British Gas continue to harrass the elderly for readings

Terrylw1

ollski wrote: »

Is it not possible for the customer to say they are unable to access the meter?

One of the issues between this and the other thread, is that the Bgas staff who are calling are quite pushy. They also blatantly lie by stating no one will be coming out anymore.

The elderly may not wish to say no under these circumstances as they don't want to be awkward.

It makes you wonder whether they are on commission or its an outsourced operation, since the latter can have a very dubious idea of service.

As sacsquacco says, its on his handheld so they can see it too but call anyway.

Its possibly its a retrieved list/report and the lazy management haven't removed any PSR markers, Special Needs markers and any Meter Locations that wouldn't be a problem. Easily retrieved and analysed...its a quick analysis to me, but so often you get idiotic people not considering the morals and just damage your brand.

[Deleted User]

ollski wrote: »

Is it not possible for the customer to say they are unable to access the meter?

If my 91 year old mother is anything to go by she thinks she can still do everything she used to do, she has also developed a degree of confusion. These call centres phoning around to get meter readings have no real idea of the health ( mental or physical ) of the person at the other end of the phone.
My mum is recovering well now from a fall in the street ( cracked pelvis ).I shudder to think of her injuries if she had fallen from the 3ft high wobbly stool trying to get a reading for EDF. The meters by the way, are both in an outside unlocked bin cupboard easily accessable by meter readers. EDF have decided to estimate most of the readings and read the occasional gas or electric meter to increase profits. Hopefully Ann Robinson will be glaring at the management spokesman of these Utilities getting some answers

[Deleted User]

One old lady I spoke to on Friday said she enquired with the B.G. caller why they have started phoning for reads and was proberbly told the truth in that he said they were trying to get people into the habit of supplying their own readings. The elderly are the least likely to do this as many are not online, and not likely ever to be either. I can fully understand the logic behind all this as the government dont want meter readers driving around all day globally warming etc when it can all be done emission free over the phone lines. so we ve got our bags for life and our energy saving bulbs and all will be ok.
the only flaw to all these meter reader free utilitys, is that out there in chavland uk. there are a rising section getting free energy, and once you start getting it for free, you tend to use a lot more. there are no warmer or brighter lit propertys than the ones on the free energy tariff

jd87

How exactly is asking for a meter reading "money grabbing"?

[Deleted User]

jd87 wrote: »

How exactly is asking for a meter reading "money grabbing"?

I dont think you ve quite got the gist of my post, i have no problem at all with utilities obtaining readings by whatever methods they care to choose, but in their scattergun approach to meter reading gathering they are hitting upon a section of the population who literally cant actually do it, but like my old mum, will sure has hell try. I think she just managed to get a reading without breaking a lot of bones doing it. I get a lot of feedback from the elderly and infirm who are completey bemused by call centres phoning them up saying the " gas mans not coming anymore, get me your readings etc " Thats the money grabbing bit

Terrylw1

jd87 wrote: »

How exactly is asking for a meter reading "money grabbing"?

Its a bottom line saving method whereby you downgrade your contracts to meter reading companies and start phoning customers which is far cheaper. To further increase, cost savings, the supplier would then outsource to a company that offers generic outsourcing to certain industries.

The end result is an outsource company, in a different country, cares little for the standards usually used and operates as per its own standards. It most likely starts by renting an office space and pulling in the unemployed and training them badly.

The result is a lack of ethics on the part of the outsourced company and the UK company backpedalling.

That's why the Indian call centres tend to very unpopular. Not saying they aren't as good or better than over here but the issue is the "quick in & out" philosophy of such companies.

The same as the "hit & run" outsourced sales companies that cause lots of miss selling issues, but they don't care since they've moved on to the next contract.

spiro

Part of the reason that suppliers are cutting back on their meter reading contracts is they tend to be long term (3-5 years) contracts with volumes and penalties if suppliers dont give the readers enough work. The roll out of smart is throwing this all up in the air so they are trying to transition from the old world model to the new world one which may only be a safety check every 2/3/4/5 years depending on HSE.

[Deleted User]

Yes Spiro, they are going for a 5 year minimum inspection . I put in an objection to that length of time when OFGEM asked for objectors.I agreed it would be fine for smart meters only
whats happening at the moment with BG is I have been told that if their call centres are underworked they can just phone around about a week before our read window opens in order to cut metering costs and also get people who are not online (eg the elderly ) into the habit of submitting their own readings. In a way now,the cotracted agent, us, G4S , is competing with B.G. call centres to fulfill the 70% access rate. It has a code name by BG, operation orange. Its a strange state of affairs, none of us can believe whats going on. All these attempts by BG to get reads by phone now means they end up hitting on certain people who cannot possibly get their own reads, meters are deep under stairs, high up etc. I ve met many old folk over the last 9 months who are bemused by it all, as are we. Our contract with B.G. is up for renewal in september. I wont be too unhappy if we dont get it with all the aggro we re getting now with people who ve been phoned up the week before by these call centres, they are not Indian or South African. I met a lad who worked for Circo and he said they were doing some work like that for BG

Terrylw1

In fill work for call centre staff isn't a new thing, but I can tell you those I have experience on don't do this and look for activities that don't require more than the operative and their PC.

Outbound calls bring in problems since you also pick up customers who have issues or already have ongoing disputes. The latter tend to get pretty annoyed when you call for a reading and won't help in any other way.

Contracts are not necessarily an issue unless they are up for renegotiation. For suppliers that have already continued them, and some are also 2 years, they would not gain from this. Besides, if smart was causing a problem, wouldn't you agree to a clause to make changes or renegotiate certain terms where industry changes force them?

In the case of these, the suppliers aren't getting the COR's sent to the DC quick enough, but even then, would it stop the reading schedule? No, since there is a contract telling them they have to do it anyway.

So, they are only costing themselves money.

Possibly its a senior manager wanting in fill as opposed to paying staff to sitting about. Seen it before but not with reading calls, its normally been some easy data entry.