Meter Registration Service ???!!!

seamline

I too started a small business at the start of this year. Again same as above I was contacted by commercial but was told that they were the national meter registry and I was not registered with a supplier for the premises I had just rented. How the hell they got my number and knew I had just moved in is beyond me. I was then given loads of speil of how good BES electric was. After being lied to about the whole thing they managed to sucker me into giving my bank details :mad: (first business and age 28 so never had to do any of this before)

After that initial phone call I never heard or recieved anything from BES regarding them supplying the electric not even a contract. It was only when I rang Scottish Power to inform them that the previous tenant had moved out because had recieved a debt letter they had sent they told me that BES were taking over my account on such a date!

In my premises there are 3 meters due to the 3 phase electric circuit installed (but i dont use 3 phase machinery so 2 of the meters never turn and have been on the same reading since moving in)
First month in and BES send me a bill for nearly £900. Estimated bill 1,400 units on each meter! I immediatly rang them and they then informed me that i needed to supply a reading as they dont come out and take them but once I have a smart meter installed i wont have to. They agreed to ammend my bill and I explained the 3 meters to them.

Next month to my suprise a guy turns up to read the meter on behalf of BES (confused to say the least and still no smart meter) next bill nearly £800!
This time I cancel my direct debit as them taking these ridiculous amounts could seriously affect my business.
This has gone on month after month and I have lost all will with them going round in circles all whislt being charged a higher rate.
To my shock I am then told after being with them for a number of months that I signed into a 5 year contract!! Why the hell i would of agreed to a 5yr contract with only a 12month lease and being a new business, i'm not that stupid?? When challenging them about this she claimed to have a telephone conversation recording of me agreeing this. She even put me on hold then came back saying she had just listened to the recording and i did?? When i sent a letter asking for a copy I never got any response

It's now at the stage where they are claiming i owe them £1000. After speaking to them last week the lady said she had amended the bill but could not post a copy out to me??

I'm not paying something I cannot physically see what i'm paing for. I told her I did want to pay what I owed but not ridiculous amounts I should not be paying
(I run a sewing machine a few lights and a stereo - my bills should be no more than £50 a month)

Now i have a letter sent to me saying they are attending my local court on Monday for a warrant to enter the premises for disconnection. I am going to attend court and highlight just how horrible this company have been and how I was conned into it all, hopefully they will not get the warrant.
Having been diagnosed with skin cancer a few weeks ago at the age of 28 all this undue stress is just not good for me or my business
I would advise anyone to stay away from BES they are the worst spineless comapny I have ever come across

jonnyjai

Hey
mate, dont be afraid of that letter
they are only using this letter to scare u so that you pay them the monies owned. court warrant takes a few weeks.
take legal action now. where abouts u live?
write into Bes and demand a recording of this contract.
post it via recorded delivery. in the letter state ''i will give you 10working days to reply' and they will reply back real soon with the copy.

did u get the T & Cs? if not demand that as well.

make bullet points of what u want to get answered in the letter.

if you phone them u must record everything they say.
if they call you do the same.



regards man

jonnyjai

i am going through all the sites to try and get as much people with the same problem with this company to take LEGAL ACTION.
you can find me on this site.
freeindex.co.uk
consumeractiongroup.co.uk
moneysupermarket.com

seamline

Hi Jonny
Thanks for your response.
Do you really think the letter is just to scare me. It states "we will attend South Sefton Magistrates (my business is in bootle, merseyside) on the 26th November at 9.30 to obtain a warrant to enter

---

(my address)

---

in order to disconnect the electricity supply. The disconnection will take place on the 28th of November at 1pm.
Scare letter or is this what is going to happen??
I am in the process of requesting telephone conversations.
How will they disconnect me? Will they just take the meter away?

Also has anybody actually attended court with BES and what was your outcome once you raised the concerns about them?

As mentioned earlier I agree to pay for what electric I have used but I want out of my 5YR!! contract with them and not pay ridiculous amounts they say I owe because of no D/D being set up.
Why would you leave a direct debit set up when the company are just wanting to help themselves to £700+ from my business account every month which should be my bill for a year? Being a small business these amounts could seriously affect my business even force me to close :mad:

I really hope that the judge listens to what I have to say about BES and realizes what a sham of a company they are bullying and conning people into silly contracts, and I hope no warrent is issued

jonnyjai

hi seamline, this company is a cowboy company, they only want one thing from you and that is your hard earned money.


i received a letter from BES claiming they mis calculated the gas bills and then forwareded me an extra £2500 that needed to be billed, on top of £580 that i was already paying monthly. i tried reasoning with them but no, all they want is my money. no paying plan no discounted rate no shorter term, no nothing.
this month i recieved a letter thru the door probably same as your one, from BES. i was told in the letter to PAY £3500 ASAP by 23th of november , or else they will get a warrant from court, police officer etc... cut of my gas supply and take away my gas meter.
i went to a solicitor the next day and told him the situation.
i was told by the solicitor that 'under some circumstances they are not allowed to do this.' so he called them up and everything is now forwarded to the solicitors to deal with.

the law only protects people that know the law.
i know jack about the law:rotfl:
my best advise for u is to get solicitor help.

jonnyjai

hey can u tell me which date the contract started??

and did u recieved a T&C letter containing YOUR Rights to CANCEL predeures?

seamline

Hi Jonny
After alot of stressing over the weekend my stresses have now been relieved.
To cut a long story short - I was told I could not attend court to contest the warrant being issued?? So never attended.
I rang the courts monday after noon who told me British Gas had been granted the warrant (confused)
I understand as BES are such a rubbish company they dont actually undertake connections or disconnections themselves and contracted BG to do the disconnection.
After finding this out I immediatley contact my Landlords to discuss what actions we can take to to stop disconnection.
Monday afternoon I email BES telling them I am now no longer the Tenant of the premises and havnt been since last week, supplying final meter readings to them and also pointing out the fact that as i'm no longer the tenant (which my landlords backed me up on) the warrant they have had issued is null and void as the premises now belongs to the estate agents again and if they did manage to be get a warrant under my name to enter the estate agents would seek legal action if they attempted to enter the propertey.
Come Wednesday the day of scheduled disconnection my neighbouring unit telephone me to tell me 5 guys are outside trying to break in and disconnect the electricty supply.
As I had already informed them I was no longer the tenant they had no right to do so. A neighbour explained this to them but the bailiff just said 'I dont need to speak to no-one as I have paperwork here and just carrying out what I have been instructed to do.
As they are attempting to break in I call the estate agents to tell them what is happening and they try to speak to the bailiff but he doesnt want to speak to them.
Next minute after already jacking up the roller shutter and startiing to pick the door locks they stop all work???
The bailiff then asks my neighbour for the estate agents phone number (obviously starting to think about their actions and seeing their backsides lol)
After a conversation with my estate agents they put my door handle back on, put the shutter back down and leave never even entered the premises!!

They finally took the message I had moved out and have now closed my BES account going forward leaving the new tenant (wink wink) free to sign up with a new supplier

Me - 1 BES - 0

I still have an outstanding balance with BES which is way over what I owe them and will now be persuing this through the obudsman and ofgem etc. They never acertained if I was a micro business and never sent me T&C's within 10 days of opening my account so therefore as far as i'm concerned the contract they supposedly had was null and void from the start.

I will keep you posted as to how I get on as i'm sure BES will be intouch regading my outstanding balance

jonnyjai

hey seamline

im not sure if this is 100% but this is wot the solicitor had written

by law is required to provide information about procedures for exercising your rights to cancel a contract within 7days. if this information has not been provided then on the date the contract was concluded it would have been 3months and 7working days to cancel a contract?? '

we had never received a t & c from bes only a letter of congratulation from them. and after finally getting a copy this month. the t & c never included a terms to cancel. so under this right. on the 1st phone call we made to BES telling them that the price was to expensive and that we wanted to cancel (about 35days into the contract.) they should have granted it.
but being the dogs that they are, they avoided this and only kept saying we were binding in a verbal agreement.
we are still going thru this but avoiding the stress as we are going thru the solicitors root.

seamline

Here are a number of things they have done which they should not of been doing.
Thanks to another energy supplier for pointing all these discrepencies out to me (they are not all bad) I should now have a strong case with ofgem/obudsman against them or enough ammo to stand up to them in court and most of this is due to the fact they never acertained I was a micro business.

1. Charging me 20% VAT on bills! They should of only be charging me 5%. Under the HM Revenue Laws any business using less than 12,000kwh should be treated as a domestic customer thus recieving the reduced rate.

More info can be found on HM Customs & Revenue website
(cant post link as i'm a new user :mad:)

2. Charging me a 'Climate Change Levy' which again unless i am using over 12,000kwh a year they cannot charge me this

3. Never sent me a hard copy of the T&C's and its my understanding that under Ofgem rules if your a micro business (10 employees or less or use less than 55,000kwh per year) the supplier has to send you a copy within 10days of signing you up and if they dont the contract becomes null and void.

My business had used only 3110 units since moving in Feb 2012!!

I seem to have become a little more knowledgable on these rules and regulations and hopefully my points above will help me fight them in court and also help others sort out problems with the nightmare that is B E S or as i now call them Bullsh** Energy Services:T

jonnyjai

hey seamline good to know you are getting somewhere and hope all goes well.


my end is still awaiting how bull**** energy services will react.

Regards