The OutFox Now on Endangered Species List as Customers Leave

kendizle

After the last few weeks of membership price hikes, tariff increases (3 in the past 4-6 weeks) and the doubling of direct debits, I have finally had enough of Outfox the Market and have just initiated a switch back to British Gas.

Amazingly with the latest price hikes by OutFox, they have now become higher than British Gas!!
Here's an excerpt from the email they sent out last night:

From 1st January 2019 your electricity unit rate will change from £0.1048/kWh to £0.1279/kWh.

Your gas unit rate will change from £0.0362/kWh to £0.0438/kWh

Your monthly membership fee will be replaced by a daily standing charge of 28p per fuel.

Good News!

From January 1st, the energy regulator Ofgem is introducing a price cap to ensure no-one pays more than a fair price for their energy. Our commitment to you, is that our prices will always be below this cap - and we promise to keep it that way

This amazingly gives me a price increase of £184.19 on my annual bill. May not seem a lot, but as a single guy this represents an increase of about 32% since I first joined in June.

Nice way to shoot yourself in the foot OutFox! you've just sent me back to British Gas. Plus I get £25 cash back and free boiler cover.

My only fear now is that OF take December's doubled direct Debit then I'm left waiting to receive my refund!

Would be interesting to hear if anyone else is/has left and your thoughts on best approach to cancelling direct debits and seeking credit refund

System

kendizle wrote: »

After the last few weeks of membership price hikes, tariff increases (3 in the past 4-6 weeks) and the doubling of direct debits, I have finally had enough of Outfox the Market and have just initiated a switch back to British Gas.

Amazingly with the latest price hikes by OutFox, they have now become higher than British Gas!!
Here's an excerpt from the email they sent out last night:

From 1st January 2019 your electricity unit rate will change from £0.1048/kWh to £0.1279/kWh.

Your gas unit rate will change from £0.0362/kWh to £0.0438/kWh

Your monthly membership fee will be replaced by a daily standing charge of 28p per fuel.

Good News!

From January 1st, the energy regulator Ofgem is introducing a price cap to ensure no-one pays more than a fair price for their energy. Our commitment to you, is that our prices will always be below this cap - and we promise to keep it that way

This amazingly gives me a price increase of £184.19 on my annual bill. May not seem a lot, but as a single guy this represents an increase of about 32% since I first joined in June.

Nice way to shoot yourself in the foot OutFox! you've just sent me back to British Gas. Plus I get £25 cash back and free boiler cover.

My only fear now is that OF take December's doubled direct Debit then I'm left waiting to receive my refund!

Would be interesting to hear if anyone else is/has left and your thoughts on best approach to cancelling direct debits and seeking credit refund

If you switch away then it is normal practice for suppliers to freeze accounts until they have received industry-verified meter readings from the new supplier. Switches take anything from 17 to 35 days from application, and suppliers have up to 6 weeks from the day of the actual transfer of supply to raise a Final Bill. Repayment of any credit then follows.

CvPiper

They are incompetent fools. Sadly moved to them on recommendation from the MSE Energy Club - but had 3 rises since August, the debacle of winter/summer payments which add up to way more than I would use, and now this.
Raising the membership fee £6.99 / month (£83.88) to 28p / day x 365 x 2 supplies (£204.40) was the last straw - off I go, as I am sure many will too.

My real question is now over this 'winter' DD, is it worth me cancelling it, or tolerating their huge hike for the remaining month I have left then hope I get it back before they go bust?

CvPiper

Hengus wrote: »

If you switch away then it is normal practice for suppliers to freeze accounts until they have received industry-verified meter readings from the new supplier. Switches take anything from 17 to 35 days from application, and suppliers have up to 6 weeks from the day of the actual transfer of supply to raise a Final Bill. Repayment of any credit then follows.

When I moved to OFTM, from SSE, incredibly both my SSE accounts came to exactly the amount that I had on account. Talk about 1 in a million chance.........they obviously never want to return funds.

lincsbarts

Just had the same email land in my inbox and can see I am now about to get hammered by their price hike and the change to a duel standing charge. Can MSE please update their comparison site to the new rates for OTM so I can make a new comparison and change asap.

Cheers,

Andy.

editor1

Please remember folks, many of us are on the Zapp 18 Month Fixed deal, which was the cheapest on offer at the time of joining (Jan-March 2019) - despite all the craziness OFTM has produced this last month, not forgetting the Banding changes, those of us on their Fixed deal are considerably better off, even with the changes to the DD payments - so, I'll stick it out until they hit the wall or we come to the end of our contract and then move - whatever happens, my folks will be facing a very large increase in their energy bills with monthly payments being 18 quid a month higher than our present cost, so not looking forward to our next Move i can assure you.

Merlin139

editor1 wrote: »

Please remember folks, many of us are on the Zapp 18 Month Fixed deal, which was the cheapest on offer at the time of joining (Jan-March 2019)

I am in that club! Fixed till 29 Aug 2019 And people tried to tell me I would be paying over the odds by going for the Fixed tariff!

Just got my latest bill and its called Whack.

zoonyx

I joined in February, and my direct debit was £39. I'm £60 in credit somehow. I think although they are clearly in big trouble, we should remember we've all had cheap energy for a few months.

I don't mind the switching process. I'm concerned about the £60 credit they have, but it should be protected by OFGEM.

So although everyone's mad at hell, it's more just annoying that they've kicked the bucket - I liked their prices haha.

zoonyx

editor1 wrote: »

Please remember folks, many of us are on the Zapp 18 Month Fixed deal, which was the cheapest on offer at the time of joining (Jan-March 2019) - despite all the craziness OFTM has produced this last month, not forgetting the Banding changes, those of us on their Fixed deal are considerably better off, even with the changes to the DD payments - so, I'll stick it out until they hit the wall or we come to the end of our contract and then move - whatever happens, my folks will be facing a very large increase in their energy bills with monthly payments being 18 quid a month higher than our present cost, so not looking forward to our next Move i can assure you.

I'm not on fixed, but I still agree. Far too much stress in this thread. Very little chance of losing money (OFGEM have been very good previously), and we've all got a good deal at least until recently.

System

zoonyx wrote: »

I'm not on fixed, but I still agree. Far too much stress in this thread. Very little chance of losing money (OFGEM have been very good previously), and we've all got a good deal at least until recently.

There is no goodness about it. The Safety Net was introduced by regulation in October 2016 just before the collapse of GBEnergy: credit balances are 100% protected. The only thing that isn’t guaranteed in the event of supplier failure is tariff protection.

zoonyx

Hengus wrote: »

There is no goodness about it. The Safety Net was introduced by regulation in October 2016 just before the collapse of GBEnergy: credit balances are 100% protected. The only thing that isn’t guaranteed in the event of supplier failure is tariff protection.

Thanks - since you clearly know a lot more than me, does that include a credit balance with a former supplier after or during a switch?