Lost my heating but gained a stalker

[Coffeetree]

Just venting about this ridiculous situation. Took up my energy supplier's offer of a smart meter. Man came out and installed it, but in so doing disconnected my heaters. This was about two weeks ago.

Called back, no big deal, it's an old system. Finally last week two more men came out and did some stuff, assured me it was all fine.

Heating still not working. One of the engineers later texted me from his personal mobile asking me on a date.

It's really cold out here and I work at home. I tried to lodge a complaint but my energy supplier referred me to the local firm of engineers who installed.

I wasn't even bothered about a smart meter! I've got OfGem involved and it seems like they'll help. At least it's April.

[shocked] How in hell do you disconnect the heat when installing a meter. Weird.

How is it I've had three people in my home and all I've ended up with is no heat? Plus a creeper?

I'm thinking of just hiring my own electrician and sending them the bill.

My jaw dropped when I got the text late Friday night. He was probably already drunk.

I'd make sure that date message cost him his job.

You sound pretty resilient and on the ball; but what if he's doing this to more vulnerable female customers :-(

I assume he was very drunk when he texted. Certainly I sent screenshots to my energy supplier and the local firm where he works.

Also, still really cold in here.

I had a guy come to mend a fence for me.

Later that evening he texted me the very generous offer of paying half price for his service as an escort.

What is worse he had his disabled wife in the car when he came to do the work. (He was also 3 inches shorter than me and had bad teeth)

I resisted the urge to reply until I thought of a good answer

I finally texted back with In your dreams mate - to which I got the response that he hadn't sent it, one of his son's friends had done it as a joke.

Err really, so how could he refer to something we had spoken about (related to the fence)

Do you have a combi boiler? If the gas was disconnected to fit a new meter, when it's reconnected a combi boiler needs to be reset before it will work, which you would need to do yourself normally, rather than the person working on the meter. Could it be something like this that is preventing your heating from working?

No they're storage heaters with a certain wiring set up which means they only take in electricity at night.

Ah, I see, I get it now. And they still haven't fixed it? Storage heater systems aren't exactly complicated, I wonder what they've done. They all sound utterly useless (not to mention unprofessional). I hope you get it sorted soon.

Thank you! It's all been pretty weird.

The next time I have someone in I'll ask a male friend to be here, just to sit around and look mean.

There was a poster on here last year who was asking if she should message the boiler man and ask home out.. there were many yes go for it replys. It’s weird and creepy and your post shows it from the other POV.

Well it's creepy because he "stole" my number from work.

@YawnAndTheyWillYawnToo

There was a poster on here last year who was asking if she should message the boiler man and ask home out.. there were many yes go for it replys. It’s weird and creepy and your post shows it from the other POV.

The difference the other way around is that the customer doesn't have the tradesman's address so the potential for stalking is much lower. The "he's been in my house he knows where I live" factor is what makes the plumber asking you out so much creepier than the guy who does your MOT.

That and the fact that the person hasn't chosen to have a personal relationship.

@BattledoreAndShuttlecock I was going to say the same but then decided that no one’s number should be used for any purpose other than what is was intended for when provided. It’s like the creeps who send DMs on LinkedIn. Nowhere feels safe sometimes.

Reminds me of a cab driver who took me home one night after a night in the city. He kept texting me after asking for a date. His final resort was to offer to pay me. Reported him to his firm and he got the sack.. Thankfully he never came after me.

@Coffeetree

Well it's creepy because he "stole" my number from work.

This is a breach of the data protection act then. GDPR breach. Suggest you contact the company and say you are reporting them for this. And for their failure to self report (which is a legal requirement for them) when you alerted them to fact that one of their employees used your PPI to contact you personally. Never mind for the reasons he did so .

ico.org.uk/for-organisations/report-a-breach/
www.gov.uk/data-protection/make-a-complaint

Shouldn’t take to long to log it. They will have a fine looming unless they can explain it away.

Any form of tradesman / customer romantic approach has the potential to be creepy unless very carefully approached, but from someone who's been in your house it has an additional creep factor.

Awful behaviour.

When I was in my late teens we had builders in for repairs after a flood (bungalow). I had a noticeboard up in my bedroom with some photos pinned to it amongst other things and a few days after the builders had left I noticed of them had wrote ‘Want to take you out beautiful’ with his number. He’d written it on my prom queen certificate
Seriously creepy.

Hope your heating gets sorted, I think your energy supplier should credit your account as a gesture of goodwill!

@Coffeetree

Well it's creepy because he "stole" my number from work.

And that there is a GDPR breach, and I would say gross misconduct.

So Bulb has said they're looking into it. Still no heating.

I considered just engaging an electrician I know to rewire everything and fix it, but he said since it's a meter issue it would have to be someone engaged by my supplier.

Ofgem said they won't do anything for eight weeks.

Are you all for real?