Thursday, April 2, 2009

U.S. Energy Savings Corp. Going Door-To-Door

Representatives from "U.S. Energy Savings Corp." are making the rounds in Uptown this week, going door-to-door to try to talk residents into switching natural gas suppliers. A reader gave us a head's up that Lisa Madigan is investigating this company for deceptive sales practices. Before you sign, you might want to read this article from Medill Reports. Be informed! (When they came to our door earlier this week, we felt they were really pushy about trying to get us to sign a change-of-supplier form and implied they were from Peoples Gas. We chose not to go for it, based on the aggressive sales techniques.)

4 comments:

  1. Nikolas,
    Copy and paste this in the comments on the US Energy Post...thanks! WOW!
    UU

    To: uptownupdate@hotmail.com
    From: nikolas.smith@loop.colum.edu
    Subject: US Energy is out and AGGRESSIVE!
    Date: Sat, 4 Apr 2009 12:29:32 -0500

    UU -

    I live on Sunnyside Avenue, and the folks from US Energy Savings somehow gained access to our building just moments ago by telling the grounds keeper that they were from "the gas company," and are going door to door stating that we must sign their contract or Peoples' Energy holds the right to cut our service.

    When I confronted them on the validity of their claim and stated that I would dial 311 and complain about malicious business practices, she stated "No, you can't. They will not help you because we are actually a division of Peoples' Energy and you must sign this contract now or else I can have your service terminated. It holds the same for all of the other units in your address as well."

    We have a mix of families, young professionals, college students, and elderly in my complex, and I fear that with the aggressive tactics, and the fact that I had to actually close the door ON her, that someone may fall prey to these tactics that they are using - especially college students who aren't aware of the ins and outs of the city yet, and the elderly whom this company seems to be poised to prey upon.

    I did dial 311, and they took down the information and stated that there have been many complaints of similar practices, and that if I did not invite them into the section of my gated building that they entered, then they are trespassing - the furthest they could go was the courtyard or the meters. After recording my information, they transferred me to an officer, who also said the same thing and then he transferred me to dispatch.

    Chicago Police Dispatch stated that if they entered the premises falsely, they could then send an officer out. He asked how the building was set up, and said that they should not be entering the individual buildings in the complex, but rather requesting to be buzzed in to each individual unit. I asked if he could send an officer out, and they said they could, but that resources were thin and that the representative would more than likely be off the premises by the time an officer arrived.

    I was also shaken by that statement - the Chicago Police admitted that they did not have the resources to come out here.

    Anyhow, just urge everyone to be careful and watch out for the elderly and college students. Oh... and I guess, don't rely on the CPD either if you need something today.


    Nikolas.Smith
    @loop.colum.edu
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  2. They came up this way too. This schmuck insisted that he needed to take a look at my meter which is inside my building. Nearly had to call the cops because he wasn't getting in my building.

    Homeowners don't HEDGE natural gas prices. Im curious who is behind this "reseller" outfit (US Energy "Savings"), because the sales tactics are definately worth monitoring.

    Good Catch UU.

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  3. To echo what has been said above, this is a scam. Spread the word to anyone who will listen, especially non-internet folks!

    They say:
    We're agents of Peoples Gas
    We're your gas supplier
    We work for your utility company.

    Awful.

    I did it in my big ass building years ago with a company called Enron. ($10,000-$15,000 monthly gas bills) Best of all I was paying them, they were not paying Peoples Gas, who I am ultimately responsible to for the gas payment.

    Oh wait..best of all! When Enron went tits up, they sued me for the money I paid them!

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  4. US Energy is a criminal company. My mom was pressured into signing up with them, she did just to get the guy out of her house. Monday she called the company to cancel, they said no problem. a day later she sent a letter along with the contract stating she wanted it canceled. This was Nov 07. Jan of 08 she was on their plan, she did not realize it, her bill is automatically debited, she has poor vision. last fall she got a new furnace thinking her monthly charge should certainly go down, but she was still paying not quite double form me in a house. I jsut compared bills, my rates have been from .53 to .84 per therm with Nicor, she has been charged 1.10!If these crooks come to your door, call the police. Ask your parents to see their bills, they may not realize they have been scammed or are too embarrassed to say anything about it. Call CUB, ICC, BBB. Lisa Madigan filed a lawsuit last year.

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