I have just had a knock on the door from someone from an energy company (not sure if I should name them on this forum, but the name of the company is three initials, the first being an E). He had a clipboard with names and addresses - I have seen him and his colleagues in other streets in the area in the last couple of days.
He started out by saying that I was entitled to a 20% reduction on my electricity bills. I said that I didn't get my electricity from his company and he said that they actually supplied the electricity for - and he reeled off a list of energy companies. Therefore he was able to offer me this discount.
He didn't at any time say that he was trying to get me to change electricity suppliers, but I think that he was. I told him I wasn't interested and he crossed my name off his list and went off, a bit miffed.
Did I do the right thing?

I reckon so avisk. Nobody gives away something for nothing but it would have been a switch scenario without a doubt.

I bleddy hate it when I get people like that knocking on my door. I am not rude unless they are persistent and cocky as they are only trying to earn a living but even so...

I will be rude if I have to be! I don't like being rude in their faces (it's easier on the phone), but I reckon that if I let them talk at me for the 10 minutes or so that it takes for me to say "No thanks", then it's 10 minutes they could have spent with someone who WAS interested...

I find it's best not to answer the door in the first place. Yes, you did the right thing.

Yes you did. I too am happy to be rude if they force the issue. I never buy anything at the door.

I once asked one of these bods to leave some literature with me so I could think about it. He said he couldn't do that, which I think says everything.

I had a phone call from Eon stating the same thing 20% of my energy bill so I said "Come on then prove it" there was a silence and he said he couldn't actually prove it unless I went with Eon.....laugable!!
These Guys must think we have all just stepped off a banana boat!

Thanks everyone. I thought I was right but I was slightly confused by the way he suggested (never actually said it of course!) that he was representing my current electricity supplier.

And he wasn't rude or pushy exactly, just said "well, if you don't want to take up this offer, I can't force you" and looked rather mystified.

Honestly, I am not doddery or stupid or naive, but the approach was really quite clever - he actually made me feel a bit guilty for telling him to go away!

I dislike the way they are not upfront about the fact that they are selling something. The last one we had said something like, "We are just in the area checking that you are on the right tariff", holding a list of names and addresses. You could have easily thought he was from your own utility company. I bet lots of vulnerable people have signed up for something without understanding what was going on.

Avisk I too have had the mystified response - "what, you don't want to save money?" it's just part of their patter. If it was genuinely your own supplier making you an offer they would have just rung you or mailed you.

The names and addresses thing they had would have been adds of people who are NOT currently with them and not the other way around.

These people are unscrupulous I'm afraid.

I hate doorstepping. I rarely open my door in the evening as people i know don't tend to call round without letting me know they are coming. I'm sitting in the living room, the door goes directly onto the street (terraced house). They keep knocking, I keep ignoring.

Do you know what the bloke did? Opened the letter box and peered through and happened to be looking straight at me. Then he started saying stuff like 'open your door, don't be so rude'.

Unbelievable! I was so shocked I didn't do what I should have done which is open the door and demand his name and company and make a formal complaint.

Anyway, can't be done with my new letterbox.

I was door stepped last week. The bloke showed me his ID and was kitted out like a meter reader. Then the spiel started -
He: Would I like to save 20%?
Me: Of course I would!
He: All you have to do is switch to...
Me: I can't.
He: You can
Me: I can't
He: It's easy, anyone can do it.
Me: Really I can't
He: Why not?
Me: Its because of my current supplier.
He: Rubbish. Anyway who is your current supplier.
Me: You are.
He: Well you are not on my list, you can't be!
Me: Wait a mo... <reaches into meter cupboard where old bills are kept> There you go!
He: Crestfallen

I have also been known to bait Warcry mongers and Latter Day missionaries.

Also beware of the "just sign here to receive information scam" too. Mrs SM was nobbled by this a few years OK. Some people can be very persuasive... If you feel harassed or cheated report it to the company involved and or trading standards or even that consumer proggy on the other side!

When I was young and naive having just bought my first house (many years ago!), we were doorstepped by an unscrupulous stone cladding saleman (remember them?!).

He made an appointment with my (then) husband (also very young and naive!)to come round later that night...

He stayed ALL EVENING, sitting in our living room trying to sell us hideous stone cladding for the front of our terraced house for £2000.

This was the eighties - we only paid £17500 for the house in the first place! We were very poor. We had no furniture (at all!) apart from a bamboo settee that should have been in a conservatory, no carpet, no heating, nothing.

Surely this bloke could see that we just couldn't afford it, and that we had a better use for the £2000 than to buy stone cladding from him!

He did the usual things - offer us a 'discount' so we'd act as 'advertising', ring his 'boss' to reduce the price - and this is 11 o'clock at night! He just wouldn't leave until we signed up. We cancelled the agreement the next day.

It still makes me mad thinking about how this salesman had tried to take advantage of a young couple who clearly had no money...

I've had a lady in the pouring rain tromping round just after we moved in - will I give £8 a month to help dogs?
Then a bouncy young man bang on tea time, do I want cheaper calls/broadband etc. It was half past five and I had kids wanting tea which I told him repeatedly, which he ignored. I said what fool signs up for something on a doorstep without reading anything or looking into it? He said he was only in the area that evening. It was talk x2 so I said I'd look at them on the internet when I had time. He couldn't seem to believe that I needed to talk to Mr. about it or look further into it. He expected me to take his word for it, and sign a piece of paper!
I had no intention of doing but I kept him talking and sounded interested etc. for a good fifteen minutes because he was on my doorstep the entire time and it was raining. He got the message and stomped off. Very wet though