Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus) Discussion

Cardew

Decado23 wrote: »

This is precisely my point - one one hand you want to talk purely on price, Then, when UW is demonstrably cheaper you want to talk about features.

If we want to talk 'purely on price' and a 'bare bones' internet service then there are cheaper Telecoms deals than UW.

You may think the UW package is better, I feel the BT package is better. Neither you or I will concede on that issue I suspect;)

However this is the gas and electricity forum and perhaps you will concede that UW is hugely more expensive than other available tariffs?

coatesoutlet

Miss Moppet

If I said anything wrongly to upset you then I appologise.

When I receive my savings from the Utility I will post on here.

Thanks

Steve

theartfullodger

I wouldn't touch UW with a very long bargepole,and would advise anyone else likewise.

I saw a pitch from some distributor for UW at a Landlord's seminar & he came over as "too good to be true" and we know the old saying - if it's too good to be true it probably is.. His numbers and assertions struck me as implausible and likely to be regarded by many as possibly fraudulent. I may of course be wrong.

I've heard from people who have been involved with UW who have been bitterly disappointed - both customers & distributors. There may be other stories.

It operates in a manner similar to a pyramid scheme: I understand it is asserted not to be a pyramid scheme and entirely accept that assertion, albeit with some surprise.

Nope, I wouldn't touch UW with a very long bargepole,and would advise anyone else likewise.

Cheers!

Lodger

Decado23

Cardew wrote: »

You may think the UW package is better, I feel the BT package is better. Neither you or I will concede on that issue I suspect;)

I think we can finally agree on something. woohoo!:beer:

However this is the gas and electricity forum and perhaps you will concede that UW is hugely more expensive than other available tariffs?

As this is the only thread on the site we are allowed to discuss UW in, I feel it is unfair to restrict the discussion to only 2 of the available services. There are a couple of points I can make on this though...

It is true that at any given time other energy providers are likely to appear cheaper if judging purely on energy tariffs. There are a number of reasons for this...

firstly, UW does not offer 'new customer' deals or online only tariffs, all UW deals are available to all UW customers (where possible). As an example, my previous supplier was charging me around £60 per month more than I pay UW, the same supplier has a tariff around £10 per month cheaper than I currently pay UW (last time I looked). Since my previous supplier was happy to let me pay well over the odds rather than informing me of their lower rate, frankly sod 'em. (as it happens, the other benefits I get from UW considerably outweigh the £10 or so extra on energy).

secondly, UW does not include a duel fuel discount, instead they offer inclusive calls packages dependent on the number of services taken. Eg someone with home phone + gas & electric will qualify for free calls evenings and weekends. With one other qualifying service (mobile/internet) then they qualify for inclusive calls 24/7. I checked a few other telephony providers today - the ones I looked at charge £4.95 - £7.95 per month extra for a similar upgrade.

thirdly, UW offer opportunities to gain additional discounts - the cashback card, referal discounts and the benefits directory. People willing and able to take advantage of these should be able to save by using UW, pretty much regardless of individual tariffs.

Finally, what price do we put on customer service? I saw on watchdog this week (or maybe last week) they did a test on customer service calls - for some of them they were waiting 2 hours! UW answer most (90% +) of their calls within 15 seconds. In an internal survey of around 5000 customers, 94% said they would be happy to recommend UW services.



UW distributor

Miss_Moppet

Coatesoutlet, thank you for your apology, which is gladly accepted.

I sincerely hope you do make savings and it would be very helpful if you could post details of them on the thread as you suggest.

Decado23

theartfullodger wrote: »

It operates in a manner similar to a pyramid scheme

That is incorrect - in a pyramid scheme, people typically pay several thousand pounds to join and attempt to make money by persuading others to pay several thousand pounds to join and then taking a cut.

In UW people pay £199.99 to join, the recruiter does not get a cut from this. The new recruit has the opportunity to get a full refund within 14 days or a 75% refund within 90 days if they choose to cancel. If they successfully gather 12 customers within 90 days they get the full amount back as a bonus.



In a pyramid scheme, the money comes primarily from the joining fee. There is either no product or service to sell, or there is no real encouragement to sell it (I saw one such scheme claiming that members get 'access and resale rights to ebooks worth $1000. The entire website was dedicated to recruitment and included a paragraph which more or less said "it's not illegal if you have a product to sell and we've got these ebooks so we're all right guv, nudge nudge wink wink". What the ebooks were, or whether anybody is likely to pay anything for them was not mentioned)

In UW the primary emphasis is on sales. UW provide telephony and energy services, the sale of which generates comission for the salesman. There are some bonuses and 'downline' comission available for recruiting additional distributors provided they also gather customers. It is possible for a UW rep to earn an income by customer gathering alone. It is not possible for a UW rep to earn any money at all by recruitment alone.


A pyramid scam invariably goes wrong fairly quickly (generally when it's shut down after someone in the know reports it), leaving hundreds or thousands of people out of pocket while the scammers at the top have probably left the country already.

UW has been operating for around 11 years. As a plc it's accounts are, i believe, fairly well scrutinised. It makes no attempt to hide the fact that it is a network marketing business (as, I believe, are avon, bodyshop@home, betterware, kleeneze and many others). It has had some fairly high profile mentions - financial times plc awards company of the year. Share recomendations in the mail on sunday etc...

surely if it was a scam then by now somebody might have noticed.


UW distributor

theartfullodger

surely if it was a scam then by now somebody might have noticed

Sigh!!

Odd isn't it... a huge long thread with so many less than glowing comments... and the penny hasnae dropped in some brains.,..

many people have noticed... look around you and see!


Cheers!

Lodger

Maz

theartfullodger wrote: »

Sigh!!

Odd isn't it... a huge long thread with so many less than glowing comments... and the penny hasnae dropped in some brains.,..

many people have noticed... look around you and see!


Cheers!

Lodger

erm.................there may be two or three regular dissident participants, out of how many thousand users of this site? Mind you, it must be reaching the biggest thread on here! Let the circular argument continue....! It's very amusing if nowt else. I agree with Carmine, if this thread didn't exist, there'd be nowt much else to hold the interest on here. Bring it on!

Decado23

theartfullodger wrote: »

many people have noticed... look around you and see!

No, some people have made false accusations which cannot be backed up with facts. UW have been operating openly for a number of years and have managed so far to avoid arrest. Isn't that a bit strange if they are operating an illegal pyramid scheme?

I don't expect you to take my word for it, I assume most people using this site tend to trust MSE Martin...

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=3515&postcount=4

TP is network marketing not a pyramid scheme.

TP is not a pyramid scam i think that must be made clear.

UW distributor

coatesoutlet

I doubt Ofgem would go for anything illegal.

If you do not wish to join then do not join.

Its a free world and a free country and people should be allowed to choose which company they join.

Steve