Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus) Discussion

Cardew

Davecbaker wrote: »

I am with Utilities warehouse, they guarantee the cheapest.
Listened to LBC on Sunday and got the impression that I have to tell them I can get a better deal to get the cheapest deal from them, not what I call a guarentee of the cheapest.
Is this correct or did I get the wrong end of the stick?

UW have some of the most expensive tariffs gas and electricity available in UK.

Enter your annual consumption(in kWh*) in any comparison website - like www.energyhelpline.com and you will see just how much more expensive they are than the majority of companies/tariffs.

Their 'guarantee' is just meaningless when you read the small print.

This guarantee is bandied about by the 30,000 odd salesmen who want to make commission - often from friends and family - by selling them an expensive profit.

To be fair some of them actually believe the hype from UW.

If you don't know your kWh then estimate - the UK average is 16,500kWh gas and 3,300kWh electricity.

To give an example, the cheapest in the Midlands for that aveage consumption(16,500kWh gas and 3,300kWh electricity) is £1,047, the cheapest UW tariff is £1,182 so 12.89% more expensive

MillicentBystander

Cardew wrote: »

UW have some of the most expensive tariffs gas and electricity available in UK.

Enter your annual consumption(in kWh*) in any comparison website - like www.energyhelpline.com and you will see just how much more expensive they are than the majority of companies/tariffs.

Their 'guarantee' is just meaningless when you read the small print.

This guarantee is bandied about by the 30,000 odd salesmen who want to make commission - often from friends and family - by selling them an expensive profit.

To be fair some of them actually believe the hype from UW.

If you don't know your kWh then estimate - the UK average is 16,500kWh gas and 3,300kWh electricity.

To give an example, the cheapest in the Midlands for that aveage consumption(16,500kWh gas and 3,300kWh electricity) is £1,047, the cheapest UW tariff is £1,182 so 12.89% more expensive

Conversely, some of the cheapest tariffs for low users. Plus the option of accurate monthly billing as standard. Weird, I know.

Quentin

Davecbaker wrote: »

I am with Utilities warehouse, they guarantee the cheapest.
Listened to LBC on Sunday and got the impression that I have to tell them I can get a better deal to get the cheapest deal from them, not what I call a guarentee of the cheapest.
Is this correct or did I get the wrong end of the stick?

They don't "guarantee to be the cheapest" at all.

They sell by way of self employed reps who are urged to sign up friends and family, and they are taught to cleverly imply that you are guaranteed to be getting the cheapest.

But no-one expects to be lied to by a friend/relative or someone that one of your friends has recommended!

Their so called guarantee is worthless, and was recently found by the ASA to be misleading:

http://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications/2012/9/Telecom-Plus-plc/SHP_ADJ_197504.aspx

Cardew

And of course NigeWick is? or was? or was and now is again? a UW salesman!

Davecbaker - go check the comparison websites and see where UW appear in the lists.

Much as UW salesmen don't like it, the ASA ruling sums up their guarantee. That is a ruling for their adverts. However virtually all of UW's recruiting is by salesmen contacting potential customers. From time to time we get these salesmen on MSE with the most blatent of untruths e.g. 'UW absolutely guarantee to have the cheapest gas and electricity prices'.

Nothing could be further from the truth for most people, but to be charitable many of the UW salesmen actually believe the hype!

MillicentBystander

But be careful with energyhelpline as they tend to add on the £18 annual club fee twice. A bit naughty.

PS Cardew, instead of having a go at Nigel the person/poster, perhaps you you could use your considerable experience of money saving and get him a better deal elsewhere?

PPS And me while you are at it. I paid just over £11 for phone line rental, broadband, all calls, 300 mobile mins, 1,000 texts and 250mb data this month.

Cheers!

Cardew

Quite like old times isn't it?

xxSaffronxx

I have had no end of trouble with Utility Warehouse (they are my providers of Mobile Phone, Home Phone, Broadband, Gas & Electricity.

Im not going to bore you all with the details but basically they have not provided the services to the quality that I am paying for. They also paid £159 on my behalf to O2 to get me out my mobile contract early to go with them at the beginning. And now that I have told them im going elsewhere they say they are going to claw back this £159.

They have admitted that the service they provided is not up to scratch and yet they are still going to claw this money back.
I have told them I am going to stop my direct debit.

What are my chances of not having to pay this back and what are the implications if I don’t? They do not appear on my credit report so im assuming all they can do is chase the money?

As far as I am concerned they have not provided the service that I have paid for and therefore they should not be able to claw back any money?

fluffnutter

What did the contract say? Was this payment of your O2 early exit penalty dependent on your continuing with their own contract?

xxSaffronxx

fluffnutter wrote: »

What did the contract say? Was this payment of your O2 early exit penalty dependent on your continuing with their own contract?

I dont have a copy of the contract as such and wasnt given one.
However they have stated this in their email:

"In the event that you cease to have Gold Status within 12 months
of the bill date on which you received the early termination fee
credit from us, then you will need to repay the full amount of the
early termination fee refund previously credited to your account;
this will appear as a debit charge on a subsequent monthly
invoice from us."

But the sales pitch they gave me is that there are no redemption type fees as we believe our customers will want to stay with us because they want to and not because they have to and are tied into a financial contract!

Yes they paid it for me to go to them but the service they provided for all of my services (mobile, internet & phone) have had numerous faults that cannot be rectified (which they have admitted)

xxSaffronxx

I have had no end of trouble with Utility Warehouse (they are my providers of Mobile Phone, Home Phone, Broadband, Gas & Electricity.

Im not going to bore you all with the details but basically they have not provided the services to the quality that I am paying for. They also paid £159 on my behalf to O2 to get me out my mobile contract early to go with them at the beginning. And now that I have told them im going elsewhere they say they are going to claw back this £159.

They have admitted that the service they provided is not up to scratch and yet they are still going to claw this money back.
I have told them I am going to stop my direct debit.

What are my chances of not having to pay this back and what are the implications if I don’t? They do not appear on my credit report so im assuming all they can do is chase the money?

As far as I am concerned they have not provided the service that I have paid for and therefore they should not be able to claw back any money?

However they have stated this in their email:

"In the event that you cease to have Gold Status within 12 months
of the bill date on which you received the early termination fee
credit from us, then you will need to repay the full amount of the
early termination fee refund previously credited to your account;
this will appear as a debit charge on a subsequent monthly
invoice from us."

But the sales pitch they gave me is that there are no redemption type fees as we believe our customers will want to stay with us because they want to and not because they have to and are tied into a financial contract!

Yes they paid it for me to go to them but the service they provided for all of my services (mobile, internet & phone) have had numerous faults that cannot be rectified (which they have admitted)