First Utility - Avoid!!!!!

MB69

Having seen some reveiws on the above company, I thought I post my experience with the company!

I like to think myself as someone who is always on the look out for saving money! I always use the switching websites all the time to make sure I am getting the right deal!

So about 10month ago, when I logged on to u-switch, I found FU. It all seemes really good! Dual Fuel discount was good, their rates where to save me around £150 a year! great! Lets switch!

But that is where the good news finished and the problems started:

My swich started around January, moved from BG to FU. It took over 2 months for the electricity to be moved accross. Then further 4 months for the gas supply to be moved accross! in all this time, I was being billed for electricity and not gas!
I kept contacting them, and after spending hours on hold, someone would answer and tell me it is a problem effecting only a handful of customers and would be sorted soon!

Finally, this was sorted and I started to get billed!

But then I noticed that all the promise of dual discount was not really there until you had been with them for 12months! so in a way, althought they said there is no minimum tie in to their service, but you don't get the dual fuel discount until you have been with them for 12months!

And again, you are supposed to get £5 per quarter for submitting readings online, I don't have smart meters, and this again doesn't happen until you have been with them for 12months and you get that at the end of the 12months.

Then in July their rates went up, but they didn't send me any info on this until September to say our rates are going up! even though they had already gone up!

So I phoned them to cancel my server and move on, but they told me that if I do that, the dual fuel discount and the £5 per quarter that I have collected so far, will become null and void and I won;t receive anything from them!

I have to stay with them until February. But then I will disconnetc my services and go to someone else! deffinitely not FU!

So if you thinking about joining them, I would think about it twice! I wouldn't! go for someone who gives you the dual fuel discounts and other things every month! not based on you being with them for 12months or ...

I hope my experience will help you decide what to do!

Premier_2

I hate to worry you, but most of the complaints you have about FU are common traits amongst the industry.

Switching typically takes 4-6 weeks.
Are you perhaps supplied gas via an IGT? If so that would certainly explain a longer delay for that. If not, what was their excuse why it took so long?

Many suppliers now have discounts that require you to stay with them. e.g. Atlantic only pay a rebate after you've paid 12 monthly DD payments (sometimes a few more if reports are to be believed), E.on don't pay discounts on a final bill etc.

Unless you are on a fixed rate, prices may change at any time.
Currently the supplier can inform you up to 65 working days after the change - that was designed so that the supplier could simply tell a customer of a change in their next quarterly bill after it applied. The terms will allow you to not accept the change in price, but you will need to switch supplier.
(The rules are changing soon - so no more cheap energy for up to 3 months )

Make sure you read and understand all the terms of any supplier/tariff when you switch in February as you may well end up disappointed again.