Will the Supplier stick to their contract?

firstpost

My first post and I’d appreciate some advice. Five years ago a representative from one of the big suppliers knocked on my door. Told me that if I signed up with them they would guarantee lower prices than any other supplier for gas and electricity. They were cheaper than our current supplier but the small print on the contract he carried had no guarantee that they would always be the cheapest. I told the salesman if he would add an extra clause to the contract and sign it confirming they would always be the cheapest I’d be happy to move. He did this and 10 days later I got the carbon copy of this contract in the post from the supplier complete with the additional clause I‘d requested. I can’t be bothered to chop and change supplier but believe if I did I would probably save £6000 over 30 years. From when I signed the contract to when I retire is 30 years - what are my chances of demanding the savings on my retirement day from the supplier?

Terrylw1

Hi,

The salesman cannot make that promise on behalf of a company. Did the salesman even work for the actual utility or was he working for a sales company they had contracted out to?

From experience here, customers tend to get some compensation for this and the Supplier looks for the best tariff to get them on. Beyond that though, they do not get the extra things these dodgy salesmen write on the contracts.

If you want to know for sure here (since the Supplier will easily dismiss this as a dodgy salesman) you would need to consult a solicitor but I doubt it would be deemed as legal for the salesman to do this. Anyone on here who knows more about contract law will be able to offer the legal view on this. My opinion would be that a clause simply wriiten on cannot be claimed as legally part of the contract if not agreeable to the company responsible for the contract but in another industry it was made valid in terms of say, freebies promised by sales people that the company itself would not allow.

I did see a few business customers years ago who had deals given to them which were not supported by the utility and they had to honour them but they were fully written contracts, not bits added in pen.

No utility to guarantee cheaper prices forever as they just do not know how the gas/elec prices will perform over a long period of time.

The only consumers I have ever seen this lifelong guarantee for are those involved in the original elec market set up who worked at a high level over 50 years ago. These people are most likely all deceased by now though.

firstpost

Terrwl - thanks for the reply - and yes I agree the salesman should not normally be able to add extra clauses to the contract. When he did and all the paper work went back to the supplier I expected them to write saying the contract had been defaced and request I sign a new contract - however the supplier approved and returned the cardbon copy of the original contract to me with the additional clause still included. The fact that the supplier approved and returned the contract to me with the additional clause means that they too have agreed to it - I'm putting £20 a month aside each month in case this needs to go to the courts in 25 years time. If people feel I'm on a loosing wicket I might as well know now and move to a cheaper supplier for short term gains.

SwanJon

OK, hands up I have no legal training or experience, but do enjoy playing devil's advocate.

Would you have to challenge this the first time that they charged you more than the cheapest tariff on the market?
Would paying a 'standard' tariff bill mean that you agreed with the price per unit on it?

Have you aksed the supplier why they haven't matched prices so far?

Terrylw1

Good luck with it.

Keeping some cash aside it always beneficial anyway incase you use more than expected later in the year.

A sales processing office will have checked the items on the contract were correct and nothing was missing. Then they would add you to the computer system and get you started.

I doubt any Supplier's systems thesedays are able to freeze individual customers but like a said, the elec founders were billed at the cheapest ever rate until their date of death but that was a very special deal.

I think you will get your answer from the Supplier when they put their prices up and you call them to dispute it.

My opinion would be, they will say it's an error and give you some compensation, apologise and get you on theit cheapest tariff but it will change as deals do over time.

If you want to know where you stand legally, you need a solicitor to check whether this would be binding. I'm not sure myself on that one as I've seen domestic customers get told no chance but a few businesses got anyway with it.

Maybe the CAB can offer some free contractual advice unless you fancy looking up specific references to it on the net.