Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus) Discussion

janninew

Quentin wrote: »

Luckily for the rest of us, unfair contract conditions are not enforceable.

This series of 3 very tight 10 day windows during which you must take meter readings is clearly unfair, and designed to catch out as many people as possible. And the ombudsman would surely agree.

As I already pointed out, hard luck if you happen to be away from home during any of those 10 day periods.

I personally don't think 10 days is 'very tight,' and it will be interesting to see if the Energy ombudsman does 'surely agree.' I don't see what the complaint is myself, its written down when you have to submit your readings, the poster missed the deadline and is now not entitled to their cashback. If it were me I would put the dates on my calendar, especially if £100.00 were at stake, why makes things complicated? I submit readings to EDF 7 days before my next bill is due to get an accuarte bill based on readings, I've managed this no problems, it only takes a minutes to do a reading.

How long do you think UW should give for people to submit readings? What wouldn't be 'very tight' in your world?

janninew

And as for the holiday excuse - ring and ask them before you go, don't leave it until you come back and have missed the deadline. They may give some flexibility - who knows.

ClaireMB

Quentin wrote: »

The uw loves its ts + cs.

So does every supplier on the planet Quentin, otherwise they would go bust! I read somewhere some years ago that when companies make these offers of cashback, less than 30% of their customers actually meet the criteria laid down.

I missed out on some cashback some years ago with another energy supplier because I didn't diary when and what I needed to do. I did moan about it to them but in reality it was my fault for not complying with the rules they set.

Caught out once like this, the next time a similar offer came up was when I moved to O2. This time I diaried exactly what I had to do and the dates it had to be done by, eg send in invoice number 3 for a £50 cashback by xxxx date. This time I got my cashback because and only because I complied with their T&C's.

Get off your high horse Quentin and be constructive not destructive.

Come on Quentin, like SteveT said, put your cards on the table and tell us what you do for a living and why you are so bitter.

At least we UW distributors are open about what we do.

Claire (UW Distributor)

Quentin

You compare the UW cashback conditions with those used by mobile phone companies.

The mobile phone companies have to abide by a code of practice to ensure fairness. This includes giving customers a 60 day window to submit the required documentation. A 60 day window seems fair.

UW's 10 day window is clearly unfair. As already posted, unfair contract terms are unenforceable.

ClaireMB

Just had a look at some of your other postings Quentin.

Interesting that you point someone to T&C's/ small print in the thread about a car stolen by son.

T&C's apply to virtually everything we get from suppliers. It is up to us as individuals to ensure we know what those are and abide by them.

I'm not comparing anything specific at all. I am stating the fact that all cashback offers from all companies come with T&C's attached.

Fail to meet them, then fail to get your cashback. Simples!

Incidentally, with the O2 offer, I didn't have a 60 day window, I had a 14 day window. Not much different to the UW window, especially if it clashed with a fortnights holiday for me. Didn't as it happens and I had diarised it for a week before the 14 day period started to make sure I didn't miss it.

You've still not told us what you do and why you're so bitter.

Quentin

ClaireMB wrote: »

Just had a look at some of your other postings Quentin.

Interesting that you point someone to T&C's/ small print in the thread about a car stolen by son.....

Totally irrelevant to this thread of course!

If any ts + cs are unfair, then they are unenforceable!

You were the one who introduced the comparison with mobile phone cashback ts + cs.

These were unfair (your 14 day window with o2 was).

But they have now been cleaned up, as already posted, the window is now 60 days.

Instead of defending uw, why not accept this is a poor show and petition your bosses to reverse their policy.

Giving Blusox his £100 without putting him through the hassle of complaining/ombudsman etc would be worth much more than £100 to them in good publicity!

(In order to get his £100, he has had to take at least 3 of your services for a year, plus spend a minimum £350 on his gas, as well as jump through the meter reading hoops)

ClaireMB

Oh I am so enjoying this banter.

I wasn't with UW at the time of the last offer, so haven't a clue what the specifics of the offer were, so can't be specific about that.

However, on the topic of fairness in general .....

If you have been given advanced notice, eg 6 weeks, 3 months, 12 months, to comply with a 10 day window for each target/ condition to be met, why on earth would you consider that not to be fair?

I don't think my O2 offer was unfair. I had been given 3 months notice. Why was that unfair?

Quentin

Don't think you would take this as "banter" were you on the losing end of this after having stuck with uw for a year under the belief that you were getting a reward, having been talked into signing up by a "friend" who you mistakenly trusted!

It's unfair to have conditions that are so restrictive - 3 x 10 day windows over 12 months during which you must be at home or you lose your cashback are unfair! (eg who can predict whether or not they will be able to comply with such a tight window).

ClaireMB

My incident with that other energy supplier a few years ago was no different to this guys. I feel sorry for anyone that doesn't meet the conditions to get what is available to them. It's happened to me, so I know what its like.

You were not at the meeting when this guy signed up, so you cannot comment on what was said or not said. You are just making assumptions.

The banter I refer to is with you, no-one else. And the reason I'm enjoying it so much is that you still won't say what you do or why you are so bitter towards UW. You're just hiding behind a name on a board.

Ok, so lets ask a slightly different question then. What qualifications do you have to say whether any companies T&C's are fair or not? Do you have legal qualifications?

All companies have T&C's which are there to protect both the consumer and the company.

Nowhere do the current UW T&C's state you have to be at home. Neither do they say you have to take a reading on a specific date. All they say is to submit readings within a given timeframe.

Nowadays with all the communication tools at our disposal, I actually still don't see why is there a problem, even if you are not in the UK. You do of course need to compare the cost of the communication with the end reward, ie will you still gain from taking that action.

It doesn't matter what it is. Everything in life depends how determined you are to succeed, eg whether you will meet the deadlines and conditions for a particular offer, or to get a job, car, loan, or whatever.

If I was going on holiday but also knew I had to contact someone on a specific date, eg a solicitor for some legal reason, I would still go on holiday and I would still phone the solicitor from wherever I happen to be.

The only time where I probably would have a problem, would be if I had neither the opportunity nor ability to make contact, eg sudden hopital stay.

Quentin

You admit to not "having a clue" about this offer.

Yet are happy to keep defending your company.

I have followed your example and done some research.

This topic (uw reneging on paying out when customers are days late with their reading) is discussed by uw reps on their forum.

A rep (with a customer who has been told he won't get paid) is disgusted to learn from your HO that they didn't supply customers with any paperwork on the offer when sending new customers their "welcome pack", telling the rep it is down to the reps to do this when signing up customers!

The uw stance is reported verbatim:

we don't send anything to the customer explaining when meter readings are due to qualify for the Offer, thats down to you the ID

The rep points out:

Now for those of you that have lots of customers that must be a nightmare, I can not beleive that when the client receives their welcome pack there is no covering letter

The answer from another rep:

In my experience if they can get out of something they will. It's totally out of order.

You on the other hand seem quite happy your company uses these Arthur Daley methods to get out of honouring the deal.

The topic arose when a poster came to this money saving website to report the problem. There are remedies open to him, he is not bound to lose simply because uw have it in their ts + cs, so don't be surprised that your "company line" saying the ts + cs are fair get challenged.