Spark Energy: Switched without my permission

The_Occupier

For the last 3 weeks, through my original supplier Scot-Power, had tried to get this switch stopped, but who ever was dealing with it hasn't done so

3 Oct receive letter from Spark Energy, telling me, welcome to spark, its great to have you with us. Well its not great, as I didnt request this switch, and currently trying to get back to my previous supplier

The letter I got is addressed to the Occupier, so they don't even know my name, and have even emailed the customer service, and if anyone from Spark is reading this, I'm sure you can find my email, as it is the Occupier flat g1

The letter states, my letting agent, has requested this on my behalf, so now spark energy are responsible for my gas supply

Well this has to be the best joke ever, I don't have a letting agent, as I own my own property, so would appreciate you sort this. And I believe I will have grounds to take this to the omnibus man, and make a formal complaint against spark energy

dogshome

You are caught up in an "Erroneous Transfer"
These occur when someone else changes their supplier, but somehow the the data gets scrambled in the process and the wrong account is switched.


The rule is that the wrongly affected customer must be returned to their original supplier, and suffer no financial loss in the process.


You are between something of a rock and a hard place - Scot Powers systems, are not the sharpest knife in the box, and Spark are very aggressive in both signing up customers or letting them leave


Best to WRITE a letter to SP headed Complaint about their tardiness in dealing with issue, with another Spark reminding them of their duty and responsibility for costs

System

dogshome wrote: »

Best to WRITE a letter to SP headed Complaint about their tardiness in dealing with issue, with another Spark reminding them of their duty and responsibility for costs

Sadly, as I am finding out, SP do not respond to written complaints. This is the procedure that should be followed for an Erroneous Transfer:

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/problems-with-your-energy-supply/youve-been-switched-to-a-new-energy-supplier-without-your-agreement/

There is no question here of costs. The OP should continue to pay the original supplier. The two suppliers will discuss costs between themselves.

D_M_E

Hi, Hengus - I see that, as I predicted, SP are not giving up on you so easily.......

wavelets

The_Occupier wrote: »

...
Well this has to be the best joke ever, ...

The exact words I was thinking...:cool:

System

D_M_E wrote: »

Hi, Hengus - I see that, as I predicted, SP are not giving up on you so easily.......

I think that SP must have been taking lessons on customer service from Iresa. I did get a reply last week which read as follows:

Quote: Having checked the records as I can see that the period of 29th March 18 to 26th July 18 is in a different name, hence, I would request you to provide the sale deed so that we can amend our records as the tenancy period involves more than 1 year, Unquote

The above e-mail resulted in a written complaint which they have failed to acknowledge in any form (other than a standard e-mail receipt).

Be_Happy

I had the same problem several months ago when Spark Energy applied to Scottish Power to take over ONE of my TWO electric meters. I had never made any enquiries to Spark or any other alternative supplier. It took around 6 weeks to correct, but I did have good service from Scottish Power.

I never had any correspondence from Spark Energy, so they obviously didn't have my name or address only a meter number.

Whatever you do don't give Spark your name so that they can't register you personally as a customer.

The_Occupier

Be_Happy wrote: »

Whatever you do don't give Spark your name so that they can't register you personally as a customer.

I have created a email account, and it has no name attached, and have told them, will only communicate by email

Former Spark Representative

Hi The Occupier

Sorry to hear about this.

It's strange this has happened if you are a property owner, and if you're not letting the property out via one of the Letting Agents that we work with.

It does sound like this is an Erroneous Transfer.

In order for me to look into this, I'd need you to email the address given in my profile, confirming the full supply address.

For the purposes of raising an Erroneous Transfer, we would need to know your name as shown on your account with Scottish Power, and this would be the only reason that we used it. We need to provide a name with the Erroneous Transfer, otherwise your rightful supplier likely won't accept the request to send the supplies back.

I'm not able to locate an email based on the first line of your address, so any information you can provide via the email address on my profile would be very much appreciated.

Kind regards

Jenny
Customer Relations Team

The_Occupier

I had emailed spark energy last week, not willing to provide personal details, all I will provide right now, is the account no

Account no: ***removed by forum team***

So hopefully you will find my details, with the account number

Be_Happy

Quite right The Occupier. I got a similar message from Spark Energy's Jenny asking for details.

I didn't reply and all the handling of the Erroneous Transfer was done by Scottish Power. They did warn me it could take up to 6 weeks to reverse the transfer.