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Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus) Discussion

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  • keggs
    keggs Posts: 1,037 Forumite
    Telecom plus distributor and proud of it (just in case I forget - which I'm apt to do and be told off about it).

    Hi Nigel

    Yes, you're right. Bad experiences colour people's perception. That's hard to change, but change it can if they are prepared to be changed. Unfortunately, many here believe what's more important is the price or cost of everything. While UW has made mistakes and will continue to do so - every business does (including both my businesses), what matters is that they learn from that. I believe that T+ does. It never ceases to amaze me despite all the obvious problems associated with doing business the way they do that they have nearly a quarter of a million customers and in just 10 years.

    No doubt a comment or two will wing its way to pour cold water on that. There's no pleasing some people.

    BTW are you going to Express Day. I'm curious at the phrase 'new services'. It would be great if it was either water or petrol. I know the company has the required licenses for these.

    Regards
    Steve
  • Terrylw1
    Terrylw1 Posts: 7,038 Forumite
    NigeWick wrote: »
    The whole stock market dropped by about 50% a few years back, but most people accept that over the course of many years it still has a better return than any bank savings account. T+ shares have been down to about 95p and up to over £2. If as I suspect, nPower decide to exercise their right to buy (because they want an in to the telcomms industry), the shares will go up quite a bit before the takeover.

    quote]

    Unlikely on Npower buying into the telecoms market at the moment I think??? They went for that along with the financial market a few years back and had a lot of failures getting anywhere. They say they want to get the gas & electric sorted first as they have just spent 3 years migrating their systems.

    They are due to migrate their systems into SAP next I think to match RWE systems so they may be back in the market then???

    But who knows since a lot of people did well & not so well with the whole "plug our box in" routine back then when trying to enter the telecoms market. The Caudwell Group was worth a laugh on this front since they had quite a failure with this issue!
    :rotfl: It's better to live 1 year as a tiger than a lifetime as a worm...but then, whoever heard of a wormskin rug!!!:rotfl:
  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,059 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Rampant Recycler
    I can’t help thinking that the sales techniques of Utility Warehouse have been copied from Tupperware and Avon Cosmetics.
  • keggs
    keggs Posts: 1,037 Forumite
    Cardew wrote: »
    I can’t help thinking that the sales techniques of Utility Warehouse have been copied from Tupperware and Avon Cosmetics.

    Hi Cardew

    All Networking companies use the same basic techniques, but since T+ does not do party plans or catalogues, I'm at a loss as to how you equate T+ techniques with Tupperware & Avon.

    Distributors in T+ find customers via a variety of means then book appointments. The only similarity (if you can call it that) is customers (and distributors can try the services (and business out) for a while. If they don't like them or are unhappy for any reason they can drop out. (This excludes any services which have contracts eg mobile phone but this is normal practice).

    Steve
    T+ Distributor & proud of it
  • This surprises me. One of my ex neighbours had a party. He got everyone in the street drunk and got them all signed up whilst under the influence to Utility Warehouse. Some didn't actually realise what had happened until they got notices from the gas and electric companies that they had been totally happy with up to that point all thanking them for their custom and saying that they were sorry to see them go. His day job was masquerading as a police officer. Lets hope no one gets arrested by HIM eh? Sign this confession lol.
  • Hi - apols for the long post.

    The above quote regarding a policeman getting drunk people to switch to his product really doesn't surprise me at all, given what I've just witnessed!

    I am certainly NOT a UW distributor or customer, but however I did go along to their sell-out networking recruitment conference show in Northampton yesterday, with an elderly neighbour who was interested in becoming a distributor.

    So I have some inside information about this company and it's odd methods of selling a pretty poor product.

    1200 people packing a theatre, it was an impressive turnout, there were video crews there and big screens plus one of their ugly branded yellow Minis on the stage, which you get to drive as a company car if you sell enough. Whoopee!

    It's all very strange indeed, and more than a little crass.

    Needless to say my neighbour has no interest in joining the ranks of the distributors any more.

    A quick summary of this conference:

    Two fairly high level execs tried to compere the 8 hour (!) show with an attempt at comedy which was pitiful at best and downright embarrassing at worse, especially when the audience had better punchlines to their "jokes" than they had written.

    Lots of "motivational speakers" who turned out to be execs at the top of the pyramid imploring the audience to find more customers/distributors.

    They then dragged a hearing impaired man on the stage and a visually impaired woman, both of whom got a standing ovation for some unknown reason, as if the ability to sell utilities is somehow an incredible achievement for the disabled, which was patronising to say the least.

    There were three signers eagerly translating all the sales pitches in BSL to what appeared to be only one deaf man, so they were definitely going down the "we love the disabled" route, and indeed much of their pitch was to do with helping communities.

    I was rather hoping the blind lady would win the Mini Cooper just to see how the comperes would get out of that one without a script.

    A senior level exec from Liverpool dragged his young family onstage and actually started crying (with his back to the crowd) when telling the audience about his nice new house. Then recovered his composure immediately.
    His kids didn't look remotely concerned their dad was crying, because he was clearly putting it on... the son was looking at the crowd dead pleased with his dad's acting abilities.
    At that point it really did resemble an American evangelist church meeting, with all the appalling emotional play-acting that goes with it.

    There was a reasonably funny guy with a dry sense of humour with a guide to failure, how not to succeed, that kind of thing, but even he was being pretty patronising and even insulting - implying that people who work for a boss and have a small house are losers, that sort of nonsense.

    Then they wheeled out their "celeb", who was - wait for it - an Olympic Gold Medallist!!
    Turned out he rowed in Sydney 8 years ago as part of an 8 man team and won a gold medal - he's now their commercial director.
    Seemed like a nice guy, though very posh (like all their top brass) unlike the mainly Northern middle class aspirational audience, then spent a painful amount of time describing the minutae of winning, before showing his successful rowing team win the gold. Then showing a replay. It was pretty sad by then.
    You would think with all the money made from a sell out theatre show they could have afforded a decent celebrity endorsement.

    The whole day was peppered with personal testimonials from people (an unusual amount of them were former police officers) who had achieved "SE Gold" which means they have roped in a minimum of 10 personal
    customers and a minimum total of 50 customers within two months and get a mere £500 for bringing in what would potentially amount to tens of thousands for the company.

    The comperes summed it up at the end most aptly by describing the whole day (and it was a very long day!) as being "an emotional rollercoaster".

    Which is of course true - emotions were being manipulated all day, to make those who were not selling enough feel guilty, and to massage the egos of those who were doing OK.

    It's very much an American style set-up, and seemingly has found popularity in the north of England, where social networking is somehow easier and more practical with smaller communities and the pub and sport culture that isn't so prevalent in London.

    To be fair, the people we spoke to during the break (only one 45 minute break in 8 hours!) were really nice people, but had been hyped up to the point of obsession and were purely motivated to try and sell to us once they realised we hadn't become customers yet.

    Which is the fundamental problem I have with this company and others like it: the onus is on you to sell these utilities to your friends and family as if you're doing them a huge favour.

    Trouble is - as this site has shown, you're not!

    UW/T+ prices are not really very competitive, they're only buying from the same place as everyone else after all, and are subject to the same rises in costs.
    A three minute comparison with other providers will result in a far better deal.

    Raising the prices without warning is a mean trick - not one I'd like them to pull on my friends and family.

    And as for having to get up on stage and recieve a public pat on the back for using your treasured social circles as a commodity for making the poshos at the top of the chain richer - no, definitely not for me.

    By the way - none of this could be construed as disclosing private business information - as I have a feeling a lot of the UW distributors will read this post in horror and try to get it deleted for breaching company privacy - which is nonsense.

    It was a public show in a public theatre, and this post is genuinely warning people to avoid the cult-like behaviour and virtual brainwashing that is going on at these things - it's deep level marketing dressed up as charity work.

    It left a very nasty taste in my mouth.

    Utilities Warehouse/Telecom Plus?

    Avoid!!
  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,059 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Rampant Recycler
    conmenot,

    Great post!
  • Cheers!

    Just to add - I'm not a jealous rival working for any other company either - I'm in the gardening trade!

    I'd just urge people not to get suckered in by this weird company's tactics, and to check prices with an independent price comparison site before getting involved with Utilities Warehouse/Telecom Plus.

    Having attended this "Massive Action Day" it was pretty clear to me that the main source of revenue for the rich boys club at the top of the chain was the hard work put in by the vulnerable distribution network, who are quite happy to believe all their hype and sell contracts to their friends under the illusion that they are running their own business.

    It certainly looked like these people were being taken advantage of - and as for the tiny rewards these people got... at one point they were giving out framed posters of the event with the faces of the management team - as prizes!!

    It would be funny if it wasn't so tragic!

    And you have to see what they've done to the Mini Cooper cars to believe it - how anyone would be happy to drive around in one of these is beyond me:
    http://www.minipig.biz/minipig-opt.jpg

    As far as I know - they don't get to keep the Minis, in fact they have to pay Utilities Warehouse between £50 and £100 a month to drive it!

    That's right! They pay for the privelige of advertising UW!

    You couldn't make it up!

    :rotfl:
  • Plushchris
    Plushchris Posts: 3,592 Forumite
    Conmenot that whole post is great and highly quotable but its this bit that really sticks out the most to me..
    conmenot wrote: »
    Which is the fundamental problem I have with this company and others like it: the onus is on you to sell these utilities to your friends and family as if you're doing them a huge favour.

    Trouble is - as this site has shown, you're not!

    That is the main problem I have with this company, its technique is questionable at best, with "friends" like that you wouldnt need enemies.

    Its not a far cry from some of these dodgy pyramid schemes you hear of, It wouldnt surprise me to see job adverts for UW on railings at busy roundabouts etc. The whole setup seems dodgy to me, wouldnt touch them with a bargepole!
    Missing Tesco R&R since Feb '07 :A & now a "Tesco veteran" apparently! ;)
  • Post amended and removed as I have met a Utilities Warehouse Distributor and I do feel that they can save money as they guarantee to be below certain suppliers and will occasionally look to be more expensive that some suppliers, as they wait for the increases to happen before pricing them selves lower.

    The main reason that Utilities Warehouse don't appear on comparison sites is due to them not paying the site for 'clicks' or commissions.
    I am a Mortgage Consultant and don't like to be told what I can and can't put in a signature so long as it's legal and truthful.
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