The new Business Link operation in the West Midlands has got off to a disastrous start, insiders have told The Birmingham Post.

Designed to help small to medium sized businesses step up their act, it is instead being shunned by them. Nowhere near the anticipated numbers are getting in touch, it is claimed.

But Business Link says the stories are rubbish and has produced what it maintains are independent figures to prove it. It says there is no foundation to the charges and the organisation is working effectively.

The new Business Link opened in April after a controversial reorganisation by paymaster, regional development agency Advantage West Midlands.

Instead of the largely local autonomy under the previous system linked to chambers of commerce, there is now one central point of contact, the Gateway, which then passes firms to a Brokerage, which dispenses help through a network of advisers.

Both organisations are based at the Waterfront at Dudley.

It launched with high ambitions to make a real difference in terms of quality while helping many more businesses than before. But chief executive David Draycott quit before it went live, plans to axe up to 150 back office staff and advisers were revealed, and AWM was forced to resort to parachuting in secondees at management level to try and make it work.

Now, sources say, its early efforts have flopped, with flawed marketing getting the blame.

One said: "Gateway is proving a failure - nobody is going to it. The whole thing is in disarray. It is an absolute hornets' nest."

A second source warned: "It is not getting anything like the numbers through that they were expecting or would like.

"Marketing is getting the blame - whatever is the problem, Gateway is not getting the calls and so Brokerage is not working either.

"There is an awful lot of unhappiness among the staff."

A third source said scathingly: "I have been told they are receiving fewer calls through the call centre than the Black Country was getting on its own previously." And he criticised the opulence of the new centre.

"Everything is brand new - computers, telephones, right down to the pens. The only thing that has not been moved is the carpet.

"This is not about business support. It is about supplying a lifestyle to those supposedly delivering it."

Condemning the need for yet another reshaping of Business Link, which has a troubled history of various guises, he predicted: "There will be two years of growing pains because for a time the organisation will be navel gazing, trying to get it right.

"Contacts with clients will diminish and business connections melt away. They will then have the challenge of picking it all up and reviving it again."

The new Business Link service is aimed at increasing the number of companies each year that get in-depth support from a business adviser from around 6,000 currently to 18,000 by 2010.

Tony Lucas, chief executive of Gateway, insisted everything was on course. "There is absolutely no foundations for these claims and, as independent figures for the first three months prove, we have surpassed every target set by Advantage West Midlands.

"A significant amount of work has also been completed with partners, stakeholders, consultants and the private sector to ensure we continue to offer what companies and entrepreneurs need and want. We will build on a highly successful first three months by launching an intensive marketing campaign.

>> 'How Business Link helped us'
>> 'How Business Link failed us'