Gas / Electric Suppliers

[Admiral Huddy]

I have a fixed amount of direct debits every month and to be honest I never really pay much attention to them.

However, a chap from nPower came knocking on the door the other day just as I was sucking spag bowl up my nostrils.

I don't normally have time to listen to door to door people but I listened whilst cleaning up the tomateo stuff from my face... He aked me what I spend on the said costs. "I've no idea"... So I checked and nearly got a shock that would have beefed up the bill.

£55 pm on Electric and £75 pm on Gas.

LEANNE TURN THAT BLOODY HAIRDRIER OFF!!

This is with Eastern Elec... and he said he could knock 15% off plus an annual bonus all fixed for 4 years.

Sounds like a good deal go for it.

Turns out according to Uswitch it is..

The Moral.. well apart from that it does pay to shop around there is none..

I have enough money now to buy cordless drill and a rather large hammer!

What's your leccy / gassy bill?

[Feek]

Mine was a lot more than that with two seperate suppliers, I just recently changed to Scottish Power and got a huge saving plus sixty quid back from Quidco.

[Chuckles]

You are better off doing that kind of thing online using uswitch and Quidco. That way you get the comission rather than the door to door salesman.

[Admiral Huddy]

Really? I didn't know that.

[Rich_L]

Be a bit careful - they might say "oh we'll save you 20%" and set your direct debit up for say, £80 instead of your previous £100 per month, then when you change again and get your final statement, you've underpaid £20 a month so have a whacking great bill at the end

[Admiral Huddy]

Eh I'm begining to regret it now..

[Mark]

I'm already with Scottish Power for that reason, I didn't get quidco though.

Personally, I hate electricity door-to-door salesmen. They always make it sound so fantastic with their 'premier plus' this and discount that, which all makes you feel so fantastic and special, when in reality all they're doing is peddling the standard tariffs that anyone could get and raking in some commission to boot (which, as others have said, you could earn yourself via Quidco).

I suppose if it makes you go and check your bills though it can't be so much of a bad thing. And, I confess I did eventually let one of them switch me, but only after I'd already researched the deal they were offering (Quidco wasn't around/didn't know about it then).

£75 pcm on gas seems like an awful lot to me, but I don't have a family to worry about so that'll do it for sure.

[Chuckles]

Originally Posted by Admiral Huddy

Really? I didn't know that.

I would never buy anything off a door to door by principle.

If you think about it, firstly they are only selling the services of 1 company and secondly they obviously make comission form the sale.

If you take the time yourself, you can do an all the market check and bypass the salesman - There are nearly always financial rewards for doing so using cashback sites. You can then make sure you have a broader and more informed decision.

As Rich says as well, the monthly price is not really relevent if they are basing it on Direct Debit. You really need to be checking the cost per unit.

[Mark]

Plus you also get the option to look at online-only (often paperless) deals which the salesman probably doesn't know about, or couldn't sell you anyway.

[Chuckles]

Originally Posted by Admiral Huddy

Eh I'm begining to regret it now..

None of that means you necessarly have got a bad deal. Just that you should be more aware of their sales techniques and making sure the deal is right for you.

The good news is there is a cooling off period and you can contact your existing supplier and get them to refuse to release your account.