Utilities Warehouse. Will it be cheaper or more expensive? slightly awkward situation

1carminestocky

shaznmark wrote: »

I checked UW out and I too am on Virgin media with only cable connection in to my house. I am with Scottish Power for Gas & Electric so to switch to UW I would be paying approx £200 a year more. So declined at the moment and this is with my best friend. If they are really a friend they should understand. Told them when I move or can have all utilities provided by them I will look at the figures again. Good luck easy xxx

Like I said earlier, if you are just taking the gas and electricity and have no use for the the cashback card there are cheaper deals out there, no question. However, if you take the 4 services they become very competitive in the marketplace as a package due to the 24/7 free (inclusive would be a better term) calls to 01, 02, 03, 0845/0870 and 10 intl destinations. I've no idea if you get inclusive calls with Virgin Media but certainly the non-inclusive call costs are very high. Because we are propsing to take the gas and electric from UW, we would get the phone line/BB (up to 24mb, 40gb limit etc)/24/7 calls for just £19.99 per month.

If the UW price was the same as any other supplier, I don't think many would argue that UW is the better deal on account of the 12 monthly paper bills per year you would get (this definitely gives people the incentive to cut usage as it's a monthly reminder of usage) plus the one DD for all the services is IMO a great idea. Not to mention the wholly UK-based call centre. In our case, we will be paying much less than anywhere else but our shopping habits make the cashback card an absolute no-brainer. If we have friends who wish to do the same as us (i.e. replicate our shopping habits and take the 4 services for an unbeatable deal), then we would also get up to 2% off our bills for simply recommending them. I'm sure if one of the Big 6 had such a scheme (not to mention a cashback card) it would be praised to the Heavens on here, lol.

easy

espresso wrote: »

Simply enter your kWh figures into a comparison site e.g. here and see how far down the league table UW come.

Thanks for that. UW come a very long way down the table, so when my friend comes over at lunchtime, I think he's going to be disappointed.

And I'll be really uncomfortable.

espresso

easy wrote: »

Thanks for that. UW come a very long way down the table, so when my friend comes over at lunchtime, I think he's going to be disappointed.

And I'll be really uncomfortable.

Surely you will be much more comfortable now!

Quentin

Be prepared to be told that the comparison sites are corrupt, and as uw won't pay them to be on them, then they don't produce accurate figures for the uw.

As demonstrated by their on line trainer here:

http://www.networkerplus.co.uk/videos/signing-customers.html

Fast forward to around 3 mins 15 secs if you haven't time to watch the lot.

easy

espresso wrote: »

Surely you will be much more comfortable now!

No, because I can't help this guy out. I like the chap, andI know his enforced early retirement came as a shock to him, hitting him financially

Cardew

If my 'friends' put me in such an embarrassing position by trying to sell me gas and electricity, that they knew was £xhundred more expensive, they wouldn't be friends for very long.

However in defence of your friends, SOME UW distributors are so gullible that they actually believe the rubbish that they are taught to 'spiel' to prospective victims. The level of ignorance - I can think of no other word - about UW's pricing demonstrated by some UW distributors on the other thread is frightening.

Whilst, sadly, some reps would knowingly sell overpriced gas and electricity to their Granny(and do!) if there was a buck to be made, I would hope that others simply don't realise just how expensive UW gas and electricity is compared to its rivals.

easy

Quentin wrote: »

Be prepared to be told that the comparison sites are corrupt, and as uw won't pay them to be on them, then they don't produce accurate figures for the uw.

As demonstrated by their on line trainer here:

http://www.networkerplus.co.uk/videos/signing-customers.html

Fast forward to around 3 mins 15 secs if you haven't time to watch the lot.

Thanks Quentin. Presumably he'll have the current unit charges available? So if I prepare a spreadsheet which I can just plug his numbers into, I can prove it here ?

Cardew

easy wrote: »

Thanks Quentin. Presumably he'll have the current unit charges available? So if I prepare a spreadsheet which I can just plug his numbers into, I can prove it here ?

You really don't need a spreadsheet as all of the comparison websites will give you a detailed breakdown if you enter kWhs.

Bear in mind that in their comparisons UW ignore any discounts you get from other companies for payment by DD, dual fuel, paperless billing etc and also don't include UW's monthly membership fee.

Also in elaboration of my post above, many distributors are simply recruited by other distributors(that is where the money is to be made) and the only 'training' they receive is on a visit by someone as shown in Quentin's video.

jimexbox

easy wrote: »

Thanks Quentin. Presumably he'll have the current unit charges available? So if I prepare a spreadsheet which I can just plug his numbers into, I can prove it here ?

He will probably try and quote the worthless 'triple guarantee' which excludes so many tariffs that UW are the cheapest, amazing what small print can achieve. Ive already established that Im the best footballer on the planet (last played 26yrs ago) by simply excluding every living person between the ages of 6 and 75. A principle used by UW.

Quentin

easy wrote:

Presumably he'll have the current unit charges available? So if I prepare a spreadsheet which I can just plug his numbers into, I can prove it here ?

You will need to have the figures yourself - they are taught not to get involved with tariffs, but to just sell on the (worthless) guarantee.

In fact they are taught to ignore detail, and in the video presentations we have seen, they make no attempt to compare current supplier prices!