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:
escos
Door To Door Energy Resellers Fail To Deliver Promised Savings
By 6.4.07
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.
IDT Energy Starts At 7% Discount, Switches To Variable After 2 Months
By 6.4.07
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).
Consumerist Undercover At IDT Energy: The Day Of O
By 6.4.07
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.
How ESCos Are Supposed To Work
By 6.2.07
While we’re talking about IDT Energy and Con Ed and Midtown Promotions and DS-MAX, let’s learn about another acronym, ESCos, which stands for “energy service companies” (the kind of company IDT Energy is).
Consumerist Undercover At IDT Energy: The Job Interview
By 5.31.07
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…
Pursue Exciting Opportunities In Energy Deregulation
By 5.31.07
You too can work for an energy supplier and seize a piece of this exciting money-making opportunity! At least, that’s what the Craigslist ad told us.
You may know well the great promise of Network Marketing.
We love the part where they say the amount of money you can make from this depends on,
The timing of entry of the networker into the company growth curve.
aka, it’s better to be at the top of the Ponzi scheme. For the uninitiated, network marketing is just another name for multi-level-marketing (MLM), structurally similar to a pyramid scheme, except usually there’s an actual product being sold. Employees get money for selling products, and for signing up new recruits. A cut of your commission flows up to the guy who signed you up, and you get a cut of your recruits’ commissions, and so on up the pyramid. The FTC ruled that MLM isn’t illegal per se. Often they’re set up so the people on the very bottom don’t make much, or even end up losing, money. Amway is a famous example.
Always Be Closing: IDT Energy Salesmen Interrupt Man In Shower
By 5.30.07
Max from Queens tells us what it’s like to have IDT Energy knocking on your door:
My front buzzer rang a little while ago while I was in the shower. I figured it was UPS, and that my roommate would go out to get it. A short while later, the bell on my apartment went off, and I guessed that he had forgotten to grab his keys on the way out. So I grabbed a towel, and went to let him in. Instead of my roommate, there was some dude with a binder.
Consumerist Undercover At IDT Energy: Day One
By 5.30.07
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.
The Consumerist Goes Undercover At IDT Energy
By 5.29.07
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.
IDT Energy Scamming Spreads Past New York City
By 5.3.07
IDT Energy, which specializes in going door to door and lying to customers in order to get sales, has expanded its reach past NYC and is now conning the good citizens in Albany, NY, according to this reader Peter’s letter:
Consumerist's Second Job Interview With IDT Energy's Scammy Marketing Firm
By 2.16.07
The office was decidedly busier on our callback. [Editor’s note: this material was written prior to today.] One person was being interviewed while another waited next to us on the sofa. More at ease, we enjoyed our second look at the office. The waiting room walls were covered with pictures of the Empire State and Chrysler buildings. “Bigger. Better.” or something like that. The receptionist had a giant stack of papers on her desk and was busy on the phone as pop music blared in the background….
Your Questions About Our Interview With IDT Energy's Scammy Marketing Firm Answered
By 2.16.07
Thanks for all of the excellent feedback to, “Consumerist’s Job Interview With IDT Energy’s Scammy Marketing Firm.” Here are a few answers to your questions:
Consumerist's Job Interview With IDT Energy's Scammy Marketing Firm
By 2.15.07
115 West 30th Street is the unassuming address for an unmemorable building that serves as the headquarters of Midtown Promotions, a “marketing solutions” company that solves markets for IDT. We interviewed with them as part of Consumerist’s continuing efforts to expose IDT’s deceptive practices.
