Spark Energy Gas and Electricity

I was skeptical at first with a Spark man at my door. However, what I found,since I have signed up for Spark in July, have been nothing but savings on my bill. I don't know if all of you are reading your bills right, but I save an average of $10 a month. I am thinking these complaints are coming from competitors of Spark. I have been very happy since I am still a PSE&G customer receiving the same exact service as before.

I worked for them for two days. I couldn't handle it. I was not interviewed, was told nothing about their company. They threw me on a phone and computer and the calls began. My job was to get your account numbers no matter what. I knew there was something fishy. People, if you really want to save money, go to ComEd's website, click customer service, then click on rates, then customer choice, and provider list. There you can view the cheapest rates As low as 0.068. Yes, that is a lot less then what they are charging you.

Luckily, I found out about this horrible thing they are doing before I continued more in their company. If they keep calling, just say your rate is as low as the one above. They can't beat that and the computers will stop dialing your phone. I'm sorry for those of you that where talked into this. I just wish everyone else who works there would care more about doing right than just care about getting paid.

Overall experience: not one, but zero stars. I signed up my business and my residence for their gas supply. I was guaranteed an 8% savings for 2 months and competitive rates thereafter with no contract or cancellation fee. I was told on the phone that their rate would be either 2% or .02 cents per therm, lower than Nicor's after the first 2 months. After 2 months, instead of being lower or even competitive, their rate was 80% higher than Nicor for both my business and residence. I cancelled both but it took another 2 months to have the supply switched back to Nicor. I short paid Spark according to Nicor's posted rates. Numerous mails, emails, and phone calls to them did nothing. They sent both accounts to collections. This has been a huge headache that has gone on for almost a year now. They are the most dishonest, inefficient company I have ever dealt with.

I actually had a really nice gentleman come to my door a couple of months ago. Now that I have seen my bill go down (kilowatt usage is extremely close last 3 months), I don't think a lot of these people understand how to read their bill. I'm sure, in most instances, they used more kilowatts and were too ignorant to use common sense. It is true ComEd works with suppliers who are able to purchase energy off the market cheaper. ComEd cannot make a profit off the purchase of electricity as they're deregulated. Hence, it doesn't matter to them if people get a supplier as it benefits Illinois' economy! Do research from experts and not from dumb citizens of people mad at the world about everything.

I had tried for the last 5 months to see if my bills went down. Now, I am drowning in Electric Fees. I was better off with just ComEd. This place is a scam. There is no saving money. I have ditched out more than $400.00 in electricity for the last 3 months and now, I owe another almost $300.00. I canceled today. Let's see if I get the confirmation. I'll tell you all, "don't do it!".

We never received the email. When we received the terms of agreement via regular mail, an early Termination fee of $100! When we called Spark Energy, they informed us that our gas utility request was rejected .They gave no real reason why, they also stated that the $100 fee will be waived. We then proceeded to tell them that we want to terminate now and requested a written transcript of the recorded conversation and some sort of letter confirming our cancellation of the utilities with no termination fee. We still have not received any documentation. Spark Energy is a scam.

A representative from SparkEnergy came to my door yesterday wanting to see my electric bill, saying he needed to check to make sure ComEd was giving me a discount. He said their company was a division of ComEd and this was a special program that everyone was supposed to be enrolled in. He had a binder with a "Xerox" copy of a ComEd bill stuck in the front which he kept pointing to. I told him if they were a division of ComEd then why didn't he have my billing information up in their system? He kept telling me that I don't understand, it must be done this way, and go get my bill. He stated that he was sent out by ComEd to check my bill and acted like I was wrong for not cooperating and giving him my bill. He said he HAD to do this for me and if not, I was being ripped off, so they had to do door-to-door to make sure everyone was getting their discount.

I told the guy I would call ComEd myself and make sure I was getting the discount and he said I couldn't and that only he could do it. I then pointed out his lies, but he kept telling me that I just don't understand and kept telling me to "Go and get your ComEd bill, now." I asked for a business card and he said he did not have one. A few minutes later another guy with the same hat and jacket came through the yard. Clearly he was trying to get my personal information off of my bill and trying to change my service over to theirs under the guise that it was a special program within ComEd.

A sparks energy sales person knocked on our door today. My boyfriend answered and allowed this sales person to convince him that by switching to their company, we would save money on our electricity bill. Lucky for me the bill is in my name and without me, switching is impossible.

I explained to my boyfriend that no one is ever going to come to our door offering to give us money and to tell the man no thank you. Instead, he gives the man my number! Now Spark Energy has called me 3 times within the last hour!

So I searched in Google "spark energy scam" and have read tons of complaints about how Spark Energy tricks people into switching to them only to overcharge them for service. They make harassing calls to people even when asked to not call anymore.

I have been receiving repeated, harassing telemarketing calls over the span of 6 months. I told them to put me on their "do not call list". The calls still continue.

I recently had Spark Energy as my electric service provider in Texas and my contract ended in March. My account was set up as an automatic debit from my checking account. I switched providers once my contract ended.

Now, some 6 months later, I get an email stating I owe $75. I called, and after 30 minutes of trying to "find out what is going on", I was told this was my last partial month payment. That they were simply late in sending it and I had auto debit so I do not need to worry. The invoice date was August 30 due on September 15. I received a letter 3 days later, it was from their collections department stating this was my final notice to pay my outstanding balance. It is quite disappointing to see, that due to Spark's own faulty bookkeeping, they then threaten their customers with collections, penalties and reporting to credit bureaus, for failure to pay bills that have not even been presented. I would not do business with this company again even if it offered rates 20% below their competitors. They obviously care little for their own customers and they run a relatively shoddy administrative division.

This company needs to be fined for the harassing calls I received from them. Why would you go with a company that won't let you get a word in edgewise and even though you tell them you're working, they still keep talking. I had to hang up on them because they were harassing me so much. They've called me more than 100 times in two months' time. This is harassment. Something needs to be done about this.

Despite being asked to stop multiple times now, the sales people from Spark Energy keep calling our office trying to sell their services, and some of them are very rude after being told we are not interested. I have personally asked them to take us off their calling list four times now, but they keep calling.

The representatives from Sparks Energy came by, they sold be a story on how cheap my bill would be and that they sold electricity at a cheaper rate. I kept asking how they could provide this and at what cost? They said that there was no hidden fees. First of all, I've been happy with ComEd. What can I say, they are the only providers, so I figured why not try Sparks.

First bill comes in the mail today. NOT HAPPY. Summer time is here and it's expected that electric bill are going to be higher. NOT double. I call spoke to a lady and they said that they are selling me a cheaper service, I then made her aware that that service is more expensive due to added cost, distribution fee, franchise fees, etc. Then she goes on and says that it is ComEd's fault to them not being able to come out and read out meters because of the severe storms we have been having. ComEd never reads our meter from home! They NEVER double my bill. 48hrs until my bill goes back to Comed.

Power companies are just as bad as the credit card companies and the banks with "special" fees. I have been with Spark Energy for 5 years and the cost has been great. My renewal came up and now they have started charging if you do not use enough power. With Spark, it is $8.99 extra a month if you do not use 1000 kwh within a billing cycle.

You hear on the media all the time, save power, turn stuff off. I have always been that way. And looking at my record with Spark, in 5 years I have never gone over 1000 kwh in a billing cycle. So now if I renew, I will be punished for being conservative with power. The sad thing is in looking for other power companies to change to, I have found a lot of them that charge you if you do not use a certain amount in a billing cycle.

How unfair is this. We are told to save, save, save, cut down on driving, cut down on water usage, cut down on power usage. Yet the power companies are making extra money if you do that by charging you extra. So now my goal is just to find one that has the lowest usage requirements and a low charge if I do not use it all. The government needs to look into this like they did the banks and credit card companies.

Three to four times a week, my family is being harassed on a regular basis by Sparks Energy services representatives, trying to sell us service electricity. They leave us messages on our answering machines and call us at all hours on both our home and office numbers. This is in spite of asking the Sparks Energy service representative, on the phone at the time, to put us on the do not call list, with an agreement / acknowledgement by the Sparks Energy service representative saying that this will take thirty-one days.

When they called recently, I've asked for a manger, Brenda (would not give her last name) and Rachel **, and get the run around from these folks as well, such as, when I asked, "Can I speak to your manager?" The response is, "I do not know his name" or "his first name is Michael, but I don't know his last" or "We'll remove you from our call list in its entirety." No luck though because in January 3, 2010, Monday morning, Sparks Energy service representative called again. Same routine!

This has been going on for about a year plus now ever, since we moved into our new home in July 2009. We have repeatedly requested from these Sparks Energy representative not to call us and put us on the do not call us list. Some Sparks Energy representative have gone as far to say, "We are not going to stop calling you until you hear what we have to say."

I can't believe they are allowed to lie to people just to get a sale then completely get away with it! Then when I cancelled, they said it takes a month to convert back to BGE so they are getting another month's worth of money out of me. Totally, disgusting, they are shameless scavengers and should be shut down or sued!

My electric bill more then doubled from my budget billing amount putting me in a terrible financial hardship since I am on a fixed income!

Ms J. called me and told me that this was a government program and that my electric bills would be lower than with Con Edison. She told me that if I did not like the program I could get out anytime without paying. When I found out that they were higher than Con Edison, I called and told them they deceived me. They told me I was under contract and if I quit before the end of the contract I would have to pay. I called Con Edison for a comparison of my latest bill and Con Edison would have been $106 cheaper. I even tried calling the women back to discuss this and she never returned my calls. They also did this to two other relatives of mine. I hope they will write to you and let you know. This is deception. Higher light bills than Con Edison and you would have to pay to get out of the contract. This is causing you loss of money.

Spark Energy Gas, please be aware that to contract #018556254307002, you have wrongfully charged me $18.83 as company called monthly customer service fee. Your company first called me to ask me to switch to your company from PGE as you can offer 20% discount fee on gas. The truth is not only you did not offer 20% discount, but you wrongfully charge around $5 monthly fee to me. Your deceptive business conduct is you ask client to switch to your company and never told client there is a monthly customer service fee and never get client agree on that. After couple of months switching, you then began to charge to client account monthly customer service fee. This is strictly a deceptive business conduct. Please stop sending collection letter to me immediately and I am sending this complaint letter to Consumer Affairs Board.

I was not given a bill for 6 months. Then I was sent a bill for $249.03. Before the due date of the bill I was sent a 2nd bill for $379.97. This included the prior bill of $249.03. Before the 2nd bill was due (after I paid the first bill), I was contacted and was told that I was late with my bill. I asked why I was late as it wasn't due yet. I was not allowed to speak with a manager and the person said that she would have to send my complaint to another party.

When asked if I could speak with that person I was told that was not company policy. Now I have looked them up on the internet and it seems that they routinely don't send bills monthly and they add on the last months bill onto this month's bill even though it has been paid. I am afraid that this is happening to me and I am going to keep getting higher and higher bills each month. I want out of this contract and I am not sure even if I can get out of it without having to pay lots of money.