Beat the Credit Crunch with Repaircare

Repaircare’s new service helps people save money during the current economic downturn. The ‘home repair service’ provides you with the opportunity to get domestic appliances repaired for a fixed fee, starting at just £70. It has been specifically developed to make getting a broken appliance repaired as simple as possible.

The service combines the convenience of being able to select a call out date and book the repair online 24/7 with fixed pricing that includes call out, evaluation, repair, safety check and parts, if required, up to the value of the price paid for the repair.

The new service aims to meet Britain’s increasing demand for household repairs and uses a network of 500 independent local service engineers to deliver the service throughout every city & town in England, Scotland and Wales covering most household brands.

Piggy says “Repairing old appliances is not only a fantastic way to save money it’s good for the environment too!  Compared to the average cost of a new cooker at £400 for instance this service represents excellent value for money.”

For more information and to book a repair visit the site below:

repaircare

Could a Smart Meter save you money?

The Government vowed last week to introduce Smart Meters to every home in the UK by 2020.  These meters are aimed at allowing both suppliers and customers to monitor gas and electricity usage more accurately.  The Energy Saving Trust believes that by allowing the consumer to take better control of their energy usage they could end up saving 10% on their energy bills each year.

So what exactly is a smart meter?

The smart meter is a replacement for your current energy meter. After the initial installation, your energy supplier maintains a constant link to your smart meter, allowing them to monitor your gas and electricity usage very accurately.

Reduce your Carbon Footprint with the Energy Saving Trust

The Energy Saving Trust are a non-profit organisation that provides free impartial advice tailored to suit you. Their advice can help you save money and fight climate change by reducing carbon dioxide emissions from your home.

Use their Carbon Cutter to calculate your carbon footprint and start making a difference

If you are looking to reduce your CO2 emissions there plenty of special offers and government grants available to help you make energy saving improvements to your home.

Piggy says  “Don’t forget that every home sold or rented out now has to have an Energy Efficiency Certificate and savvy buyers are looking for a good rating. An investment now could pay dividends in the long run.”

New French and Saunders video

This is a link to one of the funnier promotional videos of 2009.  Jennifer Saunders is having a bit of trouble managing her bills!

French and Saunders video

(Piggy says “All joking aside the single billing technology Dawn French raves about is one of the features that helped Utility Warehouse to the top of the Which? customer satisfaction survey in April 2009″.)

Which? report finds that most energy companies are not doing enough to keep their customers happy.

The April edition of Which? magazine features a follow-up to the survey of energy suppliers they conducted last year.

Even though people are increasingly concerned about energy tariffs, it’s clear from the survey that there are more important things than price alone for most people.   Customer service is high on most people’s priorities; as are the time and administration benefits of being able to source several different services from one supplier.

Overall the new survey has found that that ‘customer satisfaction with suppliers has got worse.’

With one exception – the Utility Warehouse whose customer satisfaction rating has actually increased – to 83%!

(Piggy says ” the Utility Warehouse is a consumer discount club which offers it members access to a range of services in return for a small monthly membership fee of £1.76.  With their customer services based in London and unique single billing technology they historically have always featured highly on customer satisfaction surveys.  Price guarantees also mean that their service bundles are usually highly competitive.)

To download the full article click here

Energy prices dropping – now is the time to review!

The last of the six major energy supplies, npower, has just announced an 8% decrease to electricity prices, reducing average household bills by £36.  The changes will come into effect from 31st March 2009.

Piggy says “All the big six energy suppliers have now dropped prices, so this is an ideal time to review your utility provision and make sure that you are maximising your savings”

Piggy’s Email Troubleshooting Tips

Here are some simple troubleshooting tips for the most common problems whilst sending or receiving e-mail:

Energy prices drop – but what if you are on a fixed price plan?

Consumers who have been eagerly awaiting a drop in their energy prices will be pleased by the recent announcement that Scottish and Southern Energy will drop prices by an average of 4% for gas and 9% for electricity, effective from 30th March.   (Piggy says  “it’s a shame theycouldn’t manage it BEFORE the recent cold snap!”  )

But how does this affect you if you have subscribed to a fixed price plan?

Should you stick with it?

Are you still getting a good deal?

The cost of going digital.

If you have been in any store selling TV or video equipment in the last 2 or 3 years you will be painfully aware of the cost of buying “digital ready” equipment.   A few weeks ago my elderly video recorder finally gave up the ghost and although we already had a functional DVD player it seemed logical to upgrade our recording technology to a DVD hard disk.  What suprised me was the variety of advice we recieved from sales people in the stores we visited.  It was extremely confusing and it quickly became abundantly clear that most of them were just interested in selling us the latast digital product regardless of whether we actually needed it.  So Piggy has decided that some simple down to earth advice is needed!

Changes in Planning Law saves Home Owners ££££’s

Changes to planning regulations from October 1st will be welcome news to home owners and property investors alike. Relaxation of the rules means it’s going to be far easier to make changes to your property, saving on both planning fees and red tape.

This is great news for anyone who needs to increase their living space but is finding it hard to move up the property ladder in the current housing slump. It also provides another option for landlords struggling to make rental figures stack up over increasingly high mortgage payments.

Piggybank’s quick guide to the changes…….