Spark Energy - complaint advice

j0nd0e

Hello,

This is my first post in these forums, but I wanted to ask for the opinion of people more experienced in Energy providers and the complaints process than me. I have had real issues with Spark Energy and submitted a complaint to the Ombudsman. Spark came back and offered me £100 in compensation - what I want to know is whether that is reasonable - I have no real benchmark for what the typical compensation is for this sort of behaviour. I’ve copied in the complaint I submitted below to give you some background;

I was allocated a Spark account when I first moved into my new property. This was mandated by my letting agent. The first communication from Spark suggested that I had a prepayment meter - this seemed unusual as my flat doesn't have one. 

I followed up with Spark (this was in November), who explained that they believed the meters were incorrectly assigned on the national database, and that my address had been allocated the meters from the downstairs flat (I live on the top floor of a split level flat converted house).

I spoke to Spark on numerous occasions, requesting that they resolve this issue - I was given various excuses, including that they had to deal with a third party that can take time to change meter allocation, that they needed proof of my address from a council tax bill and others. 

Throughout this time, despite knowing that there was an error on the account, they continued to increase charges on my account. At this point, I had identified my actual supplier (EDF) and was paying a monthly direct debit to them. 

I was beginning to receive around 4-5 communications from Spark per day telling me my bill was overdue - e-mails, text messages and voicemails left on my mobile. Every person I spoke to on the phone promised to put the account on hold as they knew the  bill was in error but this was never done. 

In late January, I started to receive communications from a debt collection agency - at this point I was clearly seriously concerned about impact to my credit rating and wider finances, including potential legal issues. I spoke to my letting agent, and at this point it became clear what had happened;

The agent had only provided the door number to Spark when they signed me up for an account, not the flat number - I confirmed this by reviewing the e-mail they had sent them. Rather than checking at Spark when they realised there were two flats there, they guessed, and allocated my account to the downstairs flat (I confirmed this by reviewing early correspondence and seeing that it had the downstairs flat address with my name). This was pretty staggering really - not great from my letting agent, but incompetent from Spark to essentially guess which one of the addresses was correct.

The letting agent stepped in, and assured me the matter had been resolved. I have stopped receiving chasers from Spark directly, but last week received a final chaser from the debt collection agency who are threatening to turn up at my property and reference my case for action through the courts. 

To anyone who’s made it this far - thank you! The debt collection agency were eventually called off (the above is text from my submission to the Ombudsman). I would really appreciate any feedback on the compensation they’ve offered. I essentially just want to make sure I’m accepting an offer that is reasonable. 

Thanks,

Jon 

JJ_Egan

What are your losses ??

Gerry1

If it's been settled and you're not out of pocket, take the money and run.  It's unlikely that the Ombudsman will increase the £100 offer if it's only for aggro.  You could always tell Spark that you'll settle for £150, and see whether they take the bait !

Essmum

As you've suffered no financial loss you are lucky they offered £100..some of the blame there does lie with the letting agent.
I would take the £100 and move on.