This is a challenge that's slightly different to the usual Mumsnet product tests but if you enjoy bargain-hunting or want to try to save some money on household or personal expenditure, then this could be one for you. It doesn't involve applying to take part in a product review - it is open to all MNers. Everyone who takes part and adds their feedback below will be entered into a prize draw to win £500 of love2shop gift vouchers.
Incahoot, a group buying website, has asked us to find Mumsnetters to put their site to the test. This would involve visiting www.incahoot.com and seeing whether or not you could save any money on your utilities and/or mobile phone, or home broadband/phone package. You don't have to be eligible to switch any of your providers in order to take part (i.e. you don't have to act on the information Incahoot gives you), you just need to do a bit of research.
Here's some info from Incahoot on their site: "www.incahoot.com is a new website which launched in January 2011 - we offer group buying discounts on home broadband/phone and mobile phone contracts, and a smarter way of paying for your energy. Incahoot doesn't appear on price comparison websites because we negotiate discounts specifically for members.
Incahoot offers consumers the exact opposite of a price comparison site.
Price comparison sites are rewarded when consumers switch supplier, a model which 30% of consumers surveyed by Which? Magazine in November 2009 said didn’t give them the best value.
Price comparison sites only display deals you can already get yourself whereas Incahoot uses the collective buying power of our members to negotiate deals that are better than you can get ‘off the shelf’.
Incahoot takes a long-term view and negotiates exclusive deals with suppliers based on our collective buying power. This means deals will become even more competitive as we recruit additional members and we’ll let consumers know about deals which may be better for them when it is time to renew.
For services like mobile phone, home broadband and home phone we have negotiated money off the monthly prices or used a cashback incentive to save you money. The energy regulator, ofgem, doesn't allow websites like ours to offer discounts on your energy tariffs, so we work with first:utility, a provider that installs a free smart meter so you get 100% accurate billing every month. This means you shouldn't end up paying for more than you use and lets you keep track of your energy usage, which the energy savings trust believes can reduce your bills by 5% - 10%. Here are our specific discount partners:
- 3 for mobile phones
- plusnet for home broadband and phone
- first:utility for gas and electricity"
What is involved?
You would need to visit www.incahoot.com and become a member (this is free of charge and you're under no obligation to buy or do anything). Enter the details of your current utilities, broadband/home phone, mobile phone and energy contracts. Incahoot will then tell you whether or not you could save any money by switching to their partner providers. You are under no obligation to switch at all - they just want to know whether you could potentially save any money by doing so, and how much. You also don't have to do this for all of the services listed here - you could just do one (e.g. mobile phone) or more. The final stage of the test would be to do a bit of wider shopping around to see other deals compare with those available on Incahoot.
You would then need to add your feedback to this thread, telling Incahoot and the rest of MN how you got on. Everyone who takes part and adds their feedback below will be entered into a prize draw to win £500 of love2shop gift vouchers. Love2shop gift vouchers are accepted at 20,000 top UK stores - including Debenhams, Argos, ToysRUs, Waterstones, Sainsbury's and Starbucks.
Incahoot are also looking for some Mumsnetters to be case studies for other media outlets so if you take part in this, we may contact you (on behalf of Incahoot) in the next couple of months. All Mumsnetters who act as case studies will receive a £30 high street voucher. There's no obligation to do this and when we contact you we will give all details of what's involved.
Next steps?
If you'd like to take part in this challenge for Incahoot, here's what you need to do:
- Visit www.incahoot.com and become a member (free of charge and no obligation to buy/do anything)
- Enter the details of one or all of your existing utilities, broadband/home phone, mobile phone and home/contents insurance contracts.
- Make a note of how much (if any) money Incahoot tells you could be saved and by switching to which packages. To help see how much you can save, use the savings calculator to check your mobile phone, mobile broadband and home broadband savings. The energy savings calculator can be found on the energy page.
- Incahoot would then like you to do a bit of shopping around to see what you can get direct from supplier websites and price comparison sites.
- After doing steps 1-4, you need to answer the following feedback questions on this thread:
Feedback Questions
Q1 General opinion of using www.incahoot.com:
How easy or hard you found the Incahoot website to use?
What did you like/dislike about the site?
What could be improved?
Q2 Sections used and money savings:
NB: Please tell us about all of the deals you considered e.g. if you looked at mobile phone and energy packages, then please make sure you tell us about all.
What deals were you offered on Incahoot?
How much money (if any) could you save by switching to the deal you were offered?
Was everything clear or was there any part of the process which was confusing?
If so, what was confusing?
How could it be made clearer for you?
Q3 Savings calculators:
How useful did you find the savings calculators to use?
Q4 Comparisons with other sites:
NB: Please tell us which other sites you visited.
How did the deals you found on Incahoot compare with what you found on other sites?
How did you find the other sites to use compared with Incahoot?
Q5 Overall impressions:
Overall, do you like the idea/concept behind Incahoot?
If so, why?
If not, why not?
Are there any other types of product you'd like to see on Incahoot?
Any other comments
We know there's a lot of info to digest here but Incahoot would really like as many of you as possible to take part so please do - there's £500 of shopping vouchers up for grabs!
Thanks
MNHQ