zlb
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Post by zlb on Mar 8, 2020 10:26:40 GMT
Can anyone help? Elderly person has bought solar panels from British Solar against my advice a few years ago. He's had a phone call from a company telling him the solar panel company has gone into admin and he may get compensation. They are going to visit his house with a "lawyer" who will check that the "meter is working". I can't find them listed as in administration here either by location or name www.administrationlist.co.uk/searchThere are loads of similar sounding companies. My concern is that they haven't gone into admin, and the lawyer et all are a scam. Can anyone advise on how can I check this? eg companies in administration; what's the state of play re solar company in admin and compensation(how can I tell whether it's a scam)? How can I find info about whether British Solar were bought by someone else and it's them who went into admin?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2020 10:42:26 GMT
Do you have the precise name? Unlikely to be "British Solar" but it might be. More likely to have ltd in the name for example. Any other address details?
There is a major British scam going on at the moment (I'll let you google it).
Certainly I can think of no reason why a "lawyer" would need to see a meter. They may just be ambulance chasers.
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zlb
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Post by zlb on Mar 8, 2020 11:00:27 GMT
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panda
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Post by panda on Mar 8, 2020 11:15:57 GMT
I would make sure someone else is there when they turn up, to make sure they are not looking to be paid for checking or carrying out (probably unnecessary) maintenance on the system and to make sure that the elderly person isn't pressurised into signing anything. It certainly sounds suspicious and the sort of call I would have hung up on.
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IFISAcava
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Post by IFISAcava on Mar 8, 2020 11:28:34 GMT
can't find that domain on the internet either
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zlb
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Post by zlb on Mar 8, 2020 11:45:01 GMT
can't find that domain on the internet either thanks and panda. aka Green Energy Alternatives. Went bust 2016-17. that's a long time ago. Anyone know how I find out which companies have been authorised to work on this admin?
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macq
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Post by macq on Mar 8, 2020 11:52:09 GMT
Not saying its a scam but it does happen with financial products where the same people offer to "help" you for a fee so these things can happen.But it might be worth coming at it from another angle and speak to Ofgem or the Energy Ombudsman helpline as if its a problem they should have heard of it
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jonno
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Post by jonno on Mar 8, 2020 12:00:09 GMT
This sounds very dodgy to me. I had panels fitted long ago but have never had (or needed) any contact from the company who fitted them as I chose to get my FIT payments from British Gas, and they are the only body who would have any interest in reading my meter. It might be useful to know who your elderly person receives their payments from; they may know who had fitted her panels (i can't remember whether I had to give those details to BG).
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zlb
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Post by zlb on Mar 8, 2020 12:08:45 GMT
This sounds very dodgy to me. I had panels fitted long ago but have never had (or needed) any contact from the company who fitted them as I chose to get my FIT payments from British Gas, and they are the only body who would have any interest in reading my meter. It might be useful to know who your elderly person receives their payments from; they may know who had fitted her panels (i can't remember whether I had to give those details to BG). thanks v useful info - it seems the payment into his bank account is through EDF, and that he doesn't talk to anyone else about it. I can see a lot of misselling issues on google, www.tlwsolicitors.co.uk/2019/09/20/latest-news/solar-panel-mis-selling-bbc-inside-out-programme/I think main question now: does misselling claim require upfront cash to solicitor? I would say no, never.
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scc
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Post by scc on Mar 8, 2020 12:28:33 GMT
Sounds like a con to me.
Why would he get compensation for a firm that's gone into administration? In such an instance, the only thing he needs to worry about is whether the guarantee is still valid (good chance it was with a third party, so likely yes). How did the company that called him get his contact details?
Basically, my rule of thumb is if someone rings me up offering me free money - 99% of the time, it's a scam of somekind and will end up me costing me at the very least my time if not money as well. Yes, I might miss out on the 1% but I can live with that.
I hate firms that prey on the elderly and vulnerable like this.
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jonno
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Post by jonno on Mar 8, 2020 12:35:11 GMT
The other thing that strikes me is that this lawyer must be quite some "Jack of all Trades"!! How many lawyers do you know who go around checking that electricity meters work??
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zlb
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Post by zlb on Mar 8, 2020 13:04:46 GMT
The other thing that strikes me is that this lawyer must be quite some "Jack of all Trades"!! How many lawyers do you know who go around checking that electricity meters work?? quite... He did at least mention it to me as slightly odd. However, if a solicitor knows what evidence to look for then why pay a second person to do the job? My question would be what's the device working got to do with it? Elderly family member has evidence of each payment from the panels. They are almost 100% south facing (saw online story of east facing panels contributing to misselling as didn't generate promised value). If genuine, I think it will be a claim for very high value paid for panels vs money made from them, as he didn't borrow to pay for them. What I would like to find out (where are the obudsmen and Which? Pages on this when you need them?) is what is the correct compensation procedure and what evidence is required. Why is the elderly relative being approached about this 3 years after the company was liquidated? How did the other company with the laywer get his information?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2020 13:20:54 GMT
Look lawyers earn £80/hour. Meter readers earn £10 an hour. If a solicitor needs to read your meter then either he is a terrible lawyer or it's a scam.
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zlb
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Post by zlb on Mar 8, 2020 13:21:02 GMT
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lara
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Post by lara on Mar 8, 2020 13:53:13 GMT
It might even be nothing at all to do with the solar panels, just some opportunist scam artist using that story to get a literal foot in the door of an elderly householder.
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