Consumerist
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sock puppets
Nu-Life Owns The Trademarks For Innovage AND DS-MAX
Nu-Life, the company so mad at us about "adversely" affecting its DS-MAX trademark, saying that old DS-MAX became Innovage and Nu-Life has nothing to do with the actions of old DS-MAX or new Innovage... More » -
investigations
Consumerist Undercover At IDT Energy: Table Of Contents
In case you missed any of 7-part undercover report on IDT-Energy, Midtown Promotions, and the fabulous worlds of energy resale and multi-level-marketing, here's a recap: More » -
investigations
Consumerist Undercover At IDT Energy: The Confession
After only three days with Midtown Promotions, I could already tell that I'd wait weeks, maybe months or a full year before coming upon hard evidence of fraud, if I found any evidence at all. After leaving James and Doreen in the Bronx, I took the afternoon off and went to work on these diaries. More » -
investigations
Consumerist Undercover At IDT Energy: The Meltdown
From the moment I met up with James, and Doreen, who was going our way, things began to fall apart. Eric told me to follow James, not Carl, who was going solo. I was to listen to James' instructions, follow his example, and go to wherever he decided we should spend the day. Today was Mt. Vernon, NY, almost 90 minutes from the offices of Midtown Promotions. More » -
investigations
Consumerist Undercover At IDT Energy: Status Report
If you're just now tuning in, we've been doling out daily pieces of our multi-part investigation into IDT-Energy. They're an energy reseller in the New York area and we've received multiple complaints about their salesperson's dressing as ConEd workers and doing other funny stuff at the door to get people to sign over. So we sent in Brian Fairbanks undercover to get hired at Midtown Promotions, a direct-sales marketing company IDT-Energy contracted to get subscribers. More » -
investigations
Consumerist Undercover At IDT Energy: The Meeting
Before the morning meeting started, I left my man-purse on a set of boxes right by the blackboard, with the microphone discreetly poking out of the pocket. More » -
multi-level-marketing
13 Confession Of A Former DS-MAX Manager
This is almost everything you need know about DS-MAX (now known as Innovage), the super-shady multi-level-marketing group whose business practices seems to have inspired the Midtown Promotions office we're looking into. It's culled from an excellent post over at DS-MAX: The Aftermath: More » -
investigations
Consumerist Undercover At IDT Energy: Let's Get Juiced
I staggered into Midtown Promotions at 10am on Wednesday. Seeing as how people were only trickling in for the morning meeting, the receptionist and another office assistant gave me some papers to fill out and sign. (Note: all spelling errors/typos are as they appeared...) More » -
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consumer alert
Door To Door Energy Resellers Fail To Deliver Promised Savings
The NY Post ran a good article looking into whether the savings promised by door-to-door energy resale reps like IDT Energy ever really materialize for subscribers:"I've had complaints from residents, as well as small businesses, who have unwittingly switched to a different energy provider and seen their bills go through the roof," said City Councilman John Liu (D-Queens).
One Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, IDT customer - a bartender who gave her name as Carmel - said her electric bill jumped from $40 to $70, and she is anxious to cancel.
More » -
investigations
IDT Energy Starts At 7% Discount, Switches To Variable After 2 Months
While scanning the collateral Brian picked up in his investigation, we nearly choked on this gem buried in their terms and conditions: it says that you'll get 7% savings for the first two months, but after that, there's no telling whether your bill will be higher or lower than what it would be with ConEd (click to enlarge image). More » -
investigations
Consumerist Undercover At IDT Energy: The Day Of O
I sat in the offices of Midtown Promotions, watching the receptionist field calls from job prospects, still surprised at having been one of those callers not even twenty-four hours prior. More » -
uplinks
Why Most People In Multi-Level-Marketing Schemes Lose Money
This chart shows how a typical Multi-Level-Marketing (MLM) operation sustains itself by ripping off the entry-level salespeople. Most of each of sales commission flows upwards, or to the "uplinks." Additionally, there may be entry costs, like Cutco reps who have to buy their $150 demo kit. More » -
interviews
DS-MAX Was A "Sales Cult," Says Former Employee
steve-o: OH MAN! IDT is DS/MAX?! I worked for them! Worst 4 days of my life. Thank god I got out before they made me buy my own product.They told me it was B2B marketing, when in reality we were driving around from strip mall to strip mall trying to sell Disney books, umbrellas that looked like a duck, and other assorted crap
steve-o: it works exactly like a cult, complete with the nonsensical chanting
benpopken: you were in product clearance
benpopken: IDT isn't ds-max
steve-o: Midtown Promotions is
steve-o: and they send out the IDT ppl
benpopken: IDT contracted out to Midtown, which is assoc with DSmax
benpopken: apparently now DS-Max is called "Innovage"
steve-o: well if you ever wondered how they're structured, all you have to do is look up the signs of a cult
steve-o: because they hit all the requirements
benpopken: tell me about your adventures
steve-o: My first day there was an 'interview' in what was essentially a warehouse... More » -
investigations
Consumerist Undercover At IDT Energy: The Job Interview
Midtown Promotions has no yellow pages entry, no website, and no apparent internet job postings. Cruising their profile on Rip Off Report, a site where, natch, consumers file complaints against companies they feel ripped them off, I found a number for Midtown Promotions main office. It took several discussions with the editor of The Consumerist before we felt we nailed down the approach to the first phone call... More » -
investigations
Consumerist Undercover At IDT Energy: Day One
For months, readers have told The Consumerist of fake Con Edison employees showing up on their doorstep. The story is always the same; they open their door to find people in Con Ed outfits almost demanding that the customer sign a form to save 7% on their bills. The "Con Ed" employee then demands to see the bill and thrust their fingers at the part where it says you can save by switching to an alternate energy supplier. But they don't actually work for Con Ed; in fact, they work for IDT Energy. More » -
investigations
The Consumerist Goes Undercover At IDT Energy
We decided to go undercover and try to find out what was really going with IDT Energy.
For nearly a year, we've told you about door-to-door salesmen trying to get New Yorkers to switch to IDT Energy, pretending to work for ConEd. More » -
idt energy
Consumerist's Second Job Interview With IDT Energy's Scammy Marketing Firm
The office was decidedly busier on our callback. [Editor's note: this material was written prior to today.] One person was being interviewed while another waited next to us on the sofa. More at ease, we enjoyed our second look at the office. The waiting room walls were covered with pictures of the Empire State and Chrysler buildings. "Bigger. Better." or something like that. The receptionist had a giant stack of papers on her desk and was busy on the phone as pop music blared in the background.... More » -
idt energy
Your Questions About Our Interview With IDT Energy's Scammy Marketing Firm Answered
Thanks for all of the excellent feedback to, "Consumerist's Job Interview With IDT Energy's Scammy Marketing Firm." Here are a few answers to your questions: More »
midtown promotions
New York, 11:55 PM
Thu Jan 8
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