Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus) Discussion

naf123

Cardew wrote: »

One side of the argument is lots of UW salesmen(there are over 30,000 of them) or people with vested interests trying to promote UW. They do this all over the internet by pretending to be satisfied customers.

The other side of the argument is that some of us are determined to oppose them and not let them get away with those tactics on MSE. Also to demonstrate that their gas and electricity prices are just about the highest in UK.

This post sums it up.

thanks so much.

I am a UW customer, but i didnt sign up to them. the person who lived here before me was with them and we just changed names!

when i do a price comparison, its even more complicated as I dont know how to include the standing charges into the calculation.

Does anyone recommend a website which include the costs of standing charges.

In general, are standing charges an indication its a rip off? or a good deal?

thanks again

Quentin

All the comparison sites will include the standing charges.

eg which's: http://www.switchwithwhich.co.uk

Cardew

naf123 wrote: »

thanks so much.

I am a UW customer, but i didnt sign up to them. the person who lived here before me was with them and we just changed names!

when i do a price comparison, its even more complicated as I dont know how to include the standing charges into the calculation.

Does anyone recommend a website which include the costs of standing charges.

In general, are standing charges an indication its a rip off? or a good deal?

thanks again

You don't need to include standing charges as the comparison websites will take all that into account.

However it really is most important that you enter the annual comsumption in kWh into the comparison websites.

I appreciate that with a new property you won't have that information. However bear in mind that the average customer in UK uses 20,500kWh gas and 3,300kWh electricity.

I suggest that you use those figures firstly, and then try combinations of those consumption figure and a pattern will emerge.

Or post the type of property and your circumstances e.g. live alone and out at work all day or married with 9 kids at home all day, and we will try to give an estimate.

Maz

That's shut you all up.:)


For the benefit of Cardew,Quentin et el,I am an UW ID and very happy customer. 62 quid off my utility bill for December ! Bet B Gas etc can't beat that! Happy days!

kippen_noedel

Maz wrote: »

For the benefit of Cardew,Quentin et el,I am an UW ID and very happy customer. 62 quid off my utility bill for December ! Bet B Gas etc can't beat that! Happy days!

so you spent £1240 on your card just before xmas, or your customers contributed to paying your bills.

I will be more interested in how much you get off your bills in Jan/Feb and how much you could have saved on your energy bills by having them with a cheaper alternative. Then again as a UW salesman you have to really stay a UW customer, bit hard to sell something when you don't use it yourself.

Cardew

operastar wrote: »

Perhaps it would be pertinent to ask how much you spent just before Xmas and how much cashback you received from the cashback card you obviously use? As the UW card includes Sainsburys groceries/food/petrol etc then it's hardly a huge leap of faith to assume that people will rack up a decent spend on it no matter what month it is? No?

Of course there are other cards that are even better - as disussed when you were away - no matter this is a thread about UW gas and electricity prices and this is the relavant issue.

For the benefit of new readers, and existing UW customers, be advised that:

UW gas and electricity is just about the most expensive in UK and £hundreds more than the cheapest tariff - generally around 30%.

That fact can be confirmed by checking the tariffs in any comparison website or by comparing the tariffs yourself. Use the WHICH comparison website if you wish.

There is no need to listen to either side of the argument on this thread, just confirm the facts with any independent source.

As an example the average UK customer uses 20,500kWh gas and 3,300kWh electricity. In my area(Midlands) that will cost £894 with the cheapest supplier, the cheapest UW tariff is £1,199. That is £305 and 34% more expensive if you are silly enough to have UW as your gas and electricity supplier.

Give our regards to Carmine and Carespress should you happen to bump in to them;)

jellygoodfellow

uptomyeyeballs wrote: »

If I shopped regularly at Sainsburys i'd be getting my broadband/phone free, but i'll settle for what i've had as it makes by telephony cheap anyway.

How would it be free. They would still charge you for it would they not, and then give you a cashback credit against it,which you have had to spend a reasonable amount of money at participating stores to obtain.

To get just their standard broadcall ( Phone/Broadband ) deal at no charge for a year you would have to pay approximately £4800 a year at participating shops.

Gerrard_8_lfc

operastar wrote: »

Perhaps it would be pertinent to ask how much you spent just before Xmas and how much cashback you received from the cashback card you obviously use? As the UW card includes Sainsburys groceries/food/petrol etc then it's hardly a huge leap of faith to assume that people will rack up a decent spend on it no matter what month it is? No?

So you must shop at one of the most expensive shops to get a benefit on this tariff ?.

What if there is no sainsburys within 20 miles for a customer ?

Why would they not go for EDF v5 which gets nectar points aswell as being the cheapest deal for my consumption.

or in my scenario BG websaver 5 plus staff discount and shop at asda convince me.....

janninew

uptomyeyeballs wrote: »

If cost - cashback = £0 then it would be free as far as I'm concerned. My bill would be zero. Very simple maths that. I would pay nothing. Simple. If you think £0 isn't free then I'm wasting my time talking to you.

As I said, I haven't managed that yet in the two months I've had my card, but it isn't a priority in my life. My two bills have been for £8 and £13. I'm happy with that for my telephony. If I average £10 discount per month over the year then I'll have saved £120 against the cost of my broadband/phone. I might try an online food shop this month and see how that goes. I'm happy, that's all that counts.

I don't quite understand the 'its not free' argument that is used on here often! I have had free (as in I have used a UW service and paid NOTHING, ZERO, 0) phone rental and calls for the past few months and received cashback too! I can't believe how desperate this argument has become! The figure I look at is the one on the bottom of my bill and that has been a big fat 0 for the past few months, call it what you want, but I call it free!!

Cardew

operastar wrote: »

I've never posted on this forum before in any guise

Of course you haven't! The very thought!;)

Still let us stick to UW prices; do you agree this is totally accurate?

For the benefit of new readers, and existing UW customers, be advised that:

UW gas and electricity is just about the most expensive in UK and £hundreds more than the cheapest tariff - generally around 30%.

That fact can be confirmed by checking the tariffs in any comparison website or by comparing the tariffs yourself. Use the WHICH comparison website if you wish.

There is no need to listen to either side of the argument on this thread, just confirm the facts with any independent source.

As an example the average UK customer uses 20,500kWh gas and 3,300kWh electricity. In my area(Midlands) that will cost £894 with the cheapest supplier, the cheapest UW tariff is £1,199. That is £305 and 34% more expensive if you are silly enough to have UW as your gas and electricity supplier.