Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus) Discussion

Plushchris

1carminestocky wrote: »

Here's an example of how vigilant you need to be if chasing the best deal. In my region (Yorkshire) the very cheapest deal without an exit fee is EDF Online 5 at £969 for average usage (20500/3300). In the small print on energyhelpline, it says this:



Excellent. At the moment, yes, because this £969 currently represents a 15% discount on EDFs standard charge of £1134! Can we ascertain from this that this is an introductory rate to lure people in and in line with the T&Cs they signed up to, their annual EDF Online 5 bill could actually rise to £1112? There's nowt in the T&Cs to stop EDF doing this. If they didn't plan to do this, why put it in the T&Cs? An example of the minefield facing the rate tart these days...

But then if they DID plan to do that, surely they would have put an exit fee on the tariff?

Cardew

vern190374 wrote: »

And I feel no worse than anyone else in a sales role if I get a deal, knowing that they could have shaved a few more per cent of their bill. It's called business.

That really sums it up.

Read Martin's front page 'What's it all about'

It's about cutting bills not cutting back and being a sassy consumer. Companies try to screw us for profits.

The objection to UW is the methods employed on this thread by UW salesmen. Your posts are by no means the worst, but were still full of totally unsubstantiated statements, some of which are patently untrue.

MSE is seen by some UW salesmen as fertile ground to enhance the image of their company, and some of us are determined that misleading information will be challenged and any prospective customer will have some accurate information.

P.S.

I'm off to the gym (yes I'm 34 and don't work 9-5

Not quite sure of the relevance of your age - has it been challenged? If we had assumed that 190374 was your birth date, that would make you 35.

Decado23

jimexbox wrote: »

To cap it all its a one off discount, and current customers have shamefully been ignored. Carmine I wish for once you would be consistent.....

Yes, it's terrible isn't it. My parents have generated over £150 pounds in discount using the cashback card over the last few months and had a considerable number of free calls. The base rate for membership, phone/broadband/ cashback card in total (before CB card discounts) is about 2 thirds of the phone/bb cost with their previous suppler. They didn't really seem bothered about the new customer offer as they're saving plenty already.

Since you consider this so shameful, do you consider it shameful when other providers offer new customer deals that aren't applied to existing customers? How many tarriffs do each of the big 6 have? Are existing customers automatically placed on the lowest available tarrif?

Of course not, as Carmine pointed out earlier, the apathy of most of the customer base is used to subsidise flavour of the month new customer deals.

Incidentally, do you consider it shamefull when a company offers benefits such as 'free' broadband but mention line rental + calls package needs to be paid for in the very very small print.

You comment on the 'one off' aspect of the deal. Of course, members not taking advantage of the other benefits are free to move elsewhere if they choose at the end of the 12 months. How do you feel about other companies that offer new customer benefits but tie you in to a deal that long exceeds the benefit (eg free bb for first 3 months, 18 month contract - first year looks cheap due to the first 3 months, second year, not so much).

I personally would prefer it if everyone could get the discount, new customer or old, but that's not the way the real world works - all businesses want to increase their turnover and often offer incentives to make that happen. The diference with UW is that for a customer willing and able to take advantage of the many discounts available, the savings can equal (or even exceed) the cost of their utilities. The additional £100 is nice if you can get it but is not essential.


UW Distributor

Cardew

vern190374 wrote: »

Yawn! BG Websaver only offer their 6% discount for the first year after which they reserve the right to stick you back on their standard tariff. It's in the T+C's

So please explain how one of your customers on a Websaver had 'slipped' to the Standard Tariff.

WebSaver 3 A minimum 6% discount against our Standard tariff rates until 1st August 2010.

WebSaver 2 A minimum 6% discount against our standard tariff rates for credit customers until 1st June 2010.

WebSaver 1 A minimum 10% discount against our standard tariff rates for credit customers until 31st March 2010.

Decado23

Cardew wrote: »

some of us are determined that misleading information will be challenged and any prospective customer will have some accurate information.

So, with that in mind, would you agree that the costs/savings figures displayed on comparison sites include various discounts (such as dual fuel, online billing, DD payments) but do not include any potential exit fees. These are usually only mentioned in the small print, found via a 'more info' link or similar but not on the front page.

Would you also agree that with frequently changing prices and regular introduction of new tarrifs, the comparison sites calculation of annual savings is, at best, a rough guide.

Would you also agree that the comparison sites UW prices do not include any savings members may make with the free calls packages (UWs equivalent of dual fuel discount), Cashback card discounts, member benefits directory or customer discount plan.

Now, I am aware of why the comparison sites do not (in fact, cannot) include those additional UW savings. But it is quite clear that without that information, the comparison cannot be accurate. Would you agree?


UW Distributor

Plushchris

Decado23 wrote: »

I personally would prefer it if everyone could get the discount, new customer or old, but that's not the way the real world works - all businesses want to increase their turnover and often offer incentives to make that happen. The diference with UW is that for a customer willing and able to take advantage of the many discounts available, the savings can equal (or even exceed) the cost of their utilities. The additional £100 is nice if you can get it but is not essential.


UW Distributor

I asked Carmine this question the other day (he chose to ignore it for some reason)

Whats to stop a UW customer switching to *whoever pays most cashback* (a quick look on quidco says cashback is £62 for Eon and SP I'm sure there are better deals elsewhere) then switching back to UW afterwards? Thus gaining the extra £100 discount from UW and "trousering" (carmine's term) £62 cashback?

End result £162 a year better off, in the meantime yes, you may lose the call allowance on the homephone but you can surely still carry on using your cashback card? And also the savings made from the cheaper gas and electricity would help to offset the loss of free calls for the few months the switching cycle takes.

Obviously carmine chose to ignore it following his comment on cashback being there to lure "gullibles" in (despite the fact he used to do it all the time, in fact he was waiting for cashback from SP before switching to UW, obviously the word gullible doesnt apply if its him getting the cashback :rolleyes:)

Cardew

Decado23 wrote: »

So, with that in mind, would you agree that the costs/savings figures displayed on comparison sites include various discounts (such as dual fuel, online billing, DD payments) but do not include any potential exit fees. These are usually only mentioned in the small print, found via a 'more info' link or similar but not on the front page.

1. YES

Would you also agree that with frequently changing prices and regular introduction of new tarrifs, the comparison sites calculation of annual savings is, at best, a rough guide.

2. YES

Would you also agree that the comparison sites UW prices do not include any savings members may make with the free calls packages (UWs equivalent of dual fuel discount), Cashback card discounts, member benefits directory or customer discount plan.

3. YES

Now, I am aware of why the comparison sites do not (in fact, cannot) include those additional UW savings. But it is quite clear that without that information, the comparison cannot be accurate. Would you agree?

4. YES


UW Distributor

1. I am no fan of comparison websites. However short of manually checking all the 70 or so tariffs, they are the only way of checking tariff prices, and if you enter kWh you do get accurate results.

T & C's can be a minefield for the unwary, look at UW's set for a prime example - the TVG is a good place to start!

2. Surely it is an ever changing situation and the 'best buys' play 'leapfrog'. The only consistent thing in recent years has been that UW have had just about the highest gas and electricity prices in UK and been at the bottom of the 'league table'.

On the latest round of price cuts, the differential between UW and many of the other tariffs increased. This was because the anticipated and much hyped UW price cut turned out to be a damp squib - 2% for some, nothing for others - even UW IDs had no idea of the situation.

3. As has been pointed out many times you do not need to get all services to get the main advantage - namely the cashcard. Why pay hundreds of pounds extra for gas and electricity?

4. As you say such comparisons simply cannot be made using comparison websites - they are simply a tool. However there are many ways you can maximise savings without going to UW for all services.

forextc

"So please explain how one of your customers on a Websaver had 'slipped' to the Standard Tariff."

Lol. I love you. Read the post. You are so tiresome in your inablity to absorb information. If you actually read the post I orignally put you will see that there is no mention of the Websaver tariff user slipping tariff. They are making the savings via the Cashback card.

However as already posted the Websave tariff only purports to supply discounted rates for 12 months (read the t+cs' again only this time take note of what they actually say)

Many more clients have however slipped tariffs that they signed upto either from door to door sales men or web deals that they signed up to 12 months or more ago.

If you are going to come back with something please put together a reasoned response as you quite clearly show you have an inablilty to absorb the information posted on here and discredit yourself.

Also I notice you have ignored the example (and indeed it is only one I could give you several) where people are saving money from the bundled approach to Utlitlities and use of the cash card which far outweighs the cost savings they would be making from having individual best buy products.

1carminestocky

Plushchris wrote: »

I asked Carmine this question the other day (he chose to ignore it for some reason)

Whats to stop a UW customer switching to *whoever pays most cashback* (a quick look on quidco says cashback is £62 for Eon and SP I'm sure there are better deals elsewhere) then switching back to UW afterwards? Thus gaining the extra £100 discount from UW and "trousering" (carmine's term) £62 cashback?

End result £162 a year better off, in the meantime yes, you may lose the call allowance on the homephone but you can surely still carry on using your cashback card? And also the savings made from the cheaper gas and electricity would help to offset the loss of free calls for the few months the switching cycle takes.

Obviously carmine chose to ignore it following his comment on cashback being there to lure "gullibles" in (despite the fact he used to do it all the time, in fact he was waiting for cashback from SP before switching to UW, obviously the word gullible doesnt apply if its him getting the cashback :rolleyes:)

I didn't choose to ignore it, I genuinely didn't see it, PC. It's certainly an idea so thanks for that and I'll consider it. Only fly in the ointment being the cost of calls while I was waiting to get back to UW. That would be considerable, tbh.

Did I say 'gullible'? Certainly in the case of people switching to SP for the cashback it really *could* apply. Their non-exit fee tariffs are truly uncompetitive in the marketplace (certainly in the Yorkshire region), don't you agree? If you are cashback trousering these days it's far less financially worthwhile.

1carminestocky

Plushchris wrote: »

But then if they DID plan to do that, surely they would have put an exit fee on the tariff?

Yes, I agree. But their T&Cs for Online 5 are, on the whole, pretty puzzling anyway. But if it isn't in any way a future consideration, why even put that T&C there in the first place? It certainly covers them should they decide to put Online 5 prices up, even by a considerable margin. I suppose it would depend on just how apathetic their customers are as to whether it would be worth their while trying it on. I do wonder, though, how many of their recent-acquired punters even noticed this T&C and realised its potential significance? Aren't you now with EDF, PC? If so, did you? Be honest now.