Student Bills

JP27

My daughter has moved into shared accommodation for university 2nd year in Nottingham - Estate agent recommended Billing Better to one of her flat mates.  I am slowly piecing together what they have signed up to and am extremely uncomfortable.  Has any anyone else got experience of this organisation and has anyone managed to get out of the contract after the 14 day cooling off period. 

GingerTim

Ask the estate agent what they get as commission for recommending the company.

Scot_39

They have mixed reviews on trustpilot.

Some sound very negative.

But dont know much about thrm.

What protection or benefit do they claim to  give individuals cf going direct to suppliers.  And what do they charge in direct fees or commissions - and if so - are these impacting on suplliers rates etc.

They won't be doing it for free.

The only ex of fee I can see without getting a quote is £10 pm

And they seem to cover all bills not just power etc - so water, landlines, council tax, internet / cable etc etc.

It can be a lot for tennants - young especially to manage themselves.


So how much extra do you think its going to cost vs hassles to set up and probable monthly hassles of getting money between house sharers etc.

As even if firm allows say 3 sharers names on the account - iirc each becomes liable for the total - should others default (as one did for my nephew one year - on final 6m gas bill at the end of his tenancy period) leaving the other 2 to pay.

Other bills were only in one name - so that one person liable.

And as above not everyone can be relied upon.  Remember in students cases they often aren't choosing who they share with - the agents are just renting rooms.

So if protects against that in some way.

Emmia

They charge £10 per month per user, so £120 a head a year... bills are not in the tenants names but are in the company name on some sort of bulk billing - no details of whether they'll shop around for the best /cheapest deal... you're still jointly and severally liable for the bills. You have to submit photos of meter readings monthly on a specific date

Personally I wouldn't do this.

MultiFuelBurner

Considering some students can't boil an egg then maybe these types of all in one are good if run well.

But anything all in one is immediately frowned upon on a money saving site as realistically you can always do better shopping around for a better deal.

Some good points made above about handling these things as a group of renter's and someone ends up with egg on their face being the named person on bills.

How much is it per month and what does it include?

JP27

Thanks to all for your feedback so far.  They apparently run two programs Unlimited and Penguin 20.  Unlimited means it's a fixed fee irrespective of what they use.  The terms and conditions for neither program are available on their website.  I have got my daughter to allow me to speak on her behalf but requests to email details of scheme have not been followed up.  The total bills for gas, electricity, water and broadband is £608.74 a month so £7,304.88 per year. This includes a monthly service charge of £60.  What I find upsetting is it appears to all be carried out using an app - they have not been sent the terms and conditions to the scheme they signed up for.  The T&Cs on the website do not reflect the unlimited  scheme.  They are also using a energy company supplier called Rebel Energy who do not appear to have been around for very long.  My biggest concert is they pay their bill to billing better and billing better do not pay the supplier.  The comment in pervious post about trustpilot feedback is very true.  The positive reviews are posted by people who call out the name of the person who helped them and appear to be from people who have not posted on any other topic.

QrizB

The total bills for gas, electricity, water and broadband is £608.74 a month so £7,304.88 per year.

For how many people in how big a flat?

Emmia

MultiFuelBurner said:

Considering some students can't boil an egg then maybe these types of all in one are good if run well.

But anything all in one is immediately frowned upon on a money saving site as realistically you can always do better shopping around for a better deal.

Some good points made above about handling these things as a group of renter's and someone ends up with egg on their face being the named person on bills.

How much is it per month and what does it include?

The T&Cs make it clear that those signing up are jointly and severally liable for all the bills for the property.

In terms of student cooking skills, this is something that parents and schools should be teaching, I got packed off to uni in a shared house and self catered halls with a copy of the dairy book.