Film, Media & TV1 min ago
Meter Reading Job. A Con?
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I've just filled out an application form for employment with a gas/electric meter reading company (Meter-U). I have just read their employment information and the company are expecting successful applicants to hand over �520, which would then be re-imbursed weekly over the first three months of employment. I would have to 'beg, borrow or steal' this amount of money! Does anyone else on AB have any experience or advice about this company? Many thanks in advance.
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I've been looking at Meter-U jobs via google and see that the franchise fee has been reduced to £100 with new rates of pay, depending on which part of the country you will be working in. I live in densely populated High Barnet, Outer London. Does anyone on this forum know what the rate of pay is for London/Greater London?
Some job ads state that if successfull I will be earning £5.93 hour during the first four months before transitioning to a franchise. That doesn't seem like a very good starting salary. Are there any add ons/bonuses paid on top of that?
Any advice that can be given will be appreciated. Eric
Some job ads state that if successfull I will be earning £5.93 hour during the first four months before transitioning to a franchise. That doesn't seem like a very good starting salary. Are there any add ons/bonuses paid on top of that?
Any advice that can be given will be appreciated. Eric
Thanks for all the comments. Anyone who works for Meters U is a mug. Simple as that. Want to know why? Well, I worked in the management side of the business. I left because I was sickened by the way they treat the readers. They look on them as pure shi*te. They joke about them while the managers are getting 50-60k per annum before benefits. We were told to make the mugs work, and we need to keep them working, thinking they can earn a living. Who is this dman guy on here? I must know you because you're obviously a manager. Butter 'em up son..keep the idiots busting their arses for nothing. Don't work for this company. Don't waste your time or your money to make the fat cats richer.
Thanks for all the comments. Anyone who works for Meters U is a mug. Simple as that. Want to know why? Well, I worked in the management side of the business. I left because I was sickened by the way they treat the readers. They look on them as pure shi*te. They joke about them while the managers are getting 50-60k per annum before benefits. We were told to make the mugs work, and we need to keep them working, thinking they can earn a living. Who is this dman guy on here? I must know you because you're obviously a manager. Butter 'em up son..keep the idiots busting their arses for nothing. Don't work for this company. Don't waste your time or your money to make the fat cats richer.
Thanks for all the comments. Anyone who works for Meters U is a mug. Simple as that. Want to know why? Well, I worked in the management side of the business. I left because I was sickened by the way they treat the readers. They look on them as pure shi*te. They joke about them while the managers are getting 50-60k per annum before benefits. We were told to make the mugs work, and we need to keep them working, thinking they can earn a living. Who is this dman guy on here? I must know you because you're obviously a manager. Butter 'em up son..keep the idiots busting their arses for nothing. Don't work for this company. Don't waste your time or your money to make the fat cats richer.
I have today 16/11/11received an info pack from Meter-u They state the franchise fee has been reduced from 800 to 100 pounds this will be deducted in to installments of 50 pounds . they claim a "franchisee" visits aproximatlely 250 properties per day , Hmmm allowing 5 mins per house/flat/ farm that adds up to 20.8 hrs per day ! I think I will give this one a miss
I've been working with meter-u for 5 weeks and already feel like slave. i have calculated what I could possibly earn is appx £800 (my calculation, I don't have my payslip yet) but spending £50 a week on petrol not even mentioning about how far you have to walk and franchise fee. I have tried to do my best, walking-driving very fast and I say it's nearly impossible to hit target so finally to get paid enough to survive! AVOID!!!
I've been working with meter-u for 5 weeks and already feel like slave. i have calculated what I could possibly earn is appx £800 (my calculation, I don't have my payslip yet) but spending £50 a week on petrol not even mentioning about how far you have to walk and franchise fee. I have tried to do my best, walking-driving very fast and I say it's nearly impossible to hit target so finally to get paid enough to survive! AVOID!!!
i recieved my pack today, just thought id have a quick look on the website and astonished to have read all these comments, i live in manchester and the pack makes this job (franchise)sound fantastic. i work 12 hours a day on the roads 7 days a week and the money is good. but fancied a change to have a little family time. sounds like working for meter-u would be exactly the same but without the pay. in a dilema now, has anything changed as their seems to be more cons than pros
regards
tom
regards
tom
sounds like u are scared to take chances. its actually hundred quid. taken out of your wages, at fifty quid a month you get out what you put in.u do a lot of walking 67 pence per read. most houses are dual fuel. so ya looking at £1.34 per house how many can u get through a day or are u still one of those people thatlies in there bed most days saying ee hey am nackered, eastenders has got u worn out. meter cuts the men out from the boys. probabley see u next time a pass the job center al give u a wave
sounds like u are scared to take chances. its actually hundred quid. taken out of your wages, at fifty quid a month you get out what you put in.u do a lot of walking 67 pence per read. most houses are dual fuel. so ya looking at £1.34 per house how many can u get through a day or are u still one of those people thatlies in there bed most days saying ee hey am nackered, eastenders has got u worn out. meter cuts the men out from the boys. probabley see u next time a pass the job center al give u a wave
grafta, which meter-u do you work for ? i ask because by your calcs i have earned over £300 on mon and tues and i know its more like £100. Non doms are 67p, dom reads are 20 odd pence.
Having paid £800 franchise i feel totally ripped off at the moment. when you start you dont think about the winter months when by 4 o'clock its pitch black and no-one answers the door. The weather has a big bearing on your perfomance, the wind,ice,snow is not a problem in fact a bit of snow keeps people in but persistant or heavy rain is impossible to work in especially as the hhu is not designed for outdoor use.
The way your work is given takes hours of work in the evening to sort (just what you want after walking the streets for 10 hours) the data base is so garbage that very few non doms have correct info which leads to hours of frustrating searches often ending at a site which has been empty for years (they still count as a no read against your target) . In a nutshell , no matter how many doors you knock, if your in a high work area nobody is home and if your in a rough area people are home but will never open the door.
The areas i cover see me earning at most min wage and often a lot less, add to that my average milage is a 50 mile round trip, accounts fees etc its a fair bit to shell out.
I put in a lot more effort than i have any job but it seems like im p.ssing in the wind most of the time , so sorry grafta you dont always get out what you put in.
Just to finish , the fact that 2 sets of fingers are in the till before the readers get paid might explain why rates have been cut twice in the recent past.
Having paid £800 franchise i feel totally ripped off at the moment. when you start you dont think about the winter months when by 4 o'clock its pitch black and no-one answers the door. The weather has a big bearing on your perfomance, the wind,ice,snow is not a problem in fact a bit of snow keeps people in but persistant or heavy rain is impossible to work in especially as the hhu is not designed for outdoor use.
The way your work is given takes hours of work in the evening to sort (just what you want after walking the streets for 10 hours) the data base is so garbage that very few non doms have correct info which leads to hours of frustrating searches often ending at a site which has been empty for years (they still count as a no read against your target) . In a nutshell , no matter how many doors you knock, if your in a high work area nobody is home and if your in a rough area people are home but will never open the door.
The areas i cover see me earning at most min wage and often a lot less, add to that my average milage is a 50 mile round trip, accounts fees etc its a fair bit to shell out.
I put in a lot more effort than i have any job but it seems like im p.ssing in the wind most of the time , so sorry grafta you dont always get out what you put in.
Just to finish , the fact that 2 sets of fingers are in the till before the readers get paid might explain why rates have been cut twice in the recent past.
Many years ago when I lived in the Welsh valleys I worked for a meter reading company called Accuread, I found it fairly easy to be honest, I'd log on in the morning and plan my route, I was expected to go to 300 houses and obtain 200 reads which equates to 66% which I normally did in about 8-9 hours, if it was raining or I fancied an easy day I'd go to the new housing estates where there were outside boxes and bang them in then go to the old terraced houses in the afternoon/evenings when there's more chance of getting customers in, if I had read too many meters and got too high a percentage I'd just type in 'not in, not in' until I reached the magical 66%, some days I wouldn't even leave the house, my advice would be give it a go, it's £100 but you don't have to pay it all at once and if it goes tits up just put it down to experience, if you don't give it a go though you'll never know. Hope this is of help to you.
I did this job for about four years, but gave it up last October. The reason was because the pay has been massively cut.
When I first started it was 50p per read for the domestic British Gas work which is the majority of what you do all day. When it was 50p you could earn decent money, but only if you worked hard, and out every evening and the odd Saturday. By the time I had left the pay for British Gas domestic reads had gone down to about 20p. On top of that, because everyone was leaving they were giving out more work which made it impossible to hit target. This meant I was getting the lower rate which was 18p. For the amount of you work you had to do, the pay was a joke.
I don't want to stick the boot in on Meter-U, as they were an ok company to work for for several years. One of the reasons I'm writing this is because I have a profile on the 'oppertunities' page on their web site. I state how the pay is good when you work hard. Obviously when the pay was cut I asked for my profile to be removed (twice) as it no longer reflected my opinions. I've just had a look and it's still on their website.
So as a balance I think it's only fair I write about the pay on here.
When I first started it was 50p per read for the domestic British Gas work which is the majority of what you do all day. When it was 50p you could earn decent money, but only if you worked hard, and out every evening and the odd Saturday. By the time I had left the pay for British Gas domestic reads had gone down to about 20p. On top of that, because everyone was leaving they were giving out more work which made it impossible to hit target. This meant I was getting the lower rate which was 18p. For the amount of you work you had to do, the pay was a joke.
I don't want to stick the boot in on Meter-U, as they were an ok company to work for for several years. One of the reasons I'm writing this is because I have a profile on the 'oppertunities' page on their web site. I state how the pay is good when you work hard. Obviously when the pay was cut I asked for my profile to be removed (twice) as it no longer reflected my opinions. I've just had a look and it's still on their website.
So as a balance I think it's only fair I write about the pay on here.
Hi dturn, I was considering applying to Meter-U but am now reconsidering after reading your last post. I live in South West London (Putney) and coming from a densely populated area would imagine the work issued would be plentiful. Did you work in London too?
Which profile on the Opportunities page belongs to you, as both meter readers seem glowing in their praise.
Which profile on the Opportunities page belongs to you, as both meter readers seem glowing in their praise.
Hello Rob Wood, I'm not sure I need or want to say which profile I am as it doesn't really make much difference? Yes I worked in South London.
At the time of writing the profile, the pay was better than it currently is.
Meter-U also got a contract with Scottish Power in the last couple of years, payment for these meters was supposed to supplement the lower British Gas rate, but the reality was that the target on the Scottish Power meters was very difficult to hit, and there weren't enough of them to make up the loss anyway.
And finally there is the way that the pay is calculated. The pay is worked out monthly which means if you have one bad week, your whole month's pay can be ruined. When you know your pay is going to be low anyway, you don't have much motivation to stay out for the extra hours. That wasn't the case before when the rate was better.
As I've said though I don't want to stick the boot in on Meter-U as I was quite happy working for them for several years. As can be seen on this thread I stuck up for them several times as I thought some of the comments were unfair. But the pay is now poor for the amount of work required so I cannot recommend the job. I'm also disappointed my profile has not been removed as I no longer work for them and it does not reflect my opinions.
I can only speak from my experience working in South London, it may be easier up North?, but the rates are still the same.
At the time of writing the profile, the pay was better than it currently is.
Meter-U also got a contract with Scottish Power in the last couple of years, payment for these meters was supposed to supplement the lower British Gas rate, but the reality was that the target on the Scottish Power meters was very difficult to hit, and there weren't enough of them to make up the loss anyway.
And finally there is the way that the pay is calculated. The pay is worked out monthly which means if you have one bad week, your whole month's pay can be ruined. When you know your pay is going to be low anyway, you don't have much motivation to stay out for the extra hours. That wasn't the case before when the rate was better.
As I've said though I don't want to stick the boot in on Meter-U as I was quite happy working for them for several years. As can be seen on this thread I stuck up for them several times as I thought some of the comments were unfair. But the pay is now poor for the amount of work required so I cannot recommend the job. I'm also disappointed my profile has not been removed as I no longer work for them and it does not reflect my opinions.
I can only speak from my experience working in South London, it may be easier up North?, but the rates are still the same.
Hi dturn, Thanks for your lengthy reply. Reading through the earlier replies, some posters state that some meter readers were working crazy hours and earning up to £40,000 per annum. I gather this kind of salary is no longer obtainable, given the current pay rates? I notice that their franchise fee has been reduced to £100, is this due to the reduced read rates too?
Thanks for sharing your experience, it's really appreciated.
Thanks for sharing your experience, it's really appreciated.
Earlier this year I encountered a new Meter-U recruit doing his morning rounds in South-East London and asked him about the possibility of applying to work for them. He said that although the work is hard, he has the potential to earn up to 75 pence per read, from being issued around 1250 jobs per week.
dturn, if you're still willing to answer any questions, can you please confirm that this is true? If your profile is on their website, I assume you were one of the top earners at the time you wrote it but if you're no longer working for them, things must have drastically changed to cause you to leave. Can they still justify calling themselves the "number one metering organisation in the country" as their website states?
If I was to take a chance and set up a franchise with them, would I be able to retain a limited company through another meter reading company via tupe if it goes belly up? Did you have to give up your limited company upon leaving?
I currently read meters for G4S and am paid weekly via PAYE but feel the effort I have to put in is just not worth it after the tax man has taken his cut. I have to achieve 65% access before the bonus increments kick in but this is only possible if I work at least 2/3 evenings per week and every Saturday.
Hope you don't mind the lengthy essay, dturn, but if you can offer any further advice it would be a great help. If I spoke to Meter-U directly they would obviously make it sound like the greatest thing since sliced bread but hearing from someone in the know would be more beneficial.
dturn, if you're still willing to answer any questions, can you please confirm that this is true? If your profile is on their website, I assume you were one of the top earners at the time you wrote it but if you're no longer working for them, things must have drastically changed to cause you to leave. Can they still justify calling themselves the "number one metering organisation in the country" as their website states?
If I was to take a chance and set up a franchise with them, would I be able to retain a limited company through another meter reading company via tupe if it goes belly up? Did you have to give up your limited company upon leaving?
I currently read meters for G4S and am paid weekly via PAYE but feel the effort I have to put in is just not worth it after the tax man has taken his cut. I have to achieve 65% access before the bonus increments kick in but this is only possible if I work at least 2/3 evenings per week and every Saturday.
Hope you don't mind the lengthy essay, dturn, but if you can offer any further advice it would be a great help. If I spoke to Meter-U directly they would obviously make it sound like the greatest thing since sliced bread but hearing from someone in the know would be more beneficial.
Hello Kent12, there's not much I can add to what I've already written really.
Regarding the company, it is yours. You use it to open a business account into which you are paid. If you leave the job you still have your company and your business account (and probably some monthly charges that come with it !).
If the pay rates are still the same, the only meters worth 75p were non domestic British Gas, and Scottish Power. However, at least 80% of your daily work is domestic British gas which was 20p per read (if you hit target) when I left.
Hope this helps.
Regarding the company, it is yours. You use it to open a business account into which you are paid. If you leave the job you still have your company and your business account (and probably some monthly charges that come with it !).
If the pay rates are still the same, the only meters worth 75p were non domestic British Gas, and Scottish Power. However, at least 80% of your daily work is domestic British gas which was 20p per read (if you hit target) when I left.
Hope this helps.
Just to add, there's also some hassle that comes with having the company. Meter-U recommend you have an accountant (which isn't cheap, £65 a month is normal), you then have monthly paperwork to send in, including mileage sheets, business bank statements and cheque sheets. This can take a couple of hours at the end of each month which is a hassle. Overall it wasn't worth the effort in the end.
You're probably better off sticking where you are.
You're probably better off sticking where you are.
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