Meter reader damaged box - E.On says tough

C_Mababejive

E.ON_Company_Rep_Amanda wrote: »

I’m sorry to come in so late on this one Robert.

I’m not sure our advisor has dealt with this correctly

If our meter reader took a gas reading while you were away and now you can’t open the box then I think it’s fair to say that they caused the damage to the lock. We’d make a complaint on your behalf and contact the meter readers to investigate and arrange a repair.

If for any reason, we find that the meter reader is not responsible. Then we would ask you to contact National Grid to arrange the repair. If it’s just a replacement lock or hinge this is often free of charge.

I’m sorry that this wasn’t explained to you when you called. If you’d like me to help, just email your details to the address on my profile and I’ll see what’s going on.

Typical..blame the worker before a full investigation. Oh of course he must have broken it ! Anyway as pointed out,this is duff info.

These doors are prone to jamming closed due to close fit so the OP may find that if they operate the lock then use a screwdriver around the edge of the door,it will ping open.

[Deleted User]

C_Mababejive wrote: »

Typical..blame the worker before a full investigation. Oh of course he must have broken it ! Anyway as pointed out,this is duff info.

These doors are prone to jamming closed due to close fit so the OP may find that if they operate the lock then use a screwdriver around the edge of the door,it will ping open.

yes , when people paint them, and they often do, then shut them before completely dry they become virtually welded shut. A popular shear point on the lock when we try to open it

RobertinHerts

Clearly a number of people here are approaching the situation from the wrong viewpoint. It's inmaterial who is legally responsible for the meter box or what caused it.

I don't understand why a commercial company would rather lose a valuable customer who will then not return AND inform the world how lousey their customer service is. I'd been very happy with E.on before this incident and even stayed with them despite finding a cheaper supplier due to the good customer service.

How much does it cost to get a new customer just to replace a lost one? Just ask the marketing department. Compare that to the cost of sorting out the problem.

I had the same situation with Mazda with a known problem. They eventually saw that replacing a badly designed minor part made more commercial sense than losing a potential repeat customer.

The real problem seems to be that the Customer advisors are not seen as an integral part of the company and that their job should be to work on behalf of the company's, and hence the customers', best interests.

I've just seen Amanda's positive response and hope she can pass this crucial point up the line.

Following my letter last weekend a technician turned up yesterday and replaced the lock. Apparently he blamed the key! ...it had E.On's name on it.

Terrylw1

It depends on your spend.

The profit per customer per annum in this game is so low that a few visits to check issues via the Meter Operator can wipe out any profit. In fact, suppliers try to restrict what their staff for, usually pretty unsuccessfully, to cut down on this.

The box legally, is the property of the owner and the agent is acting on behalf of your supplier, but is only a contracted agent hence the supplier wouldn't want their profit affected by damage caused by the agent. A supplier can make a complaint and argue they shouldn't pay for the visit, hence penalising their agent.

Yes, call centres do represent the company...but call centres also tend to be the least knowledgeable and trained areas.

[Deleted User]

You are right Terry, B.G.s published profits of around £48 per cust per year, so it does nt take much to wipe that out. That " Technicians " visit has prob put that customers yearly profit in the red.

Terrylw1

Its very possible, 2 visits was always quoted years back...not that staff are going to pay attention since the work has to be done.

Such major overspends have been a supplier focus for the past couple of years as the Six Sigma Consultants flog their services into this market and that's all about waste reduction.

flumper

We moved into a new build, where the gas box was located underneath a metal fence which meant it could not be opened. To allow for meter reading the builders adapted the fence so that one of the up-rights could be removed and allow the panel to open like a gate and read the meter. Admittedly, a bit of a pain.

However, because the readers could access the meter without our knowledge, they were not aware of the adaption and forced the lid to read the meter. Over time the lid snapped, the box filled with water and the screen became unreadable with condensation.

It took me many phone calls to find out who was responsible, between Eon and the meter readers. But it came down to the meter readers. They did try to get out of it, saying damage needed to be reported after a certain amount of time, but they did end up changing the lid or free....

RobertinHerts

sacsquacco wrote: »

You are right Terry, B.G.s published profits of around £48 per cust per year,

I'm sorry to hear that you believe customers are worth less than £50 p.a. and hence losing them is unimportant.

I suggest you ask Marketing how much it costs to replace a lost customer. I believe the Rule of thumb is ten times as much.

In my case the tariff is based on my reading the meter which saves E.On money. It was E.On who emailed me to say they were sending a meter reader. Pointless for the Electricity meter as I had to do it myself anyway!

[Deleted User]

RobertinHerts wrote: »

I'm sorry to hear that you believe customers are worth less than £50 p.a. and hence losing them is unimportant.

I suggest you ask Marketing how much it costs to replace a lost customer. I believe the Rule of thumb is ten times as much.

In my case the tariff is based on my reading the meter which saves E.On money. It was E.On who emailed me to say they were sending a meter reader. Pointless for the Electricity meter as I had to do it myself anyway!

you ve got me totally baffled mate why you ve come to that conclusion that I think you re not worth keeping as a customer. it was just a comment as to why the utilities initially do as little as possible to sort out a proplem, eg. post you out a meter box key. I reckon you should have taken up my freebie offer of a meter box latch and taken the 2 minutes for a bit of simple D.I.Y.

RobertinHerts

sacsquacco wrote: »

you ve got me totally baffled mate why you ve come to that conclusion that I think you re not worth keeping as a customer. it was just a comment as to why the utilities initially do as little as possible to sort out a proplem, eg. post you out a meter box key. I reckon you should have taken up my freebie offer of a meter box latch and taken the 2 minutes for a bit of simple D.I.Y.

I think you've just demonstrated it yourself. You and a number of others here have missed the point entirely. It's NOT about a repair it's about CUSTOMER SERVICE!

By taking that tariff I agree to read the meters. E.On caused the problem so if they want to keep me as a customer they need to sort it out. They have now redeemed themselves and it's now been recorded as a complaint in their system, thus they have an opportunity to improve their service.

If you want Customer service to improve in this country you need to provide effective feedback to the company. Just accepting rubbish service means you'll continue to get it.