the fact that there is another 3000+ workers who probably do they're best to help the npower brand and its customers.

karl, durham,

Sunday Times well done ! !

NP should be shut down as it is an 'illegal' company, ripping off normal people with unethical practices.

How can they get away with this? It's like day light robbery !!!

Known friends who were 'signed up' but were not aware or didn't want to. For example, they asked to see current bill. In the process they took acco numbers down and basically terminated the current suppliers to join Npower. Ended up with a Welcome Pack !! Ended not paying them (apart from the amount which was correct). I assume there are many, many more people out there who fell in Npower's trap...

This is worst that Enron !

James, London, UK

nPower should face a class action lawsuit from affected customers. I was with them for over a year. Since switching my monthly payment for electricity & gas, by direct debit has gone down from £90 to £50. After a year nPower claimed to be giving me a discount whereas it was my money that was being returned or refunded. My advice to everyone...steer clear of nPower.. if you are with them, switch immediately, you will save a bundle.

A. Khan, London,

There are ways to do business and ways to make a buck; door-to-door salesmen and cold-calling clearly fall into the latter category. When N Power stopped at my door a few weeks ago they had out-of-date details regarding the property that they insisted still applied to my account with EDF Energy. I assured them that I'd check out the facts they were giving me online at the N Power website before considering a switch, which they took as a personal slight to their integrity. With that attitude I didn't bother, but it did confirm my dislike of salesmen who essentially invade potential customers' homes and apply unreasonable pressure. My advice is just shut the door in their face or put down the phone on them - it may not seem polite, but they have not such qualms so why should you. A business arrangement should be instigated by the customer and facilitated through advertisments, not extracted by the supplier by aggressive and invasive means.

Ella, London,

I have worked for 2 energy companies, before & after the market opened to competition. This policy has been a disaster & the consumer is now bewildered. Before, if you moved house, you knew who your local electricity company and national gas supplier were. Now you have a choice of many companies, having to chase around finding information & then changing to your prefered suppliers-a process which is frought with errors. Most consumers have no idea how much red tape is involved behind the scenes with the responsibility of meter reading, emergencey engineers, energy supply, cable and pipeline maintainance all now devolved to several different companies who try and make their operating systems work with each other. Its is a farce. The benefits of an open market are hard to evidence. Tarriffs are complicated (it takes me 15 minutes to work out a simple bill-and i have the formulas!) and you can not compare like for like. Belive me, poor sales tatics are just the tip of the iceberg!

Helen, York, Yorkshire

i cant believe people are suprised by all this. why do people still listern to the rubbish that door to door salespeople come out with. the internet is the most amazing tool to find out for yourself. the best thing to do with door to door salespeople is listern to what they say ask for leaflets ask for a phone number and tell them that you'll research on the internet and call them back. you'll find that they cant wait to get away.

mohammed, hampshire,

We have experienced huge problems with nPower. One salesman phoned and told me that because they only sell nuclear power (hence the name nPower) they were able to offer cheaper electricity prices to the public. Disgraceful lies. I complained but never did receive a response to my email.
This shabby company should be shut down.

Beth Williams, London ,

I couple of years ago I had a shop and in 3 occasions I had the Npower bailiffs on my door and in front of my customers before the bills.

Npower never again

adam, Royton, uk

I had an Npower rep round last month who promised me a special deal that was only available through him. When I asked him what the rates were he said he couldn't remember and didn't have them with him, I would only find out once I had signed up. How do they continually get away their deceit and lies. The regulator should also be ashamed of himself as he never takes any meaningful action against these people.

John Kane, Reading,

Heavy fines by the energy watchdog is the answer

Tony, Durham, uk

I have experienced this first hand. I consider myself a well educated and sensible person but I was tricked into signing the contract by the door to door sales man from N Power. I specifically asked them to confirm that this wasn't a contract and they lied to my face telling me that it was just a consent form for requesting more information.

Since December I have had bills sent to my house again and again and I have had letters threatening to get debt collectors involved - even though I have never recieved any power from them. I have spent lots of time on the phone to them trying to sort this out and I thought I finally had last month and then I recieved a bill for £130 yesterday from NPower.

I have been assured on the phone that this would be sorted out several times but 4 months on I am still having to deal with the fall out of a lying door to door salesman.

A. Copage, Birmingham,

Please inspect British Gas too!!! A man from British Gas came last week and started telling me that I overpay about £150 in standing charges, I couldn't understand how can I overpay if I am NOT a British Gas customer. Then he told me that I overpay to nPower (that is my supplier) and told me that he has all the info about my payments, though just couple of minutes before he didn't know who my supplier was! Then he gave me some info and didn't leave until I made a 'verbal contract' on the phone! He even 'adjusted' my details so that I could become a customer! I had to receive a letter with all the information, it had to arrive on Monday, but it has never arrived and I had to have a week from the date of the letter to cancel the 'contract', so now I am totally lost! And that man had no info about tariffs, so how can he promote? Still no letter! I won't open the doors to anyone in the future because they ALL lie and I choose a supplier by myself after looking what's best for me.

Leya, Notts, UK

EOn charged for electricty supplied at another address, and passed on my details to a collection agency. They did not reply to me when i wrote to them. Some energy companies are making money illegally. It is time to stand up to them and their unethical sales people.
Kudos for Sunday Times

ahmed Galeb, Manchester,

I can't believe it has taken so long for Npower to get into trouble. I was persuaded to switch my gas to Npower about five years ago, by a young Polish girl who turned up on my doorstep on a Sunday when I was in the shower. I switched to Npower largely because I felt sorry for her, and my gas bills were insignifcantly small anyway, so it didn't matter - not clever thinking, I'll admit. Over the next 18 months my gas bills tripled and, when I then switched away from Npower, they chased me aggressively with lawyers for a further sum equal to a year's bills with my previous supplier. Since then I can't see Npower sponsored events without thinking of their profound deviousness. Who else would have the nerve to claim a 300% rise to represent a "huge saving"? No other energy supplier has ever doorstepped me, and I've been happily with EDF ever since. Good riddance to the crooks. Let's hope that more than just a 17-strong sales team get it in the neck.

Simon Witter, London, UK

I have had a similar experience with British Gas who phoned me and insisted consumers in my area would be better off switching to them. When I commented on the recent news about record profits he said "Let's face it, as long as you pay less, I'm sure you don't really care about things like that" I did compare prices and find I would have been worse off if I switched to British Gas.

J Harding, greenhithe, UK

I'm disgusted! - I used to work for SWEB when there were 'real' electricity companies. Back then because it was a nationalised industry there was pride and integrity - we really looked after customers. now these companies that have no integrity should have their licences taken away. - the only company I have found with integrity and an excellent customer service record don't advertise! they are called Utility Warehouse. I have had excellent service and I have saved £55 a month average since switching to them. The big companies only have the shareholders in mind in my opinion - so i suspect the salespeople will be repremanded for show - but will keep on with the same tactics when the dust settles.

Dale Hurrell, Crediton, Devon

Ironicly, it's us that are paying for the privellage of having these weasels turn up on our doorsteps.

Who said privatisation was a good thing?

Paul, London,

If you are a victim, contact Consumer Direct, (0845 404 0506) and Energy Watch, (0845 90 60 708) to protect yourself. One of Npower's telesales women phoned me at home, trying to get me to change from my chosen supplier EDF, to Npower. I repeatedly told her I did not want to change, but it was almost impossible to stop her talking. Eventually, to stop her tying up my phone, I agreed she could send me some information on how Npower could save me money. Soon after I received a letter from them saying I had agreed to change to Npower. I sent them an urgent e-mail refuting their claim and asked how a mistake of this nature could happen. I insisted they refrain from contacting EDF. I received no answer. It took me over two weeks, several letters and eighteen phone calls, to Consumer Direct, Energy Watch and EDF before I was satisfied that Npower can not hijack my account with EDF. Npower sales staff are disgusting.

Les Mitchell, Crewkerne, England

N Power are a disgrace, though I think that is they who are to blame rather than the individuals. It just goes to show that you shouldn't ever buy something on your doorstep. Know your rights and consult impartial sites like e-explorer or energy choices. What are Ofgem going to do about it? Probably nothing. They are powerless in the face of billion pound turnovers.

Ryan Baker, london,

They've been at this game for years and they'll carry on - why (in their eyes) should they stop? Ity makes them a fortune and even bad press like this will be forgotten and they'll carry in as before. I had it done to me a few years ago - Npower salesmen claimed they were from the energy regulator. I am still angry at being conned (although I didn't get signed up thankfully)

Liz, Wokingham, Berkshire

Npower should not be allowed to operate & license should be withdrawn.

UK only makes law but do not implement them.

munna, london, UK

There are plenty of free sevices available which will give people honest advice on the cheapest and best services.
Why do you not give them the publicity?

plato, ely, uk

you might report all this, and other scams, but what gets done? if they have been doing it since 2001 why are they still getting away with it? surely it's against the law and the management should be prosecuted. thanks for telling us anyway, at least it is out in the open and some of us can avoid dealing with that company.

sam marnard, sevenoaks, england, kent

I had a lad of about 19 try to make me sign a 'piece of paper' because he wanted to lower my bills. EVEN THOUGH I TOLD HIM THE EXISTING CONTRACT WAS IN THE NAME OF THE LANDLORD. He still pushed for a signature, citing new lower bills as the reason for requesting my signature. The people in charge know EXACTLY what is happening, delegation starts from the top.

Trading Standards should take away their license.

stuart white, london, london

Maggie, refer your complaint to EnergyWatch

Sean Fowden, Pickhill, England

I had N Power cold call on my doorstep about four years ago.

The line was: "We are from the electricity company and need to come in and inspect your bills to make sure you are paying the right amount".

I told them to go away and wrote to N Power who sent a fob off letter pretending they did not know who the people were. I'm amazed they are still at it without earlier exposure.

Mike Newland, London, England

I am a student, and spent most of day time at uni. EDF charged me 400 pounds for 3 months day time electricity bill!
Is anyone can tell me what i should do?

Maggie Liang, Liverpool,,

What an absolute disgrace! I hope that tough action is taken against this money grabbing outfit, ideally by withdrawing their operating licence as suggested in a previous post.
Privatisation was good in theory but such companies have become a law unto themselves and made things worse - there should of been tighter and more effective controls, and not just fines as they are just going to be past on to the consumer.
John, Reading, Berks

John Gutteridge, Reading, UK

I cannot believe the top honcho at NPower was in the dark over this. If he or she was, then incompetence is enough reason for dismissal. If not, then the power police should be along real soon now.

However, let us face reality in Britain today, which is that no senior person will carry the can; only the expendable little people will be fined or fired. Similarly with the total fiasco over Terminal 5, even nine days after it began.

Mike Mitchell, Spalding, England

For crying out loud! Why would anyone want to believe a door2door salesman (or "door canvasser" as they are now known)?! Anyway, i did not need an undercover investigation to confirm that these energy companies are unscrupulous; although npower is exposed this time, i bet the others are up to no good - my energy bill is the proof.

Annie, Cambridge, UK

Here's an idea: close the company, sell off its assets to its competitors, confiscate all the personal assets of all the management personnel in the sales chain and forbid them from working in any form of public service provision for the next twenty years.

Jerry Hart, Cambridge, UK

Shock horror ! But really, when you have greed for commission as the driving force to sell unsuitable contracts you will always get this happening. Sounds familiar? Sure is - look at what happend to these trusty bankers and their sub prime bits of worthless paper. To think that these creatures who make a living by lying would have diffculty sleeping at night would be to misunderstand the problem. They work as part of a team - and that is what keeps them going.

David Nammor, Liverpool,

I agree with Paul from Coventry. This is really, really, old news. They've been doing it since 2001 at one, at least, and it's not just NPower. I had my gas/elec switched concurrently by 3 different companies, all who had used similar tactics on different people living in my [student] house.

James Mulcahy, Manchester,

I'll bet nobody in charge of all this has lost their job!

Chris Hipkiss, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

I don't get any unsolicited calls - except from an electric company. I'm new here and didn't want to discuss anything over the phone. I have had to tell one energy company (sorry, don't know who I was talking to) that I wasn't interested three or four different times. They are persistent!

Fran, Fairford, Gloucestershire

Bit of a non-story this isn't it? This has been going on ever since New Labour introduced its 'consumer choice' in electricity supplier. Back in 1998/99, Eastern Electricity (as was) had its sales representatives knocking on doors here in the East Midlands Electricity area. Many local householders who didn't know the difference between the two signed up for deals thinking that they were still with the same 'electricity board'.

Paul, Coventry,

Doesn't suprise me. I recently switched from npower and I'm saving a fortune on both gas and electricity

chris, Dudley, west mids, UK

The real skill is the level of 'deniability' practiced by the management. They have to create the circumstances in which this practice is inevitable and when the brown stuff hits the fan they can act like maiden aunts. "Nothing to do with me" they shriek "re-training' suspensions, good name of the company must be protetected.

N Wood, Surbiton, UK

So, 'Shock As Salesmen Tell Lies', then.

Still it was a pretty entertaining story and the level of atavism portrayed, a suprise.

Jonathan, Baldock, UK

Strangely enough, this afternoon around 2 pm, a young lady to the door as I was going out. She did not even have the courtesy to introduce herself, her first words were “which one is your flat”. I replied by asking her who she was. She claimed her name was Charlie. I checked her ID card and she was from Npower. Having had an extremely bad experience with Npower in the past she was not granted an audience but I can imagine what her motive was!

Sarah , London,

Are you really surprised? Couldn't even imagine this could happen? Well, have a look at the industry you're working in: all are built on the same principles. Customer = sucker. Your company = someone who's got to make profit to pay your salary. It's all very well, just please let's admit it.
(a migrant from Hungary)

Peter Sulyok, London,

I had NPower on my doorstep just two weeks ago and was so appalled by the terrible tactics they attempted that I not only made it clear, despite their insistence, that I wouldn't sign anything or proceed with the agreement, but was incensed enough to call Trading standards and my local council about their 'illegal' activity. It concerns me that many vulnerable people would have signed up due to the deception and tactics of the salesforce. I can confirm that I will never sign up with Npower, even if they are the cheapest, on principal.

N Field, Reading, Berkshire

The reason for a lot of this mis-selling is that the salespeople are paid a very low basic wage, and must make up the rest by earning a commission on each sucker they persuade to sign up. This inevitably leads to them telling lies to get a sale. If these people were paid a decent wage, with perhaps a very small extra for every successful sale, then things like this might not happen.

David , Newark-On-Trent, UK

There's a new body called the Independent Safeguarding Authority to which everyone working in care and education will need to be registered; their purpose is to monitor wrongdoing and ensure no-one with access to vulnerable people is allowed to work in such professions.

Door-to-door salespeople have completely unsupervised access to very elderly and mentally ill people and it seems obvious that they should be in the next tranche of registrations.

Kevin May, Dartford, UK

Does anyone still think privatisation was a good idea? Railtrack? Water? PFI hospitals? Hospital cleaners? Gas?

tim b, Peterborough, UK / CAMB'S

This is how sub-prime got rolling. Remember, when we had the good old Power Board.

Frederick, London, UK

I changed from Npower a couple of years ago and still get cold calls trying to get me to go back to them. The same old story "we are cheaper" but a quick look at uswitch proves the lie.

Perhaps we should all sign up with any power company but npower to show them that rip offs are not tolerated anymore.

Pete, wolverhampton,

I'm sure all these Companies are the same.
Scottish Power and EDF are always knocking in our area. These people are given targets and they see preying on the vulnerable as an easy target. Door step selling should be banned. End of. If i want something, i go and get it, i don't wait for someone to knock on my door to seel me it !

Adrian Conway, Newcastle, England

Excellent reporting; however, I notice if the subject is wrongdoing within the Royal household or the government, it is the journalist who is subjected to investigation and/or criminal charges.

Hardly a level playing field, is it?

Dennis, Portland OR, US

Excellent reporting.

My housemate got caught with this scam last December, it took over a month to be put back with my old supplier, and even then NPower tried to bill us for the time I was with them (obviously the bill was ignored).

I don't know if they actually disciplined the salesperson but I am glad to see that this has gone public.

Unfortunately it is a case of buyer beware. I do not sign anything at the door. I am of a sufficient size that no salesperson would consider putting their foot in the door to try to get a sale (it would get broken) but there are so many people who are vulnerable and will be bullied into signing a seemingly innocuous form.

Well done.

Vaughan, Leicester, Leicestershire

We had Npower try to do the same thing to my wife about 4 years ago, with the opening gambit of, "I'm from the Electricity Board and I've been waiting all day for you to get home." This had the desired affect of confusing my wife. It wasn't until I came to the front door that the salesman backed off and admitting why he was there.

Colin, Buckinghamshire,

NPower coldcallers tried conning me a few weeks back. Unfortunately for them I keep a close eye on the different providers and know exactly what they charge.
These guys wouldn't leave though and I was forced to let my two Rotties our of the Lounge to encourage their hasty departure.

Do NOT sign up with NPower, they're con-artists.
And if NPower want to sue me, then I give The Times permission to give my email address to their legal department.

Phill, Cheshire, England

Very good. THIS is the type of thing journalists should be doing, not gossipping about chihuahua owners.

Marlene Tucker, Louisville, USA

I left the industry three and a half years ago when Npower already had a reputation for this sort of thing. How many 'isolated incidents' will it take for Ofgem to withdraw their operating licence?

Andy SMith, London,

EDF called on my door three times in a fortnight. Each time they claimed "not to be selling anything", yet refused to say what they wanted unless I opened the door. The first time I did so, and after a minute I was unable to work out what the man wanted. When I tried to close the door ihe blocked it with his foot. Eventually I shouted at him and he went away. I reorted it to the police and to EDF customer Services. The next two times I did not let them in and sent them away.

Howard, London, UK

My relatively small business was tricked by NPower.

We tried to reason with them but they simply ignored us.

Eventually we took them to court and gained judgement against them.

We called them before sending in the baliffs and were told " Oh we are very friendly with the baliffs in Swindon, they come and have tea with us, they won't do anything"

Eventually they paid up after some more concerted pressure from us.

If this company can treat a British court of law with contempt what chance has a small business or a 91 year old blind pensioner.

Well done The Sunday Times

Now make sure the people behind this company are held to account. They foster the culture which lets these mavericks get away with it. Put some pressure on the institutional shareholders (your advertisers) to instigate a management clear out.

Francis Cousins, Wrington, UK

Surprise, surprise.

Margaret, Cardiff, Wales