Redwood Utilities Anmeldelser 

Used redwood for the first time saved us loads of money on our transaction fees jo was amazing very approachable and very helpful. Would definitely recommend.

Great price and great company! No saved us a lot of money

Jo was amazing. What a woman. Saved us loads of money. Thanks.

Jo was brilliant and saved us money on our card machine…very helpful and a smooth transition…nothing was to much trouble

Was looking for a new gas/electric supplier and James B at redwood made it such an easy and seamless transition from my old supplier. Would highly recommend and will use them for any future procurement of contracts. Thanks guys

Was contacted by Josh to help change over my energy supply for my business. Was unsure at first but Josh soon put me at ease.

Rates for 29p/kWh:

Valda Energy daily S/C: 71p
Redwood 'broker' rate: 93p
Octopus: No standing charge, no 'sudden' high direct debit.

Redwood Utilities, part of the Redwood Group and one of several firms to rise and fall within the same theme and region, seems to specialise in some fairly murky things. But of course, they've reached my attention through cold calling.

We were called from 0161 518 7816, and since Redwood runs VoIP telecoms services I suspect they set up their agents with blocks of geographically misleading numbers – the 0161 518 78xx series is already showing on WhoCalledMe as a utility scammer with a Scottish accent.

The agent had presumably got details from the council after a change of tenancy on a small shop; I should know better than to deal with cold callers, but when you're setting up a small business there are plenty of things to deal with. 8:30am is before the coffee kicks in, too.

Fair enough – but I'm not a total idiot. I listened to what was being sold, and the package presented with Valda Energy; a fixed-rate deal of 39p/day standing charge and 29p/kWh consumption – seemed pretty good.

No other providers were mentioned and I was impressed, genuinely, with the speed-rapping skill of the practiced sales patter, mimicking the high-speed tape effect of terms and conditions. I did not know at this point that these terms and conditions are considered legally binding on a B2B contract (though, it is possible to mount a legal challenge if the contract terms are not as presented, so – yeah, you'll be hearing from me if you continue to give me a reason to follow up – I've got enough time to focus on this for a while :D ).

Valda Energy's own agent, Maisie, reviewed the salient part of the recording for the agreement, and confirmed that I mention the 39p/day standing charge and it goes uncorrected and unchallenged.

Which made the actual contract sent through, at 93p/day, rather a shock. More so, the fact that the £450 commission mentioned is in fact paid by the customer - yes, it is recovered through billing from the energy supplier, but they still recover it, they're not paying a commission, they are covering an extortionate fee to rip you off and mislead you on energy and complicit in the process.

Anyway, back to this firm. As mentioned, I was told 39p/day, initially - I repeat it a couple of times, and apparently the agent does say 93p once, at the same time as I am talking, but doesn't correct it during the agreement part of the conversation They also insisted on taking direct debit details to proceed, which as it's a new business weren't available. The delightful, caring and empathic human being on the end of the call, who at this point had chatted enough to know I was between jobs, took mine – even though I'm not liable for the supply of energy, and Valda has a practice of taking a SUBSTANTIAL sum in a first direct debit as 'payment on credit' regardless of usage. This is well documented on Valda's own trustpilot page.

Had they done so, I'd have been put into a very difficult position indeed. As it happens, the expert contract negotiator from Redwood also mis-spelled the responsible party's name on the contract, so I'm not entirely sure who they have a contract with even before challenging it for being misrepresented.

Valda say 'get Redwood to void the contract'. Redwood say 'complain we have 14 days to reply'. Valda aim to take the first direct debit within 10 days of supply being transferred (and had already submitted an authority to the bank). The whole game is built around selling something that isn't accurate, ripping off the customer to cover that huge commission, and then the process of complaining all taking place AFTER the trader or business has been put under financial stress, with terms in Valda's contract (that you never get to see before agreeing to anything) saying that 'agreeing to a missold contract is still agreeing and there's no right of withdrawal'. Ombudsman complaints take 8 weeks.

From my point of view, they just need to void this switchover – if Redwood IS a legitimate firm and has run afoul of a rogue sales agent's dishonesty, they have every opportunity to sell us an energy contract with full transparency, after all. But I don't believe that they are, and a phone call and email has had no response that will change my mind. So the next stop is legal action and – thanks for the inspiration – a campaign to get the legislation on business to business contracts changed to ensure sole traders and small businesses, who can be held to account personally are given the same protection as consumers – as they can be seriously harmed by aggressive services and utilities firms, rather than a limited company taking the hit if it fails because an energy company ripped it off to the point of insolvency.

We were cold called by someone from this company, purporting to be from Octopus, when we were trying to sign up for a business contract with Octopus ( it being by far the most favourable business tariff for us). At no point did the caller identify himself as being from the Redwood Group. If so, it would have been obvious straight away they were a broker. How they got our number I do not know - we only gave it out to Octopus. We were gradually pressurised into signing a contract with YGP, being repeatedly told, after credit checks on three of the business partners, that Octopus were not coming up in the top three competitive quotes (and that Octopus rates on line were 'generic' only... the credit checks were necessary to ascertain best company for us). We were also told that the solar export tariff would be provided by the utility company once we had signed up ( something Octopus have always been transparent & upfront about).....YGP have since confirmed they do not support a solar export tariff!

We have lodged a formal complaint with this company, and will pursue via the Ombudsman if the contract is not cancelled (YGP have pushed us back to the broker as the ones who arranged the contract) We were mis-led, pressurised, and mis-sold this business contract. We are a very small business just starting out, and are sickened by this disreputable behaviour.

It’s a scam. Josh rang my business and intimidated my staff concerning ‘change of tenancy agreement’. Rang several times and made them anxious. I’ve been in business many years and it’s a good job because Josh basically told me lies. Luckily I was able to just play games with him until he put the phone down. What an appalling way to do business

misled us into signing a "verbal" contract when we got cold called even though we was just after prices at the time being. absolute scam and appalling customer service.

So someone from this company called me when I just got a new shop had no idea con man exists. He said: calling regarding my meter reading for my new shop’s electricity.

Very natively I thought he was the supplier, calling regarding owner changing. Gradually he started to offer me new energy deal, made me believe he had already compared every bundle available and recommended the cheapest one. Again, I totally thought this was something I had to do and his speaking speed was ridiculous.

I would admit it’s my fault to didn’t think if through just went with him, now signed myself in an expensive deal.

But hope everyone else can see this and avoid.

People in Redwood: no matter what you tell yourself to make yourself able to sleep, you are a shameful company and you should be ashamed of yourself. For £450 commission, set up a new struggling business with some expensive energy deal, that’s not decent what so ever.

It’s not that much money involved, I’m just disgusted that this kind of company exists. Thanks for teaching me a lesson to be more careful in the future.

But everyone else: if you have been called by this company or any similar brokers, just hang up and block the number. Business nowadays is already very hard, let’s not get hit more.

This company mis-sold a contract between my company and YGP. The company in question does not hold a lease for the address - which was told to them on the phone however the broker told us we would not be paying for anything we are not legally liable for as well as other multiple lies. They’ve told us over the phone that the contract is in the process of been cancelled but then heard nothing from them for about 4 weeks. We continue to ask for some correspondence in regards to our complaint but hear nothing from them. We have contacted the ombudsman as we feel this is our last resort. Do not let this company lie, trick or undermine you. The ombudsman informed us they’ve dealt with this company before and felt we had a case. Now to just wait it out - not what we need when setting up a small business.

Used them to supply 2 businesses with card machines. Both work superb and great customer service

John Mchendry has sorted all my issues no problem at all.

Sasha sorted my energy out for me last week and it’s now all swapped over. Hassle free and no drama which is what I needed, even did my card machine with them and have referred other friends of mine to Redwood.
Renewing my other business energy contracts for my other 4 premises with them, as it’s quick and simple and the communication at each stage was bang on.
Cheers guys for all your help

I had a call on Friday to sort out my energy for my new shop. I was guided through the process and it was explained to me step by step as I was unsure of how this works. I was offered a search of suppliers and give prices and asked if I was happy with any of them, I was so I was then taken through a verbal contract for Valda energy which is who I chose. It was all explained thoroughly and I was asked several times along the way ‘Did I understand it all’ to which I did. It was also explained to me that it was a verbal offer of contract and that once agreed, I cannot cancel. I understand this, and Martin went through all the main aspects again just to be sure I understood and didn’t feel pressure.
Thank you Martin for being so understanding at a time that I needed the reassurance. I would 100% recommend you.

Reviews are really bad but Martin and ryan really put my mind at rest and helped arrange a new supplier for me.

Had a unexpected call from martyn, was a bit dubious but after he explained everything he helped set my accounts up and made the whole process very simple.. thank you for your help

This company are absolutely disgraceful, avoid avoid avoid.

Upon being mis-sold a contract, by The Redwood Group on behalf of YGP, I now cannot get through to anyone in this company to speak to them. The lady I’m supposed to be dealing with is Fiona, (the head of Energy?), who is repeatedly ignoring my calls and emails. Today I’ve been told that Fiona is on annual leave, one minute they don’t know when she’ll be back, the next minute she’ll be back on Monday…

We have now requested a deadlock letter and have involved an Ombudsman. Surprise surprise, we haven’t received this yet and most likely, we won’t hear from them.

I’m disgusted that they’re happy for people to become ill cover contracts they’ve scammed them into signing, I’m appalled at their “customer service” palming people off, and from the look of other reviews they do this to everyone they come into contact with. Utterly disgraceful.

Still no contact from this company, emails still being ignored. Can see I’m not the only person this has happened to.

I spoke to valda on Monday to do an Erroneous Transfer and they said yourself would have to ring to cancel the contract. I have emailed multiple times to ask of this has been done

Omg AVOID AVOID this company
Before you read on BE SURE to check out LinkedIn - they personally know Valda

They spam called my business up repeatedly for hours, claimed to be our landlord and then instructed a staff member to say they owned my business while they recorded her, and proceeded to change my electric provider WITHOUT MY KNOWLEDGE, I am now tied with some company worse still NOT IN MY NAME but attached to a staff members personal bank account AND THEY WONT RESOLVE !!!!
Totally and utterly the worst company I have ever had the displeasure to deal with
I have now contacted the ombudsman

To show how they respond
This is their reply to my staff
As you can see its a clever answer but not
WE WILL CANCEL YOU AND THE SUPPLY WE TOOK without your bosses knowledge.
Please see post below “CARLY”

Reply from The Redwood Group
12 minutes ago
Hi Carly, There appears to have been a complete mix up as per your conversation this morning with Josh. Regarding the conversation to set this account up last week, you did confirm the details to Joshua that you were in fact taking over the business and you did agree the contract. However, we have contacted Valda to look at getting this cancelled off for you.

Regards

The Redwood Group

To update any following people, we STILL have no resolution.
Calling every day
Emailing every day
Redwood and Valda for energy UTTER DISGRACE