Telecom Plus Poorer and poorer

Smartasss

The EnergyHelpline sums them up.

This is taken from the EnergyHelpline site regarding T+:

We would only recommend Telecom Plus to the most ardent money savers

They provide a basic supply service eg. they have limited customer service hours

lisyloo

Just for the sake of balance...

I have had very few problems with my changeover to Telecom Plus.
They have kept me informed all along.
I think I have had to ring them once for a minor billing error.

They do not use 0870 numbers like a lot of other utilitiy companies but provide a normal phone number.
Agreed the hours of opening are not as long as other companies.

If you want 24 hr service and an 0800 number then be prepared to pay more for your utilities.

Money_Saver_13

We have always had great service from Telecom plus and would recommend it to anyone. Who wants to pay more for extended opening times. They are always open on Saturday and I prefer to pay their low weekend local rates to call them rather than BT's ridiculous national(or even local) call rates.

hansi

We have always had great service from Telecom plus and would recommend it to anyone. Who wants to pay more for extended opening times. They are always open on Saturday and I prefer to pay their low weekend local rates to call them rather than BT's ridiculous national(or even local) call rates.

yeah, me too so far, try telling SmartAss that though!

Smartasss

Hi Hansi - Hey, don't shoot the messenger!

I'm not the EnergyHelpline!! ;D

On a serious moneysaving note, the Telecomplus offpeak rate does sound competitive (0.7p/min), but as always with T+, their rates are clouded by other charges (the membership fee + the £1 minimum charge totals £2.76 a month for the telephone service).

There is a cheaper alternative at 0.69/min with just-dial, and you don't have any other membership fees or monthly charges to pay!

The T+ peak rate is comparatively high these days at 2.5p/min (eg, you could use telestunt at 1p/min via BT).

So in the light of these cheaper rates, what is the attraction to the T+ system?

(I realise this is the electric/gas/water forum, but have posted these comparative rates to the T+ ones 'promoted' in the posts above purely in the interests of moneysaving!)

lisyloo

Smartass - one thing to bear in mind is that some people (like myself) are already paying the £1.76 membership fee for our gas & electricity bills.

Therefore there is no need to "double account" for this when considering the phone bills.

If you are already a member for other services then you don't need to pay this membership fee again.
In addition you would get £10 discount for multiple services (yes I know it takes 12 months and there's a claw back clause within 15 months).

That totals £31.12 per year.

lisyloo

That totals £31.12 per year.

Just realised that wasn't very clear.

What I meant is that an existing member is £31.12 per year (inc VAT) better off than someone who is not already a Telecom Plus member if taking the telephone service.

I think even Smartass will agree with me that the package is more attractive for someone who is already a member (or to put it another way less attractive for someone who isn't already a member).

Smartasss

I follow you, Lisyloo!

You are saying that if you take on the T+ telephone service alone, then the minimum annual cost is £31.12. (There can't be any advantage to taking this scheme rather than the others around which charge lower call rates and no other fees - unless I'm missing something?)

If you are already a 'member' at Telecom Plus, then by taking the telephone service you won't be charged the £1.76/month membership. And if you keep the extra service for at least 15 months you will get a £10 discount applied to your bill.

But you would still end up paying more per call than others charge, plus the minimum of £1/month - so, again, where is the advantage over just using other companies who charge less per call than T+?

lisyloo

I haven't looked into the tarriffs in detail recently.

But two things spring to mind off the top of my head.

Firstly calls between members who have signed up for the phone service are free (subject to £1 min charge and membership fees of course), so if you have a number of friends/relatives who have the service then that could be a factor.
The same applies to TalkTalk as well.

Another situation where it might be beneficial is if you are a low caller.
Let's say you make exactly £1 of calls per month.
With TPlus that will cost you £12 per year for calls, but you get the £10 discount back (subject to staying the 15 months of course).
Therefore it only costs you £2 for £12 worth of calls.
I would be very suprised if even the cheapest call rates could compete with a bill that's discounted by 83%.

Of course I have picked the best scenario to demonstrate my point, but the £10 discount would make a significant difference to people who are already members and make a low number of calls.

I agree totally that there is not much to recommend it to anyone that isn't already a member.
The overhead of the club fees are a disproportionately large burden for just one service and the landline market is very competitive.
I think you know how Telecom Plus works though. They want to make it attractive for people to take many services.

Lewis_Gerolemou

Smartass, as you know one of the advantages of using Telecom Plus phone service is the fact that you can make free phone calls to other members of The Utility Warehouse if you register for More Talk option Zero. I am not sure that your claims for Just-Dial and Teleshunt are correct, according to their websites UK calls are charged at BT prices and they charge when you access their service not when the call is answered.
Telecom Plus is a multi-service provider and many of my customers like the convenience of receiving one bill each month for gas, electricity, phone, mobile and internet seperately itemised and paid together each month by direct debit. As it says on the Telecom Plus brochure "The more services I take the more money I save"
Lewis Gerolemou
Independent Distributor for Telecom Plus

markedgar

I am not going to enter into a slagging match, however certain relevant facts have been omitted here.

While I am always happy to help resolve any problems any customer of mine may have (which remains true to this day), I need to know of them personally; not via a public domain!

The insinuation that I have deceived COS in some way ("Thank you MarkE for informing us of TP's delaying tactics ( Not )") and therefore should be discredited along with the company is quite unnecessary, and therefore I will provide the following reply for all to read:

You seem to have forgotten COS that:

Problem 1. Your original Direct Debit was cancelled (an action performed by an account holder and NOT by Telecom plus or any other party) at the outset, hence why your account originally fell into arrears.

Problem 2. Your previous energy supplier(s) threw a huge spanner in the works from the outset too, by attempting to stop your transfer (there were two fiasco's of this nature) of energy services to TP. This practice is illegal and has been 'tried on' by other companies (not TP) in the past - hence why there have been the problems you have experienced. Read this article: http://money.guardian.co.uk/utilities/story/0,11992,1100990,00.html

Your opinion and that of others is respected, but it doesn't necessarily mean that what has happened here is solely as a result of what you believe to be failings on TP's part.

How do you know that TP did not provide the relevant readings? Bearing in mind the fact that your previous supplier blatantly attempted to prevent your transfer, don't you think this sounds just a bit unbelievable?

It's always easier to blame the party that you feel or believe are at fault, but I do not believe this to be so here.

It is your decision to move to whoever you wish to move to and that's fine. I never - and have never - coerced or misinformed anybody, via this site or elsewhere, to move their services to TP. I do not accept that they are the 'worst utility company' either.

Why would I, let alone any other credible individual, accept an application from another individual posting on this public domain, knowing that any dissatisfaction experienced by the customer could be posted by that customer on this site and elsewhere for all to see?

I wouldn't believe everything the other parties have told you, as they have retained your business: that being their original intention.

Mark E