Real-life MMD: Should I share utility switching cashback?
Comments
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Keep the money.
As you say yourself, you've done all the hard work and achieved a saving for your flatmates already. Look upon it as your commission.0 -
I think you should keep it, but I do think you should agree it with your house mates first - I'd be amazed if they don't tell you to keep it for the leg work.
If they insist in sharing the pot I'd just keep that in mind for anything future (whether you chose to disclose is up to you) after all you've saved £150 whats £30 one off when that £150 each year0 -
No way-you've done the legwork, trawled the net and saved them a few bob. Consider this your commission
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I agree with all the posts that say this cashback is your commission on the deal. Don't be a mug.0
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Do as you would be done by. This is usually a good guide to ethical dilemmas.
this is the maxim I try to live by too and in this instance if I was a housemate and the op advised me what they'd done I would have no issue with them keeping the money as reward for their initiative and time, and for saving the remaining housemates £150 a year.
"fair exchange is no robbery!"0 -
You have not said how many you share with. If there's two then you've just saved someone £75 - if that someone were me I'd be happy for you to keep £15. If there are five of you then you have saved them £30 each - is it really worth faffing around offering them £6.
BUT, the fact that the question has been asked suggests a feeling of guilt that I would not have had. In your case, use the £30 to buy some drinks for you and your housemates.
NOTE your name is on the bills so you are responsible for paying them even when one or more of your housemates can't pay you 'cos they are a bit strapped this month or decide to do a bunk.Sorry I can't think of anything profound, clever or witty to write here.0 -
Every bill switch is another potential cashback earner, just like every trip to the supermarket is another potential reward points earner. If you earned Nectar points on, say, toilet roll for the whole house, would those points be shared? Probably not, but you would give each housemate their opportunity to earn reward points in turn if they want to.
I would see household bills in a similar way. It would be fair to share out the bill switching between housemates, so each has the opportunity to earn their own share of cashback. If, for whatever reason, they decide they don't want to take on that responsibility then that's up to them. But they'll lose out on the potnetial cashback and should be made aware of this.
If one person takes on all the bill switching without consulting the others, therefore not allowing them to get their share when actually they might prefer to take on a bill and have the option, then I'd say it would be fair for that cashback to be shared amongst the household.0 -
I did the same thing, and used the cashback to pay off our bills for the first few months.
After that, no one in the house paid me for the bills in the following months! I'm still chasing them up 6 months later!
I say keep it. Good guys finish last, sadly.0 -
It is only moral if you tell your flatmates what you have done and you intend to keep the money because you feel you have earned it fair and square. If you choose not to tell them then you have something to hide and are acting immorally. This is only a moral dilemma if your morals are questionable in the first place.0
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Morally, you should share it. However, you could claim you only got £100 cashback and split this with them.......'Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.' George Carlin0
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