Flipper - Energy Watch / Transfer Service

jospot

Has anyone used it, do they do what they say and automatically swap you up to 4 times a year, is it worth the £25 / year.

[Deleted User]

No, it isn't worth spending £25 on.
The site doesn't do anything you cannot do for yourself and you can earn cash back from some switches rather than Flipper.
Yes you pay them and they will also be paid for every switch you do. Why bother as you will probably lose out from it?
It only takes a few minutes to check suppliers prices out. Flipper will not do anything special nor guarantee the supplier they choose will be any good. So you take all the risk and pay for the privilege.

System

I agree 100% with @gsmlnx. Why pay someone to do something that takes just a minute or so of your time?

The part of the offer that has always been of concern to me is:

Quote: With guaranteed savings of at least £50/year, ....... Unquote

How can any site can ‘guarantee’ such a saving when energy prices are rising unless they are using the flawed Ofgem cost methodology.

Sarastro

I completely disagree. I don't have time to trawl through tariffs and find the cheapest deal and change suppliers as frequently as Flipper do it for me. I think it's worth the £25 because they've saved me lots more than that by finding cheaper rates and saved me the hassle of doing it. I guess it comes down to how you value and prioritise your time. The savings they 'guarantee' are based on what you would have used otherwise so it isn't completely guaranteed but my monthly energy costs have gone from £148 to £94 over the last year and I didn't do a thing other than pay £25.

[Deleted User]

@Sarastro
Well you can let the MSE Cheap Energy Club monitor the market for you 24/7/365 and it will not cost you a penny. It will only require the same information that you have to give to Flipper

Now that is money saving, I just saved you £25.

[Deleted User]

And a another much bigger reason to avoid Flipper is that they do not do a full market review of tariffs.

From their website

The best deals from approved suppliers
6
large suppliers
32+
small to medium suppliers
Flipper only supports suppliers that satisfy our 6 supplier requirements, ensuring we’re able to provide you with the best service possible. We can even switch you to deals exclusive to price comparison sites.

So they only look at the big 6 and 32 others.

And those supplier requirements are mostly the terms laid down by OFGEM so there is nothing there to help the consumer over and above the legal requirements to supply energy in the UK

Flipper’s supplier requirements

Suppliers take no more than 35 days to switch you after they receive your application, and don’t need to visit your home to complete your switch.
Suppliers provide full details of your new tariff and offer you a 14-day cooling off period to cancel your switch.
Your current and new suppliers work together to ensure you aren’t charged twice for the same energy and inform us of any problems with your switch as soon as possible.
Suppliers issue regular and accurate bills on time (at least once every six months), and make them available to you via an online energy account.
Suppliers send you your final bill no later than six weeks after your switch is complete and pay any money they owe you no later than 14 days after sending you your final bill.
Suppliers must allow you to pay for their energy via direct debit.

AndyPK

Interesting to hear the different views.

You only need to change tariff once a year to save a significant amount of money. (unless prices drop quickly in winter - which is unlikely)

I'm glad flipper doesn't look at the whole market.
You don't want to be moved onto a really bad supplier! Need some filtering!

[Deleted User]

@AndyPK
But there is nothing in their 6 rules that even mentions the quality of customer service. All the rules do is to repeat the OFGEM regulations.
Flipper don't stop you being put onto a wrong'un if it suits their needs.

Cardew

Sarastro wrote: »

I completely disagree. I don't have time to trawl through tariffs and find the cheapest deal and change suppliers as frequently as Flipper do it for me. I think it's worth the £25 because they've saved me lots more than that by finding cheaper rates and saved me the hassle of doing it. I guess it comes down to how you value and prioritise your time. The savings they 'guarantee' are based on what you would have used otherwise so it isn't completely guaranteed but my monthly energy costs have gone from £148 to £94 over the last year and I didn't do a thing other than pay £25.

You don't need to 'trawl through tariffs' there are some sites that will do it for nothing.

Take the MSE Cheap Energy Club, they will notify you of a cheaper tariff and if you change MSE pay you £25.

Given that sites like 'Flipper' exist to get commission from switching, a Switch of supplier may not always be in your interest.

For instance I have just switched to the Ovo 2 year fixed tariff - that has just been withdrawn. There are marginally cheaper(for my consumption) tariffs available. It is a fair assumption that Flipper would switch me from my Ovo 2 year deal, to my long term detriment.

HogMan

Given that sites like 'Flipper' exist to get commission from switching, a Switch of supplier may not always be in your interest.

From Flipper's website "We don’t take commission from energy suppliers, which means we can switch you to the best deals that you won’t find on price comparison sites"

footyguy

HogMan wrote: »

From Flipper's website "We don’t take commission from energy suppliers, which means we can switch you to the best deals that you won’t find on price comparison sites"

Such a claim would be reason in itself to avoid the site.

Most comparison sites still show all the available tariffs from all the suppliers
(notable exceptions are if you have filters set to restrict this, or collective tariffs that are only available where a customer signs up with and through the entity offering it)

Even more frightening, when I try to get a quote (without signing up) to see just what tariffs they do offer, they demand I upload a bill from my latest supplier - saying it's needed to give them annual consumption data.
... and a whole load more personal and confidential information...! :eek:

Every other comparison site allows you to simply input the anticipated annual consumption data. There's no point cheating on this because doing so (a) may result in not beiong offered the cheapest tariff for you, based on what you actually will use, and (b) the supplier will soon revise your DD to remedy the situation.

Edit:
Flipper Limited (Reg. No.10826922) was incorporated on 20 June 2017

Makes you wonder what company structure they were working under when the previous threads were made about them on MSE, initially in April 2016
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5447496

July 2016
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5498827

and then this flurry all in January this year:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5580534
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5582079
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5583487
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5588197