Utility Warehouse - any good?

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

matthew74 wrote: »

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

1carminestocky wrote: »

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

Plushchris wrote: »

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

matthew74 wrote: »

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

Choc wrote: »

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

1carminestocky wrote: »

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.