Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus) Discussion

Cateandco

I had a visit from a UW representative yesterday and was surprised to learn it is MLM after all, just in time for the BBC 3 documentary!

In the meeting the person said ‘Have you heard of Martin Lewis?’ And gave a couple of vague examples of where apparently he has recommended Utility Warehouse. I can’t find this on the MSE site - does anyone know if it is true? mSE was not pictured in the slide she was referring to at the time so may well be made up.

csgohan4

Cateandco wrote: »

I had a visit from a UW representative yesterday and was surprised to learn it is MLM after all, just in time for the BBC 3 documentary!

In the meeting the person said ‘Have you heard of Martin Lewis?’ And gave a couple of vague examples of where apparently he has recommended Utility Warehouse. I can’t find this on the MSE site - does anyone know if it is true? mSE was not pictured in the slide she was referring to at the time so may well be made up.

Have you read this whole thread and you know they are scammers

Cardew

Cateandco wrote: »

I had a visit from a UW representative yesterday and was surprised to learn it is MLM after all, just in time for the BBC 3 documentary!

In the meeting the person said ‘Have you heard of Martin Lewis?’ And gave a couple of vague examples of where apparently he has recommended Utility Warehouse. I can’t find this on the MSE site - does anyone know if it is true? mSE was not pictured in the slide she was referring to at the time so may well be made up.

If you read the first post on this thread(see below) which was written by Martin nine years ago it sums up his views.

Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus) Discussion
Utility Warehouse

This is a special area for the discussion of Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus).

Unfortunately, it has become the topic for heated debate in the past and detracted from the main gas & electricity discussions. Therefore I would like to keep it restricted to just this discussion. Past discussions have been closed due to too many arguments between posters. This is a huge drain on resources and if it continues in this thread we'll have no choice but to keep the thread locked.

What is Utility Warehouse?

Unlike most energy companies and resellers Utility Warehouse operates by network marketing which means its customers are encouraged to sell on the product to their friends and they get commission for it.

This tends to mean it does well on feedback charts, as customers have a vested interest, and many of them are evangelical about the firm – and sometimes over claim. That in itself doesn’t make the product bad, but in our view it is no better or worse than any other energy provider.

Utility Warehouses prices are included in all the main comparison services we list therefore if the company turns out to be cheapest for you it should be listed by the comparison sites and then it’s worth going for. Please see the Compare gas & electricity guide for more.

Some strict rules

Due to rather bitter discussion about this we have had long term rules established.

• All Telecom Plus Distributors must declare it when they post
• All workers or those related to other utility companies must declare it
• There are to be no abusive comments, accusations of fraud.
• Anyone breaking the above rules will be barred first of all from this board, and if they persist, from the Forums as a whole.

We hate having to be so draconian, yet this problem has lasted a long time.

For general, non-UW, discussions on gas & electricity click here.

And please, I know there are two very polemic views on Utility Warehouse going to be expressed in this thread. Please do not libel anyone. Treat those with opposing arguments with respect, even though you disagree and please try and avoid personal remarks. I live in hope!
Martin Lewis, Money Saving Expert.

Given recent publicity with Martin taking legal action against Facebook https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2019/01/martin-lewis-drops-lawsuit-as-facebook-agreed-to-donate-p3m-to-a/ to prevent claims that he endorses certain products, I think Martin would be interested in any salesman claiming that he had endorsed Utility Warehouse.

Benight

Cateandco wrote: »

I had a visit from a UW representative yesterday and was surprised to learn it is MLM after all, just in time for the BBC 3 documentary!

In the meeting the person said ‘Have you heard of Martin Lewis?’ And gave a couple of vague examples of where apparently he has recommended Utility Warehouse. I can’t find this on the MSE site - does anyone know if it is true? mSE was not pictured in the slide she was referring to at the time so may well be made up.

https://help.moneysavingexpert.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001619168-How-do-I-report-a-fake-ad-?

But you will need more evidence than hearsay of "a couple of vague examples"

Cateandco

Thankyou! Yes I was trying to avoid the libel bit mentioned in the first post - I admit I haven’t read the full 181 pages but I had read Martin’s opening post and he first bit of the thread. The examples were regarding some awards UW has apparently won. I was surprised to hear he had endorsed it and I can’t find any evidence of that at all, but I can’t find anything like the Facebook case against them either so I did wonder. From what you’ve said it doesn’t sound likely though!

Quentin

If you were to read through this thread you will see how low they are prepared to go to get recruits and customers!


Eg:

cherrydvt wrote: »

Hi all!

As a UW distributor myself I was very interested to see these threads, and agree with a lot of the negative comments!

I can tell you here and now that "we" are VERY much encouraged to basically lie to customers to sign them up and to pretend we know nothing of cheaper deals elsewhere! When I spoke up against this at one of the meetings I was basically shunned from then on by the person that signed me up and their entire "team"!.......

HampshireH

What is the BBC3 programme referred to above?

We balanced UW up against others last year and opted to go elsewhere. We got xmas card from the sellers and I know we will be approched next month when the anniversary of our chat happened as our reason for not joining was being tied into various deals.

I am interested in this programme referred to if anyone can tell me when its on

Benight

HampshireH wrote: »

What is the BBC3 programme referred to above?

....

I am interested in this programme referred to if anyone can tell me when its on

Presumably this one
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p076n2hg/secrets-of-the-multilevel-millionaires-ellie-undercover

Journalist Ellie Flynn goes undercover to investigate a multibillion-pound online selling industry that mostly targets young women with the opportunity to earn big money. ...

I never knew UW targetted females to act as distributors for them.
I wonder why they restrict their target market by 50% at a stroke??? :huh:

I wan't aware that UW distributors worked mainly online either .... :cool:

Why has none of this been dicussed in this thread so far?

But as Ellie digs deeper into two companies, she uncovers a darker side behind these enticing Instagram posts and investigates accusations of illegal pyramid selling, systematic targeting of vulnerable people by recruiters and even brainwashing.

Those two companies appear to be cosmetics company Nu Skin, and makeup company Younique. But let's not get facts get in the way of this thread.

Bring out those enormously broad brushes!

Cardew

Cateandco wrote: »

The examples were regarding some awards UW has apparently won.

The example could well be the WHICH readers survey of energy companies. As Martin states 'This tends to mean it does well on feedback charts, as customers have a vested interest, and many of them are evangelical about the firm – and sometimes over claim.'



They were regularly top of this annual survey, even for 'best value' when they were always just about the most expensive for gas/electricity in UK. MSE published the results of this survey - initially without a 'health warning'.



On the strength of this reader's survey, posters reported UW salesmen claiming WHICH had given them a 'Best Buy' recommendation, and they were recommended as best supplier.

Cateandco

I’ve read some more of the thread, plugging away

Yes that’s right, it was the Which ones - I didn’t realise they were voted for like that. I assumed they were from Which staff rather than the public but she did only go through that slide very briefly. Good to know that’s how they work, thanks.

Yes it was that documentary too - UW are not mentioned in it at all along with many other MLM companies. It was on my mind because it was a coincidence I got as close as I have ever got to an MLM company on the day that came out and it was interesting to find out a bit more about how they/some of them work. It’s not about UW specifically though so won’t derail the thread. Thanks for all your advice about whether or not UW was officially recommended by MSE - clearly not!