Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus) Discussion

janninew

Just reading the news this morning about BG being fined, also mentions the other big 6 companies being investigated for miss-selling and how they handle complaints, funnily enough UW weren't mentioned, can we assume they aren't being investigated for miss-selling as well? This is a shocker, especially with all these rogue sales people out there!

Quentin

UW has been dealt with a number of times by the ASA for false and misleading adverts.

And of course how many of their reps misleading posts (usually claiming to guarantee we will get the cheapest prices thanks to the worthless TVG) have we seen get deleted from MSE?

Meeper

Quentin wrote: »

UW has been dealt with a number of times by the ASA for false and misleading adverts.

Really? You can back this up with proof, of course? Please provide relevant links to support this.

And of course how many of their reps misleading posts (usually claiming to guarantee we will get the cheapest prices thanks to the worthless TVG) have we seen get deleted from MSE?

No idea. Must be over 400 Million by now. We'll never know though, because....they've been deleted! Oh Quentin, you are a clever old soul.

M.

Quentin

Meeper wrote: »

there is no mention of the Triple Value Guarantee in the current "presenter" folder.

I am a UW Distributor.

Whatever you keep in your "presenter" folder is pretty irrelevant. (But is your admision that you don't personally mention the worthless guarantee your "sincere" confirmation that it is truly worthless?)

The UW themselves do still promote the worthless guarantee with a full page on their website.

And of course the reps are trained to use the worthless guarantee when "presenting" to gullibles.

See the way the gullible Spanish Teachers are shown by the "perfectly ethical" rep how to save £500 if they switch to UW. (Go forward to 5 mins 20 secs if lifes too short to watch the great man at work using the wortheless guarantee to clinch the deal!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdZcBC0Kf9k&feature=related

Cardew

From UW's website:

<H1>Our Unique 'Triple Value' Guarantee

• Peace of mind on all your energy bills - guaranteed.

Worried about your energy bills?





With the Utility Warehouse Discount Club, you can relax. Our unique 'Triple Value' guarantee ensures you will always be getting a good deal:

1. For your gas, we guarantee our prices will always be cheaper than British Gas, wherever you live in the UK.
2. For your electricity, we guarantee our prices will always be cheaper than the prices charged by the regional electricity supplier for the area where you live.
3. And for your complete peace of mind we guarantee our prices will always remain competitive compared to the cheapest standard tariffs available from the 'Big 6' suppliers*

It's so easy to switch to a supplier that cares about its customers.

</H1>

Then the small print:

'Big 6' means the six major energy companies who currently supply over 98% of UK households, comprising: British Gas, E.ON, npower, EDF (London Electricity, Seeboard and SWEB), Scottish Power and Scottish & Southern Energy.
Guarantees and price comparisons are based on the standard domestic usage profiles for low, medium and high users on a like-for-like basis and exclude Club membership fee, surcharge for gas customers using an Independent Gas Transporter, Dual-Fuel discounts and online tariffs. Only applies to direct debit customers. During periods when retail prices are changing, we typically announce our new prices after most of the 'Big 6' have set their new prices in order to ensure our new prices are competitive and in line with our 'Triple Value' guarantee. Therefore when energy prices are falling, there may be a short period before our new prices take effect when our prices may be higher than those available from certain other suppliers. The reverse will however generally be true during periods when energy prices are rising.(my bold)

Anyway the point of this particular input is that for years that has been the central plank of UW's selling technique and scores of UW salesmen have spammed this site with this worthless TVG - which was one of the reasons Martin decreed that all UW input would be on this thread.

Anyone who was deceived by that blatent mis-selling will be in line for compensation if the appropriate legislation comes to fruition.

Mike_by_the_Sea

Should this post by Cardew be reported as SPAM ? :rotfl:

It looks like blatant advertising to me.

If this guarantee was mis-sold, why hasn't it been referred to the ASA? After all, it doesn't just appear on the interweb.

Perhaps it is because it states what it is - a guarantee that UW gas and electricity prices will always be competitive against the "Big 6" cheapest standard tariffs - Even in big print.

Quentin

Mike_by_the_Sea wrote: »

.....Perhaps it is because it states what it is - a guarantee that UW gas and elecrticity prices will always be competitive against the "Big 6" chepest standard tariffs - Even in big print.

By definition you can claim against a "guarantee" if it fails.

How can anyone make a claim against your guarantee to be "competitive"?

What does it mean? How is it measured? And as it excludes your compulsory extra membership fee, then your members can never benefit from it.

And your members must pay by direct debit or lose the "protection" of the guarantee, yet you compare with the others "standard" tariffs, when the others give an additional discount for direct debit customers.

UW of course gives no discount for paying by direct debit, though does charge extra to customers paying by other means!

Mike_by_the_Sea

All good points, but all taken from the terms of the guarantee.

Transparancy is the new black.

Quentin

Mike_by_the_Sea wrote: »

All good points, but all taken from the terms of the guarantee.....

Exactly the point.

The "guarantee" is made worthless by its ts + cs.

It's not a guarantee at all, just a "clever" marketing tool for the reps to use when pitching to their gullible prospects. (In the UW training video we don't see the gullible spanish teachers getting told the ts + cs of the worthless guarantee!)

Go forward to 5 mins 20 secs if life's too short to watch the great man at work using the worthless guarantee to clinch the deal!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdZcBC0Kf9k&amp;feature=related

And as the reps are encouraged to pitch to their friends and relatives it's easy to fool them into thinking they are being guaranteed the "cheapest" - no-one expects to be hoodwinked by their friend/relative who has come to tell them about his new business, and take what he says at face value!

Mike_by_the_Sea

Quentin wrote: »

Exactly the point.

The "guarantee" is made worthless by its ts + cs.

Interesting view - I wonder if anybody could find any other guarantees that do not have T&C's that clarify the conditions - Surely this is the norm for all businesses.