Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus) Discussion

Oog

I had a distributer come around today and now need to compare properly to see if this will be cheaper for me or not.

(Please, I am trying to work this out and be fair, as my OH is very keen, especially on the 10% back on energy bit, so no fighting!). It is very complicated!

I know I need four services to get the 10% back in the first year, all to change within 75 days. It cannot be a fixed rate tariff for energy. I need to give very precisely timed meter readings in a 10 day period.
I have just moved in (3 days!) to my new big house and have no bills or previous 'normal' usages other than my previous home. I therefore probably cannot take advantage of the 'double the discount' deal. (Right?)

So,
Phone -KC Home Bundle £30 a month
(Free local calls 24/7, Free calls to 01, 02 & 03 numbers on evenings & weekends, High-speed broadband with 30GB monthly usage, 120 free weekend minutes to UK mobiles per month)
Internet - KC (see above)
Gas - SSE £?75-100 (Guessing at a whopping 10 cubic m a day)
Electricity - SSE £30 (Guessing at similar to last house~3000 units/annum)
I use Quidco and other cash back sites for major purchases.
I am reading my meters every week at least to try and get a picture for proper energy use.

Total = £160 a month

My OH also has a mobile dongle thing which might count at £17 a month which apparently he can get for £13 a month with UW. Would this count?

So if I went with UW I need to pay
£1-2.50 a month
2x £20 for a Cash card thing each (which costs £1 per month afterwards and 35p to top upeach time - x2)
Petrol from Sainsbury's - it is a 10 mile trip - so at ~20p a mile that is £2 to get petrol to get the 3% cash back money off and I must pay in the kiosk with the Cash card.

Total = £20 up front and ~£6 a month.
So, they need to come up with my monthly bill being at least ~£8 a month cheaper before it's even worth considering. But I could get £150 back at the end of the full 12 months - which minus the fees could mean I am £50 up, even if they broke even on the bills.
Are there any other costs I've missed?

I shop locally, hardly ever use the big retailers, (hate NPower after they ripped me off), am probably not prepared to go 10 miles out of my way to get petrol, and so I'm not entirely sure how this is going to save me money.
How can I find out what are the comparable tariffs that they will choose for me?

Quentin

You are (probably wrongly) assuming that your savings by way of the 12 month committment will mean you will make overall savings.

Just put your (accurate as you can) consumption figures into a comparison site to see how much more expensive their energy prices are compared to the cheapest, and take it from there!

We have seen how they manage to convince people to sign up in their home by way of their sales patter, and hopefully you aren't so gullible as these spanish teachers to take a salesman's word:

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

(When you say you are with KC for the phone - does this mean you are in Hull? Can you switch suppliers easily in Hull?)

NigeWick

Oog wrote: »

I shop locally, hardly ever use the big retailers,

How can I find out what are the comparable tariffs that they will choose for me?

You mentioned Sainsbugs but not Asda, is there one of those near you?

You know how much electricity and gas you use, just go to their web site and see what band you would fall in.

I was a distributor and customer. I couldn't be bothered to do the work and so gave up, and, last summer I found some deals that better fell in line with what I wanted at the time. The only things I've got left are SWMBO's mobile and the pre payment card.

It's horses for courses, do your homework and choose what is best for you. UW was best for me over some nine years and I may go back to them if they offer what *I* want.

Quentin

NigeWick wrote: »

You mentioned Sainsbugs but not Asda, is there one of those near you?

There is no advantage to shopping at asda with a uw card. Only disadvantages! So why this ex rep is suggesting you shop there is anybody's guess. Though UW reps do regularly use this thread to mislead!

They aren't a partner store, so you are just wasting your money by paying to load it on the uw card and then spending there.

Quentin

Oog wrote: »

Petrol from Sainsbury's - it is a 10 mile trip - so at ~20p a mile that is £2 to get petrol to get the 3% cash back money off and I must pay in the kiosk with the Cash card.

Going on from the misleading advice you have been given re. asda:

You were fortunate that the rep told you that you only get the "cashback" for petrol at sainsbury's petrol stations (to get the petrol cashback you must first spend a certain amount in the store), as we have heard the reps training were they are taught not to mention Sainsburys as it puts gullibles off if there are no sainsburys nearby.

Instead they are cynically taught to tell you that you will get cashback off "supermarket" shopping and fuel, and let you discover for yourself that there is only one place you can go to get it!

http://www.networkerplus.co.uk/audio/jc/Handling-Objections-181009.mp3

Oog

Thanks Quentin and Nigewick,

I am in Hull so I'd be swapping KC for, um KC.

I wasn't aware of the minimum spend to get the discounted petrol.

I also had a good look at the Which report today and it's a customer satisfaction report rather than a 'Best Value' survey which is a rather different to what was on the sales blurb.

Ultimately, it not looking as if UW is going to be particularly money saving for me, with all the hoops you have to jump through in order to qualify for being in the 'club'.

Thanks, again.

Oog

Cardew

Oog wrote: »

I also had a good look at the Which report today and it's a customer satisfaction report rather than a 'Best Value' survey which is a rather different to what was on the sales blurb.

There are some 30,000 UW salesmen plus families who have a vested interest in voting UW as 'top of the pops' in the WHICH reader's survey. However it is always falsely preesented as a 'WHICH Best Buy' - which it ain't!

In fact WHICH pointed out that on average UW are 20% more expensive for Gas & Electricity than other companies.

NigeWick

Oog wrote: »

Ultimately, it not looking as if UW is going to be particularly money saving for me

I've no problem with that as it is your decision and it is always a personal thing dictated by what one wants. And, nobody should let someone else dictate what "is best for you" when they are not the ones paying out.

I also owe you an apology. I have now checked the UW site and Asda is no longer one of the places that the pre payment card works. Sorry about that.

MillicentBystander

HalloweenJack wrote: »

why are the cheapest fixed? notice how all the loss leading discounted rates have gone - thats why

Yes, the loss leading (i.e. paid for by ripping off your most loyal customers) tariffs that that self appointed people's champion Cardew has been extolling in this thread for years. Oh dear. How embarrassing for him. Shakes head...

HappyMJ

MillicentBystander wrote: »

Yes, the loss leading (i.e. paid for by ripping off your most loyal customers) tariffs that that self appointed people's champion Cardew has been extolling in this thread for years. Oh dear. How embarrassing for him. Shakes head...

Standard tariffs are not loss leading and I do believe Cardew has also mentioned that any Standard plan would be cheaper than UW for average usage. Of course fixes are cheaper from £1,034 per year. Todays prices for standard tariffs are still much less than UW. I've chosen tariffs where meter readings required to be taken by customer and managed online wherever possible to compare fairly to UW's paper free tariff.

East Mid's Direct Debit average 16,500kWh gas and 3,300kWh elec
EDF Standard Plan - £1,114
NPower Go Save - £1,120
E-on EnergyOnline - £1,131
British Gas Standard Plan - £1,169
ScottishPower Online - £1,171
SSE iPlan - £1,178

and....UW comes in at high gas/medium elec tariff £1,206