utility warehouse

[shining Light]

Surfer01, contrary to what you obviously think, I do have a life and I have better things to do than trying to get people onto this forum to praise UW. I am an honest person (please don't judge others by your own standards), and don't need to resort to such tactics.

 

Only 3 of my customers have ever had a problem with UW during the past 7 years and only one wasn't resolved quickly and to the satisfaction of the customer or mine. However, after one phone call I was able to resolve his issues.

 

You don't like UW, fine! Personally I think they are a great company.

[Surfer01]

Surfer01, contrary to what you obviously think, I do have a life and I have better things to do than trying to get people onto this forum to praise UW. I am an honest person (please don't judge others by your own standards), and don't need to resort to such tactics.

 

Only 3 of my customers have ever had a problem with UW during the past 7 years and only one wasn't resolved quickly and to the satisfaction of the customer or mine. However, after one phone call I was able to resolve his issues.

 

You don't like UW, fine! Personally I think they are a great company.

Apologies there was supposed to have a smiley after my comment but it disappeared.

[shining Light]

Hi Surfer01, no problem.

[graemecox]

What a bunch of cynical fools you are! Yes I am a distributor, yes I am a customer and yes I have built a huge income through UW that grows every day. I need never work again, and all through saving people money on their essential services You seem to think you can speak for every one of our 356000 customers. Not another troll, just someone who was very pleased he found the UW opportunity when he did. All you cycnics out there can carry on with your mundane jobs, retire at 65 and see your income cut to a third. I have my feet up at the age of 37.

[Surfer01]

So you come onto this forum pretending to be a customer, but in essence you are a distributor for UW. That is why you are thought of as a troll. At least Shining Light let us know straight away who she was and for whom she worked.

[shining Light]

So you come onto this forum pretending to be a customer,

 

To be fair, didn't Graemecox say on his first post that he was earning an income from the business? Anyway, the fact is UW do provide a great service for the most part, I still have customers who have been with them for between 5 and 7 years so they must be doing something right.

[upseydaisy:)]

Ive been reading these utility forums for some time and have also how it often turns out how these super supportive to extent of annoyed at a poster questioning the company or their post is a distributor. I mean how many distributors does one company need? Feels to me like a pyramid scheme which filters through, but to feed all those involved it must mean the costs are higher than what could be got elsewhere.

 

I was approached by uw to join. I was told how they were cheaper than the others and it sounded good, when I asked for the basics rather than the selling pitch which did go on, she kept replying like a politician telling the positives and what could be achieved, without the answer to the question I was asking. Turned out they were more expensive than my supplier, could not compete with the broadband and phone package I am on and even as a package would not have been cheaper than what I am paying.

 

I asked politely why they couldnt have just given me the facts and prices first as felt they had been trying to more brainwash me about what I could earn as a distributor and representative became agitated and thats as far as I got !!!!!

 

All of the companies are seen on these boards for one reason or another and they cant please all, but I have yet to find a more argued topic on the utility boards than the subject of UW and frustrated distributors arguing with original posts. It feels as if the secret police are questioning an op for questioning the tactics or pricing or even when a customer of uw has decided they may have been misled as in not got what they thought they had been sold or queries large bills at some point rather than monthly expected ammount, then they feel to me as harassed by a few of regular posters who are admitted distributors who it turns out are not in any authority to do anything to resolve the ops query in that they have to go to head office or original rep.

 

I am a lurker on various boards and notice how after some comments are posted there seems in some company cases to find a tiraid of newbie posters posting how happy they are and that they cant understand the previous review. Some can be real but a lot have same typo, manner, even down to the way the username chosen is typed at the bottom. They are so noticable and appear desperate to disprove any review they are not happy with.

 

Some posts on here regarding uw remind me of that in that a newbie arrives, one or two posts, a bit like me and talks of how happy they are, again some could be genuine, but the mannerisms and proximity look suspicious and low and behold they turn out often to be distributors, who have a right to post, but have an interest to post I feel as in money earnt. Therefore biased.

 

 

Good luck to UW I say but in that I add as long as you help your customers who are unhappy, where are the threads where an issue is resolved to alls sattisfaction? Ive had a good nose and would love to be directed to one if I am wrong.

 

Just my opinion of course and unbiased

Edited December 23, 2010 by upseydaisy:)
spelling mistakes

[shining Light]

Hi upseydaisy, firstly, I am a distributor and have never said otherwise, just so you know. Regarding your comments I would just like to say a few things as I see them.

 

I agree that at times a new member may come onto the forum saying they are a happy customer and not owning up to the fact they are a distributor...it does happen I am sure but equally, I bet a few of them are genuine and yet they are always accused of being distributors.

 

UW is a very talked about subject but if you look at everything as a whole, 95% of the posts are really nothing more than comments relating to the above, with only a few posts being actual problems etc. The business is operated differently to the norm which is probably why it is a very contentious subject but the company still provides great services in general.

 

Feels to me like a pyramid scheme which filters through, but to feed all those involved it must mean the costs are higher than what could be got elsewhere.

NO! It is not a pyramid scheme it is MLM (there is a difference!). Also, you are forgetting some obvious points here. Consider how the majority of other companies operate.

- Thousands of staff to pay regardless of what they actually do or don't do whilst at work.

- Advertising: Millions of pounds paid out every year.

- Company vehicles.

- Pensions to pay out.

- Company contributions for tax etc.

 

UW don't have any of the above except for a small core of employed staff at their London based HQ/call centre.

Regarding all the above, Who do you think pays for it?

 

Regarding the services provided by UW, firstly I would just like to say they are not an energy company and I would never take on an "energy only" customer, however, with everything else they offer you can get a great deal. On average, I pay only about £5 pm for my line rental, broadband and all my calls. So what if I could save £5 or even £10 pm on my energy, I still have a great deal overall and don't have loads of different bills coming in. And as for their new mobile packages, they are fantastic too.

Each to their own, some don't like UW.......some do, it is the same for all companies out there.

 

UW aren't perfect (no company is) but I can understand why distributors might want to defend the company when some comments on this forum are misleading, and sometimes completely wrong. I don't know what you do for a living but if you ran your own business and heard or read misleading comments about it, i'd bet my last penny you would defend it!

 

Unfortunately when things are going well the majority of people don't bother to comment which is a shame but only a couple of months ago a new elderly customer of mine said the following ..."I had problems with setting up the internet but the lad I spoke to in customer services was very helpful. He said he was due to go home in 10 minute but he actually spent nearly 35 minutes talking me through everything and now it is working perfectly" She was Very Pleased and even said she would have no hesitation in recommending the company to others.

If customers like her were to put their thoughts on forums like this it would be great, but they don't generally do so and even if they did, they would probably be accused of being a distributor.

[nevos]

Hi All,

 

Have not been on the forum for some time and pleased to see it is still going well..

 

I have been both Utility Warehouse distributer and customer in fact, in the early days I thought it was a great organisation however, after two years experience I'm sad to say it is a nightmare...

 

Here are my reasons:-

 

1) When you change supplier you will probably get a huge catch up bill depending when you switch.

 

2) You will get one convenient bill for everything but, thier billing structure is fixed so if your bill is due at the same time your mortgage is due then bang, your bank account will be taken by storm..

 

3) If you request a tarrif change it will take them 1 month to action your request..they keep all notes on thier computers from your calls however, if your bill is not bang up to date then, they simply don't bother changing your tarrif..very convenient for them...

 

4) WHEN YOU SIGN UTILITY WAREHOUSE AGREEMENTS YOU ARE ASKED FOR A DEBIT CARD SO THEY CAN DEDUCT THE MEMBERSHIP FEES - IF YOU READ THE SMALL PRINT - THEY CAN AT WILL TAKE PAYMENTS FROM YOUR DEBIT CARD AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT - YOU AGREED TO THIS. (Bolded as i see it as being important).

 

5) Thier mobile phones have to be the most expensive plans on the planet just compare them to others available.

 

6) To all intents and purposes they are simply middle men distributing the savings to yep, the distributors.

 

We have been trying to change the trriffs since last October and even the bills are up to date they are ignoring our requests.This is because my wife uses her blackberry for work and is spending 300 a month with them...

 

My daughter was sitting next to me when I called UW to change her blackberry tariff, I told her OK all done from 1st November you will get unlimited text ( fair use accepted)...Her November bill was over 100 just for texts...

 

So, here we are after Xmas with gas, electric and mobile phone bills totalling 564...yesterday, they used my wifes debit card details and paid themselves without our knowledge because, they kept the details on record from way back...this has wiped my wifes bank account and bounced the mortgage..

 

We installed Utility Warehouse Broadband Internet for my Mum she is 84 bless her though, she is definately a full shilling...her modem is going on and off constantly..I unplugged the router and direct connected the modem to her new HP laptop..same thing..it's total rubbish plus, if you ever go over your quota brace yourself for a huge bill...

 

As a distributor I have sold to a few customers however, hand on heart I had to stop because, I do not believe the service has any benefit to the customer apart from all in one big bills...

 

I would add that thier customer service operators have been duplicitous to say the least though, they simply follow procedures as laid down by the directors..in the same way..you can't blame a flight delauy on the cabin staff...

 

We are busy now trying to get out from under and, we as a family would never recommend Utility Warehouse...

[shining Light]

nevos, sorry to hear you are no longer happy with UW, it isn't for everyone.

 

Yes, you are correct in that the monthly bill is paid around about the 28th of each month.

 

I'm surprised to hear about the broadband problems though, UW have always rated very highly for their broadband. Personally, i've never had a problem with it and every one of my customers I have spoken to has been more than happy. I am no internet expert but if you hard wired the computer and still had a problem then perhaps it hasn't been set up correctly, did she/you contact the technical dept to try to resolve the problem?

 

As for the extra costs for going over the limit, 40GB is a massive limit (bigger than most suppliers) if that is being exceeded it can only be down to a huge amounts of downloads each month.

 

Thier mobile phones have to be the most expensive plans on the planet just compare them to others available.

 

I can only think that you haven't looked at their lastest packages? eg Transferring your existing phone to UW, paying just £10pm you get 500 minutes xnet + unlimited texts, £20pm = unlimited xnet + unlimited texts.

Far from being "the most expensive plans on the planet" I have struggled to find any cheaper!

[nevos]

shininglight:-

 

I can only think that you haven't looked at their lastest packages? eg Transferring your existing phone to UW, paying just £10pm you get 500 minutes xnet + unlimited texts, £20pm = unlimited xnet + unlimited texts.

Far from being "the most expensive plans on the planet" I have struggled to find any cheaper!

 

Well, you are 100% right about that because, I asked them in October:

 

If you have much better packages available then, why have you never contacted your customers and made them aware of the fact?

 

Answer: We have just produced a newsletter..I said great..first time in our 2 years of being members of the club that shares the savings...

 

Utilities Warehouse Broadband - poor service

 

My father recently signed up to the Utility Warehouse broadband service. The only problem is, it isn't broadband. It's just dial up with a fancy name and a fancy price!

 

At the week-end I was helping him to update some software when I noticed that the connection speed was just 56k - bear in mind Broadband is defined as 512k or faster.

 

Utility Warehouse state on their site that they offer up to 8 Mbps broadband.

 

Just how did they manage to go from upto 8 Mbps to just 56k?

 

When we complained they just referred to the distance from the exchange and politely pointed out that the best that we could expect is 450k - so they know where the exchange is, they know where the customers house is, they know they best speed possible (when no-one else is on the line) and yet they still took a contract.

 

Please can you give me your best advice as to how to resolve this example of rip-off Britain!

 

best regards

 

Original Post

 

I'm full time on line for the past 3 years, own 140 websites and I will make it my lifes work to take chunks out of UW..thats how badly I feel about them..sorry.

 

So Mr Widoger watch out....

[shining Light]

own 140 websites and I will make it my lifes work to take chunks out of UW.

 

You aren't the forgive and forget type then?

 

As an ex-distributor you are aware that new services etc are usually notified on the customers bill, and these new tariffs have only very recently been released.

 

 

Utility Warehouse state on their site that they offer up to 8 Mbps broadband.

 

In most areas its actually 24MB. But it does depend on the distance from the exchange and the quality of the line. It is the same for most of the companies unfortunately. The good thing with UW is that a customer can cancel most services for £10 which is a whole lot cheaper than pretty much every other company.

 

UW aren't perfect, who is? But overall I think they do provide a great package for the majority (but obviously not everybody).

[MadKit]

Nevos, at last! Every word you have written strikes a chord, I am with you 100% of the way and if you need any assistance on this or any other of the 140 sites taking chunks out of what must be the most disreputable company on this planet, let me know.

 

MadKit

[nevos]

Hey Madkit..let's get started...

 

Here are the offending Utility Warehouse Terms & Conditions residential application form:-

 

 

Not only will they grab any credit card,debit card or charge card..you will get 6 quid added to your bill and lose your benefits in terms of calls etc...

 

You can not sign up for a mobile phone or the close to useless cash back card without giving them your debit or credit card details...

 

So anyone reading this: First ask Utility Warehouse which card they have on record or check your application form then, call the card issuer and tell them your card is borken, lost or defaced and you urgently need a new card....

 

For now we have solved the problem by first pulling off our gas and electric supply to another providor after all Utility Warehouse simpl buy from N Power and resell it...

 

We also have got some 3 (Three.co.uk) sim cards it's that cheap we gave one to each of our kids because 3 to 3 is FREE........Plus if you top up on line you get FREE Internet double FREE Texts and a lot more...

 

It took us about 4 minutes to set up the online top up! we can see the balance and everything...wife has used hers for a week..she started at 10 pounds and she has only used 94p whereas, her bill with Utility Warehouse is over 200 a month...

 

So, I'm glad to have found this thread on such a good quality forum thanks to the original poster...

 

Shininglight...looking forward to your reply?

 

We don't take prisoners lol...

Edited January 12, 2011 by nevos

[judgejudy2011]

I noticed also another big name forum beginning with M is struggling to find positive posters of UW who are not agents. Normally starts happy etc....and cant understand how a poster is unhappy as not experienced it and later posts they are an agent also.

 

Are the majority off UW customers agents? or are they the only ones happy enough to post on such forums?

 

Yet to find a post re this company without a rep feeling the need to fight any mention of a customer being unhappy, just an observations which I am sure people easily notice. Makes me think barge pole and not touching.

[nevos]

judgejudy:

 

Yes, your right on the money there...lol

 

It costs about 200 to get started then, it goes like this..

 

Sign yourself up and as many family and friends as possible because, you don't get paid anything until you have 6 customers in tow...you have to go to a ra ra ra meeting and take as many unsuspecting contacts along with you...

 

I do know quite a few execs who have made it big time...this usually happens with MLM if your in at the ground level...

 

Yes, you will find a lot fighting the bad publicity on forums etc but, eventually as one or two folk chime in they kind of vanish...

 

I would coin the phrase "bunch of Spivs" if it still has meaning...8)

[judgejudy2011]

[shining Light]

I noticed also another big name forum beginning with M is struggling to find positive posters of UW

 

Yep! And every other company out there too. UW do not have the monopoly. I have rarely read anything positive about any company on these forums, people only come on when they have a problem.

[judgejudy2011]

Odd Ive read on threads how some posters input they are happy with their choice in response to you saying this before.

 

I agree people come here to ask for advice mostly, but on other threads it is possible to read a solution has occured wether op happy or not, Ive never read a UW thread where a solution has occured either way and when you see a op has been asked to update, the ones who come back are still unhappy with UW:wink:

[Piggybilling]

You also have to look at it from the other side, As some people are bad customers.

Who hate paying any bills, and would moan at any company.

[littleun]

Hi everyone, newbie jus joined up to recall my receny experience with Utility Warehouse. I recently signed up 2 the value max mobile phone package which has unlimited minutes and texts. The meaning of unlimited is defined by the following: Having no restrictions or controls, having or seeming to have no boundaries.

I signed up for four sim only deals for myself n family. I started to have problems from the moment the sims were activated, one of the sims kept disconnecting continuously while on a call, so i perservered a little only for a txt message to be received stating that i was near the end of my free minutes.

So i contacted my agent as well as customer services to resolve the issue, i was told that it was a technical error and that i had unlimited calls n txts.

After only 22 days the same sim that i was having the initial problems with gave a message when trying to dial that we had exceeded our minutes so calls were barred until such a time that i could contact customer services.

So again i contacted my agent and customer services, only to be told that there was a fair usage policy on the tarrif of 3000mins, do bear in mind that i also had unlimited txts of which only 2 were sent.

The agent apolagised saying he was not aware of this when he sold me the plan and because this new sim deal had been rolled out quickly that he had not been on a course explaining all this which usually would be normal practice.

I told my agent that trading standards as well as the advertising agency would be very interested as the advertising(leaflets distributed) were misleading. The reason i say this is because on the leaflets it shows all the three available tariffs for the mobile phone, 2 of them state how many minutes are included in the package, the 3rd one just says unlimited txts and calls...... nothing in small print etc written about a fair usage policy of 3000 minutes.

My agent rang customer services and was told that the fair usage policy is stated in small print, which i simply can not find in the paperwork provided to me by utility warehouse or on the original leaflets shown to me although i can say since friday the agent has started writting this in now with a pen!!!

I phoned customer services as all my sims had suddenly been barred after i told my agent that i would be taking the complaint further. The representative i spoke to told me he did not know why a Manual Bar had been put on my other 3 sims. I questioned him if it had anything to do with me taking my complaint further i was told he did not know.

I was told that the reason the sims had been barred later on was in fact because they wanted me to pay the monies for the sim that had reached 3000 minutes before the service to the other sims could be reconnected. Now payment is taken at the end of the month and i asked if i would be sitting down twiddling my thumbs till the end of the month(17 days) when money would be taken out, what about my loss of service!!!

I was told there was nothing they could do until payment was taken at the end of the month. So i phoned my bank up and cancelled the DD and also changed all my details. Now when utility warehouse set up a new DD i will be informed and i can decline which i most certainly wii. I have explained to the agent who signed me up that i will wait for a correct calculation of 22 days service and pay him directly in cash. The reasoning behind this is that when i asked customer services if i could cancel which i may well do i was told i still had to pay a month upfront ( upto the end of march) as it was in the agreement. So utility Warehouse are quite calm in touting their small print but are absolutely pathetic in customer services and this is coming from someone who has been training people in customer service skills for years.

As for what happens next, the agent is trying to bring it to the attention of staff higher up in ranking. Do i expect fairness only time will tell as miracles do happen....lol

[Piggybilling]

I'm A distributor for the Utility Warehouse, And I agree with you.

That some of the customer service is shocking!

 

They incorrectly billed me twice, as I changed bank accounts.

Instead of checking their own records the wanted me to send in my banks statements.

I tried to speak with someone higher up, But I'm still waiting for the callback.

 

Overall, I find the Utility Warehouse can be a good option.

The trouble is they seem to think they are Gods gift to Utilities.

I think the main problem is poor training of new Distributors.

Or Distributors/Agents who get a big head because they have a high number of customers.

They are also pushing heavily to get new distributors(to expand), Which I disagree with.

 

As a distributor for the Utility Warehouse myself, I'd rather concentrate on customers,needs,expectations,feedback,etc

Than trying to recruit new Distributors, As it's basically a sales role, In the much disputed Utility Markets!.

[Piggybilling]

Looks like the U.W agent rushed the sale.

 

I would have cancelled the D.D myself.

 

You should hopefully get it sorted out within a couple of weeks,

Most of the time waiting is due to data being updated on computer systems.

 

Will be interesting to see what happens next.

[Piggybilling]

The Utility Warehouse does have some customer service issues.

I believe it is mainly because they are based in London.

 

In the sense that it's a bit of a Rat Race vibe, and they tend to get stressed too.

[littleun]

Thanks for ur comments piggybilling it is appreciated. The agent that i signed up with is a very nice man with a very calmimg manner and he did not pressure or push me into anything. In fact trying to deal with this sad situation even he is annoyed as he has worked with the company for many years and is the most down to earth gentleman that you could meet. As for utility warehouse they have been promising to phone me but as yet no calls, getting no where fast just yet, no services since last friday!