Doorstep Callers.

alfiemooon

A friend of mind told me how,back in September,some bloke knocked on her door and told her that he could save her £100 for 12 months on Gas & Electricity on her Pre Pay Meters.

She signed on the dotted line and since October,has been using the key that came through the post.

I had a look at the bumph that this bloke left and to be honest,an increase of 1p per Kwh with no standing charge sounded pretty good to me so I dropped the bloke a text and we did everything over the fone because he wasn`t in my area anymore.

My key came through the post on Saturday so I put £20 & thought "brill,I`m saving some money"...however,I took a look at my meter lastnight & noticed i didn`t have as much credit available as I usually have so I checked the rate per Kwh and found the meter showing almost 7p per kwh more than was quoted.

Bearing in mind that everything was dealt with over the fone AND that I was not verbally informed of a "cooling off period" have I got a leg to stand on or will i have to pay the £25 "Get Out Of Jail" payment?

It should be pointed out that my friend is also suffering from a charge per Kwh more than was quoted and when she contacted the Salesman it was suggested that if she gets in contact with her former supplier,they might pay the,in her case,£50 cancellation fee.

If the rate being charged is higher that that that was quoted,does this constitute breach of Contract?

Alfie

Mr_K

A bloke turned up at the door and you and your friend bought from him. That's where you went wrong.

Try not speaking to anyone up turns up at the door or cold calls you.

Find the best deal out for yourself and you'll get the best deal.

Richie-from-the-Boro

alfiemooon wrote: »

A friend of mind told me how,back in September,some bloke knocked on her door and told her that he could save her £100 for 12 months on Gas & Electricity on her Pre Pay Meters.

She signed on the dotted line and since October,has been using the key that came through the post.

I had a look at the bumph that this bloke left and to be honest,an increase of 1p per Kwh with no standing charge sounded pretty good to me so I dropped the bloke a text and we did everything over the fone because he wasn`t in my area anymore.

My key came through the post on Saturday so I put £20 & thought "brill,I`m saving some money"...however,I took a look at my meter lastnight & noticed i didn`t have as much credit available as I usually have so I checked the rate per Kwh and found the meter showing almost 7p per kwh more than was quoted.

Bearing in mind that everything was dealt with over the fone AND that I was not verbally informed of a "cooling off period" have I got a leg to stand on or will i have to pay the £25 "Get Out Of Jail" payment?

It should be pointed out that my friend is also suffering from a charge per Kwh more than was quoted and when she contacted the Salesman it was suggested that if she gets in contact with her former supplier,they might pay the,in her case,£50 cancellation fee.

If the rate being charged is higher that that that was quoted,does this constitute breach of Contract?

Alfie

Alfie lad, according to the latest GOV figures the average weekly wage in the UK in Feb 2014 was £474. So any stranger knocking your door has got to take £474 out of your pockets every week just to break even. There we have it my friend the only reason anyone knocks a door is to empty your pockets !

alfiemooon

Yes,yes,yes...that`s not alot of help though people,all that`s doing is throwing the first few tomatos...but thanks anyway.

Robin9

What unit charges were you quoted in writing and what we're your previous suppliers charges ?

macman

I don't follow. Why would the outgoing supplier pay it's own ETC?
Who are the incoming and outgoing suppliers, and is the new key even legit?

matelodave

Let's start again.


Who is the supplier? have a look at the rates and T&C's on the suppliers website. Check to see if there are any leaving penalties and see if the supplier has any better rates that you could transfer to.


In the end, the best you might be able to do is register a complaint, using the suppliers complaint process that you were miss-sold and the rates quoted weren't the ones that you were offered. However it's going to be difficult unless you've got proof of what you were offered. You could ask the supplier if they've got records of the phone calls

[Deleted User]

As far as I am aware there are no UK suppliers with a no standing charge tariff on electric prepay meters or even credit meters. Ebico will do a no standing charge on the gas prepay and will probably charge around 1.5p per kwhr extra on gas prepayment.A 7p kwhr difference between the cheapest (single rate )and dearest is also far fetched as they are all pretty similar last time I looked with maybe a 2p kwh difference. Are you sure you are looking at the correct screens on the electric prepayment. I only see a really big gap with eco 7 electric prepayment where 20/21p a kwhr is shown for the day rate "screen h " with the night rate "screen J " down to 6p a kwhr. Many prepayment meters are still set to eco 7 and the occupier has no idea why.

alfiemooon

Robin9...nothing in writing to me but the quote was similar to the figures Kat was given and she was given them in writing....lower by 1.5p per unit than The Doorstep Salesman.

Macman...The DSS suggested to Kat that maybe if she got back in touch with her previous Energy supplier,they might pay the Cancellation Charge for her.

Outgoing and Incoming Company names are an ill elephant at the mo but yes,the incoming supplier,key and cards are legit.

matelodave...yes,there are cancellation fees of £25 per fuel involved.Not interested in "better rates" due to the seemingly underhandness approach.

We`re not after a free lunch OR a free laptop,just a bit of a saving on our gas & electricity.

sacsquacco...hey,guess what,there is....surprised?...well,that`s what was on offer.Yep,charge increases are about the same with the company concerned.I haven`t got Economy 7 and nothing was said about Economy 7.My meter was replaced a few years ago and there was no change in my useage or payments.

It should be said that the "new" company is a registered company and is VAT registered...and I now find that Ofgen weren`t happy with them last year.

Robin9

You must have had something in writing - something that accompanied the key. Even if you accepted the phone figures these will have been confirmed in writing.

Charges for gas and electric can be confusing and there is potential for errors and mistakes both on the suppliers and the consumers side.

Alfiemoon there is a lot of knowledge on this Forum and people willing to help but they all need figures and names. Please let us have unit rates and suppliers names.

[Deleted User]

OK Alfie, there are a couple of suppliers offering prepay electric with no standing charges.Economy Energy (tariff is 15.5 p kwh ) and Ebico with a similar sort of tariff. These are rates for my area in S.Yorks. These two would be ok if you were a very low user, but 7p a kwhr more than your old supplier on prepay can t be correct.Maybe the key was nt programmed correctly, or even your meter was nt set correctly either.. I ve seen that on some prepayment meters. You can easily check their rates on any comp site.