scottish power - lying and pushy salesman

pmduk

Yes, Yes Yes. If they ask why tell them doorstep selling is immoral and should be illegal.

Plushchris

gherkiny wrote: »

Wow! I am new to this lark but had a visit from Scottish POwer today and decided to switch from British Gas to SP for gas and electricity as they can save me £100 and £160 a year. The "I'm not a" salesman seemed nice and not at all pushy so I signed up with him. After having a look at your post I have a squiz at Quidco and would much rather an extra £120 for me on top of this!

I have a 7 day cooling off period with SP and can cancel without penalty. Do you think I should do this and sign up anyway through Quidco?

100% yes, cancel it as soon as possible and then sign up via quidco.

The scumbag at the door would not have signed you up to SP's cheapest tariff anyway, likelyhood is he may well have switched you to one that would cost you more. They cant sign you up to online tariffs on the doorstep.

Cancel cancel cancel!!!

WeakHeart

A few weeks ago I answered the door and a guy said that I was paying the wrong rate for my gas and he was here to help. Then he asked me to show him my bill which I thought was odd. After about 5 minutes of 'confusion' and my questioning I sussed him and it turned out he was from Scottish Power and wanted me to switch.

Out of coincidence I was tracking my gas and electric usage daily to reduce costs and had just done loads of research on MSE and had just completed competitor comparisons so I really knew my stuff. I was able to constantly correct him and inform him and in the end (when I was talking with him about the algorithimic calculations used for gas) he said 'anyway, must get on' and said his goodbyes LOL.

Have to say that he very nearly tricked me into thinking he was my current supplier and there were problems that he had to sort. It did make me worried about how more vulnerable people may handle his approach

Anyhow, thanks to MSE and the coincidence that I just learned a load from the info and links on this site I reckon I knew more about it all than him haha.

Lexy365

I had a phone call last Saturday from Scottish Power telling me that I recently contacted them to change from my current supplier to them.To be caught off guard like this was quite a shock, and how did they have my private mobile number!??? And no I had not contacted them.
Has anyone else had a call like this??

Plushchris

WeakHeart wrote: »

Have to say that he very nearly tricked me into thinking he was my current supplier and there were problems that he had to sort. It did make me worried about how more vulnerable people may handle his approach

Exactly the kind of lies and devious behaviour these idiots use on peoples doorsteps. Good on you for being clued up and sussing him out, I hope you are good enough to pass on some of what you have learnt to at least a few people so they dont get caught out by these liars.

The more people know about them the less success they will have and that might just put them off doing it (but I wont hold my breath)

At least tell the salesman not to knock next door or on the house across the road or whatever too, whether you know the people living there or not you will be doing them a favor.

Plushchris

Lexy365 wrote: »

I had a phone call last Saturday from Scottish Power telling me that I recently contacted them to change from my current supplier to them.To be caught off guard like this was quite a shock, and how did they have my private mobile number!??? And no I had not contacted them.
Has anyone else had a call like this??

I hope you told them to sling their hook, you should also ask why you have been switched when you have not spoke to any of their salesman, sounds like there could be some fraudulent switching going on.

Hoof_Hearted

Never believe their general statements -- £100 cheaper. British Gas assured me that they would save me loads of money compared with NPower, but they only compare with the STANDARD tariff. I happen to be on a very low tariff with NPower, which is much cheaper than BG.

I work as an energy consultant (commercial). What matters is the tariff. Find out the rates charged, multiply it by your consumption and add on the fixed charges. It isn't brain surgery. Believe nobody's general claims.

Some of the comparison sites also get it wrong, so beware.

pmduk

Any company that relies on doorstepping to get customers deserves to be put out of business.

WeakHeart

Plushchris wrote: »

I hope you are good enough to pass on some of what you have learnt to at least a few people so they dont get caught out by these liars.

Happy to give a bit more info it it would help anyone..he said he was here to check the rate I was paying because I was paying too much. That's what made me think he was from my current supplier. He also said that yes, they supply my gas.

I asked him if he wanted to read the meter or something and he said no but could he see my latest bill. I asked him for ID which he showed (and I made sure I read it). That's when I realised he was from a different supplier and was confused. He again said they supply me but through my current supplier and my bill would show that. I got my bill and indeed it did right at the bottom in small print - so I was a bit confused still.

He asked to see my bill and I said, "so you are here to sort out that I am paying too much but you've been sent to see what I'm paying? That doesn't make sense then because you should have that information already". He then explained that it would be better for me to 'cut out the middle man (my current supplier)' to make it cheaper. It was only then I realised it was an attempt to get me to switch.

I then asked what rate he could do and from the info I'd learned on MSE and the comparisons (what each supplier would charge me for my annual usage) that I had completed via MSE that I knew that his offer was not the most competitive and told him so. He tried to overcome my objections even saying that the calculations used for gas consumption were complex and would not be accurate on the comparison websites which I was able to correct him about.

Hope that helps.

BTW the MSE info was all under the utilities section that explains about switching. I had also taught myself how to take a meter reading and convert that into actual spend.

sooty&sweep

Hi

I was with Scottish Power untill September last year. When the deal came to an end I shopped around and we decided to switch to Eon.

I received two phone calls from Scottish Power trying to persuade me to stay and they would beat the deal I was switching to. The first gentleman also told me that they were the cheapest and Martin Lewis said so ! I asked them to put the details of the offer they were offering in writing either by email or post and was told they couldn't !

Jen