Customers in The Dark

markybhoy69

if there is one which i hope then as soon as i can but not tonight im afraid,sorry.

markybhoy69

meant to ask was it economy 7?

broxis11

No, single rate credit on elec and credit on gas.

markybhoy69

ill try and work it out

backfoot

markybhoy69 wrote: »

I have to admit i am amazed at the amount of customers who are out there who don't know what type of offer they are on,don't understand bills or offers and don't seem to understand how the price increases effect different types of offers in different ways.
Heard some people say that the offer they were on ended and their price went up by xx% NO IT DIDN'T what happened is your cheaper deal ended and you went onto a standard offer which is usually dearer after a long term offer,there is a difference.

Seems to me from reading the posts on here so many customers are having knee jerk reactions and jumping ship (mainly because they are unsure of increase) instead of finding out what they're company can do for example, Scottish power customers can go onto either:
Online energy Saver 14 or Capped June 2013
to name just 2 and neither is effected by increase on 1st August

People are understandably,commenting on the increase which personally affects them for the tariff which they are on. Many contrast that with the headline increases quoted by SP for example.

Your explanation is perfectly valid but it is only semantics to them.

They are jumping ship because they have presumably found a better option with another supplier, lost confidence in their current supplier following the increase, or want to fix due to fear (often at a cost to themselves).

The SP capped product you have referred to comes at a massive current premium for my consumption of 15% to the best variable rate for essentially a two year cap.

OES 14 could change as it's a variable rate product.

Best advice is to do a full comparison and factor in a range of price increase scenarios.

I'm afraid for the average punter without lots of time to calculate all the options this process is becoming a constant battle against unnecessary complexity.

tom_foster_2

I'm with Scottish Power. I was on a fixed price deal that ran out in March. They e-mailed me in February offering me a new fixed price deal called 'Capped Price Energy September 2012'. I signed up for it online and thought nothing more about it until last week when I received an e-mail from them telling me about the new prices. "What's this about, then?" I wondered. I checked online and sure enough, I was on the standard tariff.

After several days of trying to speak to someone, I finally got through today (after 30 mins on hold). The lady I spoke to was perfectly pleasant, but couldn't verify that I had indeed signed up for that deal. Now I'm unsure whether to sign up for one of their other deals or just leave them for another supplier. I'm pretty unimpressed with them, really.

Sorry for the thread hijack, just wanted to rant!

grahamc2003

backfoot wrote: »

They are jumping ship because they have presumably found a better option with another supplier, lost confidence in their current supplier following the increase, or want to fix due to fear (often at a cost to themselves).


Best advice is to do a full comparison and factor in a range of price increase scenarios.

I'm afraid for the average punter without lots of time to calculate all the options this process is becoming a constant battle against unnecessary complexity.

As I'm sure you realise, those jumping ship to a cheaper tariff are jumping from the frying pan into the fire. It won't be long before other suppliers catch up and, apart from those moving to fixed rates at a premium, most will simply get the increase very quickly on their new tariff with their new supplier.

I'm not sure your best advice would be my best advice in this instance. I'd advise people to sit on their hands for a few weeks until all the suppliers have announced their rises for this round, and then switch to the best rate at that time.

Yeah - complexity, confusion, masses of wasted effort for nothing productive, and almost every customer peed off to some degree. You gte the feeling there must be a better way than this! Mind you, the suppliers now act as tax collectors too, with the many environmental costs loaded onto our electricity bills (being 37% of the actual wholesale electricity cost according to british gas) being declared a 'tax' by some european authority which decides these things.

leadhead

markybhoy69 wrote: »

ill try and work it out

Do you work for SP....I'm reading a few threads on here, and I dont see 1 criticism from you of SP......

backfoot

grahamc2003 wrote: »

As I'm sure you realise, those jumping ship to a cheaper tariff are jumping from the frying pan into the fire. It won't be long before other suppliers catch up and, apart from those moving to fixed rates at a premium, most will simply get the increase very quickly on their new tariff with their new supplier.

I'm not sure your best advice would be my best advice in this instance. I'd advise people to sit on their hands for a few weeks until all the suppliers have announced their rises for this round, and then switch to the best rate at that time.

Perhaps the others won't raise them straight away. How long should we wait?

If you don't do anything at the end of a contract, you will end up paying much higher charges until your next switch goes through.

Also some of the current products,either variable or fixed/capped may disappear.

You pays your money ,you takes your choice. For what it's worth, I have just switched to SP Direct 2012,which has now been withdrawn.

I'll stick to my best advice.

backfoot

markybhoy69 wrote: »

ill try and work it out

Definately works for SP customer service. Taking days already.