Bunch Utilities

[ExpensiveStudentLife]

I need to pick some experienced brains!

My child is starting a tenancy with five friends. She has been contacted by a rep from ‘Bunch Utilities’ who were given their details by the estate agent. They are selling a service to manage student bills. I have done some research and they appear to be a bona fide company.

The idea seems to be that they source the utility companies and then each student pays one single sum monthly to Bunch.

Pros: convenient. Does it help if
a dodgy tenant does a runner?

Cons: hidden charges? The students can’t look for the cheapest deals. Having a ‘middle man’ can be a pain.

I am naturally very very sceptical. Especially as they have said, we have found an amazing deal, sign up asap. Even though the tenancy starts in September 24!

Am I a cynical fool? Should she sign up now?

Any sharing of experience appreciated. My concern in any case is that my responsible daughter will be the one sorting out everything as her friends are nice but useless. And she had to do all the work establishing the tenancy.

Thanks.

Can't offer any insights I'm afraid but I'd like to know about this too as letting agency has recommended the bunch to ds household for next year. Apparently it's a limited offer and for a limited time, which smacks a bit of pressure selling to me?

My eldest daughter is with these guys in her student house in Chester. She was being sent loads of emails and texts by a number of similar companies but these guys actually took the time to call her and find out what she and her 5 friends were looking to do.
They weren’t sure what to do so asked if they would be able to talk it through with me. They booked a time to speak with me, it was even ok for them to call me after work, and I had a very detailed conversation with the person I spoke with.
I had a lot of questions ready for them and they were able to answer everything on the spot. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of knowledge and I was put under no pressure to make a decision on the spot and neither was my daughter afterwards.
They went with them and so far everything is as expected and explained. Really happy with the decision and they even called them on the day they moved in to check everything was ok!

DS used them for two years and it was fine but not sure of the advantage now as everyone is paying the same energy costs, you can sort your own broadband and water.