Cold Calling

So a strange thing just happened. At 6pm on a Friday evening I get a call from an unknown number in Nottingham. Fearing an automated PPI recording, I gingerly pick up the phone to reveal an actual person, apparently calling from EON energy. She's made a good start by choosing my energy supplier, which means there's a chance she's genuine. She says she's calling to discuss my account, and asks whether she can check a couple of security questions. I have no idea why my account needs discussing, and am reluctant to answer security questions that might pass on personal details. I feel like asking her whether I can ask a few security questions, but I run with it. Having successfully proved I am who I am and where I live, she tells me that she's been reviewing my account and I am several hundred pounds in credit. She needs an up to date meter reading to prove this, and I oblige, and after several seconds of tapping on a keyboard she confirms that I am still several hundred pounds in credit. She asks whether I would like a refund of several hundred pounds and a reduction in my monthly payment. I say yes, and after several seconds of tapping on a keyboard she confirms that the refund will arrive with me in a week and that my monthly payment will be reduced by £90. This seems too good to be true.

Part of me is still wondering if I've just been robbed. Or whether somehow during this conversation she has gained important knowledge that will lead to a fraudulent attack on my account. I guess I'll know when the several hundred pound refund turns up or not.

Another part of me is wondering why I was paying such an amount to begin with if, after just a few months of living here, I have somehow accrued such a sizeable credit. How do they work it out?! Why was it so wrong? Did they assume I was a family of four? Or an elderly gentleman with a vulnerability to winter chills? Is the default setting an assumption of massive heat loss from the property?

Whatever the reason, it is potentially the best random phone call I have had in some time. I shall have to reduce my automatic cynicism in future. Unless of course I am robbed in the next week.