A second local business owner has come forward alleging his company was fraudulently signed up for an independent natural gas contract without his knowledge or consent.
Finish Line Auto Care owner Terry Fortner said in May he discovered his company had been signed up for a natural gas contract with Active Renewable Marketing Ltd. after he was approached by a salesperson for another third-party gas marketer.
Fortner contacted Active Renewable Marketing and obtained a copy of the contract. The contract appears to have been signed on Aug. 8, 2008 to take effect from Feb. 1, 2010 to Feb. 1, 2014. Fortner continued to be billed by Fortis B.C., with the addition of a single line beneath the cost of gas indicating the name of the gas provider.
"I look at this contract and I see one of my employee's names on it. She was the office manager at the time," Fortner said. "She had no signing authority, she was just the front office manager. [And] that's not her signature."
Fortner said he contacted the former employee, who said she did not sign the contract. A comparison of the signature on the contract to copies of the former employee's signature from business cheques shows marked differences.
The sales agent who signed the contract signed the initials F.H. and used the agent number 300939.
Last week The Citizen reported a similar complaint by Ave Marie Gifts & Health Foods and Mother Maria's Market owner David Fuller. Fuller also claims that his company was signed up for a natural gas contract with Active Renewable Marketing without his knowledge or consent.
Fortner said he made multiple calls to Active Renewable Marketing to try and resolve the situation.
"It got to the point where the guy wouldn't talk to me," he said.
He also contacted the B.C. Utilities Commission and Prince George RCMP. When an investigator from the RCMP contacted Active Renewable Marketing, Fortner said he was told the contract would be cancelled and he would receive a refund for the period he was charged by the company. Fortner received a letter from Active Renewable Marketing dated June 2 cancelling his account, effective May 24, 2011.
"I did the calculations for the amount they ripped us for. It's $3,899.65, as best as I can tell," Fortner said. "To this day, I've received nothing [back]."
Active Renewable Energy was billing Finish Line Auto Care 10.99 cents per gigajoule of natural gas. When Fortner's contract was cancelled in May the going Fortis B.C. rate was 4.568 cents per gigajoule.
"Who is going to go, when the rate is 4.568 cents per gigajoule, and sign something for two-and-a-half times as much? And why would you sign a contract in 2008 to start in 2010?" Fortner said. "It's almost like identity theft, that they can do this stuff. I'm sure that me and [Fuller] are not the only ones."
Prince George RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Craig Douglass said police did launch a fraud investigation into the case, but their was insufficient evidence to lay criminal charges.
"Fraud is notoriously difficult to track and lay charges," Douglass said. "The constable arranged for the company to talk to the complainant. The two of them made an agreement to work out a refund."
At that point the case became a civil matter and the investigation was closed, Douglass said.
A spokesperson for the B.C. Utilities Commission was not available for comment as of press time. None of Fortner's allegations have been proven in court.
