The Six Deadly Secrets

SIX DEADLY SECRETS YOU NEED TO KNOW!

There has been an increase in awareness that UK Businesses have been subjected to mis-selling of Business Energy Contracts by Brokers AND Suppliers for the last 24 Years!

There are numerous competitors out there now, who are only out to line their own pockets and do not care about the implications or ramifications that unsuspecting Businesses will be subjected to.

What isn't so clear is there are many expensive pitfalls if they don't use a reputable organisation such as Energy Reclaims.

There are 6 Deadly Secrets that YOU need to be aware of, to ensure YOU don't fall foul of these Predators, when looking to pursue your rightful Claim for Mis-sold Business Energy Contracts!

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

DON’T UTILISE THE SERVICES OF A COMPANY OR LAW FIRM THAT;

Only Recovers The Broker Commissions
They are massively under-settling your claim! Energy Reclaims will strip the Supplier of all their profits, as well as the Broker Commissions, meaning your Claim(s) will be worth up to 4 times more! In time, Energy Reclaims will pursue these Law Firms for Professional Negligence, for under-settling claims.
Cannot Accurately Calculate Your Claim Value To The Penny
Guessing your Claim Value will NOT be good enough when the time comes to issue the Letter Of Claim or issue Court Proceedings. Energy Reclaims have a unique proprietary calculation and algorithm that has been forensically tested and accepted by Solicitors, Barristers, Litigation Funders, Insurance Companies, King's Counsel and HM Courts. Energy Reclaims has had numerous successful Claims settled using this formula!
Will Add You To A GLO (Group Litigation Order)
These types of Claims can take years to settle. Typically, up to 7 years. If it is appealed, it could take a couple of years to go through the Court of Appeal, then another couple of years to go through the Supreme Court, meaning possibly a 10-12 year wait for monies to be paid out. Will your company still be around then? Can you wait that long for the recovery of YOUR money? Claims take on average 8 months to settle with Energy Reclaims We have gathered evidence that ensures Claims against certain Suppliers could settle within weeks, NOT months! Energy Reclaims have found a better way to proceed with Multiple Claimants, which traverse the Legal System as a normal individual claim, and are subject to the normal timescales of an individual claim. This is best suited for smaller value claims to be added together to make it more economical and cost effective to run, thus ensuring anyone with a claim, regardless of value can recover monies rightfully owed!
Will Get You To Sign Away Your Rights And Protections By Placing Your Claim In A SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle)
You will have ZERO control on what your Claim settles for, AND you will waive your rights and protections afforded to you by the SRA (Solicitors Regulatory Authority). The SPV is the Client of the Law Firm, NOT YOU! In the event the Solicitor Firm makes a mistake or deliberately acts in a way that is not in your best interests, then you cannot make a complaint to the SRA and you have NO recourse if the SPV (an actual third-party business that owns your Claim) decides to keep the money and NOT pay you a penny when the Claim settles. There are numerous cautionary tales in the public domain of these SPV's settling Claims and running off with the money! Your only recourse would be to submit a breach of contract claim, IF the SPV still exists!
Will Charge You Additional Fees Under A Separate Business Agreement
A Law Firm can charge you a maximum of 49% of any Settlement. To get round this, the Claims Management Company or Introducer can charge you additional fees under a separate business agreement. In most cases, these are mis-sold and are unenforceable as they also fail to declare they receive fees and/or commissions from the Law Firm, meaning they are getting paid twice! These separate business agreements are currently being investigated as in law, it is "Champertous". This means another man cannot have a financial interest in another man's Claim. Any decent Law Firm would advise their Client that the Separate Business Agreement is unenforceable and advise you not to make an additional payment. Unfortunately, not all Law Firms behave as they should! Energy Reclaims do NOT charge additional fees, and we only work with heavily vetted, reputable Law Firms whose ethics mirror our own! Our Panel of Law Firms will NEVER charge more than 30% Success Fee of any Settlement, and any unrecovered costs and disbursements.
Will Run Small Value Claims On A Model Where The Client Signs A LFA (Loan Funding Agreement) Or CCA (Consumer Credit Agreement) – THIS IS THE MOST DANGEROUS THING YOU NEED TO BE AWARE OF!

Law Firms will typically use some form of Funding to proceed with these claims. They will use Litigation Funding or Practice Funding. Here is a really basic explanation of how they work:

Traditional Litigation Funding

This is Third Party Funding (which is usually expensive), where the Law Firm must present information at various stages to the Funder to get approval to drawdown monies to cover specific costs and disbursements. The better Law Firms, at various stages will keep a tight rein on the running costs and ensure any drawdown from the Funder is proportionate, value for money, and only used when necessary. Again, the better Law Firms, during the costings exercise performed on each claim they proceed with, will ensure the Client is likely to receive a good return from any settlement, taking into account all aspects of the costs and disbursements. A bad Law Firm will maximise the drawdown amounts at every opportunity, and usually hide unrecoverable costs within recoverable costs, e.g. hide Acquisition Costs and WIP (Work In Progress – to cover staffing and other costs) within an “Expert Report Fee”. They may also receive up to 50% commission from the ATE Providers, especially the ones that require immediate payment rather than deferring payment until when the claim settles. I MUST stress, there is nothing wrong with this, as long as they fully disclose this commission to the Client, but as you can imagine, they usually don’t! Naturally, it goes without saying, I am NOT happy with any of these bad, unprofessional, unethical practices!

IN ADDITION to this, there are Law Firms who are obtaining huge initial drawdowns from the Funder, but do not have the staff in place to deal with the claims. I know of one Law Firm that have been gathering cases since October 2022 and have NOT even sent ONE “Letter Before Action” or “Letter Of Claim”. How they have been allowed to get away with this for so long, it beggars belief! The Clients they have onboarded, are already on the hook for 100% of the extortionate drawdowns they took from the Funder! They have hundreds of Clients signed up on these terms! This particular Law Firm’s Energy Claims Division is being run by a NON-Qualified trainee Solicitor, and being run from an un-registered office in a completely different city from the actual Law Firm!

Practice Funding

This is effectively an “Overdraft Facility or a Loan ” where the Law Firm has decision-making capability and authority to decide how that money is spent and when.

In both scenarios, the better Law Firms are responsible for, and absorb the Interest Repayments into their profits and costs model. A BAD Law Firm shifts the responsibility to the Client, maximising their profits and negating any risk to the Law Firm. This is usually done with the Client signing a LFA or CCA.

Let me give you a LIVE example:

A Client was introduced to us who had already engaged the services of a highly disreputable Law Firm.
The Client has 3 claims, worth £10k, £10k and £15k, totalling £35k possible recovery. (Remember, the Law Firm in question is only going after the Broker Commissions, so definitely under-settling).
The Law Firm has already drawn down £22,850.74 x3 totalling £68,552.22 from the Funder they use.
Due to the Loan Funding Agreement the Client signed, and the length of time taken to proceed with their claims, they are already in the 60% repayment bracket.
As things stand, the client is contracted to pay the Litigation Funder 60% = £41,131.33
If the Law Firm have to issue Court Proceedings, they will draw down another (estimated) £20,000 x3, totalling another £60,000 to cover Court Fees, Barristers Representation, more WIP, etc, meaning total drawdown across the 3 claims would stand at £128,552.22
The Client is contracted to pay the Funder 100% (as it is currently taking 8 Months to get a hearing, putting them into the top bracket of repayment percentages)
When the claims settle, let’s say at full value, £35,000, the Solicitor would take £12,250 plus £2,450 VAT = £14,700 (35% Settlement Fee)
Leaving a balance of £20,300. The Client will NOT receive a penny of this money! The Agreement the client signed states that any recovery goes to pay the Funder first before the client receives any remaining monies from the award. Instead, they will receive a bill for £108,252.22!
The original Introducer who engaged the client and put them with the BAD Law Firm, has actually forged the Client’s signature, so luckily, I can get them out of this! I fear for 3000+ other Clients this Law Firm have signed up on this model, along with other firms who use the same Funder!

When this happens to the clients engaged with that Law Firm or any other Firm using the same Funder or similar type of Funder, any Introducers’ name and reputation will be ruined, along with the Law Firm and the Legal Profession’s Reputation will be irreparably damaged.

I am reporting these Law Firms and the Funder to the SRA, FCA, Law Society, AND I am going to the Press!

How are these practices fair, ethical or professional? The Law Firms, who were entrusted to look after clients’ interests, know this will happen, but allows it and does not fore-warn the client! During the costings exercise, it would be highlighted that claims under a certain amount would ultimately NOT be in the clients’ best interests and the Law Firms should have sought an alternative way of proceeding, or refused to take the case.

Energy Reclaims stand up for the rights of the Client. WE WILL NOT work with anyone or any entity that could even dream of allowing any of the above situations to arise!

PLEASE DO NOT FALL FOUL OF THESE PREDATORS!

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