Gas Switching Delay !

chelseaman7

The advice on this bb was to switch. This I did last 2nd April 2008 and whilst my Electricity account was accepted by Spark Energy, it took something like 4 months, they still have not switched my Gas account. They are always apologetic over the 'phone and their explanation is that my pipeline is with some third party and they're trying to resolve the delays. However, here we are exactly 7 months later and I'm still paying well over the odds because someone somewhere hasn't got their finger out ! Who is to blame and what can I do about this expensive 'problem' ? After all, there is not much point saying switch if little notice is taken by those that should be taking the action needed !!!

Quentin

You seem to be implying that the person who said for you to switch is to blame!

You need to take this up with your new supplier. Ask them who is to blame for this unacceptable delay. Do it in writing, (you will have realised by now that phoning them is a waste of time), and suggest they may like to offer you some compensation for the extra expense this delay has cost you.

Then if they aren't responsible for the delay they should point the finger at the guilty party.

chelseaman7

You interpret my request for help as a blame exercise, which it certainly was not. You assumed and wrongly. That is the problem with the written word, you say I implied, which wasn't my intention. I say you assumed, which perhaps wasn't your intention. Ho ! Hum !

I have written to Spark and with the same response as my 'phone calls !

I'm not looking to blame Martin but I'd like something useful as to why it is taking so long and believe me I know how to complain when I need to !

My request is for useful information as to what is going wrong and why. And also has anyone else had similar problems and what was their solution.

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"You seem to be implying that the person who said for you to switch is to blame!

You need to take this up with your new supplier. Ask them who is to blame for this unacceptable delay. Do it in writing, (you will have realised by now that phoning them is a waste of time), and suggest they may like to offer you some compensation for the extra expense this delay has cost you.

Then if they aren't responsible for the delay they should point the finger at the guilty party."

Quentin

We can only go on the written word.

Your written words didn't either say or imply that you actually wanted "useful information as to what is going wrong and why"

You actually asked:

Who is to blame and what can I do about this expensive 'problem'

And you were given a reply to this. Sorry you apparently don't find it a help. I tried.

penrhyn

Never heard of them until now, I wonder why you chose them, any way they appear to be run by someone called PJ Darling ( a relative of our dear chancellor??), you could write to him.[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif] [/FONT]

Premier_2

penrhyn wrote:

Never heard of them until now...

Nor had I until this thread yesterday:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1255449

The link to the review on MoneySuperMarket.com I posted doesn't bode well.

By the sounds of it, it seems like anothe UW type setup but instead of agents signing up their friends & family, spark target landlords and letting agents to sign up tenants for a commission.

...agents also benefit from a fee equivalent to 25 pounds for every property switched to Spark Energy (it actually works on 2% of all tenant spend on gas and electricity in year 1 and 5 pounds per property on the first anniversary). Customers will also receive 10 pounds per property after 24 + 36 months ...

http://www.landlordexpert.co.uk/index.php?news=462


With regards the OP, what is going wrong is that you have an independant gas transporter (IGT). This means extra manual intervention is required to enable a transfer to take place since the IGT's are not on the same system that the suppliers (at least the major 6) & National Grid (formally Transco) are. This typically causes an extra couple of weeks delay over the usual 4-6 weeks to switch.
I think the manually issued paperwork has somehow got lost in your switch and it wouldn't surprise me after such a long time that you would need to re-apply if you still want the switch to go ahead

chelseaman7

Actually Quentin you made assumptions. You made it clear I was blaming Martin. Not so. You assumed I didn't know how to complain to the company with whom I'd signed up. I do. As I said, the written word means different things to whoever reads the words. I knew what I meant and you then came up with a different interpretation ! Perhaps that is why we have lawyers and contracts for all the big words and in the right order covering all eventualities !?! And there is certainly no offence intended here.

Spark was one of the companies listed on this Board last April and it is no criticism of this board or Martin when I ask if anyone knows why there is such a delay with taking over my gas supply.

I'll ask two questions, that hopefully are as clear as I thought my first message was, to anyone that has had the same or similar problems.

If you've signed up with Spark, have you had a long delay from signing up with Spark to them taking over responsibility for your supply ?

Should the answer be yes, what has been the outcome ?

whatatwit

Chelseaman, I read your original post and it was not clear to me that you had contacted Spark in writing to try and rectify the problem in switching gas.

Your most recent post clarifies your query, may I suggest that you edit your original post, or at least add the two questions that you have posed on the recent post.

If you are a regular reader of the board, you will no doubt have noticed that quite a few of the threads are looking for a scapegoat, be it a faulty meter or a thieving utility company.

I hope you manage to get a response from someone who has sucessfully switched gas to Spark.