Thanks king, I was honestly amazed that the broker who tricked me in the first place was acting within the law in this country. I normally ignore cold calls but it just took letting one through during a moment of weakness and I ended up with weeks of stress to deal with. No physical contract to sign, no cooling off period, no stopping when I asked to cancel in the very same call when my suspicions were first raised... Never again. The pushy salespeople at Opus aren't my favourite people in the world right now either (they were following up from the broker's attitude and trying to scare me into accepting the situation even though there were all kinds of problems with it) but at least it's getting sorted out now. Thumbs up to Thomas at Opus for sending me confirmation by email so I have proof of their promise to accept my complaint. You really have to stick to your guns and push past the horrible sales people who will just repeat that it's 'impossible' to stop any kind of contract ever, and get through to the people who actually care. (The formatting on my original post has gone a little strange, never mind.)

Update: Someone from Opus called me just now after I sent the link to this thread to their operation director's email address, and he was much more helpful than anyone I have spoken to there before. They're going to try to put things right (properly this time) so fingers crossed that I can close this matter soon and move on with my life.

I was recently tricked into agreeing to a new three year energy contract with Opus Energy by a broker who led me to believe they were calling on behalf of my energy supplier, e.On UK Energy Services Ltd. When someone called and identified themselves as calling from UK Energy Services Ltd (note the similar name; my hearing isn't good), told me I was on a residential contract (true) and should be on a business one (true), I went along with them and agreed to switch to the business contractor, Opus Energy, thinking they were still part of e.On. I was wrong. Unfortunately, this misunderstanding persisted long enough for me to agree to the switch; by the end of the call I had realised something was wrong and started to protest so they put me through to their manager who informed me there was no cooling off period whatsoever and nothing I could do. I emailed them the moment I received their confirmation email stating I wasn't happy. No response; they had their recording of the moment I accepted the contract and as far as they were concerned I was now going to be with Opus Energy for the next three years. I was well and truly tricked. After doing some research online, the next thing I did was call Opus Energy that afternoon, who spent a long time arguing that 'their lawyers' knew that this method of selling was completely airtight, fair, and reasonable, and there was nothing I could do. They were extremely pushy and unreasonable, but in the end I spoke to someone who said that there was one possible solution: I could call my current supplier and object to the transfer. Since it was scheduled for 8th August (the date of this sorry business was 27th July) I would have enough time to raise an objection before they tried to take over my supply - but it would be best to call them that week because they would make their first request in August. I did not know at this time that the transfer request had already been made. Opus vindictively wasted my time by telling me a lie and letting me think I was able to stop the transfer, when they knew that it was already going to go through. This is disgusting behaviour. I consequently called e.On - at 17:15 the same day I spoke to the broker - and made a formal complaint saying I had been tricked into a new contract by a broker with a similar name. I also asked to be moved to a business contract with them, because I was advised that this would help support my complaint. Fine, they were less pushy than Opus so I'd be happy to be in a contract with them (especially as I thought that was what I was agreeing in the first place). I called them again the day after (28th July) to follow up and confirm the contract. This would give me plenty of time, I thought, before Opus requested the transfer of my supply. A few days later an engineer came unannounced to our premises from Opus Energy to fit a new meter. No need, I told him, we were staying with e.On. He left after making a note following the visit. Flash forward to today - we received an invoice from Opus. Surprised, I called e.On only to be told that we were no longer their customer; they had tried to protest the switch but because it was requested before I called them on 27th July the objection failed and Opus were allowed to take over our energy supply. Their records say the loss notice was received on 0:00 that morning before the broker even called me, Opus says their records put it as mid-afternoon (not sure of the exact timing of all the calls I made that day), but either way the result is the same. e.On apologised and listened to my complaint but because they were no longer the supplier it was impossible for them to take us back without Opus Energy's approval. So I called Opus again, pretty annoyed at this point. The amount of time I have wasted on this problem had already been significant. This time, I ignored their sales team and said I wanted to make a formal complaint. I was put through to the customer care team who seemed very pushy (a trait I am rapidly coming to associate with the brand) and assured me that a full investigation would take place and I would hear from them over the next five days. A delaying tactic, no doubt, when they already know how upset I am and I have never disputed that the original call recording of the agreement exists. I know I was tricked. That's not the point. I still believe that the contract was mis-sold and wish to stay with my original supplier, all the more now that I know their sales team lied to me about preventing the transfer in order to shut me up. They protest every time I refer to UK Energy Services Ltd as 'their broker' but the actions of the actual Opus staff have been little better; as long as they have this recording of me blearily accepting this contract they insist that there's nothing I can do and feed me time-wasting lies to try to discourage me from complaining. The customer care rep was forceful and 'reassuring' but her words were calculatedly chosen to promise nothing, and I fully expect to wait the requisite five days only to hear that actually, 'the lawyers' say the contract is solid and there's nothing I can do but wait out the three year contract and grind my teeth. Nothing they have done so far has led me to believe otherwise. I do not deny that I was stupid for agreeing to the deal and not checking who Opus Energy were (Monday mornings aren't my most alert times), but the way I'm being treated by Opus has been manipulative and calculated to break my spirit so I'll stop protesting and stay with them. Forcing customers to stay with you is a terrible way to do business and I am at the end of my tether after wasting so much time already trying to get them to exercise basic common sense. The stupid thing is that I would have been perfectly happy to have moved my contract to them if they had treated me better from the start. As it is, whether I have to stay in the prison of this mis-sold contract for three years or not you can bet I'm never going back afterwards. A terrible, terrible experience with a terrible, terrible supplier. And don't get me started on the broker who caused this sorry chain of events in the first place. I shall of course be escalating this complaint as far as I can in the next three years, but I implore Opus to step in and set things right as soon as possible. Since their internal system is designed to stifle complaints, I'm airing mine here instead.