Consumerist
idt energy
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idt energy
IDT Employees Stalking The Streets Of Queens Today
Lock your doors, Queens residents! IDT zombies are on the prowl in your borough, and if they catch you they'll try to eat your ConEd account and replace it with their more expensive offer. Jeff says there's one outside his building right now, trying to buzz its way in. More » -
idt energy
New York Asks You To Report IDT Energy
The government is starting to listen to the mounting series of complaints about IDT Energy's sales rep's tactics; Brooklyn Council Member Bill De Blasio is asking that you report the following if an ESCO comes to your door: More » -
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idt energy
IDT Accused Of Stealing Reader's Dog
Reader Niklas says IDT Energy stole his dog from his house. Niklas says that an IDT Energy rep knocked on his door around 1pm on Friday, March 6, and when he opened it, his 5-year old Yorkshire terrier Milo ran out into the hall. Niklas sent the IDT Energy person on their way, but couldn't find his dog. Other neighbors later reported... More » -
idt energy
Warn Others About Energy Company Scams With This Flyer
Sick of their neighborhood getting overrun by ESCO Slammers, salesmen who pretend to be from your energy provider and trick people into signing over to their energy resale service, some Brooklyn citizens put together this flyer. The Concerned Citizens of Greenwood Heights posted it in their 'hood and put it online for other people to use too. The flyer talks about IDT Energy and Con Ed, but you could edit it to be for your locality if you wanted to, too. Cool to see people banding together to fight the ESCO-slamming scourge.
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media whoring
Ben Popken's "Beat The Cheat" Reader's Digest Article Online
I've got a new article in Reader's Digest about 9 scams that exploit national trends and how to avoid them. Flimflammers use the same basic scams over and over again, they just use the strips newspaper headlines to layer on like papermache on their chickenwire schemes. My article points out nine recent iterations and how to avoid them. Thanks to all the readers who sent in their stories to help out with the article. Loyal blog readers will enjoy that we splashed longstanding Consumerist nemesis IDT Energy's skanky sales practices in national print. Gotcha, suckers. -
scams
Another Story About IDT Energy's Door-To-Door Scams
Here's another report of IDT Energy using the old "We need to make sure you got a discount on your last energy bill, just sign here" tactic to trick people into switching to IDT Energy. In this post written by Amanda, a blogger in the Adirondacks, she describes how a guy with a badge and clipboard showed up at her door, saying he was checking to make sure she got a discount off her last bill. He had her go get her latest bill, then,
"He proceeded to tsk tsk tsk about the absence of my discount. "Not a problem. I can take care of this for you and make sure you get the discount you signed up for." He was writing on a form, covering the majority with his arm. I craned my neck to look. He pivoted.
(snip part where salesman acts super creepy...) More »
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complaints
IDT Energy Still Scamming New York Residents
It looks like IDT Energy sales reps are back to their old tricks of getting customers to switch from ConEd by posing as ConEd workers and using misleading sales tactics. S.J. in Brooklyn has the report... More » -
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new york
How To Spot IDT As They Snake Up Manhattan's Spine
A reader on Manhattan's Upper West Side spotted an IDT energy salesman going door-to-door this week. The tipster nabbed a copy of IDT's enrollment forms so you know what to look for when the scammy salesmen try to wrangle you into signing up for services that can triple the cost of your energy bill. The IDT representative said he was winding his way north to the tip of Manhattan with plans to reach 125th Street in time for Christmas. 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 »
3:35 PM on Fri Jun 8 2007
By consumerintern
14,942 views, 49 commentsLatest by MargaretHapjo: ack! Just read this series of articles in its entirety, and to be truthful, It made me feel more pissed more »
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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 »
5:53 PM on Thu Jun 7 2007
By Ben Popken
16,291 views, 68 commentsLatest by Ben Popken: Mantari, never ever do that again. Thank you. more »
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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 »
3:11 PM on Thu Jun 7 2007
By Ben Popken
2,619 views, 24 commentsLatest by jurgis: Yeah, "the Meltdown" was posted yesterday after this... most of us did complain that it was fairly weak investigative journalism more »
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new york
IDT Energy Scammer Spotted On Upper East Side
A reader living on the Upper East Side describes almost being scammed not an hour ago by an IDT Energy salesman pretending they were from ConEd. This was around 62nd street between 1st and 2nd avenues. If you live in the area, keep an eye, and maybe a camera lens, out for as an African-American male in his 20's wearing khakis, dress shoes, and a buttoned up shirt and probably carrying a binder. Jeremy writes: 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 »
1:38 PM on Wed Jun 6 2007
By Ben Popken
14,952 views, 34 comments -
consumer alert
Questions To Ask Before Switching To An Energy Reseller
A guy may come to your door pitching the fabulous savings you'll get by switching to an energy reseller. But before you sign on the line which is dotted, ask these questions: 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 »
12:51 PM on Tue Jun 5 2007
By Ben Popken
14,786 views, 40 commentsLatest by SisterHavana: I worked for a DS-Max company in the suburbs of Chicago many years ago. The company I worked for sold more »
