Sunderland’s Seaglass Café has reopened thanks to support from the city’s BID and its utilities partner, Procure Smart.
The café, on High Street West, was forced to close for more than a month over a dispute with its energy supplier. The BID works closely with Procure Smart – which helps businesses with services including utilities, telecoms and card payment solutions – and found a resolution to get the café’s supply back on and allow it to reopen.
James Usher, operations manager at Seaglass Café – which launched earlier this year – said: “We are so grateful to the BID for introducing us. We were being bounced around from one person to the next and could never get any response to any of the questions we raised about the bills.
“We were shut for 35 days, which is devastating for a small business, but Procure Smart worked to get us reconnected so we could reopen and are still working with us to get the on-going situation resolved.
“We had a number of companies get in touch and offer to help, but they all wanted something like a promise that we would sign up with them when it was all sorted. Procure Smart was just happy to help – although we will definitely be using them when this is all completed. We’re absolutely over the moon with what they have done and how they continue to help us.”
Craig Shields, managing director of Procure Smart, said: “Because we work in the industry day in and day out, we have the contacts to go directly to the right people and to be able to sort out situations like this. We followed the paper trail for James and have helped him take the case to the Energy Ombudsman. We are still in almost daily contact and will continue to work on his behalf. It’s just part of the service we offer, and we’re delighted to work so closely with Sunderland BID and be able to support all the businesses in the city centre.”
