Spark Energy problem - frustration overload

swagmania

Hi everyone,
This may be a long one so please bear with me as i need to vent and get advice.

The history of the problem is that last year i sold my house and rented starting in late march. Shortly after moving in it was discovered that the property had 2 energy suppliers, this is apparently illegal and to this day I have not received a satisfactory explanation of how it happened. The 2 suppliers were Spark and Npower [thats like winning the lottery twice and losing both tickets].

Decided to stay with Npower [in retrospect this was a nightmare and now wish i had gone elsewhere], going from 2 to 1 supplier did not happen easily as apparently these two large companies were unable to communicate with each other effectively meaning that i was left going from one to the other like a parent between 2 naughty children[a search on google shows that Spark make it very difficult for people to leave them]; i lost count of the number of times i gave final readings. Eventually it was sorted and i received a bill from Spark which i settled and from then on Npower were my supplier in that property.

Now to the present time. Moved to a new property end of April this year which is supplied by neither Spark or Npower :j Recieved a phonecall from Spark just over a week ago saying that i owed them £145 which i queried and told the rep that i had settled on leaving them only to be informed that it had become clear [after all this time] that 4 days gas were unpaid - bear in mind that the gas was only used to heat water and one fire which was never on till later in the year, thats very expensive hot water.

I was :mad: and decided to wait for bill to check everything as it made no sense to me. Yesterday i missed a phonecall which i googled only to find it was from a debt collecting agency FREQUENTLY used by Spark, i was even more :mad: as it had just been over a week since they phoned me and i was still awaiting a bill.

So as to make sure it was regarding them i phoned Spark and sure enough it was them who had let loose the collectors on me. I asked if it was standard practise to use debt collectors after a week and was informed that this had been over a year [july 2014]. Unbeknown to me the problem must have been ongoing between them and Npower.

When questioned further i quoted to Russell [for that was his name] from a ruling i had read that you are meant to adhere to the "Energy UK Code of Practise" for accurate bills that stipulates no customer should have to cover a payment shortfall dating back more than 12 months, if the supplier was at fault. Also, old debt should be written off and compensation given and that cases like this should be reviewed under the "back billing code of practise rule".

After been put on hold i was told they had been unable to contact me so i asked how comes they had had no trouble phoning me but he replied that they would have needed to mail me. At this point i was so frustrated and annoyed at this obvious lie that i forgot to point out that i had lived at the previous address until moving to present one this year and that i had mail redirected for months and during all this time not one piece of mail from them.

I then sought further clarification on the impression i had that i was paid upto date with them once the dual supply problem had been identified and sorted, Russell said that i couldn't have had 2 suppliers at one address[its always nice to find out that a frustrating episode in your life was actually just a bad dream] but upon my insistence it was in fact correct i was put on hold again so he could go and look into my case further.

Upon his return no further mention was made of 2 suppliers but that the bill was for three days gas [notice how it is now 3 days and not 4 which makes the exceptionally expensive hot water even more exceptionally expensive].

Anyway, to cut a long story short [to late for that :rotfl:] i am not happy and they are getting some department or other [my brain had shorted by this point] to look into it and "may" get back to me by Thursday. They are unable to do [do they mean "unwilling to do"] anything about the debt collectors.

Any advice gratefully recieved, i am very unhappy/angry about this, and after going through a horrendous experience with Npower i have had enough of these utility companies and there slipshod organisations.

Also how do i respond to the collection agency if[when] they contact me again as i have never been in this situation before.
Many thanks for your time in reading, Phil T.

Former Spark Representative

Hi swagmania


I'm really sorry that I didn't respond to this yesterday and I'm also really sorry to hear about the problems that you've detailed in your post.


Would you mind sending me an email using the address in my profile please? I'd be happy for us to call off any collections activity so that I can have a look at what's happened. I'd need your name and the full supply address.


I'd need to see your account to get the specifics, but in general it's not possible for two suppliers to supply a property at the same time, unless one supplies gas and one supplies electric. The other scenario might be that one company supplied at the point you move in then another one took over. That's just speculation at this point and I'd be happy to have a look in more detail with your supply address so that I can give you a proper explanation.


I'd be happy to answer all of your points in more detail and see if the back billing code would apply to the account. I hope to hear from you soon.


Kind regards


Jenny
Customer Relations Manager

swagmania

Thanks for reply, in regards to two suppliers i can only go on what i was told. The property had night storage heaters [could the previous tennant have had a different supplier to cover night and day to try and take advantage of tarriffs?], i do know that there was a confusing array of electricity meters.
Hope you can get this sorted, it is just a pity i have had to use a public forum especially regarding the debt collection agency.
Sincerely,
PT

Former Spark Representative

Hello

Thanks so much for your email.


I just wanted to confirm that I've received it and to let you know I'll be looking into what's happened.


Kind regards


Jenny
Customer Relations Manager