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[matthew74]

I am tempted to switch my gas/elec/phone/broadband to Utility Warehouse - anyone have any good/bad thoughts or experiences about this company.

Thanks in advance.

[espresso]

Why are you "tempted to switch my gas/elec/phone/broadband to Utility Warehouse"? Do you like the idea of paying more for your utilities?

[NigeWick]

Originally Posted by matthew74

anyone have any good/bad thoughts or experiences about this company.

Happen you'd best look at the long thread on UW.

I am a distributor with them and find them the best value for my circumstances, using all their services apart from 0800 number. At any given time you will probably find a cheaper company for individual utilities, and, there are some people who have had poor service from the company.

They are a company out to make a profit for their shareholders, along with the major players. I suggest that you look at unit prices and check them against UW's. Do not forget that they also charge a monthly subscription.

[1carminestocky]

One thing I have noticed when checking sites like uswitch etc. If you look for a dual fuel switch, the £21 annual club fee is actually added onto BOTH gas and electric. Obviously, it's only a one-off charge no matter how many services you have. People who have gas/electric/broadband/phone line for instance actually pay 44p per month for each service in 'club fees'.

Contrary to what some of the 'usual suspects' on here would have you believe, I am neither distributor or customer of UW. In fact I'm their worst nightmare customer-wise - I make it clear that I switch 4 times per year for cashback purposes. Something which the energy companies seem to be want to make harder to do. If I could no longer get cashback 4 times per year I would be tempted to switch to UW for BB/phone line/gas and electric. As a whole package (including the option of getting discounts on the bill for recommending the package to other people, the cashback card etc etc) I think it's a good deal. I would probably be tempted to get the £30/mth BB/phone/laptop package. I do like the one bill for every service approach as well..

PS Be careful taking lectures from people like Cardew in this thread regarding non-competitiveness, btw. This is the man who pays approx £150 per year more for his BB/phone with BT that he could pay with UW. He doesn't seem to understand the meaning of 'un-competitive'..

[Plushchris]

Originally Posted by 1carminestocky

I do like the one bill for every service approach as well..

Leaving aside all the other aspects of UW, the one bill for every service approach would put me off.

The thing with having seperate bills is you can have them coming out at different times and you can also "Juggle" your bills if you are having difficulties money-wise and prioritise payments, I dont see how that could be done with UW

[1carminestocky]

Originally Posted by Plushchris

Leaving aside all the other aspects of UW, the one bill for every service approach would put me off.

The thing with having seperate bills is you can have them coming out at different times and you can also "Juggle" your bills if you are having difficulties money-wise and prioritise payments, I dont see how that could be done with UW

Horses for course, I suppose, as we don't have to 'juggle' our bills. Of course, I'm not stupid enough to believe that situation can't change at any stage in the future so point taken. I'm assuming UW let you pick the date in the month for the DD to come out (I don't know)?

[matthew74]

It seems utility warehouse polarizes opinion somewhat! I am interested in it because it seems to simplify billing, I need to change broadband anyway (AOL !!) and with the 5% Sainsburys cashback card may save me a bit of money.

I am however concerned about the negative views on customer service and the high charges for gas and electric. Anyone have any evidence of whether they are generally competitive on these or not. I am a lowish user of gas and electric and currently with British Gas.

I don't give a stuff about juggling bills or dates of payments as I am lucky enough not to live 'hand-to-mouth'.

[1carminestocky]

Originally Posted by matthew74

It seems utility warehouse polarizes opinion somewhat! I am interested in it because it seems to simplify billing, I need to change broadband anyway (AOL !!) and with the 5% Sainsburys cashback card may save me a bit of money.

I am however concerned about the negative views on customer service and the high charges for gas and electric. Anyone have any evidence of whether they are generally competitive on these or not. I am a lowish user of gas and electric and currently with British Gas.

I don't give a stuff about juggling bills or dates of payments as I am lucky enough not to live 'hand-to-mouth'.

If you are paying BGs standard rate, then I would be very surprised if UW are more expensive. UW are certainly more expensive than BGs 'current' online tariff (I forget it's name, they change them so often, lol). Of course, what BG huggers fail to tell people is that unless you keep on top of things, signing up to BGs online tariff can end up being a costly mistake as every time they change to the new (usually cheaper) tariff they tend to massively increase the tariff you are on (and don't tell you about the new tariff). Depends what you want, I suppose. Certainly if you shop regularly at Sainsburys for your groceries and/or petrol then I would imagine UW is a no-brainer for you. If I had a Sainsburys nearby and shopped there regularly I would probably also forgo my cashback-induced switching and go with UW also.

[Choc]

Like someone has already mentioned if you want to chase rates then there are better options but there is no better company if you want to simplify things.BB and G&E has just been recomended by--------(not allowed to mention the name)and not too long ago they came out tops for customer service too!
By the way if you take most of the services it would probably not be any dearer than anyone else plus theres the option of recommending the services to others to reduce your own bills which i think is fantastic.
Also if you shop at Sainsburys you can save on your shopping too..
At the end of the day its your choice.

Mark

[1carminestocky]

Originally Posted by Choc

Like someone has already mentioned if you want to chase rates then there are better options but there is no better company if you want to simplify things.BB and G&E has just been recomended by--------(not allowed to mention the name)and not too long ago they came out tops for customer service too!
By the way if you take most of the services it would probably not be any dearer than anyone else plus theres the option of recommending the services to others to reduce your own bills which i think is fantastic.
Also if you shop at Sainsburys you can save on your shopping too..
At the end of the day its your choice.

Mark

I was reading details about this on their website the other day and i think it's a fantastic idea! No idea why the Big 6 don't do it, surely it's cheaper than the company acqiring new customers directly? IRRC, the deal is 0.5% discount off your bill for every service your friends take as a result of your recommendation so if they take BB/phone, G&E, that's actually 2% off your bill? And no limit on the amount of people you can introduce?

[Plushchris]

Originally Posted by 1carminestocky

I was reading details about this on their website the other day and i think it's a fantastic idea! No idea why the Big 6 don't do it, surely it's cheaper than the company acqiring new customers directly? IRRC, the deal is 0.5% discount off your bill for every service your friends take as a result of your recommendation so if they take BB/phone, G&E, that's actually 2% off your bill? And no limit on the amount of people you can introduce?

So introduce 50 people and everything is free? Somehow I doubt that very much.

[Choc]

Chris, a typical example for you. Introduce 10 people taking 4 services each would earn you 20% off your own bill so you see it can be done!

[Plushchris]

Originally Posted by Choc

Chris, a typical example for you. Introduce 10 people taking 4 services each would earn you 20% off your own bill so you see it can be done!

So 50 people and you pay nothing. Yes or no?

[billsavings]

Originally Posted by Plushchris

So 50 people and you pay nothing. Yes or no?

Limited to 100% of the service related charges on your bill, and may not

be carried over to a subsequent bill.

They reserve the right to apply a maximum discount of £250 per month or the average spend of your referred customers if greater.

https://www.utilitywarehouse.co.uk/h...20and%20Cs.pdf

[1carminestocky]

Soooo....introduce 50 people each taking 4 services and you bill is indeed free? That was my understanding of the sheme? Of course it doesn't include charges for new line installations and club fees etc. Bottom line, I suspect, if someone DID introuduce 50 people who each took 4 services the amount owing on their UW bill would be between £1.73 and £2.94 per month, no matter how much gas and leccy they used, calls they made etc? Can a UW rep confirm this?

[Plushchris]

Hmmm, why do UW reps come on here saying about value for money when they should (if they are good reps) be getting it free?

I dont think I've heard any of the UW reps say they dont pay anything for their gas/electric.

How would it work if all of a sudden everyone in the country signed up to UW, would there be thousands of people getting free gas and electric? I tend to think not, a lucky few might but everyone else would be paying over the odds.

[1carminestocky]

Originally Posted by Plushchris

Hmmm, why do UW reps come on here saying about value for money when they should (if they are good reps) be getting it free?

I dont think I've heard any of the UW reps say they dont pay anything for their gas/electric.

How would it work if all of a sudden everyone in the country signed up to UW, would there be thousands of people getting free gas and electric? I tend to think not, a lucky few might but everyone else would be paying over the odds.

Why ask the question if you don't accept the answer? Decent reps do, I suspect, effectively get their bills for free...and then some, but as they aren't customers but distributors they get a monthly commission cheque and not discount off their bills. I believe distributors can actually get commission (sort of a discount) on their own bills by signing themselves up (sure I've read this on here but maybe that's wrong?).

Ps To sum up, I think you are getting confused between an incentive that's avaliable for customers WITHOUT signing up as a distributor, i.e. get friends to sign up on your recommendation and earn up to 2% discount off your bill per referral and distributors who get a cash incentive to sign up customers plus an ongoing monthly commission that arrives in the form of a cheque/bank transfer but doesn't come of his/her bill...

[Plushchris]

You're right, I am getting confused, why would anyone bother being a distributer when they could get their bills for nothing by just being a regular customer?

So distributers have to pay for their bills but get commision (effectively money to cover their bills)
Customers just get discounts off of their bills up to 100% but dont pay the fee to be a distributer? (but still pay the membership fee)

I'm not "not accepting" the answer I just dont see any reason why I should believe it.

Why arent we getting loads of posts from people on here saying they pay nothing for their gas and electric bills and all you have to do is sign up 50 people? I've not seen anyone, even UW reps/customers on here saying they get their gas and electric free.

You say you "suspect" decent reps do and yet you have no proof

I say I suspect they dont, I dont have any proof either.

[petergow]

An example, A Uwdc customer having bill say of £100 - £150 per month by refering customers could get get his bill for free excluding membership fee etc up to a maximum of £250 , A Distributor can earn much more than this , much less than this or nothing , That is the chance they take by running their own Business with Uwdc , Customers refer people to a freehone number where their account number is quoted to obtain the discount, no other work is involved from a customer point of view , A Distributor is not allowed to use this facility and can only sign up customers via their website of by an application form so if a Distributor earns more than the price of their Uwdc bill ie covers it , It could be argued the get their bill for free ? - Utility Warehouse Distributor

[1carminestocky]

Originally Posted by Plushchris

You're right, I am getting confused, why would anyone bother being a distributer when they could get their bills for nothing by just being a regular customer?

So distributers have to pay for their bills but get commision (effectively money to cover their bills)
Customers just get discounts off of their bills up to 100% but dont pay the fee to be a distributer? (but still pay the membership fee)

I'm not "not accepting" the answer I just dont see any reason why I should believe it.

Why arent we getting loads of posts from people on here saying they pay nothing for their gas and electric bills and all you have to do is sign up 50 people? I've not seen anyone, even UW reps/customers on here saying they get their gas and electric free.

You say you "suspect" decent reps do and yet you have no proof

I say I suspect they dont, I dont have any proof either.

Now I'm confused. Are you suggesting that UW are actually being economical with the truth here? :confused: I'm suspecting there would probably be not that many customers who have referred 50 friends and qualified to get a free bill so maybe that's why we don't get anybody posting to that effect. But, FACT is, if a customer HAS done this and these 50 all took 4 services each, then that's exactly what would have happened - a free bill excluding club fees. Just as long as their monthly bill didn't exceed £250. Even referring 10 people who each take 4 services each would produce a very tidy 20% discount off the customer's bill. Maybe, on average, equating to £300+ per year discount off their bill? Remember, this is a bill that includes gas, leccy, broadband and phone line rental.

This 'scheme' has been mentioned on here a few times previously to now, it's just that there's such a sea of negativity pervading this thread from, to be fair, only a handful of posters (but VERY vocal ones) that these sort of initiatives tend to get lost in it all.

Plushchris, if it could be proved to you that this scheme is completely kosher and works, how would you view it as an idea?