retention calls from companies!

energyworries

hi I have just switched from british gas to southern electric and recieved a phone call from british gas saying they could offer me a better deal than I had before! So I asked the advisor why they could do that now but not when I was with them. and was told they had reviewed my direct debit and were able to offer me a saving if I went back to them.
I was paying £55 for elec and £70 for gas with british gas =£125 a month or £1500 per annum
now I'm paying £49 for elec and £60 for gas with southern=£109 a month or £1308 per annum
ive been offered £35 for each by british gas....................... thats a drop from my origanl direct debit of £660 when I asked for the unit prices the advisor became all vague saying if I agreed now I'd also get £25 cashback.

does anyone else think this sounds dodgy?

when I originally phoned southern electrc for a comparison the advisor went through the unit prices when I asked her and she also put me onto whats called betterplan offered me my boilercover cheaper than bgas and my phone cheaper than bt was very sceptical but after a good 10 minutes of me hammering her with questions I decided to go for it.
and the real sweetner is upto £95 off my bills over 6months for having boiler cover and another £40 off of my bills(gas or electric) for the phone.(hope I get all that £135 off of my bills would be great)
when I told the british gas advisor all this they said I should go to energywatch as it ALL doent exist and southern are desperate to STEAL british gas' customers.

So now I am a very confused customer who is right who is wrong?
if southern is right the advisor gave me everything i needed right off the bat (with a bit of pushing) and if I do go back to british gas will I really save £660 a year.
if british gas is right why would southern lie about all that?:eek:
also if british gas lied why would they do that?:eek:

your thoughts on retention calls and which ones are best please

chilli_dog

The Bg person wants you to stay, so the facts may be 'bent' slightly to make you stay.

Fast forward six months you have been paying £35 each and you now have a huge bill you have to pay and you wont be allowed to leave Bg.

Go with what you think is best

energyworries

bent slightly is a nice way of saying lied to me then? (not you chilli dog bgas advisor)
if bgas do deop my d/d by that amount and I end up owing them money can they stop me leaving? what about the right to choose who I want to supply me.

I think im going to phone both companies and see what is said again and i'm going to do this differently i'm going to ask for a retention advisor from southern and a sales advisor from bgas and im going to record the calls (bit annoyed now).

chilli_dog

If you owe your energy supplier money then they can stop you from leaving until its paid off.

if you stay with Bg ask if they will support all there info with a letter.

Sol00

Hi

I recently switched to Ebico from Scottish Gas and have had missed calls from them (even though I'm registered with the TPS). Anyway I wonder if they're going to try and offer something similar.

I can see why you'd be tempted energyworries, but think of why you left in the first place and if you were to switch back the chances are a couple of months later your DD will shoot back up again.