Spark Energy

da_vid

SPARK ARE A BUNCH OF TWITS Epic over-estimestation of my bill and now I've got a correct reading, they've DISAPPEARED. Left messages, waited on the phone for 30+ minutes, sent pleading/threatening emails, contacted the ombudsman (oh, you have to go through Spark's non existent complaints procedure first mind) and.... still nothing. Thinking of a trip to Edinburgh now. Any ideas?

Vampgirl

My experience of Spark Energy is far from good: we were never a customer of theirs but they tried to take over our supply with no authority to do so.

BG were supplying our house when we moved in but we keep getting letters from Spark basically saying "welcome to you new home, give us your bank details". I was a bit suspicious as I'd never heard of them (and neither had our agents) so we just ignored the letters for a few weeks. Then I finally got fed up and called them and it transpired that the agency that used to manage the house had given them the address (even though the landlady had sacked them and moved to a different agency).

Luckily Spark never actually commenced supply but when I called to tell them to stop sending the letters the guy I spoke tried to bully me into accepting the switch.

First he told me that my agency required me to do this. Then, when I explained that that particular agency no longer managed the property I was informed that this wasn't relevant - Spark's contract with the agency guaranteed them the supply of this property. Then when I pointed out that the agency had no right to offer this guarantee on a property they don't manage he tried to convince me that all agencies do this and that I should check my AST (already done, already checked with our agency who were astounded that any landlord or agency would try to tell tennants which supplier to use!). He did eventually accept that under no circumstances, no matter what lies they told me, I wouldn't be agreeing to them supplying this house.

His last try was to claim that they needed my name to take the address off the system which made me suspect that once he had a name to go with the address he would start the switch even without my go-ahead. He actually got quite rude when I told him I had no intention of giving him my name. We haven't heard anything from them for months now, so it looks like they have given up.

After all this I did some digging...the agency who passed on our details is the largest in the area and is most people consider them reputable - though our dealings with them are less than satisfactory and some of their practices are borderline acceptable when dealing with tenants. We also have a friend who rents through them and she has a clause in her AST that the must use Spark Energy or pay a fee if she wants to move away from them. I also found this article that outlines the kickback system Spark Energy use: http://www.landlordexpert.co.uk/index.php?news=462

Swan_2

Vampgirl wrote: »

After all this I did some digging...the agency who passed on our details is the largest in the area and is most people consider them reputable - though our dealings with them are less than satisfactory and some of their practices are borderline acceptable when dealing with tenants. We also have a friend who rents through them and she has a clause in her AST that the must use Spark Energy or pay a fee if she wants to move away from them. I also found this article that outlines the kickback system Spark Energy use: http://www.landlordexpert.co.uk/index.php?news=462

that's exactly what's going on with my letting agents

they're one of the largest in our area & all new ASTs seem to have this clause written in, but I didn't notice it when I signed the lease for my new flat ... must pay more attention in future :rolleyes:

I'm just waiting for them to bill me for cancelling & staying with my usual supplier, but given their (Spark) uncompetitive rates, bullying/lying tactics & level of sheer incompetence, I'd rather pay a fee than have Spark as my supplier

tek-monkey

My LA tried to make me use a certain provider, I said no chance in hell as I should be allowed to choose the cheapest for my needs. They decided not to press the issue.