Spark Energy ruining their customers

Danny2

I switched to direct debit and asked them to refund me the deposit they sneakily collected back into my bank account and guess what....Spark went and credited my energy account with the deposit that was due to be refunded into my bank account. This is extremely ridicuolus showing that they are desperate to hold on to the money that they are not even entitled to. They have taken a direct debit at the same time and now I have paid over £170 into stupid Spark Energy's bank account even though I have not even consumed the electricity and they are plannning on collecting another payment on the 24th. When you phone their customer service (who tries to be friendly but do not really solve any of your problems) to ask for the refund, was told that they will process a refund once the direct debit payment appears on the energy account, however the direct debit payment was made on Friday 7th June and up until today, there are no signs of the direct debit payment being credited into my energy account. I have never heard of a direct debit payment being delayed for 3 working days ever.

Spark are obviously witholding the direct deibt money that they have received on Fiday 7th June and have once again resorted to sneaky methods to delay applying the payment to the right account so they can hold on to money that they are not entitled to. If you are thinking of switching to their direct debit to get your deposit back, then think again. Going to be moving supplier after this bloody mess they put me through. Cannot even process a simple deposit refund (which is scandalous in the first place - only ppl with bad credit history pays deposit).

Benight

Danny2 wrote: »

I switched to direct debit and asked them to refund me the deposit they sneakily collected back into my bank account and guess what....Spark went and credited my energy account with the deposit that was due to be refunded into my bank account. This is extremely ridicuolus showing that they are desperate to hold on to the money that they are not even entitled to. They have taken a direct debit at the same time and now I have paid over £170 into stupid Spark Energy's bank account even though I have not even consumed the electricity and they are plannning on collecting another payment on the 24th. When you phone their customer service (who tries to be friendly but do not really solve any of your problems) to ask for the refund, was told that they will process a refund once the direct debit payment appears on the energy account, however the direct debit payment was made on Friday 7th June and up until today, there are no signs of the direct debit payment being credited into my energy account. I have never heard of a direct debit payment being delayed for 3 working days ever.

Spark are obviously witholding the direct deibt money that they have received on Fiday 7th June and have once again resorted to sneaky methods to delay applying the payment to the right account so they can hold on to money that they are not entitled to. If you are thinking of switching to their direct debit to get your deposit back, then think again. Going to be moving supplier after this bloody mess they put me through. Cannot even process a simple deposit refund (which is scandalous in the first place - only ppl with bad credit history pays deposit).

I'm sorry, but I am struggling to understand your post

If, say you were reclaiming £100 accrued credit on your account, and the supplier has credited that £100 to your account rather than repaid it, then your accoumt would now be £200 in credit

Or does your account show, say a £100 debit to reflect the refund, and then a £100 credit?

Then you suggest there was a DD collection on the 7th of this month and a further collection due on the 24th. Why?

If you only paid the money last Friday, it's unsurprsing that they have not refunded you this money by the the following Tuesday. :cool:

More information please. Visibility of your latest statement may also assist.

In the meantime, allow me to extend a warm welcome to you a a brand new user

zengravy

I desperately need some help with an issue with Spark. My elderly disabled mum moved to a new house in March 2019. She tried to get her own supplier (Eon) to take over the energy supply to the property but this was blocked by Spark. Two weeks later she received a bill from Spark addressed to 'The Bill Payer', for over £400. We contacted Spark to say that they needed to allow us to switch and that my mum is the new owner of the house, and that we had no contract with Spark and that we had no intention of starting one. They refused and said the only way they'd allow my mum to switch is if she started an account with them, and then cancelled it. However, in my previous dealings with Spark (when I was renting a property from Bridgfords and Spark were 'assigned' to me by the lettings agent), it took six months to switch from Spark to my preferred supplier - six months of high prices - which my mum cannot afford. We also have no intention of starting anything with Spark, in fact we're trying to avoid them like the plague. Is it really their policy that, even though we don't have a contract or an account of any description with them, in order for them to allow my mum to use her own supplier we have to start an account with them? Really? I know a trap when I see one! It's disgraceful. In the meantime, the clock just ticks away and my mum is being charged through-the-roof prices for a supply she didn't ask for, she doesn't want and, it appears she can't escape from, except by getting further into a trap set by Spark. She's almost totally blind, disabled, in her late 70s, and not especially tech-savvy. She's just moved house to allow her to simplify her life and instead she gets stress, fear and the very real chance of this going to bailiffs if she doesn't comply with Spark's appalling demands. Surely this can't be legal? Customer services do NOTHING except repeat their demands. They haven't even read the emails I've sent - after two months of explaining that she owns the house, they're still asking to see a tenancy agreement to prove she rents it. They still begin every email with 'Congratulations for choosing Spark!'. It just adds insult to injury. How can she get out of a contract she's not in to begin with? It's not her debt, she has no account. It's not her job to chase Spark's incompetence. She's a blind, disabled, vulnerable old lady. I'm absolutely livid. When will Spark stop this harassment? It needs to be stopped NOW.

brewerdave

zengravy wrote: »

I desperately need some help with an issue with Spark. My elderly disabled mum moved to a new house in March 2019. She tried to get her own supplier (Eon) to take over the energy supply to the property but this was blocked by Spark. Two weeks later she received a bill from Spark addressed to 'The Bill Payer', for over £400. We contacted Spark to say that they needed to allow us to switch and that my mum is the new owner of the house, and that we had no contract with Spark and that we had no intention of starting one. They refused and said the only way they'd allow my mum to switch is if she started an account with them, and then cancelled.

Unfortunately ,that is the way that the Utility industry operates in the UK. When you move into a new property, you are a "deemed" customer of the existing supplier, usually on their standard variable tariff.The alternative would be to disconnect supply when someone leaves a property. So you have to provide the deemed supplier with your meter reads on day 1 and set up an account. ONCE the account is running ,then you can switch to another supplier.:)

Former Spark Representative

Hi zengravy

Sorry to hear you're unhappy.

If we were already the supplier at the property when your Mum moved in, then we're right to send correspondence to the property, and to ask for payment for any usage during the time that we've supplied her at the property.

When a new tenant/owner takes responsibility of a property, they enter a "deemed" contract with the existing energy supplier, and they need to set up an account with that supplier. Then, the tenant/homeowner can either choose a tariff with Spark Energy, or they can move to another supplier.

As your Mum has received bills addressed to "The Bill Payer" it sounds like we've not been given her details, and I'd also assume that her bills are estimated, as we won't have been receiving meter readings in order to bill her accurately.

Without details of your own Spark account, I can't give specifics about the transfer issues you had, other than to say that the transfer date is chosen by the new supplier. The only thing that would generally delay a transfer is if the new supplier was delayed in contacting us or if there was an overdue debt which hadn't been paid.

Your Mum won't be getting charged over the odds for her usage, as when someone moves into a property supplied by Spark Energy, they join our flexible Move-In Saver tariff. The Move-In Saver tariff is cheaper on average than the Standard Variable Tariff prices offered by the Big 6.

The way this works is that we compare the prices of our Move-in Saver tariff with the average of the standard variable tariff prices (SVT prices) of the Big Six energy suppliers – SSE, EDF Energy, Scottish Power, E.ON, npower, and British Gas.

The SVT price is the unit price that any new customer in a property would be moved onto, until they either chose a fixed rate tariff with the existing supplier, or chose a fixed rate tariff with another supplier.

In order for us to make sure your Mum's bills are correct, we would need you to contact us with a Letter of Authority if you're dealing with your Mum's affairs, or if she's able to give her authorisation for you to deal with her account over the phone, then that would be fine too. We need a copy of her tenancy agreement to confirm the date that she became responsible for the property, and we need confirmation of her move in meter readings and up to date meter readings, so that we can cancel off the bill payer bill and make sure that she's being charged only for what she's used.

Feel free to contact us using the email address given in my profile, and we'll be happy to help.

Kind regards

Jenny

Former Spark Representative

Hi Danny2

Sorry to hear you're not happy.

We contacted all customers via bill insert to explain how the deposit for non-Direct Debit customers would work. Sorry if you've not received it.

As the deposit is held on your transaction history, the credit would be released to your transaction history balance, rather than being sent straight to your bank account. This is because the deposit would be used towards any potential debt on your account.

If you have a credit on your account based on your most recent bill created with up to date readings, then we can arrange a refund for you.

Feel free to drop us an email to the address given in my profile, and we can take a look at this for you.

Kind regards

Jenny

Trees_R_Us

zengravy wrote: »

I desperately need some help with an issue with Spark. My elderly disabled mum moved to a new house in March 2019. She tried to get her own supplier (Eon) to take over the energy supply to the property but this was blocked by Spark. Two weeks later she received a bill from Spark addressed to 'The Bill Payer', for over £400. We contacted Spark to say that they needed to allow us to switch and that my mum is the new owner of the house, and that we had no contract with Spark and that we had no intention of starting one. They refused and said the only way they'd allow my mum to switch is if she started an account with them, and then cancelled it. ....

Whose electricity (and possibly gas) did your blind, disabled, vulnerable, elderly mum and you think you were using during the period until she called the supplier? :huh:

Former Spark Representative

Hi zengravy

Please see my response above which outlines our position, and which confirms how to contact us so that we can help you.

Please feel free to get in touch.

Kind regards

Jenny
Customer Relations Team

Danny2

Benight.... the deposit that Spark sneaked was based on the bill for the month of November, so it will different for everyone. Mine was around £90 and they took a further £86 from the Direct Debit. I did make a mistake and they owe me £90 rather than £170.:o



I switched to Direct Debit around the 20th May and asked for a refund of my deposit on the 24th. When I spoke to their cust service, was assured it will be credited back to my bank account within 14 days. It did not and went into my Spark energy account instead. They now claim it is because there was an outstanding balance on it, obviously it has never been pointed out by April who I spoke to on the 24th of May. What is annoying, is that there is already a direct debit pymt due to be collected on the 7th June to cover the balance outstanding, therefore to use my deposit be used to cover that balance outstanding on the 6th June makes no sense at all and would mean the same thing as me paying the deposit back into Spark energy's account for energy I have not even used. Spark or whoever that has applied the payment know full well what they are doing obviously --- to keep your money with them at all costs. Now I am back to square one. No refund of deposit and deposit still being held in Spark energy's account.



Called cust service again today and was told a refund has been processed and I have to wait another 14 days, which is different from what Jenny is saying "If you have a credit on your account based on your most recent bill created with up to date readings, then we can arrange a refund for you". I did not provide any up to date meter reading and was assured by their cust service today that I will be getting the refund on the credit balance that I hold on my Spark Energy account into my bank account within the next 14 days which is an awfully long time to wait for a refund btw. They claim it's the banking systems. Even the cheques that my grandfather uses do not take that long to clear. I guess I will have to waste another 14 days and see if Spark are actually are capable for keeping their promises for once. Failing that, I will just do an indemnity claim on the direct debit payment that they are not entitled to and tell Spark to jog on. I have already wasted enough time dealing with them.