Southern Electric doorstep selling

Oliver341 · 29 January 2008 at 3:40PM

Hi all,

Apologies for the rant, but I just got a doorstep seller from Southern Electric ringing my doorbell. He said my house has been highlighted as being on an "unusually high tariff" (he showed me a piece of paper with my address marked with a yellow highlighter, presumably this was meant to impress me).

He went on to say that I could save money by switching to Southern Electric. I asked him how he knew I was on an "unusually high tariff" seeing as he could have no way of knowing which energy company I'm with (apart from SE).

This made him defensive and somewhat aggressive, and he said the whole area was paying too much. I told him I had just been on USwitch today (which I actually had), and their site said British Gas has the cheapest online duel-fuel tariff. He claimed their website was wrong, and said something like "Fine, you go and pay the comparison site then" and stormed off.

This is an abbreviation of the conversation, but he was generally fairly aggressive and bullying, which thankfully I've never experienced before (I've spoken to several doorstep energy salesmen before, but none with this kind of attitude). Anyway for what it's worth I emailed a complaint to Southern Electric.

Personally I think these sellers should be banned, because they just lie away until they get your signature. What do others think?

going2die_rich · 29 January 2008 at 3:52PM

These doorstep sellers don't like comparison websites because they lose out on the comisson. Which probably explains his rudeness/attitude.

Next time just say I used USwitch to find the cheapest and then used Quidco and got £XX cashback. Saying you've told the nieghbours about the websites so they might as well try another street. That'll no doubt please them.

Cardew · 29 January 2008 at 3:54PM

There have been masses of complaints about doorstep salesmen for every Utility company.

To be fair to Southern Electricity, and all the other companies(except UW!) for that matter, these salesmen tend to work for an Agency rather than the company itself, and lying and cheating is standard practice I am afraid. Motivate people with commission only and that is what happens.

Complaining to Southern might get some action, and you will get a 'standard letter' saying how they take these complaints very seriously. At worst the salesman might be switched to selling EDF Utilities.

P.S.
They don't always need your signature - plenty of cases of forged signatures.

Oliver341 · 29 January 2008 at 4:17PM

Cardew wrote: »

To be fair to Southern Electricity, and all the other companies(except UW!) for that matter, these salesmen tend to work for an Agency rather than the company itself, and lying and cheating is standard practice I am afraid. Motivate people with commission only and that is what happens.

I'm of the opinion Southern Electric should be absolutely accountable. In March 2004 the energy watchdog Energywatch criticized their sales force heavily. If that isn't a cue for Southern Electric to be 100% active in ensuring their name isn't brought into disrepute by Agencies, I don't know what is.

Also, this article tells us all we need to know about the kind of people they want for this job.

Terrylw1 · 29 January 2008 at 10:41PM

Utilities are responsible for the actions of their sales staff or any agencies they contract out to in the eyes of Ofgem. The Supplier accepts the complaints as they are representing them.

Some Suppliers even have teams that investigate these issues and encourage their management to ditch the agent. I'm not sure how thus relates to their contracts but I know 1 utility got rid of several agencies under these circumstances.

There just seems to be no control in general over what these people do. They get caught and the company just says "we are very sorry, the individual will be retrained" but he/she was trained in the first place!

Scrap their targets & commissions and watch it all change.

P.S. if he was so aggressive, keep an eye on your bills. Some sales agents have been known to forge your signature, make up a reading, call MPAS and get your elec MPAN (protending to be the customer as anyone can do it, there is no security check) and sign you up. You don't know until you get you welcome letter!

londondulwich · 29 January 2008 at 10:47PM

My mother had a Southern Electric salesman call round last week in the middle of the day. He told her that she was overpaying and that Southern Electric were cheaper. She didn't buy or agree to anything.

I didn't like the way she was approached.

Confused_landord · 30 January 2008 at 12:48AM

i just tel them all to naff off,,i get in on a regular basis in my salon ,,were these type of salesmen drift in and out of my salon on a regular basis,,,sometimes i dont even let them open there mouths to speak and i show them the door....I am hairdresser and i am usually doing a clients hair,,so i would find it rude to conduct any business whilst a paying client is sat with their hair wet,,and why should i entertain these salesmen anyway, they really annoy me,,in fact i am quite rude to them,,after years of it , you really tire of it

Terrylw1 · 30 January 2008 at 12:53AM

Why not tell them if they pay for a haircut you will sign up, then change your mind after they have handed their cash over. That would really annoy them!

jhp · 30 January 2008 at 12:58AM

They are well known for it see:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20051101/ai_n15824289

Mike_by_the_Sea · 30 January 2008 at 2:34AM

Cardew wrote: »

There have been masses of complaints about doorstep salesmen for every Utility company.

To be fair to Southern Electricity, and all the other companies(except UW!) for that matter, these salesmen tend to work for an Agency rather than the company itself, and lying and cheating is standard practice I am afraid. Motivate people with commission only and that is what happens.

Hi Cardew

I agree with your comments.

Thanks for excluding UW from your statement on dodgy practices. :grouphug:

To paraphrase.....

The selling and supply of Natural Gas and Electricity to premises in Great Britain is regulated by the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem). It is an offence to mis-sell either of these services. Utility Warehouse Distributors are required to understand and sign a declaration that they will adhere to these rules at all times when selling gas or electricity to customers.

There are always bad apples in every barrel, but, again to paraphrase...

Head office will rigorously investigate any claims of mis-selling; Executives found to have mis-sold or misrepresented our energy services will have their executive position terminated.

There is only so much that can be done to protect the consumer.

Interestingly, I also received a similar doorstep seller this week. They must be out in force at the moment.

Cheers

Mike

Cardew · 30 January 2008 at 11:44AM

Mike_by_the_Sea wrote: »

Hi Cardew

I agree with your comments.

Thanks for excluding UW from your statement on dodgy practices. :grouphug:

Sorry to give the wrong impression, but I wasn't excluding UW from dodgy practices. I was merely pointing out that they don't employ an agency to knock on doors; Their agents do that themselves.

I am no fan of UW and really dislike their 'modus operandi'. Apart from reading about them on websites like this one, I have had 2 UW salesman* knock on my door and frankly their sales patter was disingenuous rather than lying.

* I love the term "executive"!!
Reminds me of the man who said "Two weeks ago I couldn't even spell 'executive' and now I is one"

Southern Electric doorstep selling

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