Either this guy's a scammer, or Scottish Power thinks we're insane

vyle

I was at my mum's for lunch and the doorbell rang. She went to answer it and was there for about five minutes, getting gradually more annoyed. When she returned to the living room, she was fuming and explained that somebody claiming to be from Scottish Power had just been.

He claimed that people on the street had been complaining that their gas bill was too high, so he needed to see an energy bill to make sure that everybody was on the right tarriff.

She pointed out that she wasn't with scottish power, so it didn't concern her.

He countered that "people had been complaining" so he had to check.

She reiterated her point.

He said that he was checking for Eon, Southern electric and british gas, as well as scottish power.

She refused to show any energy bills.

And so this carried on until he gave up and went next door.

Now, I think she was quite right to refuse, but it does seem very odd. Everybody could be with different providers, so why would they all complain to scottish power? Why wouldn't an independant person come out if they needed to do a wide scale check, and more to the point, why wouldn't they sort out their customers on a case by case basis?

It sounds to me like either a scammer wants to note down personal details, or Scottish power are trying to see what tarriffs people are on, then claim they're cheaper.

Has anybody heard about this? She would have rung scottish power to check, but really, who's going to want to ring an energy company unless they absolutely have to?

dinglebert

Nothing to do with Scottish Power but lots to do with someone trying to sell you another supplier electric or gas. Look at your details point out your paying too much and sell you another.

geordie_joe

dinglebert wrote: »

Nothing to do with Scottish Power but lots to do with someone trying to sell you another supplier electric or gas. Look at your details point out your paying too much and sell you another.

Exactly right. They keep changing their tactics but it amounts to the same thing. The last one I had at the door claimed he was there to make sure I was getting my fuel discounts.

babyhead

I had a chap at our door a couple of months ago - I thought he was with our electric company as he went straight to read the meter (in the porch)

Anyway, as the conversation went on I realised he wasn't with ours and was trying to get me to switch to EON. So I made my excuses and got rid.

I still can't believe how pushy he was to read the meter when I think about it.

I doubt its a scam TBH just pushy sales!!

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi all

Just thought I'd pop a quick note on here to let you know we don't condone inappropriate behaviour from our sales people.

We certainly don't work in tandem with other suppliers when calling on people. We also don't go around checking every house is on a certain tariff.

I would advise people not to show their energy bills to anyone calling at the door as these documents contain a lot of sensitive info.

Babyhead, I'm sorry the rep who called on you was pushy. If his behaviour caused offence please call us and ask for a complaint to be raised against him. There are definite rules reps need to follow and we need to know if they step outside of these.

We have a set procedure in these cases and all instances are investigated. The rep in question will be called to account by his manager if he contravened these rules.

Again, I apologise for any dodgy behaviour and hope this helps shed a little light on our procedures.

Malc

Meadows

I had a guy knock the other week, from Npower or somewhere similar.
He was going to give me £100 in vouchers and had missed me last time he called, and then flashed a form at me that wanted my meter number etc.
I said no thanks and shut the door, but I noticed that he was still on the street quite sometime later and even went into a neighbour’s house about 9 pm and stayed for quite a while, so I'm guessing he managed to sucker in some new customers!

trisontana

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc wrote: »

Hi all

Just thought I'd pop a quick note on here to let you know we don't condone inappropriate behaviour from our sales people.

We certainly don't work in tandem with other suppliers when calling on people. We also don't go around checking every house is on a certain tariff.

I would advise people not to show their energy bills to anyone calling at the door as these documents contain a lot of sensitive info.

Babyhead, I'm sorry the rep who called on you was pushy. If his behaviour caused offence please call us and ask for a complaint to be raised against him. There are definite rules reps need to follow and we need to know if they step outside of these.

We have a set procedure in these cases and all instances are investigated. The rep in question will be called to account by his manager if he contravened these rules.

Again, I apologise for any dodgy behaviour and hope this helps shed a little light on our procedures.

Malc

Would you agree that as long as you continue to pay these reps most of their wages in commission, then the only way they are going to make a decent living is to be "economical with the truth" in trying to get people to switch suppliers?

geordie_joe

babyhead wrote: »

I doubt its a scam TBH just pushy sales!!

I call it a scam when they just look at your bill and make up an amount of money and tell that's what you will save if you switch.

Last one I had couldn't tell me how much the electricity cost from his company, but kept insisting it was 10% cheaper than I was paying, even though he didn't know which company I was with.

Crabman

We had a crook from Scottish Power at our door who lied and tried to mislead, he also claimed he was independent.

It is clearly a widespread problem with Scottish Power. Sadly the Scottish Power representative on MSE didn't do anything to reassure potential customers on this forum and instead spouted PR rubbish. I think it shows potential customers that Scottish Power don't care about the actions of their reps and that they only care about getting new customers even if they switched as a result of underhanded tactics.

Here is the thread: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1874327

trisontana

trisontana wrote: »

Would you agree that as long as you continue to pay these reps most of their wages in commission, then the only way they are going to make a decent living is to be "economical with the truth" in trying to get people to switch suppliers?

Answer came there none. Come on E.ON Company Representative: Malc answer my question. It's simple enough, or does the truth hurt?

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

trisontana wrote: »

Would you agree that as long as you continue to pay these reps most of their wages in commission, then the only way they are going to make a decent living is to be "economical with the truth" in trying to get people to switch suppliers?

Hi trisontana

Sorry for the delay. I have been talking to a customer.

As I said earlier, there are definite guidelines which our reps must follow when dealing with customers or potential customers. If they stray outside of these then there are consequences.

All reps know this before they accept the job and must agree before they are taken on.

They take the job on this understanding and should, therefore, be prepared to follow our rules regardless of how they are paid.

Malc