Octopus surprise home visit 17 March at 1:29PM in Energy 22 replies 1.3K views

MikeJXE

A surprise knock on the door by a very nice lady from Octopus, a curtesy call because I'm a new customer,  

In my 82 years I have never had an energy rep call on me before 

She spent half an hour with me explaining the ins and outs of my account and why Octopus has low prices and what else it does. 

She wasn't trying to sell anything which surprised me

I have been with Octopus since February 2nd and would highly recommend them even before she came

Has anyone else had a visit from their energy company ? 

diystarter7

Hi 

I recently saw an ad by them where they were visiting customers about saving money and using a thermal imaging cam to show where heat was escaping

Have a nice weekend

cymruchris

I had a rep knock the door a few weeks ago to offer energy saving tips - although to be fair being MSE as I am - was already quite switched on in relation to these matters. I can certainly see it would be of benefit to some customers though, and although no doubt we as customers are ultimately paying for the service, in a sense, it's nice that there's the human touch rather than the usual these days of everything being controlled by computers, speech recognition and chatbots.

Alnat1

We found a card through the door last year, someone from Octopus had called while we were out.

Dolor

Personally, I am not sure that the representatives of any supplier should be cold calling on the elderly. I would be interested to know whether these representatives have undergone any vetting or safeguarding checks. 

Edit: for accuracy, I understand that Octopus does email the customer before knocking on the door.

tlcgrantham

Just this morning I received a text message telling me “Octopus Energy Helpers” would be calling with energy saving help. They asked me to text if I didn’t want them to call. I’m 73 and wary of scams but it seems like it’s genuine . Thanks for the comments above

Dolor

tlcgrantham said:

Just this morning I received a text message telling me “Octopus Energy Helpers” would be calling with energy saving help. They asked me to text if I didn’t want them to call. I’m 73 and wary of scams but it seems like it’s genuine . Thanks for the comments above

https://octopus.energy/blog/energy-helpers/

70sbudgie

I would suggest to anyone receiving a cold call like that, to request proof of identity before letting any cold caller into their house. If they are genuine, they will have a system in place.

My employer has recently asked all staff, including office based staff like myself, to undergo DBS checks. We've also had internal communications about helping people verify who we are with our passwords. 

They are clearly setting up systems to send us out cold calling if required.

MalMonroe

I don't like this sudden resurgence of cold callers from large organisations - BT and Octopus and Virgin for starters. I never answer the door anyway unless I'm expecting a parcel and I don't want people coming into my home because my daughter who lives with me remains immunocompromised and fearful of contracting coronavirus from people who go around visiting goodness knows how many households per day/week, gathering all kinds of germs to spread around as they go.

Even though I'm with Octopus I wouldn't welcome a caller of this type. They can send me an email if they want to impart any knowledge, I'm quite capable of understanding, even though I am 73. Mentally I'm in my 30s, work for myself and have all my faculties. For which I'm very grateful. 

I don't want cold callers, like many others I work from home and there's a note the cops gave us on the door telling them not to bother knocking. Some people do seem to think they're exempt, it's true. They soon stop knocking and leave.

Scammers can be the most pleasant and polite people in the world - just as genuine folk can. But they can all just go away and leave us alone. We're busy!

MalMonroe

70sbudgie said:

I would suggest to anyone receiving a cold call like that, to request proof of identity before letting any cold caller into their house. If they are genuine, they will have a system in place.

My employer has recently asked all staff, including office based staff like myself, to undergo DBS checks. We've also had internal communications about helping people verify who we are with our passwords. 

They are clearly setting up systems to send us out cold calling if required.

I agree but I wouldn't let any cold caller actually come inside my home. At all.

But it seems weird that your employer has asked all staff to undergo DBS checks, etc. without actually telling you why. Nobody curious enough to ask? Just wondering as I would have asked my employer (now self employed though so that'd be me) why we had to do those things.

I do sympathise with you if you are being sent out cold calling because I think it must be a very disheartening task. And there again, you could pick up covid on your way around. 

MikeJXE

tlcgrantham said:

Just this morning I received a text message telling me “Octopus Energy Helpers” would be calling with energy saving help. They asked me to text if I didn’t want them to call. I’m 73 and wary of scams but it seems like it’s genuine . Thanks for the comments above

I didn't receive any prior warning and I wouldn't normally accept cold callers either at the door or on the phone, I'm a very fit 82 and very clued up on scams and phishing.

I was pleased she was calling as I had a few questions for her 

My situation is I live in an apartment block of 7 with intercom entry, the lady bussed me and explained who she was and why she was calling, I allowed her into the hallway and observed her through the spy hole 

She was about 5 feet nothing tiny build adorned with identification lanyards so I felt safe

I being new to Octopus had a few queries so I was pleased she had called. IMO she was very well informed and answered all my questions, probably here half an hour, nothing too much trouble. 

I have only been here a month and had received a letter from Octopus, a bill with £64 credit/reverse charge marked for the occupier. I knew it wasn't mine and my landlady said it wasn't hers, I contacted the previous tenant who rang Octopus and they said it wasn't his. At least now I know I have done my bit and it will get sorted