Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus) Discussion

applesandpearsandcherries

I don't doubt there is good intent. I just cannot understand why intelligent people behave in such a manner over a job. It's the whole "lifestyle" part that makes, what is essentially a rather good company - look more like a dodgy cult. I'm often bemused that those higher up don't try to somehow put the brakes on a bit. They tend to encourage the belief that anyone not participating doesn't get it or know their own mind. I find it quite insulting, and odd business practice. As i said, it's a shame really - because what the company offer is actually pretty good.
And there is a monthly £3 you pay when inactive.

Meeper

That's a renewal fee, not a fine. Everyone pays it whether active or not. Apart from that, I agree with you. The problem stems from wanting to make it appear easy and accessible to everyone. Often issues which are real can be dismissed as unimportant publicly so that there are less perceived objections however queries are dealt with by speaking to individual distributors personally. It is done that way for the best of intentions in order to foster an air of positivity.

I appreciate that this doesn't sit well with everyone, but any genuine issue is generally dealt with and not dismissed.

NigeWick

applesandpearsandcherries wrote: »

I have been very disheartened with UW as a distributor,

It is VERY cult like.

This week -encouraging we flood the survey and vote was the last straw.

I can understand that if you are not getting the support you need.

Agreed. Some of the meetings were really RaRaUpSchool and not providing enough solid information.

I gave up being a distributor some time ago as I could not be bothered to put in the effort required to make a go of it. I stopped using their energy, landline & broadband because I could get better deals elsewhere. We have kept our mobiles with UW and they tend to pay us most months because our cashback card returns more than covers the fees.

I stuck my oar in the survey because I still get good service from UW. Had it been bad I would have said so.

MillicentBystander

I'm with EDF for fuel so posted 'poor' in the survey Which they are. Now, if it was a survey on phone/BB I would have definitely voted UW as 'good'. Which it is. In my experience.

PS How many customers have OVO (357 votes), first:utility (299 votes) and Ebico (118 votes) got in comparison to UW (666 :eek::D votes)?

PPS I suppose if you take Martin's view to its extreme (that every UW customer is effectively a distributor because of the incentives given to recommend others) then truth is this can also be levelled at not for profit and all round good egg supplier Ebico. :eek:

https://www.ebico.org.uk/blog/2012/04/25/enjoy-the-rewards-when-introducing-a-friend/

Quentin

NigeWick wrote: »

......I stuck my oar in the survey because I still get good service from UW. Had it been bad I would have said so......

Take all this with a dose of salt.

NigeWick (former UW rep) has consistently used MSE to tell us how good the service is from UW. (Even though it now seems he doesn't even buy energy from them)

But when working as a rep, and telling is how good they were, NigeWick elsewhere on the net complained to other uw reps discussing uw service that he had experienced some "atrocious" customer service from uw, which is somewhat at odds with his latest glowing testimonial he has stuck his oar in over.

Meeper

Why don't you just make comments on fact, instead of attacking other posters? If you have a point to make about the relevant questions being asked, then make it. Otherwise you are simply picking on people with no substance, and that is unbecoming.

Now, back to the point at hand!

To state that UW has skewed the result because the distributors all voted is silly. Distributors are customers. If they were happy with the service, why should they not vote? Hardly the company's fault that its customers are upwardly mobile! If the service was bad, we wouldn't continue to promote it. And before you say that it is bad, just short of 500,000 customers don't agree. They're not all distributors.....

Cardew

Meeper wrote: »

To state that UW has skewed the result because the distributors all voted is silly.....

Only a UW salesperson could come out with that nonsense.

Do you dispute this statement from a UW distributor:

This week -encouraging we flood the survey and vote was the last straw.

Any survey where people have a vested interest can vote is pointless. As UW have proved consistently in the WHICH reader's survey on gas/electricity.(long before the introduction of the much hyped cashcard)

At least you haven't fooled Martin

Meeper

It's not silly. We are all customers. Why should we not vote to say that we think the customer service is great. No different to any company sending marketing to their customers saying "please vote for us". What I don't agree with is that according to your logic and arguments, we vote only because we have a vested interest. Who is to say that the people who voted for Ebico weren't Ebico employees, for example. You pick on UW because we are an easy target. That's ok, we understand.

My personal point of view is that we vote because we think it is excellent service. For me, it has been. I wouldn't recommend something that I felt was poor. Personally, I don't remember being told to "flood the survey with responses", but I can't profess to being a party to every discussion that people have. It certainly never came from the company.

penrhyn

Presumably all round good egg Ebico will be upping its prices by 8.2% in the not too distant future.

MillicentBystander

penrhyn wrote: »

Presumably all round good egg Ebico will be upping its prices by 8.2% in the not too distant future.

Nope, all round good egg Ebico have already announced they are to increase their prices by more than their wholesalers SSE are (10% on gas and 9% on leccy). And, just for balance, their proportion of votes to customer numbers in that poll is, I suspect, higher than UW's. They also give incentives for recommending friends to their service, of course, so i guess judging by the arguments against UW on here all their customers are also biased. Double standards abound on this board.