Utility Warehouse

pinky1978

As I've never heard of this Company before having always gone with one of the "Big Six" I was wondering if anyone who has experience of UW or knows more about them would recommend that we leave E-ON Next and switch to them before the next big price hike in October. We wouldn't want any of their bundles just the gas and electricity as we've already cut back to the cheapest deals we can find for all the other utilities.   Thanks

Alnat1

Never had any experience with them myself but read a lot of threads on here with people complaining about them. The general feeling seems to be avoid them if possible.

gsmh

They are a multi-utility company and they use a paid referral system. I do like it that you can talk to someone knowledgable on the phone within a couple of minutes, should you wish to. They are certainly very efficient in my experience. Unfortunately the best deals are only available if you take up another two utilities along with energy. They do broadband, mobile and insurance. Broadband is a standard Openreach product, same as you can get anywhere and mobile is EE - something like £20 for 20GB data, unlimited calls and texts. Some people like to have these utilities with one company and receive one bill. I have no complaints - even though I won't use the referral system.

superkoopauk

With all that being said if you take the 4 service bundle then you can get access to a very competitive 12 month fixed - £2495 and only £25 per fuel exit fee.  Or the variable price is cheaper too so you should consider it if you decide to take a risk with them.

Joyful

UW used to get a bad name but have won many awards over the last 10 years including 3 this year. I switched in Feb and saved a lot of money by switching energy, mobile and broadband. If I email I get an answer within 2 days, most unlike other suppliers. You can also get money off your bills for referring people and get a cashback card for money off your bills. I was so impressed I became a partner so now help others to save. If you only want energy, you cannot fix your price.

[Deleted User]

Joyful said:

UW used to get a bad name but have won many awards over the last 10 years including 3 this year. I switched in Feb and saved a lot of money by switching energy, mobile and broadband. If I email I get an answer within 2 days, most unlike other suppliers. You can also get money off your bills for referring people and get a cashback card for money off your bills. I was so impressed I became a partner so now help others to save. If you only want energy, you cannot fix your price.

This is not a 'dig' at UW as I have no personal experience of its offer. What I do not understand is why anybody would want to brigade energy; broadband and mobile under a single entity? What happens if UW stops trading? (It would be a brave person who suggests that this could never happen).  Because of similar concerns, I would never agree to let Sky provide me with TV; broadband and mobile even if I could save a few £s a month.

Mstty

If this is one of the only ways to save money on energy(generally the biggest expense when taking out other products from them to get a discount) it is probably worth researching for those that have not managed a fix for the October price cap.

Utility warehouse have been going since 2002 so potentially no more likely to go bust than other suppliers in the market.

Interesting, btw I know nothing about UW apart from the view on post 3 that is generally made by the same person everytime someone mentions UW which labels them part pyramid, part cult.....maybe that is part unfair?

QrizB

Mstty said:

Interesting, btw I know nothing about UW apart from the view on post 3 that is generally made by the same person everytime someone mentions UW which labels them part pyramid, part cult.....maybe that is part unfair?

Utility Warehouse pyramid - 58 hits

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/search?query=utility warehouse pyramid&scope=site&source=community

Utility Warehouse cult - 11 hits
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/search?query=utility warehouse cult&scope=site&source=community

superkoopauk

Looking at their annual results for this week suggests they won't be going bust any time soon.

https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/pdf.utilitywarehouse.co.uk/full-year-results-final-external-.pdf

EssexHebridean

I’m a UW customer - they’re flipping awful. Yes, they’re definitely cheapest for us (E7 electric with very high percentage night use) and that is the ONLY reason we’ve not left them already. Dreadful billing,  tendency to totally ignore meter readings (including our 31/3 one - unsurprisingly the estimate they used instead would have been a LONG way in their favour. When that was challenged I never even got a response - they just sneakily changed the online bill to show the correct readings instead. Their customer service/complaints system is a nightmare - it’s impossible to get a dialogue going with one person and none of the rest of the team familiarise themselves with the issue before responding so everything goes round in circles, and they can’t apply any form of manual payment to the account - just sit on the money until you ask them where it is, then sit on it some more. Add to that the habit of taking the vat off the money you pay them, rather than charging it on the cost of the energy you buy, and all in all I’m not sure I’ve ever dealt with a worse energy company - they make Scottish Power look half way decent. 

Mstty

So in short, horrendous customer service and billing but cheap so you stay with them.

In the current situation of heat or eat with some where they have no cheap options I suspect most would feel the same way.