Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus) Discussion

zbre

Hi


In Oct 2011 I signed up to Utility warehouse with 4 services (electric, home phone, broadband and mobile phone). One of their attractive bonus's to me is that they would pay off my outstanding contract with Vodafone of £165 - not an uncommon thing among mobile phone contracts the catch with them is that I had to have 4 services for 12 months and they finally got round to crediting my bill in december with the £165 upon copy of my final bill from Vodafone.


Then in october 2012 when I moved back to my parents I had no option to go back to 1 service with Utility warehouse (mobile phone) only to find that my december bill is now £165+ due to a 'terms claw back'.


I contact them and they tell me that because I didn't have 4 services for 12 months from the date it was credited that I have to pay them back the money they paid me.

I had planned to stick with them (4 services) as soon as some squatters are removed by the bailiffs out of my own property - another story entirely.






applicable T&C's

2. DURATION
This agreement will commence on the date we make any service(s) requested on the application form available to you.

3. MISC
In the event you incur any early termination charges from an existing supplier in switching over a service to us, we will reimburse these to you, subject to a maximum amount payable by us of £50 in aggregate in respect of all such early termination charges; any reimbursement shall appear as a credit on your monthly bill. To apply for reimbursement you will need to send us proof of the early termination charge you have paid to your previous supplier. In the event that any Service(s) in respect of which we reimbursed any termination fees is subsequently either cancelled or disconnected for any reason within 12 months, you will have to repay us the full amount we had previously reimbursed to you; this will appear as a charge on your monthly bill.

unholyangel

Have you had a read through your terms and conditions to see what they say about this? If not, can you do so and update your thread with the relevant parts?

T&C's are not always "fair" so don't take T&C's as gospel, but its still a good idea to read over the term. Theres actually quite an extensive list of requirements when dealing with consumers.

As for what you believe the contract was.......did you agree all this over the phone? Do you have anything in writing stating you were only required to keep the service for 12 months?

We'd really need to get a look at the T&C's but it may be possible the term stating its 12 months from it being credited is actually unfair if it has the possibility to impose unexpected financial burdens on the consumer. There is also a general "rule" that if a term can be interpreted 2 ways, the courts will follow the one that is most beneficial to the consumer.

zbre

T&C's updated. Hope this helps, I signed up via application form in the presence of a rep.

unholyangel

zbre wrote: »

T&C's updated. Hope this helps, I signed up via application form in the presence of a rep.

I'd say the term is ambiguous enough that you could challenge it on the grounds that I laid out above. Most people (at least imo) would interpret that clause as 12 months from the date they began supplying the service. If a term can be interpreted 2 ways then as above, courts would go with the one most beneficial to the consumer (12 months from service start and not 12 months from date of reimbursement).

billsavings

They have their own dedicated thread here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2473547 which is the only place your suppose to discuss them.:D

Let us know how you get on it might benefit others .

Quentin

zbre wrote: »

applicable T&C's

2. DURATION
This agreement will commence on the date we make any service(s) requested on the application form available to you.

3. MISC
In the event you incur any early termination charges from an existing supplier in switching over a service to us, we will reimburse these to you, subject to a maximum amount payable by us of £50 in aggregate in respect of all such early termination charges; any reimbursement shall appear as a credit on your monthly bill. To apply for reimbursement you will need to send us proof of the early termination charge you have paid to your previous supplier. In the event that any Service(s) in respect of which we reimbursed any termination fees is subsequently either cancelled or disconnected for any reason within 12 months, you will have to repay us the full amount we had previously reimbursed to you; this will appear as a charge on your monthly bill.

These don't look to be the "applicable" ts + cs unfortunately (they refer to you getting a max of £50, not the £165 you received).

They have other ts + cs (buried inside their 28 pages of ts + cs) for the "up to £200" you got:

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 theearly termination fee refund previously credited to your account; this will appear as a debit charge on a subsequent monthly invoice from us.

billsavings

I wonder why this long standing mainly Gas and Electricity dedicated thread has been moved to this Board ? which is mainly about companies infringing consumers rights.

Wywth

billsavings wrote: »

I wonder why this long standing mainly Gas and Electricity dedicated thread has been moved to this Board ? which is mainly about companies infringing consumers rights.

The Utility Warehouse/Telecom Plus offer a wide range of services, not just gas & electricity, but also including telephone services (landlines & mobiles), broadband, credit card (with up to 10% cashback), and cashback from a wide range of retailers and insurers.

Ypaymore

billsavings wrote: »

I wonder why this long standing mainly Gas and Electricity dedicated thread has been moved to this Board ? which is mainly about companies infringing consumers rights.

It has been moved back now .;)

HappyMJ

Wywth wrote: »

The Utility Warehouse/Telecom Plus offer a wide range of services, not just gas & electricity, but also including telephone services (landlines & mobiles), broadband, credit card (with up to 10% cashback), and cashback from a wide range of retailers and insurers.

They don't offer a credit card. A credit card is paid in arrears with interest applying. UW offer a prepaid payment card.....and why quote 10%. Even UW doesn't quote 10% they say up to 7%. 10% cashback can only be obtained at one retailer treatme.net. An overpriced retailer that very few people actually use. The cash back is most popular with Sainsburys at 3% cash back. If you had said around 5% I wouldn't have had an issue.

A wide range of retailers...not....More money can be saved by shopping at Adli and Lidl that can ever be saved by shopping at Sainsburys (the only major supermarket in the cash back program) and getting 3% cash back.