Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus) Discussion

fluteplayeruk

I have just met a distributor and viewed the DVD. Very reminiscent of previous forms of multi-level marketing. But to get to the bones of the scheme. I am with TalkTalk for BB and Home Phone. Broadband is FREE and together with my Landline and FREE calls anytime UK 01/02 numbers and FREE anytime to about 46 international codes and my monthly bill is about £24 - Mobile is O2 on a £14 monthly contract with sufficient free minutes and texts. In fact my wife and I rarely pay more than £35.00 per monthand she uses the extras on competion numbers. Gas/Elec more difficult to assess because I keep swapping when comparing tarrifs and I note form some of the posts on this site that UW are in the same situation regarding price movements. Obviously You can only get gas from one source and Electricity from the National grid so all the companies involved are doing a buy and sell and it all seems a bit of a mine field there - Anyone got any concrete advice on this ?-BTW I can change suppliers of Mobile phone anytime and Utilities on a 28 day contract - talk talk is 12 m onths but definately worth it. BT have tried to tempt me back but they can't come close to TalkTalk.

kippen_noedel

welcome to the forum
confusing post,
are you advertising for UW, asking a question or offering yourself as available for work with UW

Quentin

Maz wrote: »

Personally, think this thread has been done to death and should be left to rest in peace.

UW ID

A recurring theme from uw reps.

("UW ID" is Maz's code for declaring being a uw rep)

Cardew

fluteplayeruk wrote: »

I have just met a distributor and viewed the DVD. Very reminiscent of previous forms of multi-level marketing. But to get to the bones of the scheme.

Gas/Elec more difficult to assess because I keep swapping when comparing tarrifs and I note form some of the posts on this site that UW are in the same situation regarding price movements. Obviously You can only get gas from one source and Electricity from the National grid so all the companies involved are doing a buy and sell and it all seems a bit of a mine field there - Anyone got any concrete advice on this

The 'concrete advice' on gas and electricity is very easy to obtain.

Go to any of the comparison websites and you will find that UW's gas and electricity prices are just about the most expensive in UK - that is an indisputable fact!

For the UK average user(20,500kWh gas and 3,300kWh electricity) in, say the London area UW are 29.7% more expensive than the cheapest tariff. - an additional £273pa!!!

Even many of the most hardened UW salesmen will acknowledge this fact.

The main thing going for UW is their 'cashback' card. You put money on the card and using it in selected stores get 5% back off your bills.

You only need one service to obtain this card, so if you want to get one, your best bet is to find what service from UW will cost you the least extra and take just that service.

kippen_noedel

Cardew wrote: »

For the UK average user(20,500kWh gas and 3,300kWh electricity) in, say the London area UW are 29.7% more expensive than the cheapest tariff. - an additional £273pa!!!

The main thing going for UW is their 'cashback' card. You put money on the card and using it in selected stores get 5% back off your bills.

So for the average user, as long as you spend £5500pa in Sainsburys you can save £2 a year. Then we hit another wall, Asda has currently 1844 products cheaper than Sainsburys, Sainsburys has only 265 products cheaper than Asda, so the £2 you thought you had saved has actually cost you a lot more in buying more expensive products.

source
http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/Content/supermarket-price-checker.aspx

Cardew

kippen_noedel wrote: »

So for the average user, as long as you spend £5500pa in Sainsburys you can save £2 a year.

Well you would need to spend more than £5,500pa as you have neglected to take into account the fee for the card and the fee each time you top up the card.

Also you can earn some money with a cashback credit card - Sainsburys accepts AMEX.

So you would probably need to be spending around £7,000pa to recover the extra you pay for your gas and electricity.

There is no doubt that the UW cashback card is very good if you shop in the establishments that accepts the card. However why pay £hundreds more for your gas and electricity to get the card.

NigeWick

Quentin wrote: »

A recurring theme from uw reps.

You mean like asking you to post a link to your Utility Warehouse pre payment card beating cash back card? Or, will you admit that it does not exist?

I am a Utility Warehouse independent distributor and the views I express may not be shared by the company.

kippen_noedel

Cardew wrote: »

Well you would need to spend more than £5,500pa as you have neglected to take into account the fee for the card and the fee each time you top up the card.

Hmm, I never took the "extra" costs into consideration, thanks for pointing that out.

So it's a huge interest free loan to UW by it's customers

NigeWick

Cardew wrote: »

Go to any of the comparison websites and you will find that UW's gas and electricity prices are just about the most expensive in UK - that is an indisputable fact!

The only indisputable fact is that the comparison sites provide certain figures and do not include all scenarios. I pay less to Utility Warehouse for my utilities than I would to any other company or combination of companies. I readily admit that it is because I use the pre payment card to good effect. However, I did not have to change my shopping habits to accomplish this. If is can work for me, it can for many more people.

I am a Utility Warehouse independent distributor and the views I express may not be shared by the company.

kippen_noedel

NigeWick wrote: »

The only indisputable fact is that the comparison sites provide certain figures and do not include all scenarios..

At least you confirm you have a vested interest in making such statements. Pity so many of your colleagues don't declare their interest with such honesty.

PS how much gets taken off your bills by being a salesman for UW ?