A single complaint to the ASA has resulted in the complaint being upheld by the ASA against Utility Warehouse. The complaint was over a letter that claimed "The UK's cheapest Home Phone The UK's cheapest Home Phone and Broadband bundle The UK's cheapest Mobile tariffs The UK's cheapest standard Gas and Electricity".
The complainant felt the price claims were misleading, and questioned whether they could be substantiated. The Utility Warehouse response is interesting in that they admit that it is impossible to exhaustively check the prices and provide comparisons, and there may be deals they are unaware of. Also Utility Warehouse says they do not advertise direct to consumers, but rely on independent authorised distributors and in the case of this complaint it was one of these distributors that was using marketing material supplied by Utility Warehouse.
How independent these distributors will be when to quote Telecom Plus (the company behind Utility Warehouse) 'Every time your customers make a phone call, switch on a light, turn on the heating, or go online... you could be getting paid' is difficult to know.
Utility Warehouse are not an honest organisation. I foolishly signed up to an electricity account with them. They got the meter readings wrong so I disputed their bills. They went to court without telling me the hearing date and they lied under oath in court so that they could disconnect the supply.