BUSINESS energy users who believe they have been overcharged or issued incorrect bills by their supplier are urged to contact the Energy Advice Line for free help.
A leading price comparison and switching service for businesses in the UK confirmed the findings of a report revealing that thousands of consumers could be missing out on refunds or compensation because of billing mistakes by suppliers.
The report by consumer organisation Which? showed that the ‘big six’ energy firms received over four million complaints from customers last year. The most common problems were mistakes on bills and inaccurate meter readings.
It suggested because many customers failed to pursue their complaints, they were losing out on up to £4 million in compensation.
Julian Morgan, the managing director of the Energy Advice Line, the UK’s leading price comparison and switching service for business, said business electricity and business gas customers were in the same position as domestic consumers when it came to billing mistakes.
“Business energy supply companies make mistakes, we know that for a fact, and sometimes these issues go unresolved for so long that customers just get worn down and give up,” Mr Morgan said.
“We help our customers who are switching suppliers resolve these issues by taking them up directly with the utility companies on their behalf. Sometimes because they have dragged on for so long these problems can be difficult to unravel, so having experts on board can help enormously.”
Sally Atherall had given up hope of resolving a dispute with British Gas until she called the Energy Advice Line. One year after she had sold her dog kenneling business, British Gas had sent her a final business energy bill demanding £3,260.
Sally knew the bill was wrong and spent many fruitless, stressful and tearful weeks trying to convince the supplier they had made a mistake. But her complaints were rejected and British Gas insisted that she had to pay. Sally said they began “pestering” her for the money so much that was too stressed to answer the telephone.
As a last resort, she contacted the Energy Advice Line for help.
“I began to feel helpless, hopeless, tearful and alone,” Sally said. “Fighting against British Gas was useless on my own. I decided to ring the Energy Advice Line one day to try to gather more evidence, as they had arranged my electricity supply for several years.
“What a relief. I told them my story and they offered not only to help me, but to take the case on for me and deal with British Gas on my behalf. They even took time to ring me back to check I was OK as I had sounded upset.
“Eventually, the complaint was brought to the director of customer services for British Gas. They still insisted that I owed them the money and sent me a CD of the voice recordings made when I had telephone them with meter readings in the past.
“A copy of the CD was also sent to the Energy Advice Line. On playing it, they realised that British Gas had used the wrong 'start' reads to create my bill. I do owe British Gas a small amount of extra money but nowhere near £3,260.
“British Gas doesn’t care about their customers and have no idea of the heartache they cause when they get it wrong and refuse to listen. Even now, they have not offered one word of apology.”
The Energy Advice Line has also urged business energy users to check their bills to ensure they are being charged the correct level of VAT.
The VAT on electricity and gas for business energy consumers is normally charged at the standard rate of 20% (correct as at 4 January 2011). However, some firms that meet so-called de minimis requirements are entitled to pay VAT at a rate of only 5%.
To meet the criteria for this lower rate, a business must use no more than 33 kWh per day on average for business electricity and/or less than an average of 5 therms or 145 kWh per day for business gas.
Firms that believe they have been paying too much VAT, or have other billing issues, should contact the Energy Advice Line on 0800 915 1800 or visit www.energyadviceline.org.uk
FACTFILE:
The Energy Advice Line, an impartial online business electricity and business gas price comparison service run by business energy experts for business energy customers, dedicated exclusively to the needs of small and medium-sized businesses in the UK. Realising that small and medium sized business electricity and gas consumers want product choice, EAL has developed an online price comparison and switching service exclusively dedicated to their needs. Visit http://www.energyadviceline.org.uk/ for more details.
(EDITOR: Beat 'rip-off' Britain. Get the Energy Advice Line on your side!)
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Showing posts with label advice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label advice. Show all posts
Sunday, 22 January 2012
Sunday, 15 January 2012
Which? finds huge variations in financial adviser fees
Which? has found huge variations in Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) fees across the UK, with one quoting £2,450 more than the cheapest alternative to transfer money into a stakeholder pension.
The consumer champion asked 200 IFAs to give quotes for different services and found large regional variations in the fees. Although the average fee quoted to transfer a £10, 680 investment into a stocks and share Isa was £356, one adviser in the south-east quoted £2,500. Two IFAs in the south-west and the east of England quoted £106.
Meanwhile, an IFA in the north-west quoted nearly £2,000 more to arrange a protection policy for a 30 year old female than an adviser in Scotland quoted to do the same job. The average fee Which? were quoted by IFAs in this case was only £596.
Currently there is no approved list of ‘typical’ charges for IFAs’ fees, meaning people will find it difficult to know whether an IFA's fees are reasonable. Which? wants IFAs to be forced to publish a rate guide on their website, so that people can make an informed decision about which IFA to choose and what is a reasonable amount to pay.
Which? believes that consumers should go to an IFA rather than approaching their bank for advice, and has produced a list of key questions that people should ask in order to help them choose an IFA that offers a fair price and good service.
Which? chief executive, Peter Vicary-Smith says: “Financial advisers should be much more transparent in their pricing, providing details of all their charges upfront. At present it's very difficult for customers to know how much they're going to be charged, and what is reasonable.
"IFAs should clearly display their fees online and if they don’t the regulator should step in to make this happen.”
New regulations which will be introduced at the end of 2012, will make paying for financial advice fairer and clearer. They will ban advisers from receiving commission for new investment advice. This should mean that advisers are more likely to recommend the best course of action for the consumer rather than the one which pays the adviser the most commission.
FACTFILE:The full article ‘Counting the Cost’ appears in the February 2012 issue of Which? Money magazine. For further information, a copy of the full article, or an interview, please contact Natalie Hagan. For more information about Which? Money please visit www.which.co.uk/money
The consumer champion asked 200 IFAs to give quotes for different services and found large regional variations in the fees. Although the average fee quoted to transfer a £10, 680 investment into a stocks and share Isa was £356, one adviser in the south-east quoted £2,500. Two IFAs in the south-west and the east of England quoted £106.
Meanwhile, an IFA in the north-west quoted nearly £2,000 more to arrange a protection policy for a 30 year old female than an adviser in Scotland quoted to do the same job. The average fee Which? were quoted by IFAs in this case was only £596.
Currently there is no approved list of ‘typical’ charges for IFAs’ fees, meaning people will find it difficult to know whether an IFA's fees are reasonable. Which? wants IFAs to be forced to publish a rate guide on their website, so that people can make an informed decision about which IFA to choose and what is a reasonable amount to pay.
Which? believes that consumers should go to an IFA rather than approaching their bank for advice, and has produced a list of key questions that people should ask in order to help them choose an IFA that offers a fair price and good service.
Which? chief executive, Peter Vicary-Smith says: “Financial advisers should be much more transparent in their pricing, providing details of all their charges upfront. At present it's very difficult for customers to know how much they're going to be charged, and what is reasonable.
"IFAs should clearly display their fees online and if they don’t the regulator should step in to make this happen.”
New regulations which will be introduced at the end of 2012, will make paying for financial advice fairer and clearer. They will ban advisers from receiving commission for new investment advice. This should mean that advisers are more likely to recommend the best course of action for the consumer rather than the one which pays the adviser the most commission.
FACTFILE:The full article ‘Counting the Cost’ appears in the February 2012 issue of Which? Money magazine. For further information, a copy of the full article, or an interview, please contact Natalie Hagan. For more information about Which? Money please visit www.which.co.uk/money
Thursday, 12 January 2012
Energy Advice Line urges business energy user to lock in price cuts now
The Energy Advice Line has urged business energy users to act immediately to secure cheaper business energy prices as the major suppliers scramble to cut their tariffs.
Julian Morgan, managing director of the Energy Advice Line, the UK’s leading price comparison and switching service for business, said firms whose fixed contracts were about to expire, or those on variable-price deals, should move quickly.
Although wholesale energy prices had fallen over the past two months, the market remained volatile and the view of many industry experts was that prices would rise again, Mr Morgan said.
“Firms with fixed-price business electricity and commercial gas contracts should waste no time in checking when their deals expire, and move quickly to lock in some of the lower prices being announced today by some of the commercial gas suppliers,” Mr Morgan said.
“If businesses are on variable-price deals which can be cancelled with 28 days’ notices we strongly advise them to shop around and compare prices and lock in a fixed-price deal.
“Prices may be falling now, but the trend is for prices to go up.”
SSE (formerly Scottish & Southern Energy), British Gas and EDF Energy have all announced cuts in their electricity or gas prices.
SSE has reduced its gas prices by an average 4.5% from March 26. It is keeping its electricity prices unchanged. EDF has announced a 5% cut in gas prices from next month. British Gas, which supplies gas to half the UK market’s 20 million customers, announced it would cut electricity prices by 5% effective immediately.
Although the price changes apply specifically to domestic customers the changes will flow through to business electricity and business gas customers once their existing contracts have expired.
The cuts have caused confusion among consumers because the large suppliers have not applied price cuts across the board.
Mr Morgan pointed out that wholesale energy prices had in fact been falling before Christmas with some suppliers reducing their business electricity and/or business gas prices. The Energy Advice Line had been alerting customers to these deals as soon as they were available, he said.
“It’s a complicated and volatile market at the moment and things are moving quickly - that’s why it’s very useful for businesses to seek impartial expert advice about what to do.” Mr Morgan said.
He pointed out that business energy users should take heed of the warning by British Gas that the long-term trend for wholesale energy prices “continued to be upward”.
The cuts announced by suppliers this week will not compensate domestic or commercial energy users for price rises of up to 19% announced in the summer.
The Energy Advice Line is the UK’s only impartial business energy price comparison and switching service exclusively for business. It has campaigned for utility companies to change their business energy contracts and billing arrangements to make it easier for firms to switch suppliers to get the best business electricity and business gas deals.
For further information visit www.energyadviceline.org.uk
FACTFILE:
The Energy Advice Line, an impartial online business electricity and business gas price comparison service run by business energy experts for business energy customers, dedicated exclusively to the needs of small and medium-sized businesses in the UK. Realising that small and medium sized business electricity and gas consumers want product choice, EAL has developed an online price comparison and switching service exclusively dedicated to their needs. Visit energyadviceline for more details.
Julian Morgan, managing director of the Energy Advice Line, the UK’s leading price comparison and switching service for business, said firms whose fixed contracts were about to expire, or those on variable-price deals, should move quickly.
Although wholesale energy prices had fallen over the past two months, the market remained volatile and the view of many industry experts was that prices would rise again, Mr Morgan said.
“Firms with fixed-price business electricity and commercial gas contracts should waste no time in checking when their deals expire, and move quickly to lock in some of the lower prices being announced today by some of the commercial gas suppliers,” Mr Morgan said.
“If businesses are on variable-price deals which can be cancelled with 28 days’ notices we strongly advise them to shop around and compare prices and lock in a fixed-price deal.
“Prices may be falling now, but the trend is for prices to go up.”
SSE (formerly Scottish & Southern Energy), British Gas and EDF Energy have all announced cuts in their electricity or gas prices.
SSE has reduced its gas prices by an average 4.5% from March 26. It is keeping its electricity prices unchanged. EDF has announced a 5% cut in gas prices from next month. British Gas, which supplies gas to half the UK market’s 20 million customers, announced it would cut electricity prices by 5% effective immediately.
Although the price changes apply specifically to domestic customers the changes will flow through to business electricity and business gas customers once their existing contracts have expired.
The cuts have caused confusion among consumers because the large suppliers have not applied price cuts across the board.
Mr Morgan pointed out that wholesale energy prices had in fact been falling before Christmas with some suppliers reducing their business electricity and/or business gas prices. The Energy Advice Line had been alerting customers to these deals as soon as they were available, he said.
“It’s a complicated and volatile market at the moment and things are moving quickly - that’s why it’s very useful for businesses to seek impartial expert advice about what to do.” Mr Morgan said.
He pointed out that business energy users should take heed of the warning by British Gas that the long-term trend for wholesale energy prices “continued to be upward”.
The cuts announced by suppliers this week will not compensate domestic or commercial energy users for price rises of up to 19% announced in the summer.
The Energy Advice Line is the UK’s only impartial business energy price comparison and switching service exclusively for business. It has campaigned for utility companies to change their business energy contracts and billing arrangements to make it easier for firms to switch suppliers to get the best business electricity and business gas deals.
For further information visit www.energyadviceline.org.uk
FACTFILE:
The Energy Advice Line, an impartial online business electricity and business gas price comparison service run by business energy experts for business energy customers, dedicated exclusively to the needs of small and medium-sized businesses in the UK. Realising that small and medium sized business electricity and gas consumers want product choice, EAL has developed an online price comparison and switching service exclusively dedicated to their needs. Visit energyadviceline for more details.
Thursday, 5 January 2012
Xactly Customers Drive Better Results From Their Sales Performance Management Initiatives
Aberdeen Group Brief Shows that Xactly Customers Lead Best-in-Class Organizations in Achieving Year-Over-Year Quotas and Growing Annual Corporate Revenue
Xactly Corporation (www.xactlycorp.com), the leader in on-demand incentive compensation and sales performance management (SPM), today announced the availability of a new Aberdeen Group research brief, “Xactly Customers Showcase the Best of Sales Performance Management.” (www.xactlycorp.com/assets/pages/xactly-aberdeen-report/)
A follow up to the recent Xactly-sponsored Aberdeen report, “Sales Performance Management 2012: How the Best-in-Class Optimize the Front Line to Grow the Bottom Line,” the brief explores how the strongest-performing companies use SPM techniques and technologies. More than 20 percent of the total Best-in-Class companies surveyed were Xactly customers – twice as many or more than customers from any other single SPM providers customer base.
The brief found that the Xactly customers surveyed for the report have a “strong year-over-year performance advantage over other firms across all three quota-oriented metrics,” including team attainment of quota, year-over-year growth in annual corporate revenue and percentage of first-year reps attaining quota.
Other key report findings note that Xactly customers:
• Report 36% shorter sales cycles, 25% lower sales turnover, 37% quicker rep ramp up and 7% more sales reps hitting quota than other companies.
• Support SPIFF deployments, a proven mechanism to boost sales team behavior, at a higher rate than Best-in-Class companies (70% vs. 64%).
• Use customizable dashboards to provide sales reps with complete visibility into their accomplishments anytime, anywhere. Seventy-four percent (74%) of Xactly customers use these dashboards to impact performance – a 73% higher rate than other companies.
“Top performing firms have discovered how to thrive, even in an uncertain economy, by deploying SPM core competencies and tools that maximize their selling potential,” noted Peter Ostrow, report author and Vice President & Research Group Director for the Aberdeen Group Customer Management research practice. “Xactly’s customers largely embrace these approaches, and as a result achieve stronger sales effectiveness results than companies not supported by sales performance management.”
The report also noted that the widest gap between Best-in-Class and laggard performers was in companies that deployed CRM in conjunction with SPM to enable reps to estimate the potential value of deals in the pipeline. According to the brief, Xactly customers outperformed even Best-in-Class firms when it came to deploying CRM and SPM in tandem with 64% of Xactly users doing so, compared to 52% of Best-in-Class firms. Xactly offers pre-built integrations with the industry’s leading CRM platforms, including Salesforce CRM, Oracle CRM on Demand and Microsoft Dynamics.
“Aberdeen’s recent survey clearly demonstrates the strategic power of sales compensation and how Best-in-Class companies are using sales performance management to improve sales rep behavior and business results,” said Chris Newton, Vice President of Marketing, Xactly Corporation.
“The report also shows that Xactly customers are out-performing Best-in-Class companies in many areas – showcasing the richness of our technology and ability to help customers transform their sales processes and bottom line, quarter-after-quarter and year-after-year.”
Xactly, the industry’s only100-percent multi-tenant sales compensation management solutions provider, allows customers to cost-effectively automate the sales compensation management process to create a more motivated and efficient sales organization. With cloud-based Xactly Express and Incent, companies of all sizes can create more effective compensation plans that improve sales behavior and drive better business results.
Additional Resources
• Xactly Incent
• Xactly Express
• Follow Xactly on Twitter, Facebook and the Xactly Blog
• Tweet this: Aberdeen rpt shows Xactly customers lead Best-in-Class firms in quota attainment; use #sales perf. mgt to drive results http://ow.ly/8938W
FACTFILE:
Xactly Corporation is the market leader in on-demand sales compensation and sales performance management. The company’s SPM Suite of products enables sales and finance executives to design, implement, manage, audit and optimise sales compensation management programs easily and affordably. Xactly’s solutions automate the process of aggregating data from disparate systems into a secure, hosted repository and enable companies to leverage this business data, the lifeblood of sales performance management.
Xactly helps companies improve operational performance, optimize sales effectiveness, proactively manage risk and compliance and maximise profits. The Xactly family of products is used by sales and finance executives, compensation analysts, sales operations and sales professionals across a variety of industries, ranging from SMBs to large enterprises. For more information, visit http://www.xactlycorp.com/or call 1-866-GO-XACTLY (469-2285).
Xactly Corporation (www.xactlycorp.com), the leader in on-demand incentive compensation and sales performance management (SPM), today announced the availability of a new Aberdeen Group research brief, “Xactly Customers Showcase the Best of Sales Performance Management.” (www.xactlycorp.com/assets/pages/xactly-aberdeen-report/)
A follow up to the recent Xactly-sponsored Aberdeen report, “Sales Performance Management 2012: How the Best-in-Class Optimize the Front Line to Grow the Bottom Line,” the brief explores how the strongest-performing companies use SPM techniques and technologies. More than 20 percent of the total Best-in-Class companies surveyed were Xactly customers – twice as many or more than customers from any other single SPM providers customer base.
The brief found that the Xactly customers surveyed for the report have a “strong year-over-year performance advantage over other firms across all three quota-oriented metrics,” including team attainment of quota, year-over-year growth in annual corporate revenue and percentage of first-year reps attaining quota.
Other key report findings note that Xactly customers:
• Report 36% shorter sales cycles, 25% lower sales turnover, 37% quicker rep ramp up and 7% more sales reps hitting quota than other companies.
• Support SPIFF deployments, a proven mechanism to boost sales team behavior, at a higher rate than Best-in-Class companies (70% vs. 64%).
• Use customizable dashboards to provide sales reps with complete visibility into their accomplishments anytime, anywhere. Seventy-four percent (74%) of Xactly customers use these dashboards to impact performance – a 73% higher rate than other companies.
“Top performing firms have discovered how to thrive, even in an uncertain economy, by deploying SPM core competencies and tools that maximize their selling potential,” noted Peter Ostrow, report author and Vice President & Research Group Director for the Aberdeen Group Customer Management research practice. “Xactly’s customers largely embrace these approaches, and as a result achieve stronger sales effectiveness results than companies not supported by sales performance management.”
The report also noted that the widest gap between Best-in-Class and laggard performers was in companies that deployed CRM in conjunction with SPM to enable reps to estimate the potential value of deals in the pipeline. According to the brief, Xactly customers outperformed even Best-in-Class firms when it came to deploying CRM and SPM in tandem with 64% of Xactly users doing so, compared to 52% of Best-in-Class firms. Xactly offers pre-built integrations with the industry’s leading CRM platforms, including Salesforce CRM, Oracle CRM on Demand and Microsoft Dynamics.
“Aberdeen’s recent survey clearly demonstrates the strategic power of sales compensation and how Best-in-Class companies are using sales performance management to improve sales rep behavior and business results,” said Chris Newton, Vice President of Marketing, Xactly Corporation.
“The report also shows that Xactly customers are out-performing Best-in-Class companies in many areas – showcasing the richness of our technology and ability to help customers transform their sales processes and bottom line, quarter-after-quarter and year-after-year.”
Xactly, the industry’s only100-percent multi-tenant sales compensation management solutions provider, allows customers to cost-effectively automate the sales compensation management process to create a more motivated and efficient sales organization. With cloud-based Xactly Express and Incent, companies of all sizes can create more effective compensation plans that improve sales behavior and drive better business results.
Additional Resources
• Xactly Incent
• Xactly Express
• Follow Xactly on Twitter, Facebook and the Xactly Blog
• Tweet this: Aberdeen rpt shows Xactly customers lead Best-in-Class firms in quota attainment; use #sales perf. mgt to drive results http://ow.ly/8938W
FACTFILE:
Xactly Corporation is the market leader in on-demand sales compensation and sales performance management. The company’s SPM Suite of products enables sales and finance executives to design, implement, manage, audit and optimise sales compensation management programs easily and affordably. Xactly’s solutions automate the process of aggregating data from disparate systems into a secure, hosted repository and enable companies to leverage this business data, the lifeblood of sales performance management.
Xactly helps companies improve operational performance, optimize sales effectiveness, proactively manage risk and compliance and maximise profits. The Xactly family of products is used by sales and finance executives, compensation analysts, sales operations and sales professionals across a variety of industries, ranging from SMBs to large enterprises. For more information, visit http://www.xactlycorp.com/or call 1-866-GO-XACTLY (469-2285).
Thursday, 30 June 2011
Cambridge-based tax and accountancy specialists expand into Australia
With a steady stream of people moving to Australia from England and vice versa, Websters are pleased to announce the opening of their new offices in Australia.
The purpose of their new Sydney-based office is to advise individuals and businesses who are migrating from the UK to Australia, or from Australia to the UK, on the sometimes quite complicated tax and financial issues that may affect them and their businesses.
The purpose of their new Sydney-based office is to advise individuals and businesses who are migrating from the UK to Australia, or from Australia to the UK, on the sometimes quite complicated tax and financial issues that may affect them and their businesses.
In charge of the office he office will be Joanne Lamberth, who is one of Websters’ senior tax consultants, who was originally based in the Cambridge HQ of the firm.
She will be assisted by Dale Winckel, who will be bringing her experience and expertise in sales and marketing to the firm and focusing on further business development.
Websters chose the North Shore, Sydney for their new business as it is a primarily residential area with a high ratio of expat home owners who, they feel, would benefit from their services.
Websters chose the North Shore, Sydney for their new business as it is a primarily residential area with a high ratio of expat home owners who, they feel, would benefit from their services.
But they point out that with a registered office in the central business district of Sydney, other areas of the city still remain within reach.
Chief Executive, Andrew Webster, who has recently returned from visiting Australia where he has overseen the opening of the new office points out:: “The UK practice has been advising Australian clients from our Cambridge base for the last fifteen years. During the last year, Joanne Lamberth, one of our senior tax consultants, has worked hard to develop this new office and business in Australia.
Chief Executive, Andrew Webster, who has recently returned from visiting Australia where he has overseen the opening of the new office points out:: “The UK practice has been advising Australian clients from our Cambridge base for the last fifteen years. During the last year, Joanne Lamberth, one of our senior tax consultants, has worked hard to develop this new office and business in Australia.
“Joanne migrated to Australia and chose the North Shore of Sydney as her new family home, so is well versed in the opportunities and issues that UK ‘expats’ will experience. She and Dale will be working alongside our experienced international tax team in Cambridge. We already use this approach very successfully with our office in France. To extend the business and open our first office outside Europe is a really exciting development for Websters.”
Joanne comments: “I have been based in Sydney myself for a while now, so I know from first-hand experience that to give effective advice to clients you need to have not only a detailed knowledge of both countries’ tax systems, but more importantly expertise in how tax systems between countries interrelate. Dale and I bring such expertise to the team and we are looking forward to working together with our clients to expand websters Australia.”
FACTFILE: As well as their Cambridge HQ and their Australian office they also have a presence in France. and France. The firm was founded in 1990 and they offer advice to individuals, businesses and corporations, with, as one would expect, a special emphasis on tax issues including international issues. Their team includes tax consultants, accountants, a solicitor, a company secretary and financial advisers, who work alongside a small team of software developers.
For details of how they might be able to help you, visit www.tax.uk.com
Joanne comments: “I have been based in Sydney myself for a while now, so I know from first-hand experience that to give effective advice to clients you need to have not only a detailed knowledge of both countries’ tax systems, but more importantly expertise in how tax systems between countries interrelate. Dale and I bring such expertise to the team and we are looking forward to working together with our clients to expand websters Australia.”
FACTFILE: As well as their Cambridge HQ and their Australian office they also have a presence in France. and France. The firm was founded in 1990 and they offer advice to individuals, businesses and corporations, with, as one would expect, a special emphasis on tax issues including international issues. Their team includes tax consultants, accountants, a solicitor, a company secretary and financial advisers, who work alongside a small team of software developers.
For details of how they might be able to help you, visit www.tax.uk.com
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