Utility Warehouse - any good?

Chris_Dyer

Hi

I have been invited to become a distributor for UW. However, as far as I understand it, a UW customer really only benefits if they happen to do most of their shopping at Sainsbury's and/or the other stores with a link to their cashback card. Also, there are no renewable energy options available from UW. Correct?

Quentin

UW customers cannot get cashback from the prepay cashcard as such.

They must also buy a service from uw, and any credit earned through the use of the prepay cashcard gets set against their bill.

But compare their prices to see how expensive they are compared to the others in the first place!

And all the time the customers money is prepaid onto the cashcard it is at risk.

The uw tells all applicants their money has no protection at all, and should uw go bust, their cardholders money would be lost.

NigeWick

Chris_Dyer wrote: »

I have been invited to become a distributor for UW. However, as far as I understand it, a UW customer really only benefits if they happen to do most of their shopping at Sainsbury's and/or the other stores with a link to their cashback card. Also, there are no renewable energy options available from UW. Correct?

Last question first:- No renewable energy options at present.

Utility Warehouse comes out the cheapest for me by using the pre payment card. Others on the forums challenged me to put up my usage and I showed how I save about £4.50 per month against their cheapest quoted companies. This includes all the monthly fees and card topping up payments. I also take my broadband, landlines and mobile phones to get maximum benefit from the membership fee. I am prepared to accept all of the limitations placed on me by using the card and come out better off than with any other combination of utility suppliers. The Broadcall (broadband & phone line) package is very good value for money. Customers get a printed bill every month where many of the allegedly cheapest offerings are purely on the internet. Quentin tries to make a big point about the "risk" of using the card but all bank back cards carry some risk. His worst case scenario warnings could be used against any company. Utility Warehouse has no debts to pay interest on and so are unlikely to go bust. The company's shares are some of the best performing on the London Stock Exchange, presumably because of their solvency and continuing steady expansion. They are innovative in their approach to making profit while still offering excellent overall value. This suits shareholders, distributors and customers but not Quentin.

The distributor money earning work is just that, work. Some people make a lot of money by putting in a consistent effort. Most cannot be bothered to work at the business and just waste their joining fee and a bit of time. As in most businesses, 20% of the people earn 80% of the available money. £200 is not a lot to start what can be a lucrative home based business. I am what I consider to be a failure at it but I have been paid many times over the effort I have put in. The failure has been my fault, not what the company has to offer.

1carminestocky

Good response, Nigel. :beer:

Last time I looked at investing in their shares they had a cash pile of some £36 million (I believe this was after paying £9 million cash for their new HQ) and absolutely no debt. A very unusual company in this regard, I suspect. Recently been promoted into the FTSE-250. I think it's safe to say this is an extremely well-run company. Quentin's posts are just getting desparate since the introduction of the cashback card because his basic, historical argument against the company has now been massively weakened.

If my cashback-induced serial switching gets any more difficult to do (most companies now have exit fees on their best tariffs) then UW will be my first port of call. What I really like about the company is their innovation. My bargain hunting has made me realise one important thing: never look at the starting price, look at the 'end price'. In that regard, for me, there's absolutely no question that with a small adjustment to our grocery spending arrangements UW will provide us with unquestionably the very best deal on our utilities (gas, electric, phone line, free 24/7 calls including 0845/0870 and up to 24mb broadband). That includes online tariffs, broadband/phone packages with frankly ridiculous min. contract lengths etc etc. For what still has to be labelled a small player in the energy supply industry that's a fantastic feat in itself. If only the Big 6 were as innovative....


PS If you have doubts about the company and especially if you have a problem selling non-renewable gas/electric then I suspect the business wouldn't be for you, to be fair. Like Nigel says, the vast majority of people actually waste their £200 joining fee.

Quentin

NigeWick wrote: »

Quentin tries to make a big point about the "risk" of using the card ......

All I have done is pointed out the risks which are in fact highlighted by the uw themselves (but not their reps who post here!) in the cards Ts + Cs:

By activating your Card you accept these Terms and Conditions and confirm you understand and accept the risks highlighted in clauses 2(b) and 18(d) of this Agreement.

2(b) In the unlikely event that we become insolvent, the e-money on your Card may lose its value and become unusable, and accordingly you may lose your e-money.

18(d) The Financial Services Compensation Scheme is not applicable to the Card. No other compensation schemes exist to cover losses claimed in connection with the Card

It is just not true, and misleading for you to say "all bank back cards carry some risk".

In fact mainstream bank cards offer far greater protection - giving the cardholder all sorts of protection.

You try to give the reassurance that the company is safe - when much bigger and "safer" companies are having to be taken over by the government, and their previous "blue chip" shares are (in some cases) worthless overnight.

And just 3 years ago, the uw was on the point of going bust:

Telecom Plus is to sell its energy businesses to nPower for a nominal sum after losses in its gas business threatened the viability of the entire group.

Full story: http://www.digitallook.com/news/623512/Big_gas_losses_force_Telecom_Plus_to_sell.html

Energyman_2

Chris_Dyer wrote: »

Hi

I have been invited to become a distributor for UW.

So has everyone else!

As other people have stated, there are 16000+ selling (or trying to sell ) UWDC products. Stick to your day job and don't believe the hype surrounding the massive commissions. The pharaohs may make good money but the guys at the bottom will struggle to make any worthwhile money...........and may not even get their £200 back................and you'll probably alienate all your friends and family by trying to sell to them.

Quentin

They now claim around 24,000 distributors, and around 250,000 customers.

Assuming all distributors are themselves customers, it looks like the average customer base is 10. So not many are in the pound seats!

jellygoodfellow

Energyman wrote: »

So has everyone else!

As other people have stated, there are 16000+ selling (or trying to sell ) UWDC products. Stick to your day job and don't believe the hype surrounding the massive commissions. The pharaohs may make good money but the guys at the bottom will struggle to make any worthwhile money...........and may not even get their £200 back................and you'll probably alienate all your friends and family by trying to sell to them.

Are you not a distributor yourself ? If so should you not declare it when posting ?

Dont they get a chance of getting some or all of their money back if it dont suit them, or has this all changed?

jellygoodfellow

Quentin wrote: »

They now claim around 24,000 distributors, and around 250,000 customers.

Assuming all distributors are themselves customers, it looks like the average customer base is 10. So not many are in the pound seats!

I wonder out of the 24,000 how many are active and get paid each month.:D

1carminestocky

NO pre-paid card has any of the protection money held in a current account has, so it's hardly something that is unique to the UW card! If you really are the type to worry about a company with a £36 million cash pile, zero debt and with one of last year's top 3 best-performing shares going bust overnight it's fairly simple - load the money you need to spend at any given time and no more. AFAICT this card is the cheapest card to load money onto (seems like the next cheapest charge at least 70p per load and then only if you load it at the Post Office). UW charge just 35p! Even if you loaded it 52 times per year that comes to the princely sum of £18.20 per year! Load £150 on it to spend at Sainsburys on food & fuel or any of the other 29 shops included (straight away just in case UW go bust :rolleyes: ) each week for a year and, even accounting for the costs this ultra-cautious approach incurs, there would be a net £360 per year discount off your UW bill (even if you only take one service!). Not to be sniffed at.

PS I note Energyman had a post removed the other day for the alleged touting of his brokerage business - seems like it's not only UW distributors who aren't earning the money some claim...:rolleyes: