Utility Warehouse

Author
Discussion

pistonlager

Original Poster:

710 posts

195 months

Monday 31st May 2010
quotequote all
I was approached by a work colleague to join the Utility Warehouse.
I'd never heard of them before but he showed me all the info,
'which' rating , ftse listing, great savings on the cash back card, blah, blah, blah.
My work buddy gave me his UW card and said all communication
has to go through him as he is an agent that earns a commission.

Being a sceptical person I checked out their website, but no contact details were listed.
Say there was a problem with your account or you fell out with the agent, what then?

It's tempting to sign up for the cash back card just for the 5% off your Sainburys bill plus you still get
the Nectar points, and of course 5% off petrol is the added incentive.

Anyone on here used Utility Warehouse?

loltolhurst

1,994 posts

185 months

Monday 31st May 2010
quotequote all
my friend is peddling it too - just seems too complicated to work out if its a con or not - theres some v bad comments on it on the web. seems a bit pyramidy to me.

loltolhurst

1,994 posts

185 months

Tuesday 1st June 2010
quotequote all
bumpty bump as interested to see if anyone else has experience as am getting nagged to join

pistonlager

Original Poster:

710 posts

195 months

Tuesday 1st June 2010
quotequote all
I've been having a good root around the net to look for the pit falls,
plenty of agents touting for punters like you and me, but not many actual customer reports.

loltolhurst

1,994 posts

185 months

Tuesday 1st June 2010
quotequote all
just worked out here:

http://www.ukpower.co.uk

it would cost me £603 more than my current supplier if i went to utility warehouse!

i think not!

to3m

1,226 posts

171 months

Wednesday 2nd June 2010
quotequote all
I'm with the utility warehouse. I'm renting, and it wass a condition of the tenancy that they are the electricity and gas suppliers when I start my tenancy and when I finish -- so that's why I "picked" them. Presumably the landlord's agents are getting a kickback from this. After the ballache of having to transfer to them (long and painful story) I never bothered doing a second switch; looks like that's more fool me, though, because based on the ukpower.co.uk site I'd save about £100/yr.

I got a bill the other week, but I seem to have lost it already, and the last one I can actually lay my hands on is from last December! -- anyway back then the prices then were 3.4p/KWh for gas and 10.35p/KWh for electricity. Standing charge £1.40/mo for gas and £2.90/mo for electric. Make of that what you will. There's also a £1.50/mo "membership fee". (Assholes.) I don't remember these prices changing much, though perhaps obviously I couldn't say what's been going on in 2010 smile

On the plus side, they operate some kind of monthly budget plan, so if you like your monthly outgoings to be fixed then you can do that.

[Edit: just spotted my March bill under my laptop. Looks like I'm not that disorganised after all. Prices were exactly the same. Also I have no particular complaints about the service; no power cuts, no loss of gas, had to call them up a couple of times when getting set up but the call centre people were perfectly helpful.]



Edited by to3m on Wednesday 2nd June 00:45

Vee

3,099 posts

235 months

Wednesday 2nd June 2010
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My mate works for them . . .
Ongoing joke is that to be a customer it is a prerequisite to be a benefits cheat too !
In all seriousness, they are growing rapidly and look after their staff very well.

He reckons the main issue with people complaining (he's in the call centre) is that they don't understand the concept about providing regular readings and then get upset when UW charge an estimated amount.
Other than that, the do what every other utilities comany does.
He says they're more competitive than British Gas . . whether that means standard or on a fixed price I'm not sure.
People who get you to sign up get a commission (based on your billed amount I think).