Spark Energy Nightmare

Katrinyom

Avoid Spark Energy as your provider at all costs!

I was automatically signed up to Spark Energy when I moved into a flat in May 2017. They claim to give you a ‘move in saver’ tarrif and lower rates at certain times of the day but all they’ve done is left me in hundreds of pounds worth of debt.

My flat was on the second floor in a block, one bedroom and I work full time and spent most weekends at my partner’s house so not really a lot of use in the flat. They quoted me just under £50 per month for my direct debit which was fine but since Jan 2018 I stopped the direct debit and paid my monthly bill when it was issued each month. The amount fluctuated as my usage varied and I had some more expensive months when it was colder ranging betwen £50-£70 but an average month was still less than £50. I moved out of this flat on 24th August 2018, paid a final bill and gave Spark my new address to forward any correspondence. In October I just so happened to log into the Spark Energy app to make sure it was all clear before deleting the app since they’re no longer my provider and there I see my account is in debt for £831.53. I received no correspondence to say I owed any money at all but not only that, they passed my account straight to a debt collection agency without me having any knowledge of this at all! After an hour on hold trying to get through to Spark I was left talking to a very rude customer service agent who was extremely unhelpful and couldn’t have cared less about my situation. They had put my moving out date as the 5th Sept 2018 when it was actually 24th August 2018 so I asked if I could be sent a new bill with the corrected dates and his exact response was “yes but it won’t really make much difference to what you owe”. I made this phone call on the 15th of October and I’m still waiting for my revised bill. I get harassed with phone calls and text messages from Spark every single day. They’re very quick to hassle me to pay this money but aren’t acting quickly to help me. I have explained the situation to the debt collectors and they have put my account on hold for 30 days while I wait for the new bill from Spark. I’m completely baffled as to how I have a bill this high when I was paying for my usage as I went on a monthly basis. This has and still is causing so much stress and anxiety. Absolutely disgusting company and customer service.

Can anyone please give me any advice on what to do in this situation regarding complaints, payments or anything else that may be useful going forward?