Sainsbury's Energy - DD Payment Only?

Taylorette

polymaff wrote: »

The core issue is that you (plural) want the benefits associated with DD payments without the DD payments. It's your (plural) choice. Whether you think that the site has misled you is really irrelevant to making that choice.

The risks associated with DDs are grossly over-exaggerated. Some time ago I suffered a DD failure where every Powergen account with my (quite common) surname was charged to my bank account. Sure, it instantly emptied my bank account, but a) this'll probably be the first, first-hand, account you'll have read of such a happening, and b) I survived it with minimal trauma.

What are the benefits you are implying they want? All they want to do is be able to go and pay their bills with cash. I just don't see how by selecting "pay quarterly by cash/cheque" on both the CEC site and Sainsbury's own site (therefore, generating a quote based on this payment method) I end up on a sign-up page with T&Cs stating DD only.

macman wrote: »

Then they are shooting themselves in the foot and will not be able to access the cheapest tariffs. I had the same issue with my (even older) mum for a while. Once I'd switched her to DD (for gas, electricity, phone, water and C. Tax), she was absolutely fine with it.
The reality is that collecting manual payments costs the supplier much more in overheads and lost cashflow, and they will pass those costs on to non-DD customers.

I think it's quite a common "issue" with the elderly. In my case they are cautious of being over/undercharged and problems arising from that. I'll keep at it, though, as I think it would be beneficial to them in a number of ways.

macman

Correct, it is a very common issue with the elderly. But as long as you can arrange for regular meter reads (at least quarterly) and can manage the account online, then there is little change of that happening.
My MIL refused DD for a long time, never submitted readings, and paid her (usually estimated) bills without checking them against actual readings. As a result, she was regularly paying £100 a quarter more than was due. Only when I took control of the account online did I get her on a sensible level of DD payment.
As you say, it does require some persuasion.

polymaff

Taylorette wrote: »

What are the benefits you are implying they want?

A tariff made cheaper by the supplier's insistence that the payment methodology be a low-cost one.

You really need to move on and accept that this tariff is a DD only one.