Southern Electric con man

thepearce

I'm sure most people here are pretty savvy, and I'd like to consider myself one of them. That's why when there was a knock at the door and a guy telling me (eventually) "I'd been left on the old, more expensive tarriff" I was wise to him.

I answered the door to be greeted by this guy and his clipboard (so it must be official) turned away from me. Repeated greetings failed to make any impression on him but finally he started his spiel as I was about to close the door. Then his pitch starts, and off he goes to "confirm" I'm on the old tarriff with a check on my (outside) meter.

I tell him Sorry, but I don;t want to change supplier and if he's not here for any other particular purpose he is wasting his time and should leave. He continues his spiel, I try and stop him, so in the end I close the door and go and sit down.

Knock knock, Ring Ring.

More of the same. Energy is not very exciting, it's his job to inform that is his purpose. I say I realise my meter is with southern electric but I pay British gas, and that's how I want it to stay - goodbye. Door closes.

Knock knock, ring ring. (He's certainaly persistent)
More of the same. I explain I don't want to be rude but he's forcing me. I make it clear I'm not interested. Door (which by now has seen some action) is closed.

Knock knock, ring ring (by now I'm thing of calling my local police).
"Look, I'm not interested, now just get off my property".

He hangs around then finally leaves.

I call SE to register a complaint about his pushiness / intimidation and they take some details - I say no need to write to confirm etc. Now - I look on the net as I'm sure this spiel is a con and sure enough SE were warned on this in 2002...

I'm now thinking of calling back and complaining about the tactic and asking for it in writing.

How do other people deal with this sort of bother?

As I say hopefully everyone knows about this sort of thing but it's worth being oon your guard (and don't show anyone your bill).

Turning_into_scrooge

I am personally not 100% certain on this but a friend of mine has said that it is technically illegal for gas/electric company's to knock on your door to sell you their service. Like i say i have never heard of this but this is what she uses to get rid of them , usually works too. but if you do have any problem like that dot keep answering the door phone the police and if you explain that you are a woman in the house on you're own, feeling threatened they will usually get there pretty fast :j We haven't had them round here for quite a while but they really are a pin as they can be so persistent and pushy and i've also found that if you tell them you are not interested they can get quite abusive too :cool:

thepearce

Thanks.......I think I might have a bit of difficulty with the lone female bit - but he was getting quite abusive.

Next time I will take the persons badge to "verify their ID" - that way I know who they are at least. Any sign of trouble and I'll call SE straight away and the cops ...but only if it merits it.

Rex_Mundi

Aa I came home from work a couple of days ago. I noticed a couple of guys standing round my neighbours door. One of them was talking to him and I heard him going on about electric/gas prices.

My neighbour is a pensioner. When I went indoors, I thought I'd better warn him about the kind of tactics that are used. I knocked on his door, said could I have a quick word with him. He invited me in.

Sitting on his sofa was one of the salesmen. I noticed the contract was already out (not filled in yet). The man explained he could save my neighbour £78 a year by switching. I asked what company he was from and he told me Southern. I told my neighbour (in front of the guy) that this company were definately not anywhere near the cheapest for our area. I know this 'cos I changed ours recently and looked into all of them carefully. The man said he didn't claim they were the cheapest, but could save my neighbour money by switching from his present supplier. I said to my neighbour that I would help him look into all the suppliers and if this man was offering a good deal, he wouldn't mind leaving his price list and letting him think about it for a while.

I tell you. Talk about dagger eyes!! I said that this guy was on commision and he was interested in the sale rather than the best deal. LOL, you should of seen the way the man stormed out of the place while telling us that he was on a high wage and no commision because he had worked for the company for so long (yeh right). He also said there was no chance my neighbour could save money now that I'd come and stopped him doing so. lol

These people are sharks! It really should be made illegal to sign contracts on the doorstep. I'm sure if I'd not turned up, the contract would have been signed.

We had trouble before when my girlfriend was asked to 'sign to say he had called' by an electric salesman. They filled the details out after they had gone away and it took me many months to sort out (this was London Electric).

soolin

My dad was also approached by one of these salesman, not SE though. After the salestalk and my dad saying no he was also asked to sign to say he had spoken to the salesman. Luckily dad knew enough to refuse and he phoned me and I complained to the company on his behalf.

Soo

savvy

Weyres wrote:

I find that 'sorry, I don't own the house' followed by a and the door closing works a treat. :j

LMAO I use that one for the window/exterior renovation salesmen, they can't WAIT to get to the next house then!!;)

BUT I save my BEST for the gas/electric salesman................I launch into a MASSIVE irate lecture how Npower fiddled my meter reading in THEIR favour, wouldn't own up to it, then fobbed me off to a debt collection agency, that treated my like a criminal, and how in all I was overcharged by £700 and that it took me 3 long stressfull, arduous years to get it all back, and how there is absolutely NO way I would EVER change again!!!:mad: :mad:

LMAO, they can't get away quick enough!

sunflower_2

Weyres wrote:

I find that 'sorry, I don't own the house' followed by a and the door closing works a treat. :j

unfortunately this doesnt bother some of them
as long as they get a signature in that box they are quids in

i have known some of them get kids to sign (as young as 10)

soooo annoying

lady_noluck

Be careful with the Southern group. I used to be with them for both gas and electric but switched a year or so back. Last week one of their "reps" came round to tell me how he could save me loads of money to which I politely told him to go away.
I noticed the other day whilst looking at my direct debits on the internet, a new direct debit had been set up for..... Yep you guessed it! SOUTHERN Electric and Gas! :eek: I'm guessing they still had my details on file and forged my signature.
Npower also tried this stunt a few years back too. :mad: Luckily I cancelled it before any money went out.

So, word of warning, check your bank details and dds carefully after speaking to these cowboys.

nicoledwards

I was accosted by a SE conman who actually invited himself into my house! I could tell he was talking rubbish, about European tariffs and such, so I asked him to leave a form and paperwork with me so that I could look at it later when my husband came home. He was totally unimpressed with this idea and said that there was a strict limit on who he could give forms to and that they had to be filled in with him there. Although he had the uniform and badge and was a bone fide SE salesman, I wasn't happy. Many elderly people live in my area and would not perhaps be as wary as me. I went to my PC and typed "Southern Electric doorstep" and lo and behold came up the website for Energywatch (http://www.energywatch.org.uk/) I rang them and they were most interested to hear my story and complained to SE on my behalf. I had 2 grovelling apology letters.

Interestingly I noticed after he had gone that the cover on my gas meter was flapping open, so he had clearly been in there reading the meter - he even had a key round his neck. The Energywatch people told me that all these salespeople need is your name and address and they have been known to fake signatures on contracts. This is followed be them "forgetting" to send you the paperwork where you have 14 days to cancel, and before you know it you get a letter from your current supplier saying "sorry you're leaving!"

In short, for your sake and the sake of more vulnerable people in your area, report these guys to Energywatch. They're really helpful and keen to get it sorted. Apparently SE is one of the only suppliers that don't subscribe to a voluntary code on the hiring of reputable salespeople.

Poppycat

I got a sticker sent to my address by Trading Standards which I think they sent to everyone is this area, which I stuck on the door window informing that I dont entertain door step trading/cold callers. It works must of the time, of cousre you get the odd person who doesnt look but its rare. I hate being pestered by cold callers or teh lieks of Betterware.

Weymouth_Man

thepearce wrote:

I'm sure most people here are pretty savvy, and I'd like to consider myself one of them. That's why when there was a knock at the door and a guy telling me (eventually) "I'd been left on the old, more expensive tarriff" I was wise to him.

I answered the door to be greeted by this guy and his clipboard (so it must be official) turned away from me. Repeated greetings failed to make any impression on him but finally he started his spiel as I was about to close the door. Then his pitch starts, and off he goes to "confirm" I'm on the old tarriff with a check on my (outside) meter.

I tell him Sorry, but I don;t want to change supplier and if he's not here for any other particular purpose he is wasting his time and should leave. He continues his spiel, I try and stop him, so in the end I close the door and go and sit down.

Knock knock, Ring Ring.

More of the same. Energy is not very exciting, it's his job to inform that is his purpose. I say I realise my meter is with southern electric but I pay British gas, and that's how I want it to stay - goodbye. Door closes.

Knock knock, ring ring. (He's certainaly persistent)
More of the same. I explain I don't want to be rude but he's forcing me. I make it clear I'm not interested. Door (which by now has seen some action) is closed.

Knock knock, ring ring (by now I'm thing of calling my local police).
"Look, I'm not interested, now just get off my property".

He hangs around then finally leaves.

I call SE to register a complaint about his pushiness / intimidation and they take some details - I say no need to write to confirm etc. Now - I look on the net as I'm sure this spiel is a con and sure enough SE were warned on this in 2002...

I'm now thinking of calling back and complaining about the tactic and asking for it in writing.

How do other people deal with this sort of bother?

As I say hopefully everyone knows about this sort of thing but it's worth being oon your guard (and don't show anyone your bill).

We had the same some four months ago,I ended up calling the police, they said they had lots of complaints but could not act. :mad:

in the end our local paper put a warning on their front page, THEN THEY VANISHED !!!!!!! :T

Phone your local paper, they always want a good story. :eek:

PS. Did they sound South African ???? OURS WERE