We know running a regular enrollment would be a lot more expensive and generate a much smaller pool of participants, but it's really the only way to collect donations. Is it even a donation if it's taken from you without your permission first?

Sharon tipped us to the scheme:

[On] Oct 1, [NES] raised all of our rates 20%, but I guess they didn't think that was good enough. In a bill I opened up today at work, there was a little piece of paper inside with information on it about a new program they have called *change for charity*. Normally I take the bill out and throw away all that other stuff cuz I figure if there is something I SHOULD know, it would be on the bill, but I guess I am gonna have to start reading everything in there now.

This new program is where they take money and donate it to charities of their choosing which is all fine and dandy BUT it's our money and we weren't even asked if we want to contribute.

Personally, I will donate to who I want to donate to and that is the part that gets me—had I not read that [bill insert] like probably most people don't, I wouldn't have known about this.

If you don't want to participate, click here to find an online form and phone number.

"Change for Charity" [NES] (Thanks to Sharon, David, and Eric!)
(Photo: Getty Images)

Portable gas generators, often used by consumers to restore power to their homes and businesses in the aftermath of a storm, produce high levels of deadly carbon monoxide (CO). CPSC warns consumers that generators should be used outdoors only, far from doors, windows, and vents that could allow CO to come indoors.

“Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless poison gas. It is an invisible killer,” said CPSC Acting Chairman Nancy Nord. “While generators can come in handy after a storm, using one indoors can kill you and your family in minutes."

Gas generators inside = bad. Thanks for the safety tip, Nancy.

CPSC Warns of Dangers at Home in the Aftermath of Tropical Storm Fay [CPSC]

The idea of New York's "Power Your Way" program was to open up the market to competition, which in theory should drive down prices, but "It remains a crapshoot about whether or not you're going to save money, pay more money or have it come out a wash," says Jason K. Babbie, a senior environmental policy analyst for a consumer advocacy group. Another consumer advocate flat out says it's not worth the trouble:

"You can't shop your way out of the problem we're facing," said Gerald A. Norlander, executive director of the Public Utility Law Project, an advocacy group for energy users based in Albany. "If people want to get their bills down, the best thing to do is conserve. No one has ever shown that resident customers who switched have saved any significant amount of money."

Mr. Norlander said he was concerned about a trend where ESCO's come in when prices increase and begin marketing rates to customers that appear to be lower, but in the long run turn out to be higher. Some companies also lock people in to a contract for a year or two with penalties for early termination.

The author also talks about the LightKeeper, a $15-35 device (depending on whether it's the "pro" version) that helps quickly locate burned out bulbs in instances when the entire string is dark. If you've ever spent a half hour methodically removing and replacing each bulb in turn, you can probably understand why this excites us—even though by buying it you've sort of ruined the whole "saving money" aspect of this endeavor. But hey, you still get to be a handyman.

"Christmas Lights and How to Fix Them" [Cyphersbyritter via Make]
(Photo: Scurzuzu)

In any case, this one looks pretty but nearly the same organizing effect can be achieved without the special switches.

Power Charging Box [Instructables]

"The introduction of our Great Value bulbs make CFLs a more accessible option for our shoppers as we strive to sell 100 million CFLs by the end of 2007," said Wal-Mart General Merchandise Manager Andy Barron in a statement.

The world's largest retailer said the bulbs, which use less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs and last longer, will save consumers money and protect the environment.

Wal-Mart selling own brand of energy efficient CFLs [Reuters]
(Photo:AZAdam)

Whenever you leave a device plugged into a wall socket, it continues to constantly draw a small amount of energy, without cease. Usually, this is on the order of 1 to 5 watts, which means that it would take 200 to 1,000 hours for a single device to even use a single kilowatt hour, which costs $0.10.

Let's say you can find fifteen such devices in your house, and they use an average of 3 watts. That's 45 watts around the clock - more than a kilowatt hour each day. Three bucks, every single month, without fail, and that's assuming your devices are minimally draining. For example, my laptop charger uses 30-40 watts all the time when it's plugged in.

You won't double your retirement savings or anything with this, but—like fixing leaky faucets, using CFL bulbs, and making sure your home is properly insulated—it will help reduce the unnecessary expenses that nick away at your finances.

"The One Hour Project: Kill The Electricity Phantom" [thesimpledollar.com]

RELATED
"The One Hour Project: Making Your Home More Energy Efficient" [thesimpledollar.com]
(Photo: Getty)

Illinois' 10-year electric rate freeze had expired and Ameren, the company that supplies power to Carterville and a huge swath of the rest of Illinois, raised its rates. A lot.

Robert decided to fight back by arranging to pay his bill entirely in pennies. 52,662 of them. Now it seems that Robert's "eff you" to Ameren was not in vain. From Forbes:

Ameren officials announced Monday that they'll be sending out $140 million in rebate checks and bill credits starting this week, promising each customer at least $85 back in the mail.

Starting Wednesday, checks will be sent to 935,000 residential customers and continue for a month, closely synched to the company's billing cycle. Credits will show up on bills sent to 133,000 residential customers behind in payments by at least two months and bills for 13,000 small business owners.

Ameren hopes the announcement is the start of a public image turnaround after a year of battering. Customers were caught off guard by huge rate increases in January after a 10-year rate freeze, and the backlash forced Ameren and ComEd to cut back the increases.

"Our customers have asked for rate relief and we are delivering it," Stan Ogden, an Ameren vice president in charge of customer service, said in a statement.

The checks and credits are part of a $1 billion rate relief package negotiated by the utilities and state lawmakers and signed into law by Gov. Rod Blagojevich two weeks ago to ease the customer outrage.

Ameren customers can expect at least $100 back in rebates and credits, but more will be coming depending on how much electricity you consume and if you use electricity to heat your home. ComEd customers can expect some relief as well. According to ComEd's spokesperson, ComEd customers will see a $60 credit on their October bills and $7 a month after that. If you don't see a credit on your bill, you'll want to contact ComEd to complain.

Ameren Customers to Receive Rebates [Forbes]

(Photo:C. Barr)

RELATED: How To Ninja Through Executive Customer Service

"This is all part of the sham that goes on with every rate hike request," said Assemblyman Michael N. Gianaris, a Queens Democrat who sits on the Assembly's power committee and who has criticized the utility for its response to the 2006 power failure in his borough. "Con Edison asks for more than it expects to get," he said. "The P.S.C. rides in on its white horse and takes credit for slashing the request. But the end result is still what Con Edison wanted all along."

ConEd's original proposal would have raised the average residential customer's bill by 17%. The PSC's recommendation will probably result in a hike of 10%-12%, though the exact figure is not yet known. The increase would apply to ConEd's transmission costs, which are charged to ConEd customers and customers with other energy service companies (ESCOs.)

The Commission will hold public hearings in October before releasing a final decision by next March.

Con Edison Is Supported on Bid to Raise Rates [NYT]

Through this financial fiasco she has managed to bounce two consecutive electricity bills and her next SS check isn't due for another two weeks. She has received written notice that her power will be turned off in the next couple days. Did I mention she's in Atlanta, where the high today is something like 105 degrees (not counting the heat index)? I had to go to the bank and try to beg the capitalists for some mercy. I had to keep the power on.

We visited the local branch this morning, and the local WaMU branch officer we spoke to offered to remove two charges, but no more, as my mother freely admits all this is her own fault. A very generous offer, I thought, but not good enough.

It turns out that if we could get ALL of those 20 NSF charges reversed, she'd have about four dollars left over after paying the minimum to keep her air conditioner going, and could get current (pardon the pun) when her next disability check comes. I knew I was aiming high, but I was desperate - I'd spent the last of my own money
to pay for her prescription medications and right now I'm just an unemployed tech support geek. We're both living on peanut butter and bananas right now.

Enter Rosie Alvarez of the WaMu Executive Response team, courtesy of the Consumerist post here ("Contact WaMu Executive Customer Service"). It turns out that extension 467 is Ms. (Mrs?) Alzarez's direct line. I called her from the branch office and left her a desperate message, and she called me back in less than an hour.

I want to give Ms. Alvarez a wet, sloppy internet kiss and Washington Mutual a big Above and Beyond shoutout. No, they didn't credit my mom all 20 of the charges, but WaMu has promised to reverse ten of them in the next 24 hours, leaving my mom with basically a zero balance in her account. She's probably going to be without electricity for what
may be one of the hottest weeks in local history, but when her check comes she'll be able to safely pay down her power bill and get her expenses back on track.

And for that I am overwhelmingly grateful.

Sincerely,

Joe A.

If you choose to post this above and beyond, I have one optional part: I have a paypal address, joe@techseaport.com, that could be used to accept donations to go towards paying her power bill. I have documentation to prove her financial trouble, but I also have no desire to insult you, your readers or your business policies/ practices by soliciting. I just want to keep her power on.

Thank you for considering this post and for all the valuable information you've shared with the world.

And that, folks, is why executive customer service shall always and forever be, for the win.

Oh, and please don't overdraft. You're just buying yourself a one-way ticket on the nonstop train to ImpecunioCity.

Joe, we also want you to try these numbers for groups in your area that provide emergency funds for seniors struggling to meet energy payments (via Georgia Natural Gas). Some of them may just be for heating but others may work for electricity or be able to point you in the direction of the right relief agencies:

Statewide Assistance

o Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), administered by the Georgia Department of Human Resources - 404-657-3426 or 404-657-3427 (inside metro Atlanta); 1-800-869-1150 (outside Atlanta)
o Project Share of the Salvation Army - 770-441-6200
o United Way Referral Program - Dial 211

Metro Atlanta-Based Assistance

o Atlanta Regional Commission, Aging Services - 404-463-3333
o Buckhead Christian Ministry - 404-239-0038 (serves these ZIP codes: 30305, 30309, 30311, 30318, 30319, 30324, 30326, 30327, 30329, 30340, 30341, 30342, 30345, 30360, and 30363)
o Midtown Assistance Center - 404-681-5777
o Resource Service Ministries - 404-352-5440
o St. Vincent DePaul Society - 770-458-9607
o Senior Connections - 770-455-7602, ext. 151
o The Sullivan Center - 404-753-0535

It's basically a fancy nightlight with the guts of an Ambient Devices product, which means it connects to Ambient's pager-like network and gets updated with information about your local energy cost and usage several times each hour. Energy prices can fluctuate throughout the day, so the idea is you'd be able to see when prices are in the "there-goes-the-college-fund" range and turn off your hungriest appliances for a few hours. It's currently available in NYC and select other areas on a case by case basis, and there are plans to expand the program in the coming months.

You save money, there are more little lightning bolts to share with the rest of the grid, and one more baby penguin will be able to take another year of tap. Or something like that.

Energy Joule [Ambient Devices]

1. Day One
2. The Job Interview
3. The Day Of O
4. Let's Get Juiced
5. The Meeting
6. The Meltdown
7. The Confession

Thanks for all your feedback, it will definitely inform how we conduct our next investigation. — BEN POPKEN

Note: No definitive ties have been established between Midtown Promotions and DS-MAX/Innovage.

This is part 7 of our undercover investigation into IDT Energy, an energy reseller in the New York area...

We met at a pizza parlor in Ft. Greene, Brooklyn. I'll refrain from details about his appearance and say only that he was wearing a T-shirt that said "Bronx" on it. He carried nothing with him, his ex-girlfriend having smashed up his PDA the night before. He seemed vulnerable because of this, but not afraid.

He told me that he had worked for Midtown in the past, and gave me some dates (which matched with his earlier statements.) He seemed pretty open to whatever I wanted to know, and had lots to say about Midtown's relationship with IDT.

"I did that. I did IDT for a while. [Midtown] will bring in marketing people, they teach you what to say, how to do it, when to do it. You go out to the territory; you go where you gotta go to get the money." He went on, covering mainly what I'd already learned. "They make you an independent contractor, they make you sign the forms. They tell you do what you gotta do."

"Did they say that? 'Do what you gotta do to make the sale?'"

He said that they are reminded repeatedly to follow the manager's instructions, but many are so desperate to make a sale, they don't care.

"So, did you see people wearing the uniforms?"

He answered in the affirmative, and mentioned having seen people in Con Ed hats and other outerwear.

"When you saw people in Con Ed stuff, where were they? Were they in the office of Midtown Promotions? Did they arrive there dressed like that?"

"No, nobody."

"So how do you know they were doing it?"

"Well, basically, once you get in the field, it's different." Vega stopped for a moment then backtracked. He started to explain how few of his co-workers were educated and wise in the ways of ethics and marketing. "They think everything they should do is for the dollar, that it doesn't matter what their company tells 'em, that it's what the individual does that counts. So, when the individual goes out in a Con Ed hat, the company just says, 'Well, we didn't train them that way.'"

I told him that I'd been with IDT for a week and that I didn't notice anything immorally deceptive, other than questionable pitches. "When you were out there," I asked, "You were just dressed professionally, with your tie, whatever. Where did other people put on their stuff? Was it on the subway...?"

"When you work with somebody else, sometimes they'd just throw on a shirt." He speculated that the workers had found or had made their own Con Ed patches and put them on some cheap blue work shirts that made them look like they were utility employees. "Or they'd go buy something that said Con Edison on it." But he said he wasn't positive how the fraudsters came about the gear, only that he certainly saw multiple employees in the field in the finished getup.

"Did anybody ever talk about it, in the office?" I mentioned several employees' names to see if it would jar any memories of wrongdoing by higher-ups.

"No, they always talked about it every day, about how we weren't supposed to do that. They could tell you in the office... but once you leave, you're an independent contractor..."

I tried a different angle. Did he know anyone specifically who knew about the fake (or real) Con Ed uniforms or wore them personally?

Unfortunately, he claimed he couldn't remember any specific names of employees who had committed fraud. Perhaps he was afraid of something at this point. He seemed to clam up for the first time in that half hour. I wondered if he was feeling protective of Midtown all of a sudden.

Look, he said, "I know there's gotta be a certain reason you're going after [Midtown], but they're a legitimate company. The only thing is... the representatives, some of them, are no good. They need to hire people who can really do the jobs and pay them a little more. But IDT is not going to pay them [enough]."

Finally, I asked, "Definitively... have you seen people you know are employees of Midtown Promotions, wearing Con Ed uniforms?"

"Sometimes. Yes."

I went to the office to confront my manager.

E: So, what's up, buddy?
B: So, Eric, I wanted to talk to you in private...
E: Yeah. You disappeared...
B: Well, there's a couple reasons why. I was sick on Friday, that is true. But... the one thing I'd like to ask you about... there are people working here that are doing things that are obviously... fraudulent.
E: Meaning...?
B: They are wearing Con Ed attire.
E: Con Ed attire?
B: Yes.
E: What're you talking about?
B: Well, actually, I'm a journalist—

His eyes bulged, but he immediately recovered and took this in slowly.

E: Uh huh.
B: And I've been investigating this for a long time now... and we've received tips that it was this company... and I met with someone who used to work here and he was willing to speak on the record, and I have a recording that...
E: ...wearing Con Ed attire?
B: They were wearing actual shirts with the words Con Edison on them.
E: Do you have... someone in here now?
B: He doesn't know, he doesn't work here anymore, so he isn't sure if those people are still working here... He said that they would leave here and that they would acquire a grey or whatever color Con Ed shirts are... and then they would have a patch made based on the logo.
E: And why would that not be brought to my attention from [before]...? Because I know that they've got their grey shirts that say IDT, the IDT laminate, the IDT card. Never heard about Con Ed, never got any complaints, never heard anything of that nature.
B: So, all this stuff about 'don't misrepresent yourself as Con Ed,' that's just from your own fears that someone will do something like this?
E: Well, when you deal with different reps, unfortunately, with different locations, you have 60, 70 reps out there... I'd love to be able to see that people do things by the book, but... when you do have complaints that come through the human resource department, you get rid of that person. You understand? People going out, using the Con Ed, Keyspan name to get a sale, that's totally wrong.
B: Would you be in trouble if IDT received complaints about employees here?
E: If I found out that that person had a Con Ed shirt on, I'd get rid of them in a heartbeat.
B: No, I mean, would Midtown be in trouble with them—
E: I don't understand what you're saying...
B: What I mean is: If someone were to get in trouble and IDT were to receive complaints, do they come down on you guys?
E: They'd call us to look into the matter... one hundred percent... because they contract us to do their marketing for them... to a hundred percent. If we have a fraudulent rep out there, we're not going to just [let them] keep going out there and signing applications. That's misleading, that's totally contradictory to everything IDT stands for. When you have two or three locations out there, and you have locations that aren't affiliated with us that are here in the city that represent for IDT, too, that we have no control over...
B: Okay. So, just to be clear, you've never heard of this... with the shirt?
E: No.
[I tell him there are articles in the Consumerist alluding to the fact that this company at this location has sent those scammers out in the field. I also mentioned that the scammers, except for the part where they replace their affiliation with the name "Con Ed," is almost the word-for-word pitch of Midtown reps. He said that if anybody used the Con Ed or Keyspan name to identify themselves, they would be immediately terminated. "If say to say," he added, "On my side, I haven't had too many issues" with employees bending or breaking the rules.]

E: ...I have nothing to do with what the [Midtown] offices outside of [this one] do... I have no control over that. They're independent offices... but as far as our side is concerned, we rarely hear about someone coming across as misrepresenting themselves. But when we find out about it, because they're independent and, a lot of times, they could be out there saying the wrong, doing the wrong things... I'm not gonna deny that... but it only comes back to us if someone complains to IDT...

DS-Max

Eric denied that Midtown is owned by DS-Max. He knew of DS-Max, having worked there for 16 or 17 years, but he claims that they are independent entities.

E: That's a big company... Nothing wrong with it... they do an unbelievable job [with] the concepts that they do. But we're independent, so we got nothing to do with them. I know they're in the city as well, I know they're in Long Island...
B: Do you think it's possible that they, because, the pitches are very similar, that it's possible that it's not Midtown, that it's a DS-Max affiliate that has an IDT contract?
E: No, I think they're also independent, too. I don't think DS-Max is involved with IDT at all.

He deflected some more criticism by saying Topline, out of Queens, also dos the same work for IDT.

E: Did you find any beef...?
B: The guy who used to work here— he was out with people who put on the shirt. He saw this while he was here...
E: How long ago was this?
B: ...about three months ago when I saw it... and I don't want to give too much detail that might reveal who he is, but it was sometime in the last two to six months that he left [Midtown.]
E: ...Well, we like to say that everything goes well out in the field until you bring something like this to my attention... we want to make sure there's no other guys doing that. Maybe it was a guy in the past, and there was a complaint [about something unrelated] and we had to let him go, and we never found out about the t-shirt. ...Maybe it's from another location.
B: The people that he saw were from this location.
E: Unfortunately, I can't have anything to say about that... I can't vouch for that, I've never heard of it.... I mean, I let guys go on two warnings on using [the name] Con Ed. What do you think I'd do about the t-shirt? And I pray to God that none of these guys here are affiliated with that t-shirt.
B: It's possible those people are gone...
E: [Bad] things that happen, you gotta let 'em go. Because if you don't, it makes your business look bad. I think if it was really that bad, the commission would've shut us down a long time ago. They send guys like you in, checking it out... you know, I've got nothing to hide... honestly, I know about the Consumerist, I know about the [intern] that came in, I had a feeling you were with them, I'm not playing games anymore. I'm just putting it out in the open. The more we hide games, the more you guys wanna run with things. [Could be a slipup or just a poor choice of words... but interesting nonetheless.] And you got in here firsthand, and you saw they aren't... switching the badges or whatever... I wish I had a camera on all these guys, making sure they're doing all the right things...

And later...

E: I've seen the pictures, I've seen [the intern's] write-up... and all honesty, as a business grows... expands... it's like anything... you're gonna have some people that are gonna do some wrong things in the field... you can't make everybody happy. As long as at the end of the day, we have people out there doing the right thing, I can go to sleep good... It's usually the newer guys," he said, echoing the same point Vega made, "that aren't as educated... as up-and-running with the program."

Eric went on to admit that he'd worked for "shady direct sales companies" in the past, but wouldn't name them. It is worth noting the following three things: he mentioned that he worked for DS-Max for either 16 or 17 years, claims to have a total of 16 or 17 years in sales, and that Vega does not remember him working there from just a few short months ago.

After the recorder was off, Eric described attacks on his business practices as being similar to attacks on journalists, trying to put it into perspective. "It's like if someone sued a reporter for defamation. That would suck." I wasn't clear what he meant, but I could tell what he was getting at, whether he was conscious of his deeper meaning or not.

Before I left Midtown, I went on Eric's computer to show him some of the other articles about IDT on the Consumerist's site. Sure enough, as I began typing c-o-n in the browser, consumerist.com immediately came up. It was also in the top ten most recently visited sites in his browser. He claimed not to have checked the site "in three, four months."

The truth is: guilty or not, Midtown Promotions is a shady bunch of shysters. Guilty or not, they're guilty of creating an atmosphere.

Eric would say I have no evidence linking Midtown to those guys in the Con Ed uniforms. Carl would say that must be some other company, and wash his hands of the whole thing. James would say I was harping on the negative.

But what I see is not just a systematic problem. I see a company called DS-Max that manipulates its employees, practices unsavory business methods, and makes sure everyone is obedient, for if they were to leave, they would be in debt and possibly homeless. I see devoted employees leaving such a company, and not seeing anything worth changing. I see them start Midtown Promotions, DS-Max in everything but name. Sure, we could've skipped the in-the-field work and just approached them with Vega's statements, but the real evidence backing up Vega is what I saw: the brainwashing, the unsupervised workers, the overlong days and weeks, the desperation to make just one more sale, and so forth.

Then I see IDT Energy, a rejoicing bunch of corporate opportunists based out of the magical Newark, New Jersey, hearing the news that Con Ed has been deregulated, and deciding to hire an unknown company called Midtown Promotions (or Figueroa Marketing, depending on whether or not you read the plaque on Eric's wall or the directory outside the office door.) I see IDT Energy, hearing of complaints from outlets such as the Consumerist and its readers. I see them, completely oblivious to complaints about the fraudulent activities of its affiliated sales people, not even (it seems) deeming it worthy of mention to Eric or anyone else at Midtown.

Midtown Promotions, incredulous that someone would take things too far when they are already pushed to the breaking point, that the sell is so desperately driven home that the seller, too, becomes desperate. Midtown Promotions, unfazed by their own role in the event that their charges, when left to their own devices, cross the line.

Midtown Promotions, sure that it wasn't their location on West 30th that sent those disgraceful, misguided, and potentially forgivable bastards out into the field without enough pep talk about fraud to stop their wicked ways.

Midtown Promotions, DS Max, Eric, owner Chris Polke, or the whole system, may be ignorant of the goings-on, but they are guilty just the same.

I watched as James got more aggressive with each door-knock, with each hour that went by without huge sales, wondering if he would end up out in the field with a guy who brought along an extra phony Con Ed uniform, if he'd be the guy in the blue shirt who one day knocks on your door with great news... —BRIAN FAIRBANKS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Day One
2. The Job Interview
3. The Day Of O
4. Let's Get Juiced
5. The Meeting
6. The Meltdown
7. The Confession

(Photo: Getty)

Note: No definitive ties have been established between Midtown Promotions and DS-MAX/Innovage.

Photo: James pitches his offerings to hair salon employees in the Bronx.

This is part 6 of our undercover investigation into IDT Energy, an energy reseller in the New York area...

Driver: Seven dollars.
James: Six!
Me: What are you doing? I thought we were taking a bus...
Driver: Seven!
James: Okay. Everybody get in.
Me: I am not paying for this. It's all you.

Doreen and I climbed into the back and James took shotgun. The driver was charming a chubby middle-aged Hispanic woman on the sidewalk with his charming and thick Jamaican accent. After a moment, the driver reached in through the passenger window, over James, to grab his business card. James jerked back in his seat. "What are you doing?!" he yelped.

The driver, still leaning over James' lap, looked at him and said slowly and distinctly, "I am only getting this woman a business card."

It was an odd moment but the rest of the ride went well, with the driver cracking jokes about marriage and riffing on the strange fellow Jamaican in his passenger seat. I got into the act and was very self-deprecating and all started out pretty well. From the rear-view mirror, I saw the rain clouds outside reflected on the driver's thick sunglasses. Then,

Driver: Where do you want to go?
James: Some apartment buildings. Take me to some apartment buildings.
Driver: Like those?

He pointed to the projects. Uh, no, not those, please.

It was 11:30 when the meeting ended, 12:30 when we got off the subway, and 1:00 pm when James and the driver settled on a drop point in a quiet residential neighborhood, consisting mainly of small cottage houses. It was about three minutes from where we got into the van.

I could tell James was amped and determined to make the top sellers list for the day. From deciding on the definite gamble of a work-a-day town like Mt. Vernon, which seeing as how it was far from Midtown, ensured us only a few hours of actual on-the-ground, to haggling with the cab driver about price, to haggling with the cab driver about where the greatest density of large apartment buildings were in Mt. Vernon (James said he scoped the area before), it was clear James had left the morning meeting as pumped as the trainers wanted him.

Doreen was aggressive too, in her own fashion. Her deal was to never stop smiling shyly. "My baby's in the hospital," she said in her Bronx accent at one point.

"Your boyfriend's in the hospital?!" I exclaimed

"No," Doreen corrected, "My baby's in the hospital."

She was twenty, Dominican, and the mother of eight-month-old girl. She'd been working for Midtown since the girl's birth. Over a cigarette and a stroll through our first neighborhood, Doreen told me about her experiences in the field. There were some days full of sales, and some just full of trudging through puddles.

Doreen and James agreed that the rain would help our sales. "People will feel sorry for us," said Doreen. The two of them swapped war stories, of the marathons in snowstorms, nailing signature after signature; of nearly 100% success rates in torrential rain.

We reached the first row of "promising" houses. James' version of "promising" houses meant one-door cottages with yards between them. For the ground we would cover, we would only do half the doors I had hit each day in East Elmhurst/Jackson Heights.

At my first door, a short black woman in her forties answered. "Yes, can I help you?" she asked politely.
"Yeah, I'm with IDT Energy, we're the suppliers for Con Edison, " I said.
"You gonna do something about how high my bill is?" she snipped.
"Well, that's what I'm here to d—"
"You gonna do something about my lights being turned off?" I saw past her into the kitchen, clearly illuminated by an overhead light.
"That's not me, mam," I started to say, "That's Con Ed. We don't have anything to do with them. We're just their suppliers..."
She continued to vent, then closed the door in my face.

Back down on the sidewalk, James called after a young Hispanic woman who had walked by him. At first, I thought he was hitting on her, but through his Jamaican accent and what I could gather as the wind whipped his voice back to me, he was asking her to direct us to any large apartment buildings in the area. James followed after the woman.

He passed alongside a basketball/handball court, clearly a schoolyard. The Hispanic woman was about thirty feet ahead when James really began to give chase. He started asking, "Is that an apartment building? Is that an apartment building? Do you live around here?"

She responded, No, that's a school, I don't know, and No. Thirty-seconds later the now power-walking woman entered a building James had guessed housed apartments. He shook his head after her.

I was unnerved by what I saw. James, a total stranger in a group of three total strangers on a deserted and rundown block, had just chased a woman by herself down the street. James wasn't swayed by my protests, saying that Bronx girls "know how to handle themselves. These are smart girls, very smart."

I argued that had zero to do with what had just happened. Even if I assumed he was right, that she was of superior intelligence, there was no way she could have known we weren't con artists, thieves, or violent criminals intent on hurting her. I've been chased down New York streets before and in every case, despite the pursuer's protestations, I can say with some certainty that these people were liars and possibly dangerous.

Still, I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, so I just suggested moving to a different area. Doreen agreed. Referring to IDT, she said, "They've already been here." James wasn't certain the area was tapped out, and besides, he said, we had a perfectly good building in front of us. All we needed to do was find the superintendent.

After ringing a few bells in the building, we gained admittance and took to separate floors. Doreen was not supposed to be working with us and vice versa, but there was no real reason why we couldn't work together. Safety in numbers was the name of the game; Doreen was young, a new mother, and tiny. And I sure as hell wanted her to stick around— her casual determination to make a buck was a nice contrast to James' relentlessness.

A woman in the lobby told us there was an office behind her building, and that we might find the super there.

James rang the office buzzer while Doreen and I hung back. After a minute, we turned around to see two maintenance men, dressed in blue jumpers with name patches. Doreen asked them if one of them was the super, and the taller, older, bulkier one said yes. At the same time, a rotund Caucasian woman with large glasses and a loud, piercing voice opened the office door. "Can I help you?" she barked.

As soon as James identified himself as a representative of IDT Energy, she cut him off. Residents didn't take care of their own Con Ed bills, she yelled. She went on to say we weren't supposed to be on the property without consent.
"I know," James replied, "That's why we are here looking for the super."
"The super's right here," Doreen called back.
But the rotund woman would hear none of it. "There's already been people through here. And now, if you don't leave, I'm going to have to call the police."

Oh, Jesus. Here we go.

"But what about Keyspan?" I heard James say, but that was the last of it for me; I had already begun the quick walk back to the street and safety. I wasn't about to get arrested for this bullshit— it wouldn't bring me any closer to the truth and would be a gigantic pain in the ass.

"James!" I called back, trying to snap him back to reality.

On the sidewalk, Doreen told us she was going to go her own way. The incident was the last straw for this neighborhood. I immediately volunteered to accompany her. I knew hanging around James was a waste of time; he would surely have spent the whole day knocking on doors of people who already switched if we hadn't put our feet down.

James began to follow us, and after losing us along the road, where he couldn't resist knocking on more doors in the middle of our discussion, called Doreen to tell her to wait.

I began to plot my getaway. Incidentally, I could hardly breathe through my nose thanks to my allergies. It wouldn't be a lie to say I was sick, and when you factor in that I had been staying up all night trying to outline the day's work experiences, it was pretty clear I needed an early end to the day to stay sane and healthy.

A woman in a real estate office James had pitched to directed him to a street nearby that supposedly featured several large apartment buildings. On our way, we stopped in one building that had its front door and second door wide open. It was definitely questionable whether we should have been there, whether we were in fact trespassing. Nonetheless, in a building of perhaps fifteen apartments, no sales were made. While working a floor by myself, I spoke to a very excited old man who told me he'd just signed up for IDT. Shit. Another building already pillaged.

Not long after this, I tried to slip away, feigning an increased illness. James instantly whipped out his cell phone and called up Midtown's office number, then tried to push it into my hand. "Talk to Eric," he said.

"That's okay," I said hurriedly, turning away from the out-thrust phone. "Tell him I'll call him later."

I never did. Prying into people's lives, trying to get them to buy something I didn't believe in, hanging out with increasingly scary people in sketchy situations... not only was it repulsive, but I wasn't getting a damn piece of information on the core reason for conducting this sordid investigation in the first place: to determine whether IDT Energy employees were representing themselves as being from ConEd at customer's doors.

I was done working for Midtown, but I wasn't done with them. I went home to transcribe my tape recordings, and post Craigslist ads looking for people with information about Midtown Promotions and IDT-Energy.

I got one response.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Day One
2. The Job Interview
3. The Day Of O
4. Let's Get Juiced
5. The Meeting
6. The Meltdown
7. The Confession

Note: No definitive ties have been established between Midtown Promotions and DS-MAX/Innovage.

Here's his filings to date:

Day One
The Job Interview
The Day Of O
Let's Get Juiced
The Meeting
NEXT: The Meltdown

We've also gone through these posts and added in more explicit info about how some of what Brian saw at Midtown Promotions tracked parallel to complaints about offices once affiliated with DS-MAX (now known as Innovage) — alleged to have been an Amway-like sleazy multi-level -marketing operation.

Add the Undercover at IDT-Energy tag to your RSS reader and watch as the story continues to unfold before your eyes like a splayed deer in the sun. — BEN POPKEN

Note: No definitive ties have been established between Midtown Promotions and DS-MAX/Innovage.

It ended up being three feet from the mouth of Johnny, a trainer with a big round head and a thick accent. He was a young Asian guy, maybe in his early thirties, with spiky hair and the manner of both a computer geek who became a Wall Street broker. He was driven but goofy.

"Today, I'm going to talk to you about a place you all know. Some of you may have worked there. It's called My-Donald's," he said. On the board, he wrote, "McDonald's." Snickering here and there came from the circle.

But before he got into whatever the hell McDonald's had to do with anything, he moved into a discussion of the day before, obviously having gotten ahead of himself. "Honorable Mention. Honorable Mentions are for people that did seventy-two dollars to ninety-nine dollars. And we mention your name, give you round of applause, say good job."

Seventy bucks before taxes is barely survival dollars in New York City...

This is part 5 of our undercover report into IDT Energy, an energy reseller in the New York area...

Online reports about DS-MAX had mentioned meetings being conducted in much the same fashion as what I'm describing to you here. They also used the same specific terminology.

The Honorable Mentions were called out. The dollar amounts were 84, 72, 78, 97, 75. Then the High Rollers: Vladimir, 118. "Vladimir, what worked for you yesterday?" asked the trainer.

In a strong Eastern European accent, Vladimir answered: "What worked for me—yesterday—"

"YESTERDAY," answered the chorus.

Vladimir continued, referencing a subheading of the first of the five steps: "What work for me was Keep it Simple." "Keep it Short and Simple," the trainer corrected. Then, as all the High Rollers would, he recited a piece of the Midtown sales mantra, "Today, we are going to, uh, work-a hard. And-a have-a fun."

For this, he received enthusiastic applause from the trainer, and tepid but polite applause from the others. "Have fun!" the trainer emphasized, though it seemed to bounce off people's heads, which were hanging further than normal.

The trainer moved on to the big guns. Jose brought in $130. "Jose, what worked for you yesterday?" asked the trainer.

He started, "Yesterday—"

"Yesterday," said the group, not as loudly as before.

Jose continued, "I used a lot of Short Story, that worked for me. And my goals..."

"GOALS," said the circle.

"Twenty-one," said Jose.

Then there was Remmington, one of the top sellers, a quiet but large teddy bear of a man from, I think, the Caribbean who was obviously very pleased to be there, but kept cool. He pulled in $140. "Ah, what I learned yesterday—" ("YESTERDAY") "—was keep a good attitude, having fun. What I had to do."

"Do what you have to do, very good," said Johnny.

Then there was Alexi, a friend of Remmington's, who had done $150. "Juice by you," said Johnny to that.

"Have good attitude and having fun. And my goals... keep building my team," said Alexi. Lots of applause came from the group. You could tell everyone wanted to be around the big shot, adapt his ideas, pick up on his mannerisms, and mimic his charm.

Johnny went back to the board. He said, "For those of you who are new, you hear 'juice by you,' you know, 'juice' that action or 'juice' that person, you're wondering what the heck is 'juice?' Join Us In Creating Excitement."

I stared as he began writing the words, thunderstruck by their banality. Reports had mentioned "Juice" as a phrase among DS-MAX type offices, but it was still stupefying to see it played out in real life before my eyes, and being taken so seriously.

When I came to, Johnny was back to our favorite fast food joint "What kind of business is McDonald's in?" he asked. "What's their main business?"
"Franchise?" someone offered.
"Franchise? No," said Johnny.
"French fries?" came another response, to general chuckles.
Johnny continued, "When we think of McDonald's, we think of burgers, right? Cheeseburgers. Big Mac. But anyway, it's burgers. But I think a huge part of McDonald's business is actually... realty. Why? They own a lot [of real estate], what else? They're everywhere... but every location, you look around, every [intersection], you look around, you know there must be a McDonald's around here."

He turned back to the group. "Now... for those of you who worked there... how long did it take you to learn the stations there? They have a fry station, a register... drink station. How long was the training for you guys? Twenty minutes?"

Three or four people nodded their heads.

His point was that, no matter what aspect of the McDonald's restaurant operation you wanted to learn, you could get it down in about fifteen, twenty minutes.

"Simplicity. Simplicity, that's a key here." Eventually, he got down to explain what was taking a week to get across, in the most indirect fashion imaginable: McDonald's is successful because it's simple. "Simplicity is the word I'm trying to get to you guys. Sim... pli... ci— am I doing this right?"

I told him he was spelling it correctly.

"Now, our company is really simple when it comes to getting to the point. All you have to do... stick to the system. Look at it as a tunnel." He described a tunnel as having no side entrance, no way to maneuver except to keep going toward the end to get out. "You enter this side, you get out this side." To illustrate, he drew a tunnel.

"All it takes: determination, persistence. Simple as that. All you have to do is stick with the system, beginning to the end. Take the thing, put the fries in, and wait for the beep. And take it out. Right? And let's go out today and make it happen, guys!"

Juice to that! I set out for the field, not knowing that it was to be my last day pumping doorbells for Midtown Promotions. — BRIAN FAIRBANKS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Day One
2. The Job Interview
3. The Day Of O
4. Let's Get Juiced
5. The Meeting
6. The Meltdown
7. The Confession

Note: No definitive ties have been established between Midtown Promotions and DS-MAX/Innovage.

This is part 4 of our undercover report into IDT-Energy, an energy reseller in the New York area...

2. An independent contractor agreement that states I will not be reimbursed for fuel, transportation, or any other expenses, am, "not acting and other capacity for us. We will not deduct or pay income tax, unemployment insurance, government plan, employer health tax or similar amounts. YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH MIDTOWN PROMOTIONS, DOES NOT QUALIFY YOU FOR MINIMUM WAGE, WORKERS COMPENSATION OR UNEMPLYOMENT."3. A "Covenant Not to Compete," stipulating that I can't call the customers myself or work for a competitor. I'm also not allowed to solicit any employees to quit.This also asks me to recognize that breaching this contract will, "cause irreparable harm to [Midtown] and that damages alone would not be adequate remedy." I shudder to think. "Therefore the Independent Contractor of part 5 shall be entitle to an injunction restraining to Independent Contractor for the commission of such breach." Correct us if we're wrong, but we're pretty sure spelling errors invalidate the clauses they're found in. That is, if they spell injunction as "incunction," they never obtain an injunction.

4. "Complice with the Law"
"You must comply with all federal, state, and local laws and licensing requirements." "You will not represent yourself in any way as being an employee or contractor representing the perspective client with whom you are soliciting for." The rest of the page contained similar language forbidding fraud and/or forgery.I also filled out a W-9 and was given a commission schedule to sign. Note under OVERRIDE SCHEDULE - LEADER. Leaders get paid 25 cents for every application by sales grunts working under them that leads to a paying customer. Assistant Managers got 50 cents. This type of commission structure suggest that Midtown Promotions is a multi-level-marketing (MLM) company. Typically, most people at the bottom level of a MLM scheme lose money.After I completed the paperwork, Eric asked a sheepish James to walk me down the Hallway of Motivation, as I dubbed it. It's lined with posters with inspirational messages, like a quote from a historical figure, another from "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People," and the rest from who knows, fortune cookies and popsicle sticks. I tuned most of it out.

We were supposed to arrive at the meeting at 10, but nothing got underway until 10:30. Listening to my tape recorder, the room was a jumble of incoherent conversation, which I found even more indecipherable in person.

We all stood around in a circle of, what I counted as twenty-eight people. Chalkboards sat on opposite walls. Then a guy in an expensive suit came in and walked straight to the far chalkboard, causing the circle to expand.

"Hey guys!" shouted Jameson.
"HEY, WHAT?"
"Now, that's what I like to hear in the morning. How's everybody doin' this morning?!"
"GOOD," they shouted, in unison, in harmony, like soldiers. I felt like the one kid in class mouthing the words to "under God" in the pledge of Allegiance.

Jameson was there to go over what Midtown considers the most important part of the process: the Five Steps, a sales-closing concept that was word-for-word the same as what ex-DS-MAX employees referred to online, and in an interview with The Consumerist. They went like this: 1) Introduction 2) Short Story 3) Presentation 4) Close 5) Rehash.

While discussing the first few steps, I caught Jameson saying this about the customer's cancellation rights:

"Basically you're making sure that they know that you're not from Con Edison, that you're from IDT-Energy. That's one of the main things to make sure that we're doing, >misleading the customers."

Perhaps a Freudian slip?

Johnny continued, "All right? 90 percent of the complaints are when they think we're from Con Edison. Wear the nametags out in the open and tell them numerous Times that we're from IDT-Energy. People hear what they wanna hear— people think when you say, 'Find us that bill' that you're from Con Edison."

Then the meeting broke up with a cry of "Juice!" People milled around. David, one of the top salesman, a young guy sporting a pencil-thin goatee and with a Bluetooth earphone glued to his ear, overheard James saying I'd "done well" on my first day. David looked at me, nodded, and said, "Juice by you."

I asked Carl what David meant.

"Juice is, like... that's where it's at." Seeing my blank stare, he elaborated, "It's a compliment. It's like, that's good news."

Hardly a silver-tongued pitch, but it seemed to work five out of ten times. When it failed, it was mainly because the customer didn't speak enough English.

I practiced the pitch all day with Carl, finally taking on my own doors around 3:30. That I stopped asking questions seemed to give him more confidence in my abilities. Actually, it was because I realized he couldn't, or wouldn't, help me get any closer to verifying The Consumerist reader's complaints about fake ConEd salesmen.

I stepped into an Allstate Insurance office in East Elmhurst around four pm, trying to get an appointment with the owner. Business contracts are worth more commission. The owner was "in a meeting... till the end of the day." The other employees stood up and then sat right back down, keeping an eyeball on us. They can smell we're shysters, I wanted to mutter to Carl, they recognize their own scent.

Leaving there, I saw a woman in the second-floor apartment looking out at us through a part in the curtains. She appeared to be wearing only a bra. "Don't look now," I said, "But we have our first admirer of the day."

Carl turned to see the curtain swiftly close "Want to go knock?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Hell yeah," I said, glad for any opportunity to crack the monotony.

We entered her building through the open doors. We made our way to her second floor door, which was also open. The woman from the window was practically waiting in the doorway when we rang. She had a thick and disproportionate face, too long and large for her body, and voluminous breasts falling out of her thin white nightgown.

"Oh no, I don't pay my bill, the landlord sees to that," she purred through a wry smile

I felt Carl's grin at my back. I decided to end the pitch and get out of there. She didn't close the door until we were long gone, looking after us. Heading up the street, we saw a hand holding her upstairs curtain open.

Not long after that, I made my first sale, to a single mom I could not help but ask if she was eighteen. "Eighteen?! I'm twenty-eight!" The poor dear, I hope they lose your paperwork.

From there, I became increasingly uncomfortable with the prospect of actually making any sales. What if I ruin their lives by jacking up their energy bills?

I never a saw a single person flip over the contract and read the fine print in the terms and conditions. If they did, they might have noticed this part:Under "Rates" it says that IDT-Energy guarantees a price 7% lower than ConEd's for the first two months, but after that your price goes to a variable rate. So for the first two months customers think they're getting great savings, and then you start paying based on whatever best deal IDT finagles on the wholesale energy market.

Carl made sure all our customers initialed every point on the "Customer Acknowledgment of Agreement and Notice of Cancellation Rights," but I wondered whether all Midtown Promotion's reps were so diligent. Or if the non-English speakers really understood the form they were signing.

I had to keep telling myself that they were free to make their own decisions. But sometimes things are not that clear-cut. Maybe they were confused and thought, due to their poor English, that I was from ConEd, that ConEd was reducing their bill. That we were answering their prayers.

It was very difficult, at the end of the day, to morally justify what I was doing. I wondered whether going undercover was doing more harm than good. Could I justify possibly screwing one person, just to help others from getting screwed? — BRIAN FAIRBANKS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Day One
2. The Job Interview
3. The Day Of O
4. Let's Get Juiced
5. The Meeting
6. The Meltdown
7. The Confession

Note: No definitive ties have been established between Midtown Promotions and DS-MAX/Innovage.

"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.

"I'm never at home enough to use that much electricity," she insisted.

"It's a very volatile commodity," Wanounou [IDT Energy's chief operating officer] said. "There are times we have been more expensive than the local utility. There are countless months where we can show you we are substantially cheaper."

Gerry Norlander of the Public Utility Law Project, a consumer group, said, "There's no evidence that we've seen that customers who switch save any significant amount of money over time, and there are plenty of stories of abuses."

DOOR-TO-DOOR POWER DEALS JOLTING BUYERS [NY POST]
RELATED:
IDT Energy Starts At 7% Discount, Switches To Variable After 2 Months
Consumerist's Undercover IDT-Energy Investigation

The contract says,

The price for electricity and natural gas sold under this Agreement for the first 2 months of service is offered at a 7% discount to the LDC [in this case, ConEd]. After the first 2 months of service, service is offered at the Variable Price...

Variable Price: The variable price for all electricity and natural gas sold under this Agreement and based upon electricity and natural gas market pricing, transportation, or transmission, and other market and business price related factors.

Click here for the full contract.

PREVIOUSLY:
Consumerist Undercover At IDT Energy: The Day Of O
Consumerist Undercover At IDT Energy: The Job Interview
The Consumerist Goes Undercover At IDT Energy: Day One
The Consumerist Goes Undercover At IDT Energy

I was in it for real on Day Two, no turning back now. Day Two, also known as the Day of O, short for Day of Observation in DS-Max (now known as Innovage) companies, is a field-test that no one has been known to fail. DS-Max, it has been said, will take anybody. So far, Midtown Promotion's methodology for handling new recruits seemed to be tracking parallel to what I've read are the standard practices and procedures for DS-MAX type businesses.

Eric called me into his office to quickly run down the day. "You are going to be with these two gentleman, okay?" he said, sitting down in his leather chair. He indicated Carl, a manager-to-be, and James, an employee on his third day. Carl was in his late forties, in a nice grey button-down shirt and red and blue-striped tie. James was in a suit and green tie to match the lime-green strap around his neck that held his IDT-Energy badge. He was in his late twenties, a suave and good-looking Jamaican immigrant with a wry smile that seemed to say, "Don't worry, I will get what I want."

This is part 3 of our undercover report into IDT Energy, an energy reseller in the New York area...

Eric barely had time for a handshake before barreling past me, flipping eagerly through a stack of papers. I sat back down in reception, waiting for the morning meeting to clear out, really wishing I could shove my tape recorder under that conference room door. I wondered if, behind those doors, employees were pledging allegiance to Midtown Promotions, or chanting "juice." Maybe they were even being given clean ConEd shirts to replace yesterday's.

Also waiting outside were five other prospects, chewing their nails and texting up a storm. My friend with the headband from yesterday wasn't there,; all of these young employees-to-be were in business casual wear, which means my attire the day before was the right choice. What I couldn't figure out was why we were wearing ties when, pretty soon, they'd surely be slipping us some shirts with ConEd patches.

The only thing I could hear over the ringing of the receptionist's phone was a smattering of applause emanating from the meeting room once every few minutes. I rose from my seat and walked to the conference room doors, hoping to peek through the crack between them. Soon, about twenty-five people spilled out of what I could see was a large, furniture-free room with a blackboard. The last employee out closed the door behind him and gave me a puzzled look.

"What was all that clapping?" I asked James later that day.

"That was the managers, the head people, giving us all the energy we needed for the day. And we were going over yesterday, seeing what was working for everyone." After a moment of thought, he added, "It's easy to lose the momentum... so that keeps the momentum going, too... keeps you focused." In researching DS-MAX online, former employees had referenced something that sounded similar to this, called "Atmosphere."

After the meeting let out, Carl, James, and I headed off to Elmhurst, Queens, so they could sell and I could learn. As we went down the stairs into the 34th St. station, something began to dawn on me. All three of us were still. wearing ties and slacks. Nobody seemed to be carrying a bag that could fit ConEd uniforms.

I asked, "Hey, so... a couple months ago... some guy came to my door and he was in a ConEd uniform selling IDT. How come we're not doing that?"

Carl's eyebrows went up over the rim of his sunglasses. "That's something different," he said.

"Were you here when they were doing that?"

"I started in October."

"It was only a few weeks ago," I said, "They wanted to switch me to IDT. When I came in today, I fully expected everyone to be wearing Con Ed uniforms."

Carl pointed to his dress shirt and snazzy tie. "I wear this every day."

I got the sense Carl was being straight with me; he really didn't have a clue what I was talking about. Still, I pressed the issue. All he would say further was, "Isn't that illegal?"

On the V train, Carl broke down the commission structure. He said it was $6 or $7 per application, up to $20 for businesses, with good people scoring 13-20 applications per day, which worked out to something around $600 a week. I wondered to myself how much the not-so "good people" got, before taxes, for their sixty hours.

Meanwhile, James peppered me with questions about what I wanted to do with my life, where I grew up, where I lived, etc. I wasn't sure whether he simply took a relentless interest in me, or whether he just wanted to practice his already well-developed conversational skills. This tactic sounded similar to what one former DS-MAX manager described about dealing with new recruits on "The Day of O:"

"...Find out what he likes and dislikes. What he is motivated for or running away from? If it is an older guy — talk about management. If it is a kid talk about learning and growth. If the guy hates being in a cubicle then promote the fresh air. If she likes international business talk about how many country's ds-max is in."

We arrived in Jackson Heights and hopped a bus into Elmhurst, arriving at our first house at 11:30. Carl picked this area, around 81st St. and Northern Blvd. He said he'd been "doing well" with it on Monday and Tuesday.

For most of the day, Carl knocked and stood at the door, while we stood off to the side. Carl didn't want us to look overwhelming. He figured more people would open the door if they thought it was one-on-one. For the first ten minutes, we got no answer for any of our knocks. Carl mentioned how do most of our sales after school lets out. Two two minutes later, he hit the proverbial jackpot: a landlord who owned lots of New York property and paid his tenants' electric and gas bills.

He was Colombian, in his late sixties, thin, and balding. The landlord seemed perpetually stressed by how little money he was making. "The market is slow, so I don't buy," he muttered. Carl ignored the chatter just— he was buried under the paperwork, writing down account and phone numbers, addresses for each service location and separate billing location. It took him about three minutes for each application, and with two applications for every property (one for electric and one for gas), he had filled out a total of fourteen forms. By the end of it, the poor guy was covered in sweat.

Carl's engrossment gave me a chance to give him a good look-over. A middle-aged black man with very short hair and a striking demeanor, he could be your bodyguard, if only he looked threatening and dangerous. He sweat constantly. "Don't mind me," he said sheepishly early on, "I sweat when it's two degrees below zero. I used to work in an ice-cream freezer; it was twenty-five below every day. My whole uniform would come out soaking wet." With his suit, sunglasses, binder full of forms, and a small towel always drying off his forehead, Carl could've been a 1960's aluminum siding salesman.

"I pay so much money," said the landlord, "I pay seven thousand dollars a year..." Carl interjected, "That's why I'm here. To save you money." The landlord continued, "They say to me when I call, I have to pay. [Otherwise,] call Bush. I'm not kidding." In the last two months', at one house, he was billed nearly $1,100. "I don't cry about it, I don't cry about the bills. I've had twelve surgeries in my body..."Most of the rest of the day's sales were was less eventful:

• A woman who said, "My roommate pays the bill and we haven't opened the new one yet."
"Do you have an older copy of the bill? We can use that."
"No, she keeps all the records."
"Are you sure? Can you call her?"
"I can call her." Then, a few moments later, "Yeah, she's not— uh, I can't reach her, so..." No sale.

• "Uh huh. Uh huh. Uh huh. Interesting."
"Do you live here?"
"No. I'm just the painter." No sale.

• "Hello, good afternoon—"
"She not here."
"She? Who's she? You don't even know who we're here to see." No sale.

• "Hi, good afternoon, sir. My name is Carl and this is James and Brian, and we're from IDT-Energy. (Pause) Is there anyone in the house that speaks English? (Pause) All right, you have a good day, sir. (Pause) "We get a lot of cancellations from Chinese people," Carl mused, "They're the biggest cancellation rate."

Most of the day's sales were with non-English speakers. Since Carl spoke Spanish and I had forgotten most of mine, their conversations were lost on me. "Does anyone in the house speak English?" was our constant calling card. Often, a child acted as translator for immigrant parents. The kids came to the door, homework and pencil in hand, and explained the savings program back to the adult. The parent usually signed, giving the papers hesitantly back to Carl, and, by the end of the day, James, who started to take more initiative at the door.

At one point, James called up to a child in a second-story window who wanted to know why we were looking for his parents. James looked at Carl for help. "Should I say the same pitch? Should I say IDT or Con Ed?"

"Do the same as you would if they were at the door. Make sure you say ConEd. They hear ConEd, they'll come down," said Carl. That house is where James made his first sale.

At another house, James commanded, "Just get your bill, we'll be right here." "Oh, oh, okay," said the Chinese woman, flustered by James's unvarnished attempts at a hard sale.. Returning to the door, the woman seemed more relaxed. "We use very little, but we pay a lot. You IDT? Not Con Edison?"

"Con Edison got deregulated in 1997, so they can't make energy," Carl explained, sweetly. "Now, we're the suppliers, we supply energy. See here, on your bill? Where it says when you 'go to a new supplier to reduce your charges and lower your taxes?' Okay?" The Chinese woman nodded.

As Carol was about to get into discussing Keyspan, everyone but the woman watched as the front door swung toward us with a gust. It closed, and locked.

She didn't have her keys. Of course, just then, it started to rain. Carl and I cast a chagrined look at each other.

James offered the woman his umbrella to keep while she stood in the doorway, waiting for her son to come home from work. It could be an hour or more, she speculated. Her next-door neighbors came out of their house to bring in their kids.

Carl said, "Why not go inside with them? You want me to see if they can help you?"

The woman nodded vaguely, not looking at us.

"You can't ask your neighbor?" asked Carl again.

She hemmed and hawed. James and Carl asked her neighbors' permission to let the woman in. Warily, they said yes. Suddenly, the Chinese woman began sneezing non-stop for at least five minutes straight. "It's allergies," I told her neighbors.

When we left her, the woman stood under the doorway, almost walking in place, and not looking in our direction. Her neighbors shrugged, went into their house, and closed the door.Right: IDT-Energy's Terms and Conditions. Click to enlarge.

We hardly rested all day long. Lunch lasted 10 minutes, including pizza, on me, and a bathroom break. I spotted James, though he never got me back, even after cashing his paycheck at a check-cashing place later that week.

Back on the streets, James took the lead while I hung back to chat with Carl. It was apparent James had done the math after moving up from "clearance," a sales job that involved wheeling junky toys and gadgets around in boxes to local businesses. This caught my attention, as online reports mentioned how DS-MAX-type businesses often focused on selling small items n the street, in parking lots, and to small businesses.

Indeed, according to DS-MAX's trademark application, their goods and/or services include:

Mops; bakeware; bath sets, namely sets containing two or more of garbage cans, tissue covers, toothbrush holders and soap dishes; bottle openers; bowls; bowl sets, chopper boards, namely kitchen boards for chopping vegetables and the like; canteens; car seat coolers namely food coolers used inside a vehicle; car dusters, namely dusters to remove dust from vehicles; comb sets; cups; cutting boards; freezer boxes, namely plastic containers for food; frying pans; hair brushes; graters, namely cheese graters; garbage baskets; household dusters; kitchen graters, namely cheese graters; kitchen scrubbers, namely pot scrubbing pads; ovenware; plates; plastic bowls; poultry cooking sets, namely turkey basters and turkey sewing needles; rubber brooms; scouring pads; shower caddies; serving spoons; soup ladles; spoon sets; tea sets; vacuum bottles; travel mugs; utensils for barbecues, namely, forks, tongs, turners; insect traps; portable beverage cooler; non-precious metal candle holders and candle holder sets; non-electric cooking pans; household containers for food; hand-operated kitchen tools, namely egg beaters, whisks, rolling pins, spatulas, turners; fitted picnic baskets; plastic food, coffee and teas canisters; portable blenders, namely hand-operated blenders for mixing beverages and liquid food; salad tongs; scrubbing brushes; empty soap bottles; tea strainers, wine strainers, cooking strainers; household spatulas, household spatula sets; teapots made of non-precious metal; brushes for cleaning vegetables art boards, namely boards used for drawing, painting or creating art; art sets, namely sets containing two or more of crayons, paint, coloured pen sets, pens and paper; atlases; photo albums; bibles; boxed stationery; calendars; crayons; crayon and paint sets; diaries; dictionaries; encyclopedias; erasers; flash cards; eraser sets; greeting cards; markers; juice books, namely cookbooks containing recipes relating to juices; memo pads; lunch bags; pens; pen sets; pencil cases; pencil sharpeners; note cards; office diaries; paper boxes, namely gift boxes; personal organizers; phone indexes; puzzle books; recipe books; stacking boxes, namely storage boxes for storing paper; stationery boxes; staplers; calligraphy kits comprised of calligraphy pens and paper; compasses for drawing or drafting; desk stands and holders for pens, pencils, and ink; empty designer gift bags made of fabric or paper; paperclips and letter clips; desktop organizers, organizers for personal use, organizers for stationery use; document portfolios, stationery-type portfolios; paper mail pouches, paper pouches for packaging; stationery sets comprised of stationery paper and pens and envelopes; answering machines; batteries; battery chargers; battery converters; binoculars; boom boxes, namely mini, portable stereo sets; calculators; camcorders; cameras; CD-Rom cases; CD players; cordless phones; electronic organizers; emergency lights; fire extinguishers; fridge magnets; headphones; magnifying glasses; mouse pads; pre-recorded CD-ROM's containing music and games; FM radios with scanning tuners; radios; radio speakers; telephones; televisions; emergency auto kits comprised of a hand held spotlight and battery charger; dog alarms, namely alarms for ensuring canine pets do not leave their containment area; electronic game programs; cassette recorders, car cassette players; personal cassette player with a radio, personal CD player with a radio; computer game cassettes, computer game software, computer game discs; magnifying lenses; pre-recorded CD-ROM's not containing software; pre-recorded videos, namely movies and instructional materials; video game software; thermal forks, namely barbeque forks with a temperature indicator IC 008; US 023 028 044; G and S— beard trimmers; cutlery; cutlery sets; flatware; hair clippers; cutters, namely box cutters; eyelash curlers; driver tools, namely hand-held screw drivers; hair removers, namely razors; hand tools, namely non-motorized tools, namely screw drivers, pliers, wrenches, files and rasps; knife sets; knives; kitchen knives; pliers; pocket knives; pizza slicers; razors; slicers for slicing fruits and vegetables; scissors; scissors sets; socket sets; travel kits, namely manicure sets; can openers; manicure sets; nasal clippers, namely clippers to trim nose hairs; pedicure sets; non-electric peelers, namely tools to peel the skins from fruits and vegetables; hand-operated food processors; hand-operated ratchet sets; hand-operated screwdrivers and screwdriver sets; non-electric shavers, air hockey games; backgammon sets; baseballs; bean bags; black jack games; board games; card games; chess sets; dart games; dolls; doll houses; catchers, namely fishing lures; handheld unit for playing electronic games; magic sets; jigsaw puzzles; paper and model playing kits, namely toys of all types made of paper and paper model toys such as trucks and airplanes; pinball games; plush toys; poker games; puppets; toy racing cars