Went to do an inspection on a single family home. The home owner was to replaced the SE cable between the meter socket and the panel because upon the initial inspection I noticed that quite a few strands were cut off of each conductor. The home owner replaced the SE cable with SER cable because "The guy in the electrical department(at the blue store)told him that SER cable is what he needed." No one has ever done this before but I don't see any reason that it can't be used for this purpose. What do you guys think?

Doesn't the "R" stand for 'replacement'?

Assuming he is replacing SEU cable (service cable, not a feeder), I see no problem as long as he cuts off the bare ground conductors. You do not want conductors in parallel (the neutral & ground) between the meter base & main panel.
Rick

I agree with Rick here only he has the option of cutting off the bare or the white.