Spark Energy - What they are REALLY like

polo2209

This is a long post, so please bear with it

I moved into a rented property that was supplied by Spark for electricity only, at the point of moving in, we were told that as we were new customers and as they had no reference with regard to usage that they would have to place us on a monthly direct debit of £102.00 for the first few months, or until we can give them 3 successive meter readings.

We thought at the time that it was excessive and that we would see how they were for the first quarter and then shift if they didnt reduce the direct debit.

DD info given and setup - first payment was £102.00 as expected.

Fast forward to 15th September, i called Spark's "Customer Service" team to enquire as to changing my direct debit amount as i was pretty sure we were in credit.
Apparently our credit amount, taking into account a reading given that day was a grand total of £255.84. At this point i requested the credit balance amount to be refunded. The "customer service" rep informed me that they would need to keep £150 on account to ensure we were covered over the winter. Foolishly i agreed to this and requested £105.84 to be refunded to me. I also requested that the DD amount be reduced to an amount that actually reflects our usage, it was agreed that £20 pcm would be the direct debit amount from October 1st 2009.

Simple you would have thought....this is where the fun begins

Spark Energy apparently only run their payments once a week, on a Friday, so the refund would take 7-10 working days. Again foolishly i gave them the benefit of the doubt and waited for the money to appear.

Lo, and behold by the 29th September, no refund.

As they had been so incapable of performing this task i began to doubt whether the Direct Debit amount had been changed, so i called them, and called them and called them. After approx 2 hours i managed to get through to someone in "Customer Services" who had no record of the call in which i asked for the direct debit to be changed.

I reiterated that this had been the case, and that as the amount was due to come out within three days i needed to know whether it was reduced or not.

It wasn't and i was called back (for the first time, despite numerous requests) to be told to cancel the Direct Debit with my bank - which i had already done.

I also asked where the refund was, which apparently again hadnt been requested.- I requested the refund YET AGAIN

Still with me -- it gets better still.

October 2nd 2009

I placed yet another call to "Customer Services" only to be told that my refund could not be processed as there was a discrepancy between my moving in reading and the moving out reading given by the previous tenant.

My reading (verified by the landlord and his agent) 1770.6
The previous tenants moving out reading 2015.8
Yep, thats right - its impossible for that to happen, so again another delaying tactic by Spark to stop me asking for MY money back.

Still no refund, and thank god, Direct Debit cancelled

In the words of Jimmy Cricket, come 'ere theres more...

October 5th

Decided not to hang on waiting indefinately on their "Customer Service" number of 0845 8694002 and decided to go direct (0131 208 0117 just in case anyone is interested)

By this point i have lost me rag with them and requested the FULL amount be refunded to me and the account marked for closure.

A guy called Cameron in their Edinburgh office, informed me that i would recieve the full amount of £255.84 by today (8th) and that my account would be marked as closed. It would also be forwarded to the Operations Manager

At this point i set in motion change of supplier for both utilities to be moved to EDF

October 8th

Well, today's the 8th and lo and behold, no money, not even the initial £105.84 requested waaaay back on the 15th September.

So, another call to "Customer Services" and another pack of lies.

1) There is no record of me requesting that my account be cancelled
2) I cannot apparently cancel my account with them as they still supply me
3) I cannot have a full refund of £255.84 as i have cancelled my direct debit (despite them telling me to do so)

To say that this was a red rag to a bull would be an understatement.

The "Customer Service" rep Michael was incredibly unhelpful, and stuck to his script throughout, until i told him i wanted to speak to the finance department.

On hold for 10 minutes, and apparently no-one in finance was available to speak to.

After uttering the words "no legal recourse to withold my money" and "move towards litigation" i was told by Michael that there was nothing he could do.

I requested a BACS transfer to my account of the FULL amount, and i want the money in there tomorrow (9th).

At 10.50am, i was promised, that a member of the finance department would speak to me before midday today with regard to this issue, and a full refund would be processed by BACS today.

Its now 11.20am and im waiting, and seething

Update: 11.55 am

Called them back as no call from finance department, and was told that finance department are still busy, so Micheal (who i have a feeling is trying to get back onside withme) has given me his direct number and i have been assured that the Operations manager for his department will call me before 2pm and arrange that the payment is put into my account today.

again im waiting....

14.02
No call was recieved by myself so decided to call Michael direct, was told that the person who was ringing me was in a meeting that had overrun and
would call me within 15 minutes
14.23
Call from Operations Manager to inform me that they did not have an answer for me, but that finance department are looking at my refund to see if they
can push it through.
I reiterated that i required the FULL amount of £255.84 to be refunded by tomorrow.
Was told that as i am currently a customer of theirs, that a full refund is not normal practice, and it appears that there is no record of me wanting
a full refund on all amounts.
I reiterated again that i want a refund of the full amount by BACS or CHAPS transfer today so that the amount is in my account.
Also reiterated that i have put change of supplier into motion and that they can bill me for any outstanding amount.
Operations Manager is looking into when the initial refund will be done, and also how much it is for.
I again requested the full amount refunded by CHAPS or BACS by tomorrow, and apparently the Operations Manager will call me back today with an answer.

15.20
Called Michael again to ask what has been done with regard to my refund.
Was informed that £105.84 has been refunded to my account today - this is the case however this does not explain the outstanding £150 that Spark owe
me despite numberous requests
Was put through to Operations Manager who explained that because they do not have any Direct Debit details for me (because i cancelled the DD at their
request) that the finance department would not authorise a further refund beacuse they are still my supplier.
It was suggested by the Operations Manager that the direct debit be re-set up for £0.00 so that any costs incurred whilst in the process of changing
supplier would be taken from the credit balance of £150.
I refused to set up the direct debit again as they had been so inept at changing the amount in the first place, so in my eyes, Spark Energy have £150
of my money which they are i assume earning interest on, and are unwilling to refund me any of it unless i setup a direct debit.
My refusal apparently leaves me in a stalemate position until such time that i recieve a final bill from them, and my supply is changed over to a more
reputable company.
So, Spark have £150 of my money, which will sit there until i get the final bill, which considering that in the last 4 months or so i have recived
nothing seems unlikely, and appears that i will have to repeat this process again in approx 6 weeks time.



(Ill update this as and when anything happens, but wanted people to know how impossibly difficult Spark Energy are to deal with as a company and i cannot reccommend them any less - AVOID like the plague if you value your sanity, your patience and most of all your money)

You will notice that i have referred to "Customer Service" in quote marks throughout, believe me they have NO "customer service", even to the point of accusing me of lying

AVOID AVOID AVOID

Premier_2

Hi, welcome to MSE polo2209 :hello:

Thanks for the long post, but the fact you've now posted this in triplicate tends to suggest you might be on some kind of mission.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1996699
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=25794461&postcount=14


Sometimes less is more

polo2209

apologies - had an error on my PC when posting it the first time - and wasnt sure where it should go either - sorry

and as for the mission - you could say that :mad:

feel free to delete the duplicates where you see fit