Small Business Gas & Electricity Discussion Area

hi, i don't know if anyone out there can help me? I have been well & truly stiched up by a rogue broker, who I had a conversation with for only a couple of minutes because he introduced himself as someone from my existing energy company, got me then to confirm my name & address & method of payment etc. Then realising the conversation was becoming increasingly odd told him I wasn't interested with re-newing existing contract, he then said could he send out some prices I said 'yes' ....two weeks later I receive a contract stating expensive prices & locked in for three years, at no point had this entered our original conversation, so I ring up my energy company & tell them ..long & short of it they don't belive me 7 say they listened to a recording of me agreeing, I request tape , listening to it i see that he reads out a script & has just inserted my yes answer after everything...send to an audio forensic analyst whose preliminarry findings is that all the affirmatives correlate to the yes & he has just used bits 7 pieces in his recording to make it look like i'm agreeing to everything he says! the only question he asks that doesn't require a yes & something more the answer i give doesn't make any sense to the question I've asked, can anyone suggest anything I can do , I've exhausted the obvious chanels, just keep being told as brokers aren't regulated there is nothing they can do!!! The energy company said whatever the outcome if litigation ensues and I win they will just say they acted in good faith & belived the recording!!!! please any advice would be greatly appreciated.....

Hi all,

Not posted on here before - though often read and use the amazing font of knowledge that MSE offers! I've now found myself in a nightmare with Opus energy and not sure whether there's even anything I can do about it.

I have a small business (literally just two of us!) and we've been with Opus for a year now. The service hasn't been great:

1) we were promised a smart meter, then refused. We chased this and were re-promised it - then heard nothing more since DECEMBER LAST YEAR! (we've been so busy worrying about everything else, such as MAKING MONEY that we've not had the opportunity to even realise how long had passed since this last conversation to chase it up further!) We've now been told today that the site is 'not suitable' for a meter - I queried this, as no one has EVER visited the site - how would they know the suitability? And why wasn't suitability even mentioned in the first place? I'm awaiting a call back from a 'technician'. sigh.

2) Our 'estimatated' bill per month averaged at £10 - we thought this was cheap, and expected to have to pay more when a reading was done - which they only managed to do last month (we have strange access to the meter in a shared building where the meter is padlocked away by the council and the landlord passed away 6 weeks ago!) but were NOT expecting a bill for £948.70!

3) Icing on the cake - we realised our contract was just about finished, rechecked our contract and realised it's now passed. Checked the bill and they've doubled our kwh rate from what it was. Phoned them again to query, and they claim to have sent us a letter in May. We received no letter in May - our last postal correspondence was Jan to inform us about climate levy update in our T&Cs. We tell them this, and they say 'no, we sent one' and that we should have cancelled our contract 3 months before end of contract, or within 30 days of new rates being sent. BUT WE NEVER RECEIVED THE RATES! We never phone them as we have a paperless account but the account management section says nothing about any deadlines, account renewal dates, or anything like this. It literally just gives you a bill. Opus say it's tough, and we're now trapped for the NEXT 12 MONTHS paying this double kwh rate and if we 'cancel' now, it'll simply terminate the contract NEXT AUGUST when the 'new contract' expires!

Does anyone know if this is the case, or if we have any way of escaping these sheisters?! I've read OFGEM info about supporting SME/micro businesses with new legislation which means they HAVE to have informed us of the new rates, T&Cs etc - but it's little protection if they claim to have sent them but we never received. Plus, how are we remotely protected when the law is on their side seemingly - that by 'doing nothing' we've supposedly signed up for another 12 months!?

(my brain is now melting from stressful phone calls all morning trying to sort this! a pub lunch is in order! )


Adrienne

We're waiting for them to respond to our (numerous) complaints - within 5 working days, obviously enabling them to keep making more money off us for as long as possible! ;>

They're also refusing us a smart meter which is what we were guaranteed and was the sole reason we chose them a year ago. We have contested this too, and received VERY mixed messages back from them. All adding to the complaint.

I wish making sure you're not being walked over wasn't as stressful as this! _pale_