SPARK energy and changing suppliers

Jake07

Add me the list of Spark victims please. They are dreadful. Reeds Rains have a contract with them by which, unknown to the tenant, they switch you over to Spark energy. Is there a clause in the tenancy agreement about this?

In my case Spark did not bill us for the ENTIRE 2012, and only after we moved out, they chased ME (although there were 4 people on the tenancy agreement) for the entire owed sum for gas (I had managed to keep the current electricity supplier).

Do you guys think I can legally request that bill to be re-issued as 4 separate bills in the name of each tenant? Spark DO have the tenancy agreement so they can see that 4 people were living there. Am I legally liable for the whole bill?

Many thanks

ihowar

Moved in to my flat a year and a half ago and was told tat i had to stay with Spark. Wish i'd done more research at the time as they have been terrible.

Didn't provide me with a bill for all of 2012 much like the poster above. Thier website is the slowest thing ever and thier customer service representatives competely ignore what you ask them.

AFK_Matrix

ihowar wrote: »

Moved in to my flat a year and a half ago and was told tat i had to stay with Spark. Wish i'd done more research at the time as they have been terrible.

Didn't provide me with a bill for all of 2012 much like the poster above. Thier website is the slowest thing ever and thier customer service representatives competely ignore what you ask them.

So change now asap.

saxaphone

I too have been misled by a letting agency who transferred the utility supply to Spark even though I (the landlord) had deleted the "clause" in the letting agreement. This is completely to the detriment of the tenant and is an abuse.
I have now written to Watchdog - its a very easy on-line process - takes two minutes - if enough of us bombard Watchdog with this scam maybe they will take the story up and get this STOPPED!
Thanks for reading - now just log with Watchdog and see if we can effect change!
Thanks for reading.:j

grifferz

saxaphone wrote: »

I too have been misled by a letting agency who transferred the utility supply to Spark even though I (the landlord) had deleted the "clause" in the letting agreement. This is completely to the detriment of the tenant and is an abuse.

So hopefully you have sacked this letting agent. Care to name them so that future tenants can avoid?

theartfullodger

I have mystic powers: I can foresee the future:

Spark energy will be no more in a few years time....

Letting agents will very occasionally start to realise that taking backhanders from utility suppliers seriously p***es off tenants and landlords and loses them business...

Cheers!

Yorkie1

theartfullodger wrote: »

I have mystic powers: I can foresee the future:

Spark energy will be no more in a few years time....

Letting agents will very occasionally start to realise that taking backhanders from utility suppliers seriously p***es off tenants and landlords and loses them business...

Cheers!

Hallucinating over flying pigs again, artful?

ValHaller

theartfullodger wrote: »

I have mystic powers: I can foresee the future:

Spark energy will be no more in a few years time....

Letting agents will very occasionally start to realise that taking backhanders from utility suppliers seriously p***es off tenants and landlords and loses them business...

Cheers!

More likely, as tenants change away from Spark, Spark will cease to pay the Agents their hard earned and trousered back handers. Agents will know not to twist the arms of tenants who have given Spark the heave ho and Agents will realise that it is more aggro than it is worth except at the very bottom of the market. Probably to the extent that you can quickly classify Agents by whehter they impose Spark.

scoobywho

I also have previous exprience of spark. The first time our EA switched suppliers to spark before we moved in but we were advised this would happen.. I managed to ring spark and tell them we wouldn't use them before we moved in, also rang British Gas the same day to tell them of our new address. Apart from the fact we got a bill anyway, which we didn't pay, we managed to escape.

The second time we werent so lucky. We had advised our existing supplier that we were moving and called spark the day we moved in with the meter readings. It took us 7 months and countless hours of calls and emails before we were free. Essentially spark blocked our existing supplier from taking over supply because we owed them for the period between moving in and the change in supplier. The longer it went on the more the bill increased, requiring new meter readings followed by multiple bills for numbers which seemed to be entirely random. Absolutely amazed they havent been shut down yet. Completely incompetent right from the start, avoid at all costs!

ExtraMask

Letting agents signing you into a contract with another company is fraudulent. They're agreeing a purchase of a product on your behalf, without your consent or knowledge. Spark Energy(UK) are well known for giving out back handers to letting agents.

It's also illegal to state that you must stay with or move to a certain provider. They can specify a preferred company or request notification of any change of supply but aren't allowed to choose and make you stay with a company as you're the consumer.