Utility Warehouse

[bungleboy]

CAN ANYBODY HELP? I HAVE BEEN WITH THE UTILTY WAREHOUSE FOR THE PAST 2 YEARS. THIS MONTHLY BILL COMINES GAS/ELEC/TELEPHONE/BROADBAND. fOR THE 1ST YEAR IT WAS THE BEST THING I HAD EVER DONE!! MY MONTHLY BILLS COMBINED WERE APPROX £75.00. MY PAST 4 MONTHLY BILLS HAVE BEEN £220!!?? I LIVE IN A ONE BEDROOMED GALLERIED HOUSE. THE ONLY GAS I USE IS A GAS FIRE I HAVE NO CENTRAL HEATING. WHEN I ASKED THEM WHY MY BILLS ARE NOW SO EXPENSIVE, THEY TELL ME THAT WHEN I FIRST JOINED THE UTILITY CLUB I WAS A LOW PAYMENT PLAN TO ESTIMATE MY SERVICES. BUT THEY TELL ME THAT UNFORTUNATELY I WAS NOT PAYING ENOUGH AND THIS HAS PUT ME IN THE RED IE: DEBT!!

 

IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN DO? AT THE END OF THE DAY THEY SHOULD HAVE CONTACTED ME AFTER A COULPE OF MONTHS AND TOLD ME THAT I WAS USING MORE THAN EXPECTED HENCE THE INCREASE. ANY IDEAS??

[ozzywizard]

This is not good practise from them at all, but from what you say it is legal and is owed for electric you have used. Did they send you statements every 3 months ? and you say your DD for the first 12 months was set low and now they are spreading your debt over the next 12 months which is also in line with the code of accurate billing. I know it is bad management of your account but they are within the law as such. Maybe ask for a goodwill ex gratia payment for being bad managers of your account. Oh btw no need to shout lol.

[bungleboy]

Thanks ozzy for the advice !! I'll try that...and sorry for SHOUTING !! lol

[ozzywizard]

lol no worries.

[nicolah36]

Hi bungleboy my advice to you would be to phone your meter readings in to utw every month if you ask them to put you on the payg system they will do so and by doing this you will only pay for what you use,can i also add that by doing this you must realise your bills will be more in winter as we all use more gas and electric in the winter months. regards nicola

 

(P.S your distributer should of taken better care of you)

[ozzywizard]

Good advise, but this is a really old post lol.

[nicolah36]

:o So it is lol oh well i tried!!

[blue4ever]

don`t be:oops: we`re here to help even if it`s a bit late

 

THREE CHEERS FOR

C.A.G.

[jambazi12]

I have problem with utility warehouse as they have overcharged my bill through estimates and are threatening to cut off my gas and electricity. They have the worst customer services as you cant even get though to them.

 

Anyone who can help me please

[samson10]

Hi Guys......so sorry to bore you all stiff with the following letter penned two weeks ago....however through my own stupidity this is the predicamant I now find myself in....Can anyone please help me.....As of today still no reply or contact even after a copy of this letter was sent to the CEO of UW and a promise of a call before the end of the week....Still waiting......

Dear Angela, (customer services manager)

Following a conversation with ………, I have been asked to send the following information and hopefully all the issues I have will be finally resolved.

Prior to Christmas I signed to accept many of Utility Warehouse’s services, including, Gas, Electricity, Phone, Broadband, and the debit card. All of the services were discussed at length, individually and agreed, however as I was cancelling many other suppliers with whom I had been with for a very long time I was concerned that there may be a contract. On asking this question I was reassured that there was no contract whatsoever and I could change to another supplier at any given time.

When discussing the debit card options I was told that the main plus point of the card was that I could use this card at any of Sainsbury’s fuel outlets and receive 5% discount towards my monthly bill. I have since however found that this is not the case, in actual fact I have to spend a minimum of £50 in the store within 14 days of purchasing fuel for this offer to be valid. I have contacted the customer service desk about this matter at least 4 times and have been told on every occasion a different version, from there being 2 separate offers to the actual truth of the matter. After discussing this with my representative I was informed that she had spoken to a line manager, who had the following advice; tell her to get her family and friends to use Sainsbury’s (the nearest store being 12 miles away) and tell her to go with them, she can pay for the food and petrol on her card and they can give her the money!!!

At this point I had heard enough of this ‘advice’, which was at best, impractical and at worst, an insult to my intelligence. As at no point would I change my supermarket or ask any of my family members and friends to do the same, as I am sure they would not appreciate me following them to the tills to pay for their shopping on a weekly basis.

Upon receipt of my debit card I transferred £250 on the 21st of December to enable me to buy Christmas presents in one store and make use of the 5% discount from my monthly bill. Having driven 1 hour to Debenhams, shopped in the store for over 2 hours and then queued for 30 minutes I was told by the cashier I did not have enough money to cover my £220 bill. I then had to not only be embarrassed but I had to use my credit card, something that I do not normally do as it costs me in interest payments. I spoke to customer services on leaving the store and was told that I had £50 on the card, to which I replied could not be correct as there should be either no money or £250. As it was 3 days before Christmas and I was not in the best of moods after having gone out of my way for the first time to use the card I decided not to trust the card until after Christmas. Once I checked in the New Year I was surprised to find that £250 had been transferred onto my card, but a week too late and of no use to me whatsoever.

As of yet I have not used the card as I do not wish to be embarrassed again.

I received my Netgear and lap top on the 5th January. After spending 2 hours getting the broadband to work and not being able to connect to the lap top wirelessly, I called the Utility Warehouse IT team and described my problem. I was told that there was a problem with the laptop and that I needed to call Fujitsu and speak to them. This call was at a premium rate and I spent approximately 1 hour on the phone to them for them to tell me that the lap top was ‘dead on arrival’. Fujitsu informed that I had to speak to utility Warehouse and get them to fax over a poof of purchase to their office before they could send me a diagnostic disc. Once again I phoned utility Warehouse and was told that this would take a few days as the manager was not available and only he had the authorisation to do this.

I was also told that Utility Warehouse had two weeks from distributing the lap top, in which if any problems occurred they would replace the laptop, however I did not meet this criteria.

A few days later I called Fujitsu (still on a premium rate) and was told that they had received the proof of purchase. I was then sent the diagnostic disc.

A few more days later the disc arrived, I called Fujitsu, and they told me to run the disc for 3 hours. This was done and no errors were found.

The next day I once again called Fujitsu and they told me I needed to go to a shop and purchase a Windows disc, as this may be the problem but they were not sure, to which I replied that I would not as this was not my laptop or my problem and that I had wasted far too much time on this already.

I then called Utility Warehouse again and was told to borrow one from a friend!

Once again I refused. I was then told that they would send me one in the post.

A few days later the Windows disc arrived and the lap top will not accept it.

I then contacted Utility Warehouse, and told them I wished to return the laptop, cancel the payment of £29 per month along with the phone and the broadband, that I wished to receive expenses for the cost of posting the laptop and not to have been charged for the first 3 weeks as I have never been connected. I did not ask for the cost of the telephone calls to premium rate numbers for a total of over 4 hours, but may still do so at a later date if these problems are not dealt with efficiently.

I was then told that I could cancel the ‘contract’ and that it would cost me £450.

As I was initially informed that that there was no contract involved whatsoever I am disputing this and would appreciate my wishes as stated above to be put in place as soon as possible. I am at present willing to keep the Gas and Electricity supply; however I am cancelling the other services from today; however I do wish to remove the £250 on the debit card over the next few days.

It has now been three days since I spoke to ………. During the course of the conversation I requested that he contact you, and to call me the next day with an update, Ben said he would speak to you however he did not have time to call me, but would text me with an update. I am however, still waiting.

I would appreciate if you would contact me at your earliest convenience to discuss this matter.

I have enclosed a receipt for the cost of postage for the laptop and netgear to be returned to you.

Kind regards

………….

Above is a copy of the letter I sent to Angela O’Donnell, 24th January 09, as of yet I have had no response, however I will endeavour to explain what has happened since this letter and the lap top were returned.

I called Utility Warehouse on the 27th January and asked to speak to Angela O’Donnell, to which I was told she was head of customer services and this was not possible, a rather unfitting job title I therefore thought!

After accepting this, I explained my situation and asked if it was possible to find out if my letter had been received, the gentleman said he would check and put me on hold. Ten minutes or so later he returned explaining that he had walked to where they were opening the mail and was told to tell me that as they were only opening mail that had been received on the 15th January there was no way my letter would be opened yet.

I actually could not believe what I was hearing, and once again I felt so frustrated, at the fact that not even my carefully penned letter could be opened as that department was running 2 weeks behind.

At this point I asked to speak to anyone that could explain what was happening and I was passed to another customer service operator. This gentleman told me that the lap top I had returned and that had arrived with Utility Warehouse the day before had been sent back to me after being ‘fixed’. I had had no contact with the office, obviously the letter had not been opened and my clear instructions ignored.

I contacted …………, who had originally signed me up for this apparent contract and asked for some assistance........ spoke to her line manager who said he would try and help in this matter.

As for the debit card, before I cancel this I have tried repeatedly to withdraw the £213 available, unfortunately the pin number I have been given on numerous times of checking does not seem to work, and when I have managed to speak to customer services I have found that they cannot help me in this matter.

I honestly do not know what to do now, I am completely deflated and I am losing faith rapidly that anything will be resolved.

As of today, 3rd February, I have a lap top still in the box in the kitchen, with a box full of netgear, that I do not know if I have paid for this month and if so why have I paid as I have not been able to receive any connection. Also a debit card that cannot be used, even to withdraw the balance, to enable me to cancel it, plus a phone bill on its way to me for calls to premium rate numbers.

 

 

Seriously is there anyone out there who can possibly help......

[pelham9]

Goodness what a story! What a mess!

 

Firstly it would be best to deal with this on your own thread.

 

Secondly see whether you can go through your account and make it more intelligible by putting everything that has happened in paragraphs in chronological order. At the moment it does not read all that logically.

 

Then send this account to the Chairman of the Utility Warehouse marking

your latter "Private and Confidential"

 

UTILITY WAREHOUSE LIMITED

DRYDEN HOUSE

THE EDGE BUSINESS CENTRE

HUMBER ROAD

LONDON

NW2 6EW

Company No. 04594421

[jamiemacd]

Hi interesting stuff guys. but give me your thoughts please.

 

Last night I attended an "opportunities" presentation with some MD's (marketing directors) of UW. The presentation outlined how to become a distributer and the benefits of doing so. It seemed fantastic, I make money by helping people to save money. I must admit that I'm really interested.

 

However I've heard some bad things about these so called "super deals" and was wondering if it is worth getting involved either as a customer or a distributer? My friend is a distributer in the early stages and really likes it but i'm still unsure.

 

GOOD/BAD experiences?

 

thnx, Jamie.

[berlinnetta]

l signed up to Utility Warehouse but soon changed my mind when they sent me their gas and electric tariffs.Their gas was more than twice the rate of my current supplier and their electric was about the same.When l pointed this out they told me l must be on a special rate.My daughter also pays about the same as myself with a different supplier as does my next door neighbour.

l pay less than the U.W for my broadband.All up l would have been £23.00 a month worse of with them.Check them out as their claims are misleading.

[ajpoolshark]

l signed up to Utility Warehouse but soon changed my mind when they sent me their gas and electric tariffs.Their gas was more than twice the rate of my current supplier and their electric was about the same.When l pointed this out they told me l must be on a special rate.My daughter also pays about the same as myself with a different supplier as does my next door neighbour.

l pay less than the U.W for my broadband.All up l would have been £23.00 a month worse of with them.Check them out as their claims are misleading.

 

 

Really?...half the rate?....sign me up for your current supplier...lol....UW charge on average just over 3p per kwh with a small standing charge...not good,not bad, but somewhere in the middle ground of energy suppliers....The key thing to remember about UW is they claim to be cheaper than the big 6 on Standard tarrifs...This is important to remember as most other energy suppliers have dual fuel discounts, online billing discounts etc..The downside of these are that normally your locked into a 12 or 24 month agreement which carries a penalty charge should you leave. At least with UW there's no minimum contract on energy supplies...Being a UW customer myself for 2 years, my advice is the more services you take out with them, the better discounts you get (free calls, 5% cashcard etc)...if you're looking to change only 1 or 2 of your household utilities then shop around, there are better 'specialist' deals out there...

[MilkTrayMan]

Hi interesting stuff guys. but give me your thoughts please.

 

Last night I attended an "opportunities" presentation with some MD's (marketing directors) of UW. The presentation outlined how to become a distributer and the benefits of doing so. It seemed fantastic, I make money by helping people to save money. I must admit that I'm really interested.

 

However I've heard some bad things about these so called "super deals" and was wondering if it is worth getting involved either as a customer or a distributer? My friend is a distributer in the early stages and really likes it but i'm still unsure.

 

GOOD/BAD experiences?

 

thnx, Jamie.

An ex of mine once bought into the UW corporate hype.

Even though I tried to persuade her otherwise, she still forked out monies that she could ill afford at the time.

Entering the scheme as a 'Distibutor' amounts to nothing more than being on lower rung of an elaborate 'Pyramid Scheme'.

She was to move up the ladder when she had recruited so many others to take up with UW + received a % cut from their useage payments.

I can't remember what the actual figures or bonuses were, but I do know that she really struggled to entice enough peeps to sign up cos UW weren't offering competitive rates for the end user compared to other companies at that particular time.

She also had quite a job extracting herself from whatever contract that she had initially signed up with when she moved to accomodation that UW didn't/couldn't provide a supply to.

 

 

[shining Light]

Entering the scheme as a 'Distibutor' amounts to nothing more than being on lower rung of an elaborate 'Pyramid Scheme'

.

 

Lets get facts straight here. With a pyramid scheme only the initial entrants make money, after a short period of time new entrants will find they are unable to make any money and the scheme "runs out of steam."

 

The UW is not a pyramid scheme, many who have joined over the past 1-2yrs are earning a good income already, and even though their customer base is growing at a faster rate than ever before, UW only have something like a 2 or 3 % of the market share, so plenty of scope and time for new distributors to build a successful income.

 

Also, pyramid schemes are illegal. If UW were a pyramid scheme or in any way a "dubious" business, they would never have been given a license to sell energy (I believe even Richard Branson was refused one), and they would certainly not been named "company of the year" at the Times awards in London earlier this year.

 

I keep in contact with my customers and usually get very positive feedback. Yes, at times there can be problems but you show me any company that doesn't have problems. In recent times there have been the odd cases of distributors "not doing their job properly" which is why as of about 2 months ago all new distibutors must attend a training session.

Any distributor deliberately misleading customers will be terminated, UW do take their image very seriously.

 

As a business it does work but only if the distributor makes the effort, unfortunately many join expecting easy money for doing nothing. It is working for me and I know several distributors who are now earning more in a month than most people earn in 6 mths or a year.

 

UW does not guarantee to be cheaper than the "big 6" but it does guarantee to be as competitive. Sometimes it may be a little more, sometimes a little less, but as a package with other svces, discount card etc it can work out a whole lot cheaper than most companies (and there is a customer referral scheme which can give more discounts).

 

All in all I think UW are a great company and I for one would not still be a distributor if it was not ethical or if I was unable to earn money as a distributor.

[IswatBS]

.

 

Lets get facts straight here. With a pyramid scheme only the initial entrants make money, after a short period of time new entrants will find they are unable to make any money and the scheme "runs out of steam."

 

The UW is not a pyramid scheme, many who have joined over the past 1-2yrs are earning a good income already, and even though their customer base is growing at a faster rate than ever before, UW only have something like a 2 or 3 % of the market share, so plenty of scope and time for new distributors to build a successful income.

 

Also, pyramid schemes are illegal. If UW were a pyramid scheme or in any way a "dubious" business, they would never have been given a license to sell energy (I believe even Richard Branson was refused one), and they would certainly not been named "company of the year" at the Times awards in London earlier this year.

 

I keep in contact with my customers and usually get very positive feedback. Yes, at times there can be problems but you show me any company that doesn't have problems. In recent times there have been the odd cases of distributors "not doing their job properly" which is why as of about 2 months ago all new distibutors must attend a training session.

Any distributor deliberately misleading customers will be terminated, UW do take their image very seriously.

 

As a business it does work but only if the distributor makes the effort, unfortunately many join expecting easy money for doing nothing. It is working for me and I know several distributors who are now earning more in a month than most people earn in 6 mths or a year.

 

UW does not guarantee to be cheaper than the "big 6" but it does guarantee to be as competitive. Sometimes it may be a little more, sometimes a little less, but as a package with other svces, discount card etc it can work out a whole lot cheaper than most companies (and there is a customer referral scheme which can give more discounts).

 

All in all I think UW are a great company and I for one would not still be a distributor if it was not ethical or if I was unable to earn money as a distributor.

 

 

Save the sales talk! Some of us do have more than one brain cell.

[shining Light]

"Save the sales talk! Some of us do have more than one brain cell" Hmmm lets not go there right now.

 

Nothing I wrote could be taken as "sales talk"....the points I made were facts, nothing more nothing less, you don't have to agree with them and you don't have to like them, but nevertheless, they are facts .

[ajpoolshark]

"Save the sales talk! Some of us do have more than one brain cell" Hmmm lets not go there right now.

 

Nothing I wrote could be taken as "sales talk"....the points I made were facts, nothing more nothing less, you don't have to agree with them and you don't have to like them, but nevertheless, they are facts .

 

 

 

 

 

 

agreed....there are few things in life for free, but manners, certainly are free...I suggest IswatBS could do with learning a few before posting!

[shining Light]

:D Spot on. I have looked at 2 or 3 forums on different subjects and found them very helpful and imformative but unfortunately on all of them there are always a few members who always have to resort to sarcastic remarks or derogatory comments if you don't agree with them or if they don't agree with you. Defeats the whole point of a forum really

[MadKit]

Below is a brief summary of my problems with Utility Warehouse and the subsequent meter that was installed.

 

I had requested to move electricity suppliers (January 2007) - the "final" bill was around £242 which I paid for at the end of January 2007. The new supplier said that Utility Warehouse had not approved the move as there was money owing. I contacted them as the bill showed a zero balance. The girl on the phone said she couldn't see that anything was owing.

 

In February I received the bill and it was £1198! I phoned them and they said that I owed them the money as I had been on a budget plan and they had decided to cancel this plan. My average bill per month was around £200 before this bill and I have all the statements so I did not understand how this could be.

 

By April the bill was now almost £4000!

 

18 April 2007 - Contacted Energywatch, they emailed and said they could do nothing until I had spoken to Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus) which I did but they were incredibly rude again even refusing to send out copy statements which they said I was not entitled to.

 

26 November 2007 - Contacted Energywatch again and told them that UW have now instituted a court case on 10 December and they sent me threatening letters saying they would gain forceable entry to my house and switch off my gas and electricity.

30 November 2007 - Energywatch spoke to Telecom Plus on my behalf and confirmed there would be no action regarding a court appearance on 10th December as there was a hold on the account while the dispute is being investigated.

 

Nothing happened until July 2008 when I again contacted Energywatch. Even though I had paid over £650 in two months as I had continued to try and pay off the bills, the total bill was now a staggering £7500!

 

They obtained a court order and then broke into my house and had card meters installed for both gas and electric. They woke my son up, were incredibly rude and the other two guys sat on my lounge suite waiting for their mate to fit these meters. My son asked where their warrant was and they basically told him to get lost and said they didn't have one. I phoned up and complained and was told they didn't need a warrant but that they were sorry that the guys had sat on my chairs!

 

The charges are horrendously high and the gas meter still shows a balance owing of £3,500 last time I looked just on the gas meter, I'm unsure how to check the electricity meter. I worked out that one month the charges for gas and electricity were more than £500 and the average is just less than this every month.

 

The BBC are doing programmes about "Rip-Off Britain" and have asked me to go on this to highlight the issues with Utility Warehouse / Telecom Plus but I can tell you that they would get back at me and I wouldn't put it past them to break in again or something worse.

 

Any suggestions?

 

 

 

MadKit

 

 

Edited November 29, 2009 by MARTIN3030
Last comments removed since inappropriate.

[shining Light]

Hi Madkit, firstly i've got to say I love the photo, I have a couple of Husky Dogs myself, beauties.

 

Regarding your problem with UW, firstly I have to say again that in general UW are a great company but things happen, and in your case if everything happened as you say then you have not been given a good service, far from it. I have not come across anything like this before with UW, and I have never had a rude exchange from anyone on customer services before. As I said before, I keep in contact with many of my customers and many have said they have found customers services to be very helpful, often above and beyond the norm.

 

That said, this doesn't help your situation/feelings.

 

If you want to PM me your name, acct no and tel number I will forward your info as detailed here to UW and see if anything can be done. They won't discuss your account with me (Data Protection) but maybe I can get them to have another look at your case.

[MARTIN3030]

Madkit,why did you not challenge the warrant by going to Court ?

Theres enough advance warning.

You could then have had your say and if what you claim is correct,then in all likelyhood the warrant would have been set aside or else not granted.

Additionally,the way is open for you to take your own action against them in the small claims court,but you will need to be able to substantiate the wrongs.

Energywatch was right to want to see you having dialogue with the other side-that should have all been done in writing !!

[shining Light]

If you want to PM me your name, acct no and tel number I will forward your info as detailed here to UW and see if anything can be done. They won't discuss your account with me (Data Protection) but maybe I can get them to have another look at your case."

 

Haven't heard anything yet so I assume everything is now sorted out.

[MadKit]

To answer the two posts:

 

Absolutely nothing is sorted out. I am still paying off over £6,000 worth of debt on the meters at an exhorbitant rate. I am topping up almost £400 every month for gas and electricity and before anyone reminds me that it is winter, would you seriously expect to pay this much even in winter?

 

Thank you for your offer but I have no interest in having anything to do with Utility Warehouse ever again and I would advise anyone thinking of joining them to have a look around the web and see the issues others have or are having with them.

 

I wasn't at home when these people broke in and only found out about it when my son phoned me. They did not show any warrants nor was there a court case. Energywatch were hopeless, they said that if they produce a bill then the amount must be owing. They weren't interested that the so called amount that was owing was about triple what other utility companies were charging at that time and backdated even though the "final" bill was zero when I tried to change suppliers.

 

One day I hope to have this bill paid off but quite honestly, I can't imagine how long that will take.

 

 

P.S. The photo is of a wolf.