Struggling to find a good deal? Tell the CMA

CMA_Communications

:wave:
Have you ever struggled to find a good deal? Do you know a vulnerable person who has trouble accessing products and services? Please share your views and experiences with us.

We are the Competition and Markets Authority; an independent public body that aims to make markets work well for people and ensure that companies follow the law. To give you an idea of our work, we previously launched an investigation into the energy market, which resulted in pre-payment meter bills being capped, and we are currently investigating hotel booking sites, to see whether holidaymakers receive all the information they need to find a good deal.

We’re currently looking at consumer vulnerability, and would like to hear about any challenges that you, your friends or family have faced when buying products and services, as well as any suggestions you may have to address these problems.

Your comments will influence our future work, helping us decide which cases to take up, and how to approach them.

We are interested in:

• The experience of vulnerable groups e.g. older people, people with mental ill-health or people with disabilities. We want to know about any problems they have accessing goods and services such as groceries, gas, electricity, mobile phones, broadband, transport and insurance and what might help to address the problems. This could be online, in shops, or via phone.
• People who might not be within a specific vulnerable group as defined in law, but who may be vulnerable in certain circumstances – such as people on a low income being unable to access cheap deals in the way that the better off can, or someone who may not be internet savvy and face problems when making purchases online.

We’d love to hear from you about any of your experiences or thoughts on this. For example, do you find it easy or difficult to find and compare deals for different products and services – like your mobile phone, or car or home insurance? Or what’s been your experience of switching suppliers to get better deals, for example changing your energy or broadband supplier? These are just examples, and you may have other things to comment on.

Please comment on this thread and we will feed the information into our future work!

The CMA team

kleadesigner

We live in a village where the is no mains gas. The only option is LPG or oil.

We have an LPG tank in the garden and are with Flogas.

We had a better deal offered to us by Calor Gas and decided to move. Flogas asked us to stay and offered us a comparative deal and a fixed price for a year then a guarantee that it would not go up in a year more then a certain amount.
After talking to neighbours I was shocked that the elderly couple next door pay over 30p a litre more than we do. and it is going up in the next month or so.

It is terrifying them so much that they only turn on the boiler every 2 days for hot water and won’t turn on the heating. They have tried to move to another company but Flogas tied them into a contract, that lasts another year, when they tried to sort out a better deal last year. They are not particularly tech savvy and struggle to get a good deal.when you have no option of the type of gas you need they shouldn’t be able to tie you in for so long and still increase the prices like they do. This could mean life of death for some.

What can be done to make switching easier and quicker so people can get a better deal in rural areas that don’t have mains gas?

spudxjnr

Can't drive? Don't have a passport? Moved to a new build and no one recognises your post code? And of course you have saved all your providers money by going paperless, so "real" statements/bills aren't an option. Your last chance of getting a lot of good online deals or simply opening a bank account is to have a shotgun licence - yea, thought not.

While you might be tempted to apply for the latter, the police probably won't be able to find your post code either so sawing down the barrel & going on the rampage in frustration isn't an option either.

Just how do you prove your identity? My wife could prove her old address, National Insurance Number, Medical Card, had correspondence about our house purchase, Council Tax demands at the new address, other stuff that could be sufficient IF IT WASN'T OLDER THAN 12 MONTHS and simply wanted to transfer an ISA - no additional funds involved so no money laundering.

Surely there must be a way to get providers to update their Post Code checkers more regularly. Even "YouGov" doesn't recognise a post code that has been in existence for FOUR MONTHS so we had to register to vote manually.

Ken68

There is competition in the banking industry but is so bogged down with onerous terms and conditions to make it unworkable for most people.
It needs sorting.

Devonian_Rodders

Being a pensioner, it is often difficult to find a genuine tradesman who is willing to provide services without applying the "pensioner has cash" philosophy. Most of them use mobile only communications, so you cannot always trace or get back to them. Recently an electrician was working nearby and I asked if he could replace a bulb in a security light (bulb I already had) but he said he could not do that day, but was always in the area, but he never returned.


Many organisations assume everyone has a computer, so all information and services can be accessed easily. Yes it can be convenient, but many simply cannot afford the outlay or running costs in maintaining the system, not forgetting the complexity of the computerised world.

Banks set about changing to paperless statements , (which saves them money) but recently I was notified by my bank they now have to revert to sending statements MONTHLY, so obviously bank charges will follow to cover additional cost.

As regards transport, from my experience over several years, the elderly and disabled are of little consequence when decisions are made, possibly because decision makers are young fit people !

Apologies for the rant.

Maat

On top of autism I have severe anxiety and depression, as well as low income. In the past I've been on such a low income that I've been unable to pay out even £150 or £200 for home insurance and have ended up paying more for it over 12 months. I've had similar poverty related issues which I'm sure other contributors will have gone into.


What I want to tackle is the problems that mental health issues, including autism cause. Lack of motivation is a massive factor. I would a million times rather spend time researching online than face the horrors of going out through my own front door. Shops (anywhere outside really) are terrifying, full of artificial lights, tannoys, people (noise and intrusion triggers) and especially children. Almost everything children do is a trigger - screeching, yelling, making those siren noises ('mummy, mummy, mummy ...), running around getting under feet and trolleys, repetitive movements (like leg swinging), jumping around, etc. It's easy to say 'they're only kids, get over it' if you're neurotypical ('normal' to you). When it feels as though someone is using a power drill on your head and you're in mental and physical meltdown and panic you can't dismiss it all so easily.


Hence I do most of my shopping online, but even that's not necessarily easy. The endless hours it takes to do a full search for insurance, for instance, are defeating and can lead to a meltdown. The ceaseless round of ads on sites, flashing pictures. They defeat their own ends, in fact, as the movements are so distracting I can't look at the ads to find out what they're selling. Even as I'm typing this I've had to attach a load of post it notes to the side of the message because the jumping emoticons on the right of it are so intrusive - I mean, literally, causing mental anguish. When merely browsing it's not as bad. A couple of electronic post its, one either side of the text, and you're fine to scroll. But where you have to input data that page will always be prominent and the post its disappear. Concentration is impossible, the task is abandoned and I'm left emotionally drained or having a minor meltdown.


Phoning strangers for information or to buy products is difficult because social interaction IS difficult for autistic people. The electronic systems they take you through before you get anywhere near a human are almost as bad. By the time you reach your option your brain has switched off which means either going through the whole nightmare again or abandoning the task. Online chat is a seemingly endless waiting game for little or no result.

I realise neurotypicals are in the majority but it would help if there could be some ways of cutting down the noise - literal and visual - when trying to shop around. More people than ever are applying for an autism diagnosis as all those who've been missed over the years (mainly the over 30s and women of any age) are realising what's really been going on with them all their lives. I've only touched on a very few of the problems in this message but there are many more. If it involves motivation, interaction with humans (cats would be fine for most of us) or a lengthy process it can be incredibly difficult or impossible to get through.

Thank you for running this survey and I hope there will be some good results for it for people who are struggling. At the very least we get to enjoy a bit of a rant.

KxMx

When applying for credit, few companies have Disabled as an option. Instead you have to select Unemployed. I feel all credit companies should have Disabled as an option.

SaintMark

I'm shy and somewhat technophobic, so I can't access deals by phone; and I often have difficulty with filling in online forms etc. I type in everything correctly and nothing happens when I click on submit, or it tells me my date of birth is in the wrong format because I've used the name of the month instead of a useless number or whatever.
I've also had cases of trying to arrange something by e-mail and either been told I can't buy it by e-mail, or they've not replied to the e-mails and I've missed out and there's not been anything I can do about it.

20kiki

My poor 86yr old Mum has mastered texting on her phone and is convinced her messages are cheaper with no vowels in them? - go figure! but she CANNOT us a computer and if it wasn't for her children regularly checking her Insurances and Amenity bills she would've been bankrupt years ago! She cannot be alone - this new Technology era has passed all our Pensioners by instead of incorporating them into computer lessons or an alternative mode of checking what's available on their phone handsets.....that aren't I Phones- which pensioner can afford them? I just hope when I reach my Mum's age that everything Techno is somehow accessible to me despite not having the latest Mobile/Laptop/Tablet

Mr_Mann

My elderly parents who are on state pensions can't use online services such as comparison sites so I know they overpay for insurance and other things. For over a year now I have been meaning to sort out their gas and electricity for them but having ME/CFS and arthritis myself has meant that I haven't been well enough to do it. They always say 'It's just too much hassle that they don't want and they don't want to cause problems for me, so just leave it'. So again they are overpaying.
This is absolute proof that the current energy market (amongst others) isn't working for everyone, just those who are physically and mentally able and have the time.
To make things worse benefits such as ESA have been frozen since 2014 so even being on the internet to take care of these things is an expense that won't be affordable much longer. For the same reason I don't have a smartphone.
Perhaps we really need to get back to state owned utility companies with a single price for everything, it was so much easier and better.

Punkygoth

I have a long term health condition, which is also a disability. I am 42. Whilst my condition makes life very difficult, it does not increase my risk of needing to be repatriated or needing medical treatment. However, because of it, I have to pay a lot more for travel insurance and can't take advantage of the travel insurance that comes with my buildings insurance. It does seem unfair to treat all pre existing conditions with a blanket approach.