A "door knocker" made an appointment for a free "Home Energy Audit." We had been thinking of having this done for some time and had been contemplating calling the local power company to do it since they offer that service. I asked if they were "selling anything, " and naturally the "door knocker" said no, they would not try to sell us anything.
The "non-salesman" arrived on time and proceeded to go around the house with a digital thermometer checking the temperature of the air conditioning vents. He went into the attics of both the house and garage, measured windows, and checked duct work.
After this we sat down at the kitchen table and he proceeded to lay out a plan whereby we would save, "... At least $175.00 a month on..." our utility bill if we followed his advice and had the work done that he recommended. It was at that time that he started to toss out numbers faster than a hyper bingo announcer on steroids.
"With this plan there's no payments for seventeen months." "Look, you're gonna save $25,000 over ten years." "This plan will pay for itself in 2.8 years." "You're gonna get back $4500 from the Federal Government in January plus $500 from the state plus $400 from the power company, plus, plus, plus." During all this, he called GE Capital on his cell and, because I have a credit rating in the 800s, was able to instantly arrange for a $15,000 line of credit to cover solar vent fans, re-insulating the whole house, hurricane proofing every window and other stuff. "Only 36 payments of $176 a month." he proudly announced after hanging up the phone. "Now, remember I guaranteed you that I would save you at least $175 a month or I would make the payment? Well, here's your dollar for month one." And, with that, he tossed a dollar bill onto the table.
So, like an idiot, I signed up. He quickly scooped up all his scribblings and papers and left. Then, my brain actually started to function and I crunched the numbers. $176 for 36 months is a little over $6500. That can't be right. So I called GE Capital and they said that they had told the salesperson that the payments would be $405 a month for 36 months. Well, guess what? The number $405 never left the salesman's mouth. Hummm... Maybe I'd better investigate a little further.
One of the parties involved reportedly just had properties foreclosed on and is pretty desperate for cash and the other was allegedly involved with a mob based stock scam back in the nineties. Since neither of these guys are the caliber of person with whom I care to do business, I canceled the order pursuant to the state's "3-day cooling off period" law and closed the GE Capital account.
Beware of door to door salesmen. And especially beware of CM Builders of the Gulf Coast / dba / Florida Energy Management and Guardian Solar.
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