Smart Meter being fitted-just heard a horror story

[Jofish26]

So I am having a gas and electric Smart meter fitted next Friday and my retired parents are going to come over and be at home while this happens.
My mum has been chatting to a friend who just had one fitted and has nothing but negative things to say about the experience. Apparently whilst there the engineer checked their gas fire,boiler and gas cooker.He condemned all of them and turned off the gas supply to them.She then had to get a gas engineer out to overhaul/check them out.The gas fire was condemned,the boiler was fine and had been regularly serviced and the gas cooker was fine apart from the ignition button had stopped working and she had been using a hand held ignition thingy which apparently isn't allowed? This is currently what I use to light my oven so I am worried they will condemn it and cut me off?
Is this right?
My mum thinks I might have to be there when he comes now and have all relevant paperwork ready(boiler service certificate)
When talking through with the customer service person on the phone I mentioned it would be my parents who would be there and they never challenged it or said anything about looking at any of my appliances or getting any paperwork out ready.
The only thing he mentioned was that my gas and electric would have to be turned off for about half an hour.
Can anyone shed any light on this? or had a similar experience?

I've only heard bad things about smart meters, along the lines of the technology not quite being there yet and you'll be overcharged and have no end of problems. Cancel, OP.

A gas engineer need your permission to switch anything off. If it is graded as Immediately Dangerous ( risk to live), they are obliged to report it to the Gas Emergency service provider if you deny them permission. If it’s labelled At Risk, you can refuse to have it switched off.
I would imagine I’d something was leaking gas would be classed as Immediately dangerous and if the switch was broken it might be labelled as AT Risk.

I love my smart meter. It’s saved us lots of money because we’re more conscious of what we’re using.

Why are you having one?
Won’t save money and will stop working if you change supplier
Total waste of time

I have nothing but good things to say for mine! I've never been overcharged due to it, it made everything easier. The person fitting it looked at nithing but the meters and asked where I wanted it. Mine was with british gas.

I haven’t had problems with ours but we’re not planning on changing supplier before we move so I have no experience of that side of things. Bills didn’t go up.

A Smart is like any other meter, tics over and counts KW used. No less accurate than any other meter. If you don’t want it to send meter readings for you can and have this feature switch off and take readings yourself or let the meter reader continue to do it.
The in house unit that show you what your are using is useful.

Never had a problem with ours.

If you change supplier and have one of the older meters, it will still work as a normal meter. The older meters will be update to the new software to enable changing suppliers in due course. Everything point to this being done remotely without getting another new meter.

I'm confused about the comment about waiting for smart meters that can cope with changing supplier. I just moved into a house with a smart meter and have changed supplier -it was as simple as in the last house with a non smart meter.

I have had them in two houses and no issues with either. Not over charged, I really don't understand why so many people are against them.

@TuckMyWin it won’t automatically send meter readings to your new supplier. Which is a big pro of smart meters as you are only changed for the exact amount you use.

I've got one with Utilita and the engineer didn't do anything like you described- at all. He was only there to install the smart meter and was really helpful.
I love mine, it's sat on top of my microwave and I look at it all the time, I can set alerts to let me know when I'm running low, I receive messages from my supplier on there, I can set daily usage limits etc, it's really good and it's amazing how you start saving money as you can physically see what you're using and if low I top up online which is on my meter within the minute.

I've heard loads of horror stories too but have nothing with positive experiences so far.

Um, surely if your gas appliances are dangerous it's a good thing if they get condemned? What am I missing?

This is mine :)

@wheniwasawandering, that's irritating, they didn't tell me that. Wouldn't have stopped me switching, because it's lots cheaper, and it looks like my new provider will be rolling out second gens early next year.

Anyway, mine was fitted a few days ago.
The only thing he asked about was which appliances were gas, which was just the boiler. He turned the boiler off to fit the meter but didn’t check it was safe or fiddle around with it.

Thank you for all your comments,Smart meters seem to be like marmite,love them or hate them.I am hoping to save money with it.
Thanks LondonMischief that information was very helpful.

@TuckMyWin the British Gas man told me a few days ago that you can still see your energy consumption on them and get the readings yourself to submit, but it won’t do it automatically!
I’m new to all this smart meter stuff!

Our installer said our fire didn't pass the test as the coals were in the wrong place!

We have had estimated bills for 8+ months after having ours fitted. Our provider was useless in dealing with the issue and just ignored our concerns. Then the day after we got back from holiday in June we received an immediate demand for an extra £500.
I actually requested the smart meter and now wish I hadn't bothered.

Smart meters are great, has saved us loads.

The meter fitters have a duty of care and I am certain that people would complain if they did not use due diligence to ensure they leave you safe in your property. Yes it might be inconvenient but that is a small price to pay for your family's safety.