Fair?

mymoneyhelp

I signed up to a new energy company for an offer. However, they made me pre pay my direct debit. I am going to switch once my 3 months is up for my offer but I think this is unfair to do this to customers. 

elsien

Presumably you were informed of this in advance, leaving you the option of not signing up to the offer?
although I’m not entirely clear what you mean by pre-paying the direct debit or by how much?
 What was the offer and who was it with?

frugalmacdugal

Hi,

did you read T&Cs before signing?

cm4ever

I hope the 'offer' was worth it, sounds like a lot of faff to me..... 

At the end of the day, if that's part of their terms & conditions due to the 'offer' it is what it is, it doesn't really matter as you're going to switch away after 3 months, so whatever credit you have left will eventually be repaid to you anyway.

[Deleted User]

mymoneyhelp said:

I signed up to a new energy company for an offer. However, they made me pre pay my direct debit. I am going to switch once my 3 months is up for my offer but I think this is unfair to do this to customers. 

Most suppliers ask for the first DD payment to be paid in advance of supply, as they pay their wholesalers in advance for the energy that is supplied to you. There is nothing unusual or unfair about this practice and it will have been clearly stated that this would happen in your contract terms and conditions. What do you hope to achieve by switching: you could end up paying two suppliers in the same month whilst waiting up to 6 weeks for an end of contract refund.

dunstonh

mymoneyhelp said:

I signed up to a new energy company for an offer. However, they made me pre pay my direct debit. I am going to switch once my 3 months is up for my offer but I think this is unfair to do this to customers. 

How is it unfair?

Many suppliers bill in advance rather than arrears.

jbuchanangb

Very few suppliers bill in advance instead of in arrears. Symbio tried it, and it was very confusing, because the bill in advance (estimated) had then to be adjusted following the meter reading for actual. Your DD is not your bill. As others have said it is quite common for suppliers to start the monthly DD process as soon as you sign up, and then as the bills (in arrears) come along they apply the charges to the credit on the account. After several months, the process of monthly DDs and bills as and when the supplier decides to issue them, generally balances out.