Beware of E4B contract

lordie

My 12 month E4B contract was due for renewal on 19/02/2008. As they intended to increase the price by 51% I decided to serve notice to terminate(by recorded delivery just in case!) and change supplier. After getting several quotes I decided to go with a broker called energyadviceline.org. They advised me to go with Scottish Power on a fixed rate contract at a similar price to my original E4B contract. I advised them via email on 04/01/2008 that I wished to proceed.
They sent me the contract which I signed and returned back to energyadviceline.org on 22/1/2008. At no point so far had I been advised that the changeover was in any way time-critical. I then received a welcome letter from Scottish Power on 29/01/2008 again not mentioning any problems with timescale and so I assumed all was well.
I heard nothing more for over 3 weeks until I received a letter from E4B on 14/02/2008 (actually dated 08/02/2008!) saying that they were objecting to the change of supply. I contacted them and they said the problem was that the date Scottish Power had given them to changeover was 1 (ONE !) day beyond the 7 day window they allow for change of supply to take place. They advised me to contact Scottish Power and get them to bring there date forward by at least that 1 day.
Scottish Power then told me that they had encountered this before and that it was a calculated tactic by E4B to make it difficult for their customers to change supply. He then went on to say that he would reapply to E4B but due to admin. issues they were unable to bring the changeover date forward.
I was then shunted from one department to another and ended up speaking with Alan Maggarity, a manager in Small Business Complaints Dept. I explained that I was very worried now that I would be stuck in a 2 year contract with E4b at a much higher rate. He said that he would initiate a high-level enquiry into my case and also stated that I would be compensated if I had to pay at the higher rates in the new E4B contract. As this was now 15/02/2008 and I only had 4 days left until renewal, I pointed out that time was now critical for him to sort this out.
I heard nothing more and so attempted to contact him on Friday 22/02/2008 making several phone calls all of which were not returned. So much for their high-level enquiry!
My main issue with what has happened is that at no point was I made aware by either my broker energyadviceline.org or Scottish Power that they may not be able to complete the changeover. I allowed myself 7 weeks to change supplier which I thought was more than ample time to do so. Both companies have admitted that they were aware of the short timescale E4B allow a new supplier to arrange the changeover date, and yet they still came up with a date beyond this 7 day window.
E4B as you might guess are not willing to budge and are saying that basically there is nothing I can do and that I am stuck with them now for the next 2 years. There advice was to sue either Scottish Power or Energyadviceline.org for the substantial difference in money as it was their negligence that has ended in me missing my opportunity to change to any other supplier.
If I had ever been advised that there was the slightest possibility that they would not be able to complete in time, I would definately have gone with one of the various other quotes I received back in early January. Now it seems I am stuck with a 2 year contract paying £52 a month more than I needed to.

Any advice as to where I can proceed from here would be much appreciated.

Ken68

Don't know what a solicitor would charge for initial advice, perhaps £200 to £300. He would want confirmation from paperwork.

lordie

Ken68 wrote: »

Don't know what a solicitor would charge for initial advice, perhaps £200 to £300. He would want confirmation from paperwork.

Which paperwork? I have copies of the signed contract with Scottish Power and also emails from Energyadviceline.org with dates of when I first contacted them.

Ken68

Anything relevant, Lordie, or anything vaguely to do with the contract. Let him sift thru and earn his money. He will advise you whether to go ahead to reclaim or not.
Or you could try Energywatch but you have to exhaust other avenues first, and maybe they don't arbitrate business a/c's.

Waterwalker

lordie wrote: »

My 12 month E4B contract was due for renewal on 19/02/2008. As they intended to increase the price by 51% I decided to serve notice to terminate(by recorded delivery just in case!) and change supplier. After getting several quotes I decided to go with a broker called energyadviceline.org. They advised me to go with Scottish Power on a fixed rate contract at a similar price to my original E4B contract. I advised them via email on 04/01/2008 that I wished to proceed.
They sent me the contract which I signed and returned back to energyadviceline.org on 22/1/2008. At no point so far had I been advised that the changeover was in any way time-critical. I then received a welcome letter from Scottish Power on 29/01/2008 again not mentioning any problems with timescale and so I assumed all was well.
I heard nothing more for over 3 weeks until I received a letter from E4B on 14/02/2008 (actually dated 08/02/2008!) saying that they were objecting to the change of supply. I contacted them and they said the problem was that the date Scottish Power had given them to changeover was 1 (ONE !) day beyond the 7 day window they allow for change of supply to take place. They advised me to contact Scottish Power and get them to bring there date forward by at least that 1 day.
Scottish Power then told me that they had encountered this before and that it was a calculated tactic by E4B to make it difficult for their customers to change supply. He then went on to say that he would reapply to E4B but due to admin. issues they were unable to bring the changeover date forward.
I was then shunted from one department to another and ended up speaking with Alan Maggarity, a manager in Small Business Complaints Dept. I explained that I was very worried now that I would be stuck in a 2 year contract with E4b at a much higher rate. He said that he would initiate a high-level enquiry into my case and also stated that I would be compensated if I had to pay at the higher rates in the new E4B contract. As this was now 15/02/2008 and I only had 4 days left until renewal, I pointed out that time was now critical for him to sort this out.
I heard nothing more and so attempted to contact him on Friday 22/02/2008 making several phone calls all of which were not returned. So much for their high-level enquiry!
My main issue with what has happened is that at no point was I made aware by either my broker energyadviceline.org or Scottish Power that they may not be able to complete the changeover. I allowed myself 7 weeks to change supplier which I thought was more than ample time to do so. Both companies have admitted that they were aware of the short timescale E4B allow a new supplier to arrange the changeover date, and yet they still came up with a date beyond this 7 day window.
E4B as you might guess are not willing to budge and are saying that basically there is nothing I can do and that I am stuck with them now for the next 2 years. There advice was to sue either Scottish Power or Energyadviceline.org for the substantial difference in money as it was their negligence that has ended in me missing my opportunity to change to any other supplier.
If I had ever been advised that there was the slightest possibility that they would not be able to complete in time, I would definately have gone with one of the various other quotes I received back in early January. Now it seems I am stuck with a 2 year contract paying £52 a month more than I needed to.

Any advice as to where I can proceed from here would be much appreciated.

same as me, I cancelled my Direct Debit, now we are playing with there money. Anti Competition Act 1989

lordie

Waterwalker wrote: »

same as me, I cancelled my Direct Debit, now we are playing with there money. Anti Competition Act 1989

Tried canceling DD and got all sorts of threats from penalty payments to court action if I didn`t reinstigate it.

Waterwalker

Yes so have I. I was over £1,350.00 in credit at the end of my 12 month contact. I even gave them two chances to quote a competative rate for 2008. They are approx £0.02 per unit more expensive. I to signed with Scottish power. I have been all over the net for the last two months giving E4B a bad name, they have issued a disconnection notice now. They are using bully tactics to scare people from moving. Sorry if my use of this forum is jittery, never been on one before. I tried to send you a personal message so we could exchange details, my solicitor can use both cases to help win.
not sure if I can put my email in this message. but would like to speak with you.

Maz

Sorry to butt in on this thread but a friend of mine who helps to run a small community sports pavilion has just switched to E4B but doesn't know what their prices are now(!) I know, it's mad! Anyone know what their prices are at the mo? When he made the original enquiry around late January,they quoted him 9.41p

Waterwalker

£ 0.092 per Kwh, but the daily charge could be high. Tell him to give back word. Scottish power is cheaper. To be quite honesty I would be happy to pay more Just to stay away from E4B.

Maz

What do you mean by 'initial start price'? Does that mean that they start you off on a low price, then bump it up with high standing charges, even though you're under contract? If so, I don't think my mate's aware of it.

Maz

btw, I did have a look on their website but couldn't find any tariffs anywhere. Either they're so well embedded they're impossible to find or I'm just being my usual technobimbo self!