USwitch - your opinion Martin?

redux

If true, I think its treatment of British Gas is astounding (and perhaps not unique), and it would be surprising if BG have not stuck their lawyers in.

amosworks

redux wrote:

If true, I think its treatment of British Gas is astounding (and perhaps not unique), and it would be surprising if BG have not stuck their lawyers in.

Oh yeah because that would look good for them:

BG take consumer empowerment service to the cleaners :rolleyes:

luggagewarrior

I've done a thread with respect to Which? comparison site. They are inaccurate just like the rest, even martins recommendations.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=312634
Which were stumped for a final answer. so much for being impartial..

LW

justtoclarify_2

When I decided to switch, I used all the comparrison sites, got different answers from all them. At which point I decided to go back to basics and just compare unit costs. I ended up switching to a company that all the sites that listed it did not have an online facility to assist because they don't get commission. Some that listed it advised me not change to them and suggested some other supplier would give better customer service and/or value for money. Strangely enough when costs were compared it was not true in my case.

So while I "missed" out on cashback, I have benefitted in the long term because my objective was to pay less for my gas and electricity which I have so far achieved.

wowsavings

MSE_Martin wrote:

Hi, thank you for this. I hadn't heard of that, Im going to ask Uswitch what's going on.

Martin

Hi Martin, did you get any response from them?

mostly

more info here

Horasio

I have wondered why when I do a comparison it shows another company that I don't currently use.

Then if I pretend I am without someone else, it recommends a different one.

Fishy:rolleyes:

Paul_Varjak

I have always been somewhat dubious about uSwitch - it actually allows companies to offer less preferential terms to customers who use their 'free' service to switch!

Customers signing up via uSwitch with one telecommunications company (whose name is barred from mention on MSE) are charged a £45 set-up fee and are subject to a minimum 12 month contract; customers signing up directly with the company pay no set-up fee and the minimum contract term is 3 months.

IvanOpinion

I have always been totally dubious about ALL the companies and their calculations related to 'how much you could save' ... is anybody actually saving the quoted amounts? BTW this goes for insurance and mortgages as well

ivan

Cardew

IvanOpinion wrote:

I have always been totally dubious about ALL the companies and their calculations related to 'how much you could save' ... is anybody actually saving the quoted amounts? BTW this goes for insurance and mortgages as well

ivan

Agreed! These companies have a financial interest in getting us to switch as often as possible; and therefore have a vested interest in obfuscation.

I posted this some while ago:

These comparison companies(and for that matter companies like Quidco, Nectar etc) are an unnecessary overhead that the consumer pays for in the end.

I believe that it is a relative simple and inexpensive procedure to set up a comparison website and it should be undertaken by an independent Government sponsored organization like OFGEM or the Energy Saving Trust.

These organizations would not have a vested financial interest in encouraging multiple switching by consumers; and we should get some objective and impartial information.