Do I have to repay them ?

isolation

Hi all,
Possibly not an appropriate board but as it is about an energy company, I'll see if anyone can help...

I had terrible problems with my energy company (spark energy) and so left them in November.

Since then they have kept making repeated errors in giving me money and taking money back so I don't know where I am and they can't explain it either!

In January, they apologised and promised not to contact me again.

In february, they deposited £450+ into an old dormant bank account 'by mistake'. I obviously didn't know about this. Instead of talking to me about it, they instructed a debt collection agency to harass me about it.

I of course knew nothing about this money and so disputed it... after contacting them regularly for 2 weeks, very worried, they have finally told me why they think I owe them money.

Whilst it turns out they did put this money in my account, I am so very annoyed that they have acted in the way they have.

Can I:-
Not give the money back (I would rather give it away than give it to them)
Cause them as much inconvenience as possible before having to give it back.

Any advice that anyone can give please ?

Thank you

Former Spark Representative

Hi Isolation

I'm sorry to hear that you've had problems with us and that you decided to move to another company.

It sounds like we might have made a bit of an error, which I'm really sorry about, and if you'd like me to look into things then I'm happy to do so.

You can contact me using the email address in my profile.

Kind regards

Jenny

isolation

Spark_Energy wrote: »

Hi Isolation

I'm sorry to hear that you've had problems with us and that you decided to move to another company.

It sounds like we might have made a bit of an error, which I'm really sorry about, and if you'd like me to look into things then I'm happy to do so.

You can contact me using the email address in my profile.

Kind regards

Jenny

Hi Jenny and thank you for your reply.

I would like to take issue with "a bit of an error" -
-you took money from my account after I had stopped being your customer and I was in credit
-you refused to refund this money and I had to claim it back via my bank
-you then overpaid me and claimed it was my fault yet despite requests, did not send me details of this
-you took over 28 w.days to refund my credit after I stopped being your customer, breaking your customer code
-you did not adjust my d.d. despite having massive credit which is opposed to your customer code
-you promised in writing not to contact me again after my final bill was settled
2 weeks later you sent me texts and mails saying I owed you money
-when I called you (at considerable expense), you couldn't explain these but said you would get back in touch if there was a problem
-you did not do so but instead instructed a debt recovery service to harass me
the debt recovery service said they would ask you to write to me with details of this 'debt' - you did not
-again I contacted you and after 40 mins, neither the agent nor her manager could explain this 'debt'
-you have also lied to the ombudsman with regards to a previous settlement on 2 occasions - the first you stated that you had already paid the settlement (on a date before it was even made !!!), on the second you said you would pay it on 7/3 but did not.

... I would hardly call this 'a bit of an error' I would call it serious negligence.

---

However Spark have given me a deadlock letter where they were not prepared to explain their actions and I was certainly not happy with their solution.

I now have no option but to seek legal advice regarding the repeated breaking of your customer code and ofgem regulations

Best wishes

Former Spark Representative

Hi Isolation

I'm really sorry to hear that we couldn't resolve things with you in-house

I'm happy to re-visit your complaint if you like, I work with our Director of Customer Experience on urgent and complex queries, otherwise we'll pick things up when you've taken some professional advice.

Thanks for taking the time to update me.

Kind regards

Jenny

Former Spark Representative

Hello

I'm just writing to let you know that I've seen your updated post, I'm going to check over your account now, and I'll drop you an email once I've done that.

Kind regards

Jenny

isolation

Oh my goodness !!!!!!

I provided full details to the Spark Rep. The Spark Rep knew that this matter is now in the hands of the ombudsman. They wrote to me and said "It can take a couple of days for us to look things over – will that be ok? I’ll try and make things as quick and easy as I can, but it’s clear that there’s a number of issues that we need to address and I’m sorry that our Complaints team weren’t able to do that properly."

Late tonight sent me another *completely* incomprehensible bill stating I need to pay them almost £500 in 10 days but no reason why... when they said my final bill had been settled in January, apologised for their errors and promised not to contact me about it again. No doubt they will then set the debt recovery company onto me again.

I will leave it up to the reader as to whether to trust the Spark rep.

I really wonder why MSE are allowing them to post on here but will ask them this myself.

I will doubtlessly have no sleep again tonight with worry as to how I can pay this amount and why I have to even though Spark know that this is already in the hands of the ombudsman.


Words really do fail me

Former Spark Representative

Hi Isolation

I'm really sorry this has happened. I'm going to email you directly about this, it's been down to an automated system, as the only steps I've taken are the ones detailed to you in an email previously.

I'll find out how the bill has gone out and feed back to you by email.

Kind regards

Jenny

isolation

Thank you for your response.

I am unsure whether to believe it as it came just a few hours after your contact.

Even if this was by some "automated system". You would have thought that it would have been more professional to have stopped such "automated systems" as you knew that this issue is already with the ombudsman and that you were also looking into it.

And that still doesn't excuse the fact that this bill makes absolutely no sense and comes after your organisation promised, in writing, not to contact me again regarding billing and apologised for previous, repeated errors and has broken this promise several times.

Former Spark Representative

Hello.

I do understand why you are unsure about whether or not to believe me, the timing was incredibly bad, and I'm really sorry about what happened.

I'm waiting to speak with our Billing team about this specific process, as well as escalating things within the company, to see if it's something we can change.

If you'd like to discuss things in more detail please drop me an email, and I'll do all I can to help.

Jenny

davidgmmafan

Do you by any chance use a SAP system?

jaybeetoo

davidgmmafan wrote: »

Do you by any chance use a SAP system?

Is that in any way relevant or helping the OP?