Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus) Discussion

Quentin

Wig wrote:

If you look again you will see that tripled just stated the facts, ...........that's all tripled said and s/he was correct.

Yes of course tripled is correct.

The point I was trying to make by using tripled's quote was to do with UW's "sneaky" way of making the practice of storing members credit/debit card numbers for future possible use "legal" (in their eyes).

By burying deep in their membership conditions that they do this, and every member must accept the conditions before joining, then a member cannot use the "legality" argument. UW just use the "we did it in line with the contract conditions which you agreed to" reply when challenged.

In any case members only find out when the deed is done, and they find that their card has been used over the collection of a disputed sum.

That was why I suggested to stop this ever happening the UW warehouse members could "lose" any cards which UW know about and get replacements from their banks. The replacements will have new numbers on them, and any attempt by UW to use the numbers they hold will then result in rejection by the bank.

No argument with tripled at all (and presumably tripled didn't see one either, as there have been no follow up posts about this).

lisyloo

That was why I suggested to stop this ever happening the UW warehouse members could "lose" any cards which UW know about and get replacements from their banks.

Seems like a lot of hassle to go to when there are cheaper companies around for most people.
Why not just sign up with a company that doesn't do such things.

Quentin

You are spot on.

In fact this was what I originally said in the post Wig quoted me from:

Anyone who is a customer/member of theirs who now is not happy with this should immediately "lose" any credit or debit cards which UW know about and get replacements from their banks (which will have different numbers on them, so UW won't be able to use them).

Then get cracking on getting out of this club and back with mainstream suppliers who don't pull such stunts

The use of the stored numbers seems to happen more often over disputed final accounts, which is why it might be a good idea to make sure they cannot make use of them before they find out you are leaving for new pastures.

Mike_by_the_Sea

This does sound like a lot of hastle. One way to avoid this "clause" is to pay the initial payment by cheque, hence the only available details will be the direct debit information, which has all the normal direct debit guarantees.

Quentin

The best way to avoid the hassle is steer clear in the first place.

Why would you knowingly want to join up with an outfit prepared to stoop to these depths (as well as all the other problems like false and misleading advertising etc)?

You know about it now, Mike, have a check with the comparison sites and you'll find cheaper deals elsewhere.

lisyloo

I signed up over the internet and I don't think I could pay by cheque.
So more hassle to find an alternative route to sign up.

If they were massively cheaper then I can see the motivation but at the present time I'm failing to see the motivation for doing this.

BTW - I left in December as there are better prices elsewhere.

STEVET_4

At lunchtime today i answered our front door to a man asking questions about our gas and electric supply. He knew that we left british gas about three years ago and ended our conversation satisfied that we seemed to be on the ball with regard to finding the cheapest supplier. However, he tipped me off about this great comparison site called 'utility warehouse'. I had never heard of this before and after checking Martin's site (unless ofcourse i am overlooking the obvious) can find no mention of it. https://www.utilitywarehouse.co.uk does indeed exist but it would be nice to know if its as good as it says it is.
Does anybody have any knowledge of or dealings with this site?

hurrah

Utility Warehouse is not a great comparism site!!!

Read very carefully about this controversial outfit here

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=330175

bendtoy_2

Beware of this company.

http://www.saynoto0870.com/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.cgi?num=1157964491

Quentin

STEVET wrote:

Does anybody have any knowledge of or dealings with this site?

On their site they make false claims about having supplied the cheapest energy for five years.

The ASA have upheld complaints about this type of false advertising from them, but they seem to take no notice and just continue.

You have been given good advice in the replies above about taking care when getting involved with this outfit.