2022 - Moving forward

jwil

I've done my revised SOA and the letters to my creditors.  I've offered just less than 20% as a F&F.  I doubt they'll accept but who knows.  One might come back with a decent offer.  I was surprised when one accepted my 10% last year so there's still a chance!  I did point out that I think my monthly offer will go down later this year when the October energy price cap changes everything again.

I'm very glad I fixed the mortgage with all the uncertainty with the other bills.  I've worked out my estimated energy bills based on the new price cap figures and our payment will have increased to roughly £140 a month.  I've added on 5% to Council Tax as they haven't announced that rise yet.  I've had the new water bill which is up £3 a month, and I've estimated phone/broadband to be up by 9% as I read that somewhere on here.  My contract ends in April so I've either got to be brave and switch (though I do worry about reliability as we use it a lot, and I've had bad experiences with other suppliers) or I've got to haggle hard to get the price down as we pay too much really.

I still need to look through what I'm actually spending - too much is being frittered, and groceries could probably be less.  I want to get those savings sorted to get the electrics done, and I want to start researching solar panels.  We've got a south facing roof, so it should be suitable.  Electrics is just holding up everything else we want to do so we need to try and get them done first. 

I've booked the boiler service, and I've also deleted thousands of emails whilst I was hunting for one!

another_casualty

Regarding phone / broadband ; you may have seen in my diary that Vodafone gave me a better deal on my broadband and mobile . They actually sent me reminders . 

I'm on sim only and they imptproved my broadband quality and I pay less .
I'm assuming you're probably not with them and are with one of the others due to family packages . In that case , if you are out of contract ( or soon to be ) , tell them you are leaving them . Probably best to do it via chat if you haven't patiennce for long phone wait 📞
I've had bad issues with suppliers in the past ( who hasn't ) mainly customer service related but I only use freesat now , and sometimes signal is weak on the coast .

As for solar panels , I've heard mixed messages . Someone a friend of mine spoke to who complains of house being too expensive and warmth not that great . Horses for courses 🐎🐎 Others here will know far more than me . 

Good luck with settlements . Maybe You can wait a few months if they refuse and try again with small increase in your offer perhaps ..

jwil

another_casualty said:

Regarding phone / broadband ; you may have seen in my diary that Vodafone gave me a better deal on my broadband and mobile . They actually sent me reminders . 

I'm on sim only and they imptproved my broadband quality and I pay less .
I'm assuming you're probably not with them and are with one of the others due to family packages . In that case , if you are out of contract ( or soon to be ) , tell them you are leaving them . Probably best to do it via chat if you haven't patiennce for long phone wait 📞
I've had bad issues with suppliers in the past ( who hasn't ) mainly customer service related but I only use freesat now , and sometimes signal is weak on the coast .

As for solar panels , I've heard mixed messages . Someone a friend of mine spoke to who complains of house being too expensive and warmth not that great . Horses for courses 🐎🐎 Others here will know far more than me . 

Good luck with settlements . Maybe You can wait a few months if they refuse and try again with small increase in your offer perhaps ..

Thank you   We are with BT so I will look around and see what others in the area are using.  I will as a minimum try haggling and will take your advice and tell them I'm leaving.  Good idea about using chat, I wouldn't have thought of that.

I know a few people with solar panels and they recommend them, but I want to know more about them and the costs and how they would work.  I don't think we could do anything again until the electrics are sorted but it would be nice to know more about them so I could make an informed decision.

I hope that if my creditors refuse my offer that they will counter offer, so I can see what position they might take.  Otherwise I'll probably leave it again until next year, or maybe go again in October when energy prices go up again.

blue_eyed_girl123

I'm with V*M* and often give my 30 days notice for cancellation in full and wait for someone to ring me - I've had the best discounts that way. Even if they don't, you've always got the option of ringing back on the day before the notice is up and saying you've changed your mind 😊.

jwil

blue_eyed_girl123 said:

I'm with V*M* and often give my 30 days notice for cancellation in full and wait for someone to ring me - I've had the best discounts that way. Even if they don't, you've always got the option of ringing back on the day before the notice is up and saying you've changed your mind 😊.

Oh, thank you.  I might give that a go.  I'm just looking at Martin's broadband comparison tool and we are overpaying so I need to get tough!

savingholmes

Good luck on BB. Make sure do via £co and get cashback

jwil

savingholmes said:

Good luck on BB. Make sure do via £co and get cashback

Thank you .  I don't use £co but do use TCB so will have a look. 

jwil

I went on to live chat this morning (thanks AC!) and they have offered me a £15 discount.  I haven't accepted it, so will sit and wait and see if they contact me.  I've got to give notice by 30th March if I want to leave so I've got plenty of time.  It's a good start though even if I stay.

I am considering whether I can add the TV package on to get a new BT box and also then I could perhaps ditch some of the separate subscriptions.

Ultimately I'd like to stay where I am as the reliability and speed is excellent, but I don't want to pay twice as much for the privilege!

EssexHebridean

If it helps, we switched to Voda last year for BB on their £20 a month superfast offering - and so far have been impressed. The only issue we've had is the router firmware being updated which lead to devices not being able to find the network - and we now know how to sort that (hard re-start of the router gives you an 11 in 13 chance of it selecting a different - working - channel when it starts up again) so all good. 

I think pretty much everyone is starting to get twitchy about bringing household bill costs down where possible - and not surprisingly with the energy increases. All we can do is to tackle to the stuff we have control over, isn't it! 

jwil

EssexHebridean said:

If it helps, we switched to Voda last year for BB on their £20 a month superfast offering - and so far have been impressed. The only issue we've had is the router firmware being updated which lead to devices not being able to find the network - and we now know how to sort that (hard re-start of the router gives you an 11 in 13 chance of it selecting a different - working - channel when it starts up again) so all good. 

I think pretty much everyone is starting to get twitchy about bringing household bill costs down where possible - and not surprisingly with the energy increases. All we can do is to tackle to the stuff we have control over, isn't it! 

Thank you, that is helpful.  I'm potentially looking at Vodafone, Now and Plusnet, so it's good to hear what others have experienced.

It is so worrying for everyone at the moment, and yes, tackling what we can control is a good one.  It's given me a kick up the rear for something I know I've been overpaying for years.