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:
INVESTIGATIONS
Consumerist Undercover At IDT Energy: The Confession
By 6.8.07
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.
Consumerist Undercover At IDT Energy: The Meltdown
By 6.7.07
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.
Consumerist Undercover At IDT Energy: Status Report
By 6.7.07
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.
Consumerist Undercover At IDT Energy: The Meeting
By 6.6.07
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.
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.
DS-MAX Was A "Sales Cult," Says Former Employee
By 5.31.07
steve-o: My first day there was an ‘interview’ in what was essentially a warehouse…
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…
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.
All The Computer Tech Needed To Do Was Reconnect A Power Cable. Cost? $59.99, $69.99, $119.99 and $275!
By 5.7.07
The results were varied and shocking:
Walmart Investigates Nuns As A Potential Threat
By 5.4.07
A group of Benedictine nuns in Texas are shocked that Walmart considers them a threat and ordered a “threat assessment” from their crack security team. The nuns had filed a shareholder resolution that was critical to Walmart. “The Benedictine Sisters of Boerne, Texas have written a letter to Lee Scott, Wal-Mart’s chief executive, to say they were “deeply disappointed, appalled and shocked.”
Why Is Crunch Gym Forcing Spiderman 3 "Marketing Experiences" On Their Spinning Classes?
By 5.4.07
Yesterday we followed up on reader’s bad experience at Crunch Gym by calling 2 of their locations, the corporate office and interviewing Angie, our reader.
Sprint Changes Plan Without Consent, Overcharges, Promises Investigation, And Does Nothing
By 3.11.07
Sprint gave Seth a terrible plan when he tried to activate an old phone onto his account. Seth had enjoyed a $105 per month retention plan that provided unlimited text messaging and 2,000 minutes. In November, Seth noticed several charges for text messages. He called Sprint and spoke with Kiyana, who made several changes and gave Seth her direct number in case there were any additional problems.
In December, my bill came in at $450. I called Kiyana’s direct line, which was actually a number for a sheet metal company or something similar.
January’s bill was $500. Seth paid the minimum and was told Sprint would fix the problem. By February, the bill was $600.
I called Sprint and spoke to Jason, he offered a 28 day credit to keep my service from being cancelled. I wanted an investigation – something wasn’t right. I scanned the bill while on hold and noticed something: nights and weekends weren’t mentioned at all. Jason, there’s no way Sprint would charge me for nights and weekends, right? No, sir. Sprint doesn’t offer a plan that charges for nights and weekends, but it looks like that’s what’s been happening. That’s why I was 1500 minutes over each month — because they were charging me for free minutes. When Kiyana changed my plan around back in November, she left off nights and weekends completely — and nobody had noticed until now.
The investigation, and Seth’s email, after the jump…
Investigative Reporter Wanted
By 3.9.07
We seek an investigative reporter with balls for assignment in New York area.
How Did The Walmart Spy Intercept Text Messages?
By 3.9.07
It’s also possible to intercept unencrypted or poorly encrypted messages directly as they’re broadcast over cellular channels. (If the network uses sophisticated encryption, you might be out of luck.) To steal messages with your phone, you would need to upload illegal “firmware” onto your phone. This essentially turns your phone into a radio and allows it to pick up all the texts broadcast on a given channel–instead of limiting you to the ones addressed to you. You’d also need to know the network for the target phone–Verizon, Cingular, T-Mobile, etc.–and you’d have to make sure that both your phone and the target are within range of the same base station. This method isn’t too expensive since you don’t need much more than a computer, a phone, and some firmware that any serious techie could find online for free.
Hmm. We do not know anything about illegal firmware, so we’ll take Slate’s word on that.
