Are Uswitch Liars?

umboko

I switched electricity suppliers 10 months ago after getting a quote from Uswitch of £20.50 per month from British Gas.

I am now £90 in debit and I have used less electricity than I did last year.

I have contacted British Gas twice to ask how this can happen and they said they do-not give their prices to web-sites like Uswitch. They also said that Uswitch are liars.

Who pays the £90 I am in debit? - cos I am certanly not.

What use is the quote or infact sites like Uswitch if firms like British Gas just charge what they want?

marcellep

I am not sure about Uswitch being liars, Maybe a simple explanation re the increase on your bill is the price increase for usage?

MarkyMarkD

Prices are publicly available so it's stupid for BG to say they don't give their prices to websites like U-Switch.

U-Switch aren't liars. They provide quotes based on the consumption you enter or your current rate of payment. But, your current rate of payment may not match your current consumption if you have previously been in credit on your existing supply.

I expect that the reason you have built up a debit balance is because prices have been increasingly continuously over the past few years - they probably increased either during the last 10 months or between you getting your quotation from U-Switch and you actually switching supplier.

You can say silly things like "who pays the £90 I am in debit cos I am certainly not", but nobody else is going to pay it for you.

dc

Your situation is the main reason for me not paying by monthly direct debit.

Because meters are read every 3 months at most, the utility companies make an "educated?" guess at your monthly consumption, based on past useage and charge a 12th of what they think the annual bill will be.

This can lead to underpayments especially if there is little history, in winter months, if they guess wrong, and even more so if the unit price rises. They can be slow to react when correcting underpayments that show up when they get actual meter readings.
It just means that they mistakenly? haven't charged you enough in the past for what you have actually used. Underpayment is not all that bad as you have had the money you owe them in your bank longer than they would have liked.

In my experience they tend to overcharge and are very slow at giving the overpayments back. :rolleyes:

Re USwitch, they would have the correct tarriff, but IMHO tend not to give space to companies that dont give payment for being listed their site.
e.g. EBICo is a cheaper alternative but no mention there, because EBICo dont give handouts.

tripled

You have about as much claim to refusing to pay British Gas as someone would refusing to pay, lets say Powergen, because if I said "If you were with Powergen it would only cost you 50p a year". I am nothing to do with Powergen, just like uSwitch are nothing to do with British Gas.

British Gas do not give their prices to uSwitch, however they are publicly available and that is how they get their data. Also remember most suppliers have put prices up a couple of times over the past year which would have increased your bill. Just like petrol prices, just because one place is cheapest this month somewhere else may be cheaper the next.

uSwitch are not liars, they have been known to perhaps not always highlight the best tariffs if they don't receive a comission, but as BG don't pay them even if they were liars it would hardly bias it towards BG.

Basically you currently have 3 options:

1) Sue uSwitch. I expect it'll be laughed out of court, but if you want to make a stand, go for it.

2)Feel free not to pay the £90 you are in debit. You would receive reminders, then a visit from a debt rep, and eventually be disconnected, which would add around £300 in costs to the balance you owe.

3) Pay up and move on. If you are not happy with the tariff then switch again to another tariff or supplier.

umboko

As I said, What's the point of a quote from Uswitch or other sites if it means nothing. A quote used to mean thats the price you pay.

Thanks for the new business idea - I.m going to tell people how much they will not pay for their gas & eletric.

masonic

umboko wrote:

As I said, What's the point of a quote from Uswitch or other sites if it means nothing. A quote used to mean thats the price you pay.

It's not a quote, it's an estimate. How on earth can you expect anyone to know how much energy you will use in the next 12 months, hmmm? Should they go by the figures you have entered? What happens if you start to use more than that? Should they come and cut off your supply rather than bill you for the excess? :rolleyes:

Mulson

umboko wrote:

As I said, What's the point of a quote from Uswitch or other sites if it means nothing. A quote used to mean thats the price you pay.

Thanks for the new business idea - I.m going to tell people how much they will not pay for their gas & eletric.

I think I will use your advice here and go onto U-Switch and put my annual consumption through as £10 a year gas and £10 a year electric!

BG will then take a direct debit of say £2 a month off me for 12 months and at the end of the year I will simpy refuse to pay the bill, even though my consumption is £800 more than that! I can just say U-Switch told me so......!

Do you think that will work, its the same principle as you are already stating! :rolleyes:

As has been said above, U-Switch cannot predict exactly how much gas and electric you are going to use in a year. They depend on you providing them with the correct and accurate information and because it appears in this case that you havent you dont have a leg to stand on!

I do comparisons everyday for people looking to change supplier and it always has to be explained to them that the quote that is being provided is only as good as the information they are giving me!

To be fair also, how anyone, anywhere in the UK can still be with BG no matter what payment method they have is actually beyond belief!

Gorgeous_George

uSwitch make money by encouraging customers to switch suppliers.

Interesting story here.

Now, who pays the money that uSwitch make? The customers.

By all means look at uSwitch (or other comparison sites) to get an indication of who may be cheapest but then contact the company directly to arrange the changeover.

Why the power companies don't just get together and set up their own comparison site is beyond me.



GG

masonic

Gorgeous_George wrote:

uSwitch make money by encouraging customers to switch suppliers.

Customers can also make money by being encouraged to switch suppliers...

By all means look at uSwitch (or other comparison sites) to get an indication of who may be cheapest but then contact the company directly to arrange the changeover.

Or better, find the comparison site / referral site paying the highest cashback and switch through them.

umboko

masonic wrote:

It's not a quote, it's an estimate. How on earth can you expect anyone to know how much energy you will use in the next 12 months, hmmm? Should they go by the figures you have entered? What happens if you start to use more than that? Should they come and cut off your supply rather than bill you for the excess? :rolleyes:

On the Uswitch website I put in the amount I used Last year (off my bill)

Nobody expected them to know how much I would use in the next 12 months, except you.

They gave me an estimate/quote

After only 10 months I had used a LOT LESS electric than I did last year - yet I owed £90.

Their website gives out rubbish info.