myreading.net

badmemory

What I thought when a meter reading service rang & asked me to give them my meter readings .........

I give my supplier readings online on the same day every month. Therefore the only reason for a service to want those readings is proof that what I have given are correct. Fair enough! But ringing & asking for them is going to prove absolutely nothing whatsoever. But I suspect is going to be used to convince my supplier that they did actually see my meters. An outright lie! I won't be giving them my readings again. If they want them they can come & read the meter.

jjm234

Glad I checked online. What a farce! Got called on a Friday evening and asked for meter readings. I had a laugh and said how many people do you expect to be at home now and I'd check when I got home.
Looks like another new strain of time wasting parasites.

footyguy

jjm234 wrote: »

Glad I checked online. What a farce! Got called on a Friday evening and asked for meter readings. I had a laugh and said how many people do you expect to be at home now and I'd check when I got home.
Looks like another new strain of time wasting parasites.

Meter readers = time wasting parasites ???

Ok :cool:

Good luck!

cranford

Lowribeck meter readers probably have targets to meet to earn bonuses and I suspect any online My readings entries are added to their quotas. In my case the My Readings web site did not have the facility to enter economy 7 two readings but the reader came back 2 days later on the very day I normally enter reading to Avro anyway.

System

Lowri Beck have left us a message asking us to give them meter readings. They suggest we call their rip-off 0845 number. Illegally, they do not warn about the "service" and "access" charges for calling this rip-off number. Alternatively they ask us to log in to myreading.net. I will not respond to either suggestion.
I do not believe that a meter reader has actually called, because our gas meter is external, and no-one has left a card. As posters above point out, Lowri Beck's antics add nothing to the readings I regularly give direct to our supplier (Bristol Energy). I have complained to Bristol Energy. Obviously, I do accept that Bristol Energy are entitled (or even required?) to check my meter readings occasionally.

Ian011

YoungNick wrote: »

Lowri Beck have left us a message asking us to give them meter readings. They suggest we call their rip-off 0845 number. Illegally, they do not warn about the "service" and "access" charges for calling this rip-off number.

It's illegal to even offer a premium rate 084, 087 or 09 number for this type of contact.

Complain to the Citizen's Advice national Consumer Helpline on 0345 404 0506.

footyguy

Ian011 wrote: »

It's illegal to even offer a premium rate 084, 087 or 09 number for this type of contact.

Complain to the Citizen's Advice national Consumer Helpline on 0345 404 0506.

0845 numbers are not classed as premium rate.

Calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers are included as part of your FREE calls within your BT calling plan :money:

Ian011

footyguy wrote: »

0845 numbers are not classed as premium rate.

All 084, 087, 09 and 118 numbers are premium rate. Call charges consist of an Access Charge set by and paid to the benefit of the caller's landline or mobile provider and an additional Service Charge set by and paid to the benefit of the called party and their telecoms provider. The premium is the additional Service Charge.

Consumer protection regulations have banned the use of 084, 087, 09 and 118 numbers for most purposes.

PSA regulates only a subset of those numbers, referred to as Controlled Premium Rate Services. These are numbers where the Service Charge element of the call charge is more than 7p per call or per minute.

footyguy wrote: »

Calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers are included as part of your FREE calls within your BT calling plan.

The rangeholder of any 084, 087 or 09 number benefits from Service Charge revenue paid by callers when the number is called. Most calls are made from non-BT landlines or from mobile phones. The caller pays an Access Charge to their phone provider and the Service Charge which is passed on.

BT is the largest supplier of 0845 and 0870 numbers to businesses and therefore benefits from the Service Charge revenue generated when numbers they administer are called from another landline provider or from a mobile phone. More than 80% of calls come from other providers.

BT includes calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers in certain call plans for BT retail customers Only a small number of calls made to those numbers are to numbers provided by other providers. This means that BT mostly earns from Service Charges, but only rarely has to pay out to other providers.

This manipulation allows BT to snare more businesses into using these numbers by saying they are "free [sic] to call from BT landlines". The splitting of these call charges into Access and Service elements clearly reveals this manipulation for what it is.

BT is a minor provider of other 084 and 087 numbers (which are, of course subject to the same Service Charge arrangements) and does not include these in allowance.