Thursday, February 22, 2007

Ask questions of the door-to-door energy salespeople

Just a note to all about what happened to me today.
It's long so bear with me. Man I was fuming by the
end.

I had two seperate people come to my door this
afternoon trying to get me to sign contracts to
purchase electricity from them.

I feel the need to tell people I know about this
experience because it riled me up so much.

Salesperson #1:

The first girl from "So-and-So Energy Savings Company" started
into her spiel immediately and asked for a copy of my
Hydro bill. I was confused and asked her if she was from my
city's
Hydro company. She said no she was with So-and-So Energy
Company
and that they were licensed to do this or something to
this effect.

She started going on about wanting to check my bill to see if I
was getting the "rebates".

Confused, I got the bill, she took it and started chattering away
about this is what I pay, this is what I can get in rebates, etc...
All the while she's flipping back and forth in her portfolio book
showing me my city's Hydro newsletter and saying that it is my
responsibility to know this information.

I ask her again if she is with Hydro. I tell her I don't understand
who she is working for. She tells me again (see above).

Then she starts to write down JEM's info on the form she has. It's
all folded up so all I can see is one paragraph and the info she's
filling out. She never lets me hold it. I ask again what exactly
she is wanting from me.

She then tells me it's time to sign. I say, "I am really
uncomfortable signing anything." She tries to tell me that it's
fine and that someone will call in 5 days and if we're not happy
that everything is cancelled.

I tell her again that I am uncomfortable with the whole thing and that
I won't be signing anything today.

She doesn't like this, but I refused. She gave me the "Customer
Agreement" she had filled out and my Hydro bill back and left.

I looked at the agreement and was angry to find that it had been
folded to prevent me from seeing that it was an agreement as well
as to prevent me from seeing that what I would have been signing was
the "Yes, Enroll me in the Electricilty Price Protection Program"
for a 5-year term.

Salesperson #2:

A guy came to the door around 5pm. He was from a different company
but I was sick of the spiel. I told him someone else had already been
here. He jumped all over that and says, "Did you get protected?" I say
no. He says, "I need to see your Hydro bill to tell you."

I tell him that I am not interested but if he wants to leave his
flyer/information I'll read it.

He tells me that customer service is his company's priority and that
he will tell me everything.

I say fine, but just leave your info and I'll get back to you if
interested.

He says listen I can tell you everything (as he's waving his binder
around). But I need to see your Hydro bill.

I tell him I don't have time for this and just leave the info. He
interrupts and says something (not having listened to anything I said)
at which point I SLAM the door in his face and lock it. I have never
had to do this before.

About an hour later he came back and knocked. I just didn't answer.

Conclusion:

I don't have a problem with what they are doing, but have a serious
problem with how they go about doing it. The first girl was prepared
to let me sign 5-year contract without every really explaining what
it was (remember how it was folded very carefully to hide the other
information).

If you enter into an agreement with these suppliers you need to be
aware of everything.

One of my concerns is that I used to work with someone who quit
their job in the province I was living in at the time to move out here
when they first deregulated - he was a very experienced salesman and
was excited to come out and sign people up and make tons of money. He
knew how it works and how easy it was to confuse people.

I also just found out that my mom and sister both signed up with the
sister company of So-and-So Energy in their province. They signed up
last June for Natural Gas service and both were really upset when their
bills started coming in this winter. They were waaaayy too high.

My mom called to complain and they were told sorry it's a binding
contract.

She told them that the salesperson had told them if they were unhappy
with the contract they could just change the name on their energy bill
and get out of it. Sooooo untrue!!

The company looked in to the situation and called them back and let
them both out of their contracts and said the salesperson they dealt
with would be talked to.

That's it. I am just really uncomfortable with the idea that people are
roaming the city trying to hard sell people something at the door that
binds them for 5-years.

Ask questions, take your time, you don't have to sign anything at the
door.

For anyone interested, here is a link to Frequently Asked Questions
about this process.

There, now I feel better.

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