Door to door energy contract salespeople have been reported to be active in the Pincher Creek area over the last several days. In some cases people report they have been asking to see the homeowner/renter's energy bills.
Never show a stranger your bills. Be very careful when dealing with strangers asking to look at personal documents of this sort. Be wary of agreeing to or signing long term contracts unless you are very sure you know what you're signing and how it may affect you.
This selling practice, while seemingly unscrupulous, is apparently not illegal.
If you're approached by a salesman of this type and decide to talk with him/her, ask to see a town business license, which is mandatory in Pincher Creek for this type of sales call. A reliable source reports that he did indeed ask to see a town business licence. "He could not provide it. Got a bit jittery over it though."
Two different energy company spokesmen were kind enough to respond to our inquiries for comment.
"Epcor does not do door to door canvassing," explained Epcor spokesperson Tim LeRiche. "Epcor services the City of Edmonton exclusivily, athough it acts as the billing agent for Fortis. Epcor does not sell contracts." LeRiche offered this advice: "Always ask for ID. You should never show someone your bill."
Fred Cheney is the AltaGas Senior Communications Advisor, in charge of Media Relations. "This is definitely not AltaGas Utilities Inc. We’ve had similar complaints / occurrences throughout the province," he writes. "Now that the retailers have canvassed the big centers they are targeting smaller towns. It could be Direct Energy, Just Energy, or any of the others. It’s a common, although illegal, tactic to claim they represent the utility. Complaints should be directed to the Alberta Utilities Advocate at http://ucahelps.alberta.ca/ or 310-4822."
From the Alberta Utilities Advocate website:
Competitive retailers must abide by government regulations set out in the Energy Marketing Regulation. Under the regulation, energy retailers are not allowed to be intrusive or contact you between the hours of 9 p.m. and 8 a.m. for the purpose of soliciting an energy contract.
If you are bothered by the door-to-door selling practise, the easiest way to stop these visits is to post a sign that says “no solicitations” or “no sales calls.”
If you've been "burned" by one of these energy contract deals, we'd love to hear from you for a more in-depth story to come. Email pinchercreekvoice@gmail.com or call us at 403-904-2666
Related links:
Alberta Utilities Advocate
The scoundrel was on Wentworth late Monday afternoon. I sensed a scam and was blunt and rude.
ReplyDeleteI would never bother to ask to see ID because how would I or anyone know what was legitimate ID for a company. I just figure that if a company I deal with has some special offer they want me to know about.... they will add it in with their bill.
Now it is interesting that they were "operating" on a holiday Monday, when the Town office is not open, and one can't phone to find out if they have a license or not.
I did plan on calling EPCOR the next day, but forgot about it. Thanks for running this story and keeping us all informed.
I sometimes wonder if these "scammers" aren't scoping out houses, yards, contents, age of owners etc. .... more than trying to really sell anything. I hope everyone takes extra precautions.
Just had a direct Energy guy come today! Sent him away as we are in a contract, but he still pushed on and on...I finally just walked away and said I had to go answer the phone lol
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