The Hydrocharger, HHO scammers in the UK
[ More on Neil & Sam Prendergast's HHO scam sites here ]
I recently had my attention brought to an HHO, “run your car on water”, “water for fuel”, “water boost” scam in the UK. Hydrocharger used to clam all sorts of nonsense on their site, they used to claim to be able to reduce your fuel bill by 25% using a system which has been shown over and over to be a scam.
Hydrocharger’s address is in Bolton, UK, Samantha Jane Prendergast is the Managing Director with her husband Neil. Neil and Sam Prendergast were also the founders of an old US based HHO scam “Water Fuel Expert“, they are also responsible for two more UK based HHO scams WaterMotive Ltd and Water4GasUK.
Note I say “used to“; since originally writing this article and reporting Hydrocharger to Trading Standards, Hydrocharger have changed their website a lot, one key example is that they no longer claim a “25% saving” in fuel, now they simply say that “most drivers notice a marked improvement”. However there are still many false statements on the Hydrocharger site and Sam & Neil Prendergast ’s other sites still contain all the same old lies.
I have blogged extensively about “HHO” and why it is scam and why does not work, indeed cannot work, many times before.
Sam P: “I find it pretty amazing that you are ready to critise etc etc yet don’t actually have real and hard fast proof. Out HHO product has been endorsed in the UK, Europe and India. Each endorsement is government backed and has undergone extensive testing. But then I do really see why I have to justify myself.”
This response to criticism is straight out of the Ozzie Freedom manual on how to run an HHO scam, Water4Gas, he says to ask “self appointed experts if they have TRIED it themselves”. This is, of course, all bullshit. I don’t need proof because I am not claiming anything. Hydrocharger are the ones selling a product, they are the ones who need the proof… and I assure you that they don’t have any.
Their product has not been endorsed by anyone meaningful in the UK or India or Europe; it has not undergone any type of meaningful, independent, testing; and yes they do need to justify themselves, they are selling a product for hundreds of pounds that does not do what they say it does.
I don’t need to test anything because I’m not claiming anything, Hydrocharger are. I no more need to test their system to show it does not work than I need to visit the moon to show it is not made of cheese.
Sam P: “I am not prepared to share my research with you. I have spent thousands of pounds and years in time researching our product and the technology. I find you rude and arrogant and to be honest the fact that you haven’t even tried a HHO system is a joke in itself”.
Why will Hydrocharger not share their results with me? It is not because they are commercially sensitive, it is because they don’t have any meaningful results. In order for me or anyone else to assess if their test is fair and their results accurate they need to make them available for inspection, if they do not do this anything they say has to be viewed with the utmost suspicion. Indeed this is the basis of any scientific process, peer review, and without it any research is meaningless and pointless.
Sam: “I also ask to think as about this… If hydrogen as a fuel is a con and everything else you say then why is the UK government offering grants to petrol stations to have hydrogen pumps fitted?”
Because, as she well knows, what Hydrocharger are selling is not a hydrogen engine. Hydrocharger are selling a run-your-car-on-water scam clone, an HHO scam, whatever you want to call it… Real hydrogen engines are very different to what Hydrocharger are selling and Sam is deliberately muddling technologies, what Sam is selling is not even slightly similar.
If I am wrong and if Hydrocharger’s system works and can save anything approaching the 25% they claim (even 1% would be a miracle), then Hydrocharger should sue me. I am standing here saying they are, weather they mean to or not, selling a scam. I am saying that their product does not work, that they are defrauding people by selling something which does not do what they say it does. I am saying Hydrocharger have no proof whatsoever that it saves any measurable amounts of petrol/diesel/gas whatsoever.
Still no summons…
Hydrocharger in the Bolton News
Seems Hydrocharger have managed to get the Bolton News interested in their product, there are four articles in this paper about them! Unfortunately, as is so often the case, the reporter have not done their research at all and have printed verbatim what they are told. A quick email to the paper got them interested in running a story on how it was a scam… we will see if they have the balls to follow through and write/print it.
University Of Bolton
In one article in the Bolton News Sam implies that the University Of Bolton are running independent tests of the Hydrocharger. However I can’t find these tests and Sam won’t tell me who carried them out and where can I find their results, I can only assume that it is either not true or that she did not like the results.
Hydrocharger’s website changed
Some time in the first week of September 2009 Hydrocharger changed the wording on their website quite considerably, this coincides with me reporting them to the Trading Standards and them saying they are going to sue me. Gone are many of the grand claims and the false statements, but not all of them… No longer are we “… going back to 1996 fuel prices“, now we will mealy “… find yourself able to travel further on every gallon of fuel” (not ture, BTW). Now “most drivers notice a marked improvement…” and “specific cost-savings will vary depending upon your annual mileage and the prevailing cost of fuel” and how “many [customers of Hyrocharger] report a perceived improvement in torque and acceleration” which is still all bullshit, of course.
Hydrocharger threaten to sue me! - 10th Sep 2009
Sam from Hydrocharger called me on my US cell phone asking for my contact details so she could sue me! Fantastic! Unfortunately AT&T are shit and the call was dropped, but i did email my address to her less than an hour later… so far no response… I can’t wait for the summons (but I’m not holding my breath either).
In addition to sending Sam my full name and address I also said the following:
Much easier [than suing me] may be for you to send me proof, any good, verifiable, independent proof, that the product you sell does what you say it does; that is saves money on ones fuel bill - I’ll shut up, print a retraction, shout it from the roof tops… but you can’t, because it does not do what you say it does, it does not save any fuel, it s a scam… and either you are a scammer or you have not owned up to having been conned by a scammer.
If it did work it would break fundamental laws of physics, mainly the first law of thermodynamics, and since the sun continues to shine, airplanes do not fall from the sky, in fact the world around us continues to behave as we expect it to, I’d suggest that it is you that are wrong ad not the rest of us.
Please, name any product available in the UK which does not have to be able to prove that it does what it says it does. I cannot think of any.
Tell me why is it, with thousands of people selling this stuff, is there not one university study into it, not one car company who make them or who are even looking into it, not one government agency looking to legislate that we all fit one?
I think you know the answer…
Regards,
Jon.
Update - 16-10-2009
Sam commented on this blog, see below, saying I had “painted [her] as a most horrendous person“. She is right, I did. I’m not particularly pleased about this vitriolic aspect of my writing so I removed the offending words. I am not worried she will sue me for defamation of character (sue a guy with no money on the other side of the world over being rude and arrogant. Really?) but because it detracts from the point, that the “technology” she is selling does not work. Sam is just smarting from being called out and I’m not sorry about this, but for making it personal… maybe I am sorry about that… maybe.
Miscellaneous Hydrocharger facts:
-Â Here, Sam clearly says “…will increase MPG for existing cars and light vans by around 25%, and at the same time will reduce emissions by around 40%” which is of course, complete nonsense.
- In Neil and Sam’s eBook “Water Fuel Expert - Run Your Car On Water Now” they clearly say they can save you “up to 50%” on your fuel bill (as well as 40% and 60% and 70%, they seem unable to stick to a figure). Whatever the claimed saving, it is all bullshit.
- Neil and Sam applied for a patent to the Intellectual Property Office for the Hydrocharger on February 11th 2009, application number GB0900319.5. Interesting.
Sam:
Jon you have painted me as a most horrendous person… If we are con people why do we offer money back guarentees??? surly we would take the money and run. In terms of suing you, you know how to play the game and I am not suing over your speculations of the product just the defermation of my character!!!!!
13 October 2009, 4:59 pmAnon:
I was scammed by Sam last year. I signed on for the ‘course’ her and husband were running, supposedly training guys to supply and fit hydrocharger kits. Many signed up as installers paid their £600 for the 1 day ‘course’, then of course, because of extremely poor results of fitting these kits, including no improvements on most cars, Sam and her company were deluged with complaints by the guys who had paid to be installers. Their reaction? Close down the company.
9 November 2009, 5:52 pmSo all us guys who had paid for the course and kits, were left high and dry, myself £1500 out of pocket.
Sam of course, ever the dodgy entrepreneur, carries on under different business names, etc, but still flogging a highly flawed, poorly made kit that may or may not work. I went on the course, did my own research, and am still not convinced. Sam turned out to be a charlatan with the gift of the gab for sure.
Sam:
You are prepared to put a complaint on this site but not have the Bollocks to type your name! how brave. £1500 out of pocket how do you work that out then when the course was only £600.00?????? I find it great fun that people are always ready to point the finger, place the blame elsewhere and yet are never prepared to stand there and say ‘you know what maybe I am the one to blame’ I am prepared to stand tall and prove my product works. Watch this space in the very near future and all I can say ‘Peter’ is goodluck with your own company copying our product and trying to go for world domination with Hydrocharger!
10 November 2009, 12:13 amAnon:
Why you need my name Sam, I don’t know, you know full well I have my facts correct, what my name is is no consequence.
The “course” in a run down garage was £600, yes, then I spent £900 on Hydrocharger kits, virtually ineffective devices. You were so pleasant on the phone and in person; you could afford to be, the money you were raking in. Pity I didn’t realise sooner just what you were doing.
You know full well the problems us guys were having, most cars were having NO noticeable improvement. You told us at the course that the lambda gizmo we attach will mean the engine will not know that Hydrogen gas is going through it and so will make no negative adjustments. Not so, just ask all the guys actually doing the fittings, even Rob and Chris (you know them) have told you the same.
You haven’t listened to us, and refused to admit that these kits are next to useless. You over simplified just about every car in the UK with a ‘one kit fit’s all’ premise. The modern ECUs on cars pick up every change in fuel intake and alter fuel intake accordingly. A lambda bypass nut is going to do nothing. I had to conclude after much frustration that what you have is a good idea, not nearly ready for use, with plenty of wishful thinking and lets just ignore the facts, shall we?
You sold £600 courses to dozens of guys, then shut the door as soon as we all realised most of the kits don’t work. Absolutely despicable. And, NO REFUND, the exact opposite to the money back guarantee you touted.
Am I wrong then?? Are all the dozens of guys that you shafted, are we all wrong?? We paid good money to be part of what we thought was a great new advancement in fuel saving. You fed us all a line, you certainly have the talent to do that Sam. I cannot understand how you are still trading, I suppose all conmen know how to stay under the radar.
I am only glad I found this forum and hope others read this before parting with hard earned cash to you and your fraudulent companies.
11 November 2009, 10:24 pmSam:
Watch this space!!!!! I will within the very near future send you ALL a copy of the certification of testing which has been carried out by a world leading automotive testing facility. We have the results which are extremly pleasing and will back our product 100%, but will any of you apologise hmmmm I don’t think so. You can write your stories and have your opinions that is your perogative. I sleep with a clear conscious. BTW Jon I am over in America in your neck of the woods in the very near future if you would like to meet for a coffee!!!!!
16 November 2009, 8:11 pmJon:
Sam, if you manage any such thing I’ll be amazed… there is not much I’d like to see more than a 25% decrease in fuel consumption and a 40% decrease in vehicle emissions, I’ll become your number-one ambassador, but somehow I don’t think I’ll have to, I have heard it all before and it is extraordinarily tedious, all typical smoke-and-mirrors of running this type of scam.
Why do you say “in the very near future”, if you have it then why not send it now? I am willing to bet everything I have (admittedly, not very much) you have no such results and that anything you do have you are misrepresenting, distorting or otherwise being disingenuous about.
I want to see a fair, repeatable, reproducible, transparent test carried out on your system with no other modifications by an independent person. I don’t want any excuses, conspiracy theories or claims of a need for secrecy.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof, and so far your extraordinary claim has no proof whatsoever.
17 November 2009, 8:56 amJon:
I’m still waiting, Sam…
Meanwhile why not let explain to us all about your other HHO scams? Water Motive LTD & Water 4 Gas UK & Tranztec UK & Water Fuel Expert. Seems you have quite a collection. http://www.jonstarbuck.co.uk/archives/675
5 December 2009, 12:04 pmsteve:
i too have been the victim of sam and neils hho scam. as was my dad. 600 pounds each we paid for the course.
sam got really upset when i threatened to seek legal advise. their science is flawed badly. however, if they had used a electronic fuel injection enhancement device (an efie) this hho device will actually work to an extent.
that little screw in device in the exhaust what did you call it sam, an oxy isolator which cost 20 pounds? did nothing at all. on some cars it actually makes fuel economy much worse. e.g. renalt safrane, average mpg 28. with oxy isolator fitted, 19 mpg! VW scirroco, 30 mpg. hho kit fitted and suddenly 20 mpg.
i on the other hand fitted an efie to mine once i’d fitted the hho cells and got a large increase in mpg. you can buy a totally useless oxy isolator on e-bay for around 5 pounds. you can make a good efie for around the same price.
sam and neil prendergast have not got the technical knowhow to make this system work. it’s far more complex than the plug and play system that they boast! go back to school you two!
7 December 2009, 12:41 pmJon:
Oxy-isolators and EFIEs and lambda bypass are not the same as HHO! They do save you a small amount of fuel but at you will loose power, increase emissions and damage your engine, you can’t get something for nothing, and they are quite rightly illegal.
Adding an HHO unit and an EFIE and an oxy-isolator is changing three things at once, how would you ever be able to tell which was responsible for any improvements?
This is why you need a real lab test, not this preposterous “real world” testing.
8 December 2009, 12:22 pmAnonymous:
tride it it does not work
18 December 2009, 3:12 pmAnonymous:
For information Hydrocharger were at Auto Expo in India at the start of January. They would have received a grant from the UK Government to be there. They were signing up Indian distributors for their product. I met someone called Dougie, who is the Managing Director. He was a smooth talking person but something felt wrong about what he told me. I was at the show promoting the UK as a great place for business and having read this site I would now have concerns about this business.
13 January 2010, 8:33 pmsteve:
some time ago, sam sent out e-mails to all of her customers. when she sent them out she sent it to many. i noted all the addresses and contacted them to find the results. in return those people gave me e-mail addresses and telephone numbers of other of sam and neils customers. when i contacted them all i found not to my surprise that not one of these people had any positive results, in fact they all gave me totally negative results. with the exception of one man in scotland who claimed to be getting an extra 100 miles per tank full. these people have travelled from as far as canada,ireland,devon,liverpool,southampton,scotland. the list is endless. the fact is this product that sam and neil are selling does not and never will work. also nobody ever gets their money back regardless of how much they try.
18 January 2010, 11:15 amAndy:
I have researched this technology with some amusment and I suppose interest also… I have come accross this company and many others like it so I do struggle to understand how we can have a world wide con but then I’m not an expert. Another company I have found is http://www.hydrotechnix.com/ and they charge £1500 for a course and they claim that they can convert your car to run of Hydrogen hmmmmmmm
26 January 2010, 1:36 pmHydroman:
Re Steve Post 18 Jan 2010 at 11.15 am.
I would be over the moon to have site of all those customer contact details and the replies they sent you.
I have a Judgment against them in the County Court and now have to pursue them for the monies. I have had her in front of the court to give some answers to try to trace all this money they spout about making according to their stated sales figures but as expected they turned out to be a pack of lies! (all the figures posted on their various web sites are according to her FALSE! she claims to have had no control over the web sites and that these figures where posted by the site developer).
One thing stated by one eye in the figures for training was that they had trained fifty-three installers/retailers. At the cost of £600.00 per person this amounted to £31,800.00.This she disputes stating that “Only a few where charged” cant believe that as they demand payment upfront at all times. I need to prove their claim regarding who paid and who got it for free, so your information would be of great help.
Regarding general comments about this pair (The PRENDERGAST`s) she is the real bad apple as she also uses the names Lonsdale and Diggle and was responsible for three other companies namely S+N Hypnotherapy Ltd,Ms S Lonsdale Stress Management Consultants and B- motivated Ltd -Human Resources Courses, not only does she mess with peoples money she has even tried messing with peoples minds!
I hope with the help of Companies House to have the pair Struck Off as directors and if any one scammed by them would like to help then please do.It would also be good to know how many other people are chasing them for money as we should join forces!
I have been threatened by her before with legal action for trying to obtain information on them but am not at all bothered by her threats and would welcome any attempt she might take to silence me!So come on Sam you know who i am lets see your BALLS!
I hope people have noted that she was up for an award recently (see Blog on Hydrocharger website) I was told it was the TOM PEPPER CUP awarded for BULLSHIT and Lies.
If antone out there can pass on any useful information then i am sure it can be done,i will even be prepared to release my contact details or perhaps contact can be made via the administrator.Regards to all,Hydroman
5 February 2010, 12:25 pmHydroman:
Just a re cap on my recent post, sorry for the wrong information regarding them being up for an award. It was posted on their Twitter Page - see Bolton and Bury Business Awards, not on the website as stated, who can say if they are up for it? or is it just more bullshit! I just hope that Bolton+Bury realise the mistake they are making!
5 February 2010, 12:53 pmJon:
Hydroman - There are / were up for the 2009 award - see here http://www.jonstarbuck.co.uk/archives/681
5 February 2010, 3:53 pmHydroman:
Hi Jon,just read the articles.WOW!How has she got the bloody nerve to claim resposibility for the invention of a device that has been around for over a hundred years.What complete and utter BULLSHIT she talks.
6 February 2010, 2:03 amAs for making a £100,000 investment into R+D! I pose the question “How did they get their hands on that sort of money”??? perhaps they should think about paying back all the customers they have ripped off before they start investing their ill gotten gains in yet more BULLSHIT.Instead they use the money they have obtained by deceit, false and misleading claims to further their aims for a product that is not only “Not fit for purpose”but is also “Not of merchantable quality”I also know that in the wrong hands it can be dangerous! I have the pictures of an explosion caused by six of their units and the results speak for themselves.the explosion was caused to prove a point.guess what they had to say,”we have tried to replicated in every way what had been done to cause the explosion and we have not found it possible to replicate.They went on to blame the perpetrator stating that he must have staged the accident”.The person in question has a good reputation and is held in high regard by those who work with him.He has quite a few letters after his name and is well qualified.Trading standards are in posession of this information and are taking steps to investigate the dangers posed by making this kind of product available to an unsuspecting public.I could rant on for hours with all the information i have on the Predergasts and their antics but hey ho save some for another day.Watch this space.Regards Hydroman.
Interested:
nilco2technologies….anybody heard of these guys before? is this the same type of technology?
Would be interested in your comments.
14 March 2010, 5:11 pmJon:
Hi Interested, of course it is the same “technology”, preposterous bullshit. I am surprised you need to ask.
14 March 2010, 11:54 pmThe http://www.nilco2technologies.co.uk/ website clearly describes a perpetual motion machine. Thanks for the link, I’ll get on to blogging about them soon.
interested:
Easy Tiger!
15 March 2010, 12:19 amThe name gives it away, interested! Why doesn’t the mainstream press, in the American parlance ‘Big it up’ if it works or knock it down if it doesn’t?
I work in local government and we are always looking to reduce our costs and when companies like….. http://www.morempgnow.co.uk/ ….offer things like this making HUGE claims, why doesn’t (in our climate of sensationalism) our national press knock them out of the sky? Don’t get me wrong, more than happy to slap the ’snake oil’ sellers when they try to sell crap to us gullible types but we Brits love the garage inventions if we think it MIGHT work! Marconi, Whittle, Faraday etc.
Annon:
HydroMan
I recognise you from what you have been talking about above. I know of hydrocharger but don’t know the prendergast’s personnaly.. What I do find really strange is that I came on your training course and it was piss poor in fact we where just stood around for one day with you going on and on about crap and things you knew little about.. so maybe its not just the prendergasts that are conning people People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones Dave. I am sure you know who I am as I wanted some money back from you for my course which you never gave me!
15 March 2010, 4:08 amJon:
Thanks again, Interested. I have now blogged about the Jubycell and More MPG Now. Have you got any more?
Why don’t the press shoot them down? Well they sometimes they do, but more often that not they are just trying to fill column inches or air time, investigative journalism is too expensive, it is a thing of the past, journalists are just happy to have something to print, they don’t think about what they are printing or question what they are told.
Marconi, Whittle and Faraday were all scientists, what we are talking about here is not science, it is magic, something akin to Alchemy.
15 March 2010, 4:31 amHydroman:
Hi Annon,I can`t say as i remember you as i have not personaly run any training courses.i have only instructed three people in the Southwest and that was when it first became clear that there were big problems looming with the Pretendergast`s.I was present at a training course in London but that was not to do with me.Had you been personaly involved with me at some time and had requested money back then we would have sorted this problem out.I am not sure you have the right Dave here as i have never talked any crap regarding the subject in question,i may be guilty of passing on information that i thought to be correct or relevant at a given time but that is all.As for throwing stones as you put it,i am not.I am hurling bloody great rocks in my attempt to try to expose this issue regarding the Pretedergast`s,it has been them that have been doing the conning!It seems that i am one of the few that have actualy tried to get redress via the courts regarding the Water4gas conn i only wish more people like yourself would step out of the woodwork and give a hand.Please let me know the place you attended your course.Should you wish to then please get in touch via the admin.Regards Hydroman.
4 April 2010, 2:01 pmAnnon:
I have checked out what you have said Hydroman and I have looked into the CCJ’s against them and I wonder why you would be suing for £9000. I would never part with that kind of money until I was happy with the company. I have heard on the grapevine though that you only spent around £3000 with them and that you are claiming the extra £6000 for out of pocket expenses??????? I can’t remeber the date of the course the people I remeber where you, I think Roger or Rob and I am sure there was a Steve its a long time ago now though. I just think that all companies at some point get bad press but I also think those who kiss and tell should be whiter than white if you get my drift. I am not sure what the prendergasts are upto but they have gone very very quiet.. Maybe they have got fed up of witches around the coldrun pots!
27 April 2010, 11:45 pmJon:
It has been six-months since Sam told us all she was going to send through proof that her system works, meanwhile I have seen with my own eyes a system of hers which did not work and which she would not give a refund for. I wonder if she even still in business? What a crock of shit.
27 April 2010, 11:56 pmAnnon:
Who knows Jon .. Who knows.. I was simply making the point that we only have the right to throw stones or bolders as Hydroman put it if we are whiter than white. I also wonder if Sam is still in business and to be honest after all the shit shes has thrown at her if she still is then it takes a lot of balls. I know there are loads of similar companies springing up all over the world and wonder why there are more people backing it than there is dissing it.. Just my thoughts. I have only found a handful of people who take issue with the systems as aposed to those who are enjoying them. I haven’t tried one yet but I intend to, just don’t know who to go with thats all. You say jon you have seen a system of sams that didn’t work??? Is that one she sent you or one from Hydroman??? just asking!
3 May 2010, 10:26 pmflyingdoc:
HI, Lets get clear on hho ,there are people who make hho scam units that dont work, there are hho units that do work, if your serious about this tech do plenty of research..! I use hho units on both my vans, made them myself. Some marketed units are a pile of crap. NOT all of them are. ps i sell nothing.
17 May 2010, 10:39 amJon:
Nonsense. Obviously it is me that is not being clear; no HHO machines will save you any fuel, none of them.
17 May 2010, 2:47 pmWhy would some work and some not work? They all do the same thing.
And the ones that you say do work, where does this extra energy come from?
I assure you, no matter how much you believe that your HHO machines work, submit your vans to scientific testing and you will find that you are wrong.