Watch Out! Airtricity about....

pjmn

Fair post - very reasonable suggestions/argument...

Out of curiosity, how does point No. 11 tally with your first sentence?

martin.maco

pjmn wrote: »

Fair post - very reasonable suggestions/argument...

Out of curiosity, how does point No. 11 tally with your first sentence?

I work in industry named outsourced sales so Airtricity is my client, not employer. How exactly this business works has been already explained by other people, the descriptions were more or less accurate, I just want to add that there are more sales offices in the city/country and each office can have a slightly different marketing system and training (for example I never had to run around the office or anything like that )

The_Conductor

martin.maco wrote: »

1. If you don't like salespeople, put a "no salespeople" sticker on your door and I'll leave you alone. You'll save your as well as my time.

Why should people be forced to deface their property by putting stickers on their doors. Surely a simple- 'Sorry, I don't buy from door-to-door salespeople' to whoever rings should be heeded. The big issue here- is overly pushy salespeople who are simply not willing to listen. If someone rejects a firm 'I'm sorry- I don't buy from Salespeople'- why do you imagine a door sticker is going to be any impediment? If you as an Airtricity salesperson heed doorstickers- with no disrespect intended to you- you are one of the only Airtricity salespeople who do........

martin.maco wrote: »

2. You're not obligated to listen to salespeople. But if you decide to do so, let me tell you what's my offer about before you accept or refuse it. Most of people who say no don't have a clue what exactly we do (proven earlier in this thread, e.q. people thinking they still get a bill from ESB for service) and until you stop doing this, don't be surprised when I dismiss your first no.
Once I even asked a random guy in dundrum shopping centre how to get to the LUAS stop and he said "no I'm not interested".

Correct- we're not obliged or obligated to listen to you or your colleagues when they knock at the door, or cold call us on our phones. Some of your colleagues are physically stopping us from closing our door until they finish their spiel though- and then make out that we are stupid for not buying into their hard-sell. I'm not stupid. I'm just not interested, thankyou very much.

Regarding people thinking they get a bill from the ESB for service- the number of people who think this can probably be counted on your hands and feet. Using this rare misunderstanding as a justification for refusing people's 'no'- is only reinforcing the negative image most of us have of you and your colleagues.

martin.maco wrote: »

3. Be honest and straight forward, don't lie or make excuses. If you behave like a reasonable person, you'll be treated like one. If you behave like a prick, you'll be treated like one. Always say the real reason why you say no and I'll accept it, even if you say something like "I'm just too lazy" or "I'm not used to make decisions".

I'm sorry. You're suggesting that the prospective customers at the door should be honest and straight forward? Have I missed something somewhere? Last time I had Airtricity at my door- aside from verbally abusing me for not being a customer- it was almost 3 minutes into their tirade, before I could even get a word in edgeways. You may accept a no- by god, you colleagues certainly don't.......

martin.maco wrote: »

4. If you don't know something, ask, that's why they send us to you. Don't say no just because you don't understand how our service works. Irrational fear of unknown things is called xenophobia.

Lookit- the last Airtricity salesperson at my door- denied the existence of the CER, insisted that a 10% discount on electricity and a 10% discount on gas equalled a 20% discount- and called me stupid for buying my electricity from Bord Gais. I don't know you from Adam- but your colleagues are obnoxious pratts who lie through their teeth, are poorly informed, can't do simple math- and will sell their granny to you at the first opportunity if they think they'll get away with it.

martin.maco wrote: »

5. Some salespeople lie. If they lie, get their name and id number and complain to Airtricity, not on the internet, in a pub, to your neighbour or to the next salesperson. People who lie deserve to be punished. I don't deserve to be punished instead or them.

Yes, some salespeople do lie. In Airtricity's case, the problem is that the vast preponderance of Airtricity salespeople seem to lie. Why should I go to the trouble of recording people's names and IDs? Its not up to me to get Airtricity's house in order- I've far better things to do with my time. People who lie do deserve to be punished. Airtricity salespeople in general are getting slated here- because of their lies, their attitude problems and their general obnoxious comments towards prospective customers. Calling people stupid and belittling their considered decision to not be one of your customers- is hardly a reasonable course of action- perhaps you might browbeat a few refuseniks by calling them stupid for not wanting to save money- but you piss off the rest of us.

martin.maco wrote: »

6. Don't get paranoid about your bank account number, there's nothing illegal I could do with it. Airtricity bank details are printed on their leaflet, try to misuse them if you think it's possible. If you want to be 100% sure, ask in your bank.

I'm not paranoid about my bank account number. You're not getting it. Period.

martin.maco wrote: »

7. Stop talking nonsense about poor vulnerable old people, they're the most difficult customers. Majority of people I sign up are educated upper-middle or high class people, mostly working as business owners, bankers, accountants, lawyers, doctors, IT specialists, etc. Once I signed up a fraud analyst from one of the top 4 Irish banks.

Poor vunerable old people? They're the only people in the country not with mortgages in negative equity sufficient to buy mansions in South American dictatorships. Let them be difficult as hell I say. Its how they're in better financial positions than the rest of us......

Regarding the occupations/social status of your customers- thats wholly irrelevant. It sounds very much like you are trying to say- ' I sign up intelligent people. Its you ignorant and lowerclass people who do my head in- you need everything explained- and or ignorant/stupid- sure why else wouldn't you want to save money'?

Your colleagues may be more blunt than you are- but your suggestion that your customers are the intelligent wealthy folk- well, its just saying the same thing in a different manner.........

martin.maco wrote: »

8. You don't have to sign a contract if you want to keep your backdoor open.

Perhaps you can explain this to your colleagues? I've certainly had a foot put down as a doorstop to stop me closing the door on one of your colleagues.

martin.maco wrote: »

9. I am an Airtricity customer, unlike ESB or BG employees I have no special staff discount but I have no problems with my bills or service.

I am not an Airtricity customer. I have no special staff discount. I also have no problems with my bills or service. When standing charges and service charges (which are higher with Airtricity) are taken into account- I save significantly over Airtricity by purchasing from Bord Gais and Flogas (yes its odd- I buy my electricity from a the nations largest gas company- and my gas from a competitor gas company.......)

martin.maco wrote: »

10. All this is just my personal point of view which may be different from official company policy and I am not saying anything on behalf of the whole company.

Your point of view is fine. Indeed your door manner may be fine too. Its unfortunate that your colleagues do not share the manners that you suggest are part of the job- not to mention the fact that they are singularly ill-informed and/or lie outright, to try to get sales.

martin.maco wrote: »

11. I am not direct employee of Airtricity.

I think we have established this.

martin.maco wrote: »

12. Don't forget the sticker on your door

In case you don't know- most properties constructed since 1994 are on long leaseholds- part of which forbids any posters/stickers/hoarding/property boards etc on the exterior of properties, or visible from the exterior. Some nice leafy suburbs, with freeholds- can do as they choose. If you put a sticker on your door as you are suggesting elsewhere- it gets you a nice EUR20-50 fine from a management company or agent.

martin.maco

1. For the same reason why almost every house I visit has a sticker "no junk mail". And even without stickers, if a person tells me "I'm not interested in any marketing calls", I simply leave, the chance that he would sign up is zero and I'm not paid for arguing with people or calling them stupid. I don't pay your bills, I don't care if you spend €50 or €500.
3. I am not responsible for what my colleagues do.
5. If you want Airtricity to solve a problem, you have to tell them that there is a problem. They don't know what their salespeople do unless you tell them. And I personally heard about Airtricity salespeople who got sacked for calling people stupid or stopping them from closing the door. If you complained more, more people would lose their jobs and the others would either change their manners or follow them.
BTW in our office there's a simple rule, if you say no 2 times, we leave (if I should leave after 1st no I would be still in Dundrum looking for the LUAS stop)
7. I'm not suggesting or trying to say that wealthy intelligent people are my best customers, I'm simply saying it. If it makes you feel like lower class, all I can say is: "He that thinks has a great nose thinks everybody is speaking of it." And if people working in bank's head offices are less concerned about their account numbers than you are, there must be something wrong somewhere (hint; Google Dunning-Kruger effect)
9. BG + FG is a pretty good alternative, I don't see anything odd about it, except the fact that if you want the maximum discount, both companies will ask you to sign a direct debit mandate (in other words to give them your account number)

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

More power to SMCCARRICK for his reply. Martin, I'm not going into detail on each of your points but suffice to say they show a mentality that is far removed from the thinking of most of the general populatio.
A few points in particular stand out as showing your total disregard for reality and people's rights.
I certainly don't need to stick a sign on my door in case you happen by. I will politely tell you, the instant I know you are selling anything, that I'm not interested. I will then, as is mu right, close the door. If you prevent me doing so then I will ask you to leave my property before using reasonable force to ensure you do so.
Your reference to older people is disgusting. I know 3 pensioners signed up by airtricity when that was not their wishes. You will use every trick in your book to sign people up and the elderly are soft targets.
As for not being able to anything with personal bank accounts, I suggest you think long and hard about the errot in your statement.
As for not accepting the first No. That is all I'm required to give you. Should you ignore it I'll keep interrupting you to repeat it before the door close/request to leave, as above.
Your self-rightious attitude is typical of the morons calling to sell airtricity and your ignorant approach will in the long run achieve little for you.

The_Conductor

I'm not really sure what you're trying to get at.
Last time I did a marketing course- the Dunning-Kruger effect referred to people making poor decisions and through incompetence not realising how poor their decision actually was...... I didn't need to go to Google for that- it may be some time since I graduated- but it certainly featured in Kottler.

You were the person who stated-

Majority of people I sign up are educated upper-middle or high class people, mostly working as business owners, bankers, accountants, lawyers, doctors, IT specialists, etc.

I inferred from this-

I sign up intelligent people. Its you ignorant and lowerclass people who do my head in- you need everything explained- and or ignorant/stupid- sure why else wouldn't you want to save money'?

Perhaps there are stupid people out there- who genuinely wouldn't know a great deal, if it came up and bit their hand off. There are also hordes of seriously pissed people- who have put up with crap from lying salespeople for far too long- and don't believe a word out of their mouths.

If you response to this really is- well report them to headoffice- they're giving all of us a bad name- well, I'm sorry, I have better things to do.

Regarding telling Airtricity if/when you have a problem- seriously, when did you last try to ring their customer service? Life is too short to even try. Also- why should I. I really have better things to do than hanging on hold for a half an hour, before someone helpfully drops the call......

With regard BG and FG- I have signed direct debit mandates with them- I do not however have a fixed contract with either company- to avail of Airtricity's offers requires a person sign up with them for a fixed period of time, and there is a clause to ensure people are not allowed change company again within the defined period without penalty. I can wander as I choose from BG or FG without penalty.

discostu1

Hi Martin thanks for putting your view point it is very interesting

7. I'm not suggesting or trying to say that wealthy intelligent people are my best customers, I'm simply saying it.

Re the above and this is more a question /comment than anything else. If the offering is that good surely the wealty intelligent will beat a path to your door, mostly via the web and telesales, I would find it unusual that you would have to convince/sell to the "clued in". Also with the rise of the likes of Bonkers.ie the "clued in" Like Smarrick have already figured out possibly using BOnkers that CURRENTLY BGE and Flogas offer a slightly and it is only slightly better option than Airtricity dual fuel.
What may make the whole market change again is when ESB come back in sometime next month. IF they come in with goodish value offering what happens then, if say 200k moved from BGE and Airtricity, would Airtricity say is it worth keeping on a supply arm. My gut is that ESB will be unofficialy told take back say 100k after that slow the flow down to a trickle. CER then say we are great 3 big companies dealing with 1.9m customers in a country with around 600k households with non utility debts.

martin.maco

Kara Damp Hairpin wrote: »

Martin, I'm not going into detail on each of your points but suffice to say they show a mentality that is far removed from the thinking of most of the general populatio.

Being a member of Mensa I am well aware of this and I take it as a compliment.

"the instant I know you are selling anything, that I'm not interested"

That's exactly what makes you ignorant and narrow minded, you are exactly the type of person who would say no even if I was giving you a gold bar. BTW by definition "A sale is the act of selling of products or services in return for money or other compensation" so what I do shouldn't even be called sales.
I give you an example from my own experience. I wanted a mobile phone with monthly bill. At least once a month some salesguy approached me and offered me a contract. Unfortunately because I wasn't permanent resident of the country, they wanted me to pay a deposit so I refused. One day the same thing, I told him that I wasn't a resident of the country and he told me that he could do it for me without the deposit. I said ok and signed up for a service I wanted anyway. If I was thinking the same way you do, I would either have to pay a big deposit or keep using top-up cards. Did I do anything stupid or risky? I really dont think so.

I gave you more than enough advice how to get rid of salespeople. If you're too lazy to do something about it, then stop complaining, what I do is 100% legal. I would love to see through walls and be able to look at the house and know whether you want to sign up or not, but unfortunately I can't so I have to knock on your door, ask you and find out if your no means yes, maybe or no. And the more specific your answer is, the less time I need. If I see youre about to close the door, I'll go away and dont even wait till you do it.

the groutch

Martin, what you need to realise is there are some people who just have zero interest in signing up, and they shouldnt have to give any reason why, or stand listening to you any longer than they wish. remeber, assuming that it's a house with a driveway, you're technically trespassing.

if people are brash or rude it's because although I'm sure you're a respectable salesperson, this and other threads have shown that there are lots of others who are annoying, rude, and underhanded, which has created a stereotype.

also in this technological age, people have the wherewithall to do their own research online, and make their own informed decisions if/when they want to change suppliers.

foggy_lad

So we are all too ignorant and stupid and inbred to realise when we are being offered a sweet deal by a member of mensa who would know.

This is a sure way of getting people to sign up.

Don't put your foot or even your nose inside my door or the force of the door closing may do you an injury:D

GHOST MGG2

These airtricity sales reps will say anything to get your account number..ive had them at my door 6 times now in the space of a few months.

First time i was polite and said i wasnt interested.
Second time the same and got the "dont you understand you can save big money" routine.

The last visit was 4 days ago,a couple knocked on the door,the first thing the girl said was "dont worry,were not selling anything"...then i replied, are you from airtricty?..she said yes..and i was like plz dont try to insult my intelligence and promptly gave them the heave ho.

Next time i might not be so nice and polite.

martin.maco

smccarrick wrote: »

If you response to this really is- well report them to headoffice- they're giving all of us a bad name- well, I'm sorry, I have better things to do.

Regarding telling Airtricity if/when you have a problem- seriously, when did you last try to ring their customer service? Life is too short to even try. Also- why should I. I really have better things to do than hanging on hold for a half an hour, before someone helpfully drops the call......

With regard BG and FG- I have signed direct debit mandates with them- I do not however have a fixed contract with either company- to avail of Airtricity's offers requires a person sign up with them for a fixed period of time, and there is a clause to ensure people are not allowed change company again within the defined period without penalty. I can wander as I choose from BG or FG without penalty.

Better things such as complaining on the internet?

Regarding their helpdesk; yes, its incredibly slow, as a customer I fortunately never needed to call them but I know it can take ages. However for all technical issues you still call ESB or BG networks.

Regarding contract; as far as I can remember your original problem was showing your bank account number, not the contract. Moreover Airtricity offers 3 different deals and only one of them is with a fixed term contract and as my commission is the same regardless of which one you choose, I really don't have any reason to force somebody to sign the one with contract.
PS: the funniest thing is that almost every day I meet BG customers who are trying to fool me that they have signed a 1 or even 2 year contract.

the groutch: Even if you dont have a reason I accept it as long as you say it without making stupid excuses.
Btw in this technological age I first time heard about Airtricity when I started working for them. I dont watch tv, more or less ignore online ads and if i see something in a newspaper or a magazine, I usually forget about it within 2 minutes so the chance I would do any online research is almost zero.
As I already said, marketing is a serious part of every company's business plan and if someone decides to choose direct marketing, it's for a good reason and not because someone enjoys harrassing other people.

foggy_lad

martin.maco wrote: »

Better things such as complaining on the internet?

Regarding their helpdesk; yes, its incredibly slow, as a customer I fortunately never needed to call them but I know it can take ages. However for all technical issues you still call ESB or BG networks.

There are thousands of customers with serious issues that have to use the very slow customer care line, many probably signed up by yourself and other sales people. How many of those people now wish they had shut the door on you?

Regarding contract; as far as I can remember your original problem was showing your bank account number, not the contract. Moreover Airtricity offers 3 different deals and only one of them is with a fixed term contract and as my commission is the same regardless of which one you choose, I really don't have any reason to force somebody to sign the one with contract.
PS: the funniest thing is that almost every day I meet BG customers who are trying to fool me that they have signed a 1 or even 2 year contract.

So people will do anything even tell big fat lies to get sales people like you away from their door, does that not tell you that they are not interested?

the groutch: Even if you dont have a reason I accept it as long as you say it without making stupid excuses.
Btw in this technological age I first time heard about Airtricity when I started working for them. I dont watch tv, more or less ignore online ads and if i see something in a newspaper or a magazine, I usually forget about it within 2 minutes so the chance I would do any online research is almost zero.
As I already said, marketing is a serious part of every company's business plan and if someone decides to choose direct marketing, it's for a good reason and not because someone enjoys harrassing other people.

Again telling people thay are thick ignorant paddys who cant see what is good for them. then telling us how you would never have signed up without the help os a sales person as you dont watch tv or read papers or use computors lol


if i want to save money on my gas bill i will look for the information and make a choice based on the image of the company and any offers available as well as the reputation of the company and their agents, i dont need some ignorant sales person sticking their foot in my door as i never buy anything at my door!

rememberthis

I recently wrote to Airtricity and made a formal complaint about 2 guys at an Airtricity stand in the UCD area. They were very persistent and I signed up (because I was actually interested) for more information, and the guy started calling and texting me CONSTANTLY saying that if I didn't sign up he would get fired etc. It was a bit freaky to be honest. I sent off the complaint with the guys number, and a few days later I got an apology call from the company stating that the particular agents hadn't been given appropriate screening or training. I never heard from the guy after that day.... Needless to say, I will not move to Airtricity because of the incident

wmpdd3

Catalpa1 wrote: »

But I dealt with several cases where the debitted amount never rose in line with the consumption. So you started at say €40 per month which came out of your bank account ok your bill may have said that your consumption was say €160 -€80 (40x2) leaving a carry forward it was never called arrears from my memory of €80 this was rince and repeat for a few bills. Your right people should look at their bills but a lot of people dont and those I dealt with ALL claimed that when they signed on they were told that they would be advised in advance if the amount to be debitted was to altered. When everything was going through at the lower figure they thought all good since the €40 a month was an Airtricity figure to start with they were blown away when they got demands looking for several hundred euro. Just the experience of those I dealt with

My sisters neighbour had something like this. She had 6 bills from ESB all about 130 each. The Airtricity told her she would save 20% so she should sign up to pay €55 per month and if it went up over the winter her payments would go up and she might be in credit for a while.

This didn't happen. She paid the €55 a month for 5 months and then got a bill for €300. Due 14 days after the date it arrived. She had nothing in writing just a few scribbles that the rep did.

Best advice I can say is check units used against you actual meter every month.

Glad I didnt bother switching for the saving of €6 per month! what my saving would have been for the winter.

martin.maco

Foggy lad

If thousands of half million customers have problems, then it means that at least 90% of them are happy and satisfied, doesn't it? The only difference is that whille satisfied people talk maybe to their family, the dissatisfied have to complain to the whole country.
Moreover if you didn't sign the one deal with contract, nothing is stopping you from switching to a different company

I don't respect people who lie to me, neither in my professional nor in my personal life, period. Moreover there are people who genuinely believe that they are in a contract with BG so how am I supposed to know who wants to get rid of me and who just didn't read the terms and conditions carefully?

I didnt say that I don't use computer, I said I ignore adverts (and people who use adblockers don't even see them at all). BTW I signed up myself, nobody from Airtricity has ever knocked on my door as far as I can remember.

the groutch

martin.maco wrote: »

Foggy lad

I don't respect people who lie to me

like we don't respect the Airtricity salespeople who tried to claim that 10% off leccy + 10% off gas = 20% off

martin.maco

the groutch wrote: »

like we don't respect the Airtricity salespeople who tried to claim that 10% off leccy + 10% off gas = 20% off

This would be ok, the problem is that because of this experience you apparently disrespect all salespeople and the company itself.
Airtricity as a company knows about such cases and actively discourages their sales representatives from saying such things. And unless you call them and report who where and when told you that, there's not much more they can do.

Shelflife

they are very pushy, to the point where its bordering on aggressive. Ive had two calls, first one gave the whole spiel and wouldnt take no for an answer and got stroppy when i asked them to leave.

The 2nd one called when i was changing a wheel on a car, car jacked up me red in the face trying to get the nuts off and he asks me would i be interested in changing suppliers?

the look on my face and the wheel brace in my hand gave him the answer he needed.

discostu1

Airtricity as a company knows about such cases and actively discourages their sales representatives from saying such things. And unless you call them and report who where and when told you that, there's not much more they can do.

ALL companies get it wrong at times I have had issues with Vodfone/Bt and BGE at various times, its how you recover from the negative that counts, saw this in todays Irish Times
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/pricewatch/2011/0328/1224293217623.html


Not lit up by big switch

<H1>A reader called Róisin contacted us to complain about Airtricity. One of its sales reps called to her house last September and, as she had previously switched her electricity supply to the company from the ESB, she was interested to hear more about the gas deal it was offering.


</H1>She discussed the details and decided to change supplier, then signed up. She got a letter confirming that Airtricity was in the process of transferring her account, but it went on to say she could no longer avail of the budgeting service for electricity billing because she was now a dual account holder. She contacted the company and cancelled her transfer to Airtricity for gas. She said it was important to her to budget to cover her bills.

“I was reassured that the application to cancel my supply from Bord Gáis had not yet been processed and that my account and supply with Bord Gáis would be uninterrupted.”

Being somewhat sceptical, however, she rang a week later. She was again reassured that the application had been cancelled. Cue a series of problems, the most serious of which saw her hit with an unexpectedly large gas bill from Bord Gáis Energy (because of hitches in the aborted changeover), and Airtricity cancelling her budget plan even though she had not become a dual-fuel customer.

We contacted the company on her behalf and were told that her electricity account had been restored to her chosen payment method, the Airtricity Budget Plan. Not so. We got another mail from her last week. “Is there no end to this saga?” she asks. She was contacted by Airtricity’s customer service manager following our intervention and, after “a lengthy discussion”, was assured that her monthly budget plan for her electricity account was being reinstated. She was offered a token payment of €100 to help address her gas bill. She was assured this €100 would appear in her current account within a few banking days.

“Well, here we are, it’s now March 19th and I’ve not seen a single cent credited to my bank account from Airtricity, and I have just received my online Airtricity bill for €143.21, a two-monthly bill with the full amount due to come out of my bank account via direct debit on March 22nd,” she writes.

We called the company again. A spokesman said Airtricity was “extremely embarrassed” that it had not followed through on resolving our reader’s problem “as we promised we would”. He said that “sometimes, despite our best efforts, we simply make mistakes, as we did in this instance . . . We have now returned Róisin’s account to her chosen budget plan and have applied an additional goodwill gesture to her account. We can only apologise again and commit to ensuring that we don’t let such simple errors reoccur.”

I think there is a danger that Airtricity will end up as positioning themselves as the Ryanair of the utilities nothing wrong with Ryanair I use them a lot, but all other things being equal price, route etc I would probably use Aerlngus. Mainly because Ryanair have such an abrasive public face. I saw last week that ESB Supply had disconnect a large number of customers of the first few months, BGE had done the same, Airtricity wouldnt give figures.which lead possibly mistakenly to a sort of worry of how bad were they.

With ESB coming back in to the market will they get bacK those who moved for price, if as you say you have to wait for your service call to be answered would you stay with that supplier?? I am only asking questions, I have no particular axe to grind with Airtricity, they are owned by one of the largest Utilities in Europe, and have enough financial resources to buy ESB/Bord Gais and probably AIB and BOF I I find the marketing of the company of great interest however

The_Conductor

martin.maco wrote: »

This would be ok, the problem is that because of this experience you apparently disrespect all salespeople and the company itself.
Airtricity as a company knows about such cases and actively discourages their sales representatives from saying such things. And unless you call them and report who where and when told you that, there's not much more they can do.

Martin- lets call a spade a spade.
Airtricity has a bad reputation in general, with much of the public- as a result of the actions of a not inconsiderable number of its salesforce.

I accept that these people are not direct employees of Airtricity and work on a commission basis (which from experience is always going to result in a salesforce who will stretch the truth to breaking point just to get a sale).

I also accept that there are honest and decent people both working for the company- and also engaged in sales on behalf of the company.

The fact of the matter is that the actions of a large segment of the Airtricity salesforce- have caused significant reputational damage to Airtricity as a company- along with tarring those who do play by the rules, with the same brush as everyone else.

Your comments about why don't we report the rogue salespeople to customer service- just don't cut any ice. Why should we? They are an issue for the company that the company has to solve- most of us have enough to do without investing time and effort in what is someone elses problem.

You can wave your banner of integrity here to your hearts content- no-one is going to doubt your personal credibility- its the credibility of the company of a whole, that is shot.

There is no need to take moral offence at what we've been saying here- its certainly not directed at you personally- however using retaliatory comments about the social status of some of your customers alongside the suggestion that they as intelligent people, are happy to switch- also doesn't cut ice.

You may have some sort of a crusade going on in your mind- and genuinely feel that you are acting in the best interests of people by trying to save them money- however noble these aims are- the reason many of us have zero intention of switching has nothing whatsoever to do with our intelligence levels, our ignorance of your product and how it differs to other products in the market etc, or a lack of recognition of the folly of our ways.

I have a certain amount of respect for someone who is willing to standup for what they believe in- but sometimes arguments are lost irrespective of the relative merits or strengths of the arguments being put forward.

If and when the public perception is that Airtricity has put its house in order- perhaps defending a few poor decisions made by salespeople in the heat of the moment- may be an easier task. Continuing to beat the drum here- is patently a lost cause however.

phill106

martin.maco wrote: »

6. Don't get paranoid about your bank account number, there's nothing illegal I could do with it. Airtricity bank details are printed on their leaflet, try to misuse them if you think it's possible. If you want to be 100% sure, ask in your bank.
any policy and I am not saying anything on behalf of the whole company.

Top Gear host left red-faced over bank ID theft stunt

07 Jan, 2008 15:52
The new year has barely started and we already have an odds-on favourite to win our 2008 idiot of the year award. Step forward Jeremy Clarkson, renowned UK celebrity petrol-head and all-round motormouth.

In his weekly column for red-top tabloid the Sun, Clarkson rashly publicised his bank account number and sort code in a dimwitted effort to prove that the UK government’s loss of unecrypted data discs was a lot of fuss about nothing. The worst that could happen, he figured, was that some fool would pay money into his account.

Within days a red-faced Clarkson was forced to recant after an unidentified member of the public accessed his account and set up a £500 direct debit in favour of UK charity Diabetes UK.

“I was wrong and I have been punished for my mistake,” the contrite Top Gear presenter wrote in a column for the Sunday Times. "Contrary to what I said at the time, we must go after the idiots who lost the discs and stick cocktail sticks in their eyes.”

martin.maco wrote: »

11. I am not direct employee of Airtricity.

So reassuring to have ones details given via a third party...

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

martin.maco wrote: »

Being a member of Mensa I am well aware of this and I take it as a compliment.

"the instant I know you are selling anything, that I'm not interested"

That's exactly what makes you ignorant and narrow minded,

This just shows how nonsensical your points are. You have no idea of my intelligence nor of my level of eduation. Your own ignorance is astounding, to say the least. You are achieving nothing in your attempt to convince people by resorting to personal abuse and insult. You are proving yourself to be very well qualified to work with these moronic door to door salespeople, who seem to think we have no minds of our own, are incapable of checking out the best utility providers for ourselves and calculating the REAL savings for ourselves at our leisure.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

martin.maco wrote: »

If thousands of half million customers have problems, then it means that at least 90% of them are happy and satisfied, doesn't it? ...

This just shows how badly informed you are in the field of customer service. No utility company, worth it's salt, would be happy with 10% of their customers having complaint or difficulty with the operation of the business. Most aim for 97% satisfaction rates or higher. Maybe that's the problem with Airtricity; they think 90% is sufficient.

TheIrishGrover

martin.maco wrote: »

Very interesting discussion and because I work as an Airtricity sales representative, I would like to say a few things about my job.
..........
3. Be honest and straight forward, don't lie or make excuses. If you behave like a reasonable person, you'll be treated like one. If you behave like a prick, you'll be treated like one. Always say the real reason why you say no and I'll accept it, even if you say something like "I'm just too lazy" or "I'm not used to make decisions".
4. If you don't know something, ask, that's why they send us to you. Don't say no just because you don't understand how our service works. Irrational fear of unknown things is called xenophobia.
........
6. Don't get paranoid about your bank account number, there's nothing illegal I could do with it. Airtricity bank details are printed on their leaflet, try to misuse them if you think it's possible. If you want to be 100% sure, ask in your bank.

3/4: What an agressive and unbelievably arrogant attitude. Your opinion is that these people (myself included as I find the fact that I cannot walk into my local store without being stopped, interrupted and harangued by these salespeople unacceptable. If I want to join them I will choose to do so) are either pricks, lazy or idiots or xenophobes?

I do not know anyone using airtricity so I will not comment about their service however I am getting more and more annoyed by their aggresive salespeople. While trying to talk on the phone to my mother walking down the street I was interrupted by 6 salespeople within 3 mins. I don't think I should be required to give an explination as to why I do not want to switch to them 6 times in 3 mins so if I come across as a prick then that's their fault.

6: Words fail me at the level of this ignorance :eek:

wmpdd3

Originally Posted by martin.maco
This would be ok, the problem is that because of this experience you apparently disrespect all salespeople and the company itself.

Mr Binman rep called to the door. I signed up, no probs, lovely guy. Gave me a stamped addressed envelope to put my DD request into as he understood I wouldn't feel great about handing it over on the door step.

He wanted to go over what would happen if I missed a payment etc or anything else I wanted to know but was lovely when I said I was happy to leave it at that.

foggy_lad

Board gas called to my door and the first thing was a question "are you thinking of changing your electricity provider?" My answer was no and they said "thank you for your time" pushed out some leaflet for me to take if I wished as they started to walk away. If I was changing from the esb I would those those nice people over nasty pushy atrocity people.

Padraig Mor

martin.maco wrote: »

Airtricity as a company knows about such cases and actively discourages their sales representatives from saying such things..

Yeah right.

martin.maco

foggy_lad wrote: »

Board gas called to my door and the first thing was a question "are you thinking of changing your electricity provider?" My answer was no and they said "thank you for your time" pushed out some leaflet for me to take if I wished as they started to walk away. If I was changing from the esb I would those those nice people over nasty pushy atrocity people.

I would love to work this way, unfortunately I would get maybe one customer per week.

lizzyxox08

martin.maco wrote: »

I would love to work this way, unfortunately I would get maybe one customer per week.

The reason Board Gais CAN work this way is because they get a basic wage, and earn commission on top of it!!

They don't need to resort to pushy sales tactics and "5 step people" to make their money and degrade themselves!!

Look im sorry i dont mean to cause any offence here, the reason i am posting is because I worked exactly like you did for one of these companies for the best part of a year.

I remember being trained to think that the airtricity deal was the best thing since sliced bread and "why wouldnt anybody want to save money..

It is truly sick.. I hope you get out of that whole pyrmaid schemey type scam !! The worst thing is, u have to figure it out for yourself.. every1 does.. I remeber a time when me and my colleague would come on here and look at these kind of threads and think to ourselves "what do they know" "they don't understand our business or our opportunity" and that we couldn't wait to prove our families wrong etc!!

this is what we were brainwashed to believe! That we would be only in the field selling Airtricity for as long as it takes! We choose how fast we can make it to management etc..

It's like dangling a carrot in front of a donkey, basically saying you want it you can have it!! But in the process you practially cut off your family, your friends because you are working 10,12+ hours a day! All in the hope of making 100,000 grand a year or whatever they have told you in your office!! The salary seems to vary in all different offices, funny that seen as we are all under the same umbrella! In my office it was 100,000, some other stories that I have read it's been 120,000 etc!

But let me ask you this... If a person was ruthless enough to see this "opportunity" through to the end and make 100,000 what good is that when ya have got no1 AND no time to spend it all.. cuz believe me.. they make you think That once you make it management you can work as little as you want etc.. That is MORE lies!! you work more..

But best of luck honestly... I hope you figure it out, I really do !!!

Again no offence meant.