I could so easily have stayed in bed this morning, rather than come into work. I feel really flimsy and yuck. I'm prone to fits of the sweats and my head is both light and heavy at the same time.

However, I have a technical supporting job to do tonight and the show must go on. Though I could have sacked off work and just gone straight to the theatre, I have a rule that you don't party on a schoolnight if you've taken the day off sick. It's a good rule. It's the moral high-ground and also the one where you don't get sacked. I genuinely believe that it's the first reason that motivates me.

Anyway, the point is that my general sense of malaise, coupled with my general sense of perspective about people working in call centres somewhat tempered my enthusiasm for a good shout when I rang npower earlier to ask them what the hell was going on.

First I rang their debt-collection line and was told that the letter was issued automatically. I was about to explain how outraged I was at the heavy handedness of this when I was cut off. Fair enough. I then re-read my letter of apology and decided to ring the number on that one to see if I could at least make someone else apologise to me. The woman on the end of the debt-collection line had been a bit defensive, which would have been something to get my teeth into from a debating point of view... but... well... the long wait for customer service and then the nice geordie on the other end, coupled with my feeling of tiredness and weakness... I couldn't be bothered.

I made my point that, within 6 weeks of issuing a bill, I'm receiving letters the likes of which should be reserved for bad debtors who have ignored things for months, and that this is deeply offensive. I made the point, but I didn't raise my voice, or particularly try to annoy the person at the other end. He was quite clear that it was just a system, and one which had failed. I was clear on that too. In fact, I just asked him to pass the matter up. He'll probably pass it over.

For the 5 people that read this blog, I'll say this. I am deeply disappointed with npower. I have found their service to be lacking and I don't believe that their prices are good enough to warrant staying with them. Go to an energy switching website and switch away from them if you use them. I don't believe that a company which treats its customers (or even ex-customers) in this way deserves to be validated by receiving continued business.

I was fairly flimsy on the phone, though. I'm weak.