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computer repairs
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computer repairs
undercover
When "FireDogs" And "Geeks" Don't Know What's Wrong, You Pay
Channel 10 out of Columbus, Ohio recently conducted a sting operation in which they equipped themselves with an easily repaired laptop and took it to Geek Squad, FireDog and Micro Center to see who could figure out what was wrong. 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
11,834 views,
48 comments
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
13,849 views,
68 comments
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
2,156 views,
24 comments
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
12,679 views,
34 comments
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
12,479 views,
40 comments
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
12,216 views,
27 comments
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
13,568 views,
43 comments
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
18,849 views,
34 comments
Latest 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 even Multi-level marketing are bad news. Without due diligence though, they can be rife with corruption. The companies that make the 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 »
readers
Market Workers Caught Urinating Near Produce
jiffy lube
Jiffy Lube's Scam is Sand in its Own Vaseline
NBC4 in LA put hidden cameras under their car hoods and took them to nine different Jiffy Lubes, They found six out of the nine didn't do any of the promised work yet charged for services in full. More »
real estate
