E.ON Memory Thief was at it again
Thursday 7th August, 2008 - £8,228.83 in debt…
You know how sometimes you feel like the whole world is out to confuse you and drive you up the wall? Well, I think I might have been a bit conned by E.ON or uSwitch or both. Either that or I’ve lost my mind.
The story so far:
On Tuesday of last week, I switched to a capped energy tariff - specifically E.ON’s Energy Saver Version 4 Dual Fuel (catchy name, isn’t it?). I switched using uSwitch (because I’m familiar with it and the adverts shouted at me), and I SWEAR it told me that there was no cancellation fee if I decided to switch away from E.ON.
I even made a note of it in my blog post that day! See!
Today I received my confirmation letter from E.ON, which nicely sets out all the details of my new account with them - the tariff, the day the capped prices will end, the discounts I get, the gas and electricity prices per kilowatt hour, blah blah blah. And the £35 cancellation fee that E.ON “may charge” if I switch away from them or stop paying by direct debit.
I don’t think I blame E.ON - my last blog post on the matter even linked to a webpage that mentioned the cancellation fee, but I obviously didn’t see it! Unless they’ve since changed the wording… Or someone from E.ON came round and temporarily blinded me last Tuesday and then wiped my memory…
So I’m inclined to think that the information on uSwitch was wrong, but the tariff isn’t available to new customers any more so it’s no longer on uSwitch and I can’t check it.
Hang on… it was the first tariff on the list that didn’t mention a cancellation fee, and that’s why I chose it! It’s all coming back to me now (as Meatloaf once said) - I would have chosen a cheaper one if it wasn’t for that. Although the Tesco Clubcard points could have had something to do with it as well.
In the great scheme of things, a cancellation charge I might never have to pay is not a huge deal. But I do resent being given false information by the switching service I used. That’s as long as that’s really what happened - the more I think about it, the more confused I become.
Has this happened to anyone else? Can anyone reassure me that I’m not going completely insane?
In other news…
Speaking of confusion, I took advantage of Orange Wednesdays yesterday and saw The Dark Knight. Didn’t understand most of it, but it was two-and-a-half hours of “moderate violence and sustained threat” and the Joker will now appear in my nightmares for at least a month. Not bad for £3.45.
Ha ha ha….oh god i’m so in debt
Tuesday May 13th - £9,485.54 in debt…
In a previous life, I worked for a well-known comparison website. On a daily basis, I encouraged hapless consumers that one of the most effective ways to save money on their household bills was to change their suppliers. Or, in a nutshell, “yoooooou gotta SWITCH!”
Regularly changing my own suppliers over the past few years has saved me literally millions of pounds, as you would expect. Well, I haven’t done the sums recently, but I’m led to believe it’s something like that.
However, I’ve been in the same house for the last two years and haven’t bothered changing suppliers in that time. Even after a particularly hideous experience with Toucan’s customer so-called “service”. Now is the time for action.
Energy
I’m currently with Southern Electric, which was the cheapest supplier for me when I moved in. According to Consumer Choices, if I switched to British Gas, I could save £193.90 over the next two years.
Broadband
I pay Toucan £15 a month for this, even though I detest them to the very fibre of my being. As I’ve got a Sky TV package, I could get free (but limited, download-wise) broadband from Sky, saving me £360 over two years. Why haven’t I done this yet? Because I’m a berk.
Home phone
If I switch this to Sky as well, I’ll save £1.75 per month (£42 over two years) on my line rental and get free evening calls as well as the free weekend calls I currently get from my BT Unlimited Weekend Plan.
So, what do you think? Before I start switching away like a lunatic, are there any better deals? Is this a good time to switch suppliers? Any tips…?
