Whatcott firm 'still operating EPC business'

Is there any up to dat news on nextdayepc. We beleive they are connected with savionline.co.uk, and express epc but all seems to have gone quiet on this recently except they still operate out of a virtual address which the virtual address company say they have no authority to do so and are not, and never have been a customer

• 11 July 2011 09:25 AM

its simply not right the way that the panels get away with this behaviour.

they advertise as being the cheapest epc in ripley derbyshire. Why are DEAs not standing up against this??

I dont understand

• 30 June 2011 00:31 AM

Express-EPC, the firm run by Christopher Whatcott

ATTENTION!!

IF YOU HAVE BEEN SCAM BY ANY OF THESE COMPANIES!

PLEASE CAN YOU E MAIL rogermiller1@live.co.uk!

We need as many people to come forward about these crime.

We have the follows Institute are ready to act..

Serious Crime Unit
HM Revenue & Customs
Trading Standards Institute
Fraud Squad
Companies Investigation Branch
European Consumer Centre Network

PLEASE REPLY TODAY AND START GETTING YOUR MONEY BACK!!

• 22 June 2011 10:49 AM

Surely Chris Whatcott should be renamed Chris Whatrot

• 12 January 2011 14:25 PM

IDEA are aware that Express EPC are taking on new orders as of today. So it would seem that Mr Whatcott has sorted out the issues that he and his companies have been plagued with. IDEA are very pleased for Mr Whatcott in his unstinting work in resolving issues. We would now hope he has now the time and energy to resolve the issue of payment to the many DEAs that have supplied EPCs for; HIPSERVE/HIPSAVE/EXPRESS EPC.

• 03 December 2010 18:25 PM

A colleague of mine has received another job offer from Express-EPC today.

• 03 December 2010 15:14 PM

DEA’s are seemingly very conscientious, professional hard working people, ive never met a dodgy one, most of them have paid money from their own pockets to be trained and accredited and did so based on changes to the law that created a need for them and therefore an entire industry.

The problem is that there was a suicidal fight on price combined with the drop in volumes which means there is now to many of them all chasing a reduced number of jobs.

Now I often get a bit of kicking on this site but I have an excellent ‘direct’ relationship with my DEA’s who get a good work flow in a defined, easy to travel around area at a reasonable price, in return they are efficient, prompt on appointments and im happy for any of them to be associated with the business when they visit my clients homes.

Any of you / them that are reverse bidding for jobs are victims of the market and sadly for them / you it might be time to consider your position carefully, sad as it is there’s too many of you and the moment you start entering an auction of this nature it might be time to pack it all in? The money is pitiful and DEA (below) could have a point, he’s just being a bit smug in the way he’s stating it.

Jonnie

• 23 November 2010 10:27 AM

The sad thing about this is the length of time its been going on ( 2 years ago Mr Whatcott was not paying people) and also the number of bodies that have been involved ( Trading standards, Companies House, BBC Watchdog, OFT, Property Ombudsman, at least 2 MP's) and yet this PERSON is still operating. It isnt surprising that some people have become so frustrated that they have sworn at him. I guess i wouldnt mind getting tens of thousands of pounds to receive a few bad tempered emails. Mr Whatcott must be laughing all the way to the bank.

• 23 November 2010 06:45 AM

The Institute of Domestic Energy Assessors (IDEA) can confirm that Express EPC is still inviting DEAs to enter their reverse bidding system for EPC instructions.
To date the institute is not aware of any payment, of outstanding invoices, to our members from Express EPC or HIPSAVE/HIPSERVE.

In line with the Quidos stance, IDEA are issuing the following policy to our members.

Policy – Reverse Auction Bidding for EPC Instructions.

The reverse auction style of bidding is currently used by at least two companies.
The Institute regards this type of bidding process to be demeaning to the DEA, the EPC and to the industry.
We also are aware that this system has resulted in poor quality service and the production of inaccurate EPCs by the “winning” DEA.

IDEA has no wish to dictate the work source or fee structure that any of our members employ.

However, as of 22 November 2010 IDEA will not provide administrative support to any member entering into this style of reverse bidding.

In as much that the Institute will not act on the DEAs behalf in recovery of outstanding/unpaid fees, or any form of advice to the DEA in regards to redress against the offending company.

• 22 November 2010 18:17 PM

so now if you accept a job at £20, that includes the lodgement fees, travel, time on the inspection, time doing calculations AND VAT. lol. When are the DEAs who do this work going to realise that lodgement fees are around £9, so they have £11 for everything else which also includes the VAT. I mean travel to and from an inspection must cost minimum £2.50 each way. so thats £6. Then in total, must be about an hour and a half to do inspection plus calculations and submitting it. lol. Those DEAs working at these prices need to find a job self stacking at tesco. They would earn more there.

• 22 November 2010 17:27 PM

From another web site.

Could this be true?

I have traced an email from “EPC NOW”.
It is 88.208.204.247
Guess who has the SAME IP?

IP: 88.208.204.247

IP Country: United Kingdom

This IP address resolves to server88-208-204-247.live-servers.net[Whois] [Trace]
8 Hosts on this IP

Number Domain / Host Functions

1. savi-hips.co.uk [Whois]
2. www.hipserve.co.uk [Whois]
3. www.savi-hips.co.uk [Whois]
4. hipserve.com [Whois]
5. www.hip-save.co.uk [Whois]
6. www.express-epc.co.uk [Whois]
7. www.savi.co.uk [Whois]
8. putterills.net [Whois] (Mr Whatcott had a franchise with Putterills until they took it off him).

• 22 November 2010 17:25 PM

For those of you who want to take action against Express EPC, you need to complain to companies house first. The point of contact here is Lee Robbins, Manager of Companies House Technical Offences Team. Email address is lrobins@companieshouse.gov.uk . According to Mr Robbins this may make Old Gloucester Street an 'ineffective address'. To be an 'effective address', it "must be an address at which companies are able to deal with all official letters and notices that they receive". If this is the case, then they may be able to force Express EPC to change their Registered address to one that is effective. This may then make it easier for us to enforce our Judgements against them.
Its worth also contacting Companies Investigation Branch at www.insolvency.gov.uk or enquiry@cib.gis.gov.uk who will send out a complaint form. If it finds the conduct of the directors who run a company is questionable, they can disqualify the director from managing a limited company for up to 15 years. This will also mean it will make it an offence for them to take part in managing a company.

• 22 November 2010 16:38 PM

Quote from an Express EPC email:

NOTE: The bidding process is open for 20 hours. You will be notified at the end of this time if you have been successful. Please be advised that we are not VAT registered. If you are VAT registered then your final bid will need to include VAT.

• 22 November 2010 16:26 PM

Not linked?

EPC NOW 0203 031 2743
EXPRESS EPC 0203 031 2743
HIPSAVE 0203 031 2741
HIPSAVE 0845 680 2580
HIPSERVE 0845 680 2581
SAVI 0845 680 2582

Mmmm?

• 22 November 2010 16:22 PM

Yes I have received an invite to did on a 5 bed property today (mon 22nd)

I had worked out the connection betweeen this company and HipSave months ago and as it took me six months to get my money for an EPC I carried out for them I have not embarked upon any work for this company. I have called many times to ask them to stop emailing me based on my previous experience with them but to no avail.....they don't give up.

I understand why the Public would seek an EPC at bargain basement prices but wonder if they didn't think it slightly suspicious that a National Comany could offer this service operating UNDER the VAT threshold

• 22 November 2010 16:06 PM

Got this offer today more bulls*** when will he stop

• 22 November 2010 15:43 PM

Express-EPC has today sent me an invitation to bid for work in SW4. Obviously I cannot even consider it given I have invoices outstanding from 6 months ago. Anyone would be a fool to accept work that they know they won't get paid for.
I surprisingly received an email from them last week regarding payment of my outstanding invoices. It states 'We apologise for the delays with payments you have experienced so far, but we are currently having to use all of our resources to clear outstanding customer queries which must be our first priority. As soon as we have completed this we will be able to use our resources to clear outstanding invoices.
We are currently unable to give a time frame for this but please bear with us.'

• 22 November 2010 14:56 PM

I received an offer to bid on 19th November. Keeping identity quiet so I still get them and can confirm that he has been economical with the truth!

• 22 November 2010 14:55 PM

Still owes for August! Try June and your closer to the mark.

• 22 November 2010 14:48 PM

Here is part of a mail I received from SAVI
" We are an estate agency and although we have worked with Express EPC, and advertised on their website, we are a separate company and are not owned by Mr Whatcott from Express EPC.

Regards
Savi.co.uk"

• 22 November 2010 14:12 PM

Savi have denied any involvement with Chris Whatcott and Express EPC. I have an email which states they only have a professional relationship which involves sharing leads, nothing else. Personally i have my doubts as I have had emails stating Chris Whatcott was conducting IT interviews in the office in Hitchin. If companies house find that the old gloucester street address is not the address that Express EPC actually work from. they will require that Express epc and any other phoenix businesses Chris Whatcott runs from here will need a change of address to reflect where they actually have their offices. If thats the SAVI office , then I imagine alot of court orders will be sent there and in no time the baliffs will have assets to sieze from there. I have the contact name of the person at companies house that people can complain to if they think Old gloucester street isnt the operating address where Express run from. I will post later if anyone is interested. This investigations officer is aware of Express EPC and the more complaints he received, the better.

• 22 November 2010 14:00 PM

Savi is also registered to SAVI.CO.UK LIMITED
9 WALGRAVE RD
DUNSTABLE
BEDFORDSHIRE
LU5 4NX on companies house

• 22 November 2010 10:03 AM

Chris Whatcott owns 'Savi' who are registered on Rightmove at 41 Hermitage Road, Hitchin, SG5 1BY. Although on the Savi website, it is rgistered at Old Gloucester Street. If you Google 27 Old Gloucester Street, you will see that a number of business use this address - looks like a 'virtual address' to me

• 22 November 2010 09:59 AM

We all know Express EPC is still up and running. What is needed is complaints to companies house about the registered location of this business and the others which he runs from 27 Old Gloucester Street. Seems companies house can get them to register an address where notices and court orders can be enforced. So I suggest companies house as a point of contact to advise them Old Glouster Street isn't where Express, EPC now, HIP serve, HIP save and any any others don't operate from although this is where they say they are

• 22 November 2010 09:51 AM