Door-to-Door Gas Company Spurs National Concern

Some area residents and business owners have answered a knock at the door, over the course of the past year, to find employees from a gas company asking to see their bills or account information.

We asked local residents to share their experiences with the energy company, which was identified as Spark Energy. There has been a lot of talk in the Michigan area about a smiliar company called Direct Energy. The companies are not related.

While many of our responders shut the door on these door-to-door specialists, one person was heavily distracted by life. Needless to say, with the guard down, this person got played. Below is a first-person account of the incident. The resident asked to remain nameless for protection of identity:

"These people came to my door last fall. The girl was wearing a yellow hard hat and a badge on a lanyard. She told me her company 'regulated' PECO and they need to be sure we were getting the discounted rate for our electric. She said in order to do this she would need to see our last bill. I asked her again who she was with and she again said they 'regulated' PECO.

"I got the bill and gave it to her. She immediately started filling out a form on a clipboard and started circling things on our bill, saying we were not getting the proper rate. She talked very quickly, and honestly, I couldn’t follow what she was saying. She then dialed a number on her cell phone and had me talking to someone at her company.

"I am embarrassed to say I was distracted with the thought of needing to go pick up my daughter at band practice, my dog barking and numerous other goings on. I let this girl play me. I said several times I didn’t understand and she said 'What don’t you understand?' I felt very pressured and confused at how she represented herself and her company.

"As soon as she left, I knew I’d been had. I felt angry and stupid. I consider myself a fairly bright individual and the whole time I felt something was wrong, but wasn’t sure.

"The next day I called the 800 number on the 'sales' slip and canceled the 'service.' They asked me why and I told them that their employee 'Kathy' had misrepresented their company and was dishonest. To this day I could kick myself for being so stupid. They still have a copy of our bill. I hope something can be done about these people. Apparently they also approached our pastor at church – luckily I was able to advise them of the scam before they got ahold of the church's bills."

Another one of our users from Upper Providence said he didn't have time for the company, which represented itself as Spark Energy.

"The outfit was Spark Energy, and they tried to get us to show our electric bill and sign up on the spot," said the reader. "I had no time for them, figured that any energy company that sells door to door can’t possibly be legit."

On Facebook, we "sparked" a conversation between users, who said a number of negative things about the company, as well. One user said the people from Spark came to her house on Christmas Eve and on numerous Saturdays. Another said the salesmen showed up at a retirement development in Pottstown and had the cops called on them. They've also appeared in Orchard Court in Upper Providence and Stoney Run in Spring City as recently as late January.

"Spark has been at our house multiple times, very pushy!" said another user on Facebook. "I told them my husband takes care of the utilities and he wasn't home. They send very young kids wearing construction hats, like that is supposed to make them look more credible!"

A conversation was also had on Philadelphia's Everyblock website about Spark Energy back in August 2011. This time, however, a "Spark representative" replied on the forum.

Hi! Here from Spark Energy.

We want to apologize for the experience you’ve had with our reps. We always expect the best from our people and have high standards and policies of respect and care for customers. We believe in earning the business of Pennsylvanians and take complaints very seriously.

Spark Energy is definitely not a scam. We’re an electricity and natural gas provider that’s been in business for more than a decade and serves hundreds of thousands of customers from coast to coast. We're dedicated to being good members of the Philadelphia community.

We appreciate you bringing this to our attention, and we want to let you know we’re investigating the matter further so we can make sure it doesn’t happen again. If you can send us the time, date, and location of your experience, we would really appreciate it. We also want to do our best to rectify this situation. Please email us directly at customercare@sparkenergy.com.

Thank you.

Another local business in the area said they had people come to their shop from Ignite Energy, a subsidiary of Stream Energy, who competes with Direct Energy.

According to its website, Spark Energy is "a nation-wide provider of low-cost electricity and natural gas offering significant savings to homes and businesses from California to New York.

"Founded in 1999, Spark Energy was one of the early pioneers in the retail energy business. Since then, we have grown to become a nation-wide company of more than 250 employees supplying affordable electricity and natural gas to hundreds of thousands of happy residential and business customers."

According to Ignite's website:

"With the advent of energy deregulation, customers have greater options than ever before when it comes to their residential energy service supplier. Our Pennsylvania customers have the power to turn on greater savings on energy rates, better customer service, and the use of renewable energy.

"So how do you make an informed choice?

"You need a company uniquely situated to provide tailored, one-on-one customer service and affordable Pennsylvania energy rates. Fortunately, Ignite and Stream Energy are here to help. If you’re ready to be enlightened by the advantages our customers enjoy, please visit www.streamenergy.net to learn more about the advantages of being a Stream Energy customer."

Patch is doing a national investigation on energy companies like this that go door-to-door to sell their service. For more information, follow the links below: