Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus) Discussion

Cardew

janninew wrote: »

Again with the average user!! Who is that? I have seen countless times on here people saying that UW don't appear for pages and pages, so them being ranked at number 8 is a surprise.

We have given examples for a wide spectrum of users.


There are 4 users.

For Uptomyeyeballs - a very low user - UW is 24.36% more expensive.

For LiefGR - a below average user - UW is 26.39% more expensive.

An average user(i.e. 20,500kWh gas and 3,300kWh electricity) - UW is 33.35% more expensive.

For myself - an above average user - UW is 40.4% more expensive

Whilst for those with very low gas consunption, UW is competitive, unfortunately we all use electricity.

So if you take Electricity from UW, you pay extra as shown above.

If you get only gas from UW, you have to get electricty for somewhere! So you lose the dual fuel discount if you go to another firm and still finish up paying loads more.

LeifGR

Just as a follow-up, I stated that I'd done my maths. It wasn't an advanced spreadsheet or anything, but these are the high-level sums:

Dual fuel: UW £180 more than OVO deal.
Telephone and broadband: UW ~same as current deal (BT basic plus O2 LLU broadband Premium [recent cashback offer] plus 18185, 1899 and some 0844 international pre-dial numbers).
UW membership fee: £21 (I think, it was a bit difficult to find).

Total: £201 to "recoup" from savings through e.g. cashback.

At a 5% cashback level, I'd need to spend ~£4,020 with Sainsburys, B&Q, Argos et al in order to recoup the £201, or ~£335/month.

We don't spend that much with the UW cashback shops.

Conclusion: UW not advantageous for us.

It is a pity that the UW web site does not make it easier to make this kind of comparison -- it took me a while to do the maths. But then again maybe I'm a bit slow

P.S. In our specific example, we actually get 9% discount off Sainsburys through grocery vouchers, so the UW offering becomes even less attractive, but I didn't include that in the above calculations because it is quite a specific case for us (and even without taking that into consideration the decision is already clear because our total spend with the relevant shops simply doesn't reach £335/month).

Plushchris

uptomyeyeballs wrote: »

I've no idea why those two OVO offerings are there, because they say paperless billing and I specidfically asked for paper bills only.

If you bothered to read any further (outside your UW blinkers) you would see that OVO is available with paper billing for a charge of £20 per year.

Plushchris

uptomyeyeballs wrote: »

Where is that info? If I ask for paper billing only, I don't expect two papeless only tariffs at the top of the list!

Assuming you were using energyhelpline it says it in the "features" section on the results page (just to the left of the savings figure)

[URL="javascript:void();"][/URL]
[URL="javascript:void();"]
New Energy Fixed
[/URL]• Choice of paper or paperless billing
• Prices fixed for 12 months
• Cancellations fees apply
• 15% green electricity
As I say, you may have to take off your UW blinkers to see it though

Plushchris

uptomyeyeballs wrote: »

Was actually using UK Power, and it's not displayed there, so blinkers or not, it wasn't there to see. Is OVO available in all areas of the country?

As far as I'm aware its available in all areas, if UKpower do not display important information like that I would suggest using a different comparison service. Its clear as day on Energyhelpline.

Edit: In actual fact, after just looking myself, I would suggest you dont use UKpower as they dont have the up to date tariffs from OVO anyway (hence its not displayed)

NigeWick

LeifGR wrote: »

We don't spend that much with the UW cashback shops.

Conclusion: UW not advantageous for us.

I don't have a problem with that. Utility Warehouse detractors OTOH do have a problem with me saving money in the way that *I* want to.

I am an independent distributor with Utility Warehouse and the views I express may not be shared by the company.

Quentin

NigeWick wrote: »

Utility Warehouse detractors OTOH do have a problem with me saving money in the way that *I* want to.

I am an independent distributor with Utility Warehouse and the views I express may not be shared by the company.

In your role as a uw rep you repeatedly spam this thread telling us you save money at the uw and there is no reason why others can't do so.

But you don't "save" at all.

You buy their expensive energy, and then act like a busy fool, and use their risky card to get the discount off your shopping to reduce your bill.

You don't get any saving, all you are doing is allowing uw to part pay your bill with your shopping discount.

Why not buy your energy much cheaper elsewhere, and keep any shopping discount for yourself. That would be a proper saving!

espresso

uptomyeyeballs wrote: »

Because it's his choice !!!

It is his choice to make money from others!

As a UW rep. he obviously has to take their services, so that he can make money from those that he has signed up.

espresso

uptomyeyeballs wrote: »

With respect, this forum makes money from others, through it's affiliate links.

Only if the user chooses to click on affiliate links, which are all clearly shown as affiliate links - see here

If you don't agree with the way that this site is run, then you do not have to continue to post here do you!

NigeWick

espresso wrote: »

It is his choice to make money from others!

As a UW rep. he obviously has to take their services, so that he can make money from those that he has signed up.

I do not have to take Utility Warehouse services in order to be a distributor. Yes, I chose to earn some money from the company because when I joined it, they did offer excellent value for money.

Nowadays, their gas and electricity may not be best value for a lot of people, but, if they have a similar shopping style to mine, they can pay less for their utilities than with any other company or combination of companies. It is because I save money in a way that suits my wants and lifestyle that I get my electricity, gas, broadband, land lines and mobiles from Utility Warehouse. I accept that my way is not for everybody, but, there are a lot of people out there that the company will be right for.

I offer people information on the company. If they do not wish to become customers, that is fine by me as they are rejecting what the company is offering, not me personally. It seems to me that the detractors here take it as a personal affront that another person can have different needs/wants/values/ideas to their own.

I am an independent distributor with Utility Warehouse and the views I express may not be shared by the company.