G4S AccuRead Ltd

missile

blind_faith wrote: »

G4S meter readers dont inspect gas appliances and are certainly not qualified to do so. they check gas meters, which are not appliances, ie boilers, etc. the main purpose of the checks are to get a meter reading to make sure the customer is not on the fiddle. i came across a customer who offered to call the meter readings out of the window to me, "as his dog was not friendly."

i did n't take the readings, and it turned out he was fiddling and owed £1800 but he did a runner to New Zealand before he was found out, and the new tennant got a bill for £1800 despite only being in the property for 3 weeks.

there are many other ways people can fiddle the utility companies and G4S are trained to spot them. people who tamper with their gas or electric meters are likely to render them unsafe, hence the term 'safety inspection'

another part of the inspection is pretty simple - just sniff for the presence of gas. i have smelt gas on a number of occasions over the 3 years i did the job, and have turned off the supply and called the emergency telephone number on each occasion, including a serious gas leak in an old peoples home.

hope this clarifies what a safety inspection by a meter reader entails.

A.n.other G4S meter reader who does not know the current regulations:rotfl:. For your info>

Quote:

GAS ACT 1986

Standard conditions of gas supply licence

Inspection of Gas Meters

12.8 Unless the Authority otherwise consents, the licensee must take all reasonable steps to ensure that it inspects, at least once every two years, any Gas Meter and associated installation in respect of premises at which it is the Relevant Gas Supplier.

whitelabel

blind_faith wrote: »

G4S meter readers dont inspect gas appliances and are certainly not qualified to do so. they check gas meters, which are not appliances, ie boilers, etc. the main purpose of the checks are to get a meter reading to make sure the customer is not on the fiddle. i came across a customer who offered to call the meter readings out of the window to me, "as his dog was not friendly."

i did n't take the readings, and it turned out he was fiddling and owed £1800 but he did a runner to New Zealand before he was found out, and the new tennant got a bill for £1800 despite only being in the property for 3 weeks.

there are many other ways people can fiddle the utility companies and G4S are trained to spot them. people who tamper with their gas or electric meters are likely to render them unsafe, hence the term 'safety inspection'

another part of the inspection is pretty simple - just sniff for the presence of gas. i have smelt gas on a number of occasions over the 3 years i did the job, and have turned off the supply and called the emergency telephone number on each occasion, including a serious gas leak in an old peoples home.

hope this clarifies what a safety inspection by a meter reader entails.

so youre also not "qualified" to inspect and safety check/inspect meters either then

so I repeat, if there is a gas leak from the meter, and you cant smell it, (you cant always if there is sufficent ventilation and air flow) and you have done a "safety check" , and the person was "not on the fiddle" you would have no idea if it was safe or not really would you...
there would be some come back against you/ your company if an incident subsequently occurred and you had "missed" it

so in reality its a fraud prevention check.... why not just call it that

or would you be refused entry by 99.9% of people...

blind_faith

when you say, "why don't YOU just call it a fraud check" you will need to be talking to someone far more important than me. i was just a 'bottom of the heap' meter reader simply doing what i was trained to do. i left the job because the whole utility industry is a joke. i could tell you things you'll never believe but i'm seriously thinking of writing a comedy tv series on the subject, if i can get enough material. so i'm keeping it all secret for now.

regarding insurance, G4S would have to be insured on behalf of meter readers / inspectors. also, i dont think anyone is dumb enough to assume that just cos their meter has been safety checked, there's nothing wrong with the rest of their appliances. and theere would only be 'come back' if it was proved to be a fault with the meter, not the boiler of other appliance. also, i have been able to smell gas even in ventilated areas, so guess i must be super human.

i can recall i once went to a house to reset the pre-payment meter to cancel the debt left by a previous occupier. they made sure all appliances were off so i gave them £5 credit. the couple had only moved in that day, and as i was leaving, the man decided to turn on the boiler... which went bang. not a massive explosion but scared the hell out of his wife and kids. foolishly, he tried to blame me for causing a gas leak, but as i expected, the next day the local authority sent round a service engineer who found the problem was with the boiler.

so the local authority did n't perform a safety check between tennants, hmmm. and they did n't check the debt on the gas meter which was £154, which the utility company have to try and claim back, that's if they can trace the ppl. they prob wrote the debt off, which in turn, helps to increase our gas bills. i can recall other debts totalling over £1000 which were left by tennants, and i bet this happens all over the country, so add that up..... personally, i think the local authorities should be made to pay, unless, as in some cases, ppl just do a runner and post the keys back.

this thread has really moved on since the original post, lol.

missile

LL is not required to do a safety check between tennants.
LL is not responsibile for tennants unpaid gas bill.

foolishly, he tried to blame me for causing a gas leak

maybe he thought you were qualified to do a SAFETY INSPECTION :rotfl:

blind_faith

hi missile. if you mean the gas act states that meter readers / inspectors are responsible for checking boilers, etc, then the whole industry is in breach of this law. i know of no meter reader who was trained to, or told to do a safety inspection on anything other than the meter, gas pipes, connections, safety valve, etc. i'm glad i got out of this 'mickey mouse' job when i did.

and i know the LL is currently not responsibe for the things you mention, just a slong as a gas safe certificate / landlords certificate (or whatever its called) is obtained annually, but i was just suggesting this changes, thats all, especially taking meter readings and in the case of debt meters, checking for any debt still owing.

missile

As I said back in post # 1,

I do not think it is right that this company should be using such tactics to gain entry to read a meter under the guise of an inspection.

I fully understand meter readers are told what to do. That does not make it "right". I guess you have targets for the number of readings and it must be annoying when a home owner refuses entry. That does not excuse a meter reader being rude and aggressive.

It is ridiculous to blame health & safety as an excuse to demand entry to a home wearing dirty workboots. GS4 claim they issue their employees with overshoes, but I have yet to see one who uses them. Were you issued with overshoes?

whitelabel

blind_faith wrote: »

when you say, "why don't YOU just call it a fraud check" you will need to be talking to someone far more important than me. i was just a 'bottom of the heap' meter reader simply doing what i was trained to do. i left the job because the whole utility industry is a joke. i could tell you things you'll never believe but i'm seriously thinking of writing a comedy tv series on the subject, if i can get enough material. so i'm keeping it all secret for now.


this thread has really moved on since the original post, lol.

i think you may have misquoted me there, I didnt say "why dont YOU just call it a fraud check"

i said "why not just call it a fraud prevention check"

there is a difference

however im pretty sure the Nazis used the same excuse that they were just following orders too... not that im saying youre anywhere in that league, but it is a bit of a cop out.

even if you knew you were there to do a fraud prevention check, there is nothing to stop meter readers saying that is what they are there to do, but they and the company will no most people wont let them in, so I have no doubts that managers training new recruits deliberately say to not mention that is what they are doing, and to call it a safety check.

that is misleading.

blind_faith

yes i was issued with overshoes, and i picked up a new set every month when i read a meter at a sports centre and had to walk through the swimming pool area.

when a meter reader arrives at a property, the instructions for each visit are on the hand held device they carry. if i was refused access for a quarterly or 6 monthly meter reading i said, "thank you," and went on my way. unless on the screen it stated the words 'must inspect.' then obviously i would point out that the supplier has requested a safety inspection. if they still refused access i said, "thank you," and went on my way. then i added in the notes that customer had refused a safety check. simple!

i was never interested in targets which frankly, were unrealistic and impossible to attain. i bet this frustrated my manager, but he never mentioned anything, and anyway, i did n't care. other meter readers are obviously desperate to earn more bonus as the basic pay is crap, so i can understand why they try anything to gain access, and i bet they lie about the safety inspection. as i said before, its a mickey mouse industry - target related and not customer care related.

as i said before, best change supplier if you're not happy, to a company that reads their own meters and therefore is not target related.

missile

blind_faith wrote: »

... as i said before, best change supplier if you're not happy, to a company that reads their own meters and therefore is not target related.

no need to change supplier ... just be aware that G4S have no right to demand entry to read the meter under the guise of a safety inspection.

vikki.f

we had the same situation, they used to try and read the meter at the same time every day as I was off to work, our meters are in a cupboard under the stairs and we have to move furniture to get to them.
As a couple of visits we had the "safety Inspection" notice and thought ok play it your way, spoke to the reading company and arranged a time that suited us which was 7am, he turned up at 650am rung the bell, answered the door and said its not convienent, he fumed and said we had made the appointment etc, said yes at 7am, he went and sat in his car. Arrived again at 701 and hubby said you best be quick as your late. opened cupboard for him all of the meter exposed other than a sheet of paper over the dials. he went to remove it and we asked why, he said he needed to see the dials, asked why he said to ensure the correct meter, I pointed out that the serial number was on show. Started getting technical with him about gas and electric regs (we have friends in the trade) before he said look all i want to do is read the meter, im not interested in aything else. Out comes his safety inspection card and i said that he had threatened entry under false pretenses and he left saying that he had targets to meet and people like us dont realise how difficult it was.
We used to do self reads but since EDF stopped paying us via nectar points its down to the safety inspection readers now