Meter Registration Service ???!!!

BoxCleva

I have just had my wife on the phone telling me she has had a call (again) from Commercial registrations Ltd.

Even though i told her that I had bounced two of these calls last week she (in a fit of madness!) gave the company the electric meter reading. Whilst doing this she was asked for her home address and DOB, which yet again she gave. :mad:

She is adamant, although I'm not sure, that she didn't commit to anything and said she would have to speak to her husband. She wasnt able to give them the gas reading as she couldnt access the meter.

What is worrying me is this enough information for these scam artists to change supplier ??

munchings-n-crunchings

Hi Folks!

Just found out today that we have been transferred to Opus Energy, courtesy of Benjamin Dexter.

We specifically, told them we were not willing to verbally agree to anything over the telephone, any offer had to be put in writing. and yet Opus think they have enough to act in transferring us.

I've filed a complaint, and requested that we are returned to Scottish Power, and requested that Scottish Power help in getting us back.

Is there any way we can get a copy of these calls, to verify that we refused to verbally agree?

Regards
Munchie

energy_saver

@BoxCleva - it would be worthwhile if you contacted Consumer Direct for advice. They are the Govt advice agency for consumers and small businesses.

@munching-n-crunchings - the broker should have recorded you accepting a contract with Opus. If they didn't, they might lose any contract they have with the broker. Try calling Consumer Direct for further information.

roo22

AS a charity recently moved, we have had problems from the central metering dept. Unfortunately a member of staff then took a phone call from SANDOWN HOLDINGS LTD and somehow they got him to enter into a contract with NPOWER, even though he said it was up to the commitee to make these decisions. We are fighting this. NPOWER have said they consider it a legitimate contract. The main reason for posting is to let you know that SANDOWN HOLDINGS are part of COMMERCIAL CONNECTIONS part of the 'BENJAMIN DEXTER, empire. I was helpfully informed of this when speaking to somebody at sandown holdings! He also told me their 'at the moment' address!
2 merchants place
River street
Bolton
BL2 1BX.

This Benjamin Dexter seems to be everywhere!!!

mike_torque

These guys are persistent! I moved my business address 2 weeks ago and have received at least a call every day, sometimes more. Today I had 6 calls from 3 different people. I told them all politely that I wasn't interested before hanging up. They all phoned back and were rude, surly and intimidating.

I've registered with the TPS, however ther must be more that can be done to protect people? They lie blatantly in order to con you out of information, how can contracts be legal on that basis?

Premier_2

You may want to double check your TPS registration. Businesses are only registered for 12 months at a time and need annual renewal. If you have only recently registered, you must allow at least 28 days for the registration to become fully effective.

Then, if you have no prior agreements with them to call you, and you are fully registered with the TPS, yet they continue to call you to make sales or marketing calls, you can make a complaint here:
http://complaints.tpsonline.org.uk/Consumer/

Or you can contact the ICO directly, with all the details of your complaint:

The Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Tel:01625 545745
Fax:01625 524510
email: [EMAIL="mail@ico.gsi.gov.uk"]mail@ico.gsi.gov.uk[/EMAIL]

Do let us know how you get on

hepcat42

I’ve been reading this thread with interest- and I wonder if anyone could offer a view on our own situation.

The scenario is a familiar one- my husband opened a small cafe in March 2010. We would, in terms of the new rules, qualify as a “micro-business”.

Having taken over the lease of the premises, he was contacted by Opus Energy who gave him the spiel about the emergency rate, the need to register the meter, etc. They quoted him the tariff for Npower, the “best rate you can get” etc. etc.

Being fantastically busy and stressed out at the time, my husband didn’t realise quite what was happening- and of course these guys are sneaky and persuasive. He did ask a few key questions as to their identity but was basically lied to (they said “oh, we act on behalf of NPower”- which meant he thought he was dealing with the supplier direct ) and every time he further queried matters, they kept stopping the recording and then telling him “just say ‘yes’ to the next question, because you can change your mind later”. However, due to an error on their part, they did not obtain any meter number details from him, nor did they obtain his bank details during that call.

Amusingly, they also took down his surname incorrectly.

When he realised the next day what had happened, he contacted Npower directly, obtained a much better quote and immediately proceeded with a contract with them. When Opus tried to transfer the supply, Npower blocked it on the basis there was a valid contract in place.

Since then of course he has been bombarded with calls from Opus. They are claiming he entered into a contract with them on the basis of the recording they have. They haven’t sent it to him at this point- but of course we can assume they only recorded the part where he might have been agreeing, not the part where they made other false representations. At no time did they send him any written contract terms and conditions- and my understanding is that as a micro-business, this would afford us some protection.

My main question is: without the meter details and my husband's bank details, can they really do anything? Opus are saying they will “continue to supply us” but Npower is already doing that and at out instruction will continue to block the transfer, so it’s not clear what basis they would have for claiming this. I think ultimately we might need to hear a copy of the recording but to be honest I’d rather just ignore them unless there’s a risk they would actually try to bring some sort of action against us. We haven’t contacted Ofgem or Energy Watchdog yet but I will do, if it comes to that- although to be honest, we are under enough pressure trying to get a new business on its feet without all this additional hassle.

Thanks!

Premier_2

hepcat42 wrote: »

...Being fantastically busy and stressed out at the time, my husband didn’t realise quite what was happening-

...and every time he further queried matters, they kept stopping the recording and then telling him “just say ‘yes’ to the next question, because you can change your mind later”. ..

Do you have any proof of this allegation? Otherwise, it may well end up being your word against theirs and I suspect on the balance of probablility, an independent third party (i.e. a court judge) will probably not believe you.

Furthermore, one would question why your husband, a businessman who by your own admission was "fantastically busy and stressed out at the time" elected to waste more time by listening to and playing along with the alleged shenanigans rather than simply put the phone down and get on with what he was already occupied with.

hepcat42

No, unfortunately there's no proof on our end- normally we don't record all the telephone calls we receive as a small business and I'd be surprised if others in our position were any different.

What he was "occupied with" was trying to get a new business up & running-(his first by the way-I wouldn't exactly describe him as an experienced businessman). That included, among other things, sorting out the electricity supply as soon as possible. At the start of the call he was led to believe by one operator that this company was in fact acting as his current supplier, that he was on an emergency rate tariff and that he was being offered a better rate-and given that he was unaware he had anything to be really suspicious of, he took them at their word that this was the process he had to go through.

Reading this thread, there are a number of other people who have similar encounters, so I don't think he is the first person to be taken in. In any event, we never supplied the relevant details to enable the supply to be transferred, nor did we receive a written copy of the terms and conditions in accordance with the rules for electricity contracts to micro-businesses.

munchings-n-crunchings

OpusOperations wrote: »

We are concerned to hear about your experience and the allegation of misleading practices is being taken very seriously. We would like to look into this immediately but are unable to identify you from the posting.

Please could you contact the team on 0800 8401846 and we will act right away.Telephoning the customer care team is the best means of getting to the bottom of queries as quickly as possible.

Regards, Andy Nash, Operations Director at Opus Energy.

Hello Opus, Welcome to the forum.

I posted on behalf of my sister, and she was pleased with the response from your customer care team, and the business decided to stay with Opus.

I'm sure a presence here will help resolve some issues.

Munchie