01307475400

i was called regularly. Finally able to respond and was told it was southern elec. Guy was friendly enough claimed i was a prefered customer - dubious they threatened to take me to court over a disputed bill!  told him i had had very bad service with them in past. Really happy with my current supplier and no discount in the world would make me even think to  want to go back to them. He politely ended conversatio.

got a call from this number and they said they were calling on behalf of south electric and i was a "preferred customer" because we were a "prompt payer" (which was wierd because we hadn't paid any bills to southern electric yet). The lady then asked me how I paid my bills to them, if it was direct debit or whatever, so i said they should be able to tell me that if anything and i said it sounded fishy so straight away she thanked me and hung up! almost positive its shady.

This no. is listed by BT phonebook as UNIVERSAL ENERGY from Forfar,Scotland, and is  text only.
However, they appear to provide services for several organisations and the call could be genuine.
They act on behalf of my garage in Watford and send reminders when MOT's and services etc are due.
Try calling back on 01307 475408.

Hi,

The same thing is happening to me...I've got my interview tomorrow with 5G - and I'm getting increasingly suspicious about it!

What should I do?

Yeah me to, I don't think I shall be going along to it. They're far too fishy to be real and like many have said before, they wouldn't tell me salaries, wouldn't tell be an agenda to the interview (which all companies would normally), couldn't tell me what job I would be going for other than that they have 3 types of job, telesales, audio marketing and field sales.
They asked which one I thought would suit me best, so I said telesales as I'm a former sales director.
Very amusing, I was gonna go but after reading many things about them now, I wouldn't waste you time tbh.

Did the girl call you the day before your interview and at the end of the conversation did she ask you...so why do I get the feeling that you're not coming to the interview tomorrow?

I'm about to email her to tell her I'm not coming today. Don't really know how to word it..

Indeed Holly did, and as soon as she said that I pretty much knew I wasn't going. I wouldn't even bother emailing her to be honest, but at least it's polite I guess.

I had a different girl, but yeah I thought the same! I emailed her, and she hasn't replied or called back. And it's gone past my interview time now. I felt so weird about it, that I kinda felt I knew I wasn't going to go from the first phone call I had.
Did you go for an interview there then?

I also got a call out of the blue from 5G - please don't waste ur time on the interview!!!! There were lots of other people there, I was asked to speak for 2 minutes about something I'm passionate about and then asked to sing. Completely horrible situation!!!

I too got asked the "Why do I get the feeling you're not coming tomorrow?" question completely out of the blue.

Definitely a people farm! Don't waste your time!!

no message left

This is the first time I have ever responded to a post online but I felt so strongly about it that I just had to write something to warn people. I realise that I have written rather a lot but if you do read anything at all please do read the final comment about complaining to reed.co.uk if you believe you details were obtained through their system. If more people complain – something might be done.

Please please please do NOT go to an interview with 5G Communications! From their website they seem reputable enough, but if you look a little further into it their business is a complete scam and I couldn't agree more with the people-farm comment.
For evidence please see: http://www.ictdec.org/regions/region_5/zone_1 ... 238/en/238.html - This website contains the Ofcom case notes for Universal Telecom (the previous name for 5G Communications - as stated on their website). Basically Universal Telecom were found guilty of "allegations of misconduct in selling and marketing of telecommunications services". Have a little read if you want more information.

Secondly, regarding the interview, as with the other comments, they called me out of the blue, would give me no idea of salary, job role or what to expect from the interview, I was suspicious from the start but reluctantly agreed to attend. The day before the interview I got another call "confirming I had the correct address" - it was all very strange, the woman didn't seem to have much of a point to the call and finally when I was about to leave, she said "you are going to come tomorrow aren't you?", such an unprofessional and strange comment to end the call with. I tried delving in further and wish I had found this thread last night, it would have saved me a lot of time and hassle. To cut a long story short, when I mentioned attending the interview to a friend of mine, they did everything they could to persuade me not to go, pretty much all of the information on this site: they intimidate you, make you feel stupid and insecure and most worryingly, they actually made my friend sit in a room and tried to force him to sign a contract with them, without verifying his salary and telling him that he would void their offer if he left the building, insisting that it had to be signed then and there. Whilst sitting there he had a look at the information in the room, they had tables on the wall regarding staff turnover figures, apparently each month they hire 20 new sales staff and at the end of the month, only 1 is usually left. I know sales jobs usually have high staff turnover but that is just insane and judging by the other comments on here, it makes perfect sense. Finally, I called 5G Communications to see if they could offer some reassurance, I was bombarded with abuse and the woman on the phone avoided every question I had regarding the role, interview techniques and salary. I really do hope more people read this information and don't attend the interview or deal with this company!

Also, if anyone actually attended the interview, has had issues with this company constantly calling or had the bad luck of being scammed by this company please complain to either your local Trading Standards Office (mine is at Wokingham District Council: 01189746400) or call Consumer Direct on 08454040506 and they will look into the issue.

Finally, I was told on the phone by 5G Communications that they had gotten my details off the reed.co.uk website, as I had selected for my CV to be available to employers. I called Reed to warn them about 5G Communications, I was told that they had put my comments on file but that I was the first person to voice their concern. Please...if you read this and believe that you may have been contacted due to your CV being on reed.co.uk or even applied to one of their job posts and feel as strongly as I do, I urge you to call you local Reed office and complain (they will forward your comments onto Reed Online, who deal with the online listings), if they receive more complaints they will block 5G Communications from advertising on their website and prevent them from searching through CVs and hopefully less people will fall victim to this ridiculous scam. How companies like this can exist in this day and age is unfathomable!

I heartily agree with the critisicms levelled against 5G Communications in High Wycombe (previously Universal Telecom Ltd.).

Having had exactly this type of unprofessional and pointless interview, I regret not searching harder and finding these reviews on 5G before going.

I believe that the the point of the awkward interview techniques is to see who is outgoing enough and can react quickly enough to unreasonable demands. However, they go over the top. There is no need to treat people quite so badly to test for these skills.

If you were invited to 5G, I recommend re-posting something like this on various websites, until people realise the type of company this is. If they treat their employees like this, imagine how they'll treat their customers....makes you feel sorry for IT and purchasing managers.

I know times are hard in this recession, but don't stoop so low to apply here!
If you do decide to go for an interview, make sure you loudly let everyone in the room know what to expect (the 3min talk, sing, tell jokes, lack of info. on the jobs and salary) and watch the expression on the faces of the 2 women hosting at the front....priceless.

understand you did well then at the interview?

I also received a telephone call from this 5G company after posting my CV on a employment site.
I allways like to find out a little background info before interviews, hence finding this page. I have checked via companies house and the company are solvent and do show as being profitable even if not reputable. Do good companies really have to act in this manor ? Maybe some do
I have just received my 3rd phone call of the day, just as I was reading this I. I explained to Holly that after reading the reviews on here I will not be attending. Holly did ask if she was on here ? so just to make sure that you are famous Holly, I thought I would mention your name on more than one occassion.
Is this a mistake not going to the interview ? who knows, but I doubt it.
For those of you who havn't received a call from 5g communications on 01494 835816, accept it, it may be Holly and even if you don't want the job, she sounds delightful.
A MESSAGE TO HOLLY. You have a fantastic telephone voice.. Wow !! maybe you should try radio.

Hi I really can not believe what I have just read on here, I really wish that like yourself I had done some research on the company, before I wasted my time and a days holiday at work.  In my opinion every single comment that has been posted on here is absolutely 100% true.  Plus to add to things I feel that they are actually preying on the most vunerable.  Like yourself I had a very bad feeling about the whole experience from the start, the questions that you are asked, the lack of information that is provided when you ask questions. The use of pretty little girls with very little brain power apart from what they have been taught to say by the bosses.  This is my story.  I was at work one day and on a morning tea break, I thought that I would just check to see if my beloved had txt me that morning.  Upon looking at my phone I saw that I had a missed call from a number that I did not recognise and a new voice message.  I called my voicemail and sure enough there was a message in my mail box from Laura at 5G communications saying that they had come accross my C.V. looked through it and were extremely interested to speak with me. I did leave calling them back until the following day, but when I did the first thing that struck the alarm bell in my head was, they seemed overly keen to get me in and speak to me, so keen in fact that they forgot to ask if i currently was working and wanted me to go in the next day, i obviously then told them that this would not be possible as I had to give more notice to my employer to take a days holiday.  It was arranged for the following friday.  I recieved the call the day before making sure that I knew where I was going and checking that I would be attending the interview, she then asked if I had any questions about the interview or the job, I just said no I will make my judgements at interview.  It is all very lardy dar on the phone and souldn't seem like nice enough people.  I did call back straight away though to ask some questions that popped into my head, ( my gut feelings are usually correct when I sense things are a miss) so I asked the questions " this is a field sales role correct?" "yes", "what kind of clientel are you dealing with and how do you go about getting to said clients address's?" Well i know that my spelling isn't great, but she asked me to repeat the question as she didn't understand" so i did and got the response of " wow 3 great questions there, make sure you write those down and ask my managers at interview as this will impress them" ok to start with, you can't count, secondly you didn't answer my questions, however she did respond with " we offer a great package and a company car is provided after a probation period." maybe I was speaking in dutch or something??  I thought what the hell I may aswell go along and see what it was all about.

So I arrive at the pheonix house address in high wycombe and buzz the door, I gave my name and was told quite abruptly to go to the 1st floor.  I get to the top of the stairs and poke my head around the door then greeted with " come to the front desk please, what's your name? " is that your c.v in your hand? i'll take that. here's an application form find a place to sit and complete it"  Now I've had some interviews in my time but I have never been greated like that before!!, I sat down in the room of about 20 people all sitting filling out forms in silence, the 3 girls all sat at the front of the room lookng like teachers and talking to people as if they are so far above them, asking people to fill out previous salary details and calling people into a back room, for the one and one interviews I guessed.  I sat there for about 15 min filling out my application form slowly so I could get a feel for things.  To be honest I felt like it was dodgy from the start.  One of the girls took a phone call and clearly didn't know what to do with the situation she had on the phone, she actually said under her breath I don't know what to do, then a guy in the room approached thier desk with his aplication form and she practically bellowed at him did we find you or did you find us?? Asked another gut who said that he once had his own business to put his salary details on the form, he said it varied and the response to him was " what you didn't have an average that you can put down? abruptly to say the least."  At that point I got up out my chair decided that I wasn't happy with the way people were being spoken to and didn't like the gut feeling that I was getting from just being in the room.  I walked to front and asked for my c.v. lent down and wispered in the young girls ear " this isn't for me" as i walked out of the room i heard one girl say to the other " who was that ".  I then called my girlfriend and told her what had happened and she had a quick look on the internet for the company, she said that they seemed fairly reputable and had a good website and facebook account.  She then read a comment from someone like us that have experienced this rubbish, part of thier little blog said that they had never felt so humiliated as they did when they were asked to quack like a duck by the interviewer.  To be honest I glad i took myself out of the situation before I did get called in for the interview stage, as, If i would have been asked to do that I feel I may have either launched at someone or just told them where to go and be serious !!!!!  DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME WITH THIS INTERVIEW UNLESS YOU ARE: VERY STUPID OR EXTREMELY DESPERATE FOR MONEY I.E UN-EMPLOYED.  THESE PEOPLE SHOULD BE HANDLED WITH GREAT CAUTION AND IF YOU WATCH THEIR LITTLE SALES VID YOU WILL CLEARLY SEE THE TIME WHEN THEY WERE OPERATING AS UNIVERSAL GROUP. WHO DID INDEED GET INTO ALOT OF TROUBLE A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO.  JUST TYPE THE CO. NAME INTO GOOGLE YOU'LL FIND EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO MAKE UP YOUR OWN MIND.
You will be fooled, for how long is down to your ability to see through certain situations.  It is a people farm and feels just like that, the lack of personal communication skills is unbelievable, they almost shout at you when you are just feet away from them.  Going back to the comment of preying on the vunerable, please please if you are desperate for money, consider robbing a bank or sweeping the streets or even cleaning the motorways with a toothbrush before you consider getting involved with these people.  Read all blogs and comments on this company as you can, I could have written more but it has been covered already by others.  There should be law against this kind of people fishing. 25/2/11

I really enjoy reading the comments that are posted on here especially with regards to interview/recruitment practises. Clearly they have worked in these instances and served the purposes that they have been intended for. If an audition style competency based interview which tests the key competencies of a role intimitates you, it makes me wonder if you are indeed proficient in them.

I had the unfortunate experience of working for this company. I went to the interview at phoenix house and when i got there i was joined by around 20 others. The first process was filling out an application form next i had a 2 minute (if that) interview with some old guy who asked me questions like "what do your parents do for work?" like thats any of his business. Next i had to go into the main interview with the MD. Again an old man who thinks far too much of himself, He first asked me to speak about a subject of my choice for 2 minutes, Then i had to sing a song. Then he got me to do roleplay with him and attempt to sell him some ashtrays. (He shouted at me and said i was rubbish but apparently he liked that because he could turn me into the best salesman to ever walk the planet) Then he asked me to cluck like a chicken. I came out the room thinking i was being set up.

I was eventually offered the job and thrashed out a deal with the MD.

I had to then attend a 3 day training course with the MD's right hand man Danny Williams (Probably the most obese man ive ever seen) The bloke was an absolute moron, He belittled people constantly and made them look stupid, He thought he was the worlds best salesman and there was nothing he didnt know. He sent some people home if he didnt like them.

After getting through that i started work on telesales even though i signed up to a field sales role and was told once i get 10 contracts ill be out on the road. It took me a week to do that and because they thought it would take me longer i had to stay on the phones for 3 more weeks (And i cannot stand telesales especially when you have to read from a script.)

I eventually started going away from the script and The Rt honourable Danny williams listens to your calls so he summoned me into his office smashed his fist on the table called me a stupid c**t and a F-in T**T etc etc at which point i handed my car keys to him and told him where he could stick his job.

I then went to the pub down the road to wait for my lift home and the field sales manager came in to persuade me to go back so i did the next day but i was then made tea boy so i got my stuff and left.

AVOID THIS COMPANY AT ALL COSTS.

I had applied for a PA role through totaljobs.com and received a call the next day from 5G.  Not sure why, but something didn't feel right.  She called me back and said her manager would love me to attend an interview on Friday.  However, couldn't give me any more details on the role or salary.  Reminded me of a 'double glazing' sales call.  I then did a search and found this - needless to say I won't be attending the interview.  Thanks to all for your comments - saved me wasting a day off and having to cluck like a chicken, sing, etc, etc and general humiliation:)

I've just come across this website and I must admit the comments make an hilarious read!!

I am an Ex employer of 5g, i went through the same interview process which I must add they have had in place for many years. I must admit i felt very proud to get through the process as so many came and went. I still to this day feel lucky to have been apart of 5g, they made me a very successful salesman. I worked with them from 2008 till 2010 - in my first year i earned £45k and more than doubled that by the time I had left. I left 5g to start up my own company!



It made me laugh reading all these comments, for those of you who have not gone to an interview because of these comment all i can say is ‘it's your loss’!!

For those of you who are thinking about attending an interview remember the people who write these comments write them because they were not suitable and bitter.



For those of you who have wrote these comments i can guarantee you’re still a failure..... And probably still very bitter you didn’t get through the interview stage! But the bottom line is you just weren’t suitable.



Best of Luck to all future interviewees….

Take care:
Same here... Looks to be www.5gcomms.com

5G Communications Contact Details

Address
Phoenix House
High Wycombe
Buckinghamshire
HP12 3BQ
Sales     :     0800 652 0742
Support     :     0845 555 5055
Fax     :             0845 555 5056
Email     :     webinfo@5gcomms.com

http://whois.domaintools.com/5gcomms.com

http://www.companycheck.co.uk/company/06182956 - zero in the bank!

They appear to be using a different name from Universal Telecom after being busted by Ofcom
See: https://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/01307475400/3
UNIVERSAL TELECOM LIMITED
PHOENIX HOUSE
DESBOROUGH PARK ROAD
HIGH WYCOMBE
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE HP12 3BQ
Company No. 03513467
http://www.companiesintheuk.co.uk/ltd/universal-telecom
http://www.companiesintheuk.co.uk/ltd/5g-communications

The surname Holland is connected.

Scam review reports:
https://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/01307475400
https://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/02030318231