Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus) Discussion

dacouch

£4.95, it suits me fine thanks.

I was fully aware of the charges before I opened it, I actually read the small print and also looked at the competitors and felt this was the best one for me as I do not pay transaction charges

1carminestocky

dacouch wrote: »

£4.95, it suits me fine thanks.

I was fully aware of the charges before I opened it, I actually read the small print and also looked at the competitors and felt this was the best one for me as I do not pay transaction charges

I rest my case. Thank you.

dacouch

and your case was?

1carminestocky

That people in glass houses...you know the rest. That is a VERY expensive pre-paid card you have there. Don't use it for 3 months and that monthly fee doubles to £9.90, lol.

dacouch

1carminestocky wrote: »

That people in glass houses...you know the rest. That is a VERY expensive pre-paid card you have there. Don't use it for 3 months and that monthly fee doubles to £9.90, lol.

The thing is I do use it quite a lot so I don't pay the £9.90 and I don't pay transaction charges. There are cards that don't have monthly charges but charge per transaction so these would be more expensive.

I made the purchase in the same way I make most purchases, I read the small print and balanced priced against service and chose that one. I do not buy items on price alone as experience has taught me the cheapest is not always the best.

I do not see what your point is

dacouch

Funnily enough MSE has a section on pre paid credit cards which ties in with the point Quentin has made about them.

What to watch for with prepaid
This type of card has some great strengths, it's useful for budgeting, you can’t spend more than you need, it's easy to obtain and you can have as many as you like. Yet as well as the fee complexity there are some other things to watch for:

• No protection if the bank goes bust.
  Money held in a current account is protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme in the event that the bank went into default (read Savings Safety guide). With prepaid cards, there's no such protection, so while I’m not warning against them, don’t use them to store all your cash; instead load it up with what you need to spend, and no more.
• Credit cards protect purchases, prepaid don't.
  Buy something with a credit card, and you get statutory Section 75 protection. This means buy goods costing over £100 and the card provider is legally jointly liable with the retailer, so you can complain to them and they'll refund you directly (particularly useful for overseas purchases). This isn’t the case with most prepaid cards (or debit cards, cash and cheques for that matter), so your consumer rights are diminished.
• Need to top up before spending.
  This one’s rather obvious, but still a consideration. Whilst it might help you stick to a budget, if you need to spend quickly, going prepaid can slow you down; you’ll need to call, go online or visit a store to load enough funds on to it.

1carminestocky

dacouch wrote: »

The thing is I do use it quite a lot so I don't pay the £9.90 and I don't pay transaction charges. There are cards that don't have monthly charges but charge per transaction so these would be more expensive.

I made the purchase in the same way I make most purchases, I read the small print and balanced priced against service and chose that one. I do not buy items on price alone as experience has taught me the cheapest is not always the best.

I do not see what your point is

And there is a pre-paid card that asks for just £1 a month and also doesn't charge for transactions. And doesn't charge £4.95 a month extra if you don't use it for 3 months. And, if you use it in some stores, gives you a very worthwhile discount off your utility bill. But you carry on recommending your card. Dare I say you've been slightly caught 'off-guard' here?


PS Do you shop at Sainsburys?

dacouch

1carminestocky wrote: »

And there is a pre-paid card that asks for just £1 a month and also doesn't charge for transactions. And doesn't charge £4.95 a month extra if you don't use it for 3 months. And, if you use it in some stores, gives you a very worthwhile discount off your utility bill. But you carry on recommending your card. Dare I say you've been slightly caught 'off-guard' here?

Like I said the cheapest is not always the best, I made the choice on my circumstances.

I do not spend hours every day promoting it on MSE, the post you are no doubt refering to asked about hiring a car without a credit card. I have seen on the FAQs that it is possible to use the card for car hire in certain circumstances so I answered the posters question as I knew the company I deal with might be of use. No doubt there are other issuers who can do it but I do not know for certain which ones do or not and cba to go through their t&cs so posted that the issuer I use does it.

I did not spout on in the post how good or bad they were or that they save me x amount etc etc

If you want to go through my previous posts you will no doubt find I have answered other peoples questions using my personal experience to try and assist them. I do not make posts saying how cheap a certain product or supplier is

1carminestocky

dacouch wrote: »

Like I said the cheapest is not always the best, I made the choice on my circumstances.

I do not spend hours every day promoting it on MSE, the post you are no doubt refering to asked about hiring a car without a credit card. I have seen on the FAQs that it is possible to use the card for car hire in certain circumstances so I answered the posters question as I knew the company I deal with might be of use. No doubt there are other issuers who can do it but I do not know for certain which ones do or not and cba to go through their t&cs so posted that the issuer I use does it.

I did not spout on in the post how good or bad they were or that they save me x amount etc etc

If you want to go through my previous posts you will no doubt find I have answered other peoples questions using my personal experience to try and assist them. I do not make posts saying how cheap a certain product or supplier is

I *think* I'm getting you. Price is never the only consideration when you choose a commodity as cheapest isn't always best, although it's the price of UW's offering that's putting you off, even though you've never been a customer? You're not my mother-in-law, are you?


PS Do you shop at Sainsburys?

dacouch

No its not the price.

If I had to pay for services (I don't) this thread eg the posters on here would put me off.

When I have had to pay for services, I have found the companies I have dealt with have call centres that are a night mare to deal with which is one of my pet hates so I'm glad I do not have to buy these services now.