British Gas prices to rise by up to 60%??????

Cardew

backfoot wrote: »

What's a TM? Obviously in this example correct procedures are not being followed. Doesn't it go much further than this.Why is energy being 'sold' over the phone. It really has reached rock bottom and as BG's fixed deal is probably the most expensive of its type,this type of marketing needs to stop,don't you think?

Pretty obviously this sort of selling should stop.

It demonstrates the problem selling any commodity if you have salesmen on commission - they will lie, cheat, forge signatures etc etc.

You can bet all the Utility companies have the most stringent codes of behaviour for the agencies they employ to sell their goods - and all are equally aware that the salesmen just pay lip service to those standards.

There have been articles in the media about all of the Big 6 employing these tactics; the pity is that they prey on the vunerable.

1carminestocky

I've got a great idea - why doesn't the Govt. just ban all doorstep salesmen/women?* Seriously, how many people actually have their lives enriched by one of these parasites calling?? There's such a thing as the TPS to stop cold phone calling, why not summat similar to stop these nutjobs calling?

* I mean ALL doorstep sellers, btw, which includes religion/charity etc etc.

Dreamnine

1carminestocky wrote: »

I've got a great idea - why doesn't the Govt. just ban all doorstep salesmen/women?* Seriously, how many people actually have their lives enriched by one of these parasites calling?? There's such a thing as the TPS to stop cold phone calling, why not summat similar to stop these nutjobs calling?

* I mean ALL doorstep sellers, btw, which includes religion/charity etc etc.

Who would check up on you then..?

stressfulife

Maka,
Whats a TM?
Only details I could give you would be time I received call as I dont recall a name.

Incedentally, I forgot to mention in my original post I'm pretty sure that the caller actually gave my wifes name as the person he was looking to speak to not mine...which is funny :huh:as my wife has never been the main named party on our utilities accounts.
Maybe another selling technique - deliberately aiming to ring with these scare stories at a time when a particular demographic group is likely to be at home?

Joyful

At a guess a TM is a Team Manager.

lumpygravy

I got a phone call today as well from British Gas.

Was offered fixed price or winter tracker (15% below standard rate).

I just took all unit prices / cancellation charges and said I would look into it all when I have looked at past usage / compared etc.

Is there anything to be wary of with winter tracker rate? Currently on E.on online energy saver.

Cardew

1carminestocky wrote: »

I've got a great idea - why doesn't the Govt. just ban all doorstep salesmen/women?* Seriously, how many people actually have their lives enriched by one of these parasites calling?? There's such a thing as the TPS to stop cold phone calling, why not summat similar to stop these nutjobs calling?

* I mean ALL doorstep sellers, btw, which includes religion/charity etc etc.

You will be kicked out of the UW fan club!

1carminestocky

Cardew wrote: »

You will be kicked out of the UW fan club!

A small price to pay, tbh. I genuinely hate all door step sellers, even the 'kosher' ones. If something is so good, there should be no need to knock on an unsuspecting member of the public's door to tell them about it IMO...

COUPONKEV

BG are probably not alone in the tactics they use to retain or attract customers but are perhaps the most blatent. I posted similar disgust at such tactics earlier this year here - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=978097

And incidentally I dont agree with the response posted to my thread (I have been informed that the small print referred to was brought in after I signed up) and stand by my comments about BG. TM means Team Manager BTW - how a TM would expect a member of the public to be able to know who they had spoken with is beyond me - cold callers rarely give their actual name and certainly not their surname. That's half the problem, they know they can get away with it and if their team leader was doing their job properly and these tactics were not openly encouraged by BG the member of staff would have been spoken to already. It would be nice to hear from an ex BG cold sales team member or ex retention team member to hear their side of the story. In reality though this sort of thing has been going on for as long as I can remember and will continue to do so.

esbo

No wonder they were offering you a fixed price deal.
Wholesale gas price have actually fallen since June by almost *half*.

They want to tie you you into paying high prices!!

The fall in gas prices easilly wipes out a 60% increase, a 40% fall would do that, the recent fall would wipe out a 90% increase.

Prices are now no higher than they were last winter and it looks like they will continue to fall a bit more.

Take care not to tie yourself in to high prices!!

And why are the gas companies not cutting their prices?

Wholesale gas chart:-
http://markets.ft.com/tearsheets/performance.asp?s=us@ng.1

Set the period to one year or select go interactive to see longer, and how the gas
companies have been ripping us off!