A rep from Universal had stopped by on a couple occasions, but my husband and I blew him off. The rep had asked for a copy of our gas bill, which we did not have. It was the same rep each time.
During our first big snow storm of the season, he again came to our door. I was busy, and my husband decided to talk to him. He seemed very down to earth, yet articulate. I heard him explaining how Universal works with our existing gas company, even with our set budget. I then came into the room and asked him about penalities, cancellation fees, etc. I am very leary and always look for and at the fine print. Rep assured me there was none.
We had lost a home due to foreclosure, battled life threatening cancer, and are suffering a lay off, and we told him so, and told him it was hard to believe that a company was out to help rather than rip off.
I went back to my doings, and my husband finished the deal. With exception
of the Account # for our existing gas company. We pay our bills in person and aquire a receipt then.
When the rep left, my husband handed me a brochure, and copy of the contract and asked me to read over when I had a minute.
I immediatly opened the brochure, and the more I read of the jargon, the more tee'd off I got! At first it looked to me like a 'co-op' and was
afraid of the gas recovery fee. I looked over the contract - and my eyes went right to the $250.00 termination fee!
The rep had also spelled our names wrong - first and last, he had our address wrong. He had no account #'s. My husband said the brochure was presented to him right before the door closed on the rep.
Within minutes, I called the toll free number on the back of the brochure,
and told the CSR there to cancel our account before any account was even
attempted to be made. She asked me over and over for my gas company account #. I told her we had'nt one handy, which she did not seem to believe. She asked me why we decided to cancel so soon, since the rep had not the time to set up our account. I told her I did not need the hassel
of a rip off, I was not going to worry about how and when I was to cancel,
that we were mislead. I gave her the info the way it was written on the contract. She still tried to talk me into giving it 30 days.
I then told her that I knew it was not as easy as that - IF at all I was even connected to the proper csr to do that.
The next day I called DTE energy, and they said under no circumstances would Universal be attached to my bill.
Do you know that the rep came to our door twice after that.
He called my husband at least 3 times for account info, or to ask him to re-consider.
My mother was taken in too. She said she did cancel the next day, and
the reps still came to her door. Finally, she told them that if they came by again, she would call the police. She said her No Solicitors sign and big dog was not deterring them.
I know times are tough, and jobs are scarce. I feel a lil sorry for the reps.
Are they trained to lie and scam? Do they know the scam... Or are they oblivious and only trying to make a buck?
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