BW Legal Letter of Claim - Spark

GKJB · 18 March 2017 at 2:14PM

Hi,

I had an account with Spark Energy 5 years ago and was billed insane amounts which I disputed over the course of several months until they finally offered to investigate and allowed me to switch to British Gas.

They never got back to me with the results of their investigation and within a few months I was being chased by BW legal... emails, phone calls, and letters demanding payment of the crazy final (disputed) amount.

After reading up on them online, the best course of action seemed to be to ignore them, which is what I did for the last 5 years. They finally stopped contacting me around 6 months ago, until today I received a letter from them/Spark (headed letters from both arrived in the same envelope).

The letter from Spark says my account has been passed to their legal team, the letter from BW Legal is a 'Letter of Claim' threatening CCJ action within 14 days if I don't pay up.

I don't think I've had a letter of claim from them previously, so I wanted to get some opinions on the best course of action now. Do I ignore it or shall I contact them disputing the entire bill?

CashStrapped · 18 March 2017 at 2:33PM

Did you take the complaint process as far as the ombudsman (via spark first) regarding the disputed bills?

I assume you have the requisite evidence that the bills are bogus? FOr example, manual calculations of you time with spark calculating you have paid the amount truly owed.

System · 18 March 2017 at 2:34PM

I would get proper legal advice rather than listen to armchair legal experts. Ignoring something, and hoping that the problem will go away, is not imho a sensible move. Presumably, you have sat down and collected evidence that you could show a Court to prove that the supplier has got its calculations wrong?

GKJB · 19 March 2017 at 7:52PM

At the time my complaint went as far as them 'conducting an investigation'. I didn't hear back from them and since this was five years ago and I've changed address four times, I no longer have the bills.

I had no way to calculate the bills myself as I was living in a managed block of flats, where the meters were checked and recorded by the management company basically as and when they pleased, and the bills I was receiving from Spark dd't outline anything about their pricing etc.

Do BW legal need to supply me with evidence that I do in fact owe what they're claiming before they can take this to court? As far as I'm concerned they've pulled the amount out of nowhere, adding over £150 onto an already inflated bill.

D_M_E · 19 March 2017 at 9:52PM

If the management company took regular meter readings then they may well still have them.

Try asking them for any readings which relate to the premises you occupied at the time.

If they refuse to supply them, try serving them with a Subject Access request and ask them for all information they hold relating to you. Any such information should include any meter readings taken from the meter(s) supplying the premises occupied by you since they directly relate to you.

I believe such a request has to be accompanied by a fee of £10 and there is a set period in which they must respond.

Might be worth a try but try asking them before serving the SAR, they might do it for free.

Former Spark Representative · 20 March 2017 at 10:44AM

Hi GKJB

Sorry to hear about this.

I'd like to look into this for you. If you would like to contact me using the email address on my MSE profile, I can take a look at what happened with your original complaint, and I can also speak to our Collections team and see if we can hold any action with BW Legal while I'm looking at your account. I can also open a new formal complaint for you regarding everything you've detailed in your post.

We may be able to resolve your complaint without a SAR, but if you do decide to go ahead and request it via contact with me, I will ask if we can waive the £10 fee for the information as part of your complaint resolution.

If you decide to get in touch, please confirm your full name, supply address and any reference numbers shown on your correspondence from BW Legal.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Jenny
Customer Relations Manager

Cardew · 20 March 2017 at 11:02AM

GKJB wrote: »

I had no way to calculate the bills myself as I was living in a managed block of flats, where the meters were checked and recorded by the management company basically as and when they pleased, and the bills I was receiving from Spark dd't outline anything about their pricing etc.

If you have 'no way to calculate the bills' yourself, how have you concluded they were charging 'insane amounts'?

You concede you had bills, were you disputing the meter readings?

It is very common for the management agents to get things wrong, in which case your dispute is with them and not Spark.

jackandcoke · 20 March 2017 at 11:11AM

Ah, Ignore it and hope it goes away. The classic method.

BW Legal Letter of Claim - Spark

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