I'm busy and I can't spare the time to listen to people arriving on my doorstep trying to flog me things. This morning I received a letter from an organisation calling itself ERDF, apparently a service incorporating both electricity and water supply (surely a dangerous thing mixing these two? Ed.)
In their missive they say they are going to call in about two weeks time to discuss 'improving my supply' and have stated a time of day when they will do so. My thinking is this: I get my electricity from EDF and I get my water from Reseau and am perfectly happy with both. Why would I have anything to do with what I suspect is just another ruse of weaselling money from my pocket to theirs. Does anyone have experience of these people? Are they genuine? Should I contact my marie? Ought I to prepare a (metaphorical) bucket of water to chuck over them? Or should I just carry on painting/playing my fiddle and not answer the door?
I would be grateful if anyone would share their views, thank you. And a Happy New Year to one and all!
We had a perfect deterrent to door steppers in the form of a German Shepherd until his demise a couple of months ago. In the spring I shall be seeking a large dog, the one we still have has a tendency to welcome and lick their hand whereas I prefer to tell them to lick something else. Then vanish. But a brave new world my foot, it is rapacious aggressive selling well spiced with scams. If I was polite I might say 'No thanks' but they do not do my manners much consideration, so neither do I.
I agree, Mark. It is for the electricity, nothing to do with water, and they weren't selling us anything. They helped us obtain a substantial refund for electricity used but charged at the wrong rate.
Oooh err! Remote oversight - more than a little Orwellian, don't you think Brian?
We already have a meter for the water and a new (4 years old) electricity system and board. I apologise if I sounded a bit paranoid with the original question but I'm wary of approaches made by people with 'official' notepaper and so on since, when once, living in the UK I got bamboozled into signing up to a telephone company that promised to save me money. It cost a lot of arguing and angst to disentangle myself from them eventually and their wretched contract when I left to move to France. Since the company in question could possibly be french (given that french companies now own water and electricity amongst many other facilities in the UK) I thought it might be wise to be cautious about signing up for anything else.
Why can't these people just leave me alone? I thought I'd left all that doorstepping and pestering behind but I guess it is all part of modern life and so it would be beneficial to develop avoidance strategies - especially concerning those firms who ring you and chunter on about goodness knows what. If I've got the music on I now give them a good old blast of Dylan, rock music or Buddhist chants down the receiver to brighten their day. Do I get thanked for it? No but it's all part of the service I now provide for weary phone salespeople. In fact I'm looking forward to my Legion d'Honneur medal in this new year's honours list for helping rid the world of stress and work related illnesses. OK, rant over. Gosh do I feel better. Is there any champagne left after last night? Time for a mid-morning snifter....take care all.
ERDF have apparently moved into the water and telecommunications business, so it may well be very real. They are not actually 'selling' water but have something to do with water technology as far as I understand it. They are trying to badger people into upgrading meters at present, I believe they want to be able to have remote oversight using the internet, so it may be very real.
ERDF Electricite Reseau de France, part of the same organisation as EDF, but look after the electricity network rather than the commercial side of things, much like France telecom and orange.
Dont think they have anything to do with water supply though.
Oh, I see. So they're official then? My suspicious mind! It's very good of you to take the time and trouble to reply, thank you for putting my worries to rest! Thank you Harriet. Have a restful and very happy New Year.
ERDF is separate from EDF. When our old meter was broken and our cheap hours never clicked on, ERDF reviewed all of our factures for two years and made the determination of what our refund would be. We had to agree to it, and then they sent the agreement to EDF who then reimbursed us.