Utility Warehouse

Just to clarify my situation I was a domestic customer of telephone and broadband, went to cancel about 3 months in and was told I would have to pay £50 admin fee to do so.

Both Phil and Claire are correct. There used to be an early termination fee of £50. However this was removed (I think around April last year). There is now simply an admin charge of £10 to cover return of any borrowed equipment (e.g wireless router etc), which seems pretty reasonable.

Also since April 2011 they have launched their new Price Promise - take 4 or more eligible services and they now guarantee to save you money - or they'll refund DOUBLE YOUR DIFFERENCE (see below)...

Guaranteeing you the UK's cheapest utilities

It's really simple - and it doesn't matter where you live, or how much of each service you use:

We guarantee you will save money when you switch your services to us, or we'll give you back 'Double the Difference.'

Our unique Price Promise means you can benefit from:

• The UK's cheapest Home Phone
• The UK's cheapest Home Phone and Broadband bundle
• The UK's cheapest Mobile tariffs
• The UK's cheapest standard Gas and Electricity

The sooner you join our Discount Club, the sooner you can start saving money!

This price promise applies to new members paying by Direct Debit taking 4 or more eligible services from us.

This price promise applies to new members paying by Direct Debit taking 4 or more eligible services from us.

small print enlarged for clarity. The 'price promise' is actually wafer thin. You need to monitor it, and claim. UW are NOT the lowest tarrifs you can find, and within a year or so the regulator will come down on all the Utility companies in a way that will make PPI and Bank Charges look like nothing.

Setting artificially low DDs to put customers in debt.

Hidden (in small print) charges for leaving, or changing tarrifs. 

Misleading information from so-called 'sales' people. Or just flat out lies.

UW is not alone in these practices by any stretch, but I have experienced all of them from UW.

Totally agree - for about the last 4 years every 6 months or so I have had a UW quote which has never come out cheaper - in fact it always worked out more.

This was where I fell foul. I only wanted two services, which was clearly explained to my distributor. It was only after I signed up it was explained that I would lose free UK calls, hence why it didn't save me money. Total misled and ruined a MLKT relationship.

I've used them for several years for gas, electricity and home phone with few problems. The main difficulty I've experienced is that you're stuffed if your phone line goes down at the weekend, because you can't get hold of UW customer services and BT don't want to know. Alsoyou have to pay for calls to them, either on a high-rate number or by an increase in your membership fee. On the plus side, I get free calls abroad (after 7 and at weekends, as I only take three services).

I don't have a cashback card as I don't shop in their approved supermarkets.

Funny Story...

My Mum is with them (and no I do not sell it!). British Gas (her old supplier) rung her up asking her if she would consider moving back due to recnt price increases (assuming she had gone to one of the big six).

They asked who she was with, explained it was Ultility Warehouse and the wonman said: "I'm with them too, I won't bother you anymore" and put the phone down!

Kind of says it all really!

I have been a customer for a few years now, gas, electricity, broadband and phone - recently added mobile as well.  I have no idea if I save on the main bills but for a simple, easy to understand bill and great customer service I  cant fault them.

As a single person with fairly low bills any savings would probably have been minimal anyway.  My main reason for changing was I was sick of dealing with Virgin for broadband - no problems since changing although as BT Infinity is now coming my way I may re-think this.

I signed up over a year ago.

After the first 12 months, although I was paying the same a month as I did with my previous provider, I was £600 in credit.

So can't grumble really.

Not used the card though as I can't remember what I did with it.

Wow!!! thought this one had died along time ago!!!

Great to see that people have had good experiences, but i have done the math on the 2 services I require and it will only save me about £30 for the year!! so i think ill stay where i am for the time being!!

I was about to start this thread Richard, so thanks for getting these answers for me without the wait!  

Can anyone tell me what the broadband and phone are like though as it is really important for me to have speedy, uninterrupted broadband and a good phone service as I work from home a lot

UW broadband is based on TalkTalk (which happens to be the ISP with the highest rate of complaints), unfortunately this is not known amongst their distributors.
Quite often the Which? magazine gets quoted to confirm UW's broadband ranking. But they are not anymore top, 
In my view the Which? magazine is not a suitable yardstick for any business. 

A much better, very qualified current broadband review can be found here:

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/articles/12_Best_UK_Broadband_ISPs/

Interesting thread. I'm certainly sceptical about the money saving and the small print, but what attracts me most to UW is one bill for four services; one lot of customer service... surely it'll save me all that time sitting in phone queues for four different companies, making complaints to four different companies, and generating a lot of hot air getting frustrated by the unscrupulous behaviour of four different companies? I despise them all!

I'm genuinely interested... is that part a big sell for those already with UW? I know one person already mentioned it is.

Richard

I am a distributor who tried the services first for a year or so at home before becoming a distributor and signing up the business.  A good distributor should be able to talk you through where you will benefit and where you may be better to stay with your existing suppliers.  I prefer to be as honest with customers as possible and not just to sell. I normally deal with customers on more than one issue so not pushing something onto them is important.  Do you know like and trust your distributor and would they be able to help you if there are any issues to resolve in changing over?

The company itself is a pleasure to deal with by comparison with certain others as long as you pay your bill!  I have a lot of experience with other work in dealing with utilities and the systems Utility Warehouse have in place are very good if there are issues that need to be resolved. 

Chris   

Just to put the record straight UWDC Broadband is not supplied by Talk Talk! and we have had another thumbs up from the Whitch Report.