Utility Warehouse

My parents have switched from BT VDSL to Utility Warehouse VDSL. Cost saving apparently.

Never heard of Utility Warehouse. Any good?

I went to visit my parents yesterday, and found they had no internet. Switchover had happened. They had wired it as per the ADSL instructions. So I refitted the Openreach box. But no DSL light.

So I called them, and they tested, and then came back to me, and said they had provided them with ADSL for two weeks. After that they would get VDSL. Huh?! They claimed they had sent a letter about it. No.

I put it back to ADSL, but it still didn't work.

A reseller usually of the TalkTalk wholesale service

I assume they moved the telephone, in which case going to full LLU is likely and providers seem to like to do ADSL provide then migrate to VDSL later.

If the phone is working and the ADSL is not double check that the number is correct i.e. ring a mobile and then chase on the broadband side.

I'd be interested to hear any thoughts on Utility Warehouse as well.
Came top of the Which? survey, but reading about them on the web isn't very reassuring; neither is hearing they are a TalkTalk reseller.
It seems odd there is so little about them on this forum.

Edited by StephenTodd (Mon 28-Jul-14 18:29:49)

It's a sort of pyramid selling thing IIRC. Not just for broadband, but gas, electricity and dunno .

My friend used UW for Internet and seems to have no issues, but I guess the you only know how good someone is when you get problems. They used to be called Telecom Plus a few years back then got into selling other utility stuff.

I use them for Gas/Electric and I've got a mobile broadband with them (though the latter I might cancel as it's not used).

I'm happy to stick with Zen for internet, as no matter who I use my speed isn't going to get better. Plus Zen have been stable for the 10 years or so i've been with them.

Apart from the switch-over problem, so far so good.

Reselling TalkTalk wholesale is not the same as TalkTalk internet. Even AAISP resell TalkTalk.

True it could be same, worse or better.

In reply to a post by stuorguk:

My parents have switched from BT VDSL to Utility Warehouse VDSL. Cost saving apparently.

Never heard of Utility Warehouse. Any good?

I called them last year and I think their gas and electric prices were pretty good overall, ADSL and line rental would have been full LLU (TT enabled exchange.) If I remember correctly there was some sort of annual "membership" fee to pay as well.

I might have made a small saving with their gas and electric deal but at the time I didn't like what appeared to me as a hidden "membership" fee.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

It's a sort of pyramid selling thing IIRC. Not just for broadband, but gas, electricity and dunno .

Definitely not pyramid selling.
Just a reseller of products.

Not in the strict sense of the term, and I wasn't intending to knock them by using it. There has to be some other description, but it evades me at the moment. My apologies.

A few years back we had several people on these forums, not necessarily on UW broadband or phone, recommending them like crazy in all circumstances. Regardless of whether it was the best thing for the person..

The reason being either or both of their considerable referral system and Seller scheme.

That was what I was remembering

It's more like a Cash & Carry, like CostCo & Makro, with its membership fee, of utility products. Hence its name.

Certainly there was an "agent" or "representative" of Utility Warehouse in my neck of the woods who would quote those meaningless average savings that one could get with their gas and electric deals. He was certainly unfamiliar with the term "full LLU" when enquiries were made about ADSL and line rental where an exchange is TT LLU'd.

I would imagine that he would have received a commission from a sale but it was possible to contact Utility Warehouse directly regarding any switches of line rental, gas/electric and ADSL migration/provision.

Utility Warehouse were able to quote kWh/standing charge prices for gas and electric in my area though. As for ADSL and line rental it would have been better to take a full LLU deal directly from TT if one required such a thing

We have gas. electric, land line/bb and a cashback card with UW. Granted the reseller we used didn't have a clue about who supplied the bb but it has been cheaper so far. Gas and electric are about the same as others. Line rental is same as others and bb is £3.50/month (unlimited).

The main cost saving is by using the card as there is a cashback of 3% at Sainsbury's including fuel. 5% at Argos, Wilko and other outlets.

There are fees to pay but they equate to £5 / month.

So the main saving is on the line rental (inc caller ID) and bb as we only pay approx. £6 / month for both due to the cashback.

BB is very good. Down is 14.8Mb up is 0.9Mb. Not quite as good as O2 at 1.1Mb up but CS is very good with the 2 issues I've had.

Edited by broadband66 (Mon 04-Aug-14 11:23:20)