Fixed-rate energy customers face huge price rises when deals end

Sosumi

molerat wrote: »

Once again an MSE advertorial. I wonder where we can find these cheap deals, oh, maybe from the MSE Big Switch that starts tomorrow.

Please stop with these stories, you are just devaluing the site, bringing it down to the same level as the other commercial ones that Martin so despises. I thought he still held ethical and editorial control, obviously not. This site has certainly changed since Martin sold his soul in exchange for gold !

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays wrote: »

I was being driven by a relative recently (something I try and avoid), and they had talksport on the radio (something I really try and avoid), and lo and behold during the ad break was Martin plugging his CEC. Not surprised really that the "impartiality" of this site is starting to waver.

As a used ox-cart salesman in Galilee once said to his assembled friends, “Greater love hath no man than this; that he lay down his principles to make a quick buck out of others.”

When the Devil took Saint Martin to the top of the Bank of England, showed him the view and said, “All these things I will give you if you will fall down and worship me,” he didn’t stop to put on his knee-pads.

fredandwilma wrote: »

He's not exactly on the breadline, is he? :money:

Nonsense. The poor lamb is so [STRIKE]cheap[/STRIKE] hard-up he can’t even afford a telephone line for his cowboy outfit.

Can you imagine it, possums? Entrusting your energy supply switching to an online site with no telephone number and no postal address?

It’s exactly what you would expect a scammer in Nigeria to set up.

(Complete with asking for a lot of personal details about you before it is even prepared to run a simple energy comparison check for you.)

brewerdave

...now that really would be a story....Martin Lewis revealed as Nigerian Prince !!:rotfl:

Sosumi

brewerdave wrote: »

...now that really would be a story....Martin Lewis revealed as Nigerian Prince !!:rotfl:

But, to be honest, I’m saddened by it.

Like many others, I used to see Martin as the money messiah for the masses.

Now i see him as just another cheap hustler on the make.

And it’s clear from the postings on this thread alone that so do many others.

Pincher

Sosumi wrote: »

Like many others, I used to see Martin as the money messiah for the masses.

Now i see him as just another cheap hustler on the make.

I thought he was another Mother Teresa.

People are always using poor people to do self-promotion.

Chairman Mao was just another power hungry megalomaniac who showed his true colours in the end.

Sosumi

Pincher wrote: »

I thought he was another Mother Teresa.

People are always using poor people to do self-promotion.

Chairman Mao was just another power hungry megalomaniac who showed his true colours in the end.

The one good thing that can be said about the obnoxious “Sir” Philip Greed is that it has always been abundantly obvious just how big a !!!!! he is.

And the one good thing about MSE “News” stories is that their blatant hustling is so crudely performed that it helps people to realise just what the totally self-serving, money-making purpose of the “Cheap” Energy Club really is.

In terms of insight and objectivity, we get far more useful, helpful and accurate information from fredandwilma about the energy market and tariff switching than from anything posted as MSE “News”.

Cardew

If comparison websites are allowed to exist*, I see no reason why MSE shouldn't grab their share.

IMO the biggest criticism of MSE is their involvement in getting Ofgem to 'simplify'(I use the term loosely) the tariff structure that companies can offer.

It used to be easy to find the best tariff for a property's consumption. Now even us anoraks have to go through several permutations to get the best deal. Gas and electricity customers can now usually get a better deal using two suppliers.

Then we have 'collective tariffs' which are not shown on the comparison websites and require registration before the tariff prices can be seen.

* the government fund the Energy Saving Trust(EST). They should have been charged with running an independent 'comparison website'.

victor2

I find it interesting that on this thread that all of the pretty negative comments (i.e. 100% of them) have come from fairly seasoned posters, with only one relative "newbie" - no insult intended.

molerat

The problem is that the article is a pure advertisement for MSE's commercial venture rather than a genuine editorial comment. The exact type of article that, when produced by others, [STRIKE]is[/STRIKE] was frowned upon in the old non commercial MSE days. The more cynical of us old seasoned old timers can see right through it. Of course MSE should be able to have a slice of the comparison market but do not dress adverts up as comment, an article that could be seen as taking an unfair advantage of MSE's position as an impartial source.

Sosumi

Cardew wrote: »

If comparison websites are allowed to exist*, I see no reason why MSE shouldn't grab their share.

Nothing wrong with making money. Provided you’re upfront about it and don’t masquerade as being a philanthropic institution.

There again, nothing wrong with the National Trust selling souvenirs at its sites.

Where it becomes morally reprehensible is when an organisation that presents itself as being an objective, independent champion of the consumer starts persistently and tirelessly to herd its followers into making repeated switches between energy suppliers purely to make a buck for itself on the commission it earns from doing so. And when that escalates into a scenario in which the priority becomes earning as many commissions as possible instead of helping as many people as possible to do the best thing for them.

At least conventional commercial comparison sites offer a telephone line for sales and support.

victor2 wrote: »

I find it interesting that on this thread that all of the pretty negative comments (i.e. 100% of them) have come from fairly seasoned posters, with only one relative "newbie" - no insult intended.

I agree.

(And no offence taken by this particular relative newbie, who was a longtime lurker until retirement. )

I wonder what "Typical" himself would make of it if he ever bothers to read it.

Cardew

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18295587

Says it all!

Even WHICH has got in on the act

https://switch.which.co.uk/?utm_campaign=brand&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_keyword=%2Bgas%20%2Band%20%2Belectricity%20%2Bcomparison%20%2Bwhich