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

Hi BES Utilities Online Team

I have emailed my details over to that email address. I created a thread here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5195107

May be your colleague or yourself monitoring this forum has looked into this and asked me to send the details.

Now I am awaiting the cancellation of this invalid contract. Hopefully it gets done soon.

Kind regards
Surbir

Hi Surbir,

Unfortunately as evidence proves, your complaint is one of many several hundred (getting on for thousand) about these seemingly intertwined companies...

Commercial Reduction Services is owned by Darren Martindale whose business partner is Andy Pilley (also owner of BES)... Pilley denies an involvement in what he refers to as 'third party' brokers - but (until recently, as I pointed it out) was referred to as a "business partner" on the Commercial Reduction Services page; a page which has since been removed.

Keep on at BES, Joel Chapman at BES usually is the man... He has release all of the other contracts of the people I've sent his way (the number of which is mounting up).

I hope that helps?

I hear today that the compliance team at Commercial Power have nothing to do as all the call recordings have disappeared. Apparently this is due to an 'IT' issue hmmmm

Here we go ladies and gentleman. I hope you can see the attached images?

So Natalie Seddon. She is friends (on Facebook) with Lee Qualter/Goulding AND Michell Davidson.

So she works for Commercial Reduction Services, but is clearly friends with owner of rival brokerage Commercial Energy Lee Goulding/Qualter... BUT also knows owner of BES Michelle Davison (Pilley's sister)...

Of course all of these companies are claimed by Andy Pilley as being 'independent' - but as the (hopefully attached) evidence shows, you can draw your own conclusions.

P.S you may also note that Mr Martindale as admitted that Commercial Power Ltd gives his 'company' data - slightly worrying to any broker that has previously used Commercial Power as an aggregator, no?

Oh Dear oh Deary me

Oh god, I've just read all of these and I feel like Im going to have aheart attack!
I have managed to get myself duped into a 3 year contract with BES for gas and electricity and we have been threatened with disconnection 3 times already within 6 months and charged random amounts via direct debit . They recently tried to take £1100 out within 20 days as well as us having paid an extra £250 by debit card and so we cancelled our direct debit and they have just told us that it is in the contract that we'll pay 40% more for our energy now!
I m really up for a protest outside their offices - let's do it - Im fed up with being conned - the government is doing nothing to help small businesses at all.

Today, Monday 30 March 2015, I received a phone call purporting to be from "Utility Services." The female caller stated that they had been notified that I had recently taken responsibility for my address and thereby, the utilities. I explained that i had resided at the address for 5 years but that I was building an extension to house by new B&B business. I also informed her that i had replaced my single phase electricity supply to three phase. She sounded concerned and asked that I open the meter box and supply the meter number and reading. She tut-tutted and stated that she was of the opinion that the wrong type of meter had been installed. (It is only subsequently that I realised that I have provided my meter details and reading to a complete stranger) Before terminating the call, this representative of "Utility Services" stated that she needed to make some enquiries. Some hours later, this female phoned back and asked whether she could pass me through to a colleague in the Registration Dept. The colleague informed me that Business supply was much cheaper and that a company called BES is the cheapest in the industry. he quoted figures, stating that my existing supplier, Scottish Power could only offer 61.85 pence per day and 19.11 pence per unit whilst BES could offer 18.70 pence per day and 13 pence per unit. (This made little sense to me but sounded impressive) I reinforced the fact that my usage was domestic only as my business was not trading, indeed my premises had not been built. I received reassurance that BES would be happy to take me on as a business customer. He commenced a rapid fire registration procedure. Before I new it, I had supplied my bank details and date of birth. I somehow became disconcerted by the process and whilst he continued to ramble, I googled BES, finding this website. I interrupted the rep, telling him of the complaints to which he responded in a somewhat petulant manner that the Big 6 also received similar complaints. He referred me to his supervisor, Sean. Sean was equally as fast talking as the original rep. I felt he was somewhat condescending in telling me that I should have no concerns as he was "...not trying to sell (me) a mortgage" I was patched back to the registration officer, who recommenced the the registration from the beginning. I again halted proceedings and was again referred to the same supervisor. This time, when I expressed concern about not having heard of BES, he asked me, "Have you heard of Blackpool?" I responded to the affirmative. He then told me that BES supplied the illuminations. Surreal ! On my third run through the registration, I actually had to terminate the call as it was brutally apparent that this company did not intend to take "No" for an answer. He immediately phoned back whereupon I told him that I did not wish to switch. Several hours later, I received a call from a different representative of Utility Services. I told him that I was not pleased with the manner of selling utilised by his company. He told me that it would be in my interests to hurry as I was now "On an emergency tariff." At this stage my temper broke and I swore at the caller. He replied by Singing (yes...singing) "Enjoy your emergency tariff."
I asked my wife to inform our existing supplier Scottish Power of the circumstances. Scottish power assured us that there was no such thing as an emergency tariff. They have also promised to place an alert on our account to ensure BES cannot take over as our supplier.
I consider that my experiences at the hand of Utility Services was horrible in the extreme and sincerely hope they will desist from chasing me as a prospective customer. I regret swearing but in my defence, I feel i was provoked.

So glad I found this thread!

I too have been plagued by Utility services, they actually told me to avoid BES?
Instead they pushed a supplier called OPUS energy :|
When I declined, they got aggressive !

The guy on the phone was called 'peter' and spoke with a strong Manchester accent..
he gave me a 0161 number to call them back on and would not take no from me either!:(

I've had days and days of calls pushing OPUS ever since... AVOID the dodgy mancunion 'Peter' at ALL costs!

Be careful of 'Energy Search' and 'Commercial Reduction Services' as Neil says they are both owned by Andy Pilley's friends but realistically are both managed by Lee Qualter, Stacey Irving, Michelle Davidson and Andy Pilley. The are both registered to a London address (as are a number of Andy Pilley's other companies) but both operate out of Darwin Court, Bispham, Blackpool. The sales techniques are dodgy with using different names to confuse customers e.g. 'The registrations Department', 'Meter Registrations Department' or even supplier names. They get their data from lots of different sources but everything is provided to both 'companies' and called by a combination of automated diallers and teams manually dialling.

BEWARE ALL .. Please ignore all calls from commercial reduction services I am being harassed daily by this company saying I am out of contract with my current energy supplier even though I have spoke to my current supplier and I am still in contract until next year !

Broker gave my brother a price of 2.83 pence per KWH for gas services on a fixed contract, in Feb 2008. That was worked out to be around £200 savings yearly compared to the current provider Eon. After six months once he had forgotten everything about the contract BES come and take over Gas supply at 4.45 pence per KWH telling him that he never signed a fixed price deal. The lease changed hands on 1/1/2009 and I, the new lease holder decided to go with another provider as BES were giving silly prices. Then took ages to authorise the change. On 11th March 2009 Npower took charge of gas supply. BES sent a bill of £4900 for just over 2 months gas supply at a extortion rate of 7 pence per KWH, their out of contract price. This was also due to 1000 meter units had been added to my account rather than my brothers. on 31/12/2008 meter readings were 8637 but BES had billed me from 7637. blaming it on my brother that he gave us the last readings. OK if he did then why nearly £900 extra that was taken out of his bank via direct debits had not been refunded. Me & my brother called them, emailed them a lot, explained everything but they would not budge. One other thing BES did was without asking us the final readings in March when Npower took over the gas supply agreed with Npower, a meter reading of 8413. Npower charged us from this reading as well which is already paid. Upon contacting BES that the final readings in March were 9250 and they should send us the right bills and also they must contact Npower to also change the readings to 9250, what they did was changed their final reading in March from 8413 to 9250 & did not correspond with Npower, and didn't change the start reading to 8637 from 7637. So the bill was also up to final readings of 9250 (£4900). Despite contacting them on many times all they were interested in was their money. So all their correspondence was ignored. Then for 4 years there was no correspondence at all until end of Jan this year (2015). This was a letter from Debt Agency who upon contacting just wanted the money which was nearly £6000 including their fees. Now they have send county court summons for an amount of nearly £7500. I aim to fight this and would require advice & support from the victims of BES SCAMS. Please do advice to what I should do now.
Thankx

Good morning,

We're sorry to read about your complaint and we are keen to investigate. Please send your account and complaint details to forums@besutilities.co.uk and we will respond to you ASAP.

Regards,

BES Utilities Online Team

Re Fazfame problem. Do ensure you file your defence and also ask for the hearing to be at your local County Court (it is your right). You need to document your case carefully and tie in each piece of documentary evidence into a narrative that hangs together. You will find that OFGEM have an open investigation (opened 30 Oct 14) into breeches of the electricity supply licence for this company. You can Google it. You can also find Standard Conditions for Electrical Supply Licence availalble on the OFGEM site. Any claimant is obligued to do everything to minimize any loss - if you tried to move to a new supplier but the move was obstructed by the current supplier then the current supplier's claim to lost income (at the higher 'out of contract rate') is open to challenge. Inevitably some parts of your case will lack evidence so the current has to decide on the balance of probabilities what actually happened. If your problem is similar to issues that OFGEM is investigating then the Court is more likely to find in your favour. Be aware debts are sold on at discounted rates to debt collectors at often greatly reduced rates and court cases pursued on the basis that in some cases the defendant does not defend the case in which case a judgment is awarded automatically in favour of the claimant

I work for another energy consultancy/brokerage- a real one! I was visiting a town and came across some chaps who were opening a shop. I told them I'd be very happy to find out who the meters were supplied by, as they'd not received bills yet. I came back to them with this information around a week later, but they told me that 'the meter registration service' had already contacted them. He had told them that he was already dealing with me at our consultancy, and they claimed that I was the one who had asked them to contact him, as his meter was unregistered, emergency rates and so on. That was the first lie in a long series of lies. I have contacted the meter registration service, energy search and BES, they all blame each other and, surprise surprise, were only able to provide me with half a phonecall.

My client has agreed to a five year VARIABLE deal with BES. This is extremely disconcerting, as god only knows how often the rates will vary. We are working to try and get this contract revoked on the grounds that it was mis-sold, misleading, and unfair. We will be joining the class action. My client is gutted that he was duped into this.

I have met a huge amount of businesses who are angry and upset at how unfairly they have been treated by BES. In fact, whenever I meet a BES customer, I ask what their experience has been like, and how they are treated. I would say 90% say they are unhappy with the way BES treat them and many, many have been mis-sold in the same way as most of the people on this thread.

I just want to add that there are good brokers and consultants out there, and we serve a valuable purpose in aiding people with their business energy- the issue is that brokers are mostly unregulated and therefore there are a proportion of them who are liars and con artists. Google the company before working with them! If anyone is coming to the end of their BES contract and would like to move supplier, I would be happy to help with this process. BES can make the leaving process difficult and it will help to have someone with industry knowledge on your side. I don't wish to add the name of the company that I work for, but you can contact me on my personal email address, rebeccaztaylor@outlook.com if you need me. I will fight your corner.

my previous tenant left the premises due to finance issues including unpaid rent, we took possession of the property in april and informed electricity supplier of the move (EON) via their online contact form as we usually do when a tenant leaves any of our properties and put the property up for let whilst sorting out any other issues/refurbishment. in about 2 weeks we get a deemed contract start date with the reading we supplied.

BUT this time it didnt happen we found new tenant via an agent. he applied to his preferred supplier to take electric in april 2015. but was rejected the move of electric so he tried again and same issue. i advised him to speak to EON when he spoke to them they said we dont have this meter.

finally chased it down to BES the tenant contacted them and said release the energy they requested copy of lease and his id etc which he has sent.
he has spent a long time on the phone to them trying to explain he is the new tenant

now they want passport copy of landlord which was requested over the phone. we are reluctant in sending a copy of a sensitive document via email.

it now is July and are worried what the deemed rates will be for the period the landlord was responsible and for the period this is being sorted out.

the tenant is refusing to open his business in case he gets extortionate demands etc.

please advise the quickest/best way to confirm the previous tenant has left and we don't want any more to do with BES and to move to the tenants preferred supplier using the correct readings as provided by us or a legitimate meter reader.

I have messaged you :)

These lot should be called B.E.PESTS

it seems like when you register your company on companies house, duport etc, some little slime ball passes all your personal private contact details/numbers to business utilities and these rip off little energy companies like BES. Then they get to work...bombarding your phone non-stop, telling you how they beat all the best energy company rates on the market bla bla bla. When in reality they are ripping everyone off big time!

I was mislead into signing up with them by this daft parrot on the phone. They read all the rights at 200 mph, so I couldn't even understand what they were saying. The first bill for two weeks was for £500, Toe rags! I immediately cancelled my direct debit with them in 2011. Ever since they've been threatening and bombarding us with phone calls non stop, the staff are rude and not very helpful at all. I've tried cancelling my contract with them on numerous occasions and very rudely the staff there told me it is not possible.

One young male I spoke to at BES was actually arguing with me and giving it the large'n down the phone to pay the bills, it was very unprofessional! He sounded like an ex-school nerd that finally has some authority in his life, talking hard while behind a phone at his job.

My small business only had one small computer running a printer a light in two rooms, which was only on when the shop was open 9 til 4.
No major appliances like cooker, microwave, fridge etc

One day they sent electricians round to my business accompanied by G4s security. They then forced themselves into my premises and intimidated my staff, then proceeded to fit in a smart meter, which I thought wasn't smart as they are still charging a bomb for the electric being used.

at one point my business was closed for a month...guess what...they still charged me a big bill for electricity that hasn't even been used...haha these guys are some right thieves I tell ya!

i've approached Ombudsman to help resolve this matter and they were no help. These guys prey on new vulnerable business's and I hope they get served the right way!

Remember people BES isn't a major energy company, we're all paying for some assh*les cocktails and holiday cruises who doesn't give two sh*@s.
While we as hard working genuine business owners get robbed out of our money.

We should join forces and get BES exposed. These low lives need to be on watch dog!

Morning, another unlucky customer here. They managed to convince my wife to agree to a 5 year contract under pressure.

She was bombarded by broker calls, they passed her onto BES. They didn't allow her time to evaluate all the information and told her she had a 2 week cooling off period. They didn't establish she was a micro business and the minimum usage is way above what she is expecting to use, all of which is against the Ofcom Standard Licence Conditions 7A, 7B. On calling to cancel the contract within their agreed verbal agreement the call was handled by a trainee solicitor, Jessica Bennett who claimed to listen to the recordings of the call and found no trace of this agreement or any mis-selling points.

We've a SAR submitted to them for the recordings but going by past comments doubt they'll be much use. They claim to record all calls for training and complaint reasons, something which they're now saying they don't? My husband installs and maintains voice recording systems for a living so is aware of the type of equipment and it's configuration. He can think of no scenario you'd allow an agent to be able to stop and start they're own call apart from PCI-DSS reasons. Quality should be perfect and complete calls including any transfers along with their associated metadata should be made available.

We have submitted a complaint to them via the www.resolver.co.uk website which collates all information so that it can be escalated to Ofgem as and when required.

We are not taking this lying down. We will fight this and will be contacting the government to remind them of the reputation of the people they're dealing with. The director of BES Utilities is known to visit No.10 Downing Street and the Energy Minister and Minister for Business & Enterprise, Matthew Hancock, paid a visit to BES Utilities and Fleetwood. It does nothing for the reputation of the government to visit an organisation which is under investigation by a regulator.

According to the local newspaper, the Blackpool Gazette, BES are in the running for an award for "Treating Customers Fairly" despite being investigated by Ofgem ?

Finally someone has exposed these scammers: https://youtu.be/PUBhIHCYi5c

Hi Everyone,

I too have been conned by Meter Registration service( DCS utility) they phoned me up and pretended to be an official body and not a sales outfit.
They then signed me up to British gas on high rates, far higher than what I should havepaid if I had shopped around.
It turns out that the sales co was DCS Utilitiy based in Manchester.
After doing some digging I have uncovered that the owner a Dave Sumner has got a lot of history conning small shops with his Meter registrations scam.
He even had the front to name his co Meter Registration Department Ltd, in order to help trick customers into believing he was a legit organisation.
He also uses the name UK Energy.
See info below.

Result -

Anyone who fancies having their legal department pursue this;

Meter Registration Department - UK Energy and many others are operated by;

BENJAMIN-DEXTER-LIMITED

http://companycheck.co.uk/company/0...ny-summary

Mr Carl David Sumner

Registered address is an accountants
MADISONS,
BUSHBURY HOUSE,
435 WILMSLOW ROAD,
WITHINGTON,
MANCHESTER,
M20 4AF

Looks like they've been at it a very long time though - so good luck.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=990931&highlight=uk+energy&page=13

Caller: UK Energy
Caller Type: Telemarketer

In Feb 2008 After many calls (pestering calls) I fell in trap to renew my Gas contract with this firm saving me a mere £75 a year on a £5000 a year contract with British Gas. I use to pay 2.89 pence per KWH to British Gas. The brokers gave me a price of 2.83 pence per KWH. For five months nothing happened and by that time I had forgotten about this phone call. On 23rd July 2008 I received a letter from British Gas saying how sorry they were to see our firm leave for another firm. Initially as I had forgotten about this contract over five months ago told BG that I would like to stay as I do not even know who I'm surrendering the Gas service to anyway. I was told that it was a bit late now as transfer date is 25th July 2008 (2 days time). Then upon enquiry BG told me that my Gas services were being transferred to someone called BES & also gave me a phone number. So I called BES & they acknowledged that the Gas at our premises would be supplied by them from 25th July. Upon enquiring the price I was shocked as they gave me a price of 4.43 pence per KWH. So first thing I did was dig out notes from my computer of the call made in February. I was shocked to as I had been told 2.83 pence per KWH, so I called BES & said a mistake had been made as I had been given a different price. I was told yes you were given that price but now the prices have gone up. So I asked how in a fixed price contract you can raise the prices. I was shocked when they said that I did not have a fixed price contract but a variable price contract. (Due to being in catering business since 1995, I have always & always gone in fixed price contracts and would never, even now, imagine going in a variable price contract). Despite asking them on numerous occasions to send me a recording of the original chat back in February 2008 BES failed to send me that to date. A monthly direct debit was set up & BES started taking out different amount every month. In December 2008 I had to go abroad so I passed a lease onto my brother. BES firstly declined to take that into consideration and after threats of taking them to court, they asked for a copy of the lease. They acknowledged the lease and gave us a go ahead to change suppliers or take out a new contract with them. Their contract prices were ridiculous so my brother decided to change the supplier. Npower offered 2.9 pence per KWH & they were offered the business, which were transferred to Npower on 11/03/2009. Now BES charged me 4.43 pence KWH up to 31/12/2008, & charged my brother 7.0 pence per KWH out of contract prices (DAYLIGHT ROBBERY) up to 10/03/2009.
At the start of business with BES in July 2008 meter readings were 6272 & on 31/12/2008 the meter readings were 8637. BES billed my brother from starting meter readings of 7637 telling him that I quoted the last meter read. The final meter readings on 10/03/2009 were 9250. Many many calls to set the records straight and get the right meter readings BES would not budge. Even despite telling them that a mistake may have been made giving you the final meter readings in December here is the right meter readings, but BES would not budge. You all readers on this forum decide how a small takeaway can use only 1365 units for 5 months & 5 days, & then 1613 units in 2 months & 10 days. Whereas the true bills should be on 2365 units & 613 units respectively. They billed my brother nearly £4800 for 69 days consumption (This use to be our annual gas bill with BG before we got trapped with BES Contract). Despite not changing the meter readings by direct debit BES took out nearly £800 extra from my account for use up to 31/12/2008 & BES to date have failed to refund me that money. (WHY NOT IF YOU ARE ADAMANT THAT END READINGS ON 31/12/2008 WERE 7637 THEN REFUND THE EXTRA AMOUNT TAKEN OUT).
By end of 2009 we told BES to only contact us if they sort the bills out and send bills with right start / End meter readings, otherwise don't bother contacting us. We did not hear from them until January 2015 when a firm called Hoist contacted us asking for more than £6500 on behalf of their client BES. I phoned Hoist and asked them if they knew any background to this claim & they didn't. All hoist were interested in was the funds. So in April 2015 we received County Court Summons for an amount of £7700, and we aim to fight this to our last thing. The hearing is on 2/10/2015 and please all readers wish us good luck.

I have read all the comments above and am extremely shocked at the goings on in the business energy industry. I have just spent the last 30 years working in the insurance claims business and specialised in the investigation of "crash 4 cash" incidents. These were mostly fueled by greedy accident management companies and lawyers and has basically led to us all paying an extra £50 on our insurance premiums every year.
Anyway, earlier this year I decided enough was enough and resigned to open a small shop in my local home town. I ploughed my life's savings into the business and was really looking forward to it ... alas the enjoyment lasted approx 3 days.
I'd already agreed, prior to taking over the shop (an existing business), to keep the energy supply with British Gas and on the day of the business transfer I duly spoke with them and agreed a 2 year contract for both Gas and Electricity. I knew that I could have probably found a better deal but I just didn't want the hassle etc.
3 days later I get a call from a guy who says there's an issue with my electricity meter reading and needs a new reading. He's very vague on where he's calling from but he sounded genuine so I provided a meter reading (despite the meter already being a smart one). I had also witnessed the previous tenant taking the meter reading on the day of the business transfer and knew it was correct and even supplied this reading to British Gas when I spoke with them 3 days earlier.
The guy said the reading was miles out but wouldn't disclose what recording he had previously.
The guy then goes on to say he's from an "independent" company called Commercial Reductions and that he could provide a very good quote for my energy. The best deal he could find was with a company called BES. I pointed out to him straight away that I had already taken out a new contract with Brit Gas however he stated that "it did not matter" and as no supplier was showing on his "systems" then I was within my rights to change supplier. I even advised that I'd received a letter that morning from British Gas confirming my contract etc.
He then went through (very quickly) the rates that BES had to offer and initially they sounded better than what Brit Gas had offered. I again advised that I'd taken out a contract with Brit Gas and was concerned that they might "sue" me for breach of contract etc. He assured me that this could not possibly happen so I agreed to the contract.
By this time I was starting to feel quite intimidated by the caller and felt that I was under pressure. At the same time I was trying to serve customers so wasn't really paying attention to what the caller was saying. Indeed, at one point I had to close the shop and drive 2 miles back to my home in order to obtain my banking details!
During the actual "terms and conditions" of the call (the only bit that is allegedly only recorded!) I raised again the subject of my recent contract with British Gas. This seemed to annoy the caller but he assured me once again that there would be no problems and he then had to start again with the "contract" recording and asking me not to mention the British Gas aspect again. He also asked me not to mention this when the call went through to BES as they "wouldn't know what to do about it".
Following the call I knew straight away that I'd made a terrible mistake and an initial search on the internet regarding BES caused me considerable stress and anguish.
The following day I contacted the British Gas complaints dept in the UK and explained by predicament. They clearly knew about the conduct of Commercial Reductions and BES and assured me that the supply would not be transferred to BES.
I then contacted BES and asked to be put through to the complaints area. I explained the situation and was assured that any complaints about a "broker" were taken very seriously. They also advised me that I had nothing to worry about as only one company could be a supplier (at the time I was worried that I might be contracted to both companies for at least 2 years!).
A few days later I receive all the documents from BES including comprehensive "terms and conditions" - very few of these were mentioned in the original verbal contract.
As I was still not convinced about the situation I called British Gas again and they assured me that both the electricity and gas supplies were with them and any attempts by another firm to take them over would be blocked. It was also agreed that a password would be placed on my account just in case someone tries to imitate me!
I then wrote a formal letter of complaint to BES outlining the above and expressing my disgust in the way that the "broker" had conducted himself and that as far as I was concerned my contract was with British Gas.
I received, what appears to be, a standard response enclosing the recordings of the actual verbal contract. There is no mention of any enquiries being made with Commercial Reductions about their staff member's conduct and as far as they're concerned the agreement is still valid etc.
To be honest I really didn't expect anything different bearing in mind the comments on this forum!
Just one other thing. I haven't mentioned any names in the above although I did record them at the time.
Of interest I received a call from someone at BES a couple of days before my official complaint whose voice sounded very similar to the original caller from Commercial Reductions! When I advised that I wasn't happy and was lodging a formal complaint he hung up on me!
Having read the considerable and quite shocking number of complaints regarding BES and their "not so independent" brokers I would appreciate some advice as to how to proceed.
I'm very concerned that BES will somehow manage to take over the supply of my energy using underhand tactics etc.
I am prepared to put up a very good fight and will not allow myself to be intimidated further or bullied. I have experience of the legal profession and have given evidence in Court on numerous occasions in relation to my previous employment so this does not worry me in the slightest!

Please sign my petition https://www.change.org/p/david-cameron-mp-investigate-the-relationship-between-bes-and-brokers?recruiter=253252436&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_for_starters_page&utm_term=des-lg-no_src-no_msg&fb_ref=Default BES are a horrible company

Link doesn't work Chrismls but to be honest I don't think this is the way forward as you need 1000's of signatures for the government to take notice - best if you contact your own MP. Most MP's have one-to-one "surgeries" where you can go along and discuss matters such as this. Pending how BES respond to my "case" (they have since gone very quiet) then I will be doing this. Fortunately, as a local councillor, I know my local MP so hopefully he'll progress matters! Keep up the fight folks!

BES If you look on LinkedIn you will see who the chairman and those that sniff under him. Try to email them directly and you get a condescending reply. They look like family men/people but you can basically see straight through them. Their partners resemble dizzy women in a dream land of BES and they look like a rendition of foster brothers reunited with beards.
Customer service are one big joke as are those that call us daily, email daily and remind us all of what rotten human being there are in this world and most of them work for BES.
The brokers that suggest BES should also be traded in as rotten as they are as bad.
We are so say in a verbal contract with them
We received NO terms and conditions no welcome pack (BES still tell us it was sent) The first ever letter from them was to say if we do not enter into a contract with them they will fine us £4, 000 because they have already purchased our 'energy' we immediately told them by email and phone calls we do not deal with a company who use threats and bullying to get business. They have subjected us to the most unreasonable harassment ever since. When we asked them to prove they had purchased our 'energy' they have ignored this but now we get daily calls emails and threats. We have now engaged with NEWTONS a legal firm & solicitor who apparently knows about BES and will guide us as to where we are in the mere of rotten traders. The Ombudsman were as helpful as a chocolate ashtray and never respond. If they do respond they repeat what they said before and we never seem to get anywhere. This has stressed us out. Its terrifying what this slimmy people from BES can subject us hard working small business people to this terrible business of threats and bullying. There is also a company of legal experts in London who will look at your case . Apparently they already have hundreds on this files (free of charge) and will take the cases into Court and expose BES accordingly.

There is now proof that Ross Chapman and Dale Dixon of BES Utilities registered a domain on behalf of Lee Qualter/Goulding's Energy Search. See here:

http://0lly.uk/2015/11/11/more-proof-energy-search-ltd-and-bes-utilities-are-linked/

There can be no doubt Andy Pilley's claim that BES have no control or general day-to-day business dealings with the brokers is false. You simply can't trust a word Pilley says, the evidence is plain for all to see.

BES are a rip off company been with the for 3 months they sent us a bill for £3824.89 put it into dispute ended up going to ofgem as soon as they found out we had gone to the ombudsman they got a warrant to enter the premises and took the meter out.
They have now come back with a final figure of £1520 which we have paid in full but will not replace the meter as we don't want to stay with them.
so now we have to pay a security deposit which in the grand scheme of things we are more than happy to do just to get away from these con artists..

Hot off the press ...

Investigation into BES and its compliance with its obligations under the gas and electricity supply licences (Standard Licence Conditions 7A, 7B, 7, 14 and 21B) and with the Con' Complaints Handing Standards Regulations (CHSR) 2008

Publication date
25th November 2015
Company
BES Commercial Electricity Ltd (electricity supplier) and Business Energy Solutions Ltd (gas supplier)
Status
Open
The Gas and Electricity Markets Authority ("the Authority") proposes to impose a financial penalty on BES Commercial Electricity Ltd and Business Energy Solutions Ltd (together referred to as "BES") following an investigation by Ofgem into its failure to comply with the requirements of conditions 7A, 7B, 7 and 14 of their gas and electricity supply licences and with the Gas and Electricity (Con' Complaints Handling Standards) Regulations (CHSR) 2008, Regulations 4 and 5.

The Authority finds that BES has breached the following relevant conditions and requirements:

SLC 7A.4(b) – Supply to Micro Business Consumers – These provisions require that, before a licensee enters into a Micro Business Consumer Contract, it must take all reasonable steps to bring the Principal Terms of the proposed contract to the attention of the consumer and ensure that the information is communicated in plain and intelligible language. These conditions were breached for the period 8 June 2010 to 12 July 2015 (Breaches 1 and 2).
SLC 7B – Customer Objective and Standards of Conduct for non-domestic supply activities – These provisions require that the licensee takes all reasonable steps to achieve the Standards of Conduct and apply the Standards of Conduct in a manner consistent with the Customer Objective of ensuring that each Micro Business Consumer is treated fairly. This condition was breached for the periods 26 August 2013 to 12 July 2015 (Breach 3) in relation to failure to communicate Principal Terms and 26 August 2013 to 14 August 2014 (Breach 4) in relation to Statement of Renewal letters.
SLC 7.6A(c) – Terms of Contracts and Deemed Contracts – These provisions state that a deemed contract must not require a customer to give any form of notice before they are able to change supplier, and were breached for the period 23 October 2013 to 9 June 2014 (Breach 5).
SLC 14 – Non-Domestic Customer Transfer Blocking – These provisions state that a licensee must not prevent a Proposed Supplier Transfer except in accordance with certain specific provisions, one of which being that the licensee’s Contract with that customer allows the licensee to prevent the transfer. Contract is a defined term within SLC 1 and the definition states that a Contract does not include a Deemed Contract. This SLC was breached for the period 14 November 2012 to 9 June 2014 (Breach 6).
Regulations 4 and 5 of the CHSRs. These regulations place requirements on regulated providers in relation to handling con' complaints, and were breached for the period 1 January 2013 to 31 October 2014 (Breach 7).
BES has admitted that it breached the relevant conditions and requirements set out above and has co-operated with the Authority’s investigation. BES has made improvements in those areas which are the subject of this investigation.

The investigation also looked at a potential breach of SLC 21B in relation to accurate billing but there was no finding of a breach in relation to this SLC.

The Authority considers it appropriate to impose a penalty for this contravention. In the circumstances the Authority hereby gives notice under section 27A(3) of the Electricity Act 1986 ("the Electricity Act") and section 30A(3) of the Gas Act 1986 ("the Gas Act") of its proposal to impose a penalty of £2 (£1 on each licensee).

The proposed penalty takes into account the fact that BES has agreed to pay £980, 000 in total by way of settlement of this case. Of this amount it has undertaken to pay compensation totalling £310, 000 to consumers affected by the breaches. The remainder, £670, 000 (plus any amounts which cannot be returned to affected consumers), less the penalty sum of £2 will be paid to Business Debtline and will fund specific projects through which Business Debtline will provide debt advice services to business customers who are experiencing difficulties in paying their energy bills. BES has also agreed to contact all those customers who have contacted them previously in relation to any matters relevant to breaches 1 to 3 to explain its failings and to offer those customers the opportunity to terminate their contract, should they wish to, without a termination fee being imposed.

Yes, that was last week.

Funnily enough they dropped a legal action the day after. They were clearly scared of putting that one in the High Court. Or maybe it's because Andy Pilley committed perjury?

You can find out all you need to know about the BES Scam here: http://0lly.uk/2015/11/25/bes-utilities-ltd-get-out-of-contract-now/

Congratulations to the good people that run this board. And damn the trolls paid for by bes. I've no doubt that pilley can probably pay the fine from his loose change, but hey, there must a lot of relieved small businesses out there.…lt will be interesting to see how this affects their corrupt and criminal revenue streams.
A pox upon bes and its employees.

Following the BES breach announcement I have notified BES that I am terminating the contract for mis-selling and harassment. Asking them to put all correspondence to me in writing as my business is suffering from the continued nuisance calls and that I then have a record for legal reasons. They have ignored my requests and keep phoning, saying they have recordings and that I have no case to terminate. They even said that all the customer impacted by the breach have been dealt with ...right ! I am expecting a lot worse than this but will refuse to let these ### get one over on me even if it cost me.

If you are reading this and feel the same about what when on in getting you to sign a contract and the number of calls since for other utilities' then I suggest you ACT NOW rather than just letting them get away with it. Both Ofgem and many hundred starter businesses are onto them now so we need to keep the complaints coming till changes are made or these people are close down and locked up.

This feed is incredible . I had the same, took over a closed business address, got hundreds of calls on three phone numbers by various companies all mentioned above. I knew we hadn't signed anything so therefore they weren't our suppliers, whatever vitriol they spouted, and most of it eventually was swearng, threatening and obvious lies. So I told them nothing. Blanked their calls after number 267 and got on with it. They have now made up a company name for me that doesn't exist, sent me £3000 worth of estimated bills. I've paid them nothing, will pay them nothing. These guys are comedians, and if they don't have a contract, they don't have an interest. I don't see how they can cut us off.. The only contract they have is with the previous occupant. There isn't a contract in this country that ties in future tenants. We've been in for months now, they are threatening disconnection, but need a warrant to get in. To get that they need to prove they have a contract, and they don't even know the company name! So bring it on b e s, even if you get in and cut us off, which you won't, you don't even know who we are. Don't kid a kidder. And your football teams rubbish as well.

Hi Guys, I've just bee reading through a number of these complaints and i am absolutely disgusted with the way that BES have treated a large number of their customers. I am an independent energy broker working from home dealing with SME accounts GENUINELY trying to hep them cut the costs of their energy bills down. I have just had my first dealing with this company and cannot get over how incompetent and unhelpful they actually are! i have tried to give termination on a customers account to move them to a better provider on a much more cost effective tariff and was basically told no and they didn't care if the contract rolled! i would wisely recommend that anyone running a business stays well away from them!

they mis-sold me into a new contract I am not happy

This just happened to me today, the initial caller told me that the meters weren't registered with a utility company, I told him they were and and he said fair enough but that we would have to have a smart meter installed before 2017. Then I received a second call telling me I was on an emergency tariff and they would help me find the cheapest business contract. I KNEW I was with British Gas but, they talked me into having the quotes done. Even after she gave me the quotes (of which BES was way cheaper), I still said I wanted to stay with British Gas so she started the hard sell about how better off we would be - not sounding much like an 'independent broker'! I said I wanted to stay with British Gas because the tariff was fixed and she told me that the variable tariff was much better because it could also go down and that BES had only increased their tariff was 8% in 3 years but they had also reduced it. Even though I wasn't really happy about doing it - I said OK because I was getting confused, then I found myself given them the bank details. The rest is the same as everyone else. When I got off the phone, I panicked because I thought about what I had just done, I called British Gas who confirmed that we did have a legitimate contract with them and then I Googled BES and here I am.

I have sent them an email, stating that the contract was obtained dishonestly and that I already had a contract with British Gas. I also said that I won't sign any Direct Debit mandate and will inform the bank not to set any such DD up should they attempt it. I will call British Gas to make them aware and then will simply ignore their calls. What else is there to do? I can't believe they are still doing things after the OFGEN ruling?

Hi Maxine.

To be honest, I think after the Ofgem finding, it caused more of a sigh of relief for BES, then any real worry that they would continue to be exposed, which of course is completely misplaced. Ofgem may well be going back in!

In terms of your issues, in the immediate term, I suggest canceling the Direct Debit, and telling them you want to be removed from the (alleged) contract. Or you could use the form on iamOlly. (0lly.uk). Keeping the DD standing means they can continue to take your money, which is little incentive for them to cancel it. The contract is alleged because their contracts never stand up the scrutiny of a Court - they're just chancing it on the fact that you're too scared to put it in front of a Judge.

I don't know if you are a sole trader or limited company? But, there is a potential issue that BES don't have a Consumer Credit License, it would appear one is required if a businesses is allowing a sole trader or small partnership LESS than £25, 000. We're awaiting a Judgement on this to be handed down, it won't be until March though!

we have just opened a small business back in may. We use our premises mainly for storing machinery. The only time electricity is used is to turn on the lights, use the computer or listen to the radio. The man across our premises uses his premises for mot's so it is in constant use, . our monthly electric bill is £350 and his is £120!
when I contacted bes - they said my husband was tied in for 5 years or if he eanted to terminate beforehand, he would have to pay the estimated amount for the next 4 years. is there any solicitor or governing body who is willing to help us as our business could fold because of this.

Hi, your best bet is to take a look here:

http://0lly.uk/category/bes-utilities/