Spark Energy

They came by asking me to lock in at a «lower» rate than what I had with PG&E, what they didn’t tell me was that PG&E had just went to their summer rates, a fact that wasn’t reflected on the current bill that they had me bring up so they could sell me on the benefits of the service, after doing some additional homework after the salesman left, came to the conclusion that my $ 40 PG&E bill would easily be $ 50 to $ 60 a month when you tag in the monthly service fee spark adds on and the fact that PG&E still charges almost a $ 10 gas line fee. I called PG&E and asked that if Spark called to switch me over that they prevent the transition, and then the next day called spark’s service number. I was told that they couldn’t do anything about cancelling my service until after it had been activated and I had received my first bill from them, when I told the crook on the phone that I’d already told PG&E to block their takeover of my gas service and PG&E had told me they could do that, suddenly the spark conman knew exactly how to cancel my account before it became active.
I didn’t get into the bad situation that a lot of the other reviewers did, as far as they didn’t actually succeed in conning me, but I’d say get out before you find out the hard way, they prey on the uneducated and the unaware, luckily I was cautious enough to check the numbers.
Update: Just got a letter from them in the mail letting me know that my account is now activated, after I was told over the phone that they had cancelled my application for «service», looks like I’m not out of the woodwork just yet. Calling PG&E again to make sure they don’t allow Spark to hostilely takeover my account

I am not a fan of writing a bad review, but here it goes. The guy shows up at my door offering better rates and lower gas prices. Appeared to be nice enough. I assumed that my bill would be $ 5-​$ 10 as my gas bill has never been over $ 30 in al the years I have been at my residence. Welp, what I got was a year of $ 60-​$ 100 bills!!! some months we were away on winter trips, and I never received anything less than $ 70. About two month before my contract was due to expire I received a notice in the mail saying they were going to put my account on a month to month variable. I forgot to respond, honestly forgetting about the letter. Then a month before I received a call offering a «deal» at 4.72. When I addressed my concerns, the representative regarding the high price she stated that they charge low flat rate but the gas company still charges their fees :(. So my question was why to get them if I am not saving money in the end. She says «well you are still saving on the actual gas itself.»
My suggestion to anyone who is offered this service it is not worth it. Especially when you have to move.
The only plus I have was that customer services were friendly and full of energy…

Spark Energy is nothing but a scam. I had a girl come knock on my door saying she was working with PG&E and told me the some crap about PG&E raising their summer rates and she was there to sign me up for a program to save me money. She something about it being a $ 4.95 flat rate per month and plus 69 cents per therm. It took me halfway through the form she was filling out with my information on it before I realized it was a huge scam since the Sparks bill would be more than triple my monthly gas bill. When I demanded the form with my information with on it so I can mail the form in myself after I did more research first, she got very rude and said that the only way to sign up was to complete the form with her there. When I asked for a business card with her supervisor name and number on it, she said she wasn’t able to give me that information at all. That was the final red flag for me, so I demanded her to give me the form back again. She refused! It took maybe 5 minutes of me yelling at her to give it to me, she finally gave in and gave it to me.
IF ANYONE COMES TO YOUR DOOR SAYING THEY ARE WITH SPARK ENERGY, DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND SLAM YOUR DOOR IN THEIR FACE. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME ON THESE SCUMBAGS SCAMMERS.

So I was offered a Visa gift card and I took it. It was the amount that was owed back to me plus $ 20. Still going to be charged for a service I don’t want until 1 – 2 business cycles. This policy needs to be changed to «effective immediately». I did appreciate Luis contacting me and he says he going to continue to watch my account to make sure it’s charged correctly until it’s canceled. #sparkenergy @Sparkenergy/utility

Just a horrible and scandalous company. Im actually very surprised nobody sued the company. My family never signed up for this awful service and now they want yo charge us early termination fee $ 100. We moved and tried to change the billing address after 11 months, and their answer is they went ahead and cancelled our account and is forcing us to pay termination fee. AFTER 11 MONTHS!!! Which we waited to avoid the termination fee, and for something we never signed up for. After reading all of these reviews how they forced their service, i believe it to be true.

This company runs on marketing fraud.
Door to door sales man knocked on my parent-in-law’s house, and intentionally bamboozled them into signing for Spark Energy.
My parents-​in-​law do not speak English, so the salesman apparently took this to his advantaged, and promised them that their bills would be lower. They are on the care program, and do not benefit with Spark Energy. He is a swindler and needs to be terminated asap. He did not leave any paperwork.
This employee actions reflects the entire company’s image. The company lack honesty and integrity.

SCAM SCAM SCAM!!!
I wish I could give this company zero stars. I wish I could afford a lawyer to go after these people, but sadly I can’t because Spark Energy is taking all my money. I tried to cancel and was told I would not see it on my next bill. Sure enough, it was ON MY NEXT bill. Called again and was promised it would not be on my next bill and the last person I talked to was wrong in telling me it would not appear on this current bill. They promise a ‘fixed rate’ but that is only for the consumption of your energy, your regular provider will supply the fees for using the pipes or something ridiculous like that. I don’t care what they say, that are just double billing. I was paying a variable rate with PGE of maybe $ 1.00 to $ 1.30 per therm of energy. But now that PGE is billing per therm for delivery and Spark is billing me per therm for usage I am paying almost $ 3 per therm. DO NOT SIGN UP WITH THESE PEOPLE! Reporting to BBB.

(Reviewing as a customer in Chicago) Like many others, I would give this place negative stars if I could. This is a SCAM! They claim to send mail communicating changes to your account (like when you are done with your contract and they put you on a variable rate which means, in my case, your bills increase SIX TIMES (went from $ 60 on month to $ 396 the next) etc.) From the fast talking sales people to the incredibly unhelpful customer service, this has been the worst experience I have ever had as as customer. RUN away from Spark Energy, you will end up broke and kicked to the curb.

STAY AWAY. STAY AWAY. They only tell You the attractive part of the story (Low Prices) etc. Third month in a row my bill is $ 100 more then PG&E would have charged me. Cancelled everything with sparks and my bills became even higher. Called spark and they told me (Were not sure if someone explained this to You but we will still be charging You for 2 billing cycles since thats how it works) Hmm interesting I didn’t know that. Obviously they don’t give You any papers explaining anything except cancelation fees. Someone mentioned before and I agree they should be illegal and stop stealing money from people. My bill for Jan 2016 is $ 178. I Live in a 2 bedroom small duplex and this Lady on costumer service tells me that my bills are bigger then usual because its winter and we use more therms then Usually. Lady I have been paying PG&E 2 years prior to signing Up with Your shady gang of money burglars. I know my bills they are not $ 178 per month just for Gas! This is absurd! Unprofessional! Embarrassing Sparks Energy! Louis C. of sparks energy I see You have been actively replying to every negative 1 star review. Please answer my simple question. Why did 131 people gave a 1 star rating for Sparks Energy? Does that tell You anything?

Worst company ever!!! Received my bill from local PGE for $ 354. My gas billing was out of control. Contacted spark to cancel contract and was offered a lower rate, declined and said i was unhappy because bills have been higher but i was never able to cancel before. They responded back about my 354 bill and stated because my contract ended, the cam charge at the highest rates possible. Received my bill in ⁰¹⁄₂₀₁₆ for ¹²⁄₂₀₁₅. Not once was i contacted to be informed of that. They are huge scam!!! Stay far away!!!

**BEWARE**
Sparks representative knocked on my door on October 2015 promising me that if I signed up with Sparks .69 centers/​therm as third party. The representative even swore on his family’s life that it would stay at .69 cents/​therm… Dear God how I feel bad for his family members…
My bill skyrocketed after I signed up with Sparks. Please reject any offer you get from this 3^rd party and stay with your primary provider! You know it’s a crap company if they knock on your door begging you to sign up.

SCAM SCAM SCAM !!!
What they don’t tell you is you get double charged, I got a $ 92 charge from them on top of my monthly bill from PG&E. Paid 170 for one. don’t do it !!! I’m so upset. They tell you what you want to hear, even PG&E Rep said it!!!

Read their terms carefully and research their «therms» rate, Spark Energy charges double for gas procurement and a monthly fee. (basically; charging people twice the cost for gas provided by the local gas company and charging a monthly cost to do that. absurd!
Spark has expanded their business into California, targeting the ELDERLY into signing yearly agreements. The high pressure sales force is less than honest, which is why they impose a $ 100 early termination fee. This contract doubled my Great Aunt’s bills and she had to pay the extra money to be released from the contract!
Why isn’t this considered illegal? Shame on them.

I signed up for Spark based on my conversations with the company representative who knocked on our door. I was told that there will be a $ 4.95 fixed charge per month & the locked in rate of 69 cents/​therm. I agreed to the terms & signed up. In my next bill, the gas charges were in the name of Spark with the above said amounts based on my usage. But there was also a PGE Delivery charge for a similar amount. This was not communicated to me by the representative. I ended up paying both PGE & Spark for the same amount of gas consumption.
When I called Spark, they told me PGE are not supposed to be charging me for the delivery of gas. I called PGE & they explained that the gas is still being delivered to me using their lines & they will be charging me for it. One good thing is I caught this on the first bill from PGE after changing over to Spark. Spark allows you to cancel the contract within 30 days from your first bill. Else you would be charged $ 100 as an early termination fee. I ended up cancelling my contract with Spark but I wish I had read these reviews earlier. I would never have signed up for Spark.

This is the email I sent to Spark Energy customer service:
I need to know how to cancel your services. My (underage) daughter signed up on my behalf (without my knowledge or concent) while I was gone. She told me two reps carrying binders showed up on the front step while she was outside with the dog, saying they were from PG&E, wanting to lock in a lower rate before rates go up. She told me she tried to say no but they were very pushy and wouldn’t go away. (I told her that she should have called the police) She finally gave them my information just to get rid of them.
I decided to give SPARK ENERGY the benefit of the doubt, thinking maybe there will be a little savings on my bill. No such luck.
I am writing you in the hopes that you will make this right so we don’t have to involve the BBB, or anyone else, due to the shady way your employees get customers (victims)
Not to mention the strong arm tactics your salesmen used on a minor female home alone.
Please let me know what information you need from me, for you to correct this wrong.

A young woman rang my doorbell holding a binder of PG&E documents claiming that we can lower our rates as a deal to PG&E customers due to the San Bruno fires from a few years ago. The woman asked for our billing information. I complied (due to my lack of judgement from a long day at work, thinking it was a PG&E employee). I signed up only to find out all these things about Spark Energy and how it’s a scam that’ll cost you more than your PG&E bill normally is just to save a couple bucks per month. I wasn’t very educated in knowing that there’s such thing as a 3^rd party vendor for your utilities that’ll be billed through PG&E.
Here’s the most disturbing part. The account holder doesn’t even have to be present, anyone in your household can be authorized to make such a major change. I did call the very next day and a couple days later to request that my enrollment was canceled. I was told the enrollment hasn’t been entered in their system yet and they will note to not let it through. WELL, I just received a letter from PG&E informing me of the billing change with Spark Energy as my supplier. So in an essence, Spark Energy’s customer service completely lied to me over the phone and on top of that, the enrollment processed anyway. This is highly unethical and very unprofessional from Spark Energy. I’m extremely angry that I have to resolve this issue with PG&E AND Spark Energy before any erroneous charges are made to our bill.
Also, I called PG&E a couple weeks ago about this concern, they told me that PG&E would never ask for your billing information because they’d already have it in their system. Also, they would never go door to door requesting home owners to sign up for anything. If there were any billing changes or rate changes, they would always mail documents to you, not walk around door to door. The reps who replies to these negative reviews are trying to tell you they are a legitimate company. Yea, on paper they are, but all they’re doing here is exploiting legal regulation loopholes within the utilities industry to swindle your money. Then find a way to not be held accountable when they can’t do something as simple as cancel your enrollment after contacting them multiple times until they tell you, «whoops, too late! SUCKER!»

Signed up with Spark Energy in June and received a welcome letter on August 17. I felt like many other scams this was too good to be true and it is. I was quoted a fixed rate of 69.90 cents/​therm for 12 months but no mention of a $ 4.95 monthly fee well into an hour conversation at my front door?! The bill appears to be close to the same as PG&E or more but I don’t feel comfortable with continuing with this service or a businesses that omitted fees in this manner. Cancelled as of 10÷3÷15.
Spark Energy here’s the definition of SCAM, I believe your company personifies every bit of the definition. As you may be a legit business, it is a terrible business that I want no part of. Your cookie cutter response solidifies the poor image you’ve painted for your «company.» Businesses like yourself serve no purpose in society other than praying on the weak and misinformed.
A dishonest scheme; a fraud.
«an insurance scam»
synonyms: fraud, swindle, fraudulent scheme, racket, trick;
swindle.
«a guy that scams the elderly out of their savings»
synonyms: swindle, cheat, deceive, trick, dupe, hoodwink, double-​cross, gull; More

Twice someone from Spark Energy has come into my condo building, and twice we had to threaten to call the police to get them to leave. They sneak in the building behind others and lie stating they are subcontracted by Eversource. They aren’t. The second «representative» hurled a slew of insults and curses at me when he was asked to leave, after which point I started dialing the local police. Overly pushy scammers who lied about the rates (I called Eversource after the representative left and they were quoting half what the «rep» said I was paying.)
Update after a response from the company:
Your rep stated multiple times that they were subcontractors for Eversource (lie), that the prices would be lower (lie after checking with Eversource), and told me I had no right to ask them to leave the property of my condo building (lie). Everyone in our building is tired of it and we are now always asking reps to leave and when they refuse we either dial the police or get our neighbor who is an officer.

Chicago, IL area
If Unilocal allowed for zero or negative stars I’d give them.
First off, to anyone reading, don’t bother. If they come to your door kindly show them the closed side of it again.
Secondly they are fast talkers, I mean I’m a fast talker too, but I’ve never been had like this.
Thirdly they will tell you if you cancel your policy before the 1 year mark (at least for my gas for me) they will have to charge you an early termination fee. What they DO NOT say is if you cancel on the day it «may» take 2 – 3 billing cycles to return you to your suppliers account, which means you are out of their contact and now subject to their rate fluctuations. We got a bill for over $ 300 for the post contact rates as well as some «missing charges» (as it was explained to me on the phone when I called) from when we were in contract.
What I don’t understand is how they can take control of your account almost immediately but then take 2 – 3 months to release your account? But I guess that makes sense when you need your customers to pay the loss in profits you have from buying credits at a discounted rate by hosing them on off contract rates or threatening to charge them early termination fees.
If Spark was an early civilization they’d be the Vikings and they blood eagle their customers in the end.
Might seem like a good idea at first with their safety in numbers through credits bought and savings, but nay nay, you let the Vikings onto your land before keeping them repelled while afloat at sea and they will rape and pillage your checkbook.

I wish there were Negative Stars to Give! A representative convinced my father to sign up here in Baldwin Park, California to which they don’t even have Services in this area! It has been a nightmare since July 2014 to get a proper cancellation, We were charged on both my property and my fathers for a same day cancellation Which occurred in June 2014.
We never received SERVICE! Our Gas Company confirmed that no discounts could be made through SPARK ENERGY and that they don’t have service lines in our local area.
I was charged $ 34.99 and later asked to pay $ 134.00 and each time I received Confirmation numbers which did not exist in there systems ! Each call resulted in more problems which they had no clue to my previous cancellations. 12 Calls later and now in April 2015, We are sent to collections after being fed up and after PAYING the service fee we never had.
If you are a victim please submit a complaint to BBB​.ORG !