Yes as others have notice. The problem starts with what they call broadcall. A service which was actually slower than my BT and Orange service and four times as expensive. I was told by the person who convinced me to move across (who I now know to be a salesperson) that they could get me faster broadband. I want away. I cannot get away because my number has been placed on a list that UTW has that stops other companies transferring it. The only solution is to have a new BT line installed (remember I came from BT to them). I have reminded UTW of their requirements under Condition 18 of the Porting Authority Codes, only to get the company line read to me. So forget the baloney about running out of numbers, out area codes changed from 01203 to 02476 to allow for that (Nice lady from BT confirms that they would only run out of numbers in 20 or so years and some service resellers move a customers number onto a block they bulk buy). I can get away from UTW, it means having to order another BT line, I will therefore lose telephone service (at least I have a mobile) and broadband for a few weeks. BT have also managed to find me one of those numbers that the UTW poster (please I did say if you are a covert UTW reseller/agent/evangelist, not to reply to my thread, unless you work in their ops centre and can move me) said were running out. As I said at the start, I have no problem with their gas and electric, I was not up to speed to see if they were cheaper, it was all about paying £25.00 for broadcall and for no real reason paying £4-6 per month for non inclusive calls that we never with BT. So we can get a much cheaper deal elsewhere.

Yes Surfer01, you have outed me, I am not a new poster as some of the "distributors" have claimed here, I registered a different log in so it did not cloud other posts that are non telecoms related. So here's where I am on it. I am sorry, but some of the posts on this thread have made me seethe with anger Clearly those with a vested interest have hijacked it and I kindly ask them from refraining to give me their "helpful" propaganda. You represent a company that has taken over a BT telephone number, I got some silent calls, I asked them to change the number as I had a worried wife and two children, they did. They did not tell me that they would then de-list the number so other providers could not transfer it, had they done so, I would have changed providers. So, getting back to it. I have phoned "we will answer your call in 3 seconds" UTW only to be told that sorry (clearly reading off a card) you want to leave, let me pass you to a technical expert who might be able to help. So I go through to to a chap called Kim there, who tells me that he can up my setting on my broadband, give it 24 hours, turn off my router, give it five then turn it on again and I will see instant results. So, there's me, me fell out of the tree yesterday doing it. Has it made a difference? Well the 45k speed check just done suggest not. I phone up the main head office number and get put through to a very nice and helpful lady in customer relations, in fact the manager! Well, I explain everything and ask them what gives them the right to unbundle my BT line only to be told that this is done by Opal Telecom who UTW buy off. (I have checked who they are and its the carphone warehouse). I said that is very nice, but unbundle my line, let me port my number elsewhere, give me my MAC code and I will B*gger off. "Sorry, we cannot do that", says the helpful lady. "What if I give you one month half price"? NO, I say in an irate voice, give me my number, my LLU, my MAC code and let me bu**er off. Sorry, you can cancel you will then have to get BT to install a new line if you want a land line and broad band. "Why"?, I said, " I am looking at the phone socket on the wall, are you coming to take it away, does BT have to install a new line, maybe a faster one than the one you provide"? "No" says the helpful customer service manager, "we de-list your number, that is why your area code has changed from 02476 to 02477". "So what are my options then, do I cancel now, order a new BT line" (I have checked with BT and you would not believe it, although we left without owning them a bean, we have to pay over £130 to have an imaginary line fitted. I say imaginary, because we will all pretend, the man from BT will pull a piece of copper wire from the local box to my house and connect to the BT phone plug socket I am looking at whilst talking to the UTW customers services manager)", "Yes you will have to because it is not our policy to de-listed, de-listed numbers in case our customers want to transfer to someone else". "Well, thank you C***l", I said, Joining UTW will now cost me around £130, plus the loss of broadband and phone for a few days and a lot of inconvenience, something, my now ex-friend never told me when they signed me up. So, to recap. I have cancelled with UTW, I have had to order a new BT line and go on a contract for 18 months, UTW have lost a customer, and a mean bugger who will now repay the lovely [problem] artists at UTW by the bucket load. Why, I am setting up a blog with all the key words, my web design knowledge will allow. It will document what a nice company it is, it will go head to head with those who claim the company is wonderful (oh, did I forget to mention I am a distributor), and it will replay the telephone conversation I had with the customer services manager at Utilities Warehouse. I am not going to give any more details away. They know who I am, my times tamp on the telephone to them on their system that records conversations is 19.07.10 @ 15.03 Live and learn UTW, take someone's rights away and see how they pay you back. Again, no more posts please from phoney distributors. I am very angry!

Hopefully I can get the answer here as when I Google it, I cannot get near an answer. A few years ago we had all our services with different providers. Our gas and electric with Scottish power, Telephone with BT and broadband with Orange. All were paid at differing times and we found that as all the people in our house have mobiles, we never really used the home phone. We were given a demonstration by a friend about the wonders of Utilities Warehouse. On the face of it we could save some money by combining all our services and going on their gold membership. Our first problem came from the broadband, with Orange we paid £5.99 a month and never had a problem. We never had fast speeds as we are so far from the exchange. But once we had UTW this dropped from 1meg to our current 100K. Basis services that the kids used such as BBC Iplayer became impossible. We never used the landline either so there was no change, where their combined phone and broadband package saved money, the cost of what little calls compared to BT’s meant the bill went up. Our gas and electric no different apart from having to ring in the readings every month compared to the quarterly bills. We received over a couple of week silent phone calls and asked UTW to change our number. They did this but even changed the area code, which caused no end of confusion as people thought we were giving out the wrong number to them. Anyway. As the broadband was so poor (just speed checked and was getting 125kps up and 50kps down) we thought £25 per month was not worth it. Orange have offered us a deal because all our mobiles are with them of home phone and internet for £7.99 a month, as saving of around £288 a year it made sense to change over. We contacted Orange to take up their offer only to be told that UTW had untagged our phone number which stopped other companies from transferring it. Orange said the only way we can could get around it was to cancel with UTW, get a BT line installed (remember we were with BT before we changed over to UTW), wait for the contract period to expire and then move over to them. All in, a process that could take over a year. UTW said that they do not have to allow our transfer out to another service provider as they own the line. This is something I cannot understand at all. We were with BT to start with, when we moved to UTW our number stayed the same. UTW have also said that our broadband would be cancelled too. Does anyone know enough to help out. What can I do without having to have BT install a new line (technically flipping a switch). How can Utilities Warehouse do this to customers? It have got our backs up so much we want to move all our services away from them. I am also disabled and stuck in the house (I know this has nothing to do with UTW), but losing service for even a few days would have an effect on my ability to communicate with the outside world. Any help or advice given would be appreciated. Thanks Jon