Ontario Energy....bunch of scammers

[fishing n autograph]

Okay...bear with me lol,

 

I moved into my house mid-June and received a visitor from the Ontario Energy Corp. Anyway, they asked to see my hydro bill and gave me their shpiel about protecting consumers from rising energy rates. So they gave me this form to sign which said nothing about rates or costs etc. Just that the person came to speak with me. So a few hours later I get a phone call from the same person asking me to verify whether that person spoke with me. SO I verified it....Then in October I get a frantic call from my wife saying that there is a pushy person that keeps coming to the door and demanding to see our hydro bill...which she refuses and threatens to call the police....

 

Today I get a bill from my Hydro provider which is almost doubled what I normally pay and i start freaking about the amount of energy that we've used. i compare this to my last months bill and the consumption difference is like 0.002 kilowatts. Anyway, we call the provider stating that there was a problem with our bill and they said that the costs reflect the rates of the Ontario Energy Corp and that we should take it up with them. My wife informs the customer service person that we didn't sign up with them. We were informed that we did.....

 

So we called OEC and asked why we were signed up when we never signed a thing....They claimed that we signed a five year contract and that they had my voice recorded confirming that we agreed to their service. So My wife loses it on whoever she was talking to...in fact she informed the good customer service rep that we were harrassed by one of their representatives and she got so worked up at the fact that we were scammed into this....wow...she actually was crying....so the jackass on the phone says that it's a fixed rate and we basically were paying $235 a month for our usage for the next 5 years...which is a crock because our usage hasn't gone over $140 a month and that was with an air conditioner going!

 

So to make a long story short, we got out of the "contract" and owe them 2 payments of $235.....based on this billing period and the next...

 

What a rip...don't get scammed by these con-artists

[misfish]

Same thing here.

They seem to come when your eating dinner.I said were busy eating dinner.His reply,Thats why we are here,we know you are home. I said,well ,,,,,,,,,Please leave,,,,,,,,,,,, politly in my own little way.

 

Havent seen them since.

[Guest lundboy]

Never agree to anything on the phone or at the door unexpectedly. Be it energy "deals", cell phone plan changes, long distance plans, bank plan "upgrades", credit card applications etc.

 

Always ask them to send you more info, or point you to a website with the details.

 

If you do you are asking for trouble.

Edited December 12, 2007 by lundboy

[Cory]

I don’t understand how people can be so gullible to sign something out of the blue without any service provided….no thanks, you can keep that piece of paper.

 

Next time ask the guy his name and sign his name on the dotted line.

[tonyb]

Just ask for their home phone number so that you can call them at a more convenient time, like at Lew O'clock...

[drwxr]

i signed these papers not long time ago too, and then asked on this board for opinion, called them the next day and canceled.

now if they knock on my door, all i say is that i already signed the agreement with different company, they just shrug their shoulders and walk away confused.

i am guessing they have a database with the households that dont have any agreements.

[big guy]

here is the link for hydro and gas prices:

 

Hydro/Gas Pricing and info

 

Please people, inform yourselves. Contrary to what they tell you at the door, the end of the world is not near, hydro prices actually went down again for the winter. All the others are a complete scam.

[irishfield]

Direct Energy got their name on the National Trade center somehow.... yep taking your hard earned dollars !!

[Mike the Pike]

How can this be Legal to Rip people off.Why is the Ontario Goverment alowing this to go on.

Edited December 13, 2007 by Mike the Pike

[JohnF]

How can this be Legal to Rip people off.Why is the Ontario Goverment alowing this to go on.

 

One other thing. I got caught on this way back when. Some clean cut young man came to my door one evening representing himself as an employee of Union Gas (or at least that was what I took from his spiel) and asking to see one of my bills to check that I'm paying the correct rate. No problem. I had the bill right there as it had just arrived in the mail. I opened it up and showed it to him. He spent some time reading it and then started talking about stuff. In the end I refused to sign anything on the basis that I was content with my gas rate just the way it was and really didn't believe one could get something as the young man seemed to be offering. I never gave it another thought. Several years later i got a notice saying that I would be reverting to the standard Union Gas supply program as my contract supplier had gone out of business. With a little digging it came out that the young man had pocketed my bill and somehow used it as my authorisation on a supply contract without me even knowing. The rates had evidently been good enough that i never noticed the change.

 

So all this is just a convoluted warning not to even let these door to door types get their hands on your gas or hydro bills. Evidently they can put you on a contract even without your signature.

 

JF

[danc]

It's a gamble no doubt. But if you are informed, and willing to gamble, it could pay off. I've been paying less than the going rate for natural gas for about 5 years now. Right now I'm in the second year of a 5 year term that sees my rates drop 1 cent per cubic meter per year. At times I've been paying 10 cents per cubic meter less than the going rate. In other words, a 25% discount. And my cost will be dropping for the next 3 years. Guaranteed. I'm way ahead of the game only because I knew what I was signing. Not because I listened to a snake charmer that knocked on my door.

[Fisherman]

Don't know about others plans, I've been paying 26.01c per cubic metre on the pay as you go plan, no contract.

[Vanselena]

I am paying 25 cents per cubic meter for gas and 3 cents for transportation with Union Gas, I havn't seen any Gas distributors top that yet. Gas prices are still going down, in fact Natural Gas prices have dropped by 50% from three years ago. Come January when we have the next price adjustment we could be paying 20 cents a cubic meter. I agree with the pay as you go plan.

[Headhunter]

I believe that Ontario law allows you 2 weeks to back out of a contract agreement, made with door to door sales types. Buyer regret should be covered by this law.

HH

[Kirk]

If you do your homework and properly study the issue, you can save alot on your utility bill, I did it for NG and am looking into electricity as well in the near future.

 

Nothing gets cheaper over time.

[Danubian]

If someone shows at my doorstep and asks out of the blue to see my gas bill, or whatever other bill, I would start by questioning his authority to do so. If he can provide proof that he has this right and me the obligation to do so, then I reluctantly would, but otherwise I'll just slam the door in his face so hard that he'll leave a couple of fingers inside.

 

It's a matter of principle here: If I agree to show my bill "for comparison purposes", what in Luke's name we'll start comparing next? The lenght of our fishing rods?

 

This kind of "agressive marketing" it's simply offending one's intellingence. Do they think we're so stupid that we can't compare 2 sets of figures, or do they actually think we're stupid enough to accept pears compared to apples and eventually buy their lemons. Let alone them little tricks of procedure with pushy phone calls during dinner.

 

BTW: I love to speak gibberish or totally nosense to telemarketers, in the most polite and curteous way, and trying to hold them as long as I could on the phone. It's the only effective way to have these call centers removing your number from their databases. And it's a lot of fun, too!

[Bitsmith2k]

yup.. i had the same deal.. wife signed the paper.. didnt even mention anything to me until i was going through the bills and saw it.. posted here and did my due research and it wasnt for us.. it was a pain to cancel but i was within the 30 days the allow.. it actually caused a bit of an arguement with me and the wife because she willingly signed something affecting the bills i pay, without talking to me about it.. she swore the guy told her he was from the gas company.. i was skepticle, but i took her word for it..

 

regardless i get these jokers showing up at least once a month, they always claim to represent 'your power and gas company'.. i always ask them 'you work for both?', 'well which one do you work for then?'.. they ALWAYS show up during dinner.. and they're extremely pushy.. to the point of trying to force themselves into the house.. well they're like that when the wife answers.. they back off pretty quick when i make my way to the door..

[bigbuck]

Don't give anyone knocking on your door any sort of information whatsoever. Let them give you whatever propaganda they have and look it over. DON'T SIGN ANYTHING!!!!

These guys engage in unethical behaviour all of the time. Caveat Emptor!!! (let the buyer beware).

[Joey]

Don't pay them.

 

They tried that crap on me also. They actually said they were from Enbridge and wanted to see if I got the discount on my bill that I was supposed to get. I said I kept the bills at work, blah blah blah. I never showed them anything but did sign, assuming it was Enbridge, to make sure I qualified for my discount.

 

Of course we all know what happened next.

 

I called and raised a stink and threatened them with court and they apologized and took my name off their list and cancelled the "deal."

 

I told them I was going to charge their rep with impersonation of an Enbridge employee.

 

DO NOT PAY THEM!!!

 

If you fight hard enough and with authority you can get out of it. They don't want to go to court.

 

Joey

[POLLIWOGG]

Guy called up my Dad , said he was from Bell and did he want cheaper long distance service. Dad says yes, next thing you know he gets a bill from a long distance server, when he complained they say they have a recording of him accepting the change.

[Deano]

"How can this be Legal to Rip people off.Why is the Ontario Goverment alowing this to go on."

 

The government helps these crooks get away with it.

Bell Canada charges people for things even if you don't use it. Like cell phones, if you don't use all your minutes within a limited time, you lose them.

Then there's the gas and electricity companies who charge storage and delivery for something that they do neither of.

Yet the oil company who comes to my house and physically delivers the fuel, doesn't.

Insurance companies that politely threaten to cancel your insurance if you use them.

I could go on, we are now paying for services in

Property taxes keep increasing, yet our services are getting less and less, soon we'll have to transport our own garbage weekly to the dump.

We're all getting screwed one way or another, otherwise we'd all be rich.

[Guest gbfisher]

Hows that song go again??..........and the weasel came back the very next day...... Or maybe it was, the cat came back.....

 

I'm not sure about how you handle the salesmen from the Ontario Energy Corp but when they come to my door over and over and over again and I see the little name tag on their coat. Some times I break out laughing and close the door. Other times I say nothing and close the door, smiling of course.

 

There's always some one out there who will try and pull the wool over your eyes. They get older people all the time. They should be charged. It certainly isnt the first time.

[Virt]

My wife also got sucked in.

 

The following was the letter I sent off and had the account cancelled:

 

October 06, 2006

 

 

ATTN: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, (Compliance Analyst)

Universal Energy

1605-25 Sheppard Avenue West

Toronto, Ontario,

M2N 6S6

 

VIA E-Mail & Letter Mail

 

 

Mrs. XXXXXXXXXXX,

 

My wife was approached on October 5 by one of your authorized agents XXXXXXXXX (ID# XXXXXXXX) demanding her to provide him with my current Hydro One and Union Energy bills. Once Mr. XXXXX was in possession of these two bills, which I may add is in my name solely and not my wife’s, he refused to return them to her. Even after several attempts by her to have my bills returned to her possession, Mr. XXXX refused. Are bullying tactics a common practice within your organization?

 

My wife, feels she was co-coerced into signing both contracts with Universal Power on speculation that she would have the bills returned to her but this was not the case even thou both accounts are in my name, not hers. On several different occasions in the past 2 months, I have notified your Authorized Agents off of my property but to no avail, they return.

 

I have formerly lodged a complaint with the Ontario Energy Board and I have also contacted your Accounting Department. On advice from Ontario Hydro, Ontario Energy Board and the Better Business Bureau, I am requesting from you in writing, cancellation of both accounts and request to have my Union Energy and Hydro One bills returned to me immediately by Universal Power. The following are the account numbers from your Residential Price Protection Application: XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXX.

 

I hope this issue gets resolved in a prompt and appropriate manner.

 

Good Day.

 

 

XXXXXXXXX

XXXXx

XXX

 

cc. Hydro One

Union Energy

Ontario Energy Board

[pikehunter]

Actually I believe you have 10 days to cancel a contract that is signed away from a place of business. At least that is the way it is for the home improvement industry in Ontario. With that said you didn't hear it from me

 

I had a customer a couple of months ago that signed a contract with a competitor window company, they took it right down to the last day as nobody from the other company would speak to them on the phone nor would the sales manager return their calls, I checked it out for them and they were able to get out of it by giving written notice via fax machine as long as the date, time and verification was in writing.

 

Needless to say I got the deal, an entire house full of windows!

 

Remember, it is only out of politeness that you answer your door, there is no law that states you have to. You don't know who is there or you know it is someone you don't wish to converse with then don't answer. You learned a lesson, never ever show your hydro, gas or anything to anyone!

 

Good luck getting out of it. I had a he11 of a time getting my parents out of the same situation.

[Roy]

I always answer my door by intercom. When they tell me who they are, I ask them to please repeat as I can't hear very well. They eventually leave.