Octopus Tracker

masonic

matt_drummer said:

This was not really my point and I am really not driving at anything.

...

No need for any further explanation (at least as far as I'm concerned). I completely understood your train of thought following your earlier explanation.

Telegraph_Sam

What I was trying to describe by "in absolute terms"  as opposed to %'s or p/kWh's

masonic

masonic said:

Sunday looks equally good. In the past that has translated into an even lower price. I shall once again hedge my bets and delay things until 10am tomorrow. Looks like this weekend could give us the best prices over the festive break.

...a very marginal reduction on today's price, it turns out.

Telegraph_Sam

I tried to get an answer from CSvcs on this but thus far with no joy:
I am on T Dec 23 due to expire mid Feb 25.  I believe that Oct 24 is the current version. And it is not impossible that there will be something like a Jan 25 launched in the interim.
My Q: I could if I wanted to now switch into "Oct 24" - and presumably lock into its terms for x months into the future. If however I wait until either "Jan 25" arrives,or the Feb 25 deadline, will I still have the option to compare "Oct 24" with "Jan 25" and select my preference? OR once "Jan 25" is announced, does the door close as far as access to "Oct 24" is concerned?  In the latter case it strikes me as a gamble with fate ..

masonic

They have said that they will review pricing quarterly when changes are made to the price cap. Once they bring out a new version, that is the version on offer. The only exception seems to be when there is a change between customers being sent their renewal email and their tariff actually expiring. That isn't going to apply to us.

Would you want to lock into Oct 24 pricing? I wouldn't.

Griffindog

Telegraph_Sam said:

I tried to get an answer from CSvcs on this but thus far with no joy:
I am on T Dec 23 due to expire mid Feb 25.  I believe that Oct 24 is the current version. And it is not impossible that there will be something like a Jan 25 launched in the interim.
My Q: I could if I wanted to now switch into "Oct 24" - and presumably lock into its terms for x months into the future. If however I wait until either "Jan 25" arrives,or the Feb 25 deadline, will I still have the option to compare "Oct 24" with "Jan 25" and select my preference? OR once "Jan 25" is announced, does the door close as far as access to "Oct 24" is concerned?  In the latter case it strikes me as a gamble with fate ..

You could probably swap onto October 24 now but you would forfeit the rest of your Dec 23 term and the lower rates. If you wait until you get your email of approaching end date you can ask to be put on the tariff that is available on the day you contact them and they should honour that to start when your current one ends even if a new version is introduced. If a new version is released at any time between now and when you tell them of your decision then that is the only one you will be offered.  

Some people have taken advantage of the 14 cooling off period when they have had second thoughts about leaving Tracker so it is possible to undo a bad decision but you will only ever be offered the version that is currently available and if it has already been replaced then it is gone forever.

Doc_N

Our gas consumption Tracker readings have been non-existent and showing this for a few days now (daily, weekly and monthly):

"Unfortunately no data available for your selected date range."

Is this happening more generally?  Electricity OK.

RavingMad

I'm missing a gas reading from 10th Dec in the week and month tab and more often now, I don't see the gas monthly cost but apart from that no issues 

moneywow1

matt_drummer said:

My wife works in a supermarket.

The managers are fools.

They spend all of their time focussed on cutting costs to meet targets.

But what they really do is degrade the customer experience and damage sales.

And then it becomes a vicious circle, sales fall and they need to save even more money so they cut even more staff, customers go elsewhere and it just gets worse and worse.

It's easy to cut costs, whereas if they were smart (or less lazy), they would be focussed on improving the customer experience, better service, more customers, more sales and more profits.

Spending lots of time saving small amounts of money is a waste of opportunities.

You're overlooking the fact most people don't care about customer service.

Would I go into a store and pay £100 for something with the best customer service ever from the employees, or order it online for £60 and not have to deal with any employees?

If the supermarket had to put prices up 20% to avoid layoffs and cost-cutting, the majority would just go and buy their shopping elsewhere.

In fact, with self checkouts, how often do you even speak to a staff member in a supermarket? Probably less than once a month.

matt_drummer

moneywow1 said:

matt_drummer said:

My wife works in a supermarket.

The managers are fools.

They spend all of their time focussed on cutting costs to meet targets.

But what they really do is degrade the customer experience and damage sales.

And then it becomes a vicious circle, sales fall and they need to save even more money so they cut even more staff, customers go elsewhere and it just gets worse and worse.

It's easy to cut costs, whereas if they were smart (or less lazy), they would be focussed on improving the customer experience, better service, more customers, more sales and more profits.

Spending lots of time saving small amounts of money is a waste of opportunities.

You're overlooking the fact most people don't care about customer service.

Would I go into a store and pay £100 for something with the best customer service ever from the employees, or order it online for £60 and not have to deal with any employees?

If the supermarket had to put prices up 20% to avoid layoffs and cost-cutting, the majority would just go and buy their shopping elsewhere.

In fact, with self checkouts, how often do you even speak to a staff member in a supermarket? Probably less than once a month.

My wife works in a department that advertises that it is open from 08.00 to 20.00 for six days and from 10.00 to 16.00 on Sundays.

But it never is.

And that is because they run out of staff hours before the week is up.

So that means it is unreliable.

One day you can go in from work at 18.00 and it is open, another day, shut.

It is not a good customer experience, they get fed up and go elsewhere, why visit that shop if you can't rely on it being open when it says it is?

They lose customers, and therefore profit, and so cut even more staff resources.

The customer experience is bad because the management don't deliver what they offer to customers.

Their answer is to cut costs, but they persist in advertising the same opening hours.

They don't have the stock they advertise on the television. Customers come and ask for what they have seen advertised and leave disappointed. They go elsewhere.

You make the same mistake, it isn't always about money for many customers.

There is a really large high end farm shop in our town, full of the best quality at the highest prices. It is always rammed with customers. many people do actually value quality and service over price.

Why do Waitrose and Marks and Spencer exist, surely all those customers should be down at Aldi and Lidl?

You have done the same a the supermarket managers.

You immediately talk of price rises and cutting staff, it's lazy and requires no skill whatsoever.

They don't need price rises, they just need to sell more at the prices they already sell at.

All they need to do is make sure the department is open when they say it will be and the customers will come.