Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus) Discussion

keggs

SwanJon wrote: »

Disappears means disappears, goes away, is no longer there.
http://www.answers.com/disappears
You said it disappears within a few months. That is incorrect. If you can redefine words to suit you, how do I know what I'm signing? Could you just decide that a monthly payment needs to be made weekly?
This is what worries me about UW.

The problem with this forum is that it seems to attract people who are what I call digital personalities whereby they want to work out exactly what they could save. Unfortunately, no ID is allowed to do that. In fact no energy rep for any energy company is allowed to do that - it's called miss selling.

The only way to find out if the UW benefits you is to try the services. You are going to have to do that anyway whoever you are with. If you are frightened of change then stay with whoever you are with. But remember that UW does not have a minimum contract term unlike other companies. There is nothing to lose. And if you stay for the 12 months you get £100 back.

Incidentally, in order to get this cash back (for want of a better phrase) UW expects a minimum of 3 readings to be given during the 12 months. Why? To ensure that the customer is on the best rate for them. Members of the club arelooked after by UW. I can't say the same for any other company. All I ever hear is complaints.

You can use all the online comprisons sites you like but they are guides only and as far as I am aware not very accurate guides for all the reasons mentioned above in various posts.

Anyone seen the latest Direct Line advert on TV. For those who haven't it has a line that says they are not on any comparison site. The voice over says this in a tone that Direct Line have no faith in comparison sites so will have nothing to do with them.

Funny that don't you think. It was better for UW when they were not on any comparison site because those sites do not accurately reflect what UW is offering. For starters it does not offer online energy. That skews things for a start.

With all due respect to you Swanjon whatever fears and worries you have with UW are in my opinion quite unfounded. The fact is the company abides by all the rules and regulations of Ofgem. People here have a go at the TVG but the fact remains Ofgem would not allow that to be printed if they thought there was anything untoward. Further more, if the TVG was as innacurate as certain people say it is then why haven't the big 6 etc sued the UW. They won't because they know they have no grounds to do so.

Just my twopennyworth

Steve
UW Distributor & Very Happy Customer

SwanJon

vinnyph wrote: »

Can I just be direct because I can't be bothered for this to turn in to one of your arguments where you imply that I have said something wrong only for whatever replies I make to be used against me as a weapon.

Hello Mr Pot. What's that in your sig?

vinnyph wrote: »

Is it because I mentioned BG and you work for BG that you make a response. Come on you can't really love BG that much.

Is that it? Turn to the personal comments?
If you look you'll see that I called you on your falsehood before you mentioned British Gas. For me it isn't personal and has nothing to do with my employer.
You regularly make claims about the rest of the energy industry (i.e. everyone except UW) - how can I believe any of them?

If I do take up UW I know I'll do as Carmine did and steer well clear of any ID. If they pull tricks like yours I can only assume they are lookig after NO 1, not me their customer.

vinnyph

I think UWDC has done well to get to 300,000 customers in 12 years by referral marketing by word of mouth from satisfied customers and without national based advertising campaigns. People would not refer it unless they liked it. When you consider BG is a large monopoly company and originally had all gas supplied households in UK with them it seems they have lost a few million customers if they have 18 million now.

mech_2

janninew wrote: »

How did I reinforce your point that UW is not for most people? I believe I said that UW caters for some people's needs, but not everybody's.

Exactly. Some people. A few people. Not most people.

Sadly the reactions I get are typical of the UW crowd. Common sense figures are "inflammatory" apparently.

SwanJon

keggs wrote: »

With all due respect to you Swanjon whatever fears and worries you have with UW are in my opinion quite unfounded. The fact is the company abides by all the rules and regulations of Ofgem. People here have a go at the TVG but the fact remains Ofgem would not allow that to be printed if they thought there was anything untoward. Further more, if the TVG was as innacurate as certain people say it is then why haven't the big 6 etc sued the UW. They won't because they know they have no grounds to do so.

Keggs, it's nice that you try and support Vinny, and I'll say it again - I have no problem with UW, but have had concerns over the training of their sales force. Vinny's falsehoods don't help that image.

I think UW would be better off dropping the TVG thing entirely as it is so convoluted that once you look into it you ask why it needs to be so. The smallish print covers it legally so Ofgem and other suppliers couldn't go near it.

SwanJon

vinnyph wrote: »

When you consider BG is a large monopoly company and originally had all gas supplied households in UK with them it seems they have lost a few million customers if they have 18 million now.

Whoops, BG is not a monopoly.

British Gas used to have all the gas suppliers in the UK, but now have less than 50%.
On the other hand they used to have 0% of the electricity market and now have around 20%. So in the same time that 300,000 customers have chosen UW, around 6,000,000 have chosen British Gas. (sorry, only have the BG numbers, but same arguemnt could be used for ex-PES electricity companies and gas customers)
Numbers of customers do not make a good argument.

mech_2

1carminestocky wrote: »

Ofcom's research is a general figure, UWs is completely specific to UWs customer base. In that regard, UWs figure is far more reliable for UWs purposes than Ofcom's. Not rocket science....

OK, so UW customers are different from everyone else, OK. But £10 a month turns to £2 a month when compared to dialling a prefix. So still a tiny amount, even then.

keggs

Cardew wrote: »

There are some 18 million BG customers and 2 million with Npower.

Using that flawed logic must prove that BG and Npower offer great value.

And where did those UW customers come from - the big 6. Why did they leave? Because they thought the UW offered something better. The UW has only grown to the size it has because of word of mouth recommendation. How do BG attract their customers? By offering sweeteners, spending millions of pounds of their customers money (your money cardew) to persuade people etc. Companies like BG also have what are known as retention departments to try and persuade disgruntled customers (aggressively I might add) to get people to stay. I know that as fact because someone I know decided to stay with nPower because after first tripling their bill after coming out of contract they suddenly were able to cut it drastically. Well, if nPower could do that after the customer complained then why couldn't they do that beforehand. Because they con people into believeing they are getting a good deal when the reality is they are not.

My worry for that customer is that she might actually be underpaying for her energy and when the new contract ends will receive a shock as she did originally.

The UW deal straightforwardly with their club members. You will try and argue the toss over that but since you have never had any experience with the UW you have no grounds to argue the opposite. It isn't in their interests to to anything else but look after their members. A small company needs to ensure their customers are happy. Companies like BG have no need to do that so they rip their customers off big time if they want. If the customer doesn't like it they either shut up or switch. But to whom? The other members of the big 6 misuse their customers in exactly the same way. But customers of these are unlikely to know about the UW unless an ID contacts them or they visit a site like this.

The aim of the UW is to capture 10% of the market place. Where do you think those millions of customers are going to come from Cardew - the planet Mars or customers of BG etc.

Steve
UW Distrinbutor & Very Happy Customer

Plushchris

keggs wrote: »

Anyone seen the latest Direct Line advert on TV. For those who haven't it has a line that says they are not on any comparison site. The voice over says this in a tone that Direct Line have no faith in comparison sites so will have nothing to do with them.

Funny that don't you think. It was better for UW when they were not on any comparison site because those sites do not accurately reflect what UW is offering. For starters it does not offer online energy. That skews things for a start.

Its funny you should mention that, because everytime I see that advert I think "They arent on any comparison site because they would get shown up for being so expensive" (they have certainly been a lot more expensive than the cheapest quotes I've had)

You say because UW doesnt offer online tariffs it skews things, so if you go to a comparison site and select paper billing only tariffs how is it UW STILL appear down near the bottom of the list? :rolleyes:

keggs

SwanJon wrote: »

Keggs, it's nice that you try and support Vinny, and I'll say it again - I have no problem with UW, but have had concerns over the training of their sales force. Vinny's falsehoods don't help that image.

I think UW would be better off dropping the TVG thing entirely as it is so convoluted that once you look into it you ask why it needs to be so. The smallish print covers it legally so Ofgem and other suppliers couldn't go near it.

Personally I agree with you about the TVG not because it is false but simply because people are wary of any guarantee these days whoever it is from.

I can't answer for Vinnyph because I don't bother trying to work things out. I have no need to. People on here can inadvertently say the wrong things when trying to make financial comparisons. That's the main reason for the constant bickering.

The real fact is that there are 2 camps - IDs and happy UW customers and those who (for their own personal reasons) wish to denigrate the UW and anyone associated with it. This latter group try to support their argument with ridiculous hypothetical figures based on discredited online comparison sites.

Where does that leave people like Hippy? Confused.

Best wishes
Steve
UW Distributor & Very Happy Customer