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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to not expect the meter reader to be rude to me?

50 replies

AuntieMaggie · 22/09/2011 20:53

I was rushing to leave the house earlier and was running late (about 7pm) and there was a man knocking on the door next door. He asked if I lived here and said I've come to read your meters. I said I didn't have time as I was running late. I'd just locked the door, remembered I'd forgotten something, went back in leaving the door open and he was peering round the door and said "your meters only up there" pointing behind the door and I told him that the other one (gas) is in a cupboard in the living room. He said it would only take 30 seconds I repeated I didn't have time. He walked away muttering something under his breath.

The way he spoke to me was so rude and I'm a bit put out by him nosing in my house after I told him I didn't want him reading the meters.

Argh! Sorry I just can't stand rudeness.!

OP posts:
BeerTricksPotter · 22/09/2011 20:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
AuntieMaggie · 22/09/2011 21:03

I know - I got half way down the road and realised he didn't need to read our meters anyway because we're on some sort of tariff that means they don't need to (not sure what/why - DP sorts it out!) plus they are coming to service the meters next week!

OP posts:
welliesandpyjamas · 22/09/2011 21:07

I wonder if sometimes they are paid for the number of meters they read? Because there is one that comes here who is quite pushy about reading it. Ours is in a bedroom and because I don't like having people traipsing through the house when it is messy when I'm home alone with ds2 I put him off. Even when ds2 is napping in there he asks if he can come in anyway if he is very quiet Hmm

loudee · 22/09/2011 21:08

I had this too! It wasn't convenient for him to come in when he knocked on the door so I told him either I would read it myself and call him or he could come back another time. He also argued with me and told me it wouldn't take long. Terrible way to treat customers.

Original poster
AuntieMaggie · 22/09/2011 21:15

Just before he followed me and started peering round the door he said "isn't there anyone else in?" - found it creepy too.

OP posts:
ImperialBlether · 22/09/2011 21:16

If you don't have to have your meters read, maybe you should check he actually was a meter reader. Why would they send someone out?

loudee · 22/09/2011 21:22

I completely agree; it really could be quite intimidating. I wish I'd called the company now actually, it's totally wrong to try and argue their way into homes.

troisgarcons · 22/09/2011 21:28

Meter readers are on 'price work'. They get a set of names and addresses and get paid according to the meters they read. On a bad day they will earn very little, on a good day they'll make a living wage. Hence they tend to do their rounds late afternoon/early evening.

Sometimes we do need to sit back and realise our actions impact on others. He said it would only take 30 seconds I repeated I didn't have time. He woudl have earned on the 30 seconds you didnt have time for. 30 seconds.

southeastastra · 22/09/2011 21:31

blimey mountain and molehill comes to mind.

would it really have hurt to let him read the meter?

people on this website do get wound up by the most mundane things these days.

Sandalwood · 22/09/2011 21:32

"isn't there anyone else in?"
I can understand you being paranoid about that, but it really just sounds like he wanted to read the meter - maybe another person being in the house would have enabled him to do that.

AuntiePickleBottom · 22/09/2011 21:34

i would of just let him read the meter

itisnearlysummer · 22/09/2011 21:40

I don't answer the door to them.

In fact I've told npower I'm not letting the people in because they are so rude. The person I told said that they weren't npower employees and they used an external company and they were always getting complaints about the rudeness.

I've had them be rude to me, rude to the children. Without fail. They want to earn that money? They can stop banging on my living room window and shouting at me then.

Original poster
AuntieMaggie · 22/09/2011 22:57

troisgarcons but it wouldn't have taken 30 seconds because the second meter is in a cupboard in my living/dining room behind my dining table and chairs which I would have had to move therefore missing the train I was rushing to get.

southeastastra and AuntiePickleBottom if I'd have had time to let him read them I would've done!

OP posts:
Tewkespeggy · 22/09/2011 23:09

auntieMaggie you must share the same meter reader as me. he came before and was really REALLY rude and made me feel unconmfortable. Asked one of the neighbours if she felt the same. She said she hadnt let that meter reader in for years, unless her husband was home.

talked to my DH, changed to an online tarriff where we read our own meters, with a different company. read our meter and sent off the readings at the begining of August, 1 week later SAME meter reader knocks on door. i told him we didnt need our meter reading, he said we did. i said we didnt becuase we did it online, he said he had been told to read our meter and since he was here he must come in and read it.

I told him that i wasnt going to let him in to read my meters and he went ballistic. I told him he should come back in 10 mins when DH would be home.
he trust a card at me and off he went. shouting as he went.

DH came home and saw how upset i was. insisted i report this meter reader. i phoned our service provider (no on the card he gave us) and they also explained that these were 'outside contractors' then proceeded to put me through to him so i could tell him myself! WTF! If i'd felt confident enough to challenge him further i would have.... while he was on the step.

Hubby went out to post a letter and coincdently meter reader nowhere to be found!

despite promises from service provider... i've heard ...nothing.

southeastastra · 22/09/2011 23:11

maybe the poor bloke is bloody fed up with people slamming the door in his face when he is just trying to do a job.

PuspornInBoots · 22/09/2011 23:12

I never ever let them in various reasons long story but just say that it isn't convienient right now but if they give me the little card DH will do it when he gets home and the reading will be propped in the living room window from 4.30-5pm that night, they can come back anytime after that to get it. DH reads the meter as soon as he comes in and we've never had any complaints/moans/rudeness from anyone. I wonder if that's because they can nip back on the way home/to the depot wherever it is they go to roost so still get paid as if they'd read it personally doing it that way... I didn't know they were on piecework so to speak.

Tewkespeggy · 22/09/2011 23:14

southeastastra maybe he should try being more polite and less creepy/agressive to women. He could have easily come back in 10 mins, if it was me overreacting. He would NEVER speak to my DH like that.

Lets get this straight this is not one bloke having a bad day, this is a charater trait, and not a good one if people feel uncomfortable in thier own homes.

MrsvWoolf · 22/09/2011 23:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Tewkespeggy · 22/09/2011 23:21

you catch more bees with honey than with vinegar

Smellslikecatpee · 22/09/2011 23:46

I appreciate that these meter readers have a living to make, (oh and why are they always male isn?t some external company missing a trick here, why no female readers??)

And if they are ?buying? the names addresses from the energy companies well why aren?t they been updated to remove those of us who read our own?

I work from home on a regular basis, my down stairs is open plan and I have an office area there. The amount of times I have been in a phone meeting that has been disturbed by a constant knocking on the door followed by knocking on the window is stupid. It?s at least once a week.

I have actually made a sign that I stick in the window on days that I wfh saying I read my own meter, didn?t help.

And really am I going to let someone who has behaved aggressively on my doorstep in to my house??

TunaTiebacks · 23/09/2011 01:47

You can't just read your own meter forever though, you have to have it read every 2 years at least, for fraud/safety reasons. A meter reading isn't just to produce an accurate bill, it's a sort of 'visual inspection' to make sure you haven't tampered with it to get free energy/lied about the reading to produce a low bill. They can get a warrant to gain access to read it after 2 years. (I used to work for an energy supplier)

The meter reader didn't sound that rude IMO. Certainly not complaint worthy.

ElizabethDarcy · 23/09/2011 08:06

I have had lovely metre readers and rude ones. The fact is I am a woman alone and I have children to look after, and I do not like a strange man in the house, plus they always come at awful times like when I'm feeding the kids or they are sleeping.

One metre reader saw the 4 kids that were here and asked me if they all had the same father!!!??? They are various ethnicities as I am a childminder. Totally inappropriate. I showed him the door.

I have never let one in since.

ElizabethDarcy · 23/09/2011 08:07

ps: We will ensure they are read at least once a year... when DH is home.

SmethwickBelle · 23/09/2011 08:14

I tend to let them read them but if I was busy I would say no without feeling bad, it's my house and I decide who comes inside.

dribbleface · 23/09/2011 08:38

I'm happy to let them in but our meter is in the cupbaord under the stairs and i was a bit Hmm last week when he watched me struggle pull the mountain of crap few bits out the way first, i'm 38 weeks pregnant and the size of a small house!