Green deal turns to raw deal as £299 vanishes
T.K. writes: After a cold call, I agreed that a representative from Becoming Green (UK) Limited could visit and arrange an assessment to see whether my house qualified for the Green Deal scheme. I have never received the assessment, which means the company has taken my £299 fee and given me nothing. I said I would travel to their offices in Cardiff to get a refund, but the reply was I would not get anything. THE Government’s Green Deal scheme was set up to give financial help to householders making energy saving improvements to their home. Becoming Green (UK) Limited just piggy-backed on this, charging to organise an insulation survey and to obtain quotes for recommended work – both things you could do yourself.
However, the company did offer a written ‘100 per cent money back guarantee’ if you were not given any energy saving recommendations. The guarantee showed that the business was properly registered with Companies House as company number 6700231. It was registered with Revenue & Customs and had the VAT number 992081893. And it held Consumer Credit licence number 650050, granted by the Office of Fair Trading.
Well, the guarantee has proved worthless. And I can tell you that the Companies House number, the VAT number and the OFT licence all belong to a different business.
Or rather, they used to belong to a different business. It was called Becoming Green Limited – a separate company without the ‘UK’ in its name. And what happened to it? It was forced into liquidation by the High Court on May 14 last year for failing to pay an insulation supplier.
The two companies are connected. Both were based at Eastgate House in Newport Road in Cardiff, though Becoming Green (UK) has since changed its registered address to Regus House on Falcon Drive. And both have the same director, 39year-old Abdul Muhith of Glenroy Street in Cardiff.
Muhith has been a busy man in recent years. He was a director of Regency Windows and Regency Windows UK, both dissolved in 2009, and a director of Direct Solar Wholesalers, dissolved in 2012.
He has also done his bit for the community. Becoming Green employed almost two dozen serving convicts, who were allowed out of Prescoed Prison during daytime. Most were paid a few pounds a day for telesales work, but some went on sales visits to people’s homes. One prisoner even became a Becoming Green manager – Muhith’s brother, Shahin Abdul Wahid, who was serving eight years for heroin dealing.
Muhith himself has also had legal problems. In March, both he and Becoming Green (UK) Limited were in court in Cardiff, facing charges of handling customers’ personal data without being registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office. He and his company were each fined £270 with £300 costs.
So where does this leave Muhith’s company? Not in good shape, is the answer. Muhith failed to file details that were due in February of exactly who owns the business. This is an offence. Companies House says there is a ‘proposal to strike off’ the company.
You could sue now for your £299, but you might be throwing good money after bad. In August last year, Muhith gave a finance company a charge over all the assets of Becoming Green (UK) Limited. In short, he mortgaged the business, so if it has any cash then the finance company could get in ahead of you and leave nothing for anyone else.
I did invite Muhith to comment on all of this but he did not respond. The bottom line, then, is that Muhith has used a false company number, OFT number and VAT number, has failed to file information legally due, and has been convicted of breaching data protection laws. Isn’t it time he was banned from acting as a director of any more companies, before he does any further damage?