Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus) Discussion

MillicentBystander

You make very good points, Twitters. I would suggest the reason the Big 6 can save you so much money for having an online account is not really linked to how much that saves them (there's no way that not sending a punter 4 bills a year could save anything like £150) but it is more linked to the fact that the Big 6's millions of encumbents (those who have no option than to be on standard rate and those who simply can't be arsed to move) are subsidising our online accounts to the tune of billions...

PS Having said that, cashback is yet another thing that eventually goes back onto punter's bills, though maybe this will be more fairly spread.

penrhyn

The energy suppliers would say that it costs them less to administer a paperless on-line account with direct debit.
It does highlight the fact that the poorest in society pay more for their utilities that those with more means.
In fairness to Ebico they do charge the same price no matter how you pay.

BTW Have UW implemented NPowers latest price rise yet, as having co-ordinated all vectors and examined the interconnectedness of all things, I can see no other reason why they are so competitive at the moment.

MillicentBystander

I think they have always been competitive for low users without internet access, Penrhyn. It's just that we tend to just focus on our own circumstances on here, ie on the 'net and (mostly) happy to go for online accounts. We tend to forget there are actually more people paying standard rate than there are people paying online tariffs.

PS Even an average user on standard account paying by DD would still be paying far far more than an online account holder paying the same way, so there's no way the difference can be justified wholly in descreasing admin costs IMO.

janninew

MillicentBystander wrote: »

Funnily enough, based on OFGEM's low consumption figs (11000 gas, 2100 electricity) and pay on receipt way of paying in the Midlands area UW come in at £1 per annum less than British Gas's standard tariff. Remember UWs price includes 12 paper bills per year which I'm sure would help with budgeting. They could then also get the £10.75/mth phone line rental and qualify for free calls evenings and weekends to 01, 02, 03, 0870 and some international numbers - plus 24/7 free landline calls to you! Not forgetting free calls to UW and free £10,000 accidental death insurance. Obviously no idea of their usage or even their location but it's just an illustration...

I don't think UW would be a good choice for my parents, they probably have high usage due to being at home all day, and having a large house. Also my mum is always cold, so has the heating set very high!

I have tried (really tried!) to convince them to go on to a on-line tariff, but my Dad won't hear of it, he is so old fashioned! I'm sure they must be on the standard BG tariff, I know they have been with BG as long as I can remember and have never changed as BG are clearly the best!

SwanJon

TwittersPVFC wrote: »

The UW figures were calculated from their website, the rest from a uSwitch comparison where users would pay on receipt of the bill.

Just a quick check, as it can be easy to miss things.
Why didn't you use UW figures from Uswitch? Just seems like more work that way, but from the UW site...

Rates for monthly Direct Debit payment.

Price Table

Please note that to enable you to compare our prices with the amount you are paying to your existing supplier (as shown on your latest bill), the above figures exclude VAT at the domestic rate of 5%.

Can a UWID confirm the (rather oddly displayed) 10% negative discount for paying on receipt of bill that Which has? This doesn't seem to be mentioned anywhere on the UW site though, so maybe Which have the wrong information...

Cardew

Well spotted about the VAT Swanjon. Also what about the monthly UW membership fee - was that taken into account?

Also as I said above, to get any favourable comparison - but not the cheapest, UW users have to:

1. Have low consumption.

2. Not be on the internet.

3. Are not allowed to pay on receipt of bill - I believe there is a 10% additional charge if you don't pay by DD. ??

4. Janninew, any comment? or will the multi-named troll answer for you?

Quentin

UW prices on their website don't include the extra charge they make for anyone wanting/needing a paper bill either!

MillicentBystander

My God, take shelter - the Warminster Boys are on the warpath :eek:





Luckily for me, I'm off to my local's Quiz Night. Good luck, everybody. Have fun.

Meeper

But they don't include the discount available from the Cashback card either!!

You can't have it all ways. If you want to talk about gas & electricity, then do that. If you want to add in other charges that are not gas & electricity-related, you need to include the other countering effects which balance it out and, in fact, outweigh.

There's your biggest problem guys. You want to include everything as though it is a negative, but you forget that they are supplementals. If you want to talk about prices, then do that. You shied away from that discussion when challenged though, as is your way. Utility Warehouse is a Discount Club. If you would like to consider Club membership fees and other items, then you should also, in fairness, consider those other Club benefits which can reduce the costs as well as increase them.

You are afraid to do this because you know you cannot possibly win that argument.

Why not just concede defeat at your lack of substance, inconsistencies and your inability to look at things fairly.

SwanJon

Cardew wrote: »

Well spotted about the VAT Swanjon. Also what about the monthly UW membership fee - was that taken into account?

Which do mention the membership fee, but a customer may already have phone/internet with UW so I didn't include it. As to the VAT, it is there for a valid reason - your bill from any supplier will only show the ppu without VAT.
The UW site really does need a proper cost calculator based on annual kWh.

Meeper wrote: »

But they don't include the discount available from the Cashback card either!!

I imagine that is because it is unquantifiable, but yes the fact that it savings are possible should be mentioned in the same way as Nectar, Clubcard, Airmiles etc (TBH I didn't look).

Meeper wrote: »

You can't have it all ways. If you want to talk about gas & electricity, then do that. If you want to add in other charges that are not gas & electricity-related, you need to include the other countering effects which balance it out and, in fact, outweigh.

There's your biggest problem guys. You want to include everything as though it is a negative, but you forget that they are supplementals. If you want to talk about prices, then do that. You shied away from that discussion when challenged though, as is your way. Utility Warehouse is a Discount Club. If you would like to consider Club membership fees and other items, then you should also, in fairness, consider those other Club benefits which can reduce the costs as well as increase them.

I think I said something similar a few pages back.
All along my issue with UW hasn't been their prices - there will be people who feel that the service is worth the price in the same way as the Value/Best ranges in supermarkets.
My issue has been with sales - mainly untrained/confused UWs selling to
unwitting customers. This should be disappearing as UW have stopped paying IDs that haven't attended (hope that means passed) training.
Their website doesn't help that image by plucking figures out of the air to give you savings, nor hiding the negative discount for paying on receipt of bill.
GB's seventh supplier just need a little polish to remove some of that tarnish.