I regularly check suppliers to make sure that I am receiving value for money. Last year after being with the same energy supplier for several years I found a deal with Spark Energy that could potentially save me over £150 per year. And we would also get a free smart meter. I checked online reviews which were not always great, but to be honest people post reviews (like I am doing) when companies do not perform well, rather than praising them when things are good. We signed up. The transition went well but it was all downhill from there.
Until you sign up you have no idea what your monthly payments are going to be. I was previously paying £85 per month for gas and electricity. Spark wanted £103 per month. It was supposed to save us money. We queried it and their answer was that it was based on "standard usage" of similar size property but they would review it when we get our first bill.
No smart meter. Their response was they were not doing that offer anymore.
We gave them 2 online meter readings and after 7 months had still not had one bill or could see online what our actual usage was. Contacted them and eventually they allowed us to view bill/usage. We were in credit by around £140. No surprise there, but would they reduce our monthly direct debit, not a chance, the reason, winter was coming up and bills would go up.
In the autumn we reviewed both my parents and our energy usage and we discovered that a good deal was to be had with another supplier so we organised a change. At this point we had been with Spark for 11 months and had only seen one bill and no promised review of payment. Our supplier changed on 25th November. My parents changed 5 days earlier. within a week my parents had received their final bill and a refund of overpayments. (This isn't really relevant - just to compare companies). On the day of change over I gave both Spark and my new supplier my meter readings as requested.
I expected a final bill, but it never came. I contacted Spark on 3 occasions asking for a final bill and a refund and eventually received a reply stating that it could take up to 28 days to receive it. I finally got the final bill on 12th January which said that I was nearly £400 in credit. At the same time I got an email stating that they would pay the credit in to my bank account but that it could take up to 28 days. Well as of todays date (13th February) I have still not received my refund.
I am really annoyed that they have had my money for this amount of time. Although I am partly at fault for allowing them to do it and for not believing the online reviews that I read before signing up with them.
Not looking for any answers really. Just wanted to rant and let other people know what sort of company they are.