Enforcing a sales representative’s undertaking (G/2004/3890)

Three days after agreeing to transfer his gas supply to one retailer, Mr Y was approached by a sales representative for a second retailer. Mr Y told EWOV he advised the sales representative that he’d recently entered into a contract with another retailer. He said that the sales representative told him that he could cancel that contract within the cooling-off period and that the retailer he was representing would attend to this cancellation.

Three months later, Mr Y received a gas bill from the first retailer. The retailer subsequently advised Mr Y that there had been no contact made, in relation to cancelling the contract, by the retailer the salesperson represented. When Mr Y rang this retailer to check what it had (or hadn’t) done, he was told that it was his responsibility to contact the first retailer if he wanted to cancel his contract. Mr Y wanted the retailer to honour the undertaking given by its salesperson.

After contact by EWOV, the retailer arranged for a retrospective transfer of Mr Y’s gas supply and also agreed to reimburse any termination fees associated with that.

Energy retailers’ sales representatives must understand the implications of making undertakings to customers. In addition, retailers need to have some means of checking that their representatives are providing customers with accurate sales and contract information.