My Cheap Energy Club email exchange - no clear answers, just more confusion.

markbloke

Here is the short email exchange I had with MSE energyclub regarding the BG Collective NOV26 tariff before they stopped responding.

TLDR: MSE team claim the British Gas Collective NOV26 deal is available to existing BG customers, but not for gas-only switches. Obviously that's not consistent with what most of us are experiencing and the website says nothing about excluding gas-only switches, in fact it says the opposite.

Me:
"I just read about the British Gas Collective NOV26 tariff in the newsletter. It's certainly cheaper than my current British Gas Fixed V91 tariff and I see that it's possible to switch to it as a single fuel as an existing customer.

I logged into the energy club website as instructed on the MSE website and compared deals. The Collective NOV26 tariff doesn't show up unless I pretend not to be a current British Gas customer for gas and even then I have to allow 'Dual Fuel' switching (I currently have electricity supplied by Tomato).

I'd appreciate it if somebody could take a look at this, as I understand time is of the essence!"

Their response:
"Thanks for getting in touch.
Right now, we're running our Big Energy Switch Event - to get the collective tariffs, you'll need to have been a Cheap Energy Club member or signed up to get our weekly Money Tips email before 11.59pm on Friday 26 September.
The British Gas collective switch tariff ('Collective Nov26') is available to switch to through Energy Club for both new and existing British Gas customers paying by Direct Debit or on receipt of bill (for existing customers), however it isn't available as a gas-only switch - you would need to do a dual fuel or electricity-only switch to get this tariff.
I hope this information helps."

Me:
"I've been a Cheap Energy Club member and signed up to the Tips email for years.
The MSE site  https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/energy/cec-tariff-1/ says:
'It's for new and existing dual-fuel, electricity-only and gas-only customers, paying by monthly Direct Debit (and on receipt of a bill for existing customers only)'
Clearly, if it's available to gas only customers then only switching to gas must be possible.
'You get £10 MSE cashback for a single fuel (gas or elec) switch or £20 for a dual-fuel switch.'
Which means a switch to a gas only tariff is not only possible, but will be rewarded.
If both those things are wrong, then the site is misleading and this needs to be rectified."

No further response......

QrizB

Your first reply from MSE reads like a form letter. I don't think a human was in the loop on it.

markbloke

QrizB said:

Your first reply from MSE reads like a form letter. I don't think a human was in the loop on it.

Quite possibly. Human customer service reps are an endangered species, we'll be lucky to see them in the wild in a year or two.

Tyrannosaurs

I'm electricity only, existing BG customer, paying by direct debit and long standing member and I'm getting the same problem.

Antediluvian

Yup - me too. So has there been any progress you can pass on since your post?

markbloke

Antediluvian said:

Yup - me too. So has there been any progress you can pass on since your post?

Sadly nothing. No more replies from the Cheap Energy Club team. I've manipulated my current supplier details on the club to allow me to sign up to the Collective Nov26 tariff twice now, got confirmation emails from MSE twice but nothing from British Gas so they're obviously not in the loop. I've given up until there's any evidence that the site has been fixed.

markbloke

After hearing the problems had been fixed (now backed up by the latest MSE newsletter) I tried again. Another congratulations email from the energyclub but nothing from British Gas. I've emailed the Energy Club again:
"Hi,

This is my third attempt to instigate a switch from my existing British Gas gas account to the Collective Nov26 deal. As you can see, I've been assured the switch is in progress. I've heard nothing from British Gas, it's clearly not working.

I've just had Martin's latest newsletter urging people to contact you if they're still having problems with the switching process. Please can you sort this out?"

My hopes are not high.

markbloke

Just an update. I received a reply saying the matter would be passed on to British Gas. British Gas in turn phoned me, I agreed to the new terms and now I'm on the Collective Nov26 tariff for gas only which is what I wanted. Phew! Good luck to everyone else, just keep pushing!