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A young entrepreneur says she was stabbed by a cold call from a third-party agent who put her on an expensive three-year contract for energy.

Polly Ellis opened a tanning salon in Hertfordshire with her partner Jonathan earlier this year after being laid off last year.

Shortly after launch, she took an “aggressive” phone call from a company she believed to be commercial utility Yorkshire Gas and Power who said it should immediately remove the emergency meter tariff it claimed.

However, it turned out that the call was from Select Energy Direct, which claims to be a “leading energy consultant” on corporate energy contracts.

A business owner believes she was betrayed by a company after she misplaced her utility company

Unknowingly, she signed an energy contract with Yorkshire Gas and Power that now bills her £ 800 a month for electricity and gas – even though she has no gas network – and asks her to leave the contract.

When Polly got a call from the company, she told her the landlord of her salon had given her details as she had to remove the emergency meter to prevent receiving any more fees that were “on the way.”

Polly said, “The guy on the phone was very pushy with me. I kept asking him more questions, but he said I had to take him seriously and remove the meter as soon as possible. “

The man on the phone asked for Polly’s bank details, claiming this was standard practice and was only used to remove the emergency rate.

After feeling pressured, she handed it and he began reading the contract with her alleged electricity company, Yorkshire Gas and Power.

Yorkshire Gas & Power says it tapped a phone call and doesn’t think there was an issue with the broker’s behavior towards Polly. Select Energy declined to comment as there was no direct complaint from her.

Polly added, “I had no idea I was signed up with a provider. At some point I asked him to slow down.

“In the end, I hung up in the middle of the conversation and turned off my phone. He then continued calling me all the time.

Polly and her partner Jonathan are now stuck on an expensive three year contract

“When I turned my phone back on, he left me several missed calls and said it wouldn’t take long to get the mandatory contract signed.”

Polly says she didn’t know the terms and conditions were read to her or that she agreed to anything. However, since then her tanning salon has received a monthly bill for £ 800 from Yorkshire Gas and Power, which also shows that she is bound by the contract until April 2024.

Obviously, as a tanning salon, utility bills are likely higher, but when she contacted the supplier to cancel the contract, she was told it would cost £ 3,000.

As a result, she has not paid anything yet, but is concerned as Yorkshire has announced that it will dispatch collection agencies if it does not receive payment.

She also believes Select Energy Direct didn’t find her by handing over her details from the landlord about the new business registrations at Companies House.

She and her partner Jonathan have listened to the callbacks and are confident Polly didn’t know she had signed a new three-year contract.

However, you are now being charged additional fees, including for canceled direct debits – after Polly canceled payments when she thought she was defrauded – and cancellation charges.

Another big problem is that the salon is billed for gas that they don’t even have in the property, only for electricity.

Customers say they will be billed for a gas supply if the property doesn’t have one

Jonathan said, “This is our first business and we are both very stressed. At a happily exciting time starting our own business, we were duped by this third party that Polly maliciously coldly called. ‘

He added that they had offered to pay Yorkshire for the electricity previously used, but that offer was turned down.

A Yorkshire Gas and Power spokesman said: “We’re sorry to hear about this customer’s dissatisfaction. YGP has strict standards in our third party procurement process and internal sales processes.

‘YGP prides itself on its high level of customer service.

‘We heard a 7 minute and 21 second record of the conversation between the client and the third party agent and we couldn’t find any problem with the way the sale was handled by the agent.

“The call record does not indicate any form of print sales by the broker and confirms that the broker made it clear several times during the call that it was a third energy broker who was not employed by Yorkshire Gas and Power.”

It added that the record would make it clear to the customer that they are entering into an energy supply contract and made clear the basic contract fees and unit rates.

The spokesperson continued, ‘Select Energy is a wholly separate and independent company from Yorkshire Gas and Power. It is an independent energy broker who can find and sell commercial energy supply contracts. We are one of many other commercial utilities that they have access to in the utility market. ‘

Regarding the gas supply, it means that you have checked the status of the gas meter and assumes that there is a live gas supply.

Although Polly and Jonathan have now received emails from Yorkshire Customer Service confirming they can switch suppliers, this has also been lifted.

This is Money has asked Select Energy Direct for a comment but said it cannot comment as it has not yet received a complaint from Polly and Jonathan.

The company said it operates to high standards set by the energy companies it deals with.

It added that it will investigate any complaint it receives accordingly.

There are also a large number of people on Trustpilot, despite a number of positive reviews, who complain about an experience similar to Polly’s.

“Scam”: A Trustpilot review said they received a cold call from Select Energy Direct

Another review stated that they received repeated calls from the company even though they were not interested

One valuation had a similar situation as Polly and is now stuck on a 3 year minimum contract

This is how you save business energy

Bionic Energy, a comparison site and the partner of This is Money, which helps small businesses save energy bills, has these recommendations for businesses.

1) If you’ve never switched your company’s energy or let a fixed price contract expire without arranging a new one, you are paying too much for energy.

This is because your utility put you on its expensive outside-of-contract tariffs, much like domestic energy suppliers put you on an expensive variable tariff if you don’t switch.

2) The best way to make sure you’re getting a good energy supply is to speak to comparison sites like Bionic. We can compare tariffs from a panel of trusted UK energy providers to find the best deal for your business.

3) Cold calling scams are so sophisticated that it’s difficult to know if the person you’re talking to is who they say they are.

If you get a cold call from someone who pretends to be your energy company or broker, there should be some details about your business before they ask you – if it’s real, it should include your company name, address, and meter number know.

But even if you know this information, there is no guarantee that it is real.

Don’t be afraid to hang up if something doesn’t feel right, and remember to never give out your personal details or bank account details and don’t think that you may already have the details and just want to confirm it.

For example, don’t be intimidated into making a quick decision because the offer is only available for a limited time. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

> See whether your company can save money on energy costs with our bionic service

What to do if you think you have been misled?

Third-party intermediaries such as Select Energy Direct are not subject to direct sectoral regulation like Ofgem’s energy suppliers.

The watchdog has stated that it is aware of the potential benefits and risks of intermediaries and is currently advancing a number of projects that consider improvements to the services that will improve the consumer experience.

However, according to Citizens Advice, there are steps customers can take if they believe they have been misled by a salesperson into entering an energy deal.

Customers should contact either their old or the new provider immediately.

Let them know that you did not agree to the move and ask them to cancel it if it is still in progress. If the switch has already been made, ask him to reverse it.

Make a note of the date and time of your call and who you spoke to.

Once you have contacted the supplier, they should write to you within 5 working days to explain what they are up to and within 20 working days to confirm that the switch is being reversed or why it was correct.

If they think it was right, you can take the case to the energy ombudsman who will review it and make a decision.

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