First Choice EPC

A question about : First Choice EPC

Hi all,

I paid for an EPC through https://firstchoiceepc.com

The assessor visited the property and undertook an assessment. Since then he has vanished into thin air, the report has not been uploaded and First Choice EPC are no longer replying to my emails.

At the very least I'd like to raise this with Trading Standards but don't know where First Choice EPC are based.

Any suggestions?

Best answers:

• This is their lookup:
  canonical name firstchoiceepc.com.
  aliases
  addresses 82.165.153.62
  Domain Whois record
  Queried whois.internic.net with "dom firstchoiceepc.com"...
  Domain Name: FIRSTCHOICEEPC.COM
  Registrar: GODADDY.COM, LLC
  Whois Server: whois.godaddy.com
  Referral URL: https://registrar.godaddy.com
  Name Server: NS01.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
  Name Server: NS02.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
  Status: clientDeleteProhibited
  Status: clientRenewProhibited
  Status: clientTransferProhibited
  Status: clientUpdateProhibited
  Updated Date: 19-aug-2014
  Creation Date: 26-mar-2014
  Expiration Date: 26-mar-2015
  >>> Last update of whois database: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 07:24:23 UTC

• The wally has gone on my ignore list where irritants go.
• Their last known address was:
  Maylands Business Centre
  Redbourn Road
  Hemel Hempstead
  Hertfordshire
  HP2 7ES
  They also operate as deadirect.com and epclocal.net. You can see on these sites that they still have their address and phone number displayed however they have recently removed these details from firstchoiceepc.com. They also have a software company called kymsoft.com apparently owned by a chap called Chris Scott.
• I booked an EPC with Firstchoice EPC and when they hadnot contacted me by 1400 hrs on the next working day I arranged for the EPC tobe done by another company. Very efficient – came at 1630hrs on the same day.
  When Firstchoice EPC eventually contacted me I told them that they were too late and cancelled.
  Then the emails started coming. After the 4th I informed the company that any further communication would be considered harassment and I asked for their registered address so that I could commence legal proceedings. I have had no further response and certainly not received details of their registered address.
  Consumer Contracts (Information Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulation 2013 which came into force on 13th June 2014 is the relevant legislation which gives a statutory right to cancel within 14days. Any terms and conditions which claim to override this are illegal.
  My advice would be “Don’t pay anything upfront to thiscompany.”
• Hi
  This is hidden away at the bottom of their Terms
  Correspondence Address
  First Choice (A035)
  Duquesa Business Centre
  P. O. Box 157
  Sabinillas
  Manilva
  Malaga
  29692
  Spain
• I am having threats from them. I cancelled and was charged Ј15. I argued the toss before getting a 'pay by midnight or you will incur extra costs' email at which point I checked with C.A.B. who advised me I did have to pay. When I went to pay, the link had added Ј50 admin charge to make a total of Ј65. I contacted First choice who said that they (he - I think it's just one man) would not remove the additional costs.
  I spoke to C.A.B. again who said that this was a breach of the terms and they dictated me a breach of contract letter. I sent this recorded delivery to the address, which was in Hemel Hempstead until a few weeks ago. Nobody was there. I received another email today saying the charge had gone right up again. I'm now waiting to speak to C.A.B tomorrow. I know that it was in breach of the terms to add the Ј50 before midnight so I'm kind of confident I can't be hit for more money, but legal stuff makes you nervous ... and I suspect that First choice tries its best to exploit that. A PO box in Spain is a bit of a dodgy new twist.
  Steer clear.
• Bear in mind that the ONLY way they can try to MAKE you pay is for them (him?) to take you to court. Since they are (he is?) a business then YOU would have choice of court (as the consumer), so they (he) would have to travel to attend any hearing. The chances of such chancers actually doing this is negligible.
  What's more likely to happen is that the "debt" would be passed to a debt collection company ... who have absolutely zilch power to make you pay. DC companies can be ignored - they CANNOT take you to court over any such "debt" they may have been handed/purchased.
• Quote:
  What's more likely to happen is that the "debt" would be passed to a debt collection company ... who have absolutely zilch power to make you pay. DC companies can be ignored - they CANNOT take you to court over any such "debt" they may have been handed/purchased.
  That's interesting. Thanks. Still, I don't fancy having heavies banging on the door. Also, I'm in the process of moving and I don't want anything suspect on my credit rating. It is a dodgy company - they can't move the goal posts by changing the deadline when I agreed to pay the Ј15 pound.
• There will be no heavies banging on the door - at all. They might threaten it, but they can't do it. They'd get arrested if you called the police.
  The only people who can do this are high court enforcement officers or bailiffs with a court warrant. And to get that far you'd have had to be taken to court, lost, received a judgement for payment, NOT paid it, and then they would have to pay to call in the bailiffs - ain't going to happen mate.
  And remember - a debt collect CANNOT take you to court ... it would NOT BE THEIR DEBT!
• I received this email yesterday from First Choice and don't know what to do........any advise?
  On 28/08/2014 you ordered an Energy Performance Certificate via our website from your ip Address of: 86.31.102.64. As per the terms and conditions of the order a booking fee of Ј9.95 became payable as soon as the assessor booked the appointment with you. You can view the terms and conditions by clicking here. The booking fee should have been paid prior to the appointment taking place which our records indicate was scheduled for 28/08/2014 at 20:00. We sent you 1 emails reminding you of this process. The process was also highlighted to you as you placed the order with us via the website.
  Our records indicate that the booking fee payment was not made by 28/08/2014 at 20:00 and so a late payment administration charge of Ј14.95 was then added to your order. The combined booking fee and late payment administration charge of Ј24.90 should have been paid by 29/08/2014 at 20:00 however, this amount remained outstanding and a further administration charge of Ј50.00 was then added to your order. This brought the total amount outstanding as at 29/08/2014 at 20:00 to Ј74.90 which needed to be paid by 08/09/2014 in order to prevent further action from being taken and additional late payment charges added.
  You have therefore left us with no alternative but to commence proceedings in order to recover the monies owed. A further administration charge of Ј125.00 has now been added to your order which brings the total amount owed to Ј199.90. You can pay this amount now by clicking here.
  If this amount remains outstanding by 09/10/2014 date then our debt recovery department will pass the account to an external debt collection agency in order to recover the debt that is owed to First Choice EPC. A further charge of Ј250.00 will be added to the existing balance outstanding in the event the account is passed to our collections department. The total amount that we will seek to recover will be Ј449.90.
  The debt collection agency will add a further charge equal to 15% of the total debt to cover their costs as per the terms and conditions.
  In order to help you better understand these charges, we have created a questions and answers page which can be accessed by clicking here.
  We strongly urge you to settle the outstanding charges at your earliest convenience.
  Regards
• i got the same email as the last participant to this forum. I think it might follow the feedback from peterdowd and threaten them with harassment.
• I am an idiot for sharing my plastic details with this 'company' but don't they need to be registered somewhere or something?
  Has anyone actually received a service or is this all just a scam to take payment?
  I won't be sending them the Ј14.95 or any other charges. I'd love to meet these jokers in court. Still not a great experience.
• Love one of their T&C's
  Leave factually incorrect feedback about us on another publicly accessible website. A fine of Ј10,000 will be levied against any individual or organisation found to have left factually incorrect feedback about FirstChoiceEPC.com