Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus) Discussion

Plushchris

Maz wrote: »

Results table is as follows - (quoting from the Which? magazine again, please feel free to check it out)

UW (117 responses) - first place.
SSE (1869 responses) - second place
Scot, Power (1133 responses) - third place
Eon - (1635 responses) -fourth place
EDF - (891 responses) - fifth place
B. Gas - (1785 responses) - sixth place
NPower - (854 response) -seventh place

Sample size is in brackets.

Thanks for quoting that, I hadnt seen the figures before.

Maybe I've missed something but how can it be a fair poll unless they had an even number of replies from customers from every company?

So if Npower only had one reply but if that one reply said they were happy then they would be joint first place with UW?? Doesnt make sense to me

The only way it would be a fair portrayal of customer satisfaction is to ask say, 1000 customers from each supplier how they felt about their supplier and give those results.

Same as any kind of poll/statistics they can be spun in any way you see fit.

petergow

1 - I am a Uwdc Distributor

2 - I have been a Which subscriber over 20 years

3 - I was not asked to take part in the Energy Poll

What I find strange is Which Magazine is over 50 years old , It is generally regarded as the consumers bible , takes no form of advertising & if they do not physically test products themselves they poll their subscibers at random , however because Uwdc gets good reviews all of a sudden it must be underhand , totally ficticious and just not possible , Does this mean every other Which Magazine poll done likewise by polling their members is a load of rubbish or is it because some people just HATE Uwdc & can not bear to think they would get praise from Which Magazine , So I take it where Uwdc also did well with Home Phone , Broadband and both combined we can assume again Which has got it completely wrong again , I wonder if in Whichs 50 years history can they have made so many mistakes with one company , They better watch out they dont gets closed down for all this misleading information they are giving the general public , Draw your own conclusions , I am honest enought to say Uwdc does & no doubt will make mistakes , their is people who have had good & bad experiences with them , same with any company , what I dislike is people who just can not for whatever reason accept Which magazine continually over the years have had them Best Buys & among the Best Buys of the reports they have done for the various utilitys they provide even WITH a membership fee .So if you accept Which is a trustworthy publication go by their recomendations , if not dont

Cardew

According to UW’s own site they have 208,444 customers including those who do not take gas and electricity from UW.

They have 16,600 independent distributors.

I think you would agree that is an unusually high percentage of ‘employees’ for such a small customer base. Indeed it is approx the same as British Gas.

Given the UW sales technique of recruiting family and friends, statistically the chance of these 16,600(plus family and friends) participating in the Which poll is way way in excess of the employees of any other utility company.

Even the most naïve would concede that any UW ‘employee’(or family member) has a vested interest in ensuring that UW fare well in the poll.

To a certain extent that is confirmed by the proportionally high number of UW 'customers' participating in the poll.

Bearing in mind that this poll was for Gas and Electricity it is rather surprising that UW came top in the ‘Best Value’ category, when it is very clear that UW cannot compete on price.

When indisputable evidence is provided on UW’s uncompetitive pricing, their reps always fall back on the great service aspect; the more enlightened reps admit that they do not compete on price.

I don’t often(never?) disagree with Plushchris on factual matters, but I am not sure that on this type of poll it would be necessary to have equal numbers of customers for each company to have a valid result.

For instance if there were 117 responses from every company(or Which randomly selected 117 for each company) UW would still achieve the same result.

This poll is inherently flawed because of the statistically high probability of participation by vested interests.

Now if you still feel that the poll was representative, there is little else to say. Readers of this thread can draw their own conclusions.

P.S.
There really is no point stressing the excellent reputation of Which - almost everyone will accept that fact. Their tests are excellent.

The BBC also enjoy an excellent reputation and admit they have made mistakes on polls; and IMO, for the reasons I set out above, Which have have made a mistake in the format of this poll.

KimYeovil

deliberately set out to (dare I say it) mis lead people away from this company when it might just be the best option for most people.

Maz wrote: »

By the way, how is this an arithmetically impossibale claim if all I'm doing is quoting from the Which? magazines' own results? I imagine you're hoping that moist of MSE forum members are NOT subscribers to said magazine. You're a joke.

Nowt to do with the Which report. It is not possible for 'most' customers to benefit from a [STRIKE]pyr[/STRIKE]multi-level marketing wotsit that is priced the way UW is. There are cheaper tariffs available from other suppliers. Most customers would benefit by being on one of those.

petergow

Cardew & Kim - Can you show me where I or the Which Magazine claimed Uwdc were the cheapest provider for Energy , Cardew are you really suggesting if a relation of mine worked for British Gas I would give them excellent reviews if my service from them was poor , You can talk till you are blue in the face & offer all the excuses under the sun the bottom line is if any other company apart from Uwdc was voted top by Which it wouldnt bother you - Uwdc distributor

Quentin

There is no argument about uw being the cheapest provider of energy is there? (So why do the reps come here to try and convert us?)

What we do know to be a fact is that uw reps are not averse to posing as highly satisfied customers of a wonderful discount club, and posting about it all over the net. It's just a short hop from that to being a highly satisfied filler in of Which questionnaires.

1carminestocky

KimYeovil wrote: »

Nowt to do with the Which report. It is not possible for 'most' customers to benefit from a [strike]pyr[/strike]multi-level marketing wotsit that is priced the way UW is. There are cheaper tariffs available from other suppliers. Most customers would benefit by being on one of those.

But, and here's the $64,000 question, KY....have you made sure ALL your friends/neighbours/relatives etc etc are not paying too much for their gas/electric? It's a question I have repetedly asked all the naysayers on here and NOT ONE has even had the common courtesy to reply let alone admit that, in fact, no, they just can't be arsed. You're my last chance because for all your quirks I have never found you ignorant.

1carminestocky

Quentin wrote: »

There is no argument about uw being the cheapest provider of energy is there? (So why do the reps come here to try and convert us?)

What we do know to be a fact is that uw reps are not averse to posing as highly satisfied customers of a wonderful discount club, and posting about it all over the net. It's just a short hop from that to being a highly satisfied filler in of Which questionnaires.

I'm glad you've returned, Quentin (where've you been, btw? :rolleyes: ) because I think you must have missed my question to you on your last flying visit. Here it is again: Which energy company would you personally recommend from personal experience? TIA!

KimYeovil

petergow wrote: »

Cardew & Kim - Can you show me where I or the Which Magazine claimed Uwdc were the cheapest provider for Energy…

I'm responding to the ridiculous false claim about referral marketing by someone else, not the Which article.

KimYeovil

1carminestocky wrote: »

But, and here's the $64,000 question, KY....have you made sure ALL your friends/neighbours/relatives etc etc are not paying too much for their gas/electric? It's a question I have repetedly asked all the naysayers on here and NOT ONE has even had the common courtesy to reply let alone admit that, in fact, no, they just can't be arsed. You're my last chance because for all your quirks I have never found you ignorant.

Rather than a $64,000 question, it's a bizarre non sequitur. Perhaps that's why you get no responses?

But since, for whatever reason, you ask. Yes I have but it didn't take long because I don't have many.

But presumably you want UW distributors to do this? You want to encourage them to maximise the number of victims on expensive plans? As I said, a bizarre non sequitur.