A couple of years ago I used to have my phone, gas and electricity with the UWDC but as other companies became for competitive and energy prices went crazy I eventually took all my business elsewhere. Since then the UWDC has actually increased its prices for Broadband whilst others have been reducing theirs, why is this?

Their 2MB broadband with just a 4GB download limit with unlimited calls to Geo no's is a ridiculous £27.99 and their home phone package on its own is £9.50 for unlimited Geo calls. On top of this you have to pay £1.76 a month just to be a member. Surely they are going to have to get competitive if they are going to stay in business?

Lets face it this Multi Level Marketing outfit  have never have really been that competitive. Plus reports on MSE indicate poor customer service.

A distributor of theirs recently admitted on the MSE forum

"At the end of the day, UW do have some USP's (unique selling points), but if you are happy to shop around for the best deals for each element, there will be a provider for each that will be the cheapest."

I have also been quite scathing about U.W. on the MSE Forum (under utilities thread) and I too am one of their distributors who is in voluntary redundancy.

I too am sick of BT's exorbitant prices.  I have just switched all of my services to the Utility Warehouse on the recommendation of a friend, and I am well pleased.  I won't be getting anymore BT bills.  Yeeeessss!  I get an itemised bill - just one bill but it's like lots of bills in one - so I'm saving trees too.

If anyone is interested the website is http://www.utilitywarehouse.co.uk/

The only problem is they have an 0871 customer service number - but because I'm a customer I'm only charged 5p per minute for the call.  Haven't had to call them yet though so I'm OK.

[edit]by Dave:
Affiliate link removed[/edit]

Dolly wrote on Nov 23^rd, 2006 at 10:13pm:

I too am sick of BT's exorbitant prices.  I have just switched all of my services to the Utility Warehouse on the recommendation of a friend, and I am well pleased.  I won't be getting anymore BT bills.  Yeeeessss!  I get an itemised bill - just one bill but it's like lots of bills in one - so I'm saving trees too. If anyone is interested the website is http://www.utilitywarehouse.co.uk/ The only problem is they have an 0871 customer service number - but because I'm a customer I'm only charged 5p per minute for the call.  Haven't had to call them yet though so I'm OK.

You wouldnt by any chance be the Telecom Plus /Utility Warehouse distributor who owns that domain that goes to an affiliate link,and therefore SPAMMING this site.They do seem to make a habit of doing this on money saving site,s. >:(

They are  not cheaper then BT. Have a read here what people think about this Cowboy Outfit.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=275088&highlight=telecom+plus

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=106377

[edit]by Dave:
Affiliate link removed[/edit]

acezing wrote on Nov 24^th, 2006 at 1:21am:

They are  not cheaper then BT. Have a read here what people think about this Cowboy Outfit. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=275088&highlight=telecom+plus http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=106377

As if proof were needed, I found the below 'comparison' on that UW site - which supposedly justifies changing:


Quote:

75 minute call (off-peak) - UW 4.7p - BT 50.5p - saving 91%

Oh dear, slipped a zero in there by mistake.  No worries, a zero is nothing is it?

Well, yes, it does matter actually - as does stating they'd be 91% cheaper than BT for that call (a blatant lie).  But, of course, the ASA doesn't regulate websites does it?



~Edited by bbb_uk: Tidied up quote box

Perhaps they are working it out at 5.5p first sixty minutes then 3p next 15mins if so crafty advertising!

parttimepar wrote on Nov 24^th, 2006 at 4:47pm:

Perhaps they are working it out at 5.5p first sixty minutes then 3p next 15mins if so crafty advertising!

Hadn't twigged that.  

Devious!



~Edited by bbb_uk: Amended title because I amended it with an existing Utility warehouse thread.

They also compare their D/D price for line rental £11 against BT,s non D/D price of £12.

However they themselves are not that keen to offer non d/d facilities ,if the begrudglingly do they stop you having the free UK calls if entitled,and charge you an extra 10% on your bill each month until you start paying by d/d.

https://www.utilitywarehouse.co.uk/store/tacs/tacs.pdf  Section 4(c)

The 0871 customer services number is somewhat a slap in the face when reporting a fault. They have now withdrawn the 020 89555555 number from service and redirect callers to the 10p/min number. There is an alternative in the Say no to 0870 database though.

Dolly wrote on Nov 23^rd, 2006 at 10:13pm:

I too am sick of BT's exorbitant prices.  I have just switched all of my services to the Utility Warehouse on the recommendation of a friend, and I am well pleased.  I won't be getting anymore BT bills.  Yeeeessss!  I get an itemised bill - just one bill but it's like lots of bills in one - so I'm saving trees too. If anyone is interested the website is http://www.utilitywarehouse.co.uk/ The only problem is they have an 0871 customer service number - but because I'm a customer I'm only charged 5p per minute for the call.  Haven't had to call them yet though so I'm OK. [edit]by Dave: Affiliate link removed[/edit]

Dolly

If you really want to save money then you ought to have left BT for someone else other than UW.

I became a UW distributor at the time that they guaranteed the cheapest energy in the UK. They are now one of the most expensive and their other products can be bettered by many other companies.

Their new Broadcall package which includes home phone appears on the surface to be a good deal but when you look at it closely you realise that it is not. You still have to take 2 other services to get all of your calls free.
Anyone who chooses to pay their extortionate energy prices just to get free calls has clearly been hoodwinked.

If you want cheap phone calls and you have a BT phone line you can use call providers such as 1899 or 18185 or if you make over 125 calls a month, then sign up to Skytalk at £500 per month for unlimited calls.

Okay you dont get onebill (which is UW's unique selling point), but at least you will save yourself lots of money and that is what this message board is all about.

By the way, although I have paid my £199.50 to be a UW distributor, I no longer promote of sell their products as they are so uncompetitive and I do have ethics.

I suspect that Dolly just latched on to the opportunity to spam your site and promote their own long standing distributorship,and they  hadnt just moved from BT.

4PetesSake wrote on Nov 25^th, 2006 at 10:09pm:

If you want cheap phone calls and you have a BT phone line you can use call providers such as 1899 or 18185 or if you make over 125 calls a month, then sign up to Skytalk at £500 per month for unlimited calls.

Peter, missing decimal point typo there - I'm sure you meant £5.00 per month!

I would not touch UW Club with a barge poll, I was with them for my broadband a few years ago and there service was very poor. My broadband used to drop a lot, the customers servce used to fob you off and I could not login to my email when needed. I did not have any other services with them and glad I did not but they tried to get me to have them. The only good thing about them then was, the geographical number that dave was talking about.

I would not recommend them and it's not a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket.

I would use 18185.com, I use them and it works out cheaper :)

Oh my goodness!!   I have been with UWDC for over 18 months & had generally been very pleased with the service, I had found the broadband trouble free (in contrast to the problems experienced with broadband by most people I know who use other servers - I have the unlimited download officially at 256k but which automatically loads at 1mg which is fine for me).   As I have always concentrated on checking the bills, I hadn't noticed the change in the customer service number.   Needless to say, I have now fired off a very angry email to them and will pass my comments to my agent, who as the person whom we have dealt with for all our computer needs for nearly nine years as his son was a friend of our son, may just take some notice.   I did notice that their new package was rubbish.  

Now I also need advice.   As I may well now seek an alternative provider, does anyone know a good broadband service with unlimited download (we don't have cable or satellite, I know AOL and Tiscali are rubbish - the latter charging extra to a relative for what should be unlimited download!) at a reasonable price (currently pay £15.95 per month), together with a good inclusive call package (24/7 as I do most calls during the day and we pay line rental to UWDC as well).   I don't want to be bothered with extra boxes or dialling codes before numbers, I did try OneTel but they were awful.   Ideally I want UK call centres (which UWDC did have last time I called them).   I also use UWDC for electricity (we have no gas and when we changed to them it was the first time we had ever changed), can't remember who we were with previously but they were really rubbish, they were seriously criticised on Look East recently & when we changed I had to report them to the regulator who confirmed their poor reputation.

Any help gratefully received & thanks for alerting members to this issue.

PS to above.   Have just spoken to my agent whose response was: "Excellent, the more peaple who complain the better, we have already done so.   If you have any problems in the meantime, contact me & I will raise them for you".   I pointed out that I had found an alternative number on this site.   Thought it might be an idea if everyone who reads this & is a member of UWDC contacts their agent as well to get them to complain.   Long shot but it might have some influence.  

Also, what is Orange broadband like?   Our son took out a contract phone (it is the only network that works at all where we live) and was offered free Orange broadband which he cannot use in his student accomm as he has no phone line & we didn't take up as we have UWDC!

Heinz wrote on Nov 26^th, 2006 at 12:34pm:

4PetesSake wrote on Nov 25th, 2006 at 10:09pm: If you want cheap phone calls and you have a BT phone line you can use call providers such as 1899 or 18185 or if you make over 125 calls a month, then sign up to Skytalk at £500 per month for unlimited calls. Peter, missing decimal point typo there - I'm sure you meant £5.00 per month!

My sincere apologies to Sky,  :-?I did indeed miss out the decimal point. ::) It is of course £5.00 per month and it is the deal that we are currently using for our phone calls. :)

Barbara wrote on Nov 27^th, 2006 at 10:15am:

Oh my goodness!!   I have been with UWDC for over 18 months & had generally been very pleased with the service, I had found the broadband trouble free (in contrast to the problems experienced with broadband by most people I know who use other servers - I have the unlimited download officially at 256k but which automatically loads at 1mg which is fine for me).   As I have always concentrated on checking the bills, I hadn't noticed the change in the customer service number.   Needless to say, I have now fired off a very angry email to them and will pass my comments to my agent, who as the person whom we have dealt with for all our computer needs for nearly nine years as his son was a friend of our son, may just take some notice.   I did notice that their new package was rubbish.   Now I also need advice.   As I may well now seek an alternative provider, does anyone know a good broadband service with unlimited download (we don't have cable or satellite, I know AOL and Tiscali are rubbish - the latter charging extra to a relative for what should be unlimited download!) at a reasonable price (currently pay £15.95 per month), together with a good inclusive call package (24/7 as I do most calls during the day and we pay line rental to UWDC as well).   I don't want to be bothered with extra boxes or dialling codes before numbers, I did try OneTel but they were awful.   Ideally I want UK call centres (which UWDC did have last time I called them).   I also use UWDC for electricity (we have no gas and when we changed to them it was the first time we had ever changed), can't remember who we were with previously but they were really rubbish, they were seriously criticised on Look East recently & when we changed I had to report them to the regulator who confirmed their poor reputation. Any help gratefully received & thanks for alerting members to this issue.

You could try UK Online for your Broadband, 1Mb speed, and unlimited download for £9.99 a month. I have just had a look at their website at http://www.ukonline.net/broadband/upto1Mb.php?sso_auth=0 you also have to buy you own modem for £29.99.
On the MSE site Primus Broadband with free evening and weekend calls and  is also recommended but their pricing structure is a bit complicated.
My brother has the 1Mb Broadband at £12.99 with Tiscali and has had no problems at all. He has unlimited downloads and free weekend calls and uses 1899 for his other calls.
Me personally I have NTL at half their stated price because I keep threatening to leave and go to Sky, but I can't do that yet as our exchange does not yet have LLU.

For a great deal on just Electricity, check out Ebico. You will find their tariffs at  http://www.ebico.co.uk/en/open/pages/powertariffsen.php
Compare their prices to UWDC and you will be signing up straight away.
Hope this helps.

I have just recived the following response quote" I apologise that you are unhappy with the changes we have made, however going forward [word missing here I think] these changes allows us flexibility with regards to expansion, better services and savings for our customers."  

You may imaging the furious response I have sent to that!  I said I would post their response here & have been asked not to give the name of the person sending the reply "under the data protection"!!!!   I have demanded a personal response to my emails from the Chairman/MD - don't expect I will get it as these people really don't care about individual customers.   I did point out that my daughter & husband have already ditched them (they were thinking of using TalkTalk so probably even worse move!) so I would expect their customer base would drop.   Also asked how charging me for a hitherto free service would save me money!!!  

Will post any response I get.   Am still interested in advice on an alternative telephone/broadband provider, just one system no predial codes and 24/7 inclusive call package (we have no cable, poor phone lines - we live in the country about 50 miles from London so what should we expect?!)

Have just noticed, while browsing both UWDC & Telecom plus websites that they now mention someone called Ant(h)ony Metters (can't remember if he had an 'h' or not).   He also seems to be based on Cheshire and gives an 0800 no & a mobile for new customers whereas existing are expected to ring 0871.  I do not remember his name on any previous occasion I ahve visited the website, all the previous senior staff seem to have disappeared and I wonder if there has been some kind of takeover.   As the offices have always been based in London & he is in CHeshire, I now wonder if they have also out sourced customer services abroad (without saying, of course).  Just thought I would update everyone one this.   I did also send an irate email to said Mr Metters demanding immediate reinstatement of geo no for customer services.

Barbara wrote on Nov 30^th, 2006 at 12:37pm:

Am still interested in advice on an alternative telephone/broadband provider, just one system no predial codes and 24/7 inclusive call package (we have no cable, poor phone lines - we live in the country about 50 miles from London so what should we expect?!)

I live in a village too (broadband only arrived here in November 2004) and, for my landline and broadband, I took the decision to use the company most likely to provide a decent service for the 2000 or so possible customers in the area.  

My exchange is clearly still of no interest to other companies because not one of the eleven has yet installed its LLU equipment!

Many people are surprised when I tell them I have a BT landline and BT broadband but, as I only use them as my line/ADSL provideres but make only the 6 calls via them every quarter required to get free Caller Display (i.e. all my other calls go out either totally free via my CPS provider or cheaper than BT via 18185), my unbroken service and low bills tell me I'm right.

Yes, I have to program by DECT phones with the prefix for daytime calls and remember to dial it for 0845, 0870 and mobile calls - but that's no real effort when the carrot of not paying high (some would say rip-off) charges is dangled.

Barbara wrote on Nov 30^th, 2006 at 12:37pm:

I have just recived the following response quote" I apologise that you are unhappy with the changes we have made, however going forward [word missing here I think] these changes allows us flexibility with regards to expansion, better services and savings for our customers."   You may imaging the furious response I have sent to that!  I said I would post their response here & have been asked not to give the name of the person sending the reply "under the data protection"!!!!   I have demanded a personal response to my emails from the Chairman/MD - don't expect I will get it as these people really don't care about individual customers.   I did point out that my daughter & husband have already ditched them (they were thinking of using TalkTalk so probably even worse move!) so I would expect their customer base would drop.   Also asked how charging me for a hitherto free service would save me money!!!

I did say that UW Club had very poor customer service. I would not recommend talk talk, you will be jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.

I would go to adsl guide for infomation on broadband, you don't have to register to post here, in the which ISP forum. http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=which_isp&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=

And you could have a look here at reviews of all the main ISP's http://www.ispreview.co.uk/review/censura.php?csid=6416753b1343fa08560657cd6993a195&cmd=browse&category_id=1

This ISP does calls and broadband but they are not cheap http://www.beaming.biz/

TBH unless you are making 60 or 70 calls a week it would be cheaper to just use a prefix like the 18185.com and have your broadband on it's own. :)

Edit, adsl guide have changed there name today, it's now called ThinkBroadband.com.

UWDC should be renamed UWPC (Utility Warehouse Premium Club)

A friend of mine had UWPC's gas and electricity and then realised that she would save 26% by switching to EBICO. The switch has just gone through. She had received a letter on 8/11/06 asking her to call 0208 9555095 to give her final meter reading, but this number has now been discontinued. She rang their Premium 10p per minute 0871 number and was given a wait time of 6 minutes. After 20 minutes in the queue at a cost of £2.00 she gave up. :o >:( :'(

She later gave the readings to EBICO using an 0800 number, the very helpful person  in their customer services advised her that they would give the readings to UWPC. Now that is customer service. :D

UWPC make a lot of their Triple value guarantee, but this only guarantees that their prices will be less than the STANDARD PRICES OF THE BIG 6 SUPPLIERS They do not compare their prices against the tariffs of the smaller companies  or the on-line tariffs of the Big 6 which are all far far cheaper.

In this age of "Deregulation", No-one should still have to be paying such extortionate energy prices, dealing with such poor customer services or paying such premium rates to do so. :(

Even registered UWPC distributors have to phone UWPC's premium number to talk to them, :'( this is outrageous. I can see both customers and distributors leaving UWPC in their thousands.

Barbara wrote on Nov 30^th, 2006 at 12:37pm:

Am still interested in advice on an alternative telephone/broadband provider, just one system no predial codes and 24/7 inclusive call package (we have no cable, poor phone lines - we live in the country about 50 miles from London so what should we expect?!)

Barbara

See my earlier post #17 on 28th November.

Barbara wrote on Nov 30^th, 2006 at 2:36pm:

Have just noticed, while browsing both UWDC & Telecom plus websites that they now mention someone called Ant(h)ony Metters (can't remember if he had an 'h' or not).   He also seems to be based on Cheshire and gives an 0800 no & a mobile for new customers whereas existing are expected to ring 0871.  I do not remember his name on any previous occasion I ahve visited the website, all the previous senior staff seem to have disappeared and I wonder if there has been some kind of takeover.   As the offices have always been based in London & he is in CHeshire, I now wonder if they have also out sourced customer services abroad (without saying, of course).  Just thought I would update everyone one this.   I did also send an irate email to said Mr Metters demanding immediate reinstatement of geo no for customer services.

Your probaly find that he is just a distributor. ;) They all have the same page,s as the main company but with  their personal contact numbers on.

Details of the main board members  can be found here:

https://www.telecomplus.co.uk/store/board.taf?exref=

Ravi Khanna is the Customer Services Director. So you could try rkhanna@telecomplus.co.uk or perhaps ravikhanna@

Anti-0870 wrote on Nov 30^th, 2006 at 7:14pm:

TBH unless you are making 60 or 70 calls a day it would be cheaper to just use a prefix like the 18185.com and have your broadband on it's own. :)

Do you mean a Day ?


I quote the Money Saving Expert here.

" If you make more than 6 calls during weekdays Euphony's eutalk18+ works out cheaper - but only if you sign up to an 18 month contract.  It costs £1 for the first 6 months and £5.99 thereafter, making it an average of £4.33 over the 18 months.  The package also includes free calls to 28 countries at all times, yet even if you don't need these it's still the cheapest. "

Anti-0870 wrote on Nov 30^th, 2006 at 7:14pm:

TBH unless you are making 60 or 70 calls a day it would be cheaper to just use a prefix like the 18185.com and have your broadband on it's own. :)

1899 and 18185 are great, providing you are not making over 125 calls per month (about 4 a day). If you are making more than this and you are a Sky Customer then register for their Skytalk which gives unlimited Geo calls for just £5.00 a month with no minimum contract period. Sky CPS your pone line, however you can still use 1899/18185 for cheaper mobile/international call without any problems.

Euphony's eutalk 18+ also sounds good but I don't like the thought of having to sign up for an 18 month contract.

Not everybody will have sky and I would not use sky talk, because sky have poor customer service and I will never use any of there other service again. It's because I had a lot of problem's with sky a few months ago, Sky are useless.


This Euphony's eutalk  you are on about, I would not touch that because I don't  like being tied into a contract, especially 18 months. It might be ok for some but not me, why would I pay even 5 pounds a month when I don't even spend that. 18185.com is very cheap for me, at 4p per call all day to geographical numbers and as I don't call so many rip-off 0870 and 0871 numbers, my phone bill's are even cheaper now, thanks to saynoto0870.com. :)

I have just received an email reply from Ravi Khanna, customer services director, which, of course, does not really address the issues.  I would like to post this here but am not sure how.  Last time this happened (in another thread) someone with more tech knowledge than me let me forward the email to them & they then posted it - is there anyone prepared to this for me this time?   Thank you.

Barbara wrote on Dec 1^st, 2006 at 1:49pm:

I have just received an email reply from Ravi Khanna, customer services director, which, of course, does not really address the issues.  I would like to post this here but am not sure how.  Last time this happened (in another thread) someone with more tech knowledge than me let me forward the email to them & they then posted it - is there anyone prepared to this for me this time?   Thank you.

Highlight the e-mail copy it and then past it in here. (Use the right click on the mouse)

Anti-0870 wrote on Dec 1^st, 2006 at 12:24pm:

Not everybody will have sky and I would not use sky talk, because sky have poor customer service and I will never use any of there other service again. It's because I had a lot of problem's with sky a few months ago, Sky are useless.

I appreciate that not everyone will have Sky, but if they do and they make at least 4 calls a day (Which most households do) then Skytalk is great value.

Sky's Customer Service are all based in Britain and are usually very helpful and competent and can be contacted at most times. My only gripe with Sky is that they have an 0870 number, but I have never had to dial it as there are always alternatives on this website.

It is not really possible to compare Sky's customer service with that of 1899/18185 as the latter companies do not have any Customer Service Dept that you can phone.

On behalf of Barbara:

I have just received an email reply from Ravi Khanna, customer services director, which, of course, does not really address the issues.


Quote:

Dear Mr Khanna, Firstly I would like to thank you for replying promptly to my email. However, I am far from satisfied with your response.   Whilst I appreciate that you may have changing operational needs, I fail to see why it is your customers who should pay.   Why have you not opted for one of the new 03 numbers recommended by OFCOM which, in my understanding, allow such operational flexibility but will be included in inclusive call packages?   My understandingof the way ngns work is that your reason for choosing 0871 is to gain revenue share on incoming calls, meaning, of course, that your customers are paying you for a service and then paying above normal rates to call you when they have a problem with your service. Regarding waiting times, I would say that I have NEVER only spent three minutes on a customer service call, particularly in view of the menu system in operation, I would say I have generally spent in excess of ten minutes on a call on each and every occasion, sometimes much longer when we had some problems with the switchover.   Of course, if you opted for an 09 number (as you had for broadband technical support last time I looked so I use my UWDC agent who is also my computer supplier), which I do not believe need be much more expensive, you would not be allowed to have call queuing and costs to customers might even be less!   Of course, that would mean you would lose customers who have call barring, as we do. Finally, if you care about your customers, giving them good service and retaining them, as any good business should, why do you not either include your customer service number within inclusive packages or, if this is technically beyond you, operate a rebate system whereby any customer who had to contact customer services had the cost of those calls removed from their bills? I await your reponse to the above points with interest. Yours sincerely, (Barbara) From: "Ravi Khanna" <rkhanna@telecomplus.co.uk> To: Subject: Response to your email Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2006 13:00:33 -0000 Dear (Barbara) Thank you for your comments below regarding our move to an 0871 number. I appreciate your dissatisfaction with this decision, and the fact that it will lead you to your incurring a small charge should you choose to call us from now on. Unfortunately however, for operational reasons this is not a decision that we can reverse. As our business grows it will not be possible for us to contain all of our customer service team in one office. Whilst I can assure you that we will absolutely not be relocating this function overseas, it will be necessary to set up another office elsewhere in the UK. In order to seamlessly route customer calls to either of these offices, we have had to move away from a geographic number (prefixed 01/02) for our customers. Typically calls to us last around 3 minutes, so I don't feel paying 30 pence is extortionate. However I do understand that it is 30p more than you would have had to pay in the past. I hope though, that you would accept any costs you may have to incur will be substantially outweighed by the savings you have and will continue to make by routing the rest of your telephone calls through our service. Yours sincerely Ravi Khanna Customer Service Director Email : rkhanna@telecomplus.co.uk Phone : 020 8955 5995 Fax : 020 8955 5076 Web : www.telecomplus.co.uk Telecom plus PLC Dryden House The Edge Business Centre Humber Road London NW2 6EW

Further to the above, I have just had a telephone call from Mr Khanni to explain UWDC's rationale behind their decisions.   I asked him to confirm what he was telling me in an email, he asked why I would want that & I replied to post on this site.   At this he became rather unhappy (he had already admitted he knows of the website) and said that, in order to market someone else's material, one needed their permission.   After a discussion where I pointed out that I merely wished to explain to other customers what his reasoning was & that I was not in the position to market anything, he replied that anything that goes on a website was marketing!???  I pointed out this would go in the forum.   Still, here goes.   Apparently he was previously unaware of 03 but had now looked into it & they will not be using as it would cost them to take the calls.   Customers on one of their phone packages including line rental will be charged 5p per minute, not 10p for calls to customer services.   He denies that this will make them any profit on 0871.   He believes OFCOM are reviewing 0871 numbers next year & UWDC will have to look at that.   They have had a number of complaints about thischange but are adamant they will not revert to a geo no.   Their main reason for the change is to increase flexibility but they are also looking at revenue as some customers abused the system under the geo no.   He said that calls today are answered within seconds with average call time of 3 mins 4 secs.  If I have misquoted him on anything, I am sure he wil point this out but it is my intention to give an accurate synopsis of our conversation.
PS Am I legal on this or will other forum members have to bail me out?!

So  T-Plus Customers with their phone service are only  charged 5p a minute 24/7 to call the 0871 customer service number, big deal !!! .When you consider that before the most they were paying was 3p a minute. Anyhow if you have a problem with your service and you cant use it , you have to use another phone and this would most likely cost 10p a minute,even more from a mobile or payphone.

Why do you have to pay them a fee of £1.76p a month (£21 plus a year) on top of your bills to use their services,what benefits does this give you.Surely the very least they could give you is access via a normal geographical number.I notice they have even withdrawn their £10 cashback  for every service you took after the first. :-?

Even if their excuse for using a nongeographical number was true, why choose the highest cost at a minimum of 10p/min (upto 40p/min from some mobiles)?

They can still have all the features on a lower cost one like 0845, etc.  There are communication providers out there that don't charge (the business) for 0845 numbers at all and still have the facility to divert the call to one or more call centres, etc.  Although not a perfect solution, it would solve their so-called problem of needing a non-geographical number and it would be cheaper for their customers and new customers to ring them than their current 0871 number.

Also, are they aware that their new number is going to cost them money from 2008 when ICSTIS regulates them - for which a fee of somekind will need to be paid to ICSTIS.

Also, there is a good chance that UW got their 0871 number from Opal and if you look here, they clearly state that 0871 has a "revenue generation" and Opal offer a higher rebate on the calls (ie UW receive more revenue than they would compared with other non-geographical numbers).

Barbara, I would point out the above facts to them and ask them for their comment!

Their customers calls are also routed over the Opal Network. Opal is owned by the Carphone Warehouse  :D

4PetesSake wrote on Dec 1^st, 2006 at 2:04pm:

Anti-0870 wrote on Dec 1st, 2006 at 12:24pm: Not everybody will have sky and I would not use sky talk, because sky have poor customer service and I will never use any of there other service again. It's because I had a lot of problem's with sky a few months ago, Sky are useless. I appreciate that not everyone will have Sky, but if they do and they make at least 4 calls a day (Which most households do) then Skytalk is great value. Sky's Customer Service are all based in Britain and are usually very helpful and competent and can be contacted at most times. My only gripe with Sky is that they have an 0870 number, but I have never had to dial it as there are always alternatives on this website.

I'm sorry I don't agree, sky do have indian call centers, because I have spoken to them myself. Sky have a very bad habit of keeping you on hold for 45 minutes or more, on an 0870 number and they do it because they make a lot of money from it. I use the other number now that you was talking about, so it costs them to keep me on hold for 45 minutes ;D.

Anyway back on topic. What a disgrace that UW Club thinks paying 10 pence a minute is not extortionate, plus the poor excuses for not using a geographical number. Very poor customer service, they don't deserve any customers. :(

Anti-0870 wrote on Dec 2^nd, 2006 at 1:21am:

[quote Anyway back on topic. What a disgrace that UW Club thinks paying 10 pence a minute is not extortionate, plus the poor excuses for not using a geographical number. Very poor customer service, they don't deserve any customers. :(

How can a company that calls it self a "Discount" club have a "Premium" rate phone number and such expensive and uncompetitive products??? :o It surely must change its name to the Utility Warehouse Premium Club. ;)

Its survival is due to its hoards of dedicated distributors who often have to call their Customer Services Dept and must now do so on the 0871 number. They will disillusion their distributors at their peril. :-X

Perhaps they will also increase their absurd £1.76 a month membership fee as well. Maybe they will have to do this to make up for all the customers that are leaving for better deals.

I too have written to them complaining about their misleading energy Triple Value Guarantee and the introduction of the 0871 number. I await their reply with interest

I was invited to be a distributor with these people. I was wheeled along to a smart hotel and sat at back,every time the main man made what he thought was a good point i noticed that certain members of the audience burst into applause in a kind of happy clappy way. I later found out they were existing distributors.

Great emphasis was placed on them being Britains fastest growing company,the share options,  get your own company car ( Bright Yellow Mini,with large pink pig emblazoned on it). Cheapest Gas and Electric.

Regetfully i  parted with nearly £200 quid to join. As time went on i discovered

That some of their distributors mislead people to get them to sign up.( Their are also a lot of genuine distributors!!!) The mini is only allocated when you reach a certain level if you don't reach your sales targets you have to pay about £250 per month for it. You only get a small amount each month  from every customer you sign up ,the real moneys in recruiting more distributors. The services are not that cheap and their  broadband has no bandwidth.They have been selling  gas and elec at a loss ,  and it has now  been  offloaded to Npower to supply and run for them.The claim to be Europe's fastest growing company well the article was published in a low distribution magazine about 2 years ago,and was based on information that was collated in previous 12 months,that is 2003! Since then their shares have  suffered a roller coster ride in terms of both profits and share price,and have gone from 400p down to 140ish today..Not a lot of good for your share options!!!!! I found their customer service poor and their time to answer awful.

Needless to say i  have nothing more to do with them.

Well said Chukkat, I knew I was not the only one to have seen the light after parting with my £199.50. I am sure that there are many distributors/ex-distributors or CGA's who could share their experiences on this forum.

Come on guy and girls! It's time to come out of the woodwork!

I am finding this all very interesting.   I also know, from my conversation with him, that Mr Khanni knows of this website, visits it & has read this thread (at least up to when I spoke to him) so it is a fair bet that he is aware of what is being said here.   I would, therefore, fully endorse the last sentence of the previous post that those who have been dissatisfied customers/distributors should post here & then he might read what they say.   Is there any way of forwarding the contents of this thread to him?   He apparently regularly calls customers so my experience was not an isolated one.   Also, re why not an 0845, this issue had, I understand, already been raised with UWDC - don't know why they didn't pick one  .... oh of course, revenue share!!!   The 2008 change to regulation of 0871 by ICSTIS must be what he meant when he spoke to me - will they go for 09 which is what they have for technical support?   Note for customers who don't want to use 0871, apparently you can also report problems via your distributor and they all have 0800 nos & will also have geos.

chukkat wrote on Dec 2^nd, 2006 at 6:30pm:

Great emphasis was placed on them being Britains fastest growing company,the share options,  get your own company car ( Bright Yellow Mini,with large pink pig emblazoned on it). Cheapest Gas and Electric.

How can they be the fastest growing company if I've never seen such a car?

Those pigs should stick to what they're good at - flying

I notice they now have a call set up charge of 2p for non free calls, plus a min call charge of 4.7p

They no longer seem to offer any chargeable call packages. So their basic landline  service costs £11 a month ,plus £1 for caller display,and £1.76p a month membership,=£13.76p a month !!!!

If you want to get the free??? call packages you have to use more of their expensive services.Eg Mobile.0800.etc Plus you must take take their line rental,and pay by d/d to get them.

Barbara wrote on Dec 3^rd, 2006 at 2:20pm:

Note for customers who don't want to use 0871, apparently you can also report problems via your distributor and they all have 0800 nos & will also have geos.

I can assure you you that UW distributors do not have a Freephone number to contact them. Some UW distributors have purchased a Freephone number for themselves to assist with the advertising of their business but UW The company have never used a Freephone number.

Distributors did have a Geo number for contacting UW however this does not appear to work any more, which means that even their own Distributors are having to use the Premium 0871 number. So the few pennies that distributors earn, is quickly grabbed back in the way of premium rate phone calls. That is rich for a discount club.

Blimey even their Freephone Numbers are uncompetitive. Despite what their have you believe.

This what thet say "It costs so little...
CallMe(0800) costs just £2 (plus VAT) per month, plus call charges. Each call is charged at 7.5p per Peak minute or 6.5p per off-peak minute. All calls are billed in seconds, not rounded up in minutes, with a minimum call charge of just 2p."

Compare them to call08 .Only £4.95 for 500 FREE minutes per month, thats only 1.01ppm for the first 500 minutes (2ppm thereafter)

Now that UW HQ have 0871 numbers their distributors with 0800 numbers are going to be getting lots of calls, which in view of the prices above are going to prove very costly to them personally, but will put even more money into the bank for UW.

This guy appears to be fairly big in UW:

Robin Brooks
0800 074 8489
0800 781 6666
07957 855190

allegro wrote on Dec 8^th, 2006 at 9:23pm:

This guy appears to be fairly big in UW: Robin Brooks 0800 074 8489 0800 781 6666 07957 855190

In all honesty Robin is just another distributor of the Telecomplus/Utility Warehouse (Premium) Club. His freephone numbers will only get you in touch with him or one of his downline. They will not get you in touch with Customer Services. The only way to do that is via their PREMIUM RATE (10p at all times - even weekends) Telephone number.

There are lots of distributors who have progressed up the ladder by selling their products and signing up new distributors, Robin is just one of them. However he still has to keep selling one of their products each month or his commission will dip dramatically. And with their current uncompetitive products, that is going to be very hard work.

As Peter points out Robin is just another distributor/agent of T-Plus. Your find distributors posted all over the net, many with personal 0800 numbers that go to their home lines. All they can do is pass your query on to Head Office.

As more customers see the light about their uncompetive prices  and tell their friends i think that they will find it hard  to keep customers,as the only usp they have left is everything on  the one bill See:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=321656

Also more of their distributors are now admitting their prices are not that good ,and expressing their dislike of the 0871 number. See post no 188 in this thread

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=106377&page=10

Hopefully the penny will drop about the 0871 customer service number, but dont hold your breath!!!!

Hi
I had broadband from UW when they were offering a 512 broadband connection and free calls. I've had it for about 18 months but its been in the last 2 months that its gone pear shaped. Last month I had problems with the service and 3 days ago it packed up all together. I'm now being informed by them that if i want to find out if there is a fault on the adsl i have to call an 0906 number at 75p a min. I then asked about a MAC code to transfer the service and was told i would need to pay £50 as the service was less than 12 months old. I refuted this and was then told i'd been subject to a free upgrade that i should have had a letter about (but of course I did'nt) when i asked for written conformation of my agreement to the upgrade they said they would have to check and come back to me. I'll let you know how i get on but i've definitly had enough and will be moving everything i have with them away. I reckon i spent around 4k with them last year and they have lost it for a couple of quid, not very bright is it?

I cant believe the customers are as satisfied as some of their senior distributors would have you believe, if they are  how come the total number has hardly risen over the last couple of years , despite the efforts of an ever growing army of distributors? It would appear that the 14,OOO plus distributors (?) must be recruiting new customers at approximately the same rate that existing customers are leaving. I wonder why?

chukkat wrote on Dec 19^th, 2006 at 5:54pm:

I cant believe the customers are as satisfied as some of their senior distributors would have you believe, if they are  how come the total number has hardly risen over the last couple of years , despite the efforts of an ever growing army of distributors? It would appear that the 14,OOO plus distributors (?) must be recruiting new customers at approximately the same rate that existing customers are leaving. I wonder why?

I think the post above yours explains that!

roryt wrote on Dec 19^th, 2006 at 3:56pm:

Hi I had broadband from UW when they were offering a 512 broadband connection and free calls. I've had it for about 18 months but its been in the last 2 months that its gone pear shaped. Last month I had problems with the service and 3 days ago it packed up all together. I'm now being informed by them that if i want to find out if there is a fault on the adsl i have to call an 0906 number at 75p a min. I then asked about a MAC code to transfer the service and was told i would need to pay £50 as the service was less than 12 months old. I refuted this and was then told i'd been subject to a free upgrade that i should have had a letter about (but of course I did'nt) when i asked for written conformation of my agreement to the upgrade they said they would have to check and come back to me. I'll let you know how i get on but i've definitly had enough and will be moving everything i have with them away. I reckon i spent around 4k with them last year and they have lost it for a couple of quid, not very bright is it?

WARNING

Do not take the upgrade to Broadcall or you will be tied in for another 12 months.
You will also have noticed that their 0208 Geo number has been removed and replaced with an 0871 10p per minute at all times number (5p if you have their phone service)
Get you MAC and leave as soon as possible.
For a good deal on Gas and electricity checkout either Ebico or npower's On-Line tariff.

Hi All

After the obligitory wait for the return call that never came I got my mac number through in the post. looks to me like they know they have not got a leg to stand on in supposedly sending out upgrade letters then changing the service without authorisation.

so if your in the same position then argue and save yourself £50. The gas is moved, so is the broadband so just the phones and the electric to go!

Thanks for the update, once you have changed everything it would be worth posting just how much money you are saving, a friend of mine who switched his mobile, home phone, gas and electricity made a saving of £80 a month. (£45 on the mobile which he switched to ntl/Virgin, £30 on his gas and electricity which he switched to npower online and £5 on his home phone which he switched to skytalk. Fortunately he never took UW's Internet as he was happy with ntl.

We personally are saving about £25 a month on Gas and Electricity and £5 a month on the phone which we also have with skytalk. We never took their Mobile or Internet - thank goodness. :)

4PetesSake wrote on Dec 3^rd, 2006 at 9:06am:

Well said Chukkat, I knew I was not the only one to have seen the light after parting with my £199.50. I am sure that there are many distributors/ex-distributors or CGA's who could share their experiences on this forum. Come on guy and girls! It's time to come out of the woodwork!

Hi Peter

I've come out of the woodwork.  :) Nice to be here.

Nice to see that people still write highly  ;D  of this outfit see:

http://www.youthejury.com/reviews/?p=1758

Mike by the Sea wrote on Feb 10^th, 2007 at 7:26am:

4PetesSake wrote on Dec 3rd, 2006 at 9:06am: Well said Chukkat, I knew I was not the only one to have seen the light after parting with my £199.50. I am sure that there are many distributors/ex-distributors or CGA's who could share their experiences on this forum. Come on guy and girls! It's time to come out of the woodwork! Hi Peter I've come out of the woodwork.  :) Nice to be here.

Hi Mike

I'm glad to see that you have joined here as well. I have read all of your posts about UW over on MSE. Are you still selling UW products have you decided to go into voluntary redundancy.

I came across a UW client by chance the a couple of weeks ago who was well in credit for his Gas and Electricity and due to an administrative error by UW, they did not take his monthly payment. He then got a nasty letter from UW threatening him with a debt collecting company etc. He asked me if I knwe anything about UW, so I shared with him my honest, "inside" views. He has now switched to Ebico and is saving a lot of money.

Quote:

I was invited to be a distributor with these people. I was wheeled along to a smart hotel and sat at back,every time the main man made what he thought was a good point i noticed that certain members of the audience burst into applause in a kind of happy clappy way. I later found out they were existing distributors. Great emphasis was placed on them being Britains fastest growing company,the share options,  get your own company car ( Bright Yellow Mini,with large pink pig emblazoned on it). Cheapest Gas and Electric. Regetfully i  parted with nearly £200 quid to join. As time went on i discovered That some of their distributors mislead people to get them to sign up.( Their are also a lot of genuine distributors!!!) The mini is only allocated when you reach a certain level if you don't reach your sales targets you have to pay about £250 per month for it. You only get a small amount each month  from every customer you sign up ,the real moneys in recruiting more distributors. The services are not that cheap and their  broadband has no bandwidth.They have been selling  gas and elec at a loss ,  and it has now  been  offloaded to Npower to supply and run for them.The claim to be Europe's fastest growing company well the article was published in a low distribution magazine about 2 years ago,and was based on information that was collated in previous 12 months,that is 2003! Since then their shares have  suffered a roller coster ride in terms of both profits and share price,and have gone from 400p down to 140ish today..Not a lot of good for your share options!!!!! I found their customer service poor and their time to answer awful. Needless to say i  have nothing more to do with them.

The same thing happened to me. I asked them for my money back, but they refused.

I see they have been caught out yet again for circulating  misleading info.


http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/adjudications/Public/TF_ADJ_42467.htm

As an ex-distributor, I too am fully aware of the subtle ploys that UW use. They use their untruthful leaflets to not only con customers but also to con their distributors into believing that thay are selling a competitive product.

I will never forget attending one of their training sessions where we were told not to go into too much detail with prospective customers as we will just confuse them. The real reason that they do not want distributors to go into too much detail is because both the distributor and customer will realise just how poor and uncompetitive UW products really are.

I soon realised that their figures did not add up and cancelled all my services with them and stopped acting as a distributor. I am now making far better savings by using a variety of companies that best suit our needs.

When energy prices are going down they put theirs up in some parts of UK.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/cash/story/0,,2073304,00.html