Being Chased for Arrears on Account Which Is Not Mine

[tersecol]

At the beginning of January I got a letter from Spark Energy telling me my arrears had been passed to their legal department. An account number was quoted.

Now, I've never had an account with Spark Energy and so I tried to phone and tell them that. However, they wanted me to pass the security check before they would discuss "my" account. So I said that they could't possibly have my credentials so there was no way I could do that and there was no way I was going to give them mine. Conversation ended.

Since then I've had letters from BW Legal (who I notice are mentioned often in this forum) threatening me with CCJs and all the usual stuff. I emailed them copies of my electric bills scattered across this last couple of years - I don;t know when these arrears happened so I can't really do much more.

They emailed me back saying that they would like to verify my identify and that I should reply with my details including my date of birth. I replied with:

Since you do not have that information it can’t be used to validate my credentials – I reiterate “I do not have and have never had an account with Spark Energy Supply Ltd.”
I have supplied you with reasonable information which exceeds any legal requirement. I will be glad to use this email chain as evidence in court if required.
Goodbye.

However, I've just had a call from them and again they wanted my date of birth etc. They are starting to get on my nerves .

Does anyone know how I can get them to desist?

Much appreciated if you have read this far.

Col

[nemesis45]

Re: Being Chased for Arrears on Account Which Is Not Mine

Good afternoon, Welcome to LB,

Do you have bills that cover the time that it's claimed you were a customer of Spark?

If so send copies of the bills together with a Formal Complaint to Spark and copied to BW.
Get the name of the MD/ CEO of Spark and address the complaint to that person.
I suspect that customer (dis)service are just keeping to the company script and have
no authority to act and can't be bothered to pass on your problem to someone in authority.

Chris Gauld is the CEO,

nem

[tersecol]

Re: Being Chased for Arrears on Account Which Is Not Mine

The CAB have a template at https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/co...ergy-supplier/

Does that look reasonable?

[Kati]

Re: Being Chased for Arrears on Account Which Is Not Mine

Get the name of the MD/ CEO of Spark and address the complaint to that person.

http://www.ceoemail.com/s.php?id=b-7...20Energy%20CEO

Spark Energy
Mr Chris Gauld CEO

Email chris.gauld@sparkenergy.co.uk
Website http://www.sparkenergy.co.uk

xx

[tersecol]

Re: Being Chased for Arrears on Account Which Is Not Mine

Thanks for that. I was looking at Company House, but they just list "Officers".

I'll let you know how I get on.

[nemesis45]

Re: Being Chased for Arrears on Account Which Is Not Mine

The CAB have a template at https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/co...ergy-supplier/

Does that look reasonable?

Not really suitable for situation try this and amend to suit.

Spark


Date:

Ref: Alleged Arrears

Formal Complaint:

Dear Mr Gauld,

I have recently been receiving accounts from Spark Energy and have a numerous conversations with your customer service personnel who quite frankly fail to understand my problem.

As I am not now nor ever have been a customer of Spark Energy , what is the point of your staff asking to answer " security " questions when they have just been informed that I am not a customer of your company.

To add insult to injury this matter has been passed to a form of solicitors instructed by Spark Energy and they continue to make threats of court action, the level of contact is now more than unreasonable and must cease as it amounts to harassment.

I reiterate I am not nor ever have been a customer of Spark Energy and do not owe your company any money.

I require you as CEO Mr Gauld to fully investigate the conduct of your staff and the serious lack of understanding of what is a relatively simple matter to resolve.

Sparky Energy has caused untold stress and anxiety by pursuing me for a debt that is not mine and employing solicitors to threaten court action.

I am fully aware that a Formal Complaint allows the recipient 56 days to investigate and respond, however given the seriousness of this complaint I would expect a prompt resolution, including an apology and an offer of redress for the stress, anxiety, and time I have taken to attempt resolution.

Yours etc.

Send by signed for post, check date delivered.

Amend as you wish send any bills you have to show who your supplier is.

nem

[tersecol]

Re: Being Chased for Arrears on Account Which Is Not Mine

This is really excellent. Thanks very much for your advice and time.

[tersecol]

Re: Being Chased for Arrears on Account Which Is Not Mine

I've heard back from Spark which although it offers to close the account, write off the debt and send me £50 recompense, it still makes it obvious that they think that the debt was mine and I'm lying. What should I do - I don't want to have to lie about a debt just to make this go away. Should I write to the Ombudsman?

The letter is posted below with some personal stuff removed lest I get sued.

I'm writing in response to the letter you sentto Chris Gauld, dated 15thMarch 2016. We received the letter today.

Chris has asked me to respond on his behalf and to make sure that [ sort out the problem that you're currently having.

First[y, I wanted to confirm that as we've not re-billed you for the balance due on your account for over a year, that we can write the balance off in full as it falls under the guidelines of the Back Billing Code. The Back Billing Code is a voluntary code of practice which most energy companies use in situations like this.

The balance that we have billed you for is valid, as we did supply you for the duration of your tenancy, but the account was not handled as well as we'd have expected so I felt it was better to write it off.

The account was updated with your name because you contacted us on 11^th December 2012 to confirm that you were the Landlord's brother and to confirm that you'd be living in the property. You also confirmed that the previous tenants were taken to court to make sure they left the property.

On 28th January 2013 you contacted us to set up a Direct Debit. The Direct Debit instruction is for a bank account in your name. The Direct Debit failed because the bank account type did not allow for a Direct Debit. We weren't able to reinstate the Direct Debit agreement because we didn't have any contact details for you.

There was no other contact from you during the tenancy, but from our point of view you were aware that we were your supplier, and we'd have expected to hear from you at some point over your tenancy as we billed you regularly during your time there. We billed you on the following dates:

[excluded]

Your final bill was generated just a few days after we were notified that you had moved out, but as we didn't have a forwarding address to start with, we had to send bills to the property that you'd moved from. We believed that because the landlord was your brother that the bills would hopefully have been passed on. We were made aware you had moved out because the new tenant contacted us, meaning we couldn't ask you for a forwarding address, so I don't think that we've acted incorrectly in the circumstances as it's usually up to a tenant to contact their energy supplier when moving address and tenants will normally expect to pay a final bill after they move.

Your account was eventually passed to our Collections team, at some point we've had your forwarding address confirmed, most likely by a Credit Reference Agency. That's why we've then started to contact you again regarding the balance on your account.

It's normal for us to ask security questions during a-call, to make sure-that-we're speaking to the right person, and if they had been answered we would have been able to assist you. I haven't been able to see any note of conversations with Spark Energy staff other than those dating back to 2013, so it may be that you've spoken to BW Legal rather than directly with Spark Energy. BW Legal do have the ability to come back to us with queries, but I can't see that they've done so. If you feel that you have spoken directly to Spark, it would help to know dates, times, and the number you called from so that we can locate any calls on our system.

I feel that up to the point that your account was referred to BW Legal, that we didn't act incorrectly, as you were aware that we were your supplier and you had been in contact with us.

As I've said above we'd have expected to hear from you when you received our bills, or when you'd moved out, but there's no note of any contact after the calls I've mentioned above. I am sorry for any concern caused by the contact from BW Legal, as I do appreciate that it's not ideal to have referred the balance for collection so long after the bill generation date, and it's not typical of how we operate. Ifeel that we should have picked this up at the time and used the Back Billing Code to write off the balance.

I feel that our offer of writing off the full balance, effectively meaning you had free gas and electricity for the bill period, is the correct way to compensate you for the shortfall in service mentioned above.

We don't compensate for the value a customer puts on their time spent dealing with a complaint (although we do understand that your time is valuable), but I do appreciate that it's never nice to receive contact from a Debt Collection Agency, so I'd be happy to offer a good will gesture of £50.00 to settle the complaint.

BW Legal have been asked to close your account, so any contact from them in the next couple of days can be ignored, or you can feel free to refer them back to Spark Energy giving my name if needed.

The write off has already been requested, so if you could confirm that you're happy for us to make payment of the good will gesture, then I can get that arranged for you.

If it's quicker to respond to me by email, then I'm happy for you to contact me using the email address below.


Warm regards

Jenny Veitch

Customer Relations Manager

Thanks for any help

Col

[nemesis45]

Re: Being Chased for Arrears on Account Which Is Not Mine

Good afternoon COl.

I think their offer is fair, obviously I cannot comment on what was said or done at the times they quote.

nem

[tersecol]

Re: Being Chased for Arrears on Account Which Is Not Mine

But does acceptance of the money imply that I accept the debt was originally mine? and could that not therefore impact my credit record? - which is bad enough already.

I reiterate that I am not the person (or his brother) that is mentioned in this letter. They have pulled my name from the ether.

Col

[nemesis45]

Re: Being Chased for Arrears on Account Which Is Not Mine

But does acceptance of the money imply that I accept the debt was originally mine? and could that not therefore impact my credit record? - which is bad enough already.

I reiterate that I am not the person (or his brother) that is mentioned in this letter. They have pulled my name from the ether.

Col

Has the default entry been removed? If so there's no way this can impact on credit rating etc.
You have formally denied any liability and had an offer of compensation.
This I suspect is Sparks " Final Response" letter leaving you open to make complaints to regulatory bodies or take court action (not recommended)


nem

[tersecol]

Re: Being Chased for Arrears on Account Which Is Not Mine

Thanks for the advice. I'll take the £50 and say no more.

Much appreciated.

Col

[nemesis45]

Re: Being Chased for Arrears on Account Which Is Not Mine

Thanks for the advice. I'll take the £50 and say no more.

Much appreciated.

Col

OK Col!
nem