utility warehouse

[shining Light]

Hi Nevos. Regarding your points/questions.

 

Firstly, almost no distributor is going to sign up customers for gas/electric only, it isn't worth it and the customer does benefit more when taking telephony & energy. As has been said before, UW are not an energy company but a multi-services company. Commission depends on a couple of things but the average customer would generally = £3.50 - 4.00pm. Sometimes more, sometimes less.

 

also, how do you explain the catch up bill situation to prospects?, most folks are on a monthly plan where you pay a fixed price per month based on your average bills..our catch up bill was £ 450..

I presume you mean when a customer gets into debt? If so, it isn't a problem I have ever really had because I recommend to all my customers that they send in a monthly meter reading and either check their bill each month to check for a build-up of credit/debit or they pay off in full each month based on the reading.

 

UW opportunity is very much the same as any other MLM it's fantastic for those who got in early..established a good downline, I do know some make a lot of money per month one guy told me he makes 66K

You are partly right for those who built up a big team which is continuing to grow. (The biggest earner is on £75K+) however...there are many who have joined in recent years who are also building up a good business/income too. The market is huge.

 

I have to think of it like this..if one supplier were better than the other then everyone would want to switch right?

I think you could compare it any other business. Supermarkets for example. From Tesco/Sainsburys to Waitrose/M&S ...all provide food etc and some are more expensive than others however, all continue to attract new and existing customers. It is the same for all types of business, rarely is there one company who stand out in all areas above the rest.

 

UW provide some great services/prices and generally great customer services (but as we know problems do occur). It suits some, it doesn't suit some, that's the way it is.

[watchinginvestigation2011]

UW are not transparent on energy sites as people would avoid straight away due to them not being able to force a cheesy rep down your throat or a poss family/friend member you may fall out with when your catch up bill arrives!!!!!!

[shining Light]

UW are not transparent on energy sites

No, they are just not on the sites!

 

not being able to force a cheesy rep down your throat

Here we go again. All UW reps are "cheesy" "liars" "not to be trusted" bla bla bla...............I can assure you I am none of these and the majority of Distributors I know also don't fall into these catagories either, in fact many are intelligent, professional people including Police, Vets, Teachers etc.

The important thing is that they have chosen, after careful consideration i'm sure, to do something which they see as being of benefit to them. Better to try than to just constantly knock these things, saying they don't work and trying to get everyone else into the same negative mindset.

 

I get it that you don't think they are a good company and the business doesn't work, you are entitled to your opinion which I assume is based on experience and I respect that opinion.

[Ishi]

I've been a customer of UW for over 2 years, and I use all of their services. I think they are brilliant!

[ex utility warehouse dist]

No, they are just not on the sites!

 

 

Here we go again. All UW reps are "cheesy" "liars" "not to be trusted" bla bla bla...............I can assure you I am none of these and the majority of Distributors I know also don't fall into these catagories either, in fact many are intelligent, professional people including Police, Vets, Teachers etc.

The important thing is that they have chosen, after careful consideration i'm sure, to do something which they see as being of benefit to them. Better to try than to just constantly knock these things, saying they don't work and trying to get everyone else into the same negative mindset.

 

I get it that you don't think they are a good company and the business doesn't work, you are entitled to your opinion which I assume is based on experience and I respect that opinion.

how can some of their distributers be policemen - its an offence for a policeman to have any other form of paid employment, my brother is a MIT officer and he would like to know of any officers working as distributers for utility warehouse

[nevos]

Well, I've just had yet another run in with them over a mobile phone account..

 

Unfortunately, when we tried to extract ourselves from Utility Warehouse one mobile was on contract, after years of asking them to block internet access they finally did..this kept the bill under control at less than £50 a month however, in Jan & Feb this year..they landed us with a bill for £400...for guess what..Internet use and termination fee..

 

I agree that many distributors are honest people trying to make a crust but, what appears to be good value on the face of it often turns out to be far more expensive than other mobile providors..

 

I would advise anyone who needs to request anything from UW that you do it in writing and send it recorded delivery..

 

When we had gas/electric with them, last year they sent a huge bill, we asked what it was for, when we broke it down they were trying to charge us 1 month ahead of the billing schedule..

 

Definately do not let them have your debit card or a direct debit..

 

If they have your debit card then, cancel it with your bank and get a new one..

 

As I've stated above in another post, last year they cleaned my wifes bank account out, so much so we missed a mortgage payment..

 

If anyone thinks I'm making this up then, I'm more than happy to post all the communication with these people here..

 

IMO AVOID THEM..

[MadKit]

No matter what anyone may say on this particular thread, if you are not involved with UW, don't get involved with them. I speak as one with a lot of experience and a lot of debt I am still trying to pay off. My bills are still over £300 per month and that doesn't even include the debt I'm paying off (which by the way, appeared out of nowhere after I settled the "final" bill). I will be taking them to court for a number of very serious issues so won't elaborate on an open forum except to say, please please do not ever go with this company.

 

Madder than ever MadKit

[45002]

Blimey,is this old chestnut of a thread still going !

 

What ever happened to UW greatest supporter shining Light

 

lol

[MadKit]

LOL 45002, do you think the Shining Light has finally seen the light or simply gone out?

[Bang!]

They recently took flack from the ASA on their mobile and broadband pricing claims.

 

http://www.asa.org.uk/ASA-action/Adjudications/2012/5/Telecom-Plus-plc/SHP_ADJ_186418.aspx

 

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2012/05/asa-uk-ban-utility-warehouse-ad-for-cheapest-broadband-bundle-claim.html

[MadKit]

I'm not surprised.

 

 

Assessment - Upheld

 

The ASA noted the "UK's cheapest" claims were intended to relate to the price

promise, under which it was guaranteed that consumers would save money or

receive double the difference back. We considered, however, the claims were

likely to be interpreted as being lowest price claims, rather than as relating

only to a price promise. We noted that if marketers claimed to always offer the

lowest prices, or if prices changed so frequently the claim was likely to be

inaccurate by the time it appeared, they should use a price monitoring and

adjustment policy to ensure the claims could be supported. We considered a

price promise did not justify a lowest price claim in the absence of an

adequate monitoring and adjustment policy and noted advertisers should be in a

position to substantiate lowest price claims. We noted we had not seen any

evidence that The Utility Warehouse always offered the "UK's cheapest" tariffs

and therefore concluded that the ad breached the Code.

 

The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.7

(Substantiation) and 3.38 (Other comparisons).

 

Action

 

The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told The Utility

Warehouse not to make lowest price claims in future, unless they were in a

position to substantiate them.

 

 

MadKit

[nps14]

Hi all,

 

found this forum after paying a whopping ridiculous bill today for gas/elec bill.

i had been trying to contact them all last week, but their lines were unavailable, so i sent them an email on 10, then 12 july but they finally contacted me on my mobile at 15.06 today and as i was at work at 15.09 they sent me an email saying that they had referred my account to debt collection agency because i had continuously been unavailable!!!

they are an unbelievable rude, and bullying natured company.

there must be something we can do as a collective...?

has anyone actually contacted watchdog? or would be willing to make a group contact to substantiate all our experiences

[MadKit]

nps14, Watchdog is a good idea. I don't know how many people would be interested in a group attack but count me in.

 

MadKit

[shining Light]

Didn't realise I would be missed. To be honest I have been very busy with other more important things so haven't looked at this forum for a very long time.

 

Am sitting here in the sun with friends having a drink by the sea, so much better and more interesting.

[djessup]

Hi, I am in process of leaving UW as both a Distributor and Customer, after only one month: Long story, but I really hope it will help prevent others from getting involved! Please read on, if you value your sanity!........

 

Firstly, I would just like to say that I am normally a sharp tool in the box and very rarely get caught out by bad deals. However, after this experience, I am not quite sure if I am of sound mind anymore!......I shall explain.

I was approached by reps from Utility Warehouse (UW) and invited to attend a local seminar – which I did. If anyone has experienced one of their seminars, then you will recognise this! Long term customers standing up and stating how many times they have had the Porsche, and whether they have a Mini; how many customers they have. Everything sounded great – reduced bills, better value for money – all on one monthly bill. Not only that, but if I took out four services I was entitled to more discounts and a cash back card. Being a sceptical and pessimistic person, I remembered those words ‘too good to be true’, but I read the paperwork I had, in detail, and could find no reason that this was a bad deal. I was then informed about the Distributor side and how much money I could make selling the service to other ‘unsuspecting’ customers. Great, I thought, and signed up. I was told that I only need to give around 2 hours per week of my time to get things going, so I saw no reason not to do this around my current lifestyle.

Now, this is where things start to go pear shaped......

Distributor:

Within a week, I received my pack explaining everything I had to do, it was a large pack, with soooo much information, I could not take it all in. I signed up to the online courses and completed them quite quickly and easily. However, more and more letters and paperwork kept coming through the post and I just did not know whether I was coming or going. My Rep tried to contact me several times, but due to my already busy lifestyle I could not find the time to ring back. She gave up ringing in the end! The Cash back card arrives, and reading though, I realise that things are not as they seem. The card works by crediting it from your bank account, and then using it in high street shops instead of cash, thereby generating a saving from the store. Sounds good? Then you find out that for every top up from your account, you are charged £1.50. Thats ok, but then you work out that you are not actually saving that much, if anything when used in the shops. I decided there and then to cancel the subscription and forget about becoming a distributor. I send a letter as requested (still in my 3 month period, so I am entitled to a 75% refund of my fee). The letter is ‘lost in the post’ – how convenient. I have now emailed it to them, which to be honest they have confirmed. Not got my money back, yet though – two weeks, now.

Alarm bells start ringing.

Customer:

Again with the unbelievable amount of paperwork – I think that every extra tree that Andrex plant, (UW) cut down!

My phone and broadband transfers over – as I am promised a saving of nearly £10 per month for the same service. My Broadband is noticeably slower (56k would be faster), and I now cannot send emails. Apparently I have done something? Oh, that would be the resident fairy, or poltergeist or, well....you get the idea. I am treated like an idiot when I phone then and asked stupid questions like, “is your PC switched on?” and “is your phone line plugged in?”, really basic stuff that my 2yr old son would check!

I get a letter telling me my Broadband and Phone is confirmed with (UW), but wait, I then get a bill from my previous provider. I contact them to discover I am still connected and live! Despite being told that I cannot be connected to more than one provider, it appears that I am. UW, after initially very willingly agreeing to contact my previous provider to move over, were now telling me it was my problem to sort? But, am I not the customer? My previous provider (Orange), were very helpful and because of this I decided to move back to Orange. It now appears I can’t just ‘switch’ because UW have changed the format of my line! I now need an engineer’s appointment and a new phone number to get out of their contract. Not very customer friendly, UW!

My first all-in-one bill turned up yesterday..........Deep joy.

Gas/Electric for 10 days had been calculated to be £68!!!! Eh? It’s lovely and warm and I have not even had the heating on for the last three months! My phone and broadband was calculated at only £2 less than I had with Orange....but they then added VAT onto it all, giving me a bill of over £100 for less than one month’s service! I have still yet to pay Orange on top of this.

 

What I am finding, is that on the face of it – UW looks incredibly good value. But, when you find that they have ‘forgotten’ to tell you the details, like plus VAT, and additional extras (that other providers include) cost extra, the costs start mounting and you will actually pay more overall for, what is in my view, a worse service. Even if I want a smart phone – the package deal looks great, but when you start looking into what you get and that things like insurance, handset price, connection etc are all charged on top – it’s cheaper to search elsewhere. Oh, on another point, you are offered up to £200 to get out of an existing Phone contract. However, what you are not told is that you pay for it, then send disconnection confirmation letter to UW head office, who will then credit your next utility bill. So, why don’t I just pay £200 towards the bill then, as I am not desperate to spend more money on an inferior contract? I would probably end up with two contracts running anyway, lol!

Others may have a very different outlook on UW, but I can’t say I have found anything remotely convincing to make me want to continue with the service, and I have now asked for all my services to be moved to different providers.......at a cost of £10 for each termination, of course. I have morals, and even if the distributor side was good, I would never be able to sell this complicated, overpriced headache to anyone. Steer well clear, I say! If you see a pink piggy moneybox coming your way, hide!

What I have also noticed is that UW are always saying “look how many customers we have – now 440,000”. I wonder how many have cancelled and gone somewhere else??????? They don’t tell you that!

You have been warned – enter into one of their extensive, expensive agreements at your own risk!

Edited July 21, 2012 by djessup

[45002]

Didn't realise I would be missed. To be honest I have been very busy with other more important things so haven't looked at this forum for a very long time.

 

Am sitting here in the sun with friends having a drink by the sea, so much better and more interesting.

 

Your Back

 

Enjoy the sun while it last

 

45002

[emarieb]

Utility warehouse have done nothing but punish me for a previous persons debt and given me a £1000 bill which is £600 in legal fees! They are ridiculous, unhelpful and rude right up until I mentioned taking them to court for the £600 when its all nice!

 

Cowboys is all I can say, I have been a customer of EDF, NPOWER and British gas- never any issues even when I went through a rough patch with money and got into debt with npower they were always helpful never rude to me at all and didnt put on a ridiculous amount of money on there in 'fees'

[djessup]

In addition to above, I am currently getting 1.45gb speed on my Internet connection, and I am unable to send emails. Their technical support is, well, er not......supporting? They recon I am getting 14gb/s. I have checked and re-checked everything. This only happened when I changed provider.

I received a "sorry your leaving us" letter today for Gas.......I had one yesterday for Elec, and one the day before for Broadband/phone! I thought everything was on one 'convenient' bill?

 

I would also like to know how they can take money off my Credit card without them having the details? I have only ever given them my Debit card details - and that was a mistake!

 

Going with UW was a very big mistake. I really should have taken more time to read more threads, and learn a bit more. However, nothing can really prepare you, until you try for yourself. I am just glad I have got out now.

 

Please remember, this is only my account of my experiences, and I want to make others aware of what can happen. I am not saying dont try it, just be careful, thorough, and make sure you do get what you pay for!

 

 

"The one thing that makes us all the same, is that we are all different!" unknown.

[dx100uk]

god i wish i had a 1.5gb line...............

 

 

dx

[djessup]

Yeah...my bad......I meant 1.5mb/s...lol!

[olivia222]

I had problem with them too so I I used Tower Utility to compare prices. At first I thought that there is no way to find good deal on a website which compare suppliers but now my bills are lower.

[MRSG81]

All

I have been with the UW since 2007 and I can tell you this is not by choice.

 

Bill after bill was horrendously huge,

firstly a £300 bill because I hadnt been (so say) providing accurate meter readings,

 

then I had an £800 bill 8 mths later for the same thing having just about finished repaying the last bill in installments

whilst going through the global crisis and suffering a redundancy.

The added stress and impolite customer service eejits were nearly the death of me!

 

Then a year passed and I received yet another bill for over a £1k. Melt down.

They applied for a court order to turn off my supply and install pre payment meters..

.all of course I brought on myself for apparently not being able to manage my finances.

 

I attempted to leave them and was accused of being a thief whilst laughed at down the phone for the "pathetic" situation I had now found myself in.

I've never had such awful abuse by anyone in any company as I received by UW

who were taking so much money from me a week on the meters we spent the winter with no hot water in candle light

and woolly jumpers by the coal fire.

Great Christmas we had that year - not!

 

I did of course contact the CAB who were horrified by our situation but felt unable to assist based on the fact that

UW ARE NOT A PART OF THE BIG 6 AND ARE THEREFORE A LAW UNTO THEMSELVES.

 

I put this in capitals because its a fact not my opinion and a very important fact too.

 

Ofcom were helpful and investigated what UW had done,

how I'd been treated as a customer and

how much UW were taking from me but remember

- AS UW ARE NOT A PART OF THE BIG 6 THEY ARE A LAW UNTO THEMSELVES

which meant any good deed or apology I received wasnt obligatory what so ever and

 

now all these years on I'm on my last week of paying the £2k off (split between my gas and electric meters). Hooray I hear you say

- not quite...

 

.I'm now stuck on prepayment meters.

Easy to be installed, a sod to get rid of and yes I own my home

I'm not a tenant or on the council...etc etc and yes I have written to Watchdog

- twice and they did naff all!

Oh and because I dont have children and I work full time I'm apparently not a priority either!

Roll eyes, sigh and shrug!

 

Lesson learnt - dont go with UW

- ITS THE EQUIVILANT OF SELLING YOUR SOUL TO THE DEVIL!

[45002]

Paging Shining Light:whoo: