Sources: Men Arrested Trying To Repaint Bedford Bike Lane
Video: Sad Subway Rant
Call to Ban Carriage Horses, Close Stable
VIDEO: Cycling Activists Repainting Bedford Ave. Bike Lane
Giuliani Takes Job As Security Consultant For Rio Olympics
Yet another story about people being scammed by thieves claiming to be utilities workers—this time, they're posing as Con Ed employees in Brooklyn. According to WCBS 2, some men and women are trying to gain entry into residents' homes by flashing fake IDs and asking things like "We just want to know if you're interested in lowering your fill for Con Ed and National Grid?" One woman said, "They wanted a copy of our gas bill to see if we qualified for a discount. She tried to talk me into going onto my computer and go online to give her our info and everything." A Con Ed spokesman Michael Clendenin said that people should definitely ask to see an ID if someone claims to be from the utility; he also clarified, "If they're coming at night, we don't come at night. We don't make house calls. We don't come to read your meter unless we've made an appointment." Recently, the city warned about people claiming to be from the DEP were scamming seniors.
Conned or Con Ed?
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebookComments (24) [rss]
Post a comment (Comment Policy)
Tips
Newsmap
Contribute
Latest Tip:
Popeye as Google Doodle:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/dec/08/ec-segar-popeye-google-doo
[more]
Sounds like the IDT Energy salespeople. It's an Energy Services Company, or ESCO, that basically offers something like you can do with local phone service: thanks to deregulation of the industry, you can choose to be serviced by a company other than Con Ed.
Of course the key word should be "choose," and reports are that IDT's people have both misled people about what they do and rates and allegedly have simply signed people up without their permission.
One way to protect against it is to ask Con Ed for an "ESCO freeze," after which you can not be transferred to another supplier without first contacting them again to remove the freeze... just as you can do with phone service to protect yourself against "slamming," as the practice has been called in that industry for years.
Yeah, except all that information is already in your Con Ed bills, as flyers, practically every month. You don't actually need people coming to your door.
So much for the myth about growing smarter with age. I'm always dismayed how many people who have lived in the city their whole life and have zero street sense.
A couple more points: one, this is pretty old news. It's been going on in Brooklyn since spring and there's been plenty of talk about it in blogs since then.
After having heard about it for a long time, I encountered a group of these people on the subway. About 10 young 20-somethings being led by an older guy who was apparently their supervisor... apparently on their way out to work a neighborhood. They each carried a clipboard, which the "supervisor" reminded them to be sure they had with them as they left the train.
While reports have said they sometimes don't show IDs identifying the company (and some people remember them as having had ConEd IDs), they all had IDT Energy identification cards on lanyards around their necks. Of course, that doesn't mean they were still showing them by the time they were going door to door.
The fake DEP employees mentioned above were using that as a ruse to get into homes and look around, so they could grab what they could. These people aren't doing that, and if they follow the law and guidelines that should be in place in their business, there's really nothing wrong or illegal in what their doing. The electric and gas supply industries have been deregulated, and they're providing competition. But the methods [i]reportedly[/i] being used are deceptive at best and in some cases illegal.
I've got at least 20 people locked in my basement who came to my house claiming to be with Con Ed over the course of the years. I think one was actually able to prove it so we set that one free 2 years ago.
You'd think he'd at least write the ungrateful bastard.
Con Ed? Scam? Hmmm
Who would ever put those two together?
So basically if I let one of these crooks in who actually flashes a fake Con-ed ID, hence they are attempting robbery, I can legally shoot them once inside the house? Thanks. That's what I plan to do now next time one of them comes knocking.
I give you my permission to shoot on sight.
I remember this IDT corp profiled in NYmag in the 80's.
20 something just knoecked on my door 1/2 hr ago, with a clipboard and a lanyard plastic thing around his neck...said IDT.
mentioned to save on my sales tax and referred to the 1800 number on the back of my bill.
I sent him packing and he retorted: "if you call to sign up it takes 6 months for one of us to come out and service you...sure you wanna pass?" I said that's more than fine with me, what's your employee number.
idiots those are real con-ed people with the lower discount thing.
Shoot them first and let their supervisors sort it out.
Right. That's why the ConEd spokesman is quoted above saying it's not them and that they don't do that.
Hey! They came by my place a week or two ago, I figured it might be a scam and sent the guy away. I live in Queens though.
Brooklyn is such a dump. Contains more than its fair share of earth scum.
There is a whole thread about this on brooklynian. they've been canvassing the borough for a months.
If IDT is really a legit energy provider trying to woo customers from Coned, their tactics are truly bizarre and suspicious. What kind of "business" cold-calls disheveled 9-6ers in stairwells at 7pm on New Year's Eve? They deserve every slammed door they get.
The guy who asked me for a copy of my electric bill he also warned me if call after to sign up it takes a very long time to get my money and that it was better if i give him my bill today. I had no intention of doing this and as I trudged up the stairs I mumbled that I don't get statements and then he suggested that I log in and let him see the account info on the screen. Yeah right. I'll get right on that.
Oh yeah, the IDT people. They've been harassing West Harlem for years. I don't know if they're fake or not, but hey, when IDT or anyone sends people who look like they'd just as soon rob you as help you join IDT, I have to wonder. They're not exactly sending very legit looking people. And why send people anyway? Are they assuming we don't know how to read? I tell them to leave their information, and they say they can't. I tell them to mail it to me and they say they can't. Huh.
ConEd and National Grid are not related? Also it takes weeks for them to come when you make an appointment, they certainly won't come of their own accord.
That said, I would certainly be interested in lowering my fill.
Those scammers are always coming to West Harlem, in the two places I've lived in the last four years. I always tell them to fuck off, but they're pretty determined and just keep coming back. Sometimes they say they're from some other company, I forget which, but they always want to see your Con Ed bill.
Who lets people into their apartment or shows them their bills these days? You have to be crazy to open the door to anyone you don't know. Or willing-gullible.
why can't con ed read your meter from outside your house like the gas company and water meter people do?
Cause Con ed wants to keep expenses high and useless people employed...thats why.
Wow, literally 5 minutes after I read this post a young woman with a clipboard showed up at my door and asked if I wanted to save money on my ConEd bill. What timing! I brought my laptop to her and said, "Read this. Isn't this you?" Remarkably she was unfazed and denied that IDT had anything to do with this scam, but I knew better and told her so.
I called a friend of mine who works for ConEd and he explained to me that IDT isn't actually an illegal organization (although some of its solicitation tactics might be) and that it has something to do with competition laws. Whatever. Legal or not, they're preying on the poor and often non-English-speaking immigrants in my neighborhood (West Harlem) and I don't like it one bit.
I've seen postings about many of these scams on various blogs. But what I have not seen is a one page sheet that I can print out and post in my building and hand to my english and spanish speaking (non blog reading) neighbors. Gothamist would be doing a public service to post such an item.
They came to my door twice, were very aggressive. When I told them I was calling 911, they left.
"And why send people anyway? Are they assuming we don't know how to read?"
No, they're assuming sending to people door-to-door using aggressive and/or deceptive tactics will result in more signups than will sending something in the mail.
And no doubt these employees have quotas, or are paid per signup. Still, judging by the group I saw on the subway, they're not being paid much. These aren't skilled sales professionals, they're more people desperate for a job and willing to take almost anything.
I'm just like missbloom, except a lady came to my door exactly right before I read this. It was uncanny. I was in a good mood, so I talked to her. At first I thought it was related to my bill that is obviously way too high. She gave me the following website: www.poweryourway.com, which looks legit, but the fact that she had no ID, no brochure to hand me, and was just showing up at my door made it all seem a little suspicious even if it is legit.