Prepay Ireland

kapa

I was wondering if anybody else had any issues with callers to the house from Prepay Ireland. A guy from Prepay Ireland called to the house last Monday. He never introduced himself or the Company he represented. He started off talking about prepay boxes and wanted an electricity bill. I hadnt a clue what he was on about. My first thoughts were that this was about the new water meters. He kept asking for an electricity bill and I asked him if this was for an electricity meter and he said yes. I told him that I was not interested in an electricity meter and he still insisted that I get him a bill to see if I qualified for a free meter. I told him I did not have a bill and he smirked and asked had I thrown them out. I told him no but I did not have one to hand. I really did not like this guys aggressive hard sell attitude and feel that if I had been an elderly person could easily have been duped into signing up for this without even knowing what I was signing up for.

dudara

Posters - A general reminder here to stick to the original topic.

OP - I'd contact Prepay Ireland and make an official complaint about the representative.

L1011

Had a salesman for one of the prepay firms trying to argue that they were the "same price" as I was paying Electric Ireland - despite the EI price they match being the rack rate that anyone with a brain doesn't even pay.

Its fairly standard for door to door energy sales staff to be ridiculously aggressive or deliberately confusing.

somesoldiers

My young cousin announced last week that he had found a job. I was happy for him until I found out that it was selling a very similar product to this door to door.
There was an "interview" on the Friday, seem more just to see if he could speak English really and he was told that evening that he was in, though it wouldn't be phone sales as he seemed to be under the impression it would be, induction was immediate Mon- Wed and was immediately given the patter about earning big bucks and getting to go to exotic places by a guy that had been there 14 months and came from a plumbing background but had risen quite quickly!
I believe they have very little training, they are hiring young people who can't get jobs anywhere else and are desperate to try anything. I saw the booklet they were given and it did say that this was the cheaper option, I quizzed him on how this could be when they had to pay his bit out of it as well as the crowd he works for, he was bemused. They were more concerned with making sure their sales people didn't smoke or chew gum while going to door. The approach seems to be throw the sales force at enough doors and they will get some sales.

He was taken to Wexford last Thur and brought back Sat and had made 3 sales in that period @ e30 commission per sale. Where he stayed, whether it was paid for, whether he got some sort of per diem he has been very button lipped about, he seemed to be proud of the fact that he was earning some money so I didn't push although we all believe he is heading for another fall. His parents are happy for him to at least get into the swing of getting up in the morning, heading to work etc instead of sleeping half the day.

dudara

@somesoldiers - Did you bother reading my warning at all? Stick to the OT and offer advice related to that topic. I don't want this descending in a general, salesman-bashing thread.

dudara

V.W.L 11

Had an Electric Ireland rep call to my house yesterday offering me a prepay meter @ 137 euro per year cheaper than PPP,then an additional 10% discount if I switch my gas to them also and still keep it as a prepay system,might sound too good to be true but at present I am being absolutely screwed by PPP and BG.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

OP all you can do is lodge a complaint with Prepay. If enough complain they may mend their methods.

kbell

He's representing pre-pay but could be from an outsourced agency that sells for a number of different companies.

dudara

kbell wrote: »

He's representing pre-pay but could be from an outsourced agency that sells for a number of different companies.

Doesn't matter - ultimately the buck stops with Prepay. If they hear enough complaints, they will take action with their outsourcers.

somesoldiers

dudara wrote: »

@somesoldiers - Did you bother reading my warning at all? Stick to the OT and offer advice related to that topic. I don't want this descending in a general, salesman-bashing thread.

dudara

Sorry but I don't see how my suggestion as to why door to door sellers of prepaid electricity might be unfit to do same and providing an example of this is off topic? If anything I was saying that the sellers are not properly vetted or trained and at no point bashed them.

Sully

somesoldiers wrote: »

Sorry but I don't see how my suggestion as to why door to door sellers of prepaid electricity might be unfit to do same and providing an example of this is off topic? If anything I was saying that the sellers are not properly vetted or trained and at no point bashed them.

You can say that about any d2d reps. It appears in this case, the sales person was trying a different approach to try win the customer before introducing the product/company. It's not the usual approach, but some people get desperate in sales especially d2d sales as there under immense pressure.

Most providers, if not all, will have all the deals in writing.