Do not accept a Business Electricity Price from the Meter Registrations Department

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Original Message Added : 23 May 2012 - (Edited : 23 May 2012)

Do not accept a Business Electricity Price from the Meter Registrations Department

At a recent Networking Group, I was asked about some (A LOT OF !) very high pressure calls a fellow member had been recieving from a Caller claiming to be from a Meter Registration body. I have carried out some research to find... Surprise Surprise, it is a SCAM!

I have copied below the statement from the Energy Advice Line's website and posted links to both it and Martin Lewis' "Money Saving Expert" Forum for the discussion thread on this topic.

There are many legitimate Energy Brokers who like me are there to help and reduce costs for Business and Residential Customers who's business is adversley affected by these scams. Please read these articles and pass this email onto anybody you can think of to help combat this scam.

Business Electricity and Gas customers who have just moved into new premises need to be wary of a company that calls them out of the blue from the “Meter Registration Department” according to Energy Advice Line.

Julian Morgan, Managing Director of the Energy Advice Line said that a company calling a business out of the blue claiming to be from a department that sounds official but does not actually exist is very misleading to an unsuspecting customer that does not know the industry and the pitfalls of accepting a greatly inflated price an unsolicited cold caller.

the full story can be read on my blog at http://www.121utilities.co.uk/our-blog/this-is-a-scam-i-have-been-made-aware-of-

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	1-2-1 Utilities from 1-2-1 Utilities
Location :	Billingham
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About :	Independent Utilities Broker offering Merchant Services, Energy, Comms etc
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Reply : 28 May 2012

Put a block on witheld numbers if you're with BT. I did, no more aggressive cold calls.

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	St. Helens Photo Studio from St. Helens Photo Studio
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Reply : 28 May 2012

As I private individual, I would have to agree. However I have found that there are a significant number of Businesses who for no covert reason have a number withhold policy. The blocking of withheld numbers could hamper one's business. The business concerned uses an 0844 number which wouldn't be blocked by your proposed measure.

This is a very convincing scam and has caught very many Business people unawares They do target new start ups because these are usually inexperienced people and have other concerns on there mind with starting a business which leaves them vunerable to this Scam.

This was intended purely as a guidance to try and protect those that may otherwise get caught.

regards

John

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	1-2-1 Utilities from 1-2-1 Utilities
Location :	Billingham
Joined :	01 November 2011
About :	Independent Utilities Broker offering Merchant Services, Energy, Comms etc
Contact :	Send Private Message
Posts :	5 ( 0)

Reply : 19 Jun 2012

One day after posting my new business address online, at 8am in the morning, I received an 0845 call telling me that my electricity supply had been cut off and that I needed to register with them immediately. I laughed, the caller got extremely aggressive, and told me I would be laughing on the other side of my face without electricity to do my business. I then told her my rent included electricity, my room had no meter, so she was a liar. She hung up. I will say, I have received more than one phone call of this type telling me I hadn't registered for energy use, so please, please don't fall for it. I talked to the Premises Manager who has assured me she didn't pass on my details, which is where I worked out it comes from going online. When you move into new premises, talk to your business neighbours or managing agents - they will point you in the right direction for your energy use.

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	Lisa Claber from My Choice Beauty
Location :	Burton-on-trent
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Reply : 22 Jun 2012

I too was called on a dailey basis and harrassed by opus telling me that i had to sign up now as i was being charged £1.90 a day for having two meters in the shop.I told them that i do not do business over the phone and please send me a letter out .I also told them that i would be changing my supplier and going with someone else,He was asking me why and i told him that you keep calling me and asking me to sign up as i was being charged everyday and they were not bothered as i was being charged anyway. I to looked on money saving expert,com and discovered that they were only brokers. Stay well away and dont give details out over the phone especially with withheld calls.Ask them the meter no in the property and they will hang up.

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	David J Cookson from Ex Bt Engineer Covers Sky Virgin Cable
Location :	Blackpool
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Reply : 24 Aug 2012

I just got this cold call too.

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	Chris Davies from Bathworx
Location :	Cambridge
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Reply : 25 Aug 2012

did you find this article helpful?

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	1-2-1 Utilities from 1-2-1 Utilities
Location :	Billingham
Joined :	01 November 2011
About :	Independent Utilities Broker offering Merchant Services, Energy, Comms etc
Contact :	Send Private Message
Posts :	5 ( 0)

Reply : 18 Apr 2013

I know this thread is nearly a year old now, but felt the need to post as I received a call about 10 minutes ago from someone who told me that I have not filled out my electricity registration forms. I asked what forms, and the nice Northern lady on the phone told me they haven't received my electricity registrations form for my business. Upon pointing out that my new business was in a residential address (I make and decorate cakes from home), she hung up! All I can say is it's lucky I've got some common sense. If she hadn't hung up I still certainly wouldn't have given her any details. I'm sure there are genuine brokers out there. I did receive a call from a company last week as I'd been referred to their commercial team, but when I said I was in a residential address apologised and told me he'd sort out removing me from their list, which I presume he did as I haven't heard from them since. However, I do think that people need to be aware of the scammers, especially new start ups such as myself, and urge people not to give out any details over the phone. This thread has been most helpful, so thank you to the original poster :)

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	Jade Zygo from The Sugar Rose Cakery
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Reply : 18 Apr 2013

If you are constantly being harrassed by the same business cold calling you despite you warning them, you can launch a complaint through the Infomation Commissioner's office and the call will be logged with them. They will then take up the complaint should they call again. It is the duty of that company to remove your details from their databases should you ask them to do so by law and the company can be prosecuted for breaching this if you have asked them not to contact you.

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	St. Helens Photo Studio from St. Helens Photo Studio
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