Bogus callers beware

[jacob marley]

Today i had a visit from one purporting to be from EON asking if he could look at the back of our last electricity bill to look for a number to tell if we was on the right tariff and if we wasn't to tell us how to be on the right one .
He had the right gear on and the right machine to tell who was living where any way i could not find the bill.
And he arranged to call back later when old gal marley came back from shopping .
So i rang EON call centre and threw them into panic mode but was told do not let him in and do not show him the bill and they had not heard of him i got his name of his badge hanging round his neck and if he came back ring the Police .
So if you have this type of caller do not let him over the step mine did not get past the gate...jacob

[SarzWix]

Ooh, that's a bit JM! I wonder what he hoped to achieve from it? Identity theft? Or just a gander round your house? Very unpleasant anyway. Glad I have a Big Dog to answer the door with me...

[PAULW]

We have had a couple of these round, they say there has been a change in tarrifs and ask you which one you are on then before you know whats happening they have signed you up to another company without asking you whether you want to or not, they get commision are you are left in the doo doo paying more for your electric/gas and trying to get out of a contract, mother was just about to sign when I stopped her totally peed of the little scammer.

[matthew2riches]

Nothing new

They're all based on the same principal. I studied confidence trickery for a while, and I'll tell you that it is surprsing what information people will handover when caught unaware

BE CAREFUL... EVERYONE!

[northepaul]

Had acouple a few years ago now - one in Southern Electricity uniform (we were with them at the time) asking to look at the meter, didnt think anything of letting him in, once inside couldnt get rid of him, turned out he was from some other electricty company trying to get us to change supplier! I had my daughter who was 4 at the time there too. Very scarey! In the end I picked up the phone and rang the police. He soon disappeared sharpish then.
When we moved house we had a constant stream of people knocking to get us to change supplier, all of them in bogus uniforms to look official. One of them (when I mistakenly did open the door once) put his foot in the door so I couldnt close it and then when I threatened to ring the police he started shouting abuse through the letter box!!
I dont open the door at all now if I dont know who it is. (I have a side window I can look out of) And not at all at night, unless I am expecting someone.

Just makes you think how awful it must be for old people living alone!

[Janek]

Yes, they put over the hard-sell here Down Under as well. Nearly all private residences are fitted with security doors so when we answer a knock at the door we can see who it is and talk to them through the security door. But there is still a fair proportion of homes (especially rented ones) that don't have security screens and they are targetted more often. My mother who lives alone and was 85 years old at the time fell for a guy's spiel and signed up. When I called the rep up soon after he left to reverse it he said it had already been approved thru their computer system. The contract expired a couple of months ago and I changed my mother back to our former supplier who gave her a good deal in view of her 'senior status'. My mother is now under strict instructions from me not to let strangers into her home and not to sign anything without me seeing it first.