Utility Warehouse

[Draugen]

A few months back, I became a distributor for the Utility Warehouse. It seemed like a good opportunity and a fairly easy way to earn a few extra quid on the side. Since signing up however, my personal and business circumstances have changed considerably and I haven't been in a position to begin "selling".

The problem I'm having, is that the whole thing just winds me up. I have a "sponsor" above me, who calls me every now and then to motivate me into selling. All I ever hear is generic nonsense about how "this distributor signed up x customers and got a free car" and "it's easy to get started, have you tried telling customers how much you're saving on your bills" etc etc etc. Fact is, it is completely ignored that I have a successful business and that I wish to keep the two seperate. It is not possible for me to sell UW to my existing customers and I don't wish to do so, but this doesn't seem to be understood!

In addition, I don't believe UW are reallly the best value in the marketplace. I suggested this to my "sponsor" today and it was met with some annoyance. The response was generic rubbish about "triple value guarantee" and how UW had been voted "cheapest supplier" or similar so many years in a row. Fact is, I get my energy at cheaper rates than those offered by UW. I get my phone and broadband and cheaper rates than UW, but this is not considered to be true by them! They just keep banging on about this "triple value guarantee" nonsense.

Frankly, these attempts at "motivating" me have made me not want to sell the products.

Anyway, apologies for the rant, but is it just me that finds Utility Warehouse really are not anything special?

 

[CKG]

I accidentally got involved with them a little while back. A web designer I was using duped me into going to some seminar or other hosted by some UW grand master guru who was getting his butt kissed by all and sundry.

When I realised what it was all about it began to wind me up too. It was like being groomed by a bunch of utillity peados and I was their spring chicken.

A conversation I had with a guy at the seminar sums the whole thing up..

GUY: 'It's great this UW thing isn't it'
Me: 'I don't know much about it really'
GUY 'I'm using it as my pension. I've been doing it 18 months and signed up lots of people already. It's great!'
Me: 'Have you made any money out of it yet?'
GUY 'no not really but i will do'.

Brainwashed!

 

[Tej]

would it not be better just to pack that in, as you are not motivated and you have no belief in the product you are supposedly selling ( or not).

so.. stop being a distributor!

That way you won't get wound up

 

[My Owl 1]

Ok Guys. I am also a distributor, and I do think that in a lot of cases we can give very good value for money, but yes you are right not in all cases. I have actually told some potential customers that I can not "best" the deal they are on now.But I do have to say that overall we UW are good value, especially with the cash card. Prices for energy in South Wales are very good value for UW customers.

I do believe however that we are in a market where if we can save people money on their current bills then that is good isn't it. And I also believe that there is a good income to be had. However, I think that distributors should be selective in bringing on others that want to do this business, not just sponsor for the sake of it. Or even worse leave sponsored distributors high and dry.

It is a good business and I for one have saved lots. My customers are also saving and some who I have said I cannot currently save them any money have kept in contact and asked me to do checks.

So right attitude, good customer contact.

The company is not perfect but working towards it.

Avril

www.savemoneywithus.co.uk

 

[MH1]

A few months back, I became a distributor for the Utility Warehouse. It seemed like a good opportunity and a fairly easy way to earn a few extra quid on the side. Since signing up however, my personal and business circumstances have changed considerably and I haven't been in a position to begin "selling".

The problem I'm having, is that the whole thing just winds me up. I have a "sponsor" above me, who calls me every now and then to motivate me into selling. All I ever hear is generic nonsense about how "this distributor signed up x customers and got a free car" and "it's easy to get started, have you tried telling customers how much you're saving on your bills" etc etc etc. Fact is, it is completely ignored that I have a successful business and that I wish to keep the two seperate. It is not possible for me to sell UW to my existing customers and I don't wish to do so, but this doesn't seem to be understood!

Not defending UW, but why stay a distributor if you have no intention of selling it, or if you think you may in the future why get annoyed that your sponsor is trying to help you out?

I would be a lot more worried if you never heard from your sponsor, the main problem lies with the phrase highlighted above, nothing is that easy.

 

[Dot Design]

Not defending UW, but why stay a distributor if you have no intention of selling it

because it cost him £200 to join up!

 

[silvermusic]

There's no point in trying to sell something you don't have total faith in or any enthusiasm about. I tried it once and it was 8 months of hell.

 

[cjd]

Anyway, apologies for the rant, but is it just me that finds Utility Warehouse really are not anything special?

Of course they're not that special; they're just a re-seller like all the others but have substituted an MLM 'distributor' mechanism for the more usual marketing budget.

They recruit people just like you who are looking for an 'easy way of making a bit of easy money one the side' and promote it through guru lead, cultish conferences.

For god sake get out and make an honest living.

 

[MH1]

because it cost him £200 to join up!

Thanks for stating the obvious, but the question remains, how does he benefit by remaining a distributor if he has no intention of selling for them? UW are open about what is required when agents sign up, so they have not changed the scenario.

I appreciate that the OP's circumstances have changed, but surely putting his efforts into his

successful business

is better than moaning about UW?

 

[My Owl 1]

Quote "because it cost him £200 to join up"

Just a point of reference here. If his sponsor had done a good job, Draugen should have got his £200 back, for getting 12 customers in 90 days.

But I definitely agree you either do this business or don't and get most of your money back for jacking it in before 90 days are up.

It isnt for everyone, but it does work for most.

Avril

 

[wizzard]

I would walk away, if you're not interested then you'll never make the £200 back. Just put it down to experience and move on.

 

[Draugen]

I would walk away, if you're not interested then you'll never make the £200 back. Just put it down to experience and move on.

Oh that's definitely the plan! It's not something I'm interested in, it's only £200 gone and that's that. It just seems a shame that it is something I would have given a proper go had they not managed to completely turn me against them with their nonsense "motivation" tricks.

I just find it bizarre how my experience with them is that the agents are just completely blind to any reality beyond the products they're selling.

GUY: 'It's great this UW thing isn't it'
Me: 'I don't know much about it really'
GUY 'I'm using it as my pension. I've been doing it 18 months and signed up lots of people already. It's great!'
Me: 'Have you made any money out of it yet?'
GUY 'no not really but i will do'.

That is spot on! They just kept answering my questions with endless rhetoric and ludicrous statements to motivate me into selling. When I challenged my sponsor that I pay less for my energy, phone and broadband than I would with UW, he just began banging on about the "triple value guarantee" and being the "Which Best Buy" x years in a row. Fact is, I can get those services cheaper, but instead of actually acknowledging that or attempting to find a better deal, it's a case of sounding like a broken record by repeatedly reiterating the party line.

Anyway, must stop ranting. This has got my goat today and yesterday. If UW works for you, fair enough, but I have found the whole operation nauseating. :s

 

[My Owl 1]

Oh that's definitely the plan! It's not something I'm interested in, it's only £200 gone and that's that. It just seems a shame that it is something I would have given a proper go had they not managed to completely turn me against them with their nonsense "motivation" tricks.

I just find it bizarre how my experience with them is that the agents are just completely blind to any reality beyond the products they're selling.



That is spot on! They just kept answering my questions with endless rhetoric and ludicrous statements to motivate me into selling. When I challenged my sponsor that I pay less for my energy, phone and broadband than I would with UW, he just began banging on about the "triple value guarantee" and being the "Which Best Buy" x years in a row. Fact is, I can get those services cheaper, but instead of actually acknowledging that or attempting to find a better deal, it's a case of sounding like a broken record by repeatedly reiterating the party line.

Anyway, must stop ranting. This has got my goat today and yesterday. If UW works for you, fair enough, but I have found the whole operation nauseating. :s

I would like to qualify here that, as a distributor of UW, I know that for some prospective clients there are cheaper deals. And I for one tell them if I cannot save them money. OK we are all told about the "triple guarentee" etc, but in reality doesn't everyone have a brand banter ? Whether you believe it all and feel comfortable about marketing it that way is frankly up to the individual.

Yes UW is working for me but not in the "nauseating" way you report. I agree shoving a product down anyones throat turns me off from the start, but if a customer migrates to your company when you have done all the right things then they do stay with you, and this surely is personal preference, just like people who stay with British Gas and are being charged £££'s more than other providers.

After all the bottom line is I am in UW as MY Business and run it as such and would commend others to do that too. It is not a get rich quick schem it is a business like any other and my expectations are that the majority of sponsors run it as such, not do as yours obviously has and driven you "bonkers". I am sorry that your experience has been "naff". Good luck for your future. Feel free to pm me if you want to rant anymore.

Best wishes

Avril

 

[BusinessIdeas]

I think that the main problem with UW is that it is not very easy to sell the thing to consumers. The main method of customer acquisition seems to be door knocking, and all the housing estates have been totally thrashed by the uitility companies so you are not going to be very well received if you you try to obtain customers in this way. I would guess that the vast majority of the people who shell out their £200 will end up just giving in and losing their money.

 

[My Owl 1]

I think that the main problem with UW is that it is not very easy to sell the thing to consumers. The main method of customer acquisition seems to be door knocking, and all the housing estates have been totally thrashed by the uitility companies so you are not going to be very well received if you you try to obtain customers in this way. I would guess that the vast majority of the people who shell out their £200 will end up just giving in and losing their money.

Actually about 85% get there money back after 90 days.

 

[BusinessIdeas]

Actually about 85% get there money back after 90 days.

I seriously doubt this, have you got any independant proof?

 

Most Lunatic Method

just don't go there - ever

 

[SFD]

I think that the main problem with UW is that it is not very easy to sell the thing to consumers. The main method of customer acquisition seems to be door knocking,

You can always just spam internet forums with it, can't you Avril?

 

[Morgy]

The main method of customer acquisition seems to be door knocking....

Where did you get that information from?

I've seen agents recruit friends, family, go networking, advertise in shop windows, at events, SPAM forums but never door knocking. Maybe round your area they door knock, but you cannot say this is their main method of customer acquisition. Have you any independent proof?

BTW I am not a distributor.

 

[BusinessIdeas]

Where did you get that information from?

I've seen agents recruit friends, family, go networking, advertise in shop windows, at events, SPAM forums but never door knocking. Maybe round your area they door knock, but you cannot say this is their main method of customer acquisition. Have you any independent proof?

BTW I am not a distributor.

I have spoken with UW distributors who have stated that their main and favourite customer acquisition method is door knocking, and I have talked to customers of mine on the estates who have been canvassed by UW and other utilities endlessly.

I dont need independant proof because I said in my post that it seems to be the case, which is my experience and perception, I was not stating an absolute fact.

 

[MH1]

I can't say for sure, but most MLM's would be against door knocking in principle, since the real goal is to spread the message by word of mouth and to gain new recruits.

That said UW did have a special deal for door knockers a few years back, since I put a team on for them at the time, but although successful they decided to change the deal after several months making it less attractive than most other offerings on the market, so I pulled the guys.

The real big money in MLM comes from recruitment rather than sales in the long run.

 

[gogojonny]

Just get out of UW as soon as possible.

The problem with UW is that anyone does it. People recruit others so they can get paid more, and will recruit anyone. I do wonder what sort of checks / interviews are done especially when people will be going into people's houses.

The whole personal web address is so tackly and Kleeneeze style - and all the talk ' this distributor was top last month and got a car and is going to a conference in Holland'.

Concentrate on real business.

 

[My Owl 1]

Just get out of UW as soon as possible.

The problem with UW is that anyone does it. People recruit others so they can get paid more, and will recruit anyone. I do wonder what sort of checks / interviews are done especially when people will be going into people's houses.

The whole personal web address is so tackly and Kleeneeze style - and all the talk ' this distributor was top last month and got a car and is going to a conference in Holland'.

Concentrate on real business.

We (I) do concentrate on the business. But isnt it nice to be appreciated for getting it right. When did anyone last say well done for hitting a target. Plus there are checks done, and we all have to do training unlike Kleeneze where you just go out in the rain!.

Like most businesses there are warts as well as acumeny.... did I spell that right.

NO business is perfect. Without exception.

By the way we dont go to Holland!!!

 

[BusinessIdeas]

So, lets see if I have this right: The only actual utility purchasing UW customers are the recruits who then only get paid if they get more recruits.

 

[james Minion]

I got pitched the idea once and was not interested in it. The effort to make any real money seemed ridiculous! I know a few guys who seem to like it but half of me thinks they are just saying that because they have invested so much time in it.

 

[im here for advice]

recruiting sounds like a American evangelist church meeting lol

After reading on the net...seems to be the only way to make money is to recruit

I`m out

although was never in

 

[DotNetWebs]

Reading this thread reminds me of a few people I know who got into Amway in the late 80s / early 80s!

Some things never change!

As for Kleeneze they are despised around here:

Kleeneze Thread

Regards

Dotty

 

[Lasting Designs]

I accidentally got involved with them a little while back. A web designer I was using duped me into going to some seminar or other hosted by some UW grand master guru who was getting his butt kissed by all and sundry.

When I realised what it was all about it began to wind me up too. It was like being groomed by a bunch of utillity peados and I was their spring chicken.

A conversation I had with a guy at the seminar sums the whole thing up..

GUY: 'It's great this UW thing isn't it'
Me: 'I don't know much about it really'
GUY 'I'm using it as my pension. I've been doing it 18 months and signed up lots of people already. It's great!'
Me: 'Have you made any money out of it yet?'
GUY 'no not really but i will do'.

Brainwashed!

I know somebody who was the same with the abrieviated "AMerican WAY" company, he used to bang on about it and how great it was, spent loads of time scratching around doing garden clearance and being a bouncer at the weekend.

The sad thing was, the garden business he had going could have been a real goer, he was qualified to use a chain-saw, not scared of heights and had a good knowledge with horticulture, yet couldn't see the "system" for what it was, he had his head turned and that was that.

Not so much as living the dream, but dreaming the life - sad really.

 

[Lasting Designs]

Reading this thread reminds me of a few people I know who got into Amway in the late 80s / early 80s!

Some things never change!

As for Kleeneze they are despised around here:

Kleeneze Thread

Regards

Dotty

See Above!!

 

[DotNetWebs]

See Above!!

lol yes - like I said: "Some things never change!"

Regards

Dotty

 

[yourfuture2]

I rarely bother posting on forums but having come across this thread, I thought I would make an exception.

I am a distributor for the UW and I am amazed at some of the stupid and/or untrue statements that are often made.

Comments like "it doesn't work" or "unethical" make me mad. Newsflash: IT DOES WORK!!! The problem is too many people join looking for "easy" money, do nothing and then complain saying "the company is rubbish" or "the concept doesn't work." The business works but it also has to be worked! If you treat it as a business and make the effort, you will succeed, if you do nothing, guess what? You earn nothing!

There are a number of distributors in the area here who are earning close to a full time income and several have actually given up or sold their businesses or left their jobs, tell them the business doesn't work.

"People recruit others so they can get paid more, and will recruit anyone" Rubbish! We don't get paid for introducing people to this amazing business, we only benefit if those we introduce are successful, so why would we waste our time recruiting "anyone" taking time to explain the business, organizing their training and helping them get started if they are simply going to do nothing but moan saying "it doesn't work." I have better ways of using my time and personally, when I speak to a prospective distributor I will say to him/her.."if you are not committed to giving it a realistic go please say so now because I don't want to waste your time or mine."

I have been out of the country for 9 of the last 11 months but I still get paid every month without fail.

I would love to say "thankyou" to the guy who introduced me to the UW but I can't.....he gave up a few weeks later, not because the business didn't work but because he didn't want to.

 

[Sarnie]

UtilityWarehouse, My god, I was invited by an estate agent to the welcome meeting 3 months ago,I decided to give it a go basically to help him withhis signups and I thought I could possibly make a go of it, I received my pack and started asking around if anyone wanted to sign up,I didnt get any signups in the first three weeks and he then pulled e into his office for a motivational chat, Asking what i wanted out of it,He was saying paying my mortgage after a year was a possibility,Brainwashed is a very good way of describing this company,I read all the reviews on the internet and decided it was crap,No word of a lie he rang me twice in the space of a week and i didnt answer my phone because i was getting fed up of his motivational talks,He even suggested I changed myself to become a more respected person and missed going to watch my beloved Doncaster Rovers so that people could see I was putting 100% into UW.(He was also wanting me to travel to every UW meeting within a 90mile radius od Doncaster,)
When I told him I didnt want to sell UW anymore He flipped,and Banned me from working in any of his rental properties,(15,000 a year lost)He said I have the power to do this! Get out my office,(Brainwashed)
I sent my pack back to the UW within the 3 month timescale to get your money back,I havnt received it back yet and I am not holding my breath

 

[chalkie99]

I rarely bother posting on forums

That's a relief!

All that big type is filling my screen up too fast.

 

[yourfuture2]

Sarnie said "I didnt get any signups in the first three weeks"

So you really gave it a good go then, I can't understand why it didn't work out for you??

"Brainwashed is a very good way of describing this company"

Having a belief or passion = Brainwashed!!
If what you say is completely true then perhaps your Estate Agent friend didn't behave very professionally but please...don't lump every UW distributor into the same category.

"I read all the reviews on the internet and decided it was crap"

These would be the reviews from others like yourself who spoke to half a dozen people and because they didn't get a positive result immediately, threw in the towel and spent more time slagging the company than they did working the business.

As I said in my previous post it has worked for me, I am no longer on the 9-5 treadmill and a personally know many others who have achieved this and more. Please don't rubbish a company you know so little about.

 

[BusinessIdeas]

@yourfuture2 Here is a direct question that will give you a chance to convince people that your UW program is worth joining:


How do you acquire your customers?

 

[My Owl 1]

@yourfuture2 Here is a direct question that will give you a chance to convince people that your UW program is worth joining:


How do you acquire your customers?

I can answer that one, from referrals, not door to door. Some from BNI, some from people I know, some from events I do. Just got a referral tonight from a satisfied customer, who has referred me on to her sister. Just like, oh dear,how tragic!!! Like most other business people do when they are starting their business.. This is a business, don't you know!!

 

[yourfuture2]

Hi Crewgirl25a,
"How do you acquire your customers?"
Thats an interesting question because so many people think you have to have hundreds or even thousands of customers to be successful in this business which isn't the case, although many, many of our distributors do have 100+ or 200+ customers.

I am probably not the best person to answer your question because as I said before, I am out of the country a lot. However, in the past I have used leaflets and the internet, I have talked to people I know (talked, not badgered), and I have talked to people I don't know. eg people I met in the course of my job, or even people I met socially (How often have you been asked what you do for a living?).

Also, for the past 3 years UW has given away a brand new BMW Mini in a prize draw and this has been combined very successfully with various events both large and small attended by distributors.

In an earlier post it was suggested all UW distributors go door knocking. I for one haven't, it just isn't for me and in fact very few distributors I know use this method.

getting referrals is an excellent way to find customers, your new customer will know people you don't know. The same applies when you introduce a new distributor and help him find customers, he will know people looking to save and/or make money and so on. So you don't need to personally find thousands of customers to be successful.

I have no doubt there will be more negative comments on this subject, and no matter what I or any other successful distributor says, Mr negative will still insist it doesn't work which is why he or she will be back on the treadmill Monday morning.

 

[cjd]

I have no doubt there will be more negative comments on this subject, and no matter what I or any other successful distributor says, Mr negative will still insist it doesn't work which is why he or she will be back on the treadmill Monday morning.

Correct, and as a fully paid up Mr MLM Negative I suggest that anybody reading this thread does exactly what you suggest and avoids working for UW's 'treadmill' and finds their own business to make their own way in.

 

[MH1]

As I have mentioned in other threads, I don't have anything against MLM personally, it's not my ideal business but that's just myself.

I don't like relying on the recruitment element of the MLM's business models I have come into contact with, but most importantly it is the lack of control, where the MLM can change the rules on qualification for commissions etc whenever the wish too. As such I just don't see them as anything more than a commission agents position, no matter how much people wish to argue it is "their" business.

That said it is a business model, which will suit other's. I know a couple of guys doing well from MLM's, they earn a large monthly figure but they don't have many friends left. All of the guys I know who have made big money have done it through recruiting agents, not actual personal sales, which normally make up a very small percentage of their commissions.

UW has been done to death on this forum.

 

[Draugen]

Plus there are checks done, and we all have to do training unlike Kleeneze where you just go out in the rain!.

Interesting. I had no checks done on me, and my sponsor told me just last week that the training is not essential!

Perhaps I'll stay in this now just to wind my sponsor up when he calls me with his motivational nonsense. It does wind me up no end, but not as much as me telling him Utility Warehouse cannot save me money on any of my utilities.