"Hello, I'm here to look at your energy bill...

[brimdog]

and make sure that you are locked into our price protection program."

Guy knocked on my door the other day asking to see my PG and E bill (local gas and electricity provider). He was from one of the companies that sells gas to PG and E. These companies have been trying to get customers to buy directly from them, as opposed to thru PG and E - who are able to sell the utilities to their customers, such as me, at low prices due to their own bulk purchasing discounted price. So, the companies that sell their utilities to PG and E go door to door and ask to see a copy of your utility bill.

They will try and tell you that since you do not have the "price protection plan" service in place on your bill that you are paying too much for gas. They will try and explain that PG and E, or whoever you buy from, are not giving you the best prices as this provider currently sells the gas to PG and E for less than what you pay. They will then try and switch you to the price protection plan whether you have agreed to it or not - they now have your account number; you may not even know this has happened for a few months.

It is defiantly shady business practices yet the companies are legit, and are only trying to get customers to buy directly from them. To some people the protection plans may even seem like a savings, which is all part of the scheme. You may be told that you will receive any number of discounts or rebates or anything else that may sound too good to be true (like prepaid credit cards). The reality is that you get locked into a contract with this new company.

In short: don't be like most of my neighbors and get scammed because someone you don't know knocked on your door and asked to look at your personal bills / statements.

[Deleted]

and make sure that you are locked into our price protection program."

Guy knocked on my door the other day asking to see my PG and E bill (local gas and electricity provider). He was from one of the companies that sells gas to PG and E. These companies have been trying to get customers to buy directly from them, as opposed to thru PG and E - who are able to sell the utilities to their customers, such as me, at low prices due to their own bulk purchasing discounted price. So, the companies that sell their utilities to PG and E go door to door and ask to see a copy of your utility bill.

They will try and tell you that since you do not have the "price protection plan" service in place on your bill that you are paying too much for gas. They will try and explain that PG and E, or whoever you buy from, are not giving you the best prices as this provider currently sells the gas to PG and E for less than what you pay. They will then try and switch you to the price protection plan whether you have agreed to it or not - they now have your account number; you may not even know this has happened for a few months.

It is defiantly shady business practices yet the companies are legit, and are only trying to get customers to buy directly from them. To some people the protection plans may even seem like a savings, which is all part of the scheme. You may be told that you will receive any number of discounts or rebates or anything else that may sound too good to be true (like prepaid credit cards). The reality is that you get locked into a contract with this new company.

In short: don't be like most of my neighbors and get scammed because someone you don't know knocked on your door and asked to look at your personal bills / statements.

I would outright tell them to fuck off, if they insisted I would get aggressive.

[Issalice]

I can't believe someone would hand over something like that. I just say "No thanks" while closing the door, they can stand there and talk all they like but I'm not going to waste my time listening to a sales pitch.

edit: spelling

[Deleted]

It's illegal to do door-to-door sales where I live...

[Deleted]

I would outright tell them to fuck off, if they insisted I would get aggressive.

100% this...

[Bigmits]

Here in the uk (were i live anyway) we don't get that many door to door salesmen, but i have a general rule of don't talk to anyone that does door to door, simply say no and close the door. Chances are they are out to scam/con you into something worse.

[Realsykes]

and make sure that you are locked into our price protection program."

Guy knocked on my door the other day asking to see my PG and E bill (local gas and electricity provider). He was from one of the companies that sells gas to PG and E. These companies have been trying to get customers to buy directly from them, as opposed to thru PG and E - who are able to sell the utilities to their customers, such as me, at low prices due to their own bulk purchasing discounted price. So, the companies that sell their utilities to PG and E go door to door and ask to see a copy of your utility bill.

They will try and tell you that since you do not have the "price protection plan" service in place on your bill that you are paying too much for gas. They will try and explain that PG and E, or whoever you buy from, are not giving you the best prices as this provider currently sells the gas to PG and E for less than what you pay. They will then try and switch you to the price protection plan whether you have agreed to it or not - they now have your account number; you may not even know this has happened for a few months.

It is defiantly shady business practices yet the companies are legit, and are only trying to get customers to buy directly from them. To some people the protection plans may even seem like a savings, which is all part of the scheme. You may be told that you will receive any number of discounts or rebates or anything else that may sound too good to be true (like prepaid credit cards). The reality is that you get locked into a contract with this new company.

In short: don't be like most of my neighbors and get scammed because someone you don't know knocked on your door and asked to look at your personal bills / statements.

It's shady yes...I used to do this, but for security companies >.>

Not going to name who, but I will say the ways we went about it are surely shady to anyone with a shred of intelligence. HOWEVER, and I'm not just saying this because I worked for them (I now HATE them, tbh), more often than naught you are getting a better deal, or the same deal but with added features. All they want is your business, it doesn't cost them money to add in say, a few new cameras if that's what you want, the only thing that changes is the length of your contract because now, you made a new one with a new company. It's like changing service providers for phones and such, except if you know what you're doing, you can get a shit load out of the salesman and they genuinely won't CARE. AT ALL. a Sale is a sale if it means a good chunk. Now having said all this, it's the exact same ( or sounds the same, at least scarily accurate), for gas companies. As long as you haven't been with that company for a decade or more, you can benefit by switching more often than naught because they'll bring down your monthly at the LEAST. As for the "price guarantee" that's absolutely true, a lot of companies in their fine print, will tell you that after a certain period on your contract, they can change your monthly to whatever the hell they feel like because you're on a month to month contract with them.

[Deleted]

I actually ended up with a way better deal for my electricity after a door salesman knocked on my door. Went from paying $75 to $45 when I get my bills. Was really nice.

[Spraxle]

Yeah if someone was asking to see my bills I would tell them to leave. If that wasn't enough we'd escalate from there.

[breadisfunny]

i would tell them to get off my property before i call the police.

[Realsykes]

I actually ended up with a way better deal for my electricity after a door salesman knocked on my door. Went from paying $75 to $45 when I get my bills. Was really nice.

Yep, what most people don't realize is it's in their benefit to switch. All they want is your business.

[Deleted]

Yep, what most people don't realize is it's in their benefit to switch. All they want is your business.

There are better ways to make a sale than to ask for very personal information.

[Deleted]

There are better ways to make a sale than to ask for very personal information.

I was just asked for how much I pay per month on average for my electricity, how much I used and he calculated it according to their taxes and that's it. I don't really see that as very personal information.

[theheat101]

It's shady yes...I used to do this, but for security companies >.>

Not going to name who, but I will say the ways we went about it are surely shady to anyone with a shred of intelligence. HOWEVER, and I'm not just saying this because I worked for them (I now HATE them, tbh), more often than naught you are getting a better deal, or the same deal but with added features. All they want is your business, it doesn't cost them money to add in say, a few new cameras if that's what you want, the only thing that changes is the length of your contract because now, you made a new one with a new company. It's like changing service providers for phones and such, except if you know what you're doing, you can get a shit load out of the salesman and they genuinely won't CARE. AT ALL. a Sale is a sale if it means a good chunk. Now having said all this, it's the exact same ( or sounds the same, at least scarily accurate), for gas companies. As long as you haven't been with that company for a decade or more, you can benefit by switching more often than naught because they'll bring down your monthly at the LEAST. As for the "price guarantee" that's absolutely true, a lot of companies in their fine print, will tell you that after a certain period on your contract, they can change your monthly to whatever the hell they feel like because you're on a month to month contract with them.

100% confirm on this. I used to sell security systems as well, and we would get around the laws against door-to-door sales by doing "surveys" of people, asking them how they would rate their interest in a security system, telling them that if we get enough interest in new systems in the area we can start offering deals (which is a lie, we had the same deal going all the time no matter what area we were in.) Then if they signed the sheet, we had 12 months to contact them, and because they signed paper saying we could call them, we also could circumvent the no call list. Most people that find these types of jobs think they are getting into a sweet, high-paying gig where they could make as much money as they wanted as long as they work hard. The turnover rates for these companies is high, we spent more time hiring and training people then we did having a stable roster. As long as the new guy sells a system, it's a success, because the company makes much more money off of it than they lose, due to the contract. Really, it's just a different version of Avon, or Vector Marketing, or any other company that scams people into working hard for little reward, while the people at the top rake in the cash.

I made decent money with it, but I was spending close to 75% of what I made on gas alone, and we weren't reimbursed for mileage. I live in the metro-Detroit area, and would regularly drive 300+ miles in a day, from one side of the city to the other, just for in-home demonstrations and door-to-door sales. More than once I had to drive into Ohio for the job, and half of the time my check would arrive late, or have the wrong pay on it, or the wrong name.

It isn't just small companies though. The company I worked for sold security systems for the largest security system company in America (you've probably seen a commercial or other ad for them. Think Matrix-esque numbers running over the walls of a house), and the way the security system provider works is by allowing thousands of smaller companies to sell for them, so they don't take the risk of expanding into an unknown market. They provide the systems and the monitoring, but without any investment of capital. It really is one big pyramid scheme.

[Blockygame]

It's illegal to do door-to-door sales where I live...

Needs to illegal everywhere, especially door to door collections, guilt charity irks me so much.

[Deleted]

Needs to illegal everywhere, especially door to door collections, guilt charity irks me so much.

It does not. I actually gained from a salesman knocking on my door.

[breadisfunny]

I actually ended up with a way better deal for my electricity after a door salesman knocked on my door. Went from paying $75 to $45 when I get my bills. Was really nice.

a bit off topic but i've never had any luck with door to door salemen. one time we ordered some stacks from a person going door to door. they tasted dry and sort of tough. worst steaks ever. the other time a person from a company called open range was selling internet service door to door. since it was significantly lower than time warner we thought why not. WORST INTERNET EVER. during wow i would get a minimum of 500 ms. and other times it would constantly time out. we eventually switched back after about a month to time warner. trying to return their equipment back to them so we didnt get charged for it was a pain in the butt since most of the time we just got their automated answering machine or they would agree to pick it up and never show. they eventually did but it took a whole month. after that our family just politely declined every door to door person who comes to our door.

[Deleted]

Needs to illegal everywhere, especially door to door collections, guilt charity irks me so much.

As soon as people stop being idiots and refusing to let these in it will stop by itself.

[Deleted]

I was just asked for how much I pay per month on average for my electricity, how much I used and he calculated it according to their taxes and that's it. I don't really see that as very personal information.

In most of Europe discussing finances and money is considered vulgar, I certainly won't volunteer that information to a door to door salesman, the only people that know my financial state are my partner and my bank manager.

[Deleted]

In most of Europe discussing finances and money is considered vulgar, I certainly won't volunteer that information to a door to door salesman, the only people that know my financial state are my partner and my bank manager.

Then I must be weird because I do live in Europe.