Consumerist
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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 » -
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 » -
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 »
3:35 PM on Fri Jun 8 2007
By consumerintern
14,924 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
16,282 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
2,618 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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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
14,942 views, 34 comments -
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
14,774 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 »
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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.
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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 »
2:16 PM on Mon Jun 4 2007
By Ben Popken
14,662 views, 27 comments -
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 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 »
2:18 PM on Thu May 31 2007
By Ben Popken
16,711 views, 43 commentsLatest by glenji2k4: I can't wait to hear the next part of this piece. I too was hustled by a company affiliated with more »
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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 »
5:47 PM on Wed May 30 2007
By Ben Popken
22,101 views, 34 commentsLatest by BobbyMike: Cutco is considered A Direct Sales company. Quixtar/Amway is considered a multi-level marketing company. Not all companies that are Direct Sales, or more »
midtown promotions
New York, 2:18 AM
Sun Nov 15
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