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Energy: Find the cheapest supplier & earn cashback
Comments
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The price increase was only announced by SSE last Friday. It only affects the price of their gas.We just switched to southern electric but have seen that scottish and southern elec are hiking up their prices. We were not told this when we signed up last week from a door to door salesman. Is southern electric associated with scottish and southern electric? or are southern electric prices going up as well.
Southern Electric is part of SSE (Scottish & Southern Energy)
Was a bad idea to buy on the doorstep from a salesperson
(a) they are usually tied to a specific company such as Southern Electric so will only offer you tariffs from that supplier
(b) they may not even offer you the best deal from that supplier! :eek:
(c) they won't sell much if they tell you your current supplier would be cheaper than the deal they are pushing ... so unsurprisingly they don't (even if it means lying to you)
I would use a comparison site to compare the whole of market.
If you go through one of the special MSE links, and change supplier, you may even get a bit extra by way of cashback. You won't get that from a salesman, but more importantly, you won't know if the deal he's pushing is the best deal for you."Now to trolling as a concept. .... Personally, I've always found it a little sad that people choose to spend such a large proportion of their lives in this way but they do, and we have to deal with it." - MSE Forum Manager 6th July 20100 -
Just tried to switch, and because i didn't have a home phone (only got mobile) they would not accept me for switching.
Who wouldn't accept you? The comparison site or the supplier?
If the comparison site, have you tried the others or even going direct to the supplier?
If the supplier, it may be that a lack of land line makes you fail their credit check, but that would be unlikely on its own.
Agreeing to pay monthly by DD would reduce the risk to the supplier. I'd be surprised of any supplier that just rejects you out of hand ... unless there are also other underlying credit issues involved.
Worst case, how much werte you hoping to save? Martin suggests savings of the order of £300 a year. Check out his articles on home phone lines - I think he'll have one that probably only costs a tenner a month
... and that's would be an overall saving before you begin to include the possible savings by making fewer expensive calls from your mobile
"Now to trolling as a concept. .... Personally, I've always found it a little sad that people choose to spend such a large proportion of their lives in this way but they do, and we have to deal with it." - MSE Forum Manager 6th July 20100 -
I refer you to my previous post about the inability to compare using a cashback site such as quidco (except in the certain circumstances I described)
No one is denying the existence of cashback sites. Martin has an article specifically on them (link already provided)
But this is about comparison sites.
Premier, as I said in my previous post, mentioning a disadvantage of cashback sites does not refute my analysis of the language of Martin's e-mail.
You say 'but this is about comparison sites'. No it isn't. I never said 'the language in Martin's e-mail is misleading and those cashback sites are great for making comparisons'. I said the language in Martin's e-mail was misleading. Until you can show how it isn't misleading (i.e. not change the subject to a disadvantage of cashback sites) you haven't refuted my point.
It doesn't say '(cashback through comparison sites only available...)', it says '(cashback only available...)'.0 -
Have you read the thread title, the OP, and the linked article???...You say 'but this is about comparison sites'. No it isn't.
Or are you simply posting off topic within this thread?
You even said the email said:
How can you compare effectively without using a comparison site?...
Compare, switch & get cashback: (cashback only via these MSE links)...
Martin says you need a spreadsheet (which I would be inclined to agree with) and still be a maths whizz (well, I'll abstain over that one) with a lot of time (which is probably correct to collate all the relevent tariff details) "Now to trolling as a concept. .... Personally, I've always found it a little sad that people choose to spend such a large proportion of their lives in this way but they do, and we have to deal with it." - MSE Forum Manager 6th July 20100 -
We were discussing what I said. That Martin's language was misleading. Nothing more.Have you read the thread title, the OP, and the linked article???
Or are you simply posting off topic within this thread?You even said the email said:
Quote:
Originally Posted by leitmotif
...
Compare, switch & get cashback: (cashback only via these MSE links)...
I didn't say that. That's a quote from Martin's e-mail.How can you compare effectively without using a comparison site?
That same irrelevant question. This question has nothing to do with whether or not Martin's parenthetical statement is or is not misleading.
Look, I'll do the work for you. To refute my argument, you have to show how there is no possibility of it being misleading. You need to argue (and this is the only possible counterargument) that the text preceding the parenthesis (the 'Compare, switch & get cashback') creates a context in which subsequent interpretation of the '(cashback only via...)' is automatically and unequivocally understood to mean cashback from sites that offer comparison and switching services and these alone, rather than just any site (namely cashback-only sites).
That's what I'm assuming you're trying to argue. And if you were to put it like that then your argument would constitute an attempt to refute mine.
However, it's an unsound counterargument, because it's open to the criticism that the the text preceding the parenthesis (the 'Compare, switch & get cashback') does not sufficiently create a context in which subsequent interpretation of the '(cashback only via...)' is automatically and unequivocally understood to mean cashback from sites that offer comparison and switching services. The parenthetical statement is open to the alternative interpretation I specified - and has been interpreted as such (at least one other person on here found it equivocal and misleading).
This in itself constitutes proof that it is not automatically and unequivocally understood to mean cashback from sites that offer comparison and switching services and these alone, rather than just any site. And this proof refutes the counterargument.
So I'm sorry, but the very fact that the two interpretations are possible is itself what makes your argument untenable.0 -
Did you actually read what I posted and you quoted? :huh:I didn't say that. That's a quote from Martin's e-mail.
Anyway, you're arguing with the wrong person - if you think Martin is so wrong, tell him and get him to correct the article and/or post a correction in next weeks email.
I won't hold my breath "Now to trolling as a concept. .... Personally, I've always found it a little sad that people choose to spend such a large proportion of their lives in this way but they do, and we have to deal with it." - MSE Forum Manager 6th July 20100 -
Who wouldn't accept you? The comparison site or the supplier?
If the comparison site, have you tried the others or even going direct to the supplier?
If the supplier, it may be that a lack of land line makes you fail their credit check, but that would be unlikely on its own.
Agreeing to pay monthly by DD would reduce the risk to the supplier. I'd be surprised of any supplier that just rejects you out of hand ... unless there are also other underlying credit issues involved.
Worst case, how much werte you hoping to save? Martin suggests savings of the order of £300 a year. Check out his articles on home phone lines - I think he'll have one that probably only costs a tenner a month
... and that's would be an overall saving before you begin to include the possible savings by making fewer expensive calls from your mobile
moneysupermarket would not accept, their forms kept stating "a valid home phone number must be entered"
I am currently on EDF and paying by cash, i can't do direct debit, if a company decides to debit me £35 it will leave me completely skint for 2 weeks, i can't run that risk.Owed out = lots. :cool:0 -
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moneysupermarket would not accept, their forms kept stating "a valid home phone number must be entered"
I am currently on EDF and paying by cash, i can't do direct debit, if a company decides to debit me £35 it will leave me completely skint for 2 weeks, i can't run that risk.
I would suggest you try the other comparison sites to see if they will only accept you with a valid home phone number
(By the way, it only says a valid home phone number must be entered. It doesn't say it has to be yours
Just make one up.
Or go direct to the supplier
What is of more concern is the statement if why you wouldn't like to pay monthly by DD.
Using this method is supposed to help those who otherwise struggle to budget. You are safe in the knowledge that the same amount will be collected on the same day every month (unless they decide to change it as the amount is inappropriate to your consumption cost ... but then you will be informed in advance)
If you can't find say the the £35 you know you have to pay every month, how will you cope when you suddenly get a bill turning up for £100+ ?"Now to trolling as a concept. .... Personally, I've always found it a little sad that people choose to spend such a large proportion of their lives in this way but they do, and we have to deal with it." - MSE Forum Manager 6th July 20100 -
I would suggest you try the other comparison sites to see if they will only accept you with a valid home phone number
(By the way, it only says a valid home phone number must be entered. It doesn't say it has to be yours
Just make one up.
Or go direct to the supplier
What is of more concern is the statement if why you wouldn't like to pay monthly by DD.
Using this method is supposed to help those who otherwise struggle to budget. You are safe in the knowledge that the same amount will be collected on the same day every month (unless they decide to change it as the amount is inappropriate to your consumption cost ... but then you will be informed in advance)
If you can't find say the the £35 you know you have to pay every month, how will you cope when you suddenly get a bill turning up for £100+ ?
It is true to say that quite a few sites, especially quotations insist on a telephone number being entered before able to continue.
Also as said it doesnt have to be your own.
But might I suggest that rather than run the possibity of lumbering some unsuspecting person who's number may well by chance, match the random number chosen, with nuisance sales calls etc.
(You'd better not use mine :eek::))
That you could do the same as me and enter your first 4 or 5 (area digits) followed by the appropiate number of zeros to match the remaining amount of digits (6?) in your number.
Works for me.
Or alternatively now I think of it I guess your local or otherwise friendly HM Tax Inspector's number would work equally well!
Hey O, Listen What I Say O.0
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