Are we a nation of meter readers?

Cardew

My Grandma used to pay her insurance policies weekly in cash to collectors who called at the door and entered the details in her receipt book. I am now expected to pay yearly or monthly by Direct debit.

Yet another example of a company 'forcing us consumers into doing the work of their own employees in order to drive down their own costs, enhancing their own profits'!!!!

davidgmmafan

I don't mind being 'encouraged' to use DD or provide meter readings by some discount or incentive. I do object to being hit by some stupid penalty charge if I choose not to pay by DD or have the cheek to ask for a paper bill. We are expected to believe this costs somewhere between £1 & £2. Maybe it does, maybe it costs more but then surely that would've been factored in when setting the original price. Therefore the addition of such admin fees is pure profiteering.

Other companies take note even the much hated utility companies won't go there!

undaunted

trikkie wrote: »

I paid a great deal of money to have my meter removed to an outside wall so that British Gas could read it at any time without having to enter the property.

I think this is the posters key objection. They didn't want estimated bills nor it would appear to have to read the meter and therefore chose, at their own expense, and in good faith, to have the meter moved in order to overcome the problem.

British Gas happily took their money on that basis and yet are now still failing to fulfill their end of the bargain. If the meter is now outside & readily accessible there is no reason whatsoever that it is "not possible" for them to read it as was stated in their reply.

I suspect that if they were to offer to refund the cost of moving the meter OR simply read it, as was intended, the poster would probably be rather happier than they are at present.

davidgmmafan

To be honest a lot of people move thier meters thinking this will guarantee them a quarterly meter reading. If this wasn't happening in the past, and cards had been left infrequently, why would they expect that to change just because the meter is moved?

There is no agreement for the customer to read the meter, just as there was no agreement that, once the meter was moved, it would be read more frequently. If someone wants to waste thier money that's thier business!

BTW I believe meter moves are usually done by some third party not the utility company themselves.

Gothicfairy

undaunted wrote: »

I think this is the posters key objection. They didn't want estimated bills nor it would appear to have to read the meter and therefore chose, at their own expense, and in good faith, to have the meter moved in order to overcome the problem. Totally understand but as most electric/ gas bills come every 3 months unless the company promised to read the meter each billing period it would still not make a difference as the read cycle remains the same.

British Gas happily took their money on that basis and yet are now still failing to fulfill their end of the bargain. If the meter is now outside & readily accessible there is no reason whatsoever that it is "not possible" for them to read it as was stated in their reply. There was no bargin, they read the meter on schedule as before, I am sure they did not agree to read the meter more often. It was probably just that they were not getting any readings before. I should also think that the "not possible" is about the time scale of the reading rather then any access problem.
I get my meter read once a year by Eon and then have to supply the reads the rest of the time. If I moved my meter outside they would still not read it anymore.


I suspect that if they were to offer to refund the cost of moving the meter OR simply read it, as was intended, the poster would probably be rather happier than they are at present.

I can understand what is being said but they read meters on a route and in a cycle, meter being inside or outside will not make a difference. They are not going to read it anymore as that would end up costing us more money..You can bet that they would add that to the bills rather then out of their profit.

Joyful

British Gas don't own the meters. British Gas did not get the money for the meter move. The moving of the meter has nothing to do with the cycle of getting or not getting meter readers at the door.

Is the OP on an online tariff?

t0rt0ise

The grammar of the email is appalliing. They really need to get that sort of thing right if they want to be taken seriously.

Just one bit for example.. "While we try to read customers meters as often as we can but this is not always possible"Reading the meters as often as they can must always be as often as they can so this is rubbish. Oh my!

backfoot

I like to submit my own meter readings if there is a facility to do so.

It's not onerous or difficult.

I agree with the other poster regarding the waste and cost of such visits,sometimes within days of each other to read first the gas and later the electricity.:o

Plushchris

The real question is why wouldnt someone want to read their own meters??

Yet alone go to the expense of moving them outside so that when they do need to read them (god forbid) they have to put their shoes on and go out in the cold...


Dont understand that one at all personally..


Why not write the energy companies a letter saying something along the lines of "no thats ok, I dont want to read my meter, you just charge me what you like, I'm sure you'll do it fairly and all above board.."

Bettie

peter_percent wrote: »

I give exact readings on-line, but remember the old days, a bloke trudged round on foot, called at every house even though he knew most were at work,he would leave a card to fill in and post, or phone or even leave it in a window

How times change. In my youth the coming of the gas man was eagerly awaited and always most welcome.The kettle was on before he knocked at the door. Meter emptied he would stack the shillings in small piles then Mum would get the rebate. If we were lucky we would get a farthing for sweets.:T