Energy Ombudsman - closed with no contact?

Via

I opened a complaint against Spark Energy with the ombudsman at the start of the month following a demand for money I did not owe, after switching energy supplier I received a final bill of £160, my £285 direct debit (hence switch!) was taken a few days later, after contacting them to request refund of credit I suddenly got a demand from them wanting £270.


Despite trying to engage with them emails where ignored and then when they did respond got a standard "the bill is correct" message so opened complaint with ombudsman.



I received an email from the ombudsman on 5th saying "The company has contacted us to query the acceptance of your complaint. We are currently reviewing this to check it is a complaint that we can help you with. Please select View case to see the update."


I have not received any further communication and today thought I would check so logged in to view case and it shows as "Case closed - Dispute accepted". No further details are added anywhere. I don't know if the "Dispute accepted" refers to my complaint or to Spark's query regarding the acceptance. I have sent a message to the ombudsman but was wondering if anyone here would know?

SnowTiger

You should make it clear to Spark Energy you're making a complaint.

You should then give them time to investigate.

If after eight weeks you're not happy with their response, or they fail you respond, you can take your complaint to the Ombudsman Service.

Sometimes an energy company will send a 'deadlock letter', which means you can take your complaint to the Ombudsman Service sooner.

My guess: Spark Energy has told the Ombudsman Service you haven't made a formal complaint or you haven't given them enough time to investigate.

Benight

Via wrote: »

I opened a complaint against Spark Energy with the ombudsman at the start of the month following a demand for money I did not owe, after switching energy supplier I received a final bill of £160, my £285 direct debit (hence switch!) was taken a few days later, after contacting them to request refund of credit I suddenly got a demand from them wanting £270.


Despite trying to engage with them emails where ignored and then when they did respond got a standard "the bill is correct" message so opened complaint with ombudsman.



I received an email from the ombudsman on 5th saying "The company has contacted us to query the acceptance of your complaint. We are currently reviewing this to check it is a complaint that we can help you with. Please select View case to see the update."


I have not received any further communication and today thought I would check so logged in to view case and it shows as "Case closed - Dispute accepted". No further details are added anywhere. I don't know if the "Dispute accepted" refers to my complaint or to Spark's query regarding the acceptance. I have sent a message to the ombudsman but was wondering if anyone here would know?

You need to follow this
https://sparkenergy.co.uk/complaints

The ombudsman won't assist you in your complaint unless and until you have. As you have discovered, they check with the supplier ...

Cardew

Much as many of us think that complaining to the Energy Ombudsman is a waste of time, their role is not to sort out disputes between company and customer unless the complaint has been fully investigated and there is no agreement.

Former Spark Representative

Hi Via

Sorry to hear you've had cause to make a complaint.

You've been given good advice here. The Energy Ombudsman allows us eight weeks to resolve a complaint, from the date the dissatisfaction was first raised with the company, so if a customer takes a complaint to the Energy Ombudsman when we're still within that timescale then we'll dispute it.

Feel free to contact us using the details given on my profile, you just need to confirm your full name along with your supply address and phone number, and we'll gladly help you sort things out.

If we can't agree on a resolution, we'd then send you a deadlock letter, but I'd hope we can resolve this for you in-house.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Kind regards

Jenny
Customer Relations Team