Beware of E4B contract

Waterwalker

Originally Posted by BusinessEnergyBroker :-

[Quite right that E4B are considered a small company however I can confirm that my company alone provided them with enough sales in each month of 2007 to turn over 5 times that amount. E4B have in the region of 40 - 50 thousand customers. If each customer spends £1000 pound (the average will be about double that) then turnover would be in the region of £40 -£50 million.]

[Quoting 1.8 million is just ridiculous when many brokers are turning over in excess of that.]
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Hello all,
Quite chuffed to see this thread still going to warn other people away from E4B.
Sorry I have missed the last couple of weeks, been holidaying in sunny Greece with the savings from not paying E4B !!

It is now SEVERAL months since we got a PRE-DISCONNECTION notice from E4B. I stopped the direct debit after my December 2007 payment (being over £1,300 in credit).

I quoted £1.8 million T/O as I did a credit search on E4B and stated the number that was given to companies house by E4B themselves. Anyone can get VERY in-depth information on any Ltd company if willing to pay for it, costs can vary from £3.50 to £50.00 dependant on amount of info required.

There are quite a few companies out there who sell this info, you can even get names and home address's of directors if you pay required costs.

All I can say is if E4B are making false declarations to Companies house then the tax man will be more than interested.

You have to ask yourself why after a pre-disconnection notice that no further action has been taken (I think the court would also like to know). E4B breached thier own T & C's with me and most likely have been advised the same by legal brief, I have offered resolvement by offering to pay the same as my new supplier quoted us. This was rejected.

There is however a twist in the tail, since Jan 2008 when I had signed up with another supplier for a two year term, (at a very slight increase from E4B) the prices have shot through the roof, if they release my supply now, I stand to loose the advantage I would have gained by moving, so I am still waiting for them to take me to court.

BusinessEnergyBroker :- You seem to be defending E4B, but brokers do not gain commissions by customers not being able to move. The bullying & threats have an adverse effect with most people. The way E4B Systematically do this (beyond a point) is called intimidation, which is a crimminal offence, I have a meeting with the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) in the near future and I am told that they may have sufficient grounds to take this case.

Until then I still do not pay E4B as it is they who are in breach.

Waterwalker

Originally Posted by BusinessEnergyBroker :-

[4 year contract sale - 20% of customer annual spend (payable for one year only) e.g. a customer spending £5000 per year returns a contract commission of £1000. This is paid within a number of weeks of a successful transfer.

3 year contract sale - 9% of customer annual spend
2 year contract sale -7.5% of customer annual spend
1 year contract sale -7.5% of customer annual spend

In addition to the individual commissions suppliers will often pay volume bonuses.

Are "brokers" influenced by the commissions? Absolutely.]
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Just noticed :- can some-one please check my figures here please, BusinessEnergyBroker has quoted the above figures,

IF a broker gets 20% commision for a 4 year contract sale .....
say £1,000 as per above.

Would the broker not be better changing the clients supplier EVERY year,
7.5% of £5,000 is ............= £375.00
doing it every year for 4 years is :-
4 times £375.00 ............ = £1,500.00

Even cash in the hand £1,000 then getting bank interest over 4 years will not make £500.00

IS THIS MAN REALLY A BROKER ? ?

I doubt energy generators are giving away 20% of a 4 year sale, if they have that much profit TO SPARE.

I think I will use my own calculator,

BusinessEnergyBroker

If only everything in life was as black and white as Water appears to believe.

Your statement has a number of flaws and if you were aware of how the broker market works you wouldn't have made them.

Would the broker not be better changing the clients supplier EVERY year,

The commissions paid to brokers vary based on a number of things but mainly consumption and contract length. Some suppliers pay residual fees based on consumption for the full term of contract, some (like E4B) pay upfront based on a percentage of yearly spend.

Many brokers have opted to offer the longer contracts that pay up front. The advantage of this is that the commission will be paid regardless of whether the customer completes the contract term (vacates or goes bust etc). The suppliers that pay residual will only pay for the length of time the contract is in force.

Therefore it is not better (in most cases) to transfer clients accounts every year. This applies more so to brokers that issue long term contracts with E4B and Opus.

In addition not all customers want to renew contracts each year.

I doubt energy generators are giving away 20% of a 4 year sale, if they have that much profit TO SPARE.

I didn't say they were. Firstly E4B arent a generator and secondly I stated

4 year contract sale - 20% of customer annual spend (payable for one year only)

Which year did you obtain E4B accounts from? And did you search for E4B Ltd or the actual company you are complaining about which is Electricity 4 Business Ltd?

45XKM

BusinessEnergyBroker wrote: »

We have been terminating accounts since June 07 and I cant say that we have had a problem with LOA's.



But surely another independent supplier disappearing is just going to lead to less competition and poor deals for the customer as less choice will be available.

We need more suppliers not less.

What you need is business energy to be regulated, this roll over con has gone on for far too long. They should all have the same termination notice, once your out of contract thats it. I don't know of any other contract where you get rolled over, does any one else know of such a contract? i would like to know so i can avoid it. Does any one know if the the business energy contract is the same in europe, if not we could be on to some thing please let me know your thoughts on this.

BusinessEnergyBroker

Car Insurance and House Insurance both automatically renew if paid on DD and you dont contact the insurer to terminate.

lordie

45XKM wrote: »

What you need is business energy to be regulated, this roll over con has gone on for far too long. They should all have the same termination notice, once your out of contract thats it. I don't know of any other contract where you get rolled over, does any one else know of such a contract? i would like to know so i can avoid it. Does any one know if the the business energy contract is the same in europe, if not we could be on to some thing please let me know your thoughts on this.

I have said this before, but it is a very important point so I shall say it again.

With something as important as a contract renewal. The onus should be on the company issuing details of an automatically renewing contract to make sure that their customer is perfectly happy for the rollover to take place. That means not just sending out a letter in the normal post which, as we have heard from numerous people, quite often just looks like junk mail, or mysteriously gets lost!
They should at the very least send the new contract details out by recorded delivery, and just to make absolutely sure, spend all of 10p on a phone call just to check that the customer has received it and is happy to proceed.

45XKM

BusinessEnergyBroker wrote: »

Car Insurance and House Insurance both automatically renew if paid on DD and you dont contact the insurer to terminate.

Sorry i should of made it bit more clear, fine car and home insurance do roll over on dd but you can still cancel at any stage as with business energy they roll you over and put the prices up!!! i would like to know what the situation is in europe as regards to business energy contracts.

BusinessEnergyBroker

This quote from one of the articles posted yesterday by Fatlad

"E4B always requests conformation of a customers identity before information is released to a third party"

Is completely untrue. If it was the case then I wouldn't have been able to change one of our clients Direct Debit amounts about 10 minutes ago. I didn't get asked my name or contact telephone number, I didnt have an account number and could only give the post code and site address.

Although I did have permission (E4B weren't aware of it) where is the "Data Protection" in that?

fatlad1971

45XKM wrote: »

Sorry i should of made it bit more clear, fine car and home insurance do roll over on dd but you can still cancel at any stage as with business energy they roll you over and put the prices up!!! i would like to know what the situation is in europe as regards to business energy contracts.

TBH I don't know how these contracts work in Europe

but I agree totally with your point that rollovers are a massive con and the fact that the regulator is allowing this to happen makes me very uneasy. The fact that a one year contract can be automatically renewed for 2 years is sheer profiteering.
This HAS to stop

BusinessEnergyBroker

Hi Guys,

As I stated previously I was confident with the outcome of the previously mentioned problem in post 96.

Scottish Power have agreed to pay the termination fee of the Electricity 4 Business contract. This is in excess of £3400. In addition to this they are paying compensation for the time spent dealing with the problem. Once the termination fee is paid by Scottish Power then E4B are releasing the account and Scottish Power will be the new supplier at the previously agreed prices from July 08.

I believe that Eon have also been doing a similar thing when they have also been found to be at fault.

If anyone has experianced the same issue and can prove that its the proposed suppliers fault then I suggest that you follow it through relentlessly. If you complaint is against Scottish Power then PM me and I wll give you a contact number of the person that dealt with our complaint.