Telecom Plus/Utility Warehouse Misleading Info on site

hurrah

Their site is now up and running again with new offers.

https://www.utilitywarehouse.co.uk/store/mt.taf

Despite being slapped on wrist by ASA here
http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/adjudicati...ation_id=40701
about claiming that calls are Free on a leaflet, when in fact you have to pay a membership charge, they still persist in doing this on their web site.

Its also normal to compare other suppliers products like for like.They however choose to compare their Line Rental D/D price against BT,s non D/D.

They also claim their calling features are 42% cheaper then BT,but they charge £1 a month for probaly the most popular feature caller display,where as with BT its free.

Quote from their site. "Standard residential line rental just £11 per month, saving you up to £12 per annum compared to BT.
We also offer a range of great value calling features on all phone lines which have been transferred to us, at just £1 each per month - a saving of up to 42% compared with BT"

You have gotta watch this outfit like a hawk.

richyrich7

Any body checked out telecomplus's new broadband tarifs launched today?

Well if your an existing broadband customer you can't sign up for their new "Broadcall" or "Broadcall plus" which are basically 8MB broad and free calls and line rental package,
I'm well peeved !
Brand New customers Only :mad:

Moan over,so any recomendations for a new provider ? Iwas thinking of Tiscali but I've seen some of the threads on here.

hurrah

The calls are not FREE!!!

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=275088

4_Pete's_Sake

This is very true, you have to read the small print very carefully to fully understand the implications of what is on offer.

On page 3 of their latest "Services" booklet, under "Home Phone" it reads, "Guaranteed Savings on call charges compared to BT's best prices with unlimited free calls.

There are 2 misrepresentations in this sentence alone.

1. If you only take Home Phone, UW are more expensive than BT once you include the £1.76 Service Charge.

2. Unlimited Free Calls are limited to the small number of other people who are also UW members and have their Home Phone service.

I could go on but I think folks will get the message - Steer clear if you want to save money!

See also http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=275262

bbb_uk

peterlittleton wrote:

There are 2 misrepresentations in this sentence alone.

1. If you only take Home Phone, UW are more expensive than BT once you include the £1.76 Service Charge.

As UW charge £11 for linerental (appears to have gone up as wasn't it £10) then they are currently the same price as BT despite claiming they are cheaper (as pointed out by the Hurrah).

If you factor CLI into it then UW would then be more expensive than BT and then if you go further and factor the monthly additional fee which appears compulsory then they are even more expensive than BT.

This additional monthly fee can't be for for the 'convenience' of having all utilities under one bill because if you just took one of their services then it appears you still have to pay the additional monthly fee.

I could go on but I think folks will get the message - Steer clear if you want to save money!

I second that. There are a lot of the cheaper suppliers out there and UW appear to be the only company that actually charge for the so-called convenience of using their (in most cases) expensive services.

Quentin

As usual with uw, their ads are designed to mislead.

They now make a lot of their "no minimum contract" feature with "broadcall".

But read the small print:

A disconnection charge of £50 will be applied if your BroadCall or broadband internet service is terminated for any reason within the first 12 months from the date we originally make this service available to you, or within 12 months of the date that we transfer your connection onto our "LLU-based" service if later

This sort of thing is nothing new for uw (who used to be telecomplus)

For example they say that if you sign up for their line rental you will save £12 a year over BT. But they are comparing the non direct debit charge from BT with their charge for paying by dd.

In fact like for like, BT and uw charge the same for dd line rental (though you also must pay uw an extra £1.76 every month for their service charge).

BT are cheaper than uw if you don't pay by dd (BT - £12, uw - £12.10).

***********************

If you have a "friend" who works for them and tries to persuade you to sign up, don't until you've read all about them (there are lots of exposures of them on MSE - search for utility warehouse, telecom plus, t+ etc)

bendtoy_2

T-Plus have increased their monthly line rental to £11 same as BT.They also no longer offer call packages unless you take more of their expensive services.

Quentin

EDIT This post was in answer to a post from suitusir which has now been mysteriously deleted. In the post suitusir told us he had been a happy customer of uw for the last 3 months, was saving loads of money, thought the membership fee was "only small" and misleadingly told us he would be getting £30 cashback from uw every year


It's a matter of opinion if the membership fee is "only small" - £21.12 a year. You don't have to pay a membership fee on top of your bills to other utility companies.

Your post is a little misleading as you say you will get £30 back per year.

They don't give you anything back per year at all. The cashback has been stopped.

Watch out for new members joining MSE to praise uw!

suitusir

Hi,

I do not sell Utility Warehouse, I am just saying what I use and are very happy, I personally have not heard anything on the cashback I have had nothing in the post etc and I am sure if thats the deal I signed up for then I suspect that I should get it at end of the year as thats the sort of contract but again I don't know but I will check it out, and let you guys know


Does not matter anyway happy to pay £20 a year as I have saved that in my first two bills allready from my other providers so it does not matter.

What matters is that powergen will not let me swap my business electricitry to them, my annual bill is over £10k for electricity.

New user I may be but lurking for a year, just don't have too much time on my hands to post. But that is changing.

Have a great day and keep smiling, I am.

Kevin

mobilegossip

suitusir wrote:

Does not matter anyway happy to pay £20 a year as I have saved that in my first two bills allready from my other providers so it does not matter.

If you are that keen on saving money why are you using Telecom Plus/ Utility Warehouse then ,when they are more expensive then most suppliers for the products they sell.Even their Business Electric is dear.

bendtoy_2

suitusir wrote:

Hi,

I do not sell Utility Warehouse, I am just saying what I use and are very happy, I personally have not heard anything on the cashback I have had nothing in the post etc and I am sure if thats the deal I signed up for then I suspect that I should get it at end of the year as thats the sort of contract but again I don't know but I will check it out, and let you guys know


Does not matter anyway happy to pay £20 a year as I have saved that in my first two bills allready from my other providers so it does not matter.

What matters is that powergen will not let me swap my business electricitry to them, my annual bill is over £10k for electricity.

New user I may be but lurking for a year, just don't have too much time on my hands to post. But that is changing.

Have a great day and keep smiling, I am.

Kevin

It would appear that existing members can leave the cashback scheme immediately if they wish in order to use the multi service to get free ????? calls from 1st October 2006, or they have the choice of staying in the cashback scheme until the next anniversary,but they cannot remain on the cashback scheme after the next anniversary.


No doubt your be telling us next your happy to hang on for ages waiting for their customer service to answer,and paying 5/10p a minute for the priviledge of doing so.