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Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus) Discussion

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  • Andy1047
    Andy1047 Posts: 22 Forumite
    edited 9 June 2011 at 10:49PM
    I don't say much these days unless there is some worth mentioning. This mention is specially for Quentin ;-)

    "Something being a dish best served cold" This is from a survey on this web site...the site that Quentin continually posts on with his disapproval of UW.

    Home phone service – full results
    How each firm's customers voted its service Provider

    Good Ok Poor Total votes

    Utility Warehouse
    87% 10% 3% 103

    O2 80% 14% 6% 341

    Plusnet 79% 15% 6% 541

    Post Office 73% 18% 10% 221

    Sky 54% 34% 12% 1,134

    Virgin 52% 33% 16% 2,208

    Primus 50% 37% 13% 197

    AOL 49% 34% 17% 172

    Orange 45% 36% 19% 170

    BT 43% 41% 16% 4,063

    TalkTalk 40% 34% 26% 2,088

    Pipex 37% 37% 26% 78

    Tiscali 33% 38% 29% 207

    KC 31% 31% 38% 290

    Oh, and UW has about 1% of the UK market so 103 votes is about right compared to the rest (Quentin)
    UW Distributor :j
  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,060 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Rampant Recycler
    With 30,000+ UW salesmen and their families with a vested interest in voting for UW any such survey is rendered useless.

    They always come top for Value in the WHICH reader's survey of gas and electricity; this despite WHICH saying they are some 20% more expensive than cheaper tariffs(actually it is closer to 30%)

    During the miner's strike, at the height of his unpopularity in UK Arthur Scargill won the BBC 'Man of the Year' as voted for by listeners - a campaign was organised in all the miner's lodges. The Competition wasn't held again.

    Meaningless!
  • Andy1047
    Andy1047 Posts: 22 Forumite
    Oh. Cardew, this just shows that network marketing works, is ethical and creates very good companies (Like coke, Microsoft, Xerox etc etc etc). Oh (again), the shares have just gone up by another 17 pence today and you don't even have to be a customer to have them. Don't suppose you have any???

    Bored...time for bed ;-)
    UW Distributor :j
  • Cardew wrote: »
    With 30,000+ UW salesmen and their families with a vested interest in voting for UW any such survey is rendered useless.

    They always come top for Value in the WHICH reader's survey of gas and electricity; this despite WHICH saying they are some 20% more expensive than cheaper tariffs(actually it is closer to 30%)


    During the miner's strike, at the height of his unpopularity in UK Arthur Scargill won the BBC 'Man of the Year' as voted for by listeners - a campaign was organised in all the miner's lodges. The Competition wasn't held again.

    Meaningless!


    IIRC Ebico also scored 5 stars for value for money in the last survey and they are no cheaper than UW in most instances. Explain.
  • I recently purchased a pay-as-you-go sim from the Utility Warehouse.

    On page 9 of the booklet (printed booklet version - TP MP 013 Version 02/11) they clearly advertise the 150 service as available e.g. you call 150 from your mobile and receive an automated message with your up-to-date pay-as-you-go balance.

    However, calling 150 sends you a scrambled message with incoherent data. In short, I spoke to Customer Services who informed me that the service DOES NOT WORK.

    To add insult to injury, I recently checked my current phone bill and found that the company had charged me 0.10 per call to 150 - FOR A SERVICE THAT DOES NOT WORK!!!

    I have spoken to Customer Services and had my account refunded, but thought it only decent to post on here and warn others in case they are also being unwittingly charged.

    Thanks!
  • Meeper
    Meeper Posts: 1,394 Forumite
    Fluffbun, that is fantastic news! Thanks for pointing out another example of the outstanding customer service you received from UW. Had this happened in most other companies (and mistakes happen in every single company, you know!!) there would have been obfuscation, pushing to multiple departments, denial, and all manner of nonsense. I applaud you for pointing out that UW's customer services have done, yet again, a cracking job! Thanks.
    Is their offer of paying any exit penalty (up to £50) applicable in this instant or is that only when you sign up for 4 services all at once?
    I'm afraid the new guarantees and offers that have come in recently are only for "Qualifying Customers", who take 4 or more services on a new application. Someone with 3 services cannot become a "qualifying customer" by adding another one to benefit from the additional offers. Sorry about that! Commercial decision and all that. :)

    Meeper
    --UW Distributor
    I am an Independent Financial Adviser
    You should note that this site doesn't check my status as an Independent Financial Adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice.
  • On the contrary Meeper, I think an excellent step from the company would be to AT LEAST add a bulletin to the UW website informing their loyal customers that the advertised 150 service does not work!!!

    This would be a great step in customer service, and show that the company does care about it's customers, enough to put their hands up and admit publicly that they have gotten something wrong!

    I really don't think great customer service is charging the customer first and refunded them if they themselves happen to point out an advertised mistake. Think of the possibly hundreds or thousands of other people who could have been in the same boat as myself.

    A schoolboy error if ever there was one!!!
  • grumpy_old_biker
    grumpy_old_biker Posts: 6 Forumite
    edited 26 June 2011 at 1:30PM
    I have been a mobile phone customer of UW for many years but recently decided to change over from payg to a sim only tariff to save money. I contacted UW on 18/3 to inform them of this and was told it would be no problem. They also requested £25 for 'admin' which I thought was a bit steep but as the monthly savings would have been worth it I agreed. Imagine my disgust when I got my end of April bill and found that no changes had been made. I contacted them and more promises were made including a refund, which seemed fair. Long story short and the May bill still hadn't been changed to sim only. I again phoned 'customer service' and told them politely, where to stick their service. I am now with o2 and get the tariff I want and a new smart phone for the same price as UW and their sim only deal. To add insult to injury the calls to customer service are not free as they are with most other providers.

    Also with o2 you can change tariff immediately online at no cost, unlike UW who need a months notice and a hefty wedge of cash. As far as coverage is concerned UW are on the T-mobile/Orange/Virgin platform so check coverage beforehand if you still want to use them.
  • NigeWick
    NigeWick Posts: 2,726 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Debt-free and Proud!
    I am now with o2 and get the tariff I want and a new smart phone for the same price
    Sometimes the only way to get satisfaction from a company is to leave them. When enough people make that decision, they will either do better or go under.
    The mind of the bigot is like the pupil of the eye; the more light you pour upon it, the more it will contract.
    Oliver Wendell Holmes
  • MillicentBystander
    MillicentBystander Posts: 3,518 Forumite
    edited 24 June 2011 at 5:17PM
    Talking of UW mobiles, their Budget Control feature on the Value SIM Only tariffs is an absolute godsend to parents! We got our son the £10/mth Value SIM (500 mins/ 3000 texts, great deal) but decided as the monthly DD was coming out of our account we would add the Budget Control feature at £1.50/mth. Glad we did, the little scamp ran out of the inclusive 500 mins in the first fortnight and now he can't make any calls until the new month clicks over so he's currently texting like mad!! As we said to him, that's over 8 hours of yakking! Works really well and I can honestly say I haven't seen other mobile operators giving this option although maybe I have missed it?

    I dread to think of the bill we would have had if we hadn't got the budget feature.

    PS Still toying with the idea of taking gas from UW to get the inclusive daytime landline calls (EDF are a total joke!) as at the moment it will only cost £2-£3/mth more but may wait until the new agreement with npower kicks in in August to see what effect it has on prices.


    PS grumpy old biker, I'm assuming, given that you are comparing it, the 02 deal you are now on is a 30 day rolling contract like the UW SIM only deal? Got some more details? Sounds like a killer deal.
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