Formal Notice of BES Group Action

A question about : Formal Notice of BES Group Action

With formal notice from Ofgem in relation to an investigation of BES, it is considered reasonable to make the following information public;

It is with some satisfaction I can finally reveal that a major London law firm has now agreed to look into BES with the intention of starting a group action.

At this stage, anyone reading this that has received a 'gagging order' in theory will still be able to bring their case to the group action as evidence - any attempt to stop you doing that will be taken very seriously, and is almost certainly perverting the course of justice, so please do contact the group action in confidence.

I am unable to divulge who this law firm is at the moment, as there are a couple of loose ends and the QC wants to see the cases in more detail (and needs a few more to look at). However, rest assured that the person I have looking at BES is one of the best QC's in the UK. He is vastly experienced with over 30 years experience in litigation both representing and taking actions against banks, investment companies and even the Government over contracts worth billions of pounds. He is the man for the job!

The lawyer is also concerned about any letters anyone may have received from a law firm acting on behalf of BES threatening defamation. This is clearly defended by True Comment, Honest Opinion, Public Interest and Fair Comment, which under the circumstances are entirely reasonable. Some concern has also been cited in relation to the apparent time scales in the letter in question, and in fact whether the law firm had been correctly instructed.

The group action is bring organised by someone else, but I can advise you it will seek to;

1) Investigate and if possible prove an unlawful connection between BES and brokers .

2) Investigate and if possible prove that contracts had been miss sold via bullying, intimidation, harassment and unwanted pressured sales calls.

3) Investigate and if possible prove that the contracts in question should be voided and the Contractees awarded damages.

4) Investigate and if possible prove that a number of telephone calls have been edited to serve the purposes of winning a judicial process.

5) Investigate and if possible prove that BES and companies herein have colluded and conspired to decept a court of law in order to obtain warrants for bailiff action and/or supply disconnection.

6) Using the evidence provided show our findings to a judge before a court of law with the intention of proving that BES and companies herein have acted unlawfully, wrongly and unreasonably - and to award the victims damages.

The QC has kindly offered to look at cases free of charge, with the intention to mount a case once he has in the region of 10 cases - which I think will be somewhat of an underestimate of what he will receive.

Once the Ofgem investigation is complete, the QC will be leaning on them for evidence to support the claims set out above.

If you feel that you would like your case to be looked at, please email (text removed by MSE Forum Team) with your details, they will be passed on and you will receive a reply in the upcoming weeks.

The review process will be free of charge, and you will be notified if the QC is prepared to take on your case.

Best answers:

• For those not aware BES is Business Energy Solutions.
  A 'Google' will reveal more information.
• We are happy to comply with Ofgem and always have been, following an almost 10 year untarnished record as a supply business. Investigations are common place in the energy industry and this is one of 16 live investigations across all energy suppliers currently including many of the 'Big 6'. We treat all Ofgem intervention seriously but we also see it as an opportunity to seek guidance on how to improve our processes and in this instance, as every other, we will be looking to Ofgem to help us tweak our processes for the future. I would encourage people to respect that an investigation is neither admission nor an accusation of any wrong doing, it is simply an opportunity for the regulator to understand in more detail how we approach compliance against a small handful of the many supplier licence conditions which are in operation in the market. Any outcomes of this process we therefore intend to use to strengthen for future growth as we look to continue to take the fight of the smaller independent suppliers to the wider market and in particular, the 'Big 6'.
  Ben Jones - CEO, BES Utilities
• Well Mr Jones, I have to commend your attitude for optimism, and it is really great you optimistically anticipate that this is an "opportunity to seek guidance on how to improve our processes and in this instance, as every other, we will be looking to Ofgem to help us tweak our processes for the future".
  You mention the 'big 6' have outstanding investigations, however these generally relate to Section 12 of the License Conditions, which is essentially using the 'wrong' meter, relatively trivial in comparison to what you stand accused of. In any case the 'big 6' certainly do not have multiple conditions of their License under review to the extent you do. Plus logic dictates as a small company you should be able to managed your processes/company far better than the 'big 6'?
  One of the investigation's focuses is on Section 7B. For those who are unaware, this (in short) relates to being honest, transparent and avoid providing misleading or omitting information.
  You interestingly claim that "an almost 10 year untarnished record as a supply business". Have you ever Google'd your company's name? Have you seen the enormous amount of very upset and angry people there are who feel your company has in some way been the aggregator of circumstances leading to their business's demise?
  What frustrates me more is that you had the audacity to instruct a reputable law firm to issue threatening letters claiming their genuine and honest accounts were "a malicious attempt to start an internet campaign of which [you] deny all veracity". Some of the people that got these letters have been treated for depression and have contemplated suicide since being in receipt of that letter! The letter infers that you had no idea as to why people may be making these claim/posts - and purports those claims to be malicious, false and defamatory.
  How you managed to instruct a law firm claiming what you did and guarantee it as truthful and factual; when there literally thousands of posts from hundreds of users over tens of websites giving shocking accounts of your company, is entirely beggars belief and a cause for some grave concern. The balance of probabilities are that you have probably mislead or omitted information to allow a law firm to issue letters of that nature.
  Mr Jones, wake up! I am afraid to inform you that your reputation has been tarnished for some years (no matter what you demand removed from the internet, or no matter how many 'gagging orders' people sign). I think quite frankly if it is found that BES have breached or failed to comply with license conditions, in particular 7B and 14 it is untenable that they can continue to hold a license, or remain suppliers to the energy market. Many others manage to keep to their license conditions, what makes you think Ofgem want to give you "guidance" to the pretty simple task of doing your job properly??? Maybe they just don't want companies with your apparent ethics in their industry any more?
• Why is it you can't recognise as a business the damage these brokers do to your reputation?
  Why is it these gangster brokers only seem to offer BES or Opus as options to the unwitting clients? How can other firms establish fairly quickly which brokers are reputable and which aren't?
• Like most other suppliers, BES does acquire new contracts from brokers and we have in place strict procedures to ensure they are of a high standard, including a compliance check on all new contracts submitted. We also complete a comfort call for every new customer, which is intended to check key contract details and also confirm that the customer was happy with the way the sale was conducted. This is something we introduced ourselves and we believe we are one of, if not the only, business supplier to do this. We carry out regular audits of new and existing brokers and will terminate relationships with brokers who breach the high standards we expect.
  Brokers work on behalf of one or a range of different suppliers, so it's not correct to assume that every call a customer receives relates to BES. We are keen to identify and address roguebroker behaviour where BES is involved, but it's very difficult for us to do this unless we are given firm details, such as the name and / or phone number of the company, etc. Please send this feedback to our dedicated online team mailbox, so we can investigate: forums@besutilities.co.uk.
  Customers not wishing to receive calls can find more information from the Telephone Preference Service: https://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/index.html
• If BES don’t have sales staff that what Bluebirdman is saying is correct. It’s the brokers which are causing all the problems over the phone and the suppliers take the public damage because of them. It’s not BES’s or Opus’s fault or any other supplier for that matter that operate with brokers that do this.
• I never really heard of them to be honest, or Opus so decided to do some quick digging, it's all public knowledge online.
  It interested me that's all, especially the link, which is why I shared it for you. Nobody's answered the question yet as to why they continue to use 'dodgy' brokers.
• [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]
  As you are interested you should consider doing some quick digging by searching for "BES complaints" on google.
  Of course all companies will have complaints but BES's regulator, Ofgem have stated, they "are aware of a high level of complaints made about BES and have also received a referral from Citizens Advice".
  Quote:
• There seems to be quite a lot of in-depth detail regarding BES here whilst at the same time, ignoring anything related to any other supplier.
  Which makes me wonder whether there are a few competitors trying to cause trouble..... naughty
• There is no interest. Just that this thread has no real point other than to criticise BES by using allegations and opinions.
  Other users have brought up similar problems that have arisen with other suppliers yet, the same 2 or 3 users continue to ignore them. Even one of the 'anti-BES' posts were written by a user who, like many others, were created on the same day, yet this isn't noted.
  I don't care about BES nor do I want to. Just find it funny and a little odd that's all. Given the nature of this thread, there's no purpose or direction to it and so I'm not sure why people keep commenting unless it's aimed at criticising BES on purpose.
• According to OFGEM's website, BES are one of many suppliers currently being investigated for range of different reasons, the latest of which being a company called Utilita.
  Now I understand this is a thread aimed at BES, but it's hard to ignore that it's common for suppliers to be investigated, many of which are currently the Big 6. You only have to turn the TV on to know this. OFGEM seem to be rolling their sleeves up at the minute!!!