Dodgy Dyllan owes couple £2,000 after failing to maintain their solar panels: TONY HETHERINGTON investigates

Tony Hetherington is the Financial Mail on Sunday’s top researcher, taking on readers’ corners, uncovering the truth that lies behind closed doors and delivering victories for those left out of their own pockets. Below you can read how you can contact him.

pc writes: My wife and I are in our 80s and last October we paid NQ Energy Solutions Limited £2,000 for ten years of cover on our solar panels.

We called them in April because our meter was broken and we found out the company had gone out of business. I hope to warn others.

Tony Hetherington replies: You paid £2,000 on October 20 to have your solar panels maintained for the next ten years, but company records show NQ Energy Solutions declared bankruptcy on January 18 this year.

It never filed an account, and its liquidation papers show no debt or obligation to you or any other customer, despite the fact that the company gave you a so-called “full ten-year parts and labor warranty.”

It is said to have no assets, and the only debts declared are two business accounts totaling just over £8,000, and an estimated £40,000 owed to the tax authorities.

There is nothing to show whether it was already set for failure when it pocketed your £2,000, or whether the company was struck by a completely unforeseen disaster in the twelve weeks or so after you looked for a solar panel safety net that it cannot offer.

Not that this matters much to the man behind NQ Energy Solutions.

He is Dyllan Davenport, 29, from Sittingbourne in Kent, and he has already moved to his latest company, SES Electrical (Kent) Limited.

He set this up in February last year as Solar and Electrical Solutions Limited and changed it to its current name just weeks after declaring NQ Energy Solutions insolvent.

And this wasn’t the only name he changed. Until January of this year, Dyllan Davenport listed his name in company records as Dyllan Moore.

Now there’s something funny. A Trustpilot review for NQ Energy Solutions describes it as ‘an honestly helpful company from start to finish’. Who posted this review? Dylan Moore!

And here’s something else funny. A Trustpilot review posted the same day says: ‘I would highly recommend it.’

That review was posted 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 make identical complaints, saying NQ Energy Solutions called them or their families, offered a solar panel inspection and then scared them with stories of overheated cables, faulty equipment and serious fire risks until they paid around £3,500 for supposedly urgent work .

Dyllan Davenport knows his way around the limited liability company system, as NQ Energy Solutions is not his first venture. In 2021 he founded ABD Property Services Limited, based on Canvey Island in Essex.

It filed no accounts and was compulsorily struck off by Companies House in 2022, but I checked the court records and found it had been active long enough to yield a still unsatisfied County Court judgment of £507.

Should Dodgy Dyllan be allowed to jump from one limited company to another, walking away from the wreckage each time, only to start over under a different company 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 that everyone doing business with their new company will notice this too.

Dyllan and Lauren Davenport were both repeatedly invited to comment but did not respond.

If you believe you have been a victim of financial misconduct, 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 number of questions, personal answers cannot be given. Only send copies of original documents. Unfortunately, these cannot be returned.

Defective smart meter caused a high bill

Mrs HB writes: We moved into our bungalow in July 2022, after having been customers of Utility Warehouse for years.

A few months later the property had to be rewired and a disconnect switch installed. UW said if we installed smart meters it would be free, so I agreed.

The meters were installed in October 2022 but did not work and I paid the estimated bills until February 2023 when they started working. However, UW sent a bill for almost £1,000 for the same period as their estimated bills.

Tony Hetherington replies: In short, UW estimated your electric bill because the meters it installed were not working.

And then the company demanded almost £1,000 extra because its estimates were wrong!

You filed a complaint with Ombudsman Services, the private company that UW and others pay to resolve disputes. The decision last June was that UW should carry out a free meter test, apologize for the poor service and give you £35 as a gesture of goodwill.

The meter test was supposed to be done last July, but when you contacted me you were still waiting.

Meanwhile, UW still demanded almost £1,000, adding £6 to each monthly bill as a late fee.

I asked UW why it had not honored the Ombudsman’s decision.

Ten days later, late fees were refunded and your meter was exchanged for a new one.

UW is now reviewing your bills for late 2022 and early 2023 and has credited your account with £100 as an apology for this long-running affair.