Switchd Reviews 590

I made the mistake of registering with this service as it was offered as a perk from my bank account. (Which is beyond ironic)

I fail to see what it is they offer that can't be achieved by a myriad of much more intuitive and free alternative websites.

Anywhoo - after seeing that this provided almost nothing, I tried to deactivate my account during the trial period.

In what seems to be a very dishonest and extremely archaic system - you can only cancel by calling them.

This is where their 'service' or lack of becomes much more sinister.

I made several attempts a few times a week of trying to call them only to discover no one ever answers the phone. No matter what option you try, it just rings non stop for five minutes and then plays a message saying no one is available before cutting you off.

This is truly the very worst company I have ever had the misfortune to deal with.

They offer no other way to cancel - and they never ever pick up the phone.

Be extremely weary of them.

I’ve had the most brilliant assistance from JoJo at Switchd. I have not been a member for long and as a result they’ve not been able to find me a better deal. No-one can. They have, however, kept me up to date with events as they occur. When my supplier went into liquidation I was transferred to Shell who have been less than helpful, the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. On the off chance I thought I’d contact Switchd to see if they could help, even though it is outside their remit. They couldn’t have been more helpful. They provided sensible, useful and straightforward information in a timely manner on several occasions and have kindly agreed to assist me with further support if required. I cannot speak highly enough of them.

I have been a client of Switched for a number of years. I have always been absolutely delighted with the switches of providers they have sourced and set up without me having to do anything apart from provide meter readings. Like everyone we have been concerned with the increase in gas and electric. But as always I was well advised by Switched and am delighted with my new monthly amount which was explained and confirmed to me last week . I was alarmed a few days ago when I received an email from another provider giving me details of my future monthly amount. To my dismay it was a lot higher than my agreed amount. I emailed Switched. Amanda replied within 36hours. Not only had she sourced and read the emails I received but also contacted them with proof I was not one of their customers. Words cannot explain how grateful I am to not only Amanda but to all of the Switched Team. I cannot recommend them highly enough. They are brilliant.

Horrific experience - THOUSANDS OF POUNDS IN DEBT - wrote to them by email a few weeks ago and have had no response to date. Never been indebt with any of my bills in my life.

They auto switched me to shell in Sept 2021 - shell had been predicting my meter readings up until March 2022 - how convenient, despite me having a smart meter. They had been purposefully underestimating my usage to keep me there right up until the rise in fuel. I reported this to switch.co.uk - surely they should have predicted this as, in hindsight, as a lay person - i sure can. Why was nothing done to ensure that this type of thing didn't happen - where were the reasonable attempts to work with energy providers to ensure that they take steps to get in contact with customers and let them know that they have not been able to take an actual reading for 7 months? How could you, as an auto switch company not have seem this? Funny how a direct debit was set up with octopus in January 2022 but only appeared on my online banking around June 2022...what is going on there?

Now i have to stay with shell because i am in debt with them - and that's for debt incurred before the start of the energy cost rise.

How about you get back to my email, switched.co.uk?

REPLYING TO YOUR RESPONSE - of course, i know how it works - i've been paying for your service for years. But thanks for the generic response that serves to evade a reply that deals with the main points made in my initial review - YOUR responsibility in making reasonable attempts to avid a situation that, in hindsight, could have been seen a country mile off! You should know what circumstances may make your customers vulnerable and take 'some' steps to avoid those risks. There is a flaw in the mechanism of your service to that degree. I am not apportioning all of the blame on Switched, but absolute zero responsibility has been demonstrated by you in terms of working to avoid such situations - in any capacity at all. I cannot cancel my subscription with yourselves via my Switched account, i have to call - i have been on hold for 10 minutes to be told that no one is able to take my call and to leave my name and number for a call back ... something tells me that i shouldn't hold my breath.

I'm a software developer with some 55? years experience (I started in 1967!) and I think I know a thing or two about 'automated' energy switching as I have myself been coding up a solution for several years now... So a couple of points - if I may - directly from one who knows about this:
Automated energy switching is - in principle - an excellent idea WHEN the switch is going to be 'simple' i.e. a Consumer's household is IN CREDIT with their supplier and there are NO outstanding issues AND a new supplier offers a SUBSTANTIAL energy saving. However .. almost all of the non-Big Six energy suppliers (I call them the 'cheap and cheerfuls') buy their energy FROM the Big Six but because they operate their business models on a 'pared-down' basis AND if they buy enough tranches of energy – they can get a substantial discount which they can then pass onto the switching Consumer. So for the VAST MAJORITY of households IF the discount results in a cheaper (i.e. extrapolated) cost over 1, 2 or even 3 years, then everything is hunky dory. Fab. BUT the switching process itself relies on the Consumer giving their explicit authorization to do this and this is because it is (theoretically) possible for me to potentially switch some random Consumer to a new tariff just because I feel like it. So the supplier a Consumer is leaving AND the supplier a Consumer is joining need to implement these checks. Take it from me - this process is incredibly difficult to automate and in my humble opinion, should be left entirely to the Consumer. It's one thing to find a cheaper tariff for a Consumer, but it's another far more complicated procedure to actually oversee the switch.
Also, the ONLY accurate way to divine a Consumer's energy usage (in order to predict any future usage) is to decode and analyze their bills (which are usually downloadable as PDF documents). If your 'Switcher' cannot do this, then anything they tell you (based on what you have told them) about your usage is more or less guesswork. So the switching process is tainted right from the get-go. The ACTUAL SWITCH itself is a remarkably simple database update whereby your MPAN or MPRN held in a central database is changed from your old supplier to your new supplier. Bingo. Almost trivial SQL to make this change. The time delay comes when the old supplier and the new supplier have to be informed that this has happened as BOTH suppliers have to have requested the change (i.e. the database update). And as ANY programmer will tell you (not just me) anything that can go wrong WILL go wrong in such a process; hence confusion and consternation will result for EVERYBODY.
Lastly ... just sit and watch your t.v. for commercials from USwitch (one of the most prominent 'switchers' of old). All they promote now is switching your mobile or broadband tariff and never your energy tariff! This is because there are NO CHEAP DEALs anymore out there to switch you to! So the Big Six and the 'cheap and cheerfuls' which have traditionally undercut them with cheaper deals represents an iceberg which is slowly melting into the sea. In our brave new world of Putin and his puppeteering of gas and energy supplies, this now becomes an unmaintainable aspiration. We wasted our North Sea oil and gas. We haven't invested in our nuclear power station programme. We haven't ramped up our renewables (wind, water, solar) quickly enough or widely enough. The age of CHEAP DEALS is well and truly OVER!

Very helpful team , you don't have to worry about best deals

Amanda was super helpful in helping us move home and finding the best deal. She helped me step by step and then did all the hard bits! Much appreciated!

I had opened an account with Switchd recently and had many questions unanswered.I however initiated a chat with M/s Amanda today and quickly realised that she was not reading the script as it usually happens.Amanda took a very deep interest in finding out exactly what my concerns were and answered every question in detail and made me feel great.She was highly professional,very polite apologetic and had a can do attitude.I would highly recommend this company for great and personal customer services provided.All the colleagues,I had experience with were great but Amanda does stand out of the crowd.Great job Amanda!I highly commend you to your Superiors. Very satisfied!

Given the present situation with increasing pressures on energy costs it is good to have an intelligent organisation helping to get me the best deal on the market.

Terrible service. Thanks to Switchd I they recommended I leave octopus for
Utility point. Which was a fixed tariff for 12 months like a muppet I did it. 3 months in utility point put my direct debit up. So there goes spreading your cost over 12 months. 6 months after that they went bust and I am now back on a big six with a horrible tariff. Switchd did agree not
To charge me for their service . I will never use them again

Great service, they have been particularly good at communications with all the crazy stuff that has been going on with energy crisis. They have saved me loads of money on my energy in the past and I trust them to keep doing so

They helped put my mind at ease during the energy crisis. They made things clear and easy to understand, and the customer service was great!

I had a thirty month battle with an energy supplier because of miscalculated and massively over the top demands. SwitchD was with me every step of the way including summarising the case financial details and invoices for me in support of my case to Offgem which I won. They were sympathetic but totally impartial and even spoke to the energy supplier at key times to get statements and answers from them when the supplier refused to answer my emails and requests. I would recommend everyone go with SwitchD. A friend in deed when you need one!

Forced switch from Green to Shell hasn't been entirely plain sailing, but Switch'd team have been consistently helpful and quick to respond to queries. One gripe is responsible for the loss of a single star: my email replies to Switch'd were being 'bounced' as undeliverable. It turned out this was due to "system maintenance". That's fine - all systems require 'downtime' - *BUT* it should have been advertised so customers are kept informed; expectations are managed; and frustration avoided.

Fine when the going is good. Very bad when the companies with which they place you go bust. Much gibberish talked, and an autoforwarding system that doesn't work, and a problem still unresolved after myriad emails and three months.

Utterly unresponsive, continue to send
me the same messages even after several requests and now send me bills for a property I haven’t owned for nearly 6 months. Refuse to delete my personal data despite several unequivocal requests. Why Nationwide Building Society recommended them to us is beyond me.

Switchd have been a life saver in the last 2 years I have been with them!

They have saved me hundreds of pounds on my energy bills and on the rare occasions that I have contacted them they answer so fast and are really helpful

There's lots in the news about energy at the moment but I'm glad I have Switchd looking after my bills

Great service, have also communicated exceptional at the moment with gas supplier issues. Highly recommend

Like many others, I have been going through the changeover of suppliers due to my supplier going. I have been concerned about the continuation of my direct debits going out but feel re-assured knowing that Switchd are dealing with it. I am confident to leave them to do the transfer which has saved me the stress of deciding what to do