It was our first step into premises moving from our home... not a domestic experience. My wife has been crying all night about this worried about the outcome...

Hi All, I need help, I recently took posession of premises for our business which we previously ran from home. I was bombarded daily with phone calls from a "organisation" called Commercial Registrations claiming that my as my tennancy has just started and I have no registered supplier that I was on emergency rates and they work on behalf of the meter registrations service and it is their job to ensure our utilities are registered with a supplier. I am not naive, it was very obvious to me that they were a broker and I was quite offended that they were trying to mislead me into thinking they had some sort of authority to register our utilities. I had in the mean time spoken with Scottish Power but not managed to finalise a contract with them as there was a serial number missing from the front of our electricity meter. Naturally the calls were quickly ended with Commercial Registrations as I advised I already had it sorted. A few days later my wife came to work to tidy up some paperwork, do some banking and help out with the phones. Needless to say she took a call from Commercial Registrations who explained to her that they had been talking to me and I needn't be disturbed as they just needed the meter number (only the gas one available) and also asked if she was authorised to manage utilities... she said yes trying to be helpful and provided the information they required, including my sort code and account number. Once I came back into the reception I was greeted with a positive Laura saying, the gas/electric company were on the phone and I gave them the details they needed. Of course I was bewildered and called them up to then be advised that Laura (who claimed to be the office manager for the day) who is not even an employee had verbally agreed to the transfer of my gas at an outragous £150 per month!!!!! I very quickly explained that Laura was not authorised to make this decision and they claim that simply because they have a recording of her saying this that I am binded by the contract. I explained very clearly that I was not happy and to terminate the contract immediately, they agreed after a lot of arguing and the call was ended. I subsequently called Scottish Power a couple of days later to check they had not had a request from BES to which they advised they did but also advised they could object to the change and would do so in the event that they tried to take the supply. Around two weeks later I have received a letter from BES Business Energy Solution thanking me for transferring my gas supply to them. I called Scottish Power who claim that as I did not have a contract with them and BES had a recorded contract they couldn't hold onto the supply despite my having called. I called BES who were completely disinterested and asked me to take it up with my wife as she was the one who agreed to the contract... again I asked how someone who is not even an employee of the company could be authorised to transfer our utilities, she simply replied "because she told us that she was"... These people must be stopped by whatever means necessary! It is an absolute [EDIT] and I will do everything in my power to balance the books on this one... absolute [EDIT] . If i treated a customer like this I would expect to be lynched! Why simply because they are a larger organisation can they hide behind their telephones and tricky editable telephone recording devices..... arrrgggggghhh I am so so so angry! Where do I stand?

It would seem I have fallen victim to BES Business Energy Solutions and Commercial Registration also... although I never even spoke to anyone... my wife did and she was only in helping out for the day! My full story is here - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...27#post3947627

The employer has collected many statements from employees asking for their take on events, having read their statements the information provided is all circumstantial, many advise that they saw him providing lessons but none can confirm that payment was recieved. The discp appointment letter states that he is in violation of policy and has not followed proceedure. We have since discovered that no policy or proceedure actually exists yet its states this as the reason for the meeting. Surely now he cannot be disciplined for not following a proceedure that doesn't exist?

Thanks for you comments Tawnyowl, I have looked at the website. Info is quite good. Keen to hear other thoughts on the above. Regards Stan

My best friend is one of the nicest people anyone could meet, he teaches disabled kids to swim for a living having fully trained as a swimming instructor. He offers free lance swimming lessons at the local pool as a sideline and is employed on a required only basis. On occassions he will help friends and family including my son with his swimming though does not charge for this. He has now been called to a disciplinary hearing with accusations of receiving money and not putting lessons through the till. The pool have gathered statements from several staff and even asked him to get one of the mothers to call in to confirm that he did not receive money for this. I am very angry for him as he is very honest and feel that as he is so laid back that they may take advantage and sack a really good honest individual. It would seem that the people at the pool dislike his popularity and want him out!! My question is, given that all employee statements are hearsay, circumstantial and without factual evidence and they sack him? My understanding was that disciplinary hearings must take into account facts only, and there is no evidence on money being paid for his help, the facts keep him squeeky clean. Must all considerations be based on facts? Many Thanks for any help. Regards Stan