“ Since I received the email from Spark saying that it is time to renew my contract, I made a huge mistake by switching over to StarTex without realizing that my contract with Spark does not end until 4 days later. They charged me $250 for early termination. I called and emailed them several time but they just refuse to do anything to help minimizing this cost. StarTex even offered to help me by allowing me to come back to Spark without charging the early termination fee. Again Spark refused that offer as well. I have been a great customer by doing several referral for them for 6 years and this is the way that they treated their customers. I will not be the only customer that they lose. ”
“ i have been with spark for the past year or more im very pleased with my service, ever since the 1 day i was able to compare to my 1st bill and was able to see the discuont so iv'e had them ever since ”
“ i have been with spark for the past year or more im very pleased with my service, ever since the 1 day i was able to compare to my 1st bill and was able to see the discuont so iv'e had them ever since ”
“ These folks have very deceptive marketing. Watch your backs or you will be burned like I got burned. I signed up for a 12-month fixed rate plan. After a year it converts to a variable rate plan. No big deal, right? WRONG!! Their variable plan is now at .87 per term, about double that of the competition! What is even more interesting is that once I learned this I called them and pretended to be a new customer. When I asked about the price of the variable plan I was told .535 (still high, but not outrageous). When I told them I was an existing customer paying .87 the rep said he made a mistake on the quote. BALONEY! They got caught and now they're trying to cover their tracks. Those customers ending their 12 month guarantee should give Spark their 30 day notice and run away. This company hopes you will do nothing, and get socked. There are lots of reputable companies out there ... this is not one of them. ”
“
NO customer service at all..will never recommend
to family/friends ”
“ Signed up with them - rates increased from what I was paying utility.....called to cancel and got big run around.......had to call three times to get it done...NEVER AGAIN ! ! ”
“ Been with Spark since about 2007. No horror stories, no weird billing/meter issues. This seems like it should be a given, but it's not these days.Competitive rates, also enjoy the credit card auto pay - not everybody has that, you know. If you simply read and understand the difference between fixed and variable rate, are a person of average intelligence, etc., you should have no issues with Spark sign up and service.The one time i needed an email response for a question, I got a satisfactory answer in a day or 2. It seems they really cared.Been a happy camper. My only concern is that I think Spark's Residential service may be coming to a close for my Zip code (website only returns Commercial service hits now on my Zip). Hence I may need to find another provider that can give me *everything* Spark has given for the past years. Hard to do...One Co. might have good rates but no credit card auto pay. Another has cc auto pay but consumer horror stories... and so it goes. ”
“ I had to go to another provider (there are many other better options)since Spark has unreasonable surcharges for new customers. All I was doing was changing the name on the account. I lived in the house for 3 years, but still had to set it up as a new service under my name so they wanted to slap on the $8.99 monthly service fee if I don't use 1000kwh per month. Then when I tried to get their customer service to help change the cancellation request my wife sent in, I was told to 'hope' that the electricity is not turned off because the request takes 3 days to process. They didn't really even try to help, they just told me that things coundn't be done. This is what happens when a company is making too much money to care. ”
“
Prior to moving to Texas, I set up a six month
account with auto draft for reduced fixed
rates. When the contract expired, I signed a
new for a similar rate plan. Given the bill was
on auto draft and I'd yet to have a problem, I
didn't check the price per kilowatt hour after
the first new bill.
Recently, when I did, I noticed I'd been billed
nearly TRIPLE what the agreed upon rate was for
four months in a row. They were unwilling to
work with me on their error, given said bills
were already paid.
Service is being switched to a different
provider tomorrow morning.
I will go off the grid before I use them again. ”
“
I had service from this company for about a
year and everything was good up until 2 months
ago. Since then, I have cancelled their service
and gone with another company. It started out
great with my bill being about $40 for my first
month (I'm in an apartment). I was paying about
9.8 cents per kwh, which is good. Well 2 months
ago they knocked the rate up to 14 cents per
kwh with no explanation when asked for one. The
following month they knocked it up further to
17.8 cents per kwh. After talking to someone on
the phone, it appears that I was on a variable
rate plan and if you are on that plan, your
rate can go up at any time for any reason at
all and they dont have to let you know it
either. I immediately cancelled them. Buyer
beware. ”
“ Billing is the worst ever, they cant get it right, send you an email stating one thing and do another, NOT just once every other month. Sent all their customers today a disconnect notice that was an ERROR I cant wait till my contact is up and I can run away from here. ”
“
I've had Spark a couple years over the past
several and I like them very well. Their plans
were easy to understand, competitively priced, and
they had competent customer service, not that I
needed much. Their website has improved since the
last time I used them and they got auto-billing
set up right away. ”
“ I have been with Spark Energy for a long time. I don't even know how long. But they have worked with me on billing and I have even had an single individual work with me via email several times over email. Always very responsive and very helpful. I am currently comparing prices now that my contract is to expire with them on 10/13/11. I have noticed now that they are way down on the list on "Power to Choose" because they are higher than a significant amount of other copmanies. In the past they have always been consitently at the top because they had the lowest prices. I am disappointed that I will be leaving them. :( Who knows...I might regret it later and wish I had stayed with them. ”
“ No issues for 2 years. They charged my credit card once a month and sent me email statements about my bill. The web site was also well done and provided me all of the information that I needed. I would continue using them but they no longer have the best price. ”
“ I have been with Spark for over 5 years. Am guessing I have saved about $2000 comparing to other South texas providers. My mother saves over a hundred dollars a month on her electrical bill. ”
“ I have had spark for 2 years. I noticed if I renew that I have to pay $8.99 a month when I use less than 1000 kw. This would be 9 months out of the year. Why should I be penalized when I don't hog electricity and keep my house freezing, etc. Not sure who to switch to since I had no problem with their billing or service. ”
“ This is one of many Houston Retail Electric Providers (REP) that impose a minimum usage fee on homeowners. If you use 1000 kilowatt's or less per month you must pay this fee of $8.99 ($107.00 year). In a time when we all should be seeking to conserve energy this company is encouraging users to use more electric to avoid this fee. This fee amounts to, a fine for conserving energy. ”
“ We originally had a contract with the infamous Abacus. Abacus was so badly managed that they thankfully folded, selling our contract to Spark.Spark IS better than Abacus, I'll give it that. However, we're obviously being overcharged - 10.1c/kwh isn't terrible, until our 630sqft apartment somehow started using up over 900kwh per month - implying an average power draw of over a kilowatt! Including while we're sleeping, and AT WORK. Of course, conveniently for Spark, this sudden spike in energy usage began exactly when they started billing us.Now we're trying to switch providers, and they're being very reluctant about giving up our deposit. My wife paid the deposit originally to Abacus almost two years ago, and Spark acknowledges that it was transferred to them with our contract. However, they have no record of it - WE HAVE TO PROVIDE PROOF THAT WE PAID A DEPOSIT BEFORE THEY WILL RETURN IT. Maybe they should hire an accountant to keep track of that. Or maybe buy a copy of Excel. ”
“ Spark Energy is the best electricity company I've ever worked with. I've been with the large companies (Reliant & TXU), and the smaller companies (Yep), and Spark Energy beats them all. The big ones charge too much, and the smaller ones don't have enough customer service experience to help you when you need it, and can still be more expensive too.I'm probably saving $25 a month on my electricity bill with Spark, which definitely adds up! The customer service is local, and they actually work for the company too, so you're not talking to some outsourced company that can't actually make decisions.Their sign up process is a breeze, and you can't beat their auto-pay so you don't miss a payment (they even give you a discount for using it too, instead of charging you). They also have a referral program so that you can get $25, and they can get $25 too. All in all, you can't beat Spark Energy - I won't ever go anywhere else! ”
“
I've had Spark Energy for the past few years, and have no complaints. I have no idea what their customer service is like because I never had a problem that required contacting them. IMHO, the best customer service is doing the job right the first time, so the customer doesn't need service.
Having said all that, I've decided to switch this year. When I first signed up for Spark, their prices were at the low end of the spectrum, but now they're in the middle of the pack. To add insult to injury, they offered to renew my contract at a "special reduced rate" higher than what they're offering new customers.
I put together a spreadsheet and ran the numbers, and I should save about $200 over the course of the year by switching to another provider ”
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