Saturday, June 13, 2009

Doorstep

I find that the worst comes out in me when someone on the doorstep, who I don't know, says, 'Good morning, (pause) how are you today?' As you answer they begin, 'My name's Dan, I'm calling round on behalf of Scottish Gas and we're just checking you're not paying more than 10p for your gas.'

I think I am already decided that I will not switch to them even if they convince me I should switch.

Dan: Who are you with?

Me: N Power.

Dan: Wow (unspoken - how stupid are you?) Did you know they've just been fined £1.8 million for inappropriate conduct?

(I researched. Just = last December and the guys who acted inappropriately did it on the doorstep and had already been dismissed by the time of the fine.)

Dan, nothing personal, but after the opening 'How are you today?' nothing would have persuaded me to do anything you suggested however advantageous.

2 comments:

Emma said...

However, when I was a student Npower came to the door, convinced my housemate to sign something to say that she was interested in finding out more about Npower. (She was assured that it would be for nothing more than getting more information). The next we heard was a letter from British Gas asking if we had asked for our supplier to change to Npower. Seems they're as underhand as each other. I won't go with Npower now even if they do happen to be cheaper.

david said...

I know this blog is more about doorstep callers than energy providers, but could I put in a plug for Ebico. This provider was set up with a Christian ethos and works on the principle that EVERYONE is charged the same whether they pay quarterly, by direct debit or pre-payment meter. In theory you may pay a little more by helping to subsidise those who are forced to use pre-payment meters. However as their rates are also a flat charge per kWH, it can work out cheaper as there is none of this paying so much for the first amount of usage then a lower rate above a certain usage level – which helps if you are a fairly low user. If you are a Christian, or just have a conscience, check out ebico.co.uk
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