Why Are Electricity Suppliers Call Centres So Useless (Bit Of A Rant)

[ProDave]

One of our rental properties is empty at the moment.  It's heated with storage heaters.

A week ago I went there and turned the heaters on as it's getting a bit chilly.

I called by today and the heaters are stone cold.  I checked things out and concluded their (old mechanical) time clock is not switching on (thanks to the seal fairy the cover is not sealed so I can turn it round to night time, and there's no power to the off peak CU)

So I called the DNO (Scottish & Southern) but as it's not a "power cut" they can't help me, it must go through my supplier.  The fact that is ALSO scottish & southern doesn't matter. Different phone number.

I then spent a frustrating half hour on the phone. going round in circles. (this is the edited version, it went round in circles several times at each stage getting nowhere)

"What's your meter readings"

I told them

"That's the same as last month? that can't be right"

the property is empty and nothing is turned on

"Take another meter reading and phone us back"

I don't need to, it will be exactly the same, I have identifed a fault with your equipment that needs fixing, can you arange that please?

"I'll speak to the meter accuracy department"

5 minutes of canned music later.

"They want up to date meter readings"

I've given those to you

"They can't be correct, the meter must be faulty"

No, nothing has been turned on that's why there's no usage, please just come and fix my fault.

"I'll speak to the metering again"

More canned music

"They still want up to date readings"

I've given you those. But if it makes you happier, replace the meter AND the time clock at the same time please

"I can't do that, it's seperate departments so that will be two appointments at different times"

Why can't you send one person to fix whatever is needed?

Sorry two seperate departments"

All I want is someone to come and fix a fault I have identified with your equipment If you can't make an appointment to fix this fault, please transfer me to someone who can

More canned music

Eventually I get to speak to Sarah, who is going to "look into it" and make an appointment, and call me back.

I shan't hold my breath while waiting.

Sometimes I regret being honest and telling the truth.

Next time i'll say smoke is coming out of your time clock you need to get here PDQ before it sets fire to the house. (of course the smoke would have stopped by the time they got there)

Why oh why is it so bloody difficult.  I used to think SSE were good, but now I've changed my mind, they are just as bas as the rest of them.

the trouble is none of them have any technical knowledge.  But even if they did, it's probably not acceptable to tell them, that I turned the time clock around to night time (in the middle of the day) and it did not power up the off peak CU.

I need a stiff :Y

headbang   headbang   headbang

 

[Evans Electric]

You answered your own question there Dave.............. they are not technically trained ...probably cheap labour manning the phone centre.

I did a job further up my own road , phoned the now gone, Central Networks. Can you arrange an earth terminal to be fitted at ( address)  .

" You need an electrician to verify bonding is fitted"

" It is fitted , I'm the electrician"

" So you are Mr (Jones)  ?"

"No I'm Mr Evans"

"Your name doesn't match that address in our records"

" I don't live here , I'm the electrician  the houseowner is Mr Jones"

" Oh I see ... well Mr Jones will you explain to Mr Evans that PME is not available in that area"

With that I gave up and sent a headed letter in asking for an earth terminal , verifying the bonding .  They wrote back saying a TN-S earth was not available at   (  My address) .  

Then 3 weeks later they turned up out of the blue and fitted an earth terminal up the road.  !!  :C

 

[Andy™]

making the problem sound worse usually helps with these cases

 

[apprentice87]

Tell them the meter is faulty so you have bypassed it with an old coat hanger, they will soon come..

john

 

[kerching]

Mention

Intermittent smell of burning and a sound like frying bacon.  A brief allusion to it being in the same enclosure as the very old gas meter will usually get them there before you hang up the phone!

 

[ProDave]

I had another one earlier this week.

An old lady phoned me "my power went off at 3AM"

It was on my way home so I called in to look, but as I suspected, there was now power into the property at all so I told her to phone the DNO.

half an hour later I had a call from the DNO guy in attendance:

"You told the customer there was power into the house"

No, I said there was NO power into the house.

"You said the main fuse had blown how do you know that"

No I said there was no power into the house, and it was quite probably the main fuse that's blown. (The seal fairy did NOT visit and the seal was still intact)

"It's a cable fault in the street, why did you tell them it was the fuse that's blown"

I said it's PROBABLY the fuse blown but there could be other reasons.

His parting words were someone has dug through a street cable.

WTF was he bothered about?  But who would dig through a street cable at 3AM?

It's a strange world we live in.

 

[Andy™]

I had another one earlier this week.

An old lady phoned me "my power went off at 3AM"

had something similar a few weeks ago, but complete opposite response - regular customer phoned me at 5pm saturday afternoon, no power when they got in. it had went off the day before for an hour

phoned DNO. they turned up half n hour later but couldnt do anything because the fault was outside. they called someone else in, who worked until 1.30am to find and fix the fault

 

[apprentice87]

Hi all,

The DNO lot are a load of lazy incompetant halfwits. Near where i like there is an old garage that is being rebuilt into a shop. The other day i saw a hole on the ground, so i had to have a look!! There is a three phase service cable that they have disconnected and pot ended with one of them "torpedo things. So far so good. Only problem is, the cable leads to the garage through a length of 6" glazed sewer pipe, so who did this in the first place!! Secondly, where they have terminated the cable, the end of the torpedo is about 2 inches from the end of the pipe, and they have wrenched the cable round at quite am acute angle to make the torpedo fit the hole in the ground. All they had to do was to take a hammer and break off about 6 inches of the earthenware pipe, and they could have had a nice curved bend and their job would have been a lot easier. Another job they have done near me is to run a load of new services into a row of small shops. If it was you or me digging a trench for them to lay a service cable they would want it at a minimum 18 inches to the top of the duct. They though, have installed the cables about 6 inches down... Makes you laugh....

john

 

[Evans Electric]

Why are  those words in blue in mine and Prodave's posts .......click them and you are transported to ebay . ?  

DON'T PANIC   the forum has been compromised !!!

Edit ;   They are not blue anymore , what was that all about ? 

 

[ProDave]

If I get nowhere with this, I have formulated "plan B"

Phone and ask to be converted to a standard single rate tarrif, which of course will get the time clock removed and a single rate meter fitted.

As soon as that's done, phone and ask to be converted to Economy 10, which of course will result in a new meter and new time clock.

Before I put plan B into motion, is there a minimum period you have to remain on a new tarrif before you can change?

EDIT, Why don't I just ask to switch to economy 10? that alone will force them to fit a different time clock so would "fix" the problem.

Or plan C, change energy supplier, then report the fault again. Does anyone know ANY electricity supplier who actually has decent knowledgeable and helpful staff? 

 

[Evans Electric]

Western Power seem to have a more positive attitude in this area TBH.

 

[Nicky Tesla]

tell them there is a power cut,  which there is if it does not work properly.

 

[poni]

I don’t think they remove the meter anymore, they just add the two readings together and charge the one rate, that way if you want e-7 or e-10 all the gear is still there

 

[batty]

I had BG out the other day to fit an Isolator cost the customer £50 ish I think. It all started with the last meter monkey breaking of the meter screws so I couldn't connect new tails. Any way I got chatting to the lad. I asked how long he had been fitting isolators and meters. He said six months before that he had worked in tescos but had been on a six week course to get trained up. That shows the state of the trade these days.

 

[ProDave]

All sorted.

Sarah did phone back and gave me an appointment for today.  they could only do "PM" which was any time from 12-6pm

I was just thinking of setting out at 11:15 when my phone rang and it was the DNO guy phoning to advise I was his first afternoon call and he would be there just after mid day.

That was good, it confirmed my appointment and I knew I didn't have to wait all afternoon.

The guy who attended was as usual a decent guy. He didn't question anything he simply replaced the old separate mechanical time clock and meter, with one of the new all in one dual rate meters with the time switch built in.

I happened to mention the fiasco with the call centre, and his response was "yes I hear it all the time from customers"

So it's all fixed, but why oh why to the half wits at the call centres have to make it such a difficult process?

 

[Andy™]

so much easier when they actually send someone out (who knows what they are doing) to look at the problem, rather than try and diagnose & fix the fault on the phone (with staff who dont have any idea what leccy is)

 

[ProDave]

What surprised me, but probably explains the decent service, was the guy who attended was as old as me. And clearly experienced.

 

[NozSpark]

Glad to hear that you got it sorted,,, but you might have been better off saying that "none of your storage heaters were working" and leaving it at that