Warning - Scottish Pwers De-regulation Door stopping

Clippyjo

Hey all,

Just to flag another sneaky way Scottish Power are trying to get people to sign up to their energy without telling them they're signing up to their energy.

A representitive of Scottish Power knowed on my door and asked me if I knew if I quailfied for de-regulation. Of course I didn't and I asked him what it was. From his answer neither did he and he went on talking about how it was cheaper to get powere from the company who wasn't in charge of the maintenance for your area blah blah blah.
Then he asked if I could give him some information about myself so they could check to see if I qualified for de-regulation. Still not having explained to me exactly what this was.
I refused as it was quite clear it was all jargin to get me to sign up with them so I politly asked him to clarify exactly how my information would be used in line with data protection? I'm tyed into a contract with another energy supplier so if your trying to sign me up I'm not interested.
I really felt sorry for the guy. He was either very well trained or had no idea what his actual job was and what he was actually asking my to do. Infront of him he had a sign up form which I could clearly see and read.
I asked to clarify what the process was should I give my information and he told me it woud be passed on and I had 6 weeks to change my mind or cancel.
Cancel what I ask you? If I wasn't signing up for anything, surley signing up to find out if I quality for de-regulation doesn't commit me to anything? I'm just getting an answer right?
Apparently not.
Poor guy.
I politley refused to give him any of my information and said thank you and saw him on his way.
And I still have no idea what de-regulation is. Possibly, I suspect, because there is no such thing?

I'd like to complain to Ofgen but there doesn't seem to be a way so I thought I'd just share and stop as many people being sucked in by this as possible.
Good luck all and if you do know what deregulation is I'd love to know.

Jo
-x-

backfoot

There is a way to complain. Complain directly and strongly to Scottish Power. Did you get the agents name?

Also make a complaint to Consumer Focus, who monitor such matters.

He has clearly tried to missell and should be struck off the accredited register.He isn't trained to sell like this and was trying to con you for his commission.

Don't feel sorry for him.

t0rt0ise

Deregulation happened years ago, at least 12 years ago. It was when the gas and electricity market opened up giving the customer a choice of supplier. Some customers have never changed supplier and I guess his talk is really aimed at those people although he doesn't seem to know that himeself.

Scottish_Power

Hi Clippyjo

The best advice I can give in situations like this is to take a note of the agents name and ID number early on in the conversation. If the sales rep then continues providing you incorrect information, you can contact us directly and make a complaint which we can feed back to the relevant line Manager to take appropriate action. Deliberately providing customers with incorrect information is not a practice that we tolerate and this agent would not be with the company long if we had reports of this kind of behaviour. If you do have the agents name and ID then use the contact details in the link below to report his actions:

http://www.scottishpower.co.uk/support-centre/service-and-standards/complaints.aspx

I hope this information helps and I apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

kirstymac

I had this happen to me today too. The whole of Welling was crawling with Scottish Power representatives. I was busy with my 9 month old son when a representative knocked at the door. He started spouting on about 'needing' to give me information about deregulation even when I said that my energy supplier would inform me if there was any changes to my supply or any new information that I needed to know. I hate dealing with people at the door - always makes me suspicious. He tried to tell me that all energy was supplied by the same supplier regardless of who I was signed up too (more BS). When I said that I was busy, he said he needed to make an appointment to come back another time when my partner would be around. I told him that he really didn't need to, and that it would never be a convenient time. In response, he told me "well, I'll just have to put you down to stay on the higher rates then".

I was fuming! How dare he make threats like that? In this economic climate a lot of people are concerned about getting a good deal - it'll worry people. Who is training these people with such underhand techniques?

This happened to me a month or so back too. That time there were 2 representatives. When I said that Scottish Power didn't supply my energy, they said that they knew that, it was EDF that supplied the property. When I said that it wasn't, they said, "well must be British Gas then" and wrote it down!! What a cheek?

If Scottish Power are unable to sell their product based on its merits then everyone should be warned about these underhand scams they are employing. I worry about the older members of society that might fall for this.

Please warn your friends and neighbours!

t0rt0ise

Why don't people simply say "no thank you" and shut the door instead of getting into conversation with these people and then getting all upset? I just don't understand it. You know you're not going to change supplier and you know they tell lies, so unless you want a bit of sport, why talk to them?