Caller says he can save me 11pc on electricity....

WatlingA5

.... but how can he know?

Call from my gas supplier suggesting I switch to dual-fuel. Other than telling him which electricity supplier I'm with, he has no details of the tariff I'm on or what my last bill was. At least, I didn't tell him. So how can he possibly promise to save me at least 11pc a year?

I would think it unlikely the companies share meter readings, so it strikes me there's a strong farmyard smell around this.....

And while he may be right about saving by switching, I certainly wouldn't do it over the phone with him! In fact I'm off to click the link for a comparison site.

backfoot

They make it up as they go along. Without proper details,you are right, they are false claims. I have had a number of unfavourable experiences and in all cases have reported the matter to the offending company and Consumer Focus.

The process should be banned.

ariba10

I find that if it was such a good deal.

You would be chasing him, and not him after you.

WatlingA5

WatlingA5 wrote: »

I would think it unlikely the companies share meter readings...

Maybe not so unlikely - while looking around found this on Eon's "quick quote" page:

By giving your address details you’re confirming that you’re happy for us to validate your metering details against electricity industry data in order for us to complete your quote.

Which sounds as though the industry does have a common database with all our details. What happened to data protection and client confidentiality?

JasX

WatlingA5 wrote: »

Maybe not so unlikely - while looking around found this on Eon's "quick quote" page:
Which sounds as though the industry does have a common database with all our details. What happened to data protection and client confidentiality?

Gosh you are one gullible individual, there is a database that matches your meter point reference with your physical address for administrative purposes, it doesn't have your name, readings etc and its not widely published,

what you have had is a call from a 'salesperson' trying to 'sell' you something and make up whatever you want to hear (great that its not in writing) in order to get you to switch to his product in order to earn a commission.

As there are alot of guillble people in the world a significant number do switch to his expensive product and it is profitable for him to continue this practice.

brewerdave

Had a door knocker at 3:00pm yesterday - "Hi ,nothing particularly interesting but I'm here from Scottish Power to save you money."......reply " I'm not interested either" ...door shut!!
With an opening line like that ,he'll go far (not)!!

WatlingA5

JasX wrote: »

Gosh you are one gullible individual....

Cynical, more like. Don't trust anyone who phones out of the blue! If I was gullible, I would have ripped his arm off rather than post here

As I said in first post, all he's done is make me go off to comparison sites via MSE

I also find that when they say the call "may" be recorded I just tell them it is definitely being recorded (though I forgot to on that one).

However, thanks for the info on the database. :beer:.

I'm clicking Thanks anyway, despite the insult

JasX

WatlingA5 wrote: »

As I said in first post, all he's done is make me go off to comparison sites via MSE

Just don't forget to check the cashback sites too, and whilst on comparison sites only putting in your approximate annual usage in kwh will give you an accurate result, putting in £s often leaves you getting just as poor information as the guy in the phone was able to feed you.

good luck

pennyweyes

I always ask these pests where they got my phone number from and sometimes that alone is enough to have them backing off. If not, I tell them that I regularly check on price comparison sites and if they were the cheapest, I'd be with them! "Goodbye."