Telecom Plus Discussion Area

chateau42

Am on Staywarm, unlimited energy for £63.50/month. Powergen is about £2/month cheaper. But we like unlimited energy and fixed price until October 2005. Know our actual energy consumption per annum for the last eight years, I read consumption every week. Know all about it. ;D But T+ seems much cheaper, from my many investigations. Very reluctant to change. :-/ Just a post to give another view.

System

No, this thread has become a childish slanging match where people quote the whole quote of the person before.

There's debate, there's a discussion, and there's neither.

This is neither.

Smartasss

Hi daveboy.

I don't quite understand why whole posts are being reposted by way of reply!

But thanks to this thread we do know that for some unknown reason a senior executive from T+ has used at least 5 different identities to post on this Board!

progers

I have recently changed to T+ and don't think that there is a cheaper Gas supplier.

However, I recently found a new company called Utilita whose Get80 tariff proved to be marginally cheaper for me (£1 to £2 per quarter).

For that amount, I don't want to change but have challenged T+'s claim about being the cheapest and sent them details of Utilita's web site & tariff.

I'm still waiting for a response!!! :-/

System

I'll shed my 'impartiality' so far and suggest you don't get one.

System

A great way of getting Martin to lock this thread altogether. Well done.

loon_2

read the article on comparing the comparison sites and i must say i was shocked. some journalists went onto some comaprison sites with a set of units and to my complete shock... powergen energy online were the cheapest on all sites. this must be some mistake, as surely, t+ are the worlds cheapest???

loon_2

After doing a similar comparison on a few different m-pans, i too got very similar results. Maybe t+ are not the cheapest. NO, it must be that the sites are wrong. Has no-one told them that t+ are cheapest... allegedly!

hainings

This is my first chat message so please be gentle with me!....I think I have something to add to the TelecomPlus debate. But before I let you in on my secrets I should come clean and add that I have an interest, I am a recent Distributor for the company with a dozen satisfied customers.

Its the background that may interest you....I first got exposed to MLM a decade ago and was VERY dismissive. words like scam came to mind, largelly because the business model wasnt well explained to me!

Anyway, cut a long story short I quit my job in Banking to raise venture capital to start a Internet company running online shopping malls. The first client to approach us was Telecomplus....we started working with them in 2000 thinking they were an orfinary telco, not a MLM company.

4 years on we have learnt the hard way just what a professional bunch they are - we know all the board members, we've even arranged for our investors to meet the Telecomplus chairman. In summary, it is my opinion that they run a tight ship, are VERY professional, hard-nosed business people and they care as much about customers as they do distributors.

I wont bore you with details as to how/why but I have also spent two years researching the MLM sector and 80 + UK schemes. I have learnt what a great model MLM can be, with the right company, and despite the fact that I would recommend 4/5 out of said 80 schemes, TelecomPlus stands out as the best and most professional company.

I can fully understand how anyone not as familiar with MLM would have a problem with the industry and may even spot things they dont like about TelecomPlus...but I have challeneged them on all manner of things over 4 years and have never succeeded in catching them out to any serious degree. What people not familiar with genuine MLM dont understand is that giving customers good service/product is essential - as without that the networkers only make short term profits not walk away retirement income that never fades away.

To coin the phrase....I liked the company so much that I bought it isnt exactly true but I have eventually joined as a Distributor (to put my knowledge to use and spread the word about MLM) and I even invest my own savings in TelecomPlus....so I've put my money where my mouth is. I also buy every service I can from them apart from my mobile.

One final point - sorry this rambles on...at the Annual conference last week TelecomPlus announced some greate new products and re-iterated that they have the best value utility package - so much so that they are needing to cut agents commission. This is something MLM schemes hate doing and to me ints indicative of the company ethic - they would rather pay distributors less to give consumers a good deal.

So to anyone considering Telecomplus as either a utility supplier or distributor/future pension, I would say "jump in" save in the knowledge that they will be doing their best to offer ongoing good value through the years. You may save the odd penny by spending your life shopping around each month but Telecoplus will save you lots of hassle and free you up to enjoy life....which for most people I think is a real acheivement.

Sorry if this is longer than etiquette allows :-[

Smartasss

Hi Hainings

I think this thread was originally set up to discuss T+ as a utility supplier (rather than its merits as a MLM operation).

There have been lots of discussion regarding worries about their operation as far as consumers are concerned which perhaps you can add to.

How about these for starters:

The problem starts with their misleading advertising.

Why do they continue to take advantage of the situation where the ASA doesn't control internet advertising?

The ASA has found that their mailings and flyers claiming to supply the cheapest gas and electricity are misleading, yet despite this, T+ ignore the ASA and leave the misleading ads on their various websites.

*******************

The Ts + Cs are different from the usual utility suppliers:

You make customers agree to accepting unspecified price increases without advance warning (this gives T+ an unfair advantage as your customers cannot possibly arrange a new supplier in time to avoid paying the increased charges)

You store customers credit card/debit card numbers for future use which makes it hard for them to dispute an invoice (as should a customer stop their direct debit pending a dispute being settled, T+ simply take the money from the card).

You make customers pay their standing charges for their power in advance.

***********************

You say you buy everything from them (mobile excepted) - but even a colleague of yours has posted on this forum that the fixed telephone service is expensive compared with other (non BT) suppliers, never mind the Money Savers who have posted about cheaper schemes!

Finally, as you are passionate about your company, what do you feel about the ethics of your Senior Executive who uses at least 5 different identities to post about T+ on this Board?