Utility Warehouse Reviews: How good is their customer service?

Using a multi-level marketing distribution model, Utility Warehouse doesn’t use traditional marketing methods such as TV or print advertising to get the word out; instead, they use distributors (around 45,000 of them) who refer their friends and family members for a commission. However, this is one of their USPs, as they can afford to pass these savings on to customers. For more information regarding Utility Warehouse reviews, read below.

Also, not to mention, if you soon find out that utility warehouse is not the right supplier for you, then let us help you find a new one! At Switch Plan, our experts are specialised in finding you the best energy deal possible. All you have to do is call the number on the top of the screen.

Is Utility Warehouse any good?

As is the case with most utility providers, Utility Warehouse has its good bits...

• All utilities with one provider, one single monthly bill
• Customers save money due to lack of advertising costs
• Award-winning customer service
• A variety of core member benefits
• Prepayment meters and emergency credit

...and its not-so-good bits:

• Early termination fees up to £150
• Their energy only uses 8.3% renewable energy sources
• Sometimes distributors don’t have the full facts - customers have sometimes complained about being ‘mis-sold’ or up-sold other utilities without their knowledge.

At the Uswitch Energy Awards in 2020, Utility Warehouse received an overall satisfaction rating from UK customers of 85%. They are also rated as ‘Great’ on Trustpilot, with an average rating of 4.0 stars out of 5.0 from over 13,500 Utility Warehouse customer reviews.

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What are their core member benefits?

Utility Warehouse offers a range of core member benefits for all its customers. The main three benefits they offer to all customers (across all utilities) are:

1. Savings: Compounded by taking on additional utilities
2. Simplicity: One monthly bill
3. Service: Award-winning customer service from a UK team.

Beyond that, there’s a variety of core member benefits available, including:

• Free evening and weekend calls
• Customer clubhouse and member app
• An ‘Energy Price Guarantee’
• Bill Protector service; helping you to pay your bills in the event of an emergency
• Online CashBack & a CashBack card that gives up to 7% on everyday shopping.

What’s Utility Warehouse’s customer score?

In the latest Which? Energy customer survey published in October 2020, Utility Warehouse came 14th out of 35 energy providers as rated by more than 8,000 UK residential energy customers - matching their position as in the 2019 survey. With an overall customer score of 71%, UW were given 4 stars out of 5 in almost all categories: bill accuracy, complaints handling, bill clarity, customer service and value for money. They were given 3 stars out of 5 for their digital tools.

In September 2018, Utility Warehouse was at the top of the energy survey, and had even won the Utilities Brand of the Year award from Which? in the same year. Although they didn’t achieve it in 2019, they went on to win the award again in October 2020 - which recognises 5-star customer service, ease of contact and overall value for money.

What do customers say about them?

Overall, customers seem content with Utility Warehouse. In terms of customer feedback, Utility warehouse customer reviews are generally favourable, with a Trustpilot scoreof 4.0 or ‘Great’.

Some favourable reviews for Utility Warehouse include mentions of good customer service, an easy switchover process and cost-effective utilities. The more negative recent reviews mention poor internet speeds, high cancellation or exit fees and being mis-sold packages by some independent distributors.

Interestingly, Trustpilot reports that UW reply to customer reviews within a week, and that they generally reply to 90% of their negative (one or two star) reviews, which shows that they listen to and support their customers.

Utility Warehouse customer service and response times

For customers in need of support with their Utility Warehouse accounts, there are a few different methods for getting in touch for customer services, technical support, energy emergencies or prepayment emergencies.

Utility Warehouse customer services

To get in touch with Utility Warehouse customer services, you can:

• Call them on 0333 777 0777
• Access their online help system
• Fill in their online form

If your query is not urgent, you can write to them here:

Utility Warehouse Ltd
508 Edgware Road
The Hyde
London
NW9 5AB

Have they won awards for their customer service?

Yes, Utility Warehouse has won several awards for their customer service and utilities. In 2018 and 2020, Which? named UW as the ‘Utilities Brand of the Year’, which covers 5-star customer service as one aspect of the award.

The USwitch Energy Awards gave UW the ‘Best Customer Service’ award in 2018, and Moneywise granted them another ‘Best Customer Service’ award a year later, in 2019.

Utility Warehouse complaints and issue resolution

Unfortunately, when it comes to energy providers it’s not always smooth sailing. However, if you do have any complaints, we’ve outlined below the ways to get in touch with UW as well as some helpful resources for escalation if needed.

Although Utility Warehouse customer satisfaction is high, their Q1 complaints report showed that 31.02% of their complaints were due to issues with billing, and a further 26.04% were due to customer service. Between January and March 2020, they received 742 complaints per 100,000 customers, of which they resolved 56.9% in a day, and 98.9% within eight weeks.

Utility Warehouse complaints

To complain to Utility Warehouse, you can do the following:

• Call their customer services team on 0333 777 0777
• Call their textphone on 0333 003 5643
• Send an email to memberservice@uw.co.uk their member services email

If you’d prefer to write, you can write a letter to:

Customer services
Utility Warehouse Ltd
508 Edgware Road
The Hyde
London
NW9 5AB

Issue resolution

Utility Warehouse promise the following to their customers:

• To investigate complaints fully
• To apologise
• Give a full explanation to customers
• To take appropriate action to put things right
• To arrange compensation (where appropriate)

As part of their customer complaints code, they also link to a range of resources including Citizens Advice and the Ombudsman.

Utility Warehouse promises to solve all complaints received by telephone within one working day, and by 5 pm the day after they’ve received the complaint for those submitted by email or letter. They also commit to letting you know at this point if your issue will take longer to resolve than this.

Utility Warehouse in the news

While Utility Warehouse has repeatedly made headlines for their award-winning customer service, this is not without some controversies along the way!

Their latest significant headline was at the beginning of 2020, when they agreed with Ofgem to pay a total of £650,000 after overcharging customers beyond the energy price cap, which came into law in the UK in 2019. However, Utility Warehouse did self-report the overcharges and admitted fault to the energy provider, rather than being caught. On this occasion, Ofgem didn’t take formal enforcement action, because of the proactivity of UW in discovering and addressing the problem. UW reimbursed all customers who were affected and gave them additional credits on their account as a good-will gesture.

The other significant piece of press was in December 2019, where The Guardian found that the average Utility Warehouse distributor only made £12 a week, while making promises (promoted by Joanna Lumley) that they could achieve a ‘life changing income’.

Finally, back in 2018, UW were mentioned as part of an Ofgem ‘warning’ to energy providers that they were installing too many prepayment meters for their customers - with Utility Warehouse ‘forcibly’ installing them around five times as often as the industry average. Ofgem reminded the companies at the time that prepayment meters should be a last resort for customers who are falling into debt or struggling to pay.

FAQ

How much is Utility Warehouse worth?

Their revenue in the 2019/2020 financial year was reported as £876 million, with 1,300 employees. The company that owns them, FTSE 250 constituents Telecom Plus, was worth £804.4 million in 2019, with several subsidiary brands including UW as part of their portfolio, so it’s reasonable to assume that this has increased throughout 2020.

How much is Utility Warehouse energy?

Utility Warehouse energy costs vary based on your location, energy usage and tariff. You can find a full list of their available tariffs for your area on their residential tariffs page by inputting your postcode and address details.

Is it easy to switch to Utility Warehouse?

Yes! With Switch-plan, you can give us some basic information about you and your household, and we’ll compare prices for you and sort the rest. To get started, give us a ring on 0330 818 6223

Do Utility Warehouse use renewable energy?

While they do use some energy from renewable resources, Utility Warehouse is nowhere near operating at 100% renewables.