Utility warehouse

MillerTime

I’ve seen that Martin has mentioned to go with UW for gas/elec you need to take 2 more services with them.  I’ve managed to get a quote without doing that and now I’m wondering if I’ve done something wrong and if I should switch or not. The quote I have is currently less than we pay now, fixed for 12 months. TIA 

Vincero

Unless you take extra services you will likely not get offered a fixed rate deal option. You would need to take at least 3 services to get the fixed price option to be available on the energy quote page.

If you choose less the you will just get the standard SVT rates offered.

pochase

As above. 

Most likely you have been offered the SVT, which will increase in October by 80%

EssexHebridean

I’d also do a lot of long hard careful thinking before going with UW. Their customer service is pretty shocking, trying to complain about anything is deliberately made close to impossible - you need the stubbornness of a mule and the tenacity of a mountain goat, and even then it won’t be easy. Add to that difficult to fathom billing/charging, and perhaps right now more important than anything, their total failure to be able to cope with manual “topping up” payments to accounts, and the few pennies you’ll save rapidly see any real benefit swallowed in the sheer amount of time that gets taken up trying to get any sense out of them. To top it all, when you leave, there is a decent chance that they will - very predictably - screw up your refund of credit, too. There’s a number of other threads on the boards from people with similar issues - mine is currently in the first few pages and I’ll keep that updated as developments occur.  Would I go to them just for energy again? Categorically not. Am I immensely glad I ONLY went with them for energy? Hell yes.

MillerTime

Great feedback, think I’ll stay put, thanks!

mysteryUser

I've witnessed UW 'partners' promoting the offerings on Facebook. Looks like false advertising the things I've seen. When I pushed for actual unit rates on a particular post the poster removed the post.

I think there could be some sneaky people trying to cash in on commission.

Trynsave2

I switched to UW about three weeks ago onto v34 tariff. I read the negative reviews but decided that my budget was the driver, not fear. Not saying that others haven't experienced what they have, just that it doesn't necessarily follow that I will have a bad experience too and with bills on the rise my pocket spoke the loudest.
I did take 2 other services to fix the tariff. £18 boiler cover and £12 SIM. As I was already paying an out of contract £5pm, that meant an extra £25 m/£300pa. Had rates been set to stay at October's cap for 12 months, I calculated a £200 saving, but with two further increases predicted during the term I know that I'll be saving and I can benefit from the other services, almost as a freebie.
Horses for courses, but if certainty is what you need then think hard before you reject out of hand. People on here complain about all providers but you still have to pick one.

Shedman

Although there are 'partners' that gain referral fees from getting people to sign up to UW, you don't need to go that route and can get a quote directly from their website and its pretty easy to find out the actual tariff rates on there.  Its the way I went to join them a few months back (gas only plus mobile and broadband to get a good fixed deal with significantly lower SC as well)

Unlike EssexHebridean my experience with UW has been OK.  Had to phone in once to get my readings corrected as, despite the 'submit your meter readings page' saying that I didn't need to submit readings as I was on a smart meter, it turned out they weren't actually picking up the readings so were using estimates.  But that was dealt with promptly with the next bill showing the actual readings that I had submitted manually and surprisingly, as that put me into credit, they refunded the credit rather than just carry it forward to next bill (I'm on variable DD rather than fixed monthly).  The actual bill details are admittedly a bit sketchy but sufficient for purpose.   

When I joined they also had a scheme called Everyone Wins or suchlike whereby they would refund the difference between your old mobile & BB costs (if UW was higher) for a year so that help offset the cost of taking the additional services.  Not sure if they still do deals like that.   They also gave me a £30 service credit for some reason but I've no idea why as I didn't make any complaint but hey who doesn't like free money😅.

So I would say don't necessarily rule them out but just make sure you do the sums properly to account for the potential extra cost of the additional services you need to take on top of the energy vs the cost that you are/would pay for getting those services elsewhere.

Forever31

Up until recently, I was with UW.  I was on their SVR at the highest rate, and was not eligible for the fix or the lower rate SVR as I was only with UW for energy.  

I can't say I had any problems with them. 

Nonetheless, an offer to get on a one year fixed came up with a different provider so I jumped at the opportunity.  This fix has now been withdrawn though.

pochase

Trynsave2 said:

I switched to UW about three weeks ago onto v34 tariff. I read the negative reviews but decided that my budget was the driver, not fear. Not saying that others haven't experienced what they have, just that it doesn't necessarily follow that I will have a bad experience too and with bills on the rise my pocket spoke the loudest.
I did take 2 other services to fix the tariff. £18 boiler cover and £12 SIM. As I was already paying an out of contract £5pm, that meant an extra £25 m/£300pa. Had rates been set to stay at October's cap for 12 months, I calculated a £200 saving, but with two further increases predicted during the term I know that I'll be saving and I can benefit from the other services, almost as a freebie.
Horses for courses, but if certainty is what you need then think hard before you reject out of hand. People on here complain about all providers but you still have to pick one.

I assume you are an over average user.

I have done the calculation a while ago for somebody with less than average usage, and the additional £360 made it not a valid choice.

The more energy you use the more of a good choice UW becomes, even if you just but insurance and sim card in addition to an existing contract without any intention to use it.