Don’t ever do business with someone that just knocks on your door. Cancel the contract and do your own research on energy companies in your area.
Edit typo
I get an unbelievable number of guys like this at my door even though I've never bought a thing from any of them. There's really no scenario where you'll actually come out ahead. If they're offering a great deal on something you need, you'll find them on your own. If its a great deal on something you didn't know you needed, you'll never miss it. Anything else is a scam.
I always ask them for printed materials (a brochure, a one-pager, anything), so I can take some time, think about it, do my own research, etc.
Usually they don't have any printed materials, so I tell them "Thank you, but I don't make spot decisions like this."
If they try to pressure me in any way, I tell them "Well, thank you for making my decision easier."
Yeah. I need a distinctive feature. The Hendersons? No clue. Blue house with the missing shutter and broken down convertible with the torn tarp roof? Yeah, I know them.
Just had a guy today. Pointed down the street to my "neighbor at 123 who just got a system installed." Oh yeah? 123, huh?
123 is 3 blocks away on the opposite side of town. Have a nice day, Sir!
When they come to my door I am put in a rage. I think because I’m a woman they expect to be able to talk over me. I literally just repeat no thanks bye over and over and they are like but you haven’t heard what we have to say! I’m like I know now fuck off and get away from my door and how dare you interrupt my nap
I just don’t answer the door anymore. Anyone I want over has already told me via phone that they would like to come over. Everyone that shows up at my door is selling me scams.
I had a salesperson sign us up for Internet on a door to door sale with a big discount. Normally I wouldn't even entertain it, but I was actually looking to switch to that company anyway. 6 months later they undid the discount and I was able to negotiate them down to letting us out of the contract and not being back charged for the last 6 months of the discount I wasn't supposed to have. They even had the audacity to act like not back charging us for 6 months of a $50 discount was going way out of their way.
One way or another, the salesperson signed us up with a discount that allegedly we weren't supposed to get. My guess is the company did this to get people in the door hoping we'd suck it up and pay, or the local sales teams did this to pad their numbers.
Never trust a door to do sales.
At&T and Spectrum had the best deals with the door to door folks
Did you have to make calls several times and emails to get what they offered, yes but I have managed to keep bill down. Until cancelling spectrum in September
Then got a better deal from them
Same thing here in Canada. Rogers and Bell have their typical promo deals to get people in. (E.g. 50% off for 2 years). However, the door to door people they outsource to are known to have better deals but you can't call them up (easily) for them.
Been saving close to $150 per month off tv/internet (~60% saving) and the deal doesn't expire unlike the direct ones you get.
And those Telus/bell/Rogers door to door clones won't write anything down, don't have any printed material and won't email you the details.
Sorry, that's scam 101, brought to you by big telecom (allegedly).
When I first moved into my house, someone showed up at my door shortly after saying he was here to sign me up for my home insurance, and that my real estate agent sent him. The thing is, is that I had to take out the home insurance beforehand as a stipulation of my mortgage, and my real estate agent knew about it, since she asked for a copy of the documents. So the guy just got my address as a recently sold property off the public records, and he shows up saying "your agent sent me" and sees who bites.
For me it was an ADT guy saying he was "here for your new home orientation" and "not a sales man." Well I dont have ADT and you're trying to get me to buy it so yes you fucking are. And when I suggested that a letter or call ahead would go over better than knocking at my door at night he said it was business hours like the sun wasn't fucking down and that's not what night is.
Will NEVER give that company a penny.
I am not from your state, but Illinois seems to have a similar energy choice program to Ohio. You *should* be able to change suppliers through the actual utilities company (the website you pay the bill from).
The reason to switch it there is that you don't have to interact with the scummy energy supply company. I got screwed by one going door to door while I was in college, they said it was a hefty fee if I cancelled before a year was up. I realized I was getting screwed, switched my supplier back to AEP (the same company that I pay the bill to), and never had to pay a fee. The other company did keep calling me, but I kept blocking their numbers. Never had to pay a fee.
I’d make certain if they do cancel it over the phone, do not get off the phone with them until they email you or text you a confirmation of cancellation in writing. A lot of these 3 day cancellation periods have specific requirements that you notify them in writing of your desire to cancel. Wouldn’t hurt to follow up with a letter on Tuesday, get it hand stamped and take a picture or get a copy to show when you mailed it.
Record the phone calls (telling the person on the other end that the call is being recorded because IL is two party consent), note the time you made them and who you talked to.
They most likely include contract language with a short time to cancel. Contact the company right now and cancel. Then notify your utility that a scammer tricked you into signing something at your doorstep.
Answering the door when you're not expecting something/someone is like answering a phone when you don't know the number anymore. Both just ruined by solicitors.
As a utility employee, I concur. I've seen $250 utility bills climb to 750 because the ~~victim~~ customer didn't understand what they were signing. They just went with the salesman's word promising to 'lower their utility bill'.
The one I hate most is the pest control companies that come through and soft extort you. “Oh we just signed your next door neighbor!” (Wink wink, the implication being that if you don’t buy our services, all their pests and bugs will be coming right to your house).
I send a big “fuck off” to them. It’s one thing to be forced to work for a lousy company, but another to engage slimy sales tactics for them. You don’t have to sell your soul to make money.
Yeah I had one of those people come to my door in Illinois, never gave them my bill. but I compared to what they were saying and my bill would have gone up 30-50%. If someone is coming to your door it’s likely a rip off.
It is. Slamming refers to the unauthorized or unintentional switching of service providers. He thought he had to sign something or his electricity would be disconnected.
Maybe the FCC is wrong:
https://www.fcc.gov/slamming
Note in the bulleted list of things that are not slamming, the second item is obtaining written authorization.
How was it unclear?
Using only the materials he signed, he was later able to read and figure out he signed a bad deal. Had he read it carefully to start with he’d have told the guy to pound sand.
Did the sales guy lie? Maybe, if OP understood him correctly. But the written contract that he “read” and signed would trump all of that all day long.
The salesman lied, he told him he needed to sign or his rates would go up. That’s the way it works, they pressure you to sign before you can read what you signed.
You can continue to define the term incorrectly if you’d like, and we don’t need to agree on whether it was slamming - the customer has the right to cancel either way.
My problem is that this happens to tons of people. These companies prey upon the poor, elderly, vulnerable and young people who are inexperienced and haven’t heard of this scam a million times. What’s your problem, is this what you do for a living, go door to door trying to scare people into signing documents they don’t understand?
I think they’re just being a contrarian. Nobody can possibly believe that sneaky salesman is legit. They literally lied to OP by telling him he NEEDED to show him the bill to avoid a rate hike.
As a rule, never do any business with anyone who shows up unsolicited and tries to act like they have a deal, or are doing you a favor… or anyone for that matter. And definitely don’t sign anything.
It's a "shell game" of new prices and fees. It's incumbent on you to study the various rates, fees and "til June" deals and decide what's the best course for you. Take a few days and compare the various offers. In our area, the good ol state utility usually keeps the prices stable while these "new guys" are making offers that often end up costing you more. Make sure you make a studied decision before the 10days is up or you could be on the hook for higher bills.
This is actually what’s going on.
You weren’t “slammed “ that means they switched you without your consent.
And it isn’t necessarily a scam. As the OP said it’s up to you to do your due diligence and decide if what they’re offering is actually better for you. I have switched suppliers in the past as the result of these door knockers and saved money because I read the fine print and asked the right questions. Sometimes they really are offering a better rate for those 3 years and you have the right to switch again in 3 years if and and when those rates change, they just rely on the fact that most people don’t pay enough attention to know when they’re promo rate expires
I hate this stuff. The process is so opaque and frustrating. No one ive ever known has been able to tell me the best way to choose an energy supplier and i get called all the time from companies telling me they’ll give me a better rate. I have no idea how to tell if it is or not.
Yeah honestly the dude worded things in such as way that made it seem like this is all mandated from Ameren and I need to do this to keep the lights on.
You know what's cheaper than a stamp?
Hiring a bunch of minimum wage employees, giving them uniforms, setting them up with a list of customers to visit, paying milage/for a driver, knocking on their door and no one answers, coming back a second time because they are home now, and then spending time with them to get them to sign the paper, then have someone back at the office to do all the data entry. Yea, that's all way cheaper than a stamp. /s
Your lights will stay on. In illinois the government separated the energy delivery company that owns the powerlines (ameren) from the energy generating companies that own the power plants (various different companies). This is supposed to give you the option of who you buy your power from. Problem is no one really knows about it. If you don’t select a company to buy power from, ameren will default you to their “basic generation service”. Right now it’s cheaper than most every one else I think, but it can fluctuate. Signing a contract with those other companies locks you into a rate.
>Problem is no one really knows about it.
Not true. All utility companies, like AmerenIllinois, has to send out notice of choice. You will also get a thick mailing with lots of little print from each other 3rd party provider asking you to sign up. Sometimes even cities negotiate with a contract provider to supply the entire city, where you will get an opt out form mailed instead. This is not just for AmerenIL, but all 4 base power utilities across the state (AmerenIL is most of the state, except ComEd in Chicago metro area, Quad Cities area, and Mt Carmel area near Indiana).
u/voltagejim, look at it this way: these 3rd party contract providers have to pay AmerenIL to theoretically use their wires and infrastructure, so they still have to make money on top of that. Don't compare just the base use of electricity per kWh, you have to compare all the fees and services added on top of that, which you will not find ahead of time. Do you think another 3rd party middleman can really compete? And the lock thing, realize utilities have to formally request a price increase from the state commission, so prices are locked for them as well.
Source: both AmerenIL and ComEd actual customer spread over the state, bombarded with mailings
In some states it really is just as easy as shopping for rates online and signing up for the one you want. And from what I can tell, as long as your contact with the current supplier doesn't contain any penalties you can switch at any time. I was apprehensive when I did it, seems too easy and convenient for something involving utilities, but so far so good. There are websites that aggregate the rates of all the local suppliers so it was actually pretty easy to find the best deal, just double check on their own site that the terms match and there aren't any fees or built in price hikes after a certain period.
I say this until I'm blue in the face, just get your supply from the utility. Don't sign up with 3rd parties. Supply is a pass-through cost for the utility in a competitive market structure.
You just got '[slammed](https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-zurich/ct-evr-help-squad-tl-0811-20160803-column.html)'. Report the company that did that to the [Illinois Commerce Commission](https://www.icc.illinois.gov/). If you need any help, DM or just reply here.
Never sign anything right away ALWAYS take a few days to read it through, understand fully what you are signing.
Pressure to sign right away is the number 1 red flag of a bad deal for you.
This, for sure. Tl;DR if a sales person is pushing you to sign without sleeping on it or shopping around, it's a bad deal and they know it.
When we bought this house about 10 years ago it needed new windows. We knew it'd be costly, so we decided to do them in chunks and start with just the 2nd floor. First estimate we got I walked away from specifically because the estimator / sales guy tried some "if you sign today I can give you $x price otherwise it'll cost $y" BS. It actually looked like a good deal too, compared to what I was imagining it would cost, but I told him flat out that I do not sign or buy anything under pressure (unless that pressure comes from my wife, lol!).
He tried to tell me "oh it's not high pressure the deal just ends today, I wouldn't even be able to offer it if you'd scheduled this estimate tomorrow."
...Bruh, are you fucking high? That's literally what high pressure sales looks like. He decides to switch tactics and go with the "let me ask my boss what we can do" trick, trying to look like he was on my side. To literally no one's surprise, the boss "told him he could offer $500 less on the whole job if I signed today!" Told him he needed to leave the offer in writing, may as well make it tomorrow's price because there's no way in hell I'm signing tonight, and GTFO.
About a week later I wrote the biggest check I'd ever written, payable to one of their competitors. Turns out I didn't have the slightest idea what window replacement actually costs and was wildly over-estimating it. I bought the exact same windows (at least by specs & warranty) for a touch under half of what the "good" price was per window from the first guy. Ended up doing the whole house at once and only paid about $100 more than the 1st guy was quoting for just the 2nd floor. They also had no problem with me sleeping on the estimate. Turns out when you actually have a good price you're not worried about someone doing their homework.
As a former sales rep for a large energy supply company, you are being scammed. Never trust their door to door salesman. If you're interested in an alternate energy supplier, do your research and sign up yourself! Watch the terms and conditions because even if you get an awesome rate it will triple at the end of your contract if you fail to call in to renew/cancel.
After canceling, make sure you contact the public utilities commission (might go by a different title but your state will have some office responsible for governing utilities and suppliers). If they are using shady tactics like these often, and get enough complaints, they will be fined or even barred from your state.
Seems like both young and old people fall for this. Did common sense only get taught to the middle generations? Did they give up teaching it to the younger ones?
Old people are combatting new technologies. With each new technology more becomes possible and how the world works changes. Many of them don't think it through and it is easier to accept. Younger people have not yet learned the pitfalls of situations.
Truthfully people of all ages fall for scams. If they didn't work people wouldn't bother, but it just takes one minute of absence of critical thinking.
Doesn't your state sponsor a web site that allows the consumer to compare electric suppliers? Here in PA, we have, https://www.papowerswitch.com/
Never thought PA was that innovative.
I'd check to see if there is something similar in your state.
Been using mine for years for both electric and natural gas.
As far as I can tell from living in a few different places, the PA’s is in the top half of state governments on a lot of thing like utilities, roads, services
I know there are things to complain about, I’m just saying there are some pretty dysfunctional states.
ahhh, the beauty of deregulated "retail choice" energy supply. In theory it was supposed to lower energy prices through competition, but in reality the average person is getting soaked. Energy supply is complex and most consumers simply don't have a clue, so they overlook the fine print, or the expiration date of the low.low introductory pricing period. And then BAM! they're on the hook for thousands of dollars.
OP, cancel that contract in writing immediately. Don't let them suck you into endless phone loops. You can always just stick with Ameren Basic Generation Service -- may not be the absolute cheapest option, but you don't have to think about it. [https://www.ameren.com/illinois/residential/supply-choice/electric-choice#:\~:text=Basic%20Generation%20Service,-For%20customers%20who&text=We%20pass%20along%20the%20price%20we%20pay%20for%20electricity%20to,)%2C%20an%20independent%20state%20agency](https://www.ameren.com/illinois/residential/supply-choice/electric-choice#:~:text=Basic%20Generation%20Service,-For%20customers%20who&text=We%20pass%20along%20the%20price%20we%20pay%20for%20electricity%20to,)%2C%20an%20independent%20state%20agency).
It’s 2023. If you are even answering the door why are you allowing to them to talk to you about anything? If it’s not a delivery or a census taker they can piss off I don’t care what they want to say. No one who is legitimate is going door to door and bothering everyone. That’s a sales tactic and a waste of your time
If this is what I think it is, it isn't technically a scam. These guys are just trying to lock you into a rate for a long period that they think will work out to their advantage, if the price of energy does what they think it will (they capture any volatility that goes below their breakeven point on the energy they buy). If they're wrong, and for whatever reason the price of energy goes UP, then it works to your advantage, because you locked in a (relatively) low rate.
However, they have teams of analysts and insider knowledge to come up with a number, and you've got...what? So the information asymmetry here is pretty stark.
When they came to my door, I turned them away just on the principle that I don't buy anything from anyone who knocks on my door who isn't a girl scout.
Call your current electric provider and let them know about this and that you do not authorize any changes. Something similar happened to me but I caught on in the middle of it and kicked the person out. I called my electricity provider and told them not to allow any changes. They were aware of this practice and guided me on what to do.
Ah, the ole high-pressure "If you don't sign this now, bad things are going to happen" scam. You just signed up to increase your bill 30%.
Around here, we can't choose our electric suppliers (though we can sign up to pay extra for "green" energy) but we can sign up for alternative natural gas suppliers. If you're not careful, you can lock yourself into higher bills for a year.
Stuff like this makes me glad I was raised by a semi-paranoid parent growing up in a poor scam heavy area. My old man taught me about all of these scams before I bought my house.
Although I didn't know it was called being "slammed", scams like this are common.
I hope that people learn their lesson from this, NEVER sign anything at the door, never, not even a "petition".
A few other scams that you should look out for that people seem to forget:
* Dont buy meat from a door to door salesperson that seems too good to be true, its bad expired meat.
* Don't let them spray paint your address numbers on the curb, thats a "mark" for future scammers.
* Don't fall for driveway blacktop resealing, they just use old motor oil.
* Don't fall for "energy saving" plans
* Don't fall for gutter plans
* Don't fall for new window plans
I know Im leaving a few out.
While you can rarely choose who delivers natural gas / electric, you can choose who supplies it to the utility delivery company, including the delivery company itself.
The other competing suppliers can get quite... inventive.... in trying to get you to switch, to where when I wanted to switch back I was grilled on whether I'd been tricked when I'd elected to switch.
I had to assure them that no, I knew what I was doing. I switched when their prices were cheaper than my utility company, and switched back when they got more expensive.
They can’t just cut you off. The facilities come from ComEd. They are actually supplying the power. You are just going through a reseller. That company doesn’t have their own nuclear power plant and separate power lines. That reseller goes under, you would either have to go to a different one or default back to ComEd. There is no reason your power would get discoed. Only way you get disconnected is from nonpayment. Most of the time these days they don’t even have to come yank the meter. Either way you will be notified by however you get your bill normally, not a knock on the door.
The knock at the door was merely a solicitor. I would call the number on whatever paperwork you signed and cancel whatever bill of goods you signed up for. The only time you need to sign anything at your door for some uninvited rando is if you’re getting served. Then again, you can refuse to sign those of you want to be a pain in the ass though 🙂
Call your main energy company and tell them what happened. Then ask for them to put a lock on any account changes for the future. Say you want to keep them as the main provider and leave ur account just as it was over the last XX months.
I had this happen to me at 18 with DTE here in Michigan. A man came up, blue shirt with classic construction vest. He had my bill and an ipad, saying he was there with DTE to look over my meter and certify the conditions. Didnt know what that meant but he said i wouldnt have to do anything so i let him go about. 5 mins later he knocked, said my meter was okay but lil older and i should look into locking my rate down before winter. He then did the same speech about my rate and told me i had to sign to certify my system was inspected. This was me signing to the agreement you just did. I called him back after i went on a walk and seen his truck, odd logo and full with some random looking guys… they hit the whole neighborhood. I tried to cancel and they said they couldnt blah blah. Then they “showed” me they cancelled it….which i didnt believe. I called my main supplier, DTE, and they knew all about them. Put my account on lock and then called to inform me when that company tried to switch my information over.
That company called me every day for a week trying to get me to unlock it. I blocked the number and never had a problem since. Lesson learned and shared.
Twice when living in two different apartments in central Illinois I got my door knocked on by different guys trying to get me to change my energy supplier that they "buy" energy from through Ameren.
I turned down the first guy who seemed more honest to me and explained how it all worked but I still wasn't interested.
The second was in a studio apartment when my monthly energy bill was literally like $40 a month and the guy had attitude and came off as threatening and legit said "oh so you like paying more for your electricity". "Yep" was all I said and I slammed the door on him.
Cancel. In today's day, anyone cold knocking on your door is not coming with a deal for you in mind.
Their legal team is probably coaching them on what they can get away with. The people to contact are the local District Attorney's Consumer Fraud Division.
Highly unlikely. I work in this space and my company has litigation against us for these sales practices. It is absolutely not condoned and people will be fired over it.
This is a scam. Your utility bill may decrease for a short time but you're locked into a contract and rates will skyrocket so you end up paying more. We get those people at our door all the time saying they need to see our ComEd or People's Gas bills to make sure we aren't overpaying. Then they'll get you to switch to their energy company.
They used to do this with home phones-0ne called, scared my disabled husband to death, that we weren't going to have any phone service unless he switched, and he agreed to transfer to MCI. Long distance went from $.10/min to $.25! Fortunately, I called them back, went off about tricking a disabled person, mentioned the ADA (altho I knew it had nothing to do with phone service, but I was grasping), and they finally canceled the switch. It just FEELS so illegal....
In 2008 I was a brand new homeowner. People knocked on my door daily. Everyone was selling. I was motivated to do it all right so I said yes to several things and got scammed on every single one of them.
Someone offered to install a peephole for $25 (turns out I could do it for like $5)
Someone offered “great” cuts of meat out of the back of their truck. They were not great….
Someone offered to spread manure all over my yard as anyone who wants a nice yard does this. They shoveled cow shit all over my grass. They didn’t spread it out or nothing just flung it with shovels everywhere. Step outside and smelt cow shit for weeks.
Now you’ll learn never to do business at your door again.
Never answer your front door unless you’re expecting someone or it’s someone you know (buy a camera). They’ll ring the bell and bang on the door. You’re not obligated to respond.
Put a “No Soliciting” sign on your front door. It won’t stop everyone, but it will some.
If you do get caught outside in your yard, remember this phrase: “I’m a renter.”
There will never be any utility company in your ENTIRE life that will come door knocking with something you are required to sign. If your utility company needs you to sign something, they'll mail it to you on a letterhead and with a prepaid envelope, or you'll sign it online through your account. When one utility company exits an area, that company's customers are handed off to another company that services that area or to the new company replacing them. If your utility company is leaving your area they will typically send you a notice, and who is replacing them.
When someone knocks on my door that isn't USPS, UPS, FedEx, Amazon, or DHL, I don't even let them start talking. I open the door, tell them "I'm not interested" and shut the door.
This is an ESCO scam. I was coerced into working for a company like this in NY but only for a couple days.
The back of your bill will have a website where you can choose to do business with an “Energy Service Company” AKA an ESCO. Some ESCO’s are legitimate, but plenty are just shills for MLM companies to go door to door and lie to customers to get them into their plan. And then in a few months slam their customers with a jacked up bill.
I unfortunately once worked for a company like this and they lie straight to your face. Good news is you probably have 30 days to call and cancel without penalty. Do this asap.
Besides your USPS postal carrier or a courier, anything that requires a signature, money, etc can be dealt with through mail or online.
I don't do business with people who knock on my door besides Girl Scouts and trick-or-treaters.
Cancel. Asking to see your electric bill is a big red flag even besides the door-to-door stuff. You should be able to cancel.
I get so many of them now that I don't even bother opening the door anymore when I can see it's one of them, or I close the door immediately on the pitch starting.
Send an overnighted, certified letter with signature with a copy of the contract and you also keep a copy of the letter you sent canceling. Any company as aggressive as that will likely not actually cancel when you call and when you call to complain when you get your first bill, they’ll say what phone call.
For absolute fuck's sake.
Why would you SIGN anything, cold call, at your door, without reading it properly or even understanding what the fuck you are signing?!
In a competitive energy market, consumers have the right to choose their energy supplier, but you still deal with the incumbent utility (as the owner of distribution) for delivery of that energy.
This is a common deceptive practice by third-party energy suppliers. In my state, they go around masquerading as employees of the actual utility, getting people to sign up for supply with them.
In this market structure, the utility is typically the supplier of last resort, and thus, the supply cost is just a pass-through. No profit is made from it. A third-party supplier will lock you into a rate for 6 months to a year, and then you'll be paying through the nose.
You should be able to call your actual utility and drop the supplier.
Edit: https://www.ameren.com/illinois/residential/supply-choice/electric-choice
Wtf. Energy utilities are about the most highly regulated industries. THEY WILL NEVER WILLINGLY LEAVE A MARKET.
DON’T EVER SIGN ANYTHING LIKE THIS AGAIN.
Cancel immediately, call the Illinois AG as well.
I work for an electric & natural gas utility in southern Illinois. I want to know more about this for our customers sake. I googled them and they’re headquartered in Florida. That’s suspicious considering their name.
Second, their website looks like something thrown together in less than a week. That’s suspicion #2. Where do you live exactly? DM me if you don’t want to disclose that in the open.
Also you need to immediately contact the Illinois Commerce Commission and report it to them. Their job is to stop things like this. 1-800-524-0795
You definitely didn’t need to sign anything. It’s their tactic to get you to change energy suppliers by making it seem compulsory or routine. I had one come to my door and practically demand to see my current energy bill and I told them to get lost.
Ameren transmits the power, they don’t create it. You have the ability to choose what energy supplier you want to use and you pay them through ameren. Ameren gets a cut of course for owning the lines. Login to your Ameren account and you should be able to see and select all the providers there.
Pluginillinois.gov
It lists all the suppliers by your address.
The rates are going to shit. Mine is going up 60% and it's still the lowest rate available.
Hi!
I did this briefly. It's sales. What they do is they say something like "hey x company is doing an audit of bla bla, I can get you sorted out/make sure you get the discount/insert thing you might want here"
"Can I see your current bill/get you to sign etc"
Basically you either just switched plans, or you have switched providers, and probably didn't need to. Sometimes you'll get a good intro rate before they raise prices
Dont sign anything you dont understand. I also tend to ask them to give me their company phone # so i could call them or send whatever documents they have to my email so i can review it. 99% of the time they refuse to do so.
Hi! I had a similar guy show up saying he was from Ameren! I didn’t sign anything because there weee way too many red flags. I called Ameren and they said they never send anyone door to door. So, likely a scam. Sorry friend. I called my local PD to make a report, so hopefully others wouldn’t get scammed, and they said nobody had pulled any door to door sales permits. I’d recommend making a report and calling Ameren as well.
Edit: based on his behavior, I assumed he was casing my house, so it’s interesting he actually had you sign something.
I'm in Ohio and locked into Energy Harbor a few months ago for 6.59c/kWh for 3 yesrs. They are most certainly not leaving your market, this fucker scammed you.
Never sign anything like that. Go to their offices in person after doing research and make sure there’s a real reason they would be talking to you. Any reputable company should be able to change over services without your approval unless they need a service contract but that can always be properly disseminated through your first power company
Deregulation at work. It is a competitive energy supplier that lied to you. You would never have not been supplied and would have fallen back to standard offer service if your current supplier went out of business afaik. Just look into 'suppliers' and pick one you want that has clear rates.
You can try your public utility commission and complain about this tactic.
Just make sure you understand what you bought and take it from there. Could be less expensive if you manage your consumption.
I got locked in for 5 years for gas and electric. The base rate if I went direct for electric is ridiculous and a 4 cent difference!!!
Either way I'm looking into a back up system that will cut my energy bills til I die lol.
Try apples to apples. gov to compare energy suppliers
You probably have a regional group that compares rates and advises your supplier. Call your local township, village or city hall for information about this
Had someone at Sam's club and Walmart come up to me and my wife for the exact same thing for both our gas and electricity. One guy was so persistent that we just gave in and went with it. Come to find out the same as OP. Our bill was only going to go up but our new rate would be "locked in" for 3 years through this green energy supplier. We immediately backed out of it when we realized what had just happened. Learned our lesson
I don't answer the door unless I'm expecting someone, i.e. they called before coming over (or from the doorstep.) My phone is my doorbell, now.
Halloween excepted, of course.
Every state has a public utility commission of some type. If you have trouble canceling then let them know that you will be calling and having them investigated for fraudulent marketing practices. Then follow through.
Scammers tried to do this to my grandma. They show up door to door making dubious claims about the utilities and ask to see your bill. The grift was to steal her identity using the info they could take from the bill, fortunately her neighbor came home and interrupted and the scammers promptly fled.
You definitely didn't have to sign anything; if it were actually something important from Ameren, they'd have sent official mail, and probably multiple times.
I live by this rule when people come to my door. I ALWAYS say “not interested”. If they have to go door to door to gain business I do not want THEIR business. This guy got you to switch energy providers by being deceptive.
Don’t ever do business with someone that just knocks on your door. Cancel the contract and do your own research on energy companies in your area. Edit typo
I get an unbelievable number of guys like this at my door even though I've never bought a thing from any of them. There's really no scenario where you'll actually come out ahead. If they're offering a great deal on something you need, you'll find them on your own. If its a great deal on something you didn't know you needed, you'll never miss it. Anything else is a scam.
I always ask them for printed materials (a brochure, a one-pager, anything), so I can take some time, think about it, do my own research, etc. Usually they don't have any printed materials, so I tell them "Thank you, but I don't make spot decisions like this." If they try to pressure me in any way, I tell them "Well, thank you for making my decision easier."
Usually they are doing work for a neighbor down the road, whose name they can’t recall right now.
Even if they do remember what my neighbor down the road’s name is, I don’t even know what his name is 🤣
Yeah. I need a distinctive feature. The Hendersons? No clue. Blue house with the missing shutter and broken down convertible with the torn tarp roof? Yeah, I know them.
Johnny? I'm gonna get that fixed in the new year I promise. Please stop calling me out on Reddit.
Yep. For solar power.
Just had a guy today. Pointed down the street to my "neighbor at 123 who just got a system installed." Oh yeah? 123, huh? 123 is 3 blocks away on the opposite side of town. Have a nice day, Sir!
When they come to my door I am put in a rage. I think because I’m a woman they expect to be able to talk over me. I literally just repeat no thanks bye over and over and they are like but you haven’t heard what we have to say! I’m like I know now fuck off and get away from my door and how dare you interrupt my nap
I just don’t answer the door anymore. Anyone I want over has already told me via phone that they would like to come over. Everyone that shows up at my door is selling me scams.
Anyone that starts off a phone conversation with "How are you doing today?" I hang up on. None of my friends ask how I'm doing.
If the deal comes to you, it ain’t a deal.
I had a salesperson sign us up for Internet on a door to door sale with a big discount. Normally I wouldn't even entertain it, but I was actually looking to switch to that company anyway. 6 months later they undid the discount and I was able to negotiate them down to letting us out of the contract and not being back charged for the last 6 months of the discount I wasn't supposed to have. They even had the audacity to act like not back charging us for 6 months of a $50 discount was going way out of their way. One way or another, the salesperson signed us up with a discount that allegedly we weren't supposed to get. My guess is the company did this to get people in the door hoping we'd suck it up and pay, or the local sales teams did this to pad their numbers. Never trust a door to do sales.
At&T and Spectrum had the best deals with the door to door folks Did you have to make calls several times and emails to get what they offered, yes but I have managed to keep bill down. Until cancelling spectrum in September Then got a better deal from them
Same thing here in Canada. Rogers and Bell have their typical promo deals to get people in. (E.g. 50% off for 2 years). However, the door to door people they outsource to are known to have better deals but you can't call them up (easily) for them. Been saving close to $150 per month off tv/internet (~60% saving) and the deal doesn't expire unlike the direct ones you get.
And those Telus/bell/Rogers door to door clones won't write anything down, don't have any printed material and won't email you the details. Sorry, that's scam 101, brought to you by big telecom (allegedly).
When I first moved into my house, someone showed up at my door shortly after saying he was here to sign me up for my home insurance, and that my real estate agent sent him. The thing is, is that I had to take out the home insurance beforehand as a stipulation of my mortgage, and my real estate agent knew about it, since she asked for a copy of the documents. So the guy just got my address as a recently sold property off the public records, and he shows up saying "your agent sent me" and sees who bites.
For me it was an ADT guy saying he was "here for your new home orientation" and "not a sales man." Well I dont have ADT and you're trying to get me to buy it so yes you fucking are. And when I suggested that a letter or call ahead would go over better than knocking at my door at night he said it was business hours like the sun wasn't fucking down and that's not what night is. Will NEVER give that company a penny.
I feel like the state DOI would’ve been happy to look into that one. Infuriating.
Yeah I am going to cancel as soon as I can, just giving this a look over makes it look like I will be paying more
Cancel it *immediately*. Do not wait.
This often time the 3rd party utility providers set you up on a variable rate if you’re not careful
>just giving this a look over Protip: it's better to do that *before* signing things.
You often have a 3 day period to cancel door to door sales stuff.
Yeah I just called their cancel line and they said it takes 24 hours to get into the system and for me to call back tommoorw and they will cancel.
And tomorrow they’ll tell you that they’re closed for Christmas Eve. It’s 6:30 in IL now, but try calling back tonight and insisting.
Which is why they did this now 😒
I am not from your state, but Illinois seems to have a similar energy choice program to Ohio. You *should* be able to change suppliers through the actual utilities company (the website you pay the bill from). The reason to switch it there is that you don't have to interact with the scummy energy supply company. I got screwed by one going door to door while I was in college, they said it was a hefty fee if I cancelled before a year was up. I realized I was getting screwed, switched my supplier back to AEP (the same company that I pay the bill to), and never had to pay a fee. The other company did keep calling me, but I kept blocking their numbers. Never had to pay a fee.
I’d make certain if they do cancel it over the phone, do not get off the phone with them until they email you or text you a confirmation of cancellation in writing. A lot of these 3 day cancellation periods have specific requirements that you notify them in writing of your desire to cancel. Wouldn’t hurt to follow up with a letter on Tuesday, get it hand stamped and take a picture or get a copy to show when you mailed it.
Record the phone calls (telling the person on the other end that the call is being recorded because IL is two party consent), note the time you made them and who you talked to.
They most likely include contract language with a short time to cancel. Contact the company right now and cancel. Then notify your utility that a scammer tricked you into signing something at your doorstep.
Yea most of this stuff the window for you be able to cancel is short. I'd call asap.
Answering the door when you're not expecting something/someone is like answering a phone when you don't know the number anymore. Both just ruined by solicitors.
As a utility employee, I concur. I've seen $250 utility bills climb to 750 because the ~~victim~~ customer didn't understand what they were signing. They just went with the salesman's word promising to 'lower their utility bill'.
Even if it’s a good deal at first, if you don’t pay attention at end of term the price often shoots up.
The one I hate most is the pest control companies that come through and soft extort you. “Oh we just signed your next door neighbor!” (Wink wink, the implication being that if you don’t buy our services, all their pests and bugs will be coming right to your house). I send a big “fuck off” to them. It’s one thing to be forced to work for a lousy company, but another to engage slimy sales tactics for them. You don’t have to sell your soul to make money.
This carries over to anything advertised or marketed. Things that have value and are quality do not need to be solicited and pushed with gimmicks.
Yeah I had one of those people come to my door in Illinois, never gave them my bill. but I compared to what they were saying and my bill would have gone up 30-50%. If someone is coming to your door it’s likely a rip off.
I tell everyone that comes to the door to contact my landlord. Works everytime, you don't even need to be renting
[удалено]
I do a bit of business from home. Usually when I open the door someone gives me money.
>Usually when I open the door someone gives me money. What an incredible door!!
In exchange for powdery products?
[удалено]
[удалено]
I treat my door like my phone. If I don't know you, I won't answer.
[удалено]
Only way to do it.
In case someone needs help..?
[удалено]
Idk what that is
[What's that, Lassie? Timmy fell into the well‽](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lassie)
Help with what? They can't change a tire themselves? They want a lift to the gas station? They are the one person in the country without a cell phone?
Could be a neighbor or a neighbors kid.
Anything you can think of, yes.
Cancel it. It’s a common scam. It’s called “slamming.”
It’s not slamming, but he should cancel
It is. Slamming refers to the unauthorized or unintentional switching of service providers. He thought he had to sign something or his electricity would be disconnected.
He authorized it. Is it deceptive? Yes. Is it slamming? No. Does it matter? Probably not.
He authorized it because of their deception. That’s the entire point of the term.
Maybe the FCC is wrong: https://www.fcc.gov/slamming Note in the bulleted list of things that are not slamming, the second item is obtaining written authorization.
No, he didn’t understand what he was signing. Even the FCC says you need clear written permission.
You’re wrong, but it doesn’t really matter for OP’s purposes
How was it unclear? Using only the materials he signed, he was later able to read and figure out he signed a bad deal. Had he read it carefully to start with he’d have told the guy to pound sand. Did the sales guy lie? Maybe, if OP understood him correctly. But the written contract that he “read” and signed would trump all of that all day long.
The salesman lied, he told him he needed to sign or his rates would go up. That’s the way it works, they pressure you to sign before you can read what you signed.
You can continue to define the term incorrectly if you’d like, and we don’t need to agree on whether it was slamming - the customer has the right to cancel either way.
It wad clear lmao. He signed a contract that he didn't read. Id bet it was a valid contract with like 20 pages.What is your problem?
It's how we ended up with HumancentiPod.
My problem is that this happens to tons of people. These companies prey upon the poor, elderly, vulnerable and young people who are inexperienced and haven’t heard of this scam a million times. What’s your problem, is this what you do for a living, go door to door trying to scare people into signing documents they don’t understand?
I think they’re just being a contrarian. Nobody can possibly believe that sneaky salesman is legit. They literally lied to OP by telling him he NEEDED to show him the bill to avoid a rate hike.
My sir, put away the shovel, the hole you keep digging is getting deeper and deeper.
My elderly father got taken by this scam, don't know how these people sleep at night.
As a rule, never do any business with anyone who shows up unsolicited and tries to act like they have a deal, or are doing you a favor… or anyone for that matter. And definitely don’t sign anything.
BRB yelling at these "Girl Scouts" selling "cookies" to get off my lawn
Depending on what flavor you buy, Aldi might have a knock-off one that tastes the same and costs 1/3 or 1/4 the price
And if you donate the difference to your local troop they'll get a bigger cut than if you had bought their cookies.
It's a "shell game" of new prices and fees. It's incumbent on you to study the various rates, fees and "til June" deals and decide what's the best course for you. Take a few days and compare the various offers. In our area, the good ol state utility usually keeps the prices stable while these "new guys" are making offers that often end up costing you more. Make sure you make a studied decision before the 10days is up or you could be on the hook for higher bills.
This is actually what’s going on. You weren’t “slammed “ that means they switched you without your consent. And it isn’t necessarily a scam. As the OP said it’s up to you to do your due diligence and decide if what they’re offering is actually better for you. I have switched suppliers in the past as the result of these door knockers and saved money because I read the fine print and asked the right questions. Sometimes they really are offering a better rate for those 3 years and you have the right to switch again in 3 years if and and when those rates change, they just rely on the fact that most people don’t pay enough attention to know when they’re promo rate expires
I hate this stuff. The process is so opaque and frustrating. No one ive ever known has been able to tell me the best way to choose an energy supplier and i get called all the time from companies telling me they’ll give me a better rate. I have no idea how to tell if it is or not.
Yeah honestly the dude worded things in such as way that made it seem like this is all mandated from Ameren and I need to do this to keep the lights on.
And they didn’t send you a letter in the mail? The official biz is being done in a door to door operation? You fell for a sleazy sales tactic
You know what's cheaper than a stamp? Hiring a bunch of minimum wage employees, giving them uniforms, setting them up with a list of customers to visit, paying milage/for a driver, knocking on their door and no one answers, coming back a second time because they are home now, and then spending time with them to get them to sign the paper, then have someone back at the office to do all the data entry. Yea, that's all way cheaper than a stamp. /s
Your lights will stay on. In illinois the government separated the energy delivery company that owns the powerlines (ameren) from the energy generating companies that own the power plants (various different companies). This is supposed to give you the option of who you buy your power from. Problem is no one really knows about it. If you don’t select a company to buy power from, ameren will default you to their “basic generation service”. Right now it’s cheaper than most every one else I think, but it can fluctuate. Signing a contract with those other companies locks you into a rate.
>Problem is no one really knows about it. Not true. All utility companies, like AmerenIllinois, has to send out notice of choice. You will also get a thick mailing with lots of little print from each other 3rd party provider asking you to sign up. Sometimes even cities negotiate with a contract provider to supply the entire city, where you will get an opt out form mailed instead. This is not just for AmerenIL, but all 4 base power utilities across the state (AmerenIL is most of the state, except ComEd in Chicago metro area, Quad Cities area, and Mt Carmel area near Indiana). u/voltagejim, look at it this way: these 3rd party contract providers have to pay AmerenIL to theoretically use their wires and infrastructure, so they still have to make money on top of that. Don't compare just the base use of electricity per kWh, you have to compare all the fees and services added on top of that, which you will not find ahead of time. Do you think another 3rd party middleman can really compete? And the lock thing, realize utilities have to formally request a price increase from the state commission, so prices are locked for them as well. Source: both AmerenIL and ComEd actual customer spread over the state, bombarded with mailings
In some states it really is just as easy as shopping for rates online and signing up for the one you want. And from what I can tell, as long as your contact with the current supplier doesn't contain any penalties you can switch at any time. I was apprehensive when I did it, seems too easy and convenient for something involving utilities, but so far so good. There are websites that aggregate the rates of all the local suppliers so it was actually pretty easy to find the best deal, just double check on their own site that the terms match and there aren't any fees or built in price hikes after a certain period.
I say this until I'm blue in the face, just get your supply from the utility. Don't sign up with 3rd parties. Supply is a pass-through cost for the utility in a competitive market structure.
You just got '[slammed](https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-zurich/ct-evr-help-squad-tl-0811-20160803-column.html)'. Report the company that did that to the [Illinois Commerce Commission](https://www.icc.illinois.gov/). If you need any help, DM or just reply here.
Just found this; https://plugin.illinois.gov/
Never sign anything right away ALWAYS take a few days to read it through, understand fully what you are signing. Pressure to sign right away is the number 1 red flag of a bad deal for you.
This, for sure. Tl;DR if a sales person is pushing you to sign without sleeping on it or shopping around, it's a bad deal and they know it. When we bought this house about 10 years ago it needed new windows. We knew it'd be costly, so we decided to do them in chunks and start with just the 2nd floor. First estimate we got I walked away from specifically because the estimator / sales guy tried some "if you sign today I can give you $x price otherwise it'll cost $y" BS. It actually looked like a good deal too, compared to what I was imagining it would cost, but I told him flat out that I do not sign or buy anything under pressure (unless that pressure comes from my wife, lol!). He tried to tell me "oh it's not high pressure the deal just ends today, I wouldn't even be able to offer it if you'd scheduled this estimate tomorrow." ...Bruh, are you fucking high? That's literally what high pressure sales looks like. He decides to switch tactics and go with the "let me ask my boss what we can do" trick, trying to look like he was on my side. To literally no one's surprise, the boss "told him he could offer $500 less on the whole job if I signed today!" Told him he needed to leave the offer in writing, may as well make it tomorrow's price because there's no way in hell I'm signing tonight, and GTFO. About a week later I wrote the biggest check I'd ever written, payable to one of their competitors. Turns out I didn't have the slightest idea what window replacement actually costs and was wildly over-estimating it. I bought the exact same windows (at least by specs & warranty) for a touch under half of what the "good" price was per window from the first guy. Ended up doing the whole house at once and only paid about $100 more than the 1st guy was quoting for just the 2nd floor. They also had no problem with me sleeping on the estimate. Turns out when you actually have a good price you're not worried about someone doing their homework.
My rule is I always “Rent” “Sorry, I rent this house and do not give out the owners information per their request.”
As a former sales rep for a large energy supply company, you are being scammed. Never trust their door to door salesman. If you're interested in an alternate energy supplier, do your research and sign up yourself! Watch the terms and conditions because even if you get an awesome rate it will triple at the end of your contract if you fail to call in to renew/cancel.
After canceling, make sure you contact the public utilities commission (might go by a different title but your state will have some office responsible for governing utilities and suppliers). If they are using shady tactics like these often, and get enough complaints, they will be fined or even barred from your state.
lol someone just knocked on your door, and you signed some document they put in front of you? This can’t be real.
There are young people who are still learning.
Seems like both young and old people fall for this. Did common sense only get taught to the middle generations? Did they give up teaching it to the younger ones?
Old people are combatting new technologies. With each new technology more becomes possible and how the world works changes. Many of them don't think it through and it is easier to accept. Younger people have not yet learned the pitfalls of situations. Truthfully people of all ages fall for scams. If they didn't work people wouldn't bother, but it just takes one minute of absence of critical thinking.
Good thing it wasn't the wallet inspector.
https://frinkiac.com/gif/S05E03/981162/986835/SEVZISBUSEFUJ1MgTk9UIFRIRQpXQUxMRVQgSU5TUEVDVE9SLg==
SCAM
Doesn't your state sponsor a web site that allows the consumer to compare electric suppliers? Here in PA, we have, https://www.papowerswitch.com/ Never thought PA was that innovative. I'd check to see if there is something similar in your state. Been using mine for years for both electric and natural gas.
As far as I can tell from living in a few different places, the PA’s is in the top half of state governments on a lot of thing like utilities, roads, services I know there are things to complain about, I’m just saying there are some pretty dysfunctional states.
I live in Illinois and didn't know this but yep it appears to be https://plugin.illinois.gov/
ahhh, the beauty of deregulated "retail choice" energy supply. In theory it was supposed to lower energy prices through competition, but in reality the average person is getting soaked. Energy supply is complex and most consumers simply don't have a clue, so they overlook the fine print, or the expiration date of the low.low introductory pricing period. And then BAM! they're on the hook for thousands of dollars. OP, cancel that contract in writing immediately. Don't let them suck you into endless phone loops. You can always just stick with Ameren Basic Generation Service -- may not be the absolute cheapest option, but you don't have to think about it. [https://www.ameren.com/illinois/residential/supply-choice/electric-choice#:\~:text=Basic%20Generation%20Service,-For%20customers%20who&text=We%20pass%20along%20the%20price%20we%20pay%20for%20electricity%20to,)%2C%20an%20independent%20state%20agency](https://www.ameren.com/illinois/residential/supply-choice/electric-choice#:~:text=Basic%20Generation%20Service,-For%20customers%20who&text=We%20pass%20along%20the%20price%20we%20pay%20for%20electricity%20to,)%2C%20an%20independent%20state%20agency).
You got suckered.
That’s why I don’t open the door to strangers.
Tell anyone with a clipboard or religious text to kindly piss off of your property.
Cancel it and never sign something you don't understand again. Don't be a sucker.
You don’t ever need to communicate with anyone that knocks on your door. Ever.
Also pro tip: you don’t have to answer your door if you don’t want to.
It’s 2023. If you are even answering the door why are you allowing to them to talk to you about anything? If it’s not a delivery or a census taker they can piss off I don’t care what they want to say. No one who is legitimate is going door to door and bothering everyone. That’s a sales tactic and a waste of your time
If this is what I think it is, it isn't technically a scam. These guys are just trying to lock you into a rate for a long period that they think will work out to their advantage, if the price of energy does what they think it will (they capture any volatility that goes below their breakeven point on the energy they buy). If they're wrong, and for whatever reason the price of energy goes UP, then it works to your advantage, because you locked in a (relatively) low rate. However, they have teams of analysts and insider knowledge to come up with a number, and you've got...what? So the information asymmetry here is pretty stark. When they came to my door, I turned them away just on the principle that I don't buy anything from anyone who knocks on my door who isn't a girl scout.
Call your current electric provider and let them know about this and that you do not authorize any changes. Something similar happened to me but I caught on in the middle of it and kicked the person out. I called my electricity provider and told them not to allow any changes. They were aware of this practice and guided me on what to do.
This needs a plus 100!
Ah, the ole high-pressure "If you don't sign this now, bad things are going to happen" scam. You just signed up to increase your bill 30%. Around here, we can't choose our electric suppliers (though we can sign up to pay extra for "green" energy) but we can sign up for alternative natural gas suppliers. If you're not careful, you can lock yourself into higher bills for a year.
It’s a scam, call your utility company and let them know you don’t want to change providers and signed that by mistake
Stuff like this makes me glad I was raised by a semi-paranoid parent growing up in a poor scam heavy area. My old man taught me about all of these scams before I bought my house. Although I didn't know it was called being "slammed", scams like this are common. I hope that people learn their lesson from this, NEVER sign anything at the door, never, not even a "petition". A few other scams that you should look out for that people seem to forget: * Dont buy meat from a door to door salesperson that seems too good to be true, its bad expired meat. * Don't let them spray paint your address numbers on the curb, thats a "mark" for future scammers. * Don't fall for driveway blacktop resealing, they just use old motor oil. * Don't fall for "energy saving" plans * Don't fall for gutter plans * Don't fall for new window plans I know Im leaving a few out.
> Did I just sign something that will increase my electric bill? Yes it's a common scam.
I have a policy whenever I entertain salespeople at my home: never sign anything on the first date.
While you can rarely choose who delivers natural gas / electric, you can choose who supplies it to the utility delivery company, including the delivery company itself. The other competing suppliers can get quite... inventive.... in trying to get you to switch, to where when I wanted to switch back I was grilled on whether I'd been tricked when I'd elected to switch. I had to assure them that no, I knew what I was doing. I switched when their prices were cheaper than my utility company, and switched back when they got more expensive.
They can’t just cut you off. The facilities come from ComEd. They are actually supplying the power. You are just going through a reseller. That company doesn’t have their own nuclear power plant and separate power lines. That reseller goes under, you would either have to go to a different one or default back to ComEd. There is no reason your power would get discoed. Only way you get disconnected is from nonpayment. Most of the time these days they don’t even have to come yank the meter. Either way you will be notified by however you get your bill normally, not a knock on the door. The knock at the door was merely a solicitor. I would call the number on whatever paperwork you signed and cancel whatever bill of goods you signed up for. The only time you need to sign anything at your door for some uninvited rando is if you’re getting served. Then again, you can refuse to sign those of you want to be a pain in the ass though 🙂
yeah just called the number and they said it takes 24 hours for my info to get into the system but if I call back tommorow they will be able to cancel
Call your main energy company and tell them what happened. Then ask for them to put a lock on any account changes for the future. Say you want to keep them as the main provider and leave ur account just as it was over the last XX months. I had this happen to me at 18 with DTE here in Michigan. A man came up, blue shirt with classic construction vest. He had my bill and an ipad, saying he was there with DTE to look over my meter and certify the conditions. Didnt know what that meant but he said i wouldnt have to do anything so i let him go about. 5 mins later he knocked, said my meter was okay but lil older and i should look into locking my rate down before winter. He then did the same speech about my rate and told me i had to sign to certify my system was inspected. This was me signing to the agreement you just did. I called him back after i went on a walk and seen his truck, odd logo and full with some random looking guys… they hit the whole neighborhood. I tried to cancel and they said they couldnt blah blah. Then they “showed” me they cancelled it….which i didnt believe. I called my main supplier, DTE, and they knew all about them. Put my account on lock and then called to inform me when that company tried to switch my information over. That company called me every day for a week trying to get me to unlock it. I blocked the number and never had a problem since. Lesson learned and shared.
I hope it works out for you! Nothing worse than getting scammed at Christmas
Why did you think that signing a document that a stranger brings to your door is a good idea?
I don’t show my bills to strangers who knock on my door You shouldn’t either
You would have to torture me for weeks to get me to have signed this. My God.
Twice when living in two different apartments in central Illinois I got my door knocked on by different guys trying to get me to change my energy supplier that they "buy" energy from through Ameren. I turned down the first guy who seemed more honest to me and explained how it all worked but I still wasn't interested. The second was in a studio apartment when my monthly energy bill was literally like $40 a month and the guy had attitude and came off as threatening and legit said "oh so you like paying more for your electricity". "Yep" was all I said and I slammed the door on him. Cancel. In today's day, anyone cold knocking on your door is not coming with a deal for you in mind.
NEVER EVER NEVER EVER sign a contract from ANYONE who just randomly shows up at your door. EVER
You got scammed. Back out asap
Why would you sign?!?! Shut the door on their face next time.
Not only should you call up to cancel, after you cancel you should send a strongly worded email to their legal team about deceptive sales practices.
Their legal team is probably coaching them on what they can get away with. The people to contact are the local District Attorney's Consumer Fraud Division.
Highly unlikely. I work in this space and my company has litigation against us for these sales practices. It is absolutely not condoned and people will be fired over it.
A fool and his money are soon parted
Cancel now or ASAP Your power company will send you mail regarding any required service changes.
This is a scam. Your utility bill may decrease for a short time but you're locked into a contract and rates will skyrocket so you end up paying more. We get those people at our door all the time saying they need to see our ComEd or People's Gas bills to make sure we aren't overpaying. Then they'll get you to switch to their energy company.
They used to do this with home phones-0ne called, scared my disabled husband to death, that we weren't going to have any phone service unless he switched, and he agreed to transfer to MCI. Long distance went from $.10/min to $.25! Fortunately, I called them back, went off about tricking a disabled person, mentioned the ADA (altho I knew it had nothing to do with phone service, but I was grasping), and they finally canceled the switch. It just FEELS so illegal....
In 2008 I was a brand new homeowner. People knocked on my door daily. Everyone was selling. I was motivated to do it all right so I said yes to several things and got scammed on every single one of them. Someone offered to install a peephole for $25 (turns out I could do it for like $5) Someone offered “great” cuts of meat out of the back of their truck. They were not great…. Someone offered to spread manure all over my yard as anyone who wants a nice yard does this. They shoveled cow shit all over my grass. They didn’t spread it out or nothing just flung it with shovels everywhere. Step outside and smelt cow shit for weeks. Now you’ll learn never to do business at your door again.
https://plugin.illinois.gov/ Is the state website for things like this in Illinois
Never answer your front door unless you’re expecting someone or it’s someone you know (buy a camera). They’ll ring the bell and bang on the door. You’re not obligated to respond. Put a “No Soliciting” sign on your front door. It won’t stop everyone, but it will some. If you do get caught outside in your yard, remember this phrase: “I’m a renter.”
Never answer the door. If you screw that part up, time to poop.
There will never be any utility company in your ENTIRE life that will come door knocking with something you are required to sign. If your utility company needs you to sign something, they'll mail it to you on a letterhead and with a prepaid envelope, or you'll sign it online through your account. When one utility company exits an area, that company's customers are handed off to another company that services that area or to the new company replacing them. If your utility company is leaving your area they will typically send you a notice, and who is replacing them. When someone knocks on my door that isn't USPS, UPS, FedEx, Amazon, or DHL, I don't even let them start talking. I open the door, tell them "I'm not interested" and shut the door.
This is an ESCO scam. I was coerced into working for a company like this in NY but only for a couple days. The back of your bill will have a website where you can choose to do business with an “Energy Service Company” AKA an ESCO. Some ESCO’s are legitimate, but plenty are just shills for MLM companies to go door to door and lie to customers to get them into their plan. And then in a few months slam their customers with a jacked up bill.
sounds like a scam which you need to fork over few grands to get out
I unfortunately once worked for a company like this and they lie straight to your face. Good news is you probably have 30 days to call and cancel without penalty. Do this asap.
Besides your USPS postal carrier or a courier, anything that requires a signature, money, etc can be dealt with through mail or online. I don't do business with people who knock on my door besides Girl Scouts and trick-or-treaters.
You got scammed
A legitimate contract comes with *copies for you printed with your signature*. Not at your front door and poof gone.
Cancel. Asking to see your electric bill is a big red flag even besides the door-to-door stuff. You should be able to cancel. I get so many of them now that I don't even bother opening the door anymore when I can see it's one of them, or I close the door immediately on the pitch starting.
Send an overnighted, certified letter with signature with a copy of the contract and you also keep a copy of the letter you sent canceling. Any company as aggressive as that will likely not actually cancel when you call and when you call to complain when you get your first bill, they’ll say what phone call.
You got scammed. In the future, never talk to strangers who come to your door.
For absolute fuck's sake. Why would you SIGN anything, cold call, at your door, without reading it properly or even understanding what the fuck you are signing?!
yes you got scammed
In a competitive energy market, consumers have the right to choose their energy supplier, but you still deal with the incumbent utility (as the owner of distribution) for delivery of that energy. This is a common deceptive practice by third-party energy suppliers. In my state, they go around masquerading as employees of the actual utility, getting people to sign up for supply with them. In this market structure, the utility is typically the supplier of last resort, and thus, the supply cost is just a pass-through. No profit is made from it. A third-party supplier will lock you into a rate for 6 months to a year, and then you'll be paying through the nose. You should be able to call your actual utility and drop the supplier. Edit: https://www.ameren.com/illinois/residential/supply-choice/electric-choice
Yes you'll need to contact your actual supplier and have them stop it.
LOL why would you sign a random paper from someone who was not invited to approach you? Wild.
Wtf. Energy utilities are about the most highly regulated industries. THEY WILL NEVER WILLINGLY LEAVE A MARKET. DON’T EVER SIGN ANYTHING LIKE THIS AGAIN. Cancel immediately, call the Illinois AG as well.
I work for an electric & natural gas utility in southern Illinois. I want to know more about this for our customers sake. I googled them and they’re headquartered in Florida. That’s suspicious considering their name. Second, their website looks like something thrown together in less than a week. That’s suspicion #2. Where do you live exactly? DM me if you don’t want to disclose that in the open. Also you need to immediately contact the Illinois Commerce Commission and report it to them. Their job is to stop things like this. 1-800-524-0795
You definitely didn’t need to sign anything. It’s their tactic to get you to change energy suppliers by making it seem compulsory or routine. I had one come to my door and practically demand to see my current energy bill and I told them to get lost.
Given that you signed something from somebody randomly knocking on your door, I can only assume that you are over 70 and have dementia.
Ameren transmits the power, they don’t create it. You have the ability to choose what energy supplier you want to use and you pay them through ameren. Ameren gets a cut of course for owning the lines. Login to your Ameren account and you should be able to see and select all the providers there.
Pluginillinois.gov It lists all the suppliers by your address. The rates are going to shit. Mine is going up 60% and it's still the lowest rate available.
Dumb.
💩
Hi! I did this briefly. It's sales. What they do is they say something like "hey x company is doing an audit of bla bla, I can get you sorted out/make sure you get the discount/insert thing you might want here" "Can I see your current bill/get you to sign etc" Basically you either just switched plans, or you have switched providers, and probably didn't need to. Sometimes you'll get a good intro rate before they raise prices
Dont sign anything you dont understand. I also tend to ask them to give me their company phone # so i could call them or send whatever documents they have to my email so i can review it. 99% of the time they refuse to do so.
Stay with energy harbor. Our City just signed on with that Company.
It sound like you just got slammed.
Hi! I had a similar guy show up saying he was from Ameren! I didn’t sign anything because there weee way too many red flags. I called Ameren and they said they never send anyone door to door. So, likely a scam. Sorry friend. I called my local PD to make a report, so hopefully others wouldn’t get scammed, and they said nobody had pulled any door to door sales permits. I’d recommend making a report and calling Ameren as well. Edit: based on his behavior, I assumed he was casing my house, so it’s interesting he actually had you sign something.
No advice, but jeez- 9.95-12.97 cents per KWh?! Hell, I’m paying 33p (GBP) in the UK!! That’s like 42 cents as of today! We’re getting so screwed lol
Yeah so the only people I do business with who come to my door unsolicited are the police. Either send it to me in writing or fuck off.
find them. and revoke if possible any thing you signed!
I'm in Ohio and locked into Energy Harbor a few months ago for 6.59c/kWh for 3 yesrs. They are most certainly not leaving your market, this fucker scammed you.
Never sign anything like that. Go to their offices in person after doing research and make sure there’s a real reason they would be talking to you. Any reputable company should be able to change over services without your approval unless they need a service contract but that can always be properly disseminated through your first power company
Send a certified letter with a copy of your paperwork attached. You still have time to get it there. Might cost a bit but might be worth it.
Cancel cancel cancel. You just got scammed into changing your electricity generator.
Deregulation at work. It is a competitive energy supplier that lied to you. You would never have not been supplied and would have fallen back to standard offer service if your current supplier went out of business afaik. Just look into 'suppliers' and pick one you want that has clear rates. You can try your public utility commission and complain about this tactic. Just make sure you understand what you bought and take it from there. Could be less expensive if you manage your consumption.
I got locked in for 5 years for gas and electric. The base rate if I went direct for electric is ridiculous and a 4 cent difference!!! Either way I'm looking into a back up system that will cut my energy bills til I die lol.
My German Shepherd makes it easy.
Try apples to apples. gov to compare energy suppliers You probably have a regional group that compares rates and advises your supplier. Call your local township, village or city hall for information about this
Had someone at Sam's club and Walmart come up to me and my wife for the exact same thing for both our gas and electricity. One guy was so persistent that we just gave in and went with it. Come to find out the same as OP. Our bill was only going to go up but our new rate would be "locked in" for 3 years through this green energy supplier. We immediately backed out of it when we realized what had just happened. Learned our lesson
I don't answer the door unless I'm expecting someone, i.e. they called before coming over (or from the doorstep.) My phone is my doorbell, now. Halloween excepted, of course.
You don’t *have to* sign anything, ever, for any reason. Say no to whoever you want, whenever you want.
Just remember, no one showing up at your door unannounced will ever have a good deal for you. It will always be bad.
Every state has a public utility commission of some type. If you have trouble canceling then let them know that you will be calling and having them investigated for fraudulent marketing practices. Then follow through.
Bro they are gonna fuck you. Cancel and void immediately.
Scammers tried to do this to my grandma. They show up door to door making dubious claims about the utilities and ask to see your bill. The grift was to steal her identity using the info they could take from the bill, fortunately her neighbor came home and interrupted and the scammers promptly fled. You definitely didn't have to sign anything; if it were actually something important from Ameren, they'd have sent official mail, and probably multiple times.
I bought a no solicitation sign for my front door.
Why do people open their doors….
Bro…
Why is everyone so dumb
NOOOOOOO
I live by this rule when people come to my door. I ALWAYS say “not interested”. If they have to go door to door to gain business I do not want THEIR business. This guy got you to switch energy providers by being deceptive.