TONY HETHERINGTON: Don’t pay a penny wine firm it’s about to go off!

Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday’s chief investigator. He battles the reader’s corner, reveals the truth that lies behind closed doors, and wins victories for those left out of pocket. Below you can read how to contact him.

MC writes: Winebuyers Group Ltd seems to have gone out of a legit business that failed in 2021.

Since then whoever has been trading under the new name seems to take your order and your money, and if they can’t deliver the wine, they refuse to answer the phone.

Tony Hetherington replies: This is a story of two Winebuyers. First, there was Winebuyers Ltd. Led by young entrepreneur Ben Revell, just 26 at the time, it was founded in 2015, but it really didn’t really take off until 2018. Interviewed a few years later, Revell told how after attending an auction, he found out.

A dozen bottles of vintage wine were on sale with an estimated value of £7,200, and Revell bought them for £3,200. He added: ‘I sold the business a few days later for over £7,000, and I was drawn to this other world.’

In 2018, Revell set up his own website, winebuyers.com, and made every effort to go online, including selling his prized Lotus Elite for £15,000. But it all came crashing down in 2021, when Winebuyers Ltd collapsed with debts in excess of £1.5 million.

The list of 218 mainly trade creditors takes up seven pages in small print. A creditor initiated proceedings to dissolve the company, so Revell put it into liquidation. It is not known how much was owed to customers. Revell had also raised more than half a million pounds by offering crowdfunders a stake in the company. They’ve lost everything.

And then came Winebuyers Group Ltd. The new company, just weeks before Winebuyers itself fell apart, was founded by 31-year-old Kyle Fordham, whose arrival on the scene was greeted by wine industry veterans with a unanimous question: “Who?”

It didn’t seem to matter much who Fordham was. Within days, the new company had bought the old company’s website from the liquidator and it went on as if nothing untoward had happened.

Some wine merchants say they were sure Ben Revell wasn’t involved, but he was.

In November 2021, Winebuyers Group had a new owner and director: Ophidian Corp, an offshore company registered in the Seychelles. And last September, as complaints about unpaid bills mounted, Fordham resigned, leaving Ophidian as the company’s sole president, at least on paper. Two months ago, Revell himself returned as a director, although he described himself as CEO before that.

So, Mr. C, what about the wine you ordered last year? You told me, ‘Nothing received – no money, no wine, no apologies. A bunch of thugs!’

I managed to contact Ben Revell but all he said was ‘We cannot comment on the status of individual orders’.

This is truly an action replay of Revell’s first Winebuyers. His phoenix company has at least two unpaid court orders against it, and consumer websites are full of complaints from people saying they paid for wine but received nothing. It is clear that no one should part with a penny more.

I expect Companies House to begin delisting the company as it failed to file last December’s bills and did not file details of the property due in March.

These are violations, but Revell doesn’t seem to be bothered by them. Two weeks ago he registered his newest company, Elysian Ventures Limited. Revell is the sole owner and director. What could go wrong?

Tesco phone hang up fixed

Ms VC writes: Please help me get Tesco Mobile to honor the contract I have set up for a monthly payment of £7.50 minus 50p loyalty discount.

I received a message that I had used up my safety buffer, but could make an automatic payment.

The problem is no one can really set this up so I was left with a phone that I pay for but can’t use to make calls.

Wrong number: Ms VC is trying to get Tesco to honor a contract she has made

Tony Hetherington replies: You told me that your contract with Tesco Mobile gives you unlimited minutes and texts and 2GB of data, but it wasn’t clear to me what extras your buffer surcharge offered, so I asked Tesco to explain and see what went wrong.

Tesco confirmed your contract and explained that your buffer surcharge is intended to cover extras such as international calls or texts. You had set your buffer limit to £5, and when you reached it it should only have limited international use and premium numbers, not regular calls.

However, an error appears to have imposed broader restrictions than intended. Tesco told me: ‘We are really sorry this happened. The malfunction has been resolved.’ Your phone is now back to normal.

WE’RE WATCHING YOU

Returned: Andy Pilley

The boss of a corrupt energy supplier who complained that The Mail on Sunday was falsely warning about his company has been taken into custody awaiting sentencing for fraud.

Andy Pilley, 52, ran Fleetwood-based BES Utilities that supplied gas and electricity to small businesses. Many customers later discovered that they had been lied to in the sales pitch and locked into very expensive long-term contracts. Pilley hired top lawyers to threaten clients who complained.

Between 2010 and 2012, we published a series of warnings that prompted Pilley to file a complaint with the press regulator. Marketing was done by outside unrelated sales personnel, he claimed, and BES was not responsible for whatever the customers were told. Many of the contracts won by BES came from one sales company, Commercial Energy Limited, which operated from nearby Blackpool. The sales staff lied about low prices allegedly available from BES, or by telling the victims that their existing supplier was about to shut them down. Commercial Energy was disbanded in 2015.

When I investigated the two supposedly unrelated companies, I discovered that the sales company in Blackpool was run by a man called Lee Qualter, but under a different name – Lee Goulding. He and Andy Pilley from BES, pictured, had been working together for years. Now both men, along with two others, have been convicted of fraud said to amount to £15 million. They will be sentenced on July 3 at Preston Crown Court.

If you believe you have been the victim of financial misconduct, 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, no personal answers can be given. Only send copies of original documents, which unfortunately cannot be returned.