yorkshire gas and power

[Goatman666]

Recently my wife had decided to take her business to the next level and rent a space for a studio to enable her business to grow.
She still does not have the keys to the property and the agreement is still with solicitors.

 

On the 10/6/21 my wife was contacted by a broker who informed her that the landlord had let him know to set up the electrical supply to the property. (This is was a lie). So my wife explained that she didn't have the keys and was still waiting for paperwork on the property. She also confirmed with him that she wouldn't be commiting to anything at this moment in time and he said he would send through the paperwork first for her to check over to make sure she was happy. He also stated that the monthly price was going to be no more that 50 pounds a month.

 

During this full conversation on the phone my toddler of 2 was been a terror and creating a scene in the background so my wife struggled to stay focused during the call.
 

The broker then started to record the phone call conveniently after all of the above was discussed and started to read through the terms and conditions of a contract. At this point my toddler started to play up more and the broker continued to reel off all these conditions that my wife unfortunately due to the stressful situation that was happening with my daughter, agreed to all the way through.
These included my wife agreeing that she had the keys and is held responsible for this property (she has even had the rental agreement through to sign so she currently might not even be going through with it) and my wife confirming an electric meter number.
 

We have the transcript of the conversation but as I say it conveniently only has the contents of the terms and conditions part of the conversation. Of which it is extremely hard to follow because there is a screaming toddler through the whole thing. Aside from that it is also very hard to follow what the broker is asking and saying, as usual.

 

So after the terms and conditions conversation that my wife didn't even really realise what was happening the recording stops qnd the broker then continues to re assure my wife that she hasn't signed upto anything yet and she will receive some paperwork to look over.
 

The conversation ended and my wife thought nothing more of it and just expected to receive some paperwork.
 

We heard nothing or received nothing until this past Sunday where my wife realised a some of £380 was taken from her business account from a company called Yorkshire Power and gas.

She immediately rang the bank and informed them that this money shouldn't have been taken as my wife was under the impression that she hadn't signed upto anything. (To this day she still has not signed any paperwork to confirm that she is going ahead with the rental of this property).
 

Following this my wife rang the supplier company yesterday to ask what all this was about and they told her she was in a three year contract with them and she could not leave or terminate the contract. There was no cool down period and if she wanted to terminate she would have to pay a fee which we still haven't received. After some research by myself last night reading on forums like this and trustpilot it has happened to so many people.

The exact same thing, a small business moving into their first property and having an almost identical phone call from select energy and been drawn into a contract without realising.

 

We received the transcription through email after the first conversation with this supplier company and the also the "contract" which was "verbally" agreed.

My wife doesn't even rent this property and now she is sucked into this contract for three years to pay the electrical bills (which are extortionate) or is forced to pay q huge cancellation fee which will probably end with my wife having to fold her small company which she has worked so hard to build over the last 2 years.

 

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE if anybody has been in this exact situation can you advise us on what to do and help will be more than appreciated.

 

Edited July 20, 2021 by BankFodder
Restructured in order to make it readable

[BankFodder]

Is it possible at all from the transcript of the conversation to tell that the record of the conversation is incomplete? For instance is there a hello or an introduction or anything like that?

Do you have a copy of the recording?

[BankFodder]

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[Goatman666]

Yes I have a copy of the recording and it is also very clear that the beginning of the phone call isn't present and the end. The conversation starts with a laugh that clearly shows there was conversation before the reading of the term.

[BankFodder]

Okay. I think you should start off by sending them an SAR – unless you have already done that and this is how you got the transcript and recording.

Most problems with utilities companies should begin by putting in a subject access request in order to get as much information as possible before one launches into an attack.

How do you know that they only started recording at a certain point? Might it be possible that they recorded the whole conversation and then have only supplied you with a part of it? There's that scenario work as well? Have you simply assumed that they only started recording at a certain point?

[Goatman666]

Yes we have just been on the phone to the consumer helpline of citizens advise and they have given the same advise and told us to send a tracked letter in regards of the subject access request due to the misrepresentation act 1967. And have also been advised to request the full recording of the phone call. 

 

Yes we were just presuming that only part of the phone call was recorded.

[dx100uk]

broker got a nice backhander too....

[BankFodder]

Okay.

First of all I apologise if this seems that there is some rivalry between ourselves and Citizens Advice. The there isn't, not exactly – but I am afraid that we tend to find that the advice from Citizens Advice is not generally assertive or aggressive enough to deal with the kind of outfit that you are having difficulty with.

You will find that if you follow the advice from us that you will use a far more direct and effective approach and with a much better chance of having a very positive outcome within the shortest period of time.

Of course it's up to you which you choose but I would say that you need to choose which advice service you're going to use and stick with them. Otherwise you will get advice which varies – and on occasion may even be conflicting and this will simply cause you confusion.
Also, the people who give advice here are unpaid volunteers and we are extremely busy helping thousands of people every year and so I hope you won't mind me saying that if you are taking advice from another organisation then we can probably turn our time and attention to other people who have decided to use us..

In terms of what citizens advice have said, I agree with part it – but not all of it.

It's very important not to put Yorkshire Gas and Power on enquiry and make them realise that there could be trouble on its way.

I would certainly send them the SAR. You don't need to do it by letter and by email will seem more casual and less aggressive at this point and you will still have evidence that you have sent the SAR. You should not specifically refer to the full phone call. You should give them a much wider SAR and I suggest that you look at our SAR template which is extremely broad and doesn't limit your enquiry and doesn't give clues as to what you are looking for.

You need to understand that when you send an SAR, the information that you receive will be very helpful. If it turns out that information has been omitted – maybe deliberately so, this may also be helpful.

If there has been some tampering with the recording then don't for one moment imagine that the fact that you have sent a statutory request for information means that suddenly you are going to get a full recording. You are far better off simply sending the very widely worded SAR template that we have been using on this forum for many years and let them comply with it in the way that they see fit and then afterwards when we see what you have got, we can then decide whether there is a basis for claiming that it is an incomplete or even a doctored disclosure.

If you follow the advice from Citizens Advice you are then providing hints as to what you want and they will also guess as to why you want it. I'm sure that you won't be the first people in your situation to have asked for disclosure of the telephone recording.

Secondly, you say that citizens advice has suggested that you may want to bring an action under the Misrepresentation Act 1967. That is certainly one way forward but you should certainly not give any notice to Yorkshire Gas and Power at this point that this could be in the works.

Frankly I see a far more effective action if we can cast some doubt over the disclosure and hopefully the telephone recording that hopefully will be disclosed to you because if we can produce reasonable evidence that it is probably incomplete, then you have an action under the data protection act for breach of statutory duty.

If that happens, it is a relatively simple action to bring and I can imagine that Yorkshire Gas and Power would put up their hands as a "gesture of goodwill" rather than let it go to court. That kind of breach of statutory duty would be extremely serious. If you got a judgement on the basis of inaccurate processing, then if the matter still wasn't resolved by then, a successful claim under the 1967 Act would be a foregone conclusion.

Also, you are in a position at the moment where you haven't actually lost any money. To bring an action under the Misrepresentation Act you would have to show some loss and you haven't explained to us yet that you have actually suffered a pecuniary loss.

This is the way we would approach it. It's the kind of approach that might be used by a modern Caravaggio or Christopher Marlowe.
It will be a nuisance because you will have to wait 30 days for the disclosure but at least hopefully then that will be the key to sorting things out.

If you decide to stick with us and we do decide that there is a basis for alleging a breach of statutory duty then we will help you bring the action by helping you write your letter of claim and draft your proceedings and dealing with the procedure as it goes through.

Sent the SAR anyway and decide how you want to play afterwards. But as I said, use our SAR template and keep it wide open – give no hints – and send it by email. You can get it off tomorrow and then the 30 date clock starts ticking from Thursday

[dx100uk]

might be fun to send the broker an sar too.

 

because i bet bottom dollar the landlord did NOT as you say:

 

Quote

On the 10/6/21 my wife was contacted by a broker who informed her that the landlord had let him know to set up the electrical supply to the property. (This is was a lie).