Is Utility Warehouse Any Good

[Solarman500]

Hi All

I have just joined the utility warehouse as a customer and a distributor, I was just wondering if anyone has any experience with this company and which is the best method to promote this as a business.

As a customer the savings are very good but I am unsure how to promote it, especially to business customers.

Thanks

 

[Rhyl Lightworks]

I joined Utility Warehouse about 2 years ago, getting Electricity, Gas, Phone and Broadband through them (at home). While I had no complaints about the first 3, the broadband was pathetic (an average download speed of less than 1/2 MB/s compared with about 7 we were getting before) I changed all very quickly - there was no price advantage if you did not have all 4 from them. At least one could cancel in a month - they didn't tie you into a long contract. I believe they have since farmed out the broadband to Tiscali. This must say something, if Tiscali offer a better service than them.

Barrie

 

[neildigital]

I have been with utit warehouse for 6 months, yes their broadband is slower than cable i was on, but i get 4mb most times, the big benefit I get is using the cashback card, it gives me around £30 per month back against my gas/elect. Just for using it compared to my debit card for weekly shops and fuel.

I think it depends on your case for whether they would be better, than others. If you shop in Asda or sainsburys and have big weekly shops there are some benefits I think.

Neil

 

[Evotrev]

Hi All

I have just joined the utility warehouse as a customer and a distributor, I was just wondering if anyone has any experience with this company and which is the best method to promote this as a business.

As a customer the savings are very good but I am unsure how to promote it, especially to business customers.

Thanks

Hello Solarmam
This is my first post to this forum, so please choose to take me as you like. I have a small building business since 2003. and things have been tough this past couple of years. I did a decent sized job for a guy called Mark 18 months ago, and he was a police detective by day. and had a very successful Utility warehouse business he ran with his wife in his off time.

Mark introduced me to the services of the club, and a few months later I joined as a distributor. The services for me have been fine, and great value, and the cash back card saved us over £250 in the first year. effectively paying for out telecoms.

becoming a distributor in May 2010 wasn't a great time for me to start a new business, my wife was due to give birth in July. but I wanted to get started, and give it a go. and the building game wasn't getting any easier.
the first 6 months were hard for me. there seemed to be two sides to this business. when promoting it to people. open interest. and the ones calling it a scam. Get to many scammers early on will test your metal get to many interested people who sign will give you the boost you need to get off to a great start. but wont prepare you for the time you start meeting the scammers.
What does this mean? now I'm 15 months in. it means stay with it. DO NOT TAKE IT PERSONALLY if someone says no. and just do as your taught. some say the system is cheesy and simple. the reason for this is easy. if its simple[SIZE=+0] [/SIZE]anyone can do it. and that's the reason, this opportunity is open to anyone.
Work the system, find your own balance and keep records of activity. everyone has success in different area's find what your good at and duplicate it. find people to join your team and teach them to duplicate the system.
Why am i replying to your post. well firstly I got my first team member in March this year. nearly 1 year into the business. its now July and I have 10 in my Team. once things start to slot in to place, all of a sudden it starts to grow. and when that happens you really see the power of this business. find a few team members who find a few team members, and all of a sudden your group starts to tick up almost on a daily basis. which of course means your commission ticks up to
secondly. now I'm building a team I’m learning the business form a new angle, and the lesson here to learn is. Help enough people get what they want. and you will get what you want. this business is about helping others. either save on there bills/shopping or to start their own business. do that well, and your business will flourish.
listen to people in your day to day activities, and build r[SIZE=+0]a[/SIZE]port with them. especially business’s, be professional, you have something they may need. all everyone including business’s need to make savings in these hard time’s they will listen to you.
good luck, and go for it.
regards Trev
ps feel free to ask more Q, if your sponsors any good though you wont need to ask here.

 

[garyk]

Welcome to the forum Trev and a good informative post.

To the OP utility warehouse has been discussed on here many times before both from the perspective of a customer and distributor so its worth doing a search.

Gary

 

[MH1]

The simple fact with most Network marketing businesses is the average newcomer recruits just one other person, unless you stick at it as suggested you will only ever earn pin money.

If you get lucky and recruit a decent person, they might end up making you a lot of money.

It's not for myself personally, I used to have a team working on UW years ago on a finders fee only and know a guy who is possibly their top earner, he was making £20k plus many years ago, per month. He wanted me to join as a distributor but I prefer other ways, end of the day the weak point in NM for myself is the company can change everything whenever they wish, so although you are sold the idea of it being your business, it is not in reality.

For your own business you need to own the customer, not simply introduce them.

Best of luck if you decide to give it a go.

 

[Evotrev]

The simple fact with most Network marketing businesses is the average newcomer recruits just one other person, unless you stick at it as suggested you will only ever earn pin money.

Im no expert on other network marketing modles although im aware there all similar. but you are correct. to build a decent enough business you will have to stick at it as you say. where this business differs though. you stick at this for 5 or even 10 years if your average jo. and then you can sack you day job, and just do this a few hours a week or how ya like.
In a traditional job. I'm looking at what ? working till im 70 for a pension, by then it will no doubt be 75. No thanks. If all i have to give up is watching a few hours of mind numbing TV of an evening to go out and promot this a few nights a week. then for me its worth the risk.... risk? Ive looked at the risks. I think this compnay is here to stay for a while yet. Share price doubled last month for £3.50 to £7.00 were FTSE 250. and CEO's sights are fixed on FTSE100.
by all means DYOR, and the best of luck.
Trev

 

[marketingquotes]

Hi There,

this is a sales & marketing section - are you just wanting feedback on UW or is your question related to sales & marketing?

Regards,

Marketing Quotes Support

 

[Michael-Bush]

Why are you asking opinion after you've signed up? Haha

 

[Surfing jasper]

My own experience of Utility Warehouse is that they are shockingly bad.... I and many others that I have spoken to have had numerous issues with them. This includes overcharging for electricity, bullying customers into making payments, under charging then demanding immediate payment. The list goes on. If you are becoming a distributor I would think seriously about selling this service to friends as this is how I became a customer and my friend now feels really bad that I have had so many problems with them. Sorry to bring bad news....!!

 

[bobdaz]

well firstly I got my first team member in March this year. nearly 1 year into the business. its now July and I have 10 in my Team. once things start to slot in to place, all of a sudden it starts to grow. and when that happens you really see the power of this business. find a few team members who find a few team members, and all of a sudden your group starts to tick up almost on a daily basis. which of course means your commission ticks up to

How does one go about finding recruits to act as distributors?

 

[triple eye]

At the end of the day this is a business opportunity. To be able to pay their agents something they've got to earn so therefore they've got to charge.
They have performed well, as a business but, like others before them, Telco Global Communications, PowerNet, Telecom Plus and many more, they are really only just small fry.
Gaining 50 customers doesn't seem too hard, and it isn't for the 2% that will be bothered to but unless you go the route of building the business as a biz op there's really little benefit of signing up, unless you are happy to have one bill that will tie you in and thwart the freedom to seek betters deal in all utilities as and when you want to.
As a biz op, yes it can work, as can Kleeneze, Avon etc etc.
As a utility provider, they're simply brokers who, as we know with all brokers they will charge and they will earn their commissions first which has all got to be paid for.
I gather the owner is a multi millionaire stating that he wants to make his agents millionaires. I'd like to hear from just one agent who has a 7 figure income. In fact I'd like to hear from any of them that have a 6, 5 or 4 figure income for that matter!
In my humble opinion, if you want to save money on your utilities, first of all get solar panels on your roof, have a ground source or air source pump fitted or a wood pellet fired boiler, maybe have a wind turbine erected or add anything else to your property where you can save and earn money via the government schemes and FIT's. They are what I call no brainer decisions. If you can do this why would you want to mess about with a company that ties you in and charges you for the privilege.
And if you can't do any of this why pay for the privilege any way as a customer. These market places are very volatile so therefore you don't want to be tied in.
This is a business opportunity and the person who gets you to sign up is saying, "thank you very much. You're earning me money"

And if you looking to make money on a biz op there's several out there that are a 100 times better than this.
And if you want to know one or two of them, I'm very happy to oblige. I wouldn't touch UW with a bargepole!

 

[llemmasc]

Which several are these?

 

[Trykid]

Hi All, Ive been involved with UW for about 7 months now. I did a lot of research before I joined. I was not concerned about the £100, I was more concerned about offering services to friends and family that had to be reliable. So I signed myself up first so I had 1st hand experience of it.

Now, i have been introduced to several company structures like this, inc kleeneze. But I didn't fell comfortable as they are all product orientated. The thing is these are services that everybody needs. But the services are not for everyone, I will be totally honest. However, there are people out there that are paying way over the odds with energy and telecoms, some are even too scared too change as they feel it is too complicated.

I am saving money, as In the cashback both high street and online. I shop a fair bit on ebay, and I get 5% cashback. On average I get about 15-£20 a month. Xmas I got £40.
But not everybody does online shopping.

There are cheaper alternatives out there,. But from a business point of view you will get customers, that want the 1 bill/1 direct debit, benefit from cashback. It's working for me. You don't have to build a team, you can earn residual just from gathering customers.

I now can say I do have a regular fixed monthly residual, it's not massive but it's going up month by month as my customers increase... I'm still getting paid for customers I connected in my first month back in December... Yes they are happy with the services, to which they have given me referrals.

In reply to the above post, there is no one on a 7 figure income, but 5 figure income yes. Remember this is residual, they don't need to do nothing for it month on month....

The business has it's ups and downs. It's not easy i will be honest. It's a matter of what you put in you get out

 

[Paul Brooke]

I have no idea how good the biz op is. I guess that is going to come down to what time and energy you put into it. All I can ask is why anybody would want to use them as a provider is beyond me. I looked at everyone for their prices of all of the services they offer and they were well over the top. Not sure why these people that take it on don't do their homework first. For the poster previous who said that they checked them for gas, electricity, phone and it was only the broadband that was dearer I would ask when was the last time you compared your energy bills? As a few have said here, UW are a broker and not a big broker at that. So where do you think your residual income comes from? Sorry, but they have never been competitive and never will be

 

[Trykid]

Paul, as I mentioned there are cheaper alternatives out there for energy. As for mobile... after being a customer with orange for 18 years. They could not match the deal UW gave me, also with free phone protection. Landline and broadband, probably get £1 or £2 cheaper. But I had a absolute nightmare with sky and talk talk at my parents house. With UW so far so good. To top it like I said I get cashback for my online purchases like ebay and my high street shopping. Infact my wife went to boots last month and got 8% cashback on her usual purchases. I love the convience of 1 bill and 1 direct debit of all services. And they dont charge £2 for paper billing like most companies.

As for a business, you wont please everyone.. but there are many people like me that like these benefits. There are people who earn decent amounts. But is true to say what you put in is what you get out.


Kleeneze products are not cheap. But there are people who shop for convience.. for me time is money

 

[Paul Brooke]

That's no problem Trykid. Each to their own and I respect that. I was just pointing out that personally I would rather have far cheaper bills than coupons from Boots etc

 

[Trykid]

True Paul.. But it's not coupons it's actually is cashback... Money knocked off our bill. If it was coupons I wouldn't bother. My son wants a new bike. Argos will give me 5% cashback on something I would be buying anyway...

Now, I'm not trying to sell it but the guy that did my extension (builder) is a customer. He spends £100s every month at b&q and ebay. His gas electric phone bb & 2 mobiles came to £28 for one month.... Believe me, he is one happy chap.

So you will definitely find people, and I have a good team earning a good amount and still building..

The company has been trading for 17 years. If it was not saving people money or did have a good reputation, I doubt it would have been in business so long.

But as you very rightly said everyone to their own. But do remember this, next time you do shop out of the 2000 online stores or at the qualifying 40 odd high street stores... You can reduce you utility bills. That's guaranteed.

 

[Paul Brooke]

..

Now, I'm not trying to sell it but the guy that did my extension (builder) is a customer. He spends £100s every month at b&q and ebay. His gas electric phone bb & 2 mobiles came to £28 for one month.... Believe me, he is one happy chap.
.

I bet he is a Happy Chappie

I am not talking about a guy that spends £100,s every month at B&Q and Ebay though matey. I am just talking about your "average Joe". There is no way you could get those prices. Believe me I have checked and done the comparison. For my utilities UW doesn't come anywhere close

But if you want to prove me wrong and supply my gas, my electric, my phone, broadband and two mobiles for £28 per month!!!!!....where do I sign?

 

[Trykid]

Sorry if I didnt make myself clear . This customer is an extreme. My other customers are quite average customers who save between £5 and £25 a month through there shopping habbits. I dont want to be done for miss selling but i like to see my customers happy.
And very much truely they are saving money on the double gold tariff... otherwise they would have switched suppliers by now and not be recommending me to anyone....

 

[Paul Brooke]

The thing is I already save as much as that by NOT being a UW customer. And I shop where I want

 

[Paul Brooke]

Think we will just have to agree to disagree on this one buddy. I wish you well with it. Please let me know when you are earning a couple of grand a month in residual income so that I can pat you on the back and say well done...ok?

 

[Trykid]

Absolutely.... right now im only earning £300 per month in residual alongside my day job 7 months in. I have no reason to fib. But It is growing month on month... I dont make false statements, im an honest guy... if people want to join the business im here if not im still here. I respect all opinions... one thing im sure we will agree on is everyone to there own.