Tony Hetherington is the Financial Mail on Sunday’s star investigator, battling readers’ corners, revealing the truth behind closed doors and winning victories for those left penniless. Find out how to contact him below.
PC writes: My wife and I are both over 80 and last October we paid NQ Energy Solutions Limited £2,000 for ten year cover for our solar panels.
We called them in April because our meter failed and we found out the company had closed. I hope to warn others.
This is Money readers spent £2,000 on a solar panel cover – company closed
Tony Hetherington replies: You paid £2,000 on October 20 to have your solar panels looked after for the next ten years, but company records show that on January 18 this year NQ Energy Solutions was put into liquidation.
You have never filed any accounts and your settlement documents show no debts or obligations of any kind to you or any other customer, even though the company gave you what it says is a “full ten-year parts and labor warranty.” construction site”.
He has claimed to have no assets, with the only declared debts being two business invoices totaling just over £8,000 and around £40,000 owed to the taxman.
There’s nothing to indicate whether you were already headed for failure when you pocketed your £2,000, or whether a completely unforeseen disaster struck the company in the 12 weeks or so after you shelled out for a safety net for solar panels it can’t provide.
Not that this matters much to the man behind NQ Energy Solutions.
This is Dyllan Davenport, 29, from Sittingbourne, Kent, and has now moved on to his latest company, SES Electrical (Kent) Limited.
He set it up in February last year under the name Solar and Electrical Solutions Limited, and changed it to its current name a few weeks after putting NQ Energy Solutions into liquidation.
And this was not the only name that changed. Until January of this year, Dyllan Davenport was listed in company records as Dyllan Moore.
Now here’s something funny. A Trustpilot review of NQ Energy Solutions describes it as “an honest and helpful company from start to finish.” Who published this review? Dillan Moore!
And here is another curious thing. A Trustpilot review posted the same day says: “I highly recommend it.”
That review was published by Lauren Pearson, better known locally as Dyllan’s wife, Mrs Davenport, and director of SES Electrical (Kent).
Other reviews paint a different picture.
Three posters file identical complaints, saying that NQ Energy Solutions called them or their family, offered an inspection of the solar panels, and then scared them with stories of overheated wires, faulty equipment and serious fire risks until they paid about £3,500 for so-called urgent work. .
Dyllan Davenport is no stranger to the limited company system, as NQ Energy Solutions is not his first company. In 2021 he created ABD Property Services Limited, based in Canvey Island, Essex.
It failed to file accounts and was compulsorily discharged by Companies House in 2022, but I checked court records and found it was in business long enough to obtain a still unsatisfied county court judgment for £507.
Should Dodgy Dyllan be allowed to jump from one limited company to another, each time moving away from the rubble, to start again under a different trading name?
No, of course not, and I hope the Insolvency Service takes note of The Mail on Sunday’s findings and takes strong action.
And I trust anyone doing business with your new company will take note as well.
Dyllan and Lauren Davenport were repeatedly invited to comment but did not respond.
If you believe you are a victim of financial irregularity, please write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY or email tony.hetherington@mailonsunday.co.uk. Due to the large volume of inquiries, it is not possible to provide personal responses. Please only send copies of the original documents, which we regret cannot be returned.
Faulty smart meter led to huge bill
Mrs. HB writes: We are moving into our bungalow in July 2022 as we have been Utility Warehouse customers for many years.
A few months later the property needed rewiring so an isolating switch had to be installed. The University of Washington said that if we installed smart meters, this would be free, so I agreed.
The meters were installed in October 2022 but did not work and I paid estimated bills until February 2023 when they started working. However, the University of Washington sent an invoice for almost £1,000 for the same period as its estimated invoices.
Tony Hetherington replies: Simply put, UW calculated its electricity bills because the meters it had installed were not working.
And then he issued a demand for almost an additional £1,000 because his estimates were wrong!
You complained to Ombudsman Services, the private company that the University of Washington and others pay to arbitrate disputes. Their decision last June was that the University of Washington should carry out a free meter test, apologize for their poor service and give them £35 as a gesture of goodwill.
The meter test was supposed to have been done last July, but when you contacted me, you were still waiting.
Meanwhile, the University of Washington continued to demand its almost £1,000 and added £6 to each monthly bill as a late payment fee.
I asked UW why it had not complied with the Ombudsman’s decision.
Ten days later, they refunded his late payment fines and replaced his meter with a new one.
The University of Washington is now reassessing its bills for late 2022 and early 2023, and has credited its account with £100 as an apology for this protracted matter.