Guy calling to door to door re Esb/ airtricity?

whatlliwear

Has anyone else had any callers to their door saying he can reduce their bills etc? He has i.d but I am always so scared to sign up for these on the spot offers.. He said he'd need a meter reading & to ask a few questions.. I asked him to call back later..

ben.schlomo

whatlliwear wrote: »

Has anyone else had any callers to their door saying he can reduce their bills etc? He has i.d but I am always so scared to sign up for these on the spot offers.. He said he'd need a meter reading & to ask a few questions.. I asked him to call back later..

There is a word called 'no' you can use if you dont want to do it, if you do want to do it then get on to Airtricity yourself. Crisis averted.

biko

Just say "No I am not interested". Do not give them any details. Do not let them read meter.

This works for me when they call. They're a pita.

cats.life

ya ive had a few callers out on the monivea road in the last few months saying they are cheaper than ESB and i would get 20 % cheaper cos its door to door sales, id dont understand that. i think thats just for the first 12mts.

antoobrien

My stock answer: if I wanted to be a customer of the company I wouldn't be on your list.

GerryW

Have had these call and changed over. Saved quite a bit on electricity bill. However all their offers only last for one year. Secret seems to be to change supplier every 12 months. Make sure they are genuine before letting any of tnem into the house.

galwayrush

Persistant feckers, it actually takes a few NO's to get rid of them.

CrowdedHouse

I tell them with a straight face 'my appliances run better on ESB electricity'

fishy fishy

beware: make sure you see ID from him. There is a scam going round where people call to the house and say they are checking something for the ESB - they then want to read your meter - its a way of checking out your house - ask for ID and do not let them in. I know people had callers like this from the "ESB". However when they called the ESB to verify the call was genuine, they said they had no callers out in the area at all. The person had no ID around him, had no uniform, no ESB van, and scampered when he found out people were on to him.

Mrs OBumble

Guys, in fairness, lots of the legit folks doing this are simply people like you who haven't been able to find a proper job - and a trying whatever they can get rather than scratching.

Yes, there are chancers out there and yes you should check IDs and be wary re giving over private info or meter readings.

But if they're genuine, at least be polite. If you lost your job, it could easily be you on the other side of the doorstep.

cats.life

what i say to them is ''this is a rented house and the auld landlady would not change for anthin''. they dont get paid if they dont make a sale ,comission only. they walk miles every day in all weathers.

pjmn

I tell them I'm delighted they called - grab my coat and tell them I'm just heading out on my rounds as a Jehovah Witness but before I go could I interest them in the Bible/Jesus and all that jazz...

We usually agree to call it quits!

whatlliwear

I forgot to update on this.. It turned out to be legit, I was just a bit paranoid.. Offering to switch you to Airtricity with a discount..

skinny90

Haha ya he called to me with his lady friend asking me if I wanted to talk about how I could save money switching to who ever he worked for,I said straight up that I wasn't interested,the man replied"oh so you don't want to know how your 'entitled' to massive electricity savings"needless to say I closed the door

Irishgoatman

GerryW wrote: »

Have had these call and changed over. Saved quite a bit on electricity bill. However all their offers only last for one year. Secret seems to be to change supplier every 12 months. Make sure they are genuine before letting any of tnem into the house.

GerryW is right on this. Change every year if someone can show you that you'll save money.
Better to have someone who can show you the figures, even if he's come to the door cold calling, than someone trying to baffle you with figures down the 'phone. But look closely at the I.D.

And yes there are savings available now due to competition.

cfeeneyinterior

Yea, Im all for changing but do they offer rates better than what is already there if you do a bit of checking. I assume they get a commission for getting you to change suppliers but the rates they quote are the standard rates available to everyone whether they use the door to door guy or not.
Check www.bonkers.ie for all the rates and switch to the cheapest. Simples.

Irishgoatman

Fine, but I'm never keen on agreeing to a contract unless I can see, and read, the small print.

As a movie producer once said: A verbal contract is not worth the paper it's written on. (I think it was Sam Goldwyn).

Rodgeb

I did this door to door job for a few months when I was Australia on a whv five years ago. Really hard work but made a fortune on commission, as much if not more than I have ever made in my 'proper' job (usually about 1400AUD a week). I guess the exact same model is used here now.

Quite a few people were convinced there was a scam (there wasn't) however about half the houses you would call to were delighted to sign up and save a few quid.

Its the same thing if you change company yourself but most people either don't know about changing or don't have the time to figure it out so all you do is do it for them.

When I moved back to Ireland and the electricity market was deregulated here I had no problem signing up when a guy representing Bord Gais Energy called around.