Utility Warehouse. Why did I switch?

1carminestocky

Quentin's obsession with this company is bordering on the worrying. Now he's trawling distributor-based forums looking for negatives?? Crikey.

Quentin

NigeWick wrote:

At least UW did not overcharge me to the tune of £470 as did British Gas when I was with them

You mention an overcharge of £470, which presumably you either didn't pay or recovered.

Compare this with your customer's son who reported to us they had discovered that their elderly parent's monthly dd to their "budget" account with uw was set too high, and had resulted in a £500+ credit balance building up (ie. their money, not money owed to uw).

When asking uw for their money back they discovered that buried in the uw club conditions they had agreed to you cannot have this money back unless you cancel your membership and move away!

NigeWick

Quentin wrote: »

Compare this with your customer's son who reported to us they had discovered that their elderly parent's monthly dd to their "budget" account with uw was set too high,

Which one of my customers is that? I ask my customers to contact me if they have a problem and have not had any such in years.

Quentin

You know what I meant!

And all "your" customers are stuck with the same ts + cs as the rest of the members aren't they?

NigeWick

Quentin wrote: »

You know what I meant!

Apparently not. My customers are the ones I personally signed up. Anybody else's are Utility Warehouse customers.

Yes. All my customers sign up to the same T&C's as other UW customers. I advise my customers to read all the small print and make sure they understand what they are signing up to. I also ask them to check their bills every month to make sure that everything is in order. I let them know that I will be earning money from their utility usage and that I want them to stay customers so that I keep getting paid every month. I point out that it is in my best interest for them to be satisfied. Therefore, if they do not get satisfaction from the company's customer services department, to contact me so that I can try and help. I learned the hard way that mistakes can be made in business and therefore try and avoid small errors becoming big ones.

I have no doubt that other distributors use different methods to gather customers. I am sure that a few use systems that I would believe to be unethical. That's up to them. I do know that if the company finds instances of bad practice, those distributors have their contracts terminated. Utility Warehouse as a company has made mistakes in the past. I am sure that they will make mistakes in the future. I know that in the long run, I have been dealt with fairly, as have my customers. Over the years, I have been asked by some of mine for some assistance in getting satisfaction and have been successful to date.

Quentin

Do "your" customers then read all the ts + cs, and you explain them to them before signing up?

Must be a long tiring session for all parties, as the ts + cs run to 29 pages, not including the 12 extra pages the risky cash card ts + cs run to, the 6 more on the club's membership terms, the 3 more for the prize draws, and the 3 more on the broadband terms etc (not to mention the others on cashcard retailers, discount plan for recruiting customers etc)

The section on the uw retaining any credits (till membership ceases) built up as a result of overpayments via regular payments is buried somewhere in those 53+ pages of small print!

NigeWick

Quentin wrote: »

Do "your" customers then read all the ts + cs, and you explain them to them before signing up?

I don't know if they do or not. I advise them to but I do not sit and wait. If they ask any questions, I find the answers. I sign them up when they let me know they want to.

Do all the other utility companies explain terms and conditions to prospective customers before signing them up? Not in my experience.

You continually attempt to make Utility Warehouse seem worse than all other utility companies and it seems to me that you rely on worst case scenarios to try and prove your point. It really does look like desperation is setting in.

1carminestocky

God, he's now totting up the exact page count of UW's T&C's :eek: . How much time do you think he donates to his UW hatred hobby per week? I'm sure every other energy supplier's (especially if they also had a telecoms/mobile/cashback card arm) T&C's would run to a similar page count. I'd check but seriously *my* time is far too precious. :rotfl: And I'm semi-retired so Lord only knows what Quentin does for a living...


PS UW's 'small print' is actually written in a rather large font size, lol!

The Utility Warehouse/Telecom plus PLC
Small Print (applies to all customers)

Quentin

NigeWick wrote: »

Do all the other utility companies explain terms and conditions to prospective customers before signing them up?

We are discussing your company and it was you who proudly claimed:

I advise my customers to read all the small print and make sure they understand what they are signing up to.

I pointed out what a massive task you undertake (if you really do make sure they understand what they sign up to).

It seems that you may have overegged that particular pudding!

(eg. Do you make sure they all know that by signing they cannot have back any credit balance they build up unless they quit completely?)

We are well used to uw reps coming here and making false claims about price guarantees etc - but why bother to make claims about how your customers are treated differently and you make sure they understand what they are signing, then retract it as soon as the actual task is demonstrated to be virtually impossible by virtue of the uw making their contracts so complicated and lengthy?

NigeWick

Quentin wrote: »

I pointed out what a massive task you undertake (if you really do make sure they understand what they sign up to).

It takes longer to write "I advise you to read and make sure you understand all the terms and conditions before you sign up. When you are happy to, let me know and we'll go ahead. If you have any questions, just ask." than it does to say it. That is not a massive task for me.

>>>We are well used to uw reps coming here and making false claims<<<

I have only claimed that I save money every month. I have also pointed out that other people in a similar situation can also save money compared to the cheapest gas and electricity companies quoted to me in this forum. We even publicly used my own figures to show how I save about £4.50 every month when compared to those "best deals."