BES Utilities review: mis-sold energy contract & prices 296

Are you able to send me your mob no or an email address, i have only just joined on here i don't know if you can private message me with your number...
No money is to be paid to BES the debt is with the previous occupier and not yours, you have a tenancy agreement stating when you took over the premises, if you were told on the phone that everything had been verified and completed they should never have disconnected the meter, you are in with your rights to obtain a copy of the telephone recording to were the cot advisor told you this and they should re connect the meter for free and put a claim in against them for loss of earnings if no joy ( you also have a letter stating that the cot has gone through on the friday into your name so no disconnection should have taken place) they should have updated the PDV agent to stop any disconnection its there error and to be honest your not the first person this has happened too, please private message me with a contact number and i will be happy to assist you in any way i can

Hi Sorry that last msg was bit unclear yes I dealt with the c.o.t team not a sales advisor & sent over all relevant copies of documentation to prove I'm a new tenant which on Friday was confirmed over the telephone by the c.o.t team. I have never received any letter or notification they were planning on entering the property to remove the meter.I believe they have breached the act of entry and is looking into seeking compensation for our loss of earnings as we have been told it can take up to 10working days to be reconnected in which Our landlord has paid £900 to BES to do so.

Ok, then they had no right to disconnect the meter was it the electricity meter they disconnected or the gas meter ?
Call BES tomorrow and request a copy of the telephone conversation which you had on Friday all calls are recorded, were they stated that everything was ok and that you were free to shop around the market and choose your own preferred supplier

Yes I spoke & sent off all relevant information to the change of tenancy team iv received a letter today dating from Friday that the change of tenancy was changed which they did tell me over the phone on Friday that it was all sorted & no I've had no letter to say it was going to be disconnected

Hi,
House Of Hair
Did you inform the Change of tenancy team at BES that you had taken over the premises, or was it just a sales agent that had called you?
If you had informed them that you were the new tenant then they would have opened a C.O.T form, did you send in the relevant documents ie tenancy agreement etc as they have to verify that it is a genuine change of tenancy, if so they have no right in disconnecting the meter, if the documents were not sent in then they can go for disconnection . Was a letter but through the door prior to the disconnection visit P.D.V pre disconnection visit asking for you to contact the supplier ?
If they had the details then they should have waited for the C.O.T to be verified and held back on the disconnection

Last wk we moved into new salon premises in which BES are the energy supplier which I found out the wk before as they hounded us with phone calls to get us to enter a contract or we would be on emergency tariff I told them I would be in contact with them once we was in the new premises I then rang them last week to give meter reading & begin the transfer on to e.on.I was told I had to prove I was the new tenant by sending over various documentation incl tenancy agreement & liability insurance they told me the premises was due for disconnection as previous tenant owes money but as long as we changed over tenancy this wouldn't happen.They also asked for the meter serial number that did not correspond with the meter but did not answer my question to why it didn't correspond.Friday I rang back after not hearing back for them to tell me I needed to send more documents to prove who I was which in the end they told me everything was fine & I can go on to shop around for another supplier which I told them I had already done so & e.on wil be intouch.

However Monday morning BES have gained access to my salon cut off the electricity meter with No warning or permission but left a letter on my desk addressed to the previous business saying they have called for payment & have gained access to my property under the rights of entry act gas & electricity boards 1954 & now have to pay £900 to be reconnected & can take up to 10days to be reconnected & they had right to take the meter because it was fraudulent meter I'm now on day 2 of not being able to open my salon loosing money surely they have breached the act by failing to give me notice be grateful for any advice

I have also worked for BES and Commercial Energy, ring customer services on [protected] and ask which broker sent the contract over to BES they will say that they dont have that information but they do, they work on a system called CRM and on the last page is the brokers details they wont give you a tel no but try [protected] commercial energy and commercial power [protected], as this is were your contract will have been passed from . If you have requested a copy of the verbal agreement this is all you will receive ask them to send an email to the manager of CUSTOMER SERVICES and get him to email compliance for the up front recording ie were they are telling you rates etc they CAN DO THIS, IT'S A DISGUSTING COM[ANY TO WORK FOR, it's not CusTOMER sERVICES ITS company service

We are in the bes scamming club and our company is folding due to them. No matter how many letters to bes, MPs, ombudsman, even BII Legal supper for pubs...no one can help. Do bes have some sort of hold over everyone of power? Our meter belongs to British gas so we are still unsure how they have the monopoly on this?
So angry. If anyone has any answers let us know. We have three weeks :-(

BES have brought my business to its knees. Lies, misinformation, no information at all, inflated estimated bills and failure to provide a promised smart meter (my meter is inside someone else's unit). I'm now relieved that I don't have a smart meter having read this and the forum on moneysavingexpert but I'm still a cripplingly large amount of money out of pocket.
I would love to support any group action being taken. Feel free to contact me at fotofilia@hotmail.co.uk

Sorry to hear another one of these, honestly there are on average 600 per week. I will send you a message with my email address and hopefully I can be of help to you.

Hello, I am also a victim. It is sickening- We am waiting for the ombudsman's report but dont hold out much hope. I cant understand how it is legal to only provide a part recording of the phone call! They told me they had spoken to my mums current supplier at the time, and that our rates were this and that, and that BES rates are much cheaper at £xx! Later that day the current supplier said no one can access that info & that our rates where infact- HALF of the BES rates quoted (which where apperently much cheaper than current!) Then after supplier declining their attempts to take our supply, on the 4th or 5th attempt in one month, they attached a 'change of tenency' form? and when a supplier receives this they believe its new people in, and release the supply! So they got the electric supply in the end. They are still hounding with calls and trying to trick anyone who answers the phone into making a recording to get our gas! The documents BES sent in an email, where a lease agreement in completely different peoples names, for a property in a place we have never heard of! They are either trying to pass these off as ours, or they have attached something by accident...(confidentiality?) Does anyone have any info on this? I am interested in joining this campaign to stop them. Anonhelp 321- Please can you help us bring this to an end? I'm sure a statement from you will really help? Or do you have any info about the few that have successfully beat them and ended contract? I will email those who have left their email addresses on this page within the next week...We need to stop them! Its shocking! Good luck in the meantime everyone.

please get in touch with your M P and get them to rise this MATTER in parliament lots of small businesses will go under if left to B E S

we are all in the same boat b e s a nightmare

Sorry...only just saw the second page about getting together. LOL x

I too have been scammed by them, so they have successfully destroyed my business causing me to shut down by week 2!

I got a copy of the phone call but most of it missing especially the 1st person telling all the lies finishing with telling me I had 7 days cooling off to get me to say yes! I cancelled by email that evening and the next day by phone when I was told by them that businesses don't have a cooling off period.

How come they are allowed to carry on trading when they are so obviously a villainous company? Isn't this the kind of company we are all supposed to be protected from? It's like they are just given a carte blanche license by all of the authorities to have a feeding frenzy on any new shop owners they can catch out with their dirty tricks!

I tried to get help from all directions. The only ones that helped surprisingly were my bank who searched them on the internet and saw immediately other people saying exactly what I'd told them...so they changed my bank account for me. The ombudsman just threw me back to the sharks and said I need to go through their complaints procedure even though I wasn't even in a contract with BES and that's what I was disputing that they were hijacking my electricity supply even though I had cancelled within the 7 days like I was told in the initial phone call. They might be able to help eventually but you have to wait so long and go through a lot of bullying/stonewalling etc with BES plus never EVER getting a recording of THE part of the dodgy phone call because as BES know very well...the brokers aren't required by law to record their conversation plus BES say the broker is not their company...funny that as it's all from the same phone number with them passing you from person to person in the same call.

So to cut my story short...like I say...they destroyed my business so had to shut immediately. On the return complaints procedure letter from them they say I need to send proof that I have left the shop unit and that it should be stamped by a solicitor. I don't see why I should have to send this info as apart from the fact the contract hasn't even started, I left the shop unit before the so called contract even started but I have it loud and clear on the recording they have sent me that I will incur no penalties if I leave the building and as I have not used any of their electricity...I owe them nothing...but like someone else said...they are like Rottweilers and like a Rottweiler ripping someone to shreds once they have them in their jaws...that's how I am feeling being in their jaws and they just won't flippin let go! Shark size piranhas of the business world.

Could we not ALL get together and collectively take them to court?

Good luck everyone...wish me luck too

BES need to be closed down. Is there not any law in this country to stop idiots like these from existing?

Hi 'ConnedbyBES' nice name! I'm not quite sure it would get you out of the contract but you should certainly have the right to hear this recording, if they don't have it on file then the supply has been taken over without proper contract. They might tell you that they don't have it as it was signed by an independant broker (commercial power) in which case I would keep hounding them as we all know these are the same company.

On the recorded part of the call they will ask you to confirm the following:

Meter Serial Number
Your name and that you are responsible for the meter at ... premises & the Business name
That you agree to the rate of ... on a 4 year term (or shorter term if you negotiate that)

Once they have you giving these details/confirming these details (or just as important they might read the serial number/address/company name quickly to you and get you to say YES) then they have a verbal agreement, the rest of the contract will be read quite quickly to get it done before you question something during the recording. If you do fire questions at them during the recording they will have to start all over again and usually bring in a more experienced person to pressure you through it.

Also you will be asked to provide your bank details for a direct debit, there will be a part of the script that says "if you cancel or do not meet d/debit payments you may be put onto a higher rate" which is just another way of getting more money from you.

Again i'm not sure if this will help some of you who have already been conned but I thought I should give you as much information as possible as I know what is being done is without doubt Mis-selling. Feel free to ask any other questions and if I can help I will.

Hope it's of help to someone!

Thanks AnonHelp321. This is very useful information and I know it will assist in the ongoing battles with this conning bunch! ConnedbyBES is already asking you for info. I think the key thing is would you be willing to help and provide evidence on how they operate in an official not anonymous capacity.

Hiya AnonHelp321...could you let the group know which 3 questions they should ask you in the 'comfort call' please? If they fail to ask all of the 3 questions is that grounds for people to get out of the contract?

Thank you for this information. I am sure it would be helpful in someway with the amount of people who are now trying to fight BES. There is a Google group in place which is slowly linking people together and I am sure the co-ordinator will be in touch to see if you can assist in someway. Basically what you say supports exactly what happens so I am sure it will be useful evidence.

Many Thanks

Sorry that should read Commercial Power/Commercial Utilities, not National Utilities

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but this is only the tip of the iceberg. I worked for Commercial Power/Business Utilities for a short while and left as I felt terrible about what I was told to do. These companies are owned by Andy Pilley, the very same Andy Pilley who owns BES Electricity and BES Gas. There is no coincidence that hundreds of people each week are signed up to BES as the sales staff are taught to lie and make up competitor prices to push you into a BES 4 year contract. The will tell you that you will be cut off or that you will go onto higher rates if you don't get a contract sorted soon but all they really want is to get you onto BES, they are not independant brokers at all and probably sign 5 or 10 NPower contracts a week, the other 500+ contracts go straight to BES. I have even seen instances where a customer says "I have already signed with British Gas this morning, I spoke to Sarah and she sorted it for me" then believe it or not they put a girl on the phone to pretend to be Sarah and tell the customer there was an error in processing the application, then guess what "it's good news though because we've found a cheaper alternative for you" and the BES pitch starts. They have no idea what you were signed up to with British Gas but they will lie and tell you BES is cheaper. They can do this because by the time British Gas have applied to take over the supply and completed all paperwork it's been rushed through by BES (as they are the same company as the "broker") and there is no way for British Gas to then takeover the supply. The only part of the call that is recorded is the script where they have to get you to confirm you agree to the price, length of contract and give over your meter number and business/bank details, none of the other discussions you have are recorded as this is all they need to pass the industry standard. They will even then pass you down to an independant team to answer another 3 questions (they call this a comfort call) to make sure you haven't been mis-sold, so long as you answer these and don't argue on the recorded script than they have got you. I'm not sure if this will help anyone but I thought you should all know what you're up against.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but this is only the tip of the iceberg. I worked for Commercial Power/National Utilities for a short while and left as I felt terrible about what I was told to do. These companies are owned by Andy Pilley, the very same Andy Pilley who owns BES Electricity and BES Gas. There is no coincidence that hundreds of people each week are signed up to BES as the sales staff are taught to lie and make up competitor prices to push you into a BES 4 year contract. The will tell you that you will be cut off or that you will go onto higher rates if you don't get a contract sorted soon but all they really want is to get you onto BES, they are not independant brokers at all and probably sign 5 or 10 NPower contracts a week, the other 500+ contracts go straight to BES. I have even seen instances where a customer says "I have already signed with British Gas this morning, I spoke to Sarah and she sorted it for me" then believe it or not they put a girl on the phone to pretend to be Sarah and tell the customer there was an error in processing the application, then guess what "it's good news though because we've found a cheaper alternative for you" and the BES pitch starts. They have no idea what you were signed up to with British Gas but they will lie and tell you BES is cheaper. They can do this because by the time British Gas have applied to take over the supply and completed all paperwork it's been rushed through by BES (as they are the same company as the "broker") and there is no way for British Gas to then takeover the supply. The only part of the call that is recorded is the script where they have to get you to confirm you agree to the price, length of contract and give over your meter number and business details, none of the other discussions you have are recorded as this is all they need to pass the industry standard. They will even then pass you down to an independant team to answer another 3 questions (they call this a comfort call) to make sure you haven't been mis-sold, so long as you answer these and don't argue on the recorded script than they have got you. I'm not sure if this will help anyone but I thought you should all know what you're up against.

Pantiques, email me on firedog@blueyonder.co.uk

I fully support any action against BES. Whilst I got a lot of my money back, I am still out of pocket by nearly £1000, which basically I have paid for nothing. I have contacted BBC Watchdog but they did not respond. The Ombudsman just keeps saying get a deadlock letter... Somehow these 'people' have to be stopped but no one seems to want to get involved. That is why they still exist because it is just small businesses who are trying to fight them and we are small. If it was a big multi national with back up legal services it would be different.
If I was closer to Fleetwood I would join you on leafleting, but if I can do anything else just let me know. Somehow we need to unite everyone who has been conned by these ###.

Pantiques I have also emailed riddhim. I will gladly join a group. If there is enough of us there on the next match day we could hand out leaflets to everyone of the guys going into the football match to let them know what a crook the man is that runs that club. We could start a petition up outside and advertise local press. Mark my words he won't have heard the last of me. I will post when we have an answer to our complaint.

we have also been conned by BES but mark my words and watch this space because we won't let them get away with it.
I think that we should print leaflets off and hand them out on the next match day. This is what we intend to do! I won't let them steel my hard earned money!

An update! After many emails about the termination charges they have admitted they calculated it incorrectly and have said they will refund me over £4000 of the £5100 I paid! So now I just have to wait and see if they do! So my message to you all is fight on!
Will post if the refund arrives!

If anyone wants help against BES, contact me

Pantiques123 - we are still in the early stages of the process but as everyone has had the same problems I envisage ourselves facing a very trying time so I would definitely be interested in some sort of action group etc. riddhim above also suggested some sort of action group - I am going to send an e mail to him/her now - watch this space!

I agree about getting together to fight this Company. As my post we have lost over £5000 and we simply cannot afford this amount to throw away, BUT our life is worth more. I am going to go back to the Ombudsman as someone has to do something. They do operate within the law, , , , , somehow! But the law must be changed. I am very happy to join any group who wants to take action. Perhaps one way is to hit Fleetwood Town Football Club who allow them to operate from their base. The MD of BES is the chair of Fleetwood Town!
Anyone wanting to start up an action let me know. I have tried Trading Standards to no avail, and the ombudsman would not step in till either after 8 weeks OR i got a deadlock letter. Guess what BES told me they dont give deadlock letters!

Hi Feeling really sick now as I have been suckered into a 5 year deal with BES, Had been lied to from the start of the phone call .They are not the cheapest more like the dearest . Speaking to my lawyer on Monday as the lease for the shop is not in my name, so this may be a way out ! Just ruined my weekend now..Keep the fighting these cowboys

Dear All, I am also a victim of BES unethical tactics. Going by the website contents, it is clear that lots of BES victims visit this website to find some help. I even hired a reputed solicitor and spent £1000 without any success. What I've learnt from my experience in last 3 months with BES, that they are very clever and crafty bunch of people, who know powers and limitations of legal system. So, once you are in contract with them, you need to be extremely lucky to have a life without stress. I personally think that if we get together (at least 10 people) and work in harmony eg, communicate with OFGEM, MPs, Press etc and collectively hire a solicitor and take BES to court then we stand a better chance. Lets get UNITED and fight for Justice and teach them a lesson. We need to help ourselves rather than looking around for help. My email id is reetesh_wadhwani@yahoo.com, many thanks.

I am reading the comment off Pantiques123 and my heart has nearly stopped. We have made the comment above his and have not got much further but are waiting for the recording which going off what others have said I am assuming will be an edited version. I think we should stage a protest at the offices of BES and get the Government to take notice as surely they have to realise we cannot all be saying the same thing - that we were all duped! I would have thought they employed the agents so surely there has to be some sort of contract and they are responsible for the tactics used by the agents. I am dreading the next few weeks and what will happen. We have tried to better ourselves with a business and employing staff but wonder if that dream is going to come crashing down and we all end up on benefits. I wonder if there is an expert that can prove the recordings have been edited!

At the end of February we took over a small business (shop less than 80sq meters, with 7 lights and a kettle. Like others we received large numbers of contacts and also had a call who we believed was British Gas the current supplier. The call was to my wife who said she could not enter a contract without talking to me, but was battered with info and somehow gave over her bank details! They said they would call back the next day. Guess what they did not. My wife called them and they did not know the guy who called. PANIC. Anyway I managed to track down with help of Ombudsmans office and a network supplier that BES had jumped in and taken the supply. I rang BES and had a right argument, with them insisting we had a verbal contract and it was recorded. I demanded a copy of the recording and was told I had to write to request it. I did and it arrived. It was what I consider an edited version as I had a witness who clearly heard my wife say she could not enter a contract without talking to me, but guess what it was not on the recording. I Called them again and they basically said tough you have a contract and it is all lawful. I said how can we have a 5 year contract when we only have a 2 year lease, they would not budge. The next day we got an agreement document and I nearly collapsed. The agreement was awful with charges for everything even saying if we did not use £40 a month then charges went UP!
I was totally shocked and devastated, as we seemed to be writing an open cheque. I contacted the Ombudsman and Trading standards. No one could help until either 8 weeks had gone by or we had a deadlock letter./ I asked BES for a deadlock letter they said they would not send one. This was taking over our lives and what should have been an enjoyable time for my wife with her dream little shop was now a nightmare! I battled on, and in the end phoned again and said they were in breach of legislation under the Fraud Act and sale by misrepresentation. They said no, they did not sell anything and the agents were NOT linked to BES. After more phone calls I said I wanted out and asked for a termination figure. They came back and said it was £5229.00! I nearly collapsed, but I paid it as all I wanted was my life back. We are now still with BES but I have found an alternative supplier who is cheaper but am going very carefully before committing to anything. We are now struggling financially having had to give them over £5000 for nothing but we are free. I have had to borrow money to cover the business expenses due to having to pay this money. It is diabolical no one is doing anything about BES. The regulators or Government MUST do something to stop this rip off scam.
So beware of anyone calling you and ask if they are selling something if the call is recorded keep saying I am not agreeing to anything. Final point one of their Customer Managers called me today to offer me my money back if I agreed a new contract even for 12 months! You can guess my answer. I want and need the money back and will keep fighting to get it

We have just had to move into new salon premises as our old premises had been sold and had only been trading a few days in the new premises when we started to get telephone calls saying we had no contract for our gas and were using it illegally. As I am not always in the salon my daughter got them to ring back when I could speak to them and from the outset they led me to believe they were British Gas and I kept asking them to confirm that they were British Gas. I kept saying that I didn't understand the situation as British Gas had been out and checked everything as the building had been empty for some years and the previous tenant had left owing a large amount of money so I was sure that I was in a contract. As someone indicates above they talk that fast and I myself just kept panicking thinking we were using the gas illegally. Anyway, I got home that evening and checked the paperwork and we did have a contract with British Gas. I immediately sent recorded delivery letters to BES to confirm that we had a contract and therefore had been miss sold the contract with them as we couldn't have two contracts. I am now banging my head off a brick wall - it is still early days for us but after reading the comments above from everyone else I really don't know what we are going to do. I am going to request the recordings but if they do not contain all the conversation then I won't be heard repeatedly asking the question "you are British Gas". We have spent thousands on refitting our new shop and just do not know what we are going to do - never ever again will I trust anyone on the telephone again and I truly pity the people that work selling these contracts as I hope their own parents/family never get duped the way we honest hardworking small businesses have.

Hi all, have read everything with a sense if alarm! We are due to change over from opus to bes, but having read all the comments, and realised that we will actually be paying a higher unit rate, we don't now want to change to bes - I spoke them and they said there is nothing we can do. Is this true? Is there any way we can cancel with them?

So very sad to see all these messages...we hope our story will give you hope. We too were caught by these rogues at BES. Agents hounded us and persuaded us they were our current energy broker. We were sent a "contract" and immediately realised we had been duped. This was in September 2013.

Since then, we tried to deal directly with BES to annul this "contract" but without any success. In fact their bullying tactics were most unprofessional. Before Christmas we approached the Energy Ombudsman. We were asked to send them chapter and verse of our dealings with BES. (Please make sure you keep details of ALL your contacts with BES). Even then, BES tried to apportion blame on " unscrupulous agents" and tried their best to convince the Ombudsman that a valid contract existed.

In February, 2014, through the efforts of the Ombudsman, the contract was declared null and void. They were VERY helpful. It was a scary 4/5 months for us, as BES (like rottweilers) would just not let go. A very unpleasant experience and a valuable lesson learned never to deal with anyone on the phone unless you are absolutely certain of who they are.

PLEASE involve the Energy Ombudsman in your complaints. They need to know the level of complaints against this company and the suffering they are causing small businesses.

We are in the process of gathering information against BES and Commercial Energy. Commercial Energy rang and impersonated my current broker saying that my new contract I just entered into with Opus couldn't not go through because our meter was incompatible. A series of what I now know are lies led us to a recorded verbal contract with BES. I'm requesting a copy of it from them at the moment. I've also contacted my current broker and Opus for their response to the above. My current broker mentioned on the phone that BES / Commercial Energy Ltd have impersonated them in the past. The more you look into it, the links between BES and Commercial Energy Ltd become stronger and stronger.
Very best of luck to all of you, and good luck with the court case in June this year! Will let you know the outcome of our enquiries and now long it takes.

Here's a link for the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations, might be useful
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/1276/regulation/3/made

I am very troubled by reading this blog as I have just opened a business with BES as our energy supplier. We were hounded by Opus among others but BES seemed to be the fairest one. As we are in the formative stages of the contract, what can I expect as time moves on? I intend to take monthly meter readings and submitt them to BES in order to keep track of our consumption. I have not agreed to a smart meter install and the engineers will be refused access should they try. What else can I do to limit the damage
that BES could do to my business?