Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus) Discussion

adindas

Hi Guys

I currently pay my electricity bill using Pre-Paid PAYG Meter. I normally pay via Local Convenience Stores, but they do not allow me to pay using Card.

I have seen coop supermarket are also acting as Pay Point. I wanted to pay using contactless debit card as I get 5% cashback using this payment Method. Has anyone successfully using Card (debit/credit card) in big supermarket such as Coop Pay Point to pay for their utility Pay Point.
I am also considering to use metering. How difficult it is to ask the provider to install one of this and what is the cost of doing this?. My current provider is British Gas, and I do not have a bad credit ..
Thank you for your advice

A_Northern_Soul

Hi there
Wouldn't say I'm cynical, more sceptical really.
Don't you need a Philadephia lawyer next to you when you read any companies terms and conditions?
Went on a comparison site yesterday UW were 6th for my area and my usage.
So they weren't the most expensive albeit not the cheapest either!
They were around £75 dearer over 12 months than EON who were the cheapest.
I could easily claw that back with that cashback card they offer if I decide to use UW.

At the time my parents signed up in 2010 I think, as customers, they had got thoroughly brassed off with British Gas taking direct debits out of their account for electricity they had not consumed, despite giving meter readings to them British Gas did not repay the money back straight away, took several months to receive the £600+ that was owed them!
Now they give meter readings every month and UW bills them accordingly.
Also they like the fact that if my father is out and about with his mobile which is with UW, mum can ring him from the landline for free at anytime. I'm aware other telecoms providers are doing this but mostly it's off peak. And one of those providers I think is Virgin, who i said earlier are rip off merchants!!
They've had their broadband go off a few times though, but they live in a rural area so that is kind of routine.

I think all companies have some "employees" who can be called, shall we say stupid, but I still don't understand why UW have not been dragged before the beak that is Ofgem, if they have been so scandalously bad, as described in this thread?
I am playing Devils Advocate here, and still weighing up my options if I would want all my services with just one provider?
Because if I had a major fall out with UW, they could cut off my mobile, landline/broadband and possibly my electricity if they saw fit to do so!
That is the one big flaw with one provider, although it is kind of good to have just the one bill for your housekeeping to be made easier.

Anyway, still undecided and not in a rush just yet. Good to see all perspectives, from you and the UW reps on this forum.

Robin9

"I have recently moved into a new house and previous supplier was Utility Warehouse. We immediately chose to change supplier and have since supplied UW with the readings upon moving in and readings that were given to the new supplier. The time that we were with UW was around 6 weeks. However, I now have a bill from UW asking for just over £300! For 6 weeks of energy this seems absolutely ridiculous!

Does anyone have any advice?"

A lesson for all - don't delay in signing up for a new supplier when you move into a new property.

Cardew

A_Northern_Soul wrote: »

Went on a comparison site yesterday UW were 6th for my area and my usage.
So they weren't the most expensive albeit not the cheapest either!
They were around £75 dearer over 12 months than EON who were the cheapest.
.

Would you care to give us your consumption and area please?

NigeWick

A_Northern_Soul wrote: »

I could easily claw that back with that cashback card they offer if I decide to use UW.

Don't forget to take the £2 monthly subscription and 35p per top up into account when thinking about the card. I set my top up at what I tend to use in a month so that I only pay that 35p once. If I know I'm going to use the card for a big item (£850 at Carpetright with 5% back to my UW account) I top it up with enough to cover the large spend and usual stuff so that once again, I only have the one 35p payment in the month.

Do your sums and make sure it is worthwhile before signing up and then ignore all the naysayers.

A_Northern_Soul

Cheers for the info on the cashback card, but going to go with EON for now and stay with BT as my broadband provider, just rang them and they are giving me a better deal when I threatened to leave.

Cardew

A_Northern_Soul wrote: »

Cheers for the info on the cashback card, but going to go with EON for now and stay with BT as my broadband provider, just rang them and they are giving me a better deal when I threatened to leave.

As per post #3475, it would still be interesting to find out your usage and area where UW are as high as 6th; and for that matter where Eon were the cheapest.


On a money saving website that would be of value to other readers - or did you get the figures wrong?

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

A_Northern_Soul wrote: »

Cheers for the info on the cashback card, but going to go with EON for now and stay with BT as my broadband provider, just rang them and they are giving me a better deal when I threatened to leave.

Hiya A Northern Soul,

Just noticed this, just wanted to say that if you need any info or anything just let me know, Myself, Malc and Amy are normally hanging around

Helena

NigeWick

A_Northern_Soul wrote: »

just rang them and they are giving me a better deal when I threatened to leave.

Always pays to try haggling as you can move if there's a better offering elsewhere. Sky wouldn't compromise last year so went with Plusnet and Freesat. When I phoned to close the Sky account, the bloke offered me a deal. Too late matey! Plusnet have just upped my monthly payment so I presume my year's contract is up and I will look at what else is on the market.

MoneyMattersUK

I just wanted to make a comment re UW. We moved into our new home in April 2015. One of the first things we did was to pick up the mountain of envelopes which had accumulated on the doormat. One of which was from UW, we had never heard of them before but upon opening the envelope we could see that UW were the suppliers of Gas & Electricity to the property as set-up by the previous owners.

We chose to stick with them and were very happy. A bill arrived every month at £53 (£33 for Gas and £20 for Electricity). I submitted meter readings every month, the bill never changed so all appeared to be good!

We have now had an email from UW stating that the costs will increase to a staggering £127.71pcm as there is a deficit on the account?

New figures are £99.80 for Gas and £27.91 for Electricity!!! - A £74.71pcm increase!

How can this be when I have given accurate meter readings every month? What can I do about this?

I have entered my usage figures for Gas and Electricity into the MSE tool and from what I am seeing there I should be paying no more than around £62pcm