To not have let the meter reader in to read the gas meter.

[Goawaybob]

It was about 2.30 and DP is off work poorly (not so poorly that we coudlnt have a lovely walk on the beach earlier ). He is self employed and we hardly ever get any time alone. So we were enjoying a nice cuppa before the school run.

Bang bang at the door (i thought it miht come down) and the meter man was there. I just coudlnt face pulling all the crap out of the cupboard for him to read the meter, plus its a pre-pay digital meter, which one time when we had a problem with it, british gas were able to tell us exactly what was on it, remotely, so they must have remote access to the details.

I told the man, very politely that it wasn't convenient. He just stood there sort of incredulous and didnt say anything, i said, besides its a pre-pay meter, i don't need you to read it, thanks. He said, Yes you do actually, so i said no it is not convenient sorry but you are welcome to come back at a more convenient time. He just looked really pissed off and said, Well im afraid its now or never, i'll just put you down as a refused entry shall i? I said, yeah, if you want, and shut the door.

But now im miffed, i did not refuse entry, i told him it was inconvenient because it was (cupboard chocca block and would have been a pita to get to meter and it was nearly time to pick up DD) - grrrrrrr

Mchappy - i wouldnt have let them in today, it wasnt convenient!

Apologies bob (AKA someoneelse) - I will condemn the sin and absolve the sinner. Is that better? I am feeling a little brusque this evening. Sorry.

Much better thanks Orm :)

I don't let the gas man in unless my OH is sat in the living room. I'm not letting any stranger in my home when it means not only letting him in, but closing the door behind him as the meter is in the cupboard behind the door.

YANBU for not letting him in and asking him to come back later.

I always tell them it's not convenient, getting to our meters means rarranging half the living room and a ton of crap. I just ask them for the little card, DH reads it when he gets home, and we put it in the window for them to get next day when they come back past. They spend more than one day on each area anyway, trying to catch as many people as they can apparently, so it's no trouble to them or so ours said once

I'm not sure I believe they're paid per reading, they must be missing out on a fortune by only working Monday to Friday daytimes. There must be whole estates where no-one is in and the meter man goes home sobbing with holes in his shoes to eat cold baked beans because he never reads any meters.
Surely it would mean they'd come back at evenings and weekends, but they don't.

Yanbu, I've told meter men in the past that it hadn't been a convenient time and they've been nothing but nice and polite about it, your meter man sounds very rude.

We always get left a card and asked to either leave it out, phone the reader with the numbers or to put it in online. I assumed this was standard practice. They do seem to call roughly once a month, which seems excessive

Our meters are in the cellar, which is accessed through my wardrobe

Edustudent I'm sorry but you simply HAVE to let them in one day and do just that, they would run a mile and think that you were some sort of serial killer (notes jealousy of narnia in your house!!)

Apparently they are obligated to physically read your gas meter at least once within a specified time frame as when they read it they also carry out a visual safety inspection.

I got into a whole load of hassle because I kept being out when they called (at work) and on the one time I was in I refused entry as I was sleeping
post night shifts. I then got a letter from supply company explaining their legal obligations and stating that if I did not permit them access within X number of days (think it was 28) they would cease my supply.

This was winter in Scotland so I had to arrange for my retired parents to come along and wait in for them on a specified day. Whole load of hassle and as a result I would never refuse them entry again.

YANBU

YANBU. I have refused to answer the door to meter man when breastfeeding. Just had a card put through the door asking us to read meter and let them know.

I can imagine if everyone refused entry (as you did by not allowing him to come into your home) it would be a bloody tiresome job for the poor gas man having to return to all of the properties he had already visited at another time. Nowt wrong with a bit of consideration for someone trying to do their job.

You were BU.

Our meter reader does not make a visual safety inspection. I once worked with him somewhere and I know he's not qualified to make those kind of assessments. The only reason he has this job is because it is convenient to him.

If we're not in when the meter reader comes we just phone the reading through (and we can always tell as one meter is inside and the other is outside and they always leave the bloomin' door open!)

I don't think you're being unreasonable for not letting him in but you might need to arrange another date for them to read the meter or else your bill might be wrong and you could be in for a nasty surprise when it's eventually read. (Sorry I don't know how reading pre-pay meters works so I might just be telling you to suck eggs anyway, in which case sorry!)

YWNBU. It is completely up to you if and when you let someone in. Quite often, I won't even open the door or answer the phone if I can't be bothered, and one of the reasons I can't be bothered could be because I am lying on the sofa watching the telly and I don't want to get up.
So what if it puts them out? They can come or call back again. And they will, if it's important enough.

I have done this as the meter reader was very aggressive and obnoxious.

I did not feel comfortable letting him into my house (was alone).

The heavens didn't explode, I just called up my supplier and told them why I had refused entry. They were more than fine about it and I gave them a reading over the phone.

Goawaybob I have before, the poor man looked terrified at me throwing all my shoes across the room

Yep, YABU, sorry. You've just made his job harder, and whenever he tirns up the cupboard will be full of toot!

Legally every company has to physically read the meter ever so often (or at least make an attempt)). British gas do not read their own meters. A company does it on their behalf. YABU, imo. He was only doing his job, since they have attempt to see the meter they are not obliged to come again. So he was right, its now or never. If he had come and you weren't in it would be different. But this will be logged as 'refused entry' to cover themselves.

IF it isn't convenient I wouldn't even answer the door. Once you've opened the door you have to let them read it, i think. IF you don't answer the door it would be logged as "not at home" which looks less bad than "refused entry". Then they would leave you a card to take your own reading and send off to British Gas. T

YABU
They do have to legally check the meter once every 18 months - for safety reasons and fraud prevention. Yes, even if it is pre-pay.
If you are topping it up often, it can't be that hard to get to. You could have tidied the cupboard back up after dd pickup
Every time they have to come back or make an appointment, it costs more. Just don't moan about your bill going up!
You did refuse entry so can't really blame him for that. If you had taken 10 seconds to realise you were making his job harder you could have been a bit kinder - karma and all that...

I too have pre paid meters. At one stage we were getting the meter readers around every 3 months or so at usually very inconvenient times eg school runs , dinner time etc

So I read up about it. I legally have to allow them in to inspect my meters for faults ot tampering once a year. So that is what I do now. And if they come inbetween I refuse entry and explain why. Some get arsey some not.

Perhaps if they didn't go over the same residence every 3 months or so which is unnecessary it would help their costs a little :)