Comments for Andrew Speakman

Comment on Southern Electric door to door sales. A scam? by Steve

Steve — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 12:27:35 +0000

I’m a gas and electric door to door salesman (not for southern though) i believe that they use a script that they get trained to use on the door saying they “believe your are not claiming your deregulated rates” and ask to look at your bill….circle the unit rates etc. it’s very clever as they use a lot of body language i.e. looking at their wrist watch when saying “it will take 2 mins, can you just get me a bill please” when doing this they also leer towards the door ready to wipe their feet etc so the customer will let them in. I have friends who have worked for them before and aparently they had a whole week training course in scotland to learn this script word perfect. A few of the guys have come over to the company i work for now as they said they got told off if they DID NOT use the script!

Comment on Southern Electric door to door sales. A scam? by Abdul

Abdul — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:38:21 +0000

I switched to southern electric about 2 years ago and i am saving huge on my bills because they are cheapest in uk and true british company. Most people in england dont have clue what they paying towards their bills because they are too busy chatting shit and making critics. Its free country every 1 has full rights to change their company so why not change and try it. Well you lot change your clothes everyday so why not companies to see what suits you better. Thats what british people dont know. They think we are british cos we are with british gas when in actual fact British Gas is owned by france. That explains all…….

Comment on Southern Electric door to door sales. A scam? by York

York — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:08:21 +0000

I have too had this problem, i guy turned up at my door, spinning something about him being from my energy suppler (which as far as i’m consirned is British Gas as they are who i pay my bill too)

He asked confusing questions and was generally intimidating.

Don’t let these people in!!!! Say your not the one that’s sorts out the bills and that they are away.

Comment on Southern Electric door to door sales. A scam? by Gary

Gary — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:55:05 +0000

I have to add i am a distributor for the Utility warehouse. Where as other companies have sales personel doing door to door for them and 9 times out of ten dont have very good knowledge of the services offered, i dont work for the utility warehouse, i am an independant distribtor and work self employed. I personally don’t canvas door to door as i don’t like it as much as the next person, and frankly all these canvasors don’t really give you a good name. The utility warehouse distributors won’t argue about your current supplier and who is cheapest as we know that nobody else can make the same guarantees as us. And on top of that you won’t be tied in any contracts, thats how confident we are and dont feel the need to go cold calling every day as people just as easily come to us. Why can’t other companies do that instead of bothering you at your dooor every couple of days.

Comment on Southern Electric door to door sales. A scam? by Seething of Chatham

Seething of Chatham — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:08:01 +0000

Just had a Southern electricity ’salesman’ at my front door. Very aggressive, with a “we know stuff about you” attitude, and just wouldn’t except “no thanks” as an answer. Ended up having to close the door in his face (literally no other choice other than just stand there at the front door watching him arguing the same rubbish over and over).

Door to door sales should be outlawed. Especially when the ’salesman’ use verbal obfuscation techniques to try to convince you they are something other than a salesman on commission.

Comment on Southern Electric door to door sales. A scam? by Peter Reeve

Peter Reeve — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:51:45 +0000

My other half answered the door this week to be told “I’m from Southern Electric…” (the website is offline, by the way - I tried to complain to them)…”I’ve seen your gas bill (how?) & we can do it cheaper…your neighbours saved £20/month” (I’m sure they’d be delighted that she was discussing their business) then the best bit…”can I look at your bill?”…I thought you’d seen it. When told we are not interested “why not”!! Why do these amateur cold-calling idiots persist in lying & pressurising in the face of no interest? I train sales people & would shoot anyone who used these tactics. Anyone know How I can get in touch to complain?

Comment on Southern Electric door to door sales. A scam? by Hmmm

Hmmm — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:34:00 +0000

As a utiities sales rep with years of experience, it worries me that people in the industry such as Hydro and rugratz can be so wrong.

Firstly, TRANSCO is now known sinmply as the National Grid and as you might expect from the name are owned by (yes you guessed it) National Grid. National Grid distribute gas to most of the UK.
SSE own only a 50% share in Scotia who bought two gas distribution networks from TRANSCO in 2005. They are in no way a part of, or owners of, TRANSCO or National Grid.

SSE still have to pay to use the Scotia network just like any other company would. This is to ensure the market remains competitive. You will notice that SSE chsrge the same for gas supply on Scotia’s network as they do on National Grid’s network.

Having said that, SSE are generally very competitive on price for gas and in most of the UK for electricity, unless you live in an SSE area (Scottish Hydro, SWALEC or Southern) in which case SSE will generally be a more expensive option for electricity.

rugratz seem to think EDF will work out cheapest in their own area. In fact the opposite is true. Electricity companies are generally much more expensive in their own area, so EDF will be expensive in the South East (SEEBOARD area) the South West (SWEB area) and London (London Energy area). EDF are generally competive out of area though.

As a general rule the old monopoly electricity supplier in each area is the most expensive for electricity and British Gas is most expensive for gas.

The problem seems to be not just sales reps who know better but still lie but also a case of inexperienced sales reps being poorly trained or deliberately misled so that they go out and sell on price in areas where their employer is not competitive on price.

Comment on Southern Electric door to door sales. A scam? by Gary

Gary — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:27:49 +0000

My elderly mother just had a visit from a guy from Southern Electric. It was not clear until she let him in that he was clearly a salesman, as his initial pitch made it sound like he was from our current supplier, EDF, and he could not leave until he had spoken to her.

I listened in from the next room as he tried to convince her that EDF is actually the French Government, who are charging her 20% more than she should be paying. And that Southern Electric supply this address anyway. This is a lie - the cable/infrastructure in my area is EDF.

There may well be savings to be made by switching, but as this salesman was prepared to spin any lie to get the business, I’m not even sure the figures he quoted weren’t complete bull anyway. And as a matter of principle after what happened today, I will never switch to them, nop matter how cheap they are.

Comment on Southern Electric door to door sales. A scam? by rugratz118

rugratz118 — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:03:25 +0000

i would also ilke to add i work for edf in field sales. i agree with hydro saying that people moan about how much ur paying but you fail to do anything about when u have the chance!!
we happen to be the cheapest in our area for a dual fuel as we are the local supplier down here in the south east. i dont see why people would want to pay a 3rd party for gas and electric who get it from us and who then pay us?? you get people saying they dont want to save money each month and would these same people walk past a £10note on the floor in the street i dont think they would.

Comment on Southern Electric door to door sales. A scam? by Hydro

Hydro — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 22:45:43 +0000

I would like to add I also work for scottish hydro electric and we are not all the same we are there to advise that you may be paying a higher tariff in 70% of cases the reason for it is that we own the largest share in transo now known as gas networks so your gas is now running along our lines it has been released from the regulators of gas and electric ofgem that we are the cheapest duel fuel and had advised customers to consider switching because these other companys are ripping the p*ss. After all the are owned by foreigh companys so ur mostly gtting your bills from a billing company and paying more doing it that way.
What I really cant understand you all moan about how much ur paying but you fail to do anything about when u have the chance!!!!
Aswell we are only doing our jobs do we come to ur work and man handle you out the door or shout abuse please have some tolerance. All of my customers are more than happy with what i do for them. Can I add im also female with morals and would not work for company trying to rip people off. Im 100% confident in what we offer our customers.