Energy contract in the wrong name

[ASCOTT]

We were placed into a contract with Total Gas & Power (TGP) by a broker. Once we started getting billed, we noticed that the business was in the wrong company name. Our business is Plastics Ltd and the name on the contracts was Projects Ltd, which is completely different and totally unrelated to Plastics.

So we contacted TGP to inform them of this and at first they informed me this wouldn't be a problem. They said they just needed to complete a change of tenancy and we would be free to go to a supplier of our choice.

They started processing the request, while we raised a complaint as it appeared there were significant reasons why the contract may have been placed erronesouly - the main reason being is the loa / permission slip for the broker was in Plastics Ltd's name. when the contract, which I must emphasise was signed by the broker and not us, is in Projects Ltd's name.

Again, I must emphasise this company has no connection and we have never been related. TGP initially closed the complaint saying the contract was in the right name, so we asked them for a deadlock email and they reopened the complaint. We sent over a previous energy bill and mortgage statement, both in the name of Plastics Ltd.

In the meantime, we managed to track down the director of Projects Ltd and advised her of the situation. She was extremely angry and contacted TGP and the police to confirm that she had no knowledge of the contract been placed in her company's name and also no knowledge of who we are at Plastics Ltd.

She is extremely worried about the credit. While this is going on, its having a negative impact on her business as now there is a debt of over £30,000 outstanding against her company. From the deadlock email, TGP stated this has been passed to a debt recovery agency.

Another key point is after requesting the sales call, the broker clearly states in the call A2B Projects. Also TGP has stated in the deadlock email that the contract is valid because the broker didn't sign the contract when he clearly did as they are signed in the broker's name.

So the main points are the loa is in Plastics' name and the contract is in Projects' name when we have no association with each other. We asked TGP for calls to show where we have asked about A2B Projects and got no response.

I have obtained information that the loa has to match the contract name and it clearly does not, so we went to the Ombudsman and they have ruled in favour of the supplier saying they just need to change the name.

Surely this contract should be void? The contract the broker has done is £75,000 more per year than the old one and it will bankrupt us.

I have appealed the decision and it takes two weeks for the Ombudsman to decide whether the contract was a verbal contract read to a staff member who had permission to arrange the contract, and when the broker has read the T&Cs he picked a name very similar to our own.

At the time of the contract we had a CCJ on our record, so I assume we wouldn't have passed credit. This is the only reason I can think that they have done this, but they also told us because we were on a passthrough contract all the charges add up to 24p when they sold us the dream of 19.9p unit rate, so our bills have doubled.

I'm worried that the Ombudsman will rule against us on the appeal. Can anyone advise on what to do next?

 

[kulture]

Go see a solicitor. Its too much money and too important to your business. Invest in proper professional advice before its too late.

 

[WaveJumper]

Ascott as above legal advice defiantly needed here a real mess, however I am not clear though on what the actual ruling of the Ombudsman was, what was the basis of his decision

 

[Engage Legal]

A lot of moving parts here ASCOTT. Assuming you can appeal against an ombudsman decision (I assume so, but don't know) there will be a lot for a court to consider. Validity of contract, or otherwise, possible claim against the agent, equitable claims and remedies. As per Kulture - get some decent legal advice.



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[ASCOTT]

Hi thanks for all the reply's, the ombudsman has said that although the script call was in the wrong name, we did verbally agree to the contract so they ordered it to be changed to our name plastics , I have appealed the decision as it has come to light that the broker done an illegal change of tenancy to get us away from npower. I have contacted npower and asked them for evidence of this, and they have said they can do an erroneous transfer so they will then take the meter from tgp.

 

[NickGrogan]

The energy ombudsman only deals with domestic and micro business issues. Based on the figures above you don't sound like a micro business, or have you rounded the figures?

An erroneous transfer might work, but they can take 12 - 15 weeks to process and doesn't always go through.

Appealing whilst doing the ET could give Total a reason to reject to erroneous transfer.