Shock treatment

By TOBY WALNE, CHIEF MONEY REPORTER
Updated:

 

CONSUMER watchdog Energywatch has added its weight to Financial Mail's campaign to force gas and electricity suppliers to clean up their acts. It is backing our call for tougher regulations to stamp out underhand sales techniques.

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Energywatch received more than a million complaints and queries last year, many about alleged intimidation, forged signatures, misleading information, and false claims that contracts had been agreed on the phone.

Financial Mail passed on a sackful of reader complaints to British Gas two months ago after exposing its blundering administration and bullying sales techniques.

We also reported how door-to-door tricksters were persuading customers to switch suppliers, and how billing address mix-ups and false meter readings led to inflated bills - one of more than £4,000.

Retired journalist Brian Davis, 67, of Brentwood, Essex, believes energy regulator Ofgem should outlaw these dubious practices. Brian says he was duped into signing with London Electricity after being interviewed while shopping with his wife, Joy.

He says: 'I told the salesman he could send me details about switching suppliers, but that I was not willing to sign up there and then.

'Two weeks later, after returning from a holiday, I was greeted with letters from my old gas and electricity suppliers saying they were sorry to see me go. I was furious. And to add insult, London Electricity insisted I contacted my old suppliers to re-register because it could not make the change on my behalf.'

A London Electricity spokesman says: 'We do not support or encourage salesmen who mislead or falsely enlist customers. Anyone found to have mis-sold or fraudulently signed customers can be dismissed or even prosecuted.'

Energywatch is alarmed that Ofgem appears unable to take effective action. The watchdog's latest figures, to the end of October 2001, show that complaints about street sellers were up 134% on the previous year. Those about phone sales soared 110%, and complaints about door-to-door salesmen rose by 95%.

Energywatch says: 'Financial Mail has helped expose the problem and we welcome its call for an end to poor practices among energy suppliers.' It believes chief offenders should be shamed publicly and that customers should have the right not to be pestered by energy salesmen.

Ofgem argues it is already doing all it can to stamp out bad practices by threatening to take away marketing licences if suppliers are found to be involved in mis-selling. It points out that almost a million customers a month switch suppliers and that only one transfer in a thousand results in a complaint. A spokesman adds: 'We are determined to provide a safety net for consumers against mis-selling, but complaints should be seen in the context of a thriving market.'

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