Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus) Discussion

chinup_3

i was a disributer for c 2 years. left as their customer service went rapidly into tailspin and 'churn' got increasingly frustrating. ceo charles widegore, a VERY wealthy man, made a series of unforgivable !!!!-ups which even he admitted to at the yearly bash:albeit in a marginal way. uw cannot be the most responsive utility company exactly because of their business model. amongst other things the utility market rapidly changing yet the distibuters have to buy new brochures every time out of their 'profits' - 5% override+ woeful intial commision- which means if the company tries to keep up, or god forbid actually REALLY try to get ahead, they had several chances and fumbled the ball each time, they lose disributors who quite rightly realise it really isn't worth the effort.
for me the last,of several, coffin nails was as a customer waiting c15 mins on the phone to sort out two !!!!- ups in a row. the 'usp' was ''small=customer service'' - sadly that became worse than BG probably ever was, or so it began to seem.
as a business its for people who need their hand holding, and are frankly somewhat susceptible to hyperbole, rather than people who have geniune business acumen.
ps- they've never got their mobile tariffs sellable
pps- to all,now upset disributers, before you reply: perhaps you'd like to tell the nice people the latest !!!! up on the main brochure comparison chart re- '' bt- charge by minute. uw- charge by...? '' yup, they've let it go out with ''minute'' on NOT second !!
wake up people- you can do a lot better than this, the golden days of the ''swat'' team etc etc have gone- it will never be the earner it undeniably was.

Choc

WOW chin up,you really didnt get on with them did you.I must say ive been there for 7 years now and NEVER had any major problems at all.Always get paid and quite well too especially now business club is now up and running.Just saved on guy in a pub over a £1000 per quarter,hes very happy.

One thing to remember anyone in this biz or not there are problems every now and then with EVERY company out there..Just click on to the first page on this forum and see how many people are moaning about BG but they still sign up with them!!!!

dc

Just passing thru,;)

Sounds like an Amway repeat to me, pyramids never sell for long and only benefit the instigators.:lipsrseal

Choc

dc wrote: »

Just passing thru,;)

Sounds like an Amway repeat to me, pyramids never sell for long and only benefit the instigators.:lipsrseal

You couldnt be further from the truth my friend..This is not pyramid and is a plc listed company.

dc

Choc wrote: »

Just saved on guy in a pub over a £1000 per quarter,hes very happy

..........

billsavings

These people and their distributors continue to mislead people by saying on their main site and their distributors replica sites.

"The Utility Warehouse Discount Club is different. For almost 5 years we provided our customers with the cheapest domestic energy in the UK."

Which is untrue.

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

Choc

Guys, T+ was a very good price indeed and i always won business but because prices changed so rapidly it became a problem because we had to change our tarrif guides too often which was ofcourse expensive so thats why we came out with the triple price promise to match the cheapest of the big six companies.

So our customers can get on with thier lives safe in the knowledge that they will always recieve a fair price for energy not like some who would rather keep having to change suppliers every two minutes!

Makes sense dont ya think.
Our prices are being reduced as we speak.

Quentin

Choc wrote: »

our customers can get on with thier lives safe in the knowledge that they will always recieve a fair price for energy.......................................Makes sense dont ya think.

It might if only it was true.

You "forgot" to mention that your price match has certain significant exceptions.

In particular you don't price match the cheapest on-line tariffs from your competitors.

You exclude your "club" membership fee, so even if you were appearing to price match, your members still have to pay an extra £21 a year membership.

And you exclude any dual fuel discounts your competitors allow.

Choc wrote:

we came out with the triple price promise to match the cheapest of the big six companies.

This is another misleading claim from a UW rep.

You don't actually "promise" to price match the cheapest company at all. You just say you will be "competitive" against the average price of the top 6 companies.

This is from the UW website:

we compare our prices every month against the average of the cheapest direct debit tariffs available from each of the “Big 6” suppliers

The quote comes from the same web page that falsely claims that UW have been supplying us with the "cheapest" energy "for almost five years". When will they stop this lie?

Choc

Good post my friend but remember like i stated,online or off they seem only cheap for short periods prompting switching 2-3 times per year to remain on top.
Most of the 100+ customers ive collected cannot be bothered with all this save here and then swap to save there.All they want is simplicity to get on with things so thats why it makes sense with UW.
Gas,elec,mobile,bb,0800,homephone,line rental etc,etc one bill great savings overall and now with one of the best call centre back up in the uk.What more do you want?

Quentin

Choc wrote: »

Most of the 100+ customers ive collected cannot be bothered...........

Well at least it's good business for you when your customers can't be bothered, and believe everything you tell 'em - you don't even bother to attempt to correct your misleading post about your price matching!

And no comment at all about the lie on your website about supplying the cheapest energy for nearly 5 years.

You mention the great expense of paying for new brochures when the prices change.

But you UW reps never grumbled about paying for new brochures when the prices were going up! Increasing energy prices was great for you wasn't it? Much cheering at the UW reps conferences every time a price rise was announced we heard!