Doorstepping Can Be Counterproductive (NPower)

Member Name: gothick

Product:	NPower
Date:	08/12/02 (158 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None that I can think of...

Disadvantages: Pushy doorstep sales people

Since I moved into my flat, I've been with NPower, simply because that's who the previous resident used. I've only need to contact them a couple of times, and ended up holding on the phone or talking to a robot for quite some time before I got what I wanted. Still, the utility companies seem pretty much of a muchness on that score.

On Friday night, at about half past seven, a buzz sounded on my entryphone. I wasn't really expecting a conversation that started "Hello mate!" to turn into a disguised sales pitch, but it did, with the chatty salesman starting off by saying that he was just trying to find the "last few people" who hadn't yet received their NPower discount.

I told him I wasn't interested. A few minutes later there was a knock at my door. I ignored it. About twenty minutes after that, he was back knocking on the door, and there he was again, trying to get me to "sign up for a discount." After listening to him while he tried to sell me electricity and gas without mentioning the word "sell", and without knowing that I was already with NPower (you'd think they'd have records, really, wouldn't you?), I yet again told him to go away. I was quite disturbed by the pushiness, and the way that the "discount scheme" was put across as a great thing that everyone in the area already had, and that I was just being a bit slow to take advantage.

Mind you, it did get me thinking about getting a discount on joint supply of gas and electricity. So I called up SWEB, who I'm with for electricity, and found out about their joint supply discount, and signed up for it. I've never had much of an opinion about SWEB either way, but they've never come round knocking on my door on a Friday night trying to sell me anything, so I'd rather give them my money than give it to NPower.

Summary: