First Utility new exit fee scam switching tariffs

Travelsaver

jblackmore wrote: »

Clearly I'm outvoted, I still think this is sneaky.

I've cancelled the swap, so won't be paying the fee, but I still feel bill stating 'you can save £xx by moving to tariff Y' when actually this will cost you more isn't very transparent.

I guess it depends how low your expectations are from energy suppliers/ofgem

I completely agree with you. In fact I have also cancelled my swap as I found the recent change very sneaky.

Once they swap me back to my old tariff, I'm off to the MSE Big Switch and paying the £60 and getting out of there as quickly as I can.

Really annoyed with FU, as this new approach was not how they used to run their business. I personally don't have a problem with the £60 fee, but when it is unclear as to whether they charge it to stay with them but move to another tariff, that is definitely unfair, especially when they have not charged this fee in the past.

benny_boy

I agree fully with the original poster.i too have switched numerous times and have never paid exit fees. I looked at terms and conditions the first couple of switches and they did not charge you exit fees if you move on to a longer tariff.
I switched again last week and have also received the email saying I am being charged the £60 exit fee.i have also phoned up to cancel my switch today and advised them that I shall be leaving them as soon as I am 49 days from the end of my contract.
change your terms and conditions by all means ,but advise your customers before doing so.surely that is good practice?

jblackmore

Votes starting to swing my way - phew

I do think even from a mercenary business perspective NOT charging exit fee's if people stick with you is a better strategy. Anyone can save more than £60 a year by moving suppliers every year, but if the saving is only £65 most people won't bother if you give them an easier option - switching within FU tariffs with no fee's I suspect kept most switchers happy.

FU were a new entrant with low prices, so shouldn't be surprised that others followed, but confidence/service is the friction that allows energy companies to make profit, FU customers must all be switchers by definition (or they'd still be with British Gas/Southern Electricity etc), so squeezing them is never going to end well

benny_boy

first utility have never been the cheapest,but they are always somewhere near so I have been happy to stay with them and keep switching for the last few years without really doing any shopping around
but come November I shall be having a proper look for a better deal and moving on,unless of course first utility come up cheapest when I compare
wasn't impressed with the attitude of the call centre when I phoned either,they didnt seem like they could care less

Luciano_Cop

Okay, here goes with my tuppence worth. I have just spent 1 hour and 11 minutes on the line to FU regarding this issue. I had put in a change on the 14/1/16 to go to a different tariff and it had not happened. I had raised it via the contact form on the 21/1/2016 and nothing. Then I rang last Saturday and was told it would be sorted out this week but still nothing. I then visited the tariff upgrade page today (upgrade being the operative word here) and noticed a better deal, so rather then complain about the previous upgrade not having been actioned I decided I may as well upgrade to this new one. As I was about to go ahead I noticed the check box which normally stated you agreed to the terms and conditions. This time it looked different, it mentioned the exit fees specifically. So I rang to query this and was told what has been said above that they are now enforcing this policy. I was eventually put through to the leavers section who at first said no it would not apply to a longer contract as they had been discussing this recently, but on checking she confirmed that unless you are moving to a 2/3 year contract exit fees do apply. I mentioned that they are being slated on forums and that they should be sending out these policy changes via email to people so they know and that the tariff page recommends a cheaper tariff for you and says upgrade and this is very misleading. Now unless you had not switched for a long time there is no way you could ever gain. Now the argument about FU buying in bulk and then having people switch and them losing out does not really hold water for me. Firstly they never give you the true drop in energy prices, nowhere near it so they never lose out. and secondly, don't offer existing customers an upgrade option unless you factor in the £60.00 exit fee. We are in a computerised world and all of this should be easy to convey to the customer. Unfortunately very few companies do, they tend to hide behind their websites and confuse the hell out of their customers. In this world of easy communication this should not be happening. I am not a fan of FU as I had a 20 month argument with them over direct debits not being collected then being collected and then not being collected again and them blaming me for it. OFGEM almost got involved and in the end they paid out compensation to me as I had made over 30 phone calls to them and I don't know how many contact forms filled out. Most phone calls lasted at least 30 minutes (including the ring time). In my view all utility companies are bad, but FU, for me at least are now the worst I have ever dealt with and I don't say that lightly. I have now confirmed that my tariff will stay as was and that as soon as I can I will be leaving them for somebody else, even if the somebody else is more expensive as I cannot be dealing with them any more.

jblackmore

I'm glad FU have changed their website to show the new exit fee charges, as that definitely wasn't there when I did this in mid Jan, I'm guessing they are starting to get feedback as the charges emails go out.

To be fair I've had problems with most energy supplier I've used, doubling Direct debit when account was in credit and refusing to reduce back, sending me bills every other day for almost a month, failing to provide a correct bill for over a year, those are the worst ones, there must be others, I'd actually been with FU for 2.5 years, which I suspect is longer than average.

Only supplier I never fell out with was Atlantic, who were really good both for price and service for the 4 years I was with them until SSE bought them to shut down (I had an email saying my tariff had ended and gave me 5 days to swap, suggesting I moved to Southern Electricity fixed tariff which was a huge increase, so I swapped to FU, SSE then fudged up the transfer out of spite

Luciano_Cop

There is a check box that states 'I accept the £30 early exit fee per fuel' and then a Terms and Conditions link but it is not clear at that point whether it applies to a tariff change or just for leaving FU. It should be much clearer and not require you to read the terms and conditions. Some of the problems you have just mentioned are so familiar. I too was with Atlantic but it was very close to when they were taken over so was not with them for long and I seem to remember not getting too much notice either. I have done a quick check on Uswitch and can get a cheaper tariff with Npower even after the £60 charge (£19 saving) If I go through TopCashback I can get another £21 back for going through Uswitch. No Topcashback deal with Npower unless you are taking out boiler cover. So I could be £40 better off. Just need to work out whether it is really worth it or wait until my contract is close to ending and hope that fuel prices have stayed down.

benny_boy

there used to be really good cashback deals for switching on topcashback in the past but none of them seem to offer it anymore.i once got £80 for switching to Scottish power.
but as mentioned above there are several comparison sites on topcashback who offer cashback for switching so will use one of those instead come november

jbuchanangb

I have also been affected by FU's revised policy of invoking exit charges on a tariff change. I was not entirely surprised by it. However I took into account that over the period to the end of the new fixed term, if I did not change now I would revert to a more expensive tariff in 3 months time, and doing nothing then would result in much increased charges, so I am accepting the charges, which will spread themselves out as £5 per month averaged over a year.

But I will not fall for it next time, I will wait until less than 49 days before the fixed term end date before changing tariff.

C_Mababejive

Do FU honor the 49 day switch period or do they try and charge within that period also? What about the general compliance of other providers with this rule?