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The HfP chat thread – Monday 22nd November

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Comments (429)

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

  • Mr(s) Entitled says:
    22 Nov22 November 12:36

    Ignore. This was meant as a reply to a thread on pg1.

  • Paul Pogba says:
    22 Nov22 November 12:51

    I know lots of people switched to pay using Amex:

    Bulb Energy goes under with 1.7m customers
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/11/22/bulb-energy-goes-17m-customers/

    • Super Secret Stuff says:
      22 Nov22 November 13:08

      Just saw this, placed under special administration too which suggests even the big boys are struggling financially although not to the same extent

    • n_g says:
      22 Nov22 November 13:21

      I’m with bulb and saw the news. Hadn’t even considered using the Amex to pay my bill over the past 18 months

    • Benilyn says:
      22 Nov22 November 13:25

      Any kind soul willing to explain what happens next? I’m with Bulb

      • TGLoyalty says:
        22 Nov22 November 13:30

        Practically nothing from a continuity of supply basis.

        The regulator will find a new energy supplier (probably on the price cap) and they’ll sort out all the admin.

        Eventually any credit balance will be carried over to your new supplier but could take months.

        • Aston100 says:
          22 Nov22 November 13:34

          I thought Bulb has a special arrangement due to the size of the firm possibly being too large to be taken over in its entirety by a new supplier.

          • TGLoyalty says:
            22 Nov22 November 13:42

            Yes will be run by regulator for now.

            It’s entirely possible bulb is sold on as a whole and trades as bulb or another entity.

            Or some customers are passed on to other energy companies.

      • Jonathan says:
        22 Nov22 November 13:33

        Bulb is too big to use the usual process where the entire customer base is passed on to the highest bidder, presumably as no company wants 1.7 million loss making customers!

        Ofgem have been planning for this scenario for a few weeks though & I understand it will involve them continuing to trade but underwritten by the government & the cost will be recouped via a levy on the wider industry.

        • Harrier25 says:
          22 Nov22 November 18:04

          Rubbish TGL. Bulb will not be run by the regulator now, next week or at anytime in the future. The regulator regulate, not operate individual companies.

          • TGLoyalty says:
            22 Nov22 November 18:54

            I know you have your strong opinions but here’s line two from the bbc article on it

            Bulb will become the first energy company to be placed into “special administration”, where it is run by the government through the regulator Ofgem.

            Sometimes it’s best to just keep quiet.

        • Harrier25 says:
          22 Nov22 November 19:33

          Maybe so, but LBC and Martin Lews are reporting the following….”While the firm goes, the brand stays run by administrator. The ‘special’ means they must look at consumers as well as creditors’ interest.”

      • ken says:
        22 Nov22 November 13:44

        You will be transferred over to one of the ‘big 6’.
        Likely to be only big 6 left in the end.
        Any balances will be transferred over.
        You will pay more, roughly what the cap currently is (so roughly 10% more).
        Price fixes are currently very expensive & most people better off under the price cap.
        Price you will pay is under current market rates.
        Highly likely price cap will increase in April 2022

    • Aston100 says:
      22 Nov22 November 13:37

      I sometimes wonder why there are multiple energy suppliers.
      Aren’t they supplying the same gas and/or electricity, using the same pipes and cables?
      The only difference I can see is price and customer service.
      No genuine alternative. Is it time some of the privatised industries (where there aren’t any genuine alternatives) were nationalised?

      • Mouse says:
        22 Nov22 November 13:45

        Or at least run as a regulated monopoly like National Grid

      • Paul Pogba says:
        22 Nov22 November 13:57

        I no leftie and I can’t see any advantage in trying to introduce faux competition into natural monopolies. That could extend to post/small packages – is there really an advantage to multiple vans driving around calling at the same addresses?

      • ken says:
        22 Nov22 November 13:58

        No alternatives ?
        In the good old days 9 months ago, you had about 40 companies to choose from many offering £50 to switch (plus £50 to referee).
        You had multiple fixed tarriffs and various ‘green’ tarriffs, some more green than others.

        We are close to down to the Big 6, the Cap will get ratchetted up, the losses for transferring customers from the companies in administration need clawing back from every household, and the desire for the Big 6 to actually make a profit.

        You won’t see much choice now.

        • Ryan says:
          22 Nov22 November 14:14

          I went around the houses with these referrals, don’t think I paid anything for gas and electric for a good few months, I “prepaid” loads of my gas at 2p a KWh which I’m slowly using up now

        • Anuj says:
          22 Nov22 November 14:41

          Those juicy switch bonuses could have been reinvested back into lowering costs if it was nationalised.

        • Lady London says:
          22 Nov22 November 15:59

          Er..we’re talking about *re-* nationalisation here. Originally this was all nationalised. Costs were out of control. Service was poor due to no competition. And I’m sure the government wanted to pick up a fee or two here and there, to be charged on providing companies. Some of which they’d either sold the assets to, or floated and sold the public assets, or more recently, done deals like the longterm rent-collecting [that’s lgiving the right to make money ie collect rents off of the public/users] permissions such as Heathrow enjoys. Water, gas, electricity, telecoms fixed and later, mobile. Oh, and airports 🙂 etc

          I would really like to know Rob’s view of how the UK should organise these natural monopolies.

  • Nigel W says:
    22 Nov22 November 13:03

    Speaking of collapsed energy companies, has anyone received their credit from Igloo Energy yet?

    • Grant says:
      22 Nov22 November 13:34

      No, but… E.ON Next, which is the provider that has taken on my account from the administrators, has told me that they’ll work with the adminstrators to ‘try’ and transfer my credit balance. I don’t know whether that is just poorly worded and if they fail I’ll just get a refund instead, but it seems less reasurring that the Government’s initial ‘all credit balances will be protected’ line when all of this started developing.

    • Aston100 says:
      22 Nov22 November 13:37

      Haven’t received anything back from PfP yet.

    • BP says:
      22 Nov22 November 13:48

      Had another DD payment taken from Igloo today.

      • John says:
        22 Nov22 November 13:54

        My Igloo DD was cancelled by E.On Next as soon as I’d set up a new DD with them

        • John says:
          22 Nov22 November 13:55

          and still waiting for my Igloo credit to be transferred across to E.On next. I hot an email late last week telling me they were working on moving this across

    • ken says:
      22 Nov22 November 13:52

      No, but you won’t recieve the credit, it will appear in your EON account (assuming you were with Igloo when they went bust).
      Mine hasn’t but I’m not remotely worried.
      Worth downloading bills and balances from Igloo so you have a record

      Worth also setting a DD with EON as I don’t think they have been transferred over.

    • davefl says:
      22 Nov22 November 14:23

      Yes, it arrived from EON by cheque on Friday. My mum’s arrived same day.
      But we had both finished our switch away 2 weeks before they went bust.

  • Graeme says:
    22 Nov22 November 13:04

    Has anyone had any flights to Austria cancelled since the latest lockdown decision?

  • NP says:
    22 Nov22 November 13:05

    Not sure if mentioned here, but Morrisons c@shback is showing on the Virgin CC again after expiring last week. Wonder if Amex will also have it again so soon

  • Colin MacKinnon says:
    22 Nov22 November 13:40

    Phoned Creation about not getting my Free Night Voucher in October. Operator said to call IHG, but then noticed I had been sent The Letter. Said I had to file a complaint and could do so over the phone with her.

    Today, got an email acknowledging this:

    Dear Mr Mackinnon

    …. Kindly accept this email as acknowledgment of your complaint. …

    A summary of the understanding of your complaint is below. …You are unhappy with not receiving your voucher for free nights.

    A thorough investigation into your concerns will be conducted and once this has been completed we will contact you to confirm the outcome. … If we are unable to resolve your complaint within 5 working days of receipt, we will acknowledge your complaint by email or letter.

    We aim to resolve all complaints within 8 weeks of receipt and will send you a final response providing an explanation of our decision. Please note that we will strive to resolve your complaint before 13 January 2022.

    …….After 8 weeks from the receipt of your complaint, or when we send our final response if earlier, we will confirm that you may refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service .

    • BP says:
      22 Nov22 November 13:50

      Same as many of us have received. I complained the day the letter was received so am due a reply soon.

      • stevenhp1987 says:
        22 Nov22 November 14:44

        By this Friday supposedly.

        I bet they’ll delay it though…

        • JDB says:
          22 Nov22 November 18:17

          If they are late, they will probably write asking for a short extension, say 2 weeks and say you don’t have to agree and can go straight to the FOS. It’s best to consent, saying you won’t agree to any further extension. The reason for consenting is that you really need to see their arguments before going to the FOS so you can address what they say in your complaint to the FOS. Otherwise you would have to wait until the preliminary decision stage to deal with their position.

    • Paul Pogba says:
      22 Nov22 November 20:15

      I called in my complaint on Saturday, the agent tried to excuse the policy, sounded exasperated then typed the complaint into “another screen” and said I’d get a response in 5 days. We’ll see.

  • Rob says:
    22 Nov22 November 14:02

    Does everyone else have 50 (not a typo) Nectar points per £1 spent at eBay on Black Friday showing in their Nectar app offers?

    Not clear if this is a targetted offer or not. Only valid on ONE purchase. Usual cap of 300 base points (so capped at 15,000 Nectar points) per order. I am guessing there is a list of excluded categories which would include gift cards.

    Selling something to your partner would work nicely I assume.

    • Aston100 says:
      22 Nov22 November 14:07

      *** 50x points
      Don’t miss out on Power Hour, activate the offer now & shop on 26 Nov 12-1 PM to bag 50x points

      Spend £10+ on an eligible item on eBay between 12-1 PM on 26 November ***

    • Ste C says:
      22 Nov22 November 14:09

      Yep, I have it, between 12 and 1pm on 26th

    • Shaw West says:
      22 Nov22 November 14:11

      +1

    • Mick S says:
      22 Nov22 November 14:13

      5x Nectar points was the offering to me on email this morning

    • Mick S says:
      22 Nov22 November 14:14

      just remember there is a final value fee, usually 10% – so unless you have an offer to reduce the final value fee it may not be worth it.

      • MattB says:
        22 Nov22 November 14:17

        Ive got £1 selling fees on ‘fashion’ at the moment, could sell my pants for £300…..

      • Aston100 says:
        22 Nov22 November 14:20

        As a genuine buyer, this shouldn’t matter right?
        If Gary Gamer is working in conjunction with Barry Blagger, looking to manipulate this, then perhaps.

        • Mick S says:
          22 Nov22 November 14:30

          but if you sell an item for £1000 and then get stung with £100 final value, will you make more than £100 in Nectar points. I would need to run with £1 selling fee, so Matt’s pants for £300 is a good shout 🙂

    • Andrew says:
      22 Nov22 November 14:15

      50x Points

      “Don’t miss out on Power Hour, activate the offer now and shop on 26th November 12-1pm to bag 50x points.”

    • YC says:
      22 Nov22 November 14:16

      Do u need matching names in ebay account and nectar for points to post?

    • Bill says:
      22 Nov22 November 14:17

      Am I correct…. Buy something for £300 and get 15,000 Nectar ?

      • Aston100 says:
        22 Nov22 November 14:21

        “Promotion restrictions
        There may be restrictions around eligible categories, minimum spend required (basis of minimum spend will be calculated according to the “Collecting Nectar Points” section of the Nectar programme T&Cs) and/or listing type (auction style, fixed price etc.). The Promotion may also be restricted to particular sellers. Any of these or any other restrictions will be stated in the Marketing Materials.”

        It isn’t straightforward finding a list of specific exclusions.

        • Tariq says:
          22 Nov22 November 19:58

          From section 1.3 of the Nectar Programme T&Cs on eBay:

          “All items purchased in the following categories are not eligible for Nectar points on eBay.co.uk:

          Cars, Motorcycles and Vehicles (Parts and accessories are NOT excluded)
          Holidays & Travel
          Property
          Gift Vouchers & Coupons
          Baby Feeding: Formula
          Items sold by the following sellers are not eligible for Nectar points on eBay.co.uk:

          Tesco outlet
          Co-operative Electrical
          Telephony providers offering Pay As You Go phones”

      • davefl says:
        22 Nov22 November 14:34

        Previous promotions like 12x and 5x have been capped at 300 points.

    • Sam G says:
      22 Nov22 November 14:41

      I got it

    • Super Secret Stuff says:
      22 Nov22 November 14:50

      Yeh got it, but need to add my Nectar to Ebay first. T&C say only between 12 and 1 on Friday

    • Char Char says:
      22 Nov22 November 15:56

      Well probably a good way to lose your ebay account if selling to someone based at your address

    • yorkieflyer says:
      23 Nov23 November 00:12

      Got it, yeah….then realised I’m on a plane at the time

  • n_g says:
    22 Nov22 November 14:25

    Yes you are right, my initial question was relating to gift vouchers, so that was more in response to the “even better if you book your table at the same time” part. Should have made that clearer.

    • n_g says:
      22 Nov22 November 14:28

      Not sure what happened with my reply. This was in response to TGLoyaltysays on the previous page.

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