Dealing With The Universal Power/Energy Scam
For this past week I have been doing some serious research on a scam that I have gotten sucked into, without realizing it.
Back in December of 2007 I had a guy with a Hydro One Badge come to my door, and tell me that their payment plans would be changing soon, and they wanted to make sure that I was getting the best rates possible from them. Seeing his badge, I figure, seems legit to me, I will listen to his speel. He told me about how hydro costs would be going up soon, and that they wanted to make sure we we getting the lowest rate possible, and all I would have to do is sign this contract and we wouldn’t be affected by the rate increases.
This sounded legit to me, as he was wearing a hydro one badge, and told me he worked for hydro one, so I signed on the dotted line. Within a few days, I discovered that I had been duped… This guy didn’t really work for hydro one, he worked for Universal Power. So I immediatly called, and told them I wasn’t impressed with this practice, and wanted them to cancel my service with them, the staff member I spoke with assured me that, if I sent them a letter, and didn’t cash the “sign on check” that they gave me, then they could cancel my service.
I did these things, and figured I was done with Universal Power. During the year, I noticed my bill was always just a little bit higher than it usually was, but, didn’t think much of it, figured costs were going up a bit, but it wasn’t a huge deal. Then, I got my most recent bill, it was DOUBLE what I usually pay. So I called up Hydro One, and asked what was going on, they told it it was because of my Hydro Retailer, which was Universal Power. I was shocked, as I was under the impression that I was rid of them.
After many hours on the phone, and many emails, it turns out, that even though they told me they canceled my account, they didn’t, and they have infact been my hydro retailer for the past year, and if I wanted to get out of the contract, it would cost me $600+.
So I’ve now been doing a lot of research, and want to pass along what I’ve learned to anyone else who has fallen prey to scams like this one. I will be making a phone call on Monday to put this into affect, and will report back if it works.
In order to get out of your Universal Contract, there are a few things you can do.
1 – leave the province.. a little drastic, but it works, because they only provide in Ontario and British Columbia.
2 – move into a residence where you don’t pay the hydro (i.e. Hydro is included in your rent) Universal cannot charge you for something you don’t have in your name. If you go with this route, and hydro is not included in the residence you are moving to, talk to the landlord, explain the situation, if they are good, they will understand, and help you by putting the hydro in their name, and will write a letter to Universal, explaining that you pay X amount of dollars to “landlord” which is the cost of the rent, and the hydro. Then just have the landlord send you the bill every month, and you pay it, or give him or her the money for it.
3 – which is what I am aiming for on Monday. Changing the name of the account. I will be calling hydro one on Monday to change the account over to Jennifer’s name, this will change the account number, and will then void the contract with Universal Power, because I no longer pay hydro, my wife does, and she didn’t sign the contract, I did.
If you have had any dealings with Universal Power, please share how you dealt/are dealing with it. This is a scam, and we shouldn’t have to go through such high costs.
The following 2 part video was an episode of “The Market” on CBC, all about hydro resellers, and the scam that they are.
Part 1
Part 2
Now for some other reading, here are just a few of the thing I found when searching these scam artists:
More complaints about the scam
Ontario Residents Complaints about the scam
If you do a quick google search, you will find a LOT of information about this scam.
Wow. I am really shocked by the two CBC videos above. They are so one-sided. It doesn’t reflect at all my experience as a Universal Energy Consulting going door-to-door for four months in 2006.
It was a disparate time for me. I had been out of University for three-years and yet to get a job in my field. I just quit a telemarketing job where I was ripped off badly. I was not looking for big money; only a way to survive. I did not get paid over $100 commission for anything unless it was a high-volume consumer, which is rare. Most of the time it was $50 for hydro and $85 gas if the commission even was paid. I eventually quit over a dispute with the company where their online payroll system was not paying me for deals that were marked as having gone through. Despite rumour, I certainly was not paid for deals that did not go through.
What I dislike about this video is that it is so one sided. It does not explain how the company is suppose to operate: It buys gas and hydro on the market and then waits for the price to go up. It then resells this gas and hydro the customer for more than the original price while still allowing the customer to save. I did indeed see many customers that showed me bills that had signed up for such deals in the past and ones near the end where often paying as little as half the current market price. The big problem is the consumer themselves are extremely ignorant to how the industry works and this video does not help matters. Very few people seem to understand the simple idea of the price-plan as a long-term investment. Many people that sign up think that the default price does not change or some crazy thing. They don’t understand inflation I guess: The price plan is to protect against inflation. All they see is that their new bill is higher and they think that it was will high than the default price for the full five years when the whole idea which I tried so hard to explain to each customer is that universal’s price does not go up whereas the default price does. They may well pay more at first but can still save on the whole by the end of the plan.
In my particular van there were about 5 of us that had university degrees. In many areas we were far more educated than the rich home-owners that we are being accused of “ripping off”. And what did those people ever do for me when I needed help?
All that I am asking for is a little respect and understanding here.
If you want to be conned then join a religion. I have met many pastors and priests and if you want a con artist they are the ones you should be looking for.
Shame on you CBC for producing such a one sided program!
I approved your comment for one reason, and one reason only.. so that you could see my reply to you!
If you’ve looked at any of the links I posted, you will find LITERALLY THOUSANDS of people across this province ALONE who have been scammed in some way by Universal, or some other energy reseller.. THOUSANDS. Staff are coming to the doors of people, impersonating Hydro Companies (as they did in my case, and in MANY of the cases I have read) they are using SCARE TATICS to convince people to sign these contracts, which is against the law. Maybe you were the ONE staff member who wasnt a complete jerk who prayed on women and the elderly. How is it that when i read all the threads about universal THOUSANDS of people have nothing but bad things to say, then ONE person says “i use to work for universal, and you are ALL lying” how can that be true that THOUSANDS of people across the province, people who don’t even know each other, are saying the exact same thing.
when a UE guy came to my door, he told me that while the rates were LOW, my rate would stay LOW, then when the rate went up, my rate would stay LOW, but yet, as soon as I signed on, I was being charged 3 cents more per k/w… no one waited for the rates to go up.. i should have been charged the going rate, while the going rate was low, then if it goes up, get to keep my going rate…
ITS A SCAM.
If I, and THOUSANDS of other people are wrong, why is it that at the threat of a lawyer, or a complaint to the OEB, UE gets scared, and backs out and lets us off scott free (which is what happened to me.. read my follow up at http://www.chrisburke.ca) most people dont know their rights, and figure that because they have signed something they are screwed, but if people understood their rights, they know that they can fight things like this scam, which is what I did, and which is why UE has said “oh, ok, he’s putting up a stink and calling lawyers and filing complaints, so we’ll let him out” I feel bad for the THOUSANDS of other people out there who arent as aggressive as me (something my dad gave me I guess)
And to end this comment, how DARE you lump pastors in with con artists like UE, you should be ashamed of yourself that you stooped that low.
Stoop low? I know gay people that were abused by pastors and clergy, tricked into joining programs which they were told would “cure” their homosexuality without any scientific basis only to be abused. I also know gay people that have been beaten in the name of religion and Roman Catholic Priests that molested children. These people are con artists and you are a fool if you pretend I am lying or stepping low to point this out. How can anything Universal did compare with that?
As for the contract, I don’t know when you signed up, but when I worked for Universal the price of the contract was clearly stated on the paper to be signed so even if the person at the door was misleading there is no excuse for not knowing what price your signing up for.
This thing is total bullshit and the fact that thousands of people are acting this way is just further proof that we live in an uneducated society where people don’t have the basic common sense to read and understand the contracts they sign.
Now if Universal broke the law by not reaffirming a contract signed at the door for example that is a different matter: But I have no sympathy for victims of one’s own ignorance. Did you really believe that you would be saving in your very first month of a five year plan? The plan is long term and you will need many data-points over the course of the plan before you can decide whether you win or loose. If you price was 3 cents higher than the default price on one arbitrary month who cars? It makes no difference in the long term whatsoever!
i know what you saying about the whole pastors thing.. but your talking about the roman catholic church, which in general has had a pretty bad rap.. the problem is, stuff that their priests have done, have nothing to with with a majority of churches out there are like.. yes, there are problems, thats for sure… the reason i said you stooped low is because, we are talking about hydro, and you decide, just because my blog is about my ministry, to pull that in.. when it has nothing to do with the topic of this post..
as for the door to door guys.. many of them (including the guy who came to my door) impersonated hydro one staff. when a guy in a hydro one uniform and badge comes to my door saying “hi, i’m david, from hydro one, we’re going around to make sure that everyone is getting the right rates” one tends to thing its legit.. plus the high pressure sales is insane (as you saw in the video)
as for the cost.. my bill DOUBLED in cost right away… it didnt go up a few dollars, even 20 or 30 dollars, it LITERALLY doubled… Hydro one sent me a “activity” form, which shows what hydro one would have been charging me, verses what UE charged me, all the prices were DOUBLE how is that saving me money? In 1 year I lost $2000.. that doesnt sound like savings to me.
How is it that THOUSANDS of people can be wrong verses the 1 or 2 people who come to these threads fighting in favour? that 1 person must be special that they are different from so many other people. there have been people on forums who stuck out the contract, stayed the 5 years, did they save money, NO infact one family had to sell their house because they couldnt pay their bills, and they had to claim bankruptcy… doesnt sound like they were saving money at all…
I’m done with you.. and if you comment about the church in these posts again, I will delete them so dont bother.
Well your statement “I’m done with you” pretty much sums up your attitude here. Your clearly not willing to listen to alternative views. So you didn’t like being stereotyped as a pastor? Good. Think about how I feel. People like you are very good at lumping people like me together with the worst of the worst even though its totally illogical. I did not wear a hydro one uniform. I wore a Universal Energy uniform. If you can’t tell the difference then its your problem not mine.
The problem with the hydro industry in Ontario is in part the fact that the industry is still subsidized. The Energy board keeps promising that it will get rid of subsidies so that the consumer will have to pay for the full price of electricity but let face it, no one want to pay. When I worked for Universal we were told (and documentation from the energy board backed up) the fact that by this time everyone in Ontario would be paying full retail price on a time of use meter. That hasn’t happened. How a private company like Universal is suppose it compete with a subsidized rate I do not know, but that’s a mess the government has made by not keeping its promises to the private sector.
A better example would be gas prices which are not subsidized and a better example of how the price plan is supposed to work for hydro too.
The idea of keeping the “going rate” is a total fantasy. There is no “going rate” in gas or electricity. If you are not on a price plan you cannot say from one bill to the next what the price is going to be. If you sign up with a commodity brokerage like Universal then you pay the price you signed up for.
Don’t forget that gas cost 43 cents on the default plan in 2001. Prices fell unexpectedly they can rise unexpectedly too. Note that Universal’s current price for gas is less than this. Universal is also not the most expensive brokerage in the market.
Last, I don’t want you to think I defend Universal. They are a sleazy company which ripped me off as their own employee. All I ask is that you give us current and ex-marketers a break. I did not go into the business with the desire to rip consumers off. I did the job because I was desperate. I would like to know what you do to help people like myself in that situation? Blogs like this put our lives at risk as people have been attacked physically doing that job and I certainly was attacked verbally on a number of occasions even to the point of nearly breaking down in tears — but I’m sure you’d just call that a pressure sales technique? The fact is that if there were other jobs available people like myself would had been doing them and I think you spend an awful lot of time feeling sorry for yourself rather than feeling blessed that you never had to stoop to the low of taking a job for Universal Energy Alternatives!
i would just like to say, i never once attacked a person, other than saying the guy who came to my door impersonated something that he wasnt. The badge he wore did NOT say Universal, it said HYDRO ONE..
as for your situation, I feel bad that you had to work for them, it sucks. I’m very blessed to have not had to work in a situation like that, and I never will, because in my line of work, there will always be jobs. You yourself say they are sleezy, and yet your defending them, saying they are right in what they are doing, but yet, if they were right, the OEB wouldn’t have fined them $200,000 in January of 2009.. what they are doing is wrong, and if you cannot see that, which it sounds like part of you does, thats your problem.
I’d just like to note: you said “People like you are very good at lumping people like me together with the worst of the worst even though its totally illogical.” i did not do this, infact, i made a point of saying “Maybe you were the ONE staff member who wasnt a complete jerk who prayed on women and the elderly. ” so dont accuse me of something I didn’t do.
So there was only one honest person working for Universal? That’s not a stereotype? I worked with a van full of hard-working kind people who wore the correct uniform and did our jobs to the best of our abilities. Yes there were problems, but the fines came after universal became a publicly traded company. When I worked there it was privately held. Also I know the company is sleazy, but the problems are at the top level not the sales-folk.
Does it really make sense to you that Universal employees wear Hydro One uniforms? Wear do they get them? Can you buy them at costume shops? Did this person make one himself? Did he steal it from Hydro One headquarters?
I’m not saying your fundamentally a bad person here, I’m sure you mean well but the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I am just asking you to look at both sides of the coin.
Woah, totally off track here people.
I think I got out of the scam….
I too was fooled by someone who said they worked for Toronto Hydro…
I never signed their stupid cheque but I realized it was a scam pretty quick.
I cancelled my hydro this year because I moved…they called/sent letters saying I broke the contract.
I told them I was moving and didn’t pay hydro anymore and they wanted:
1. Copy of hydro bill with landlord’s name.
2. Phone bill with my name and new address.
3. Copy of my lease.
I didn’t send it because I live at my business location and didn’t want to give those assholes my personal information.
They IMMEDIATELY sent my file to a collections agency
I sent them the info they wanted finally with everything important whited out….
haven’t heard from them in weeks.
Don’t know how this affects homeowners….
It is possible to get out.
p.s.
That Cheeze Whiz and Mustard info is NOT valid.
You can’t ignore them because they will send your info to a collections agency anyway..
only a matter of time.
If you care about your credit, you will be forced to move or pay their “cancellation fees.”
i have to disagree with you friend.. they canceled my contract, and I paid NOTHING.. all it takes is persistance, and threats of reporting them, then following through with reporting them.. it took me about 3 weeks of phone calls, but they canceled it.
Right, I just meant that simply ignoring their phone calls won’t work.
You have to fight them.
Their people are pretty vicious on the phone and the Ontario Energy Board can’t really do anything.
I also lied, my lease states that I DO pay hydro.
I used Whiteout on that part of the lease.
Ha!
Must say, felt good to beat them at their own game.
In JANUARY had a UE rep come to my door stating he was from Toronto hydro, to give refunds. I gave him my Hydro bill, but refused to sign his paper when he would not let me read it – he said I could have a copy only after I signed it. And I didn’t see the Toronto Hydro logo on it. He was aggressive and actually took off with my Hydro bill! I wasn’t about to tackle 3 20-year old guys by myself. I reported to Toronto Hydro immediately that someone had just taken my bill at my door.
Then I get a bill and a letter from UE in JULY, thanking me for signing up with them in January! I called them to deny having signed this contract, to which they said they had my signature plus a recording of my telephone agreement! I never filled out anything so it was a mystery how they would get my email & telephone number. I find out that it’s a fake email & telephone number. The salesguy forged everything, including the agreement phone call!!
I have filed an OEB and BBB complaint for fraud.
Update:
I got ANOTHER letter from the collections agency saying what I did to get out of the contract was still not acceptable!!!!
They were going to “audit” me or something. UGH.
Well, I contacted journalist Ellen Roseman, who has been fighting to get people out of their bullshit contracts…two emails later, I got an apologetic email from Vanessa of Universal Energy saying my contract was cancelled with no early termination fees.
Losers!
like i said Minnie, it just takes persistance.. they arent going to go away just because, you have to be willing to do the work..
Well here’s the run down guys. My computer consulting business dried up do to the bad economy. My credit is run out. I live with my parents. I cannot and never had been able to afford a home and I can’t even afford to rent a lousy apartment. I can’t even afford to go to Canadian Tire to replace a broken light in the room I’m in now. Looks like my only recourse is to return to doing door-to-door sales for Universal Energy. Believe me, I would not ever consider this unless it was a life or death situation but I’m 30 years old and have a University degree and am over $40K in debt. My parents are elderly and cannot support me. Once they die I’m on my own. So what do you home owners that are so pissed off think that I should do? I really want to know!
Get a different job. Work in a factory, mc donald. I don't have a university degree to figure that out.
Derek, if your ok with selling people a scam, fill your boots, I just hope that you never show up at my door.
There are plenty of ways to make money out there.. good money too.. my wife has a university degree too, but, where we live, theres no work in what she does.. so, she applied for work at different places… resturants, and even a cheese factory (which is where shes working)
it sounds to me like you dont want to work, you want to make easy money.. which is why your willing to scam people… I think thats disgusting.. but, I have morals… and would never want to scam someone..
if your living with your parents (which is lame BTW) you cant have that many bills. My wife and I are in our mid 20′s.. we have student loans.. and they suck the money right out of us.. but we aren’t trying to find easy money.. we are working hard, long hours to pay them back..
Be a man, get a real job, stop trying to scam people.
Hi Chris. Your very judgemental for a person that doesn’t know me. Have you taken a look at my website. I have been working hard for years trying to build a computer company. I was working hard on it even when I was working for Universal. I also might add that I am sick with clinical depression and am in the process of phasing off of antidepressant medication that I have been on for over 5-years partly because I don’t have a drug plan and cannot afford it. Many of my bills are business expenses. I am also disadvantaged by discrimination against me because I’m homosexual which is something you apparently do not have to deal with and probably don’t have any understanding of. I never filled my boots working for Universal. It was a choice of last resort. I have put in applications for jobs at Tim Hortons and Starbucks but was turned down because of my education. If you think that I should lie about my degree that would make no better than the people you criticize here. Your employer is a very significant person to lie to even a lie of omission. So before you go around telling people whether or not they should be a man you should consider that they may live under different circumstances than you. If you really believe in the values you espouse than why don’t you give me a call tomorrow on the number on my website and we can discuss how you can help me find some form of employment that meets *your* expectations of me!
I’m usually not one to come back with annoying comments like yours, but I will this time, simply by commenting on some of the things you said.
you: Have you taken a look at my website?
me: yes, I have, its garbage…
you: I am sick with clinical depression etc…
me: that sucks.. so why would you work for a company that people hate, and where they are going to swear at you when you go to their door.
you: Many of my bills are business expenses
me: clearly your working for the wrong business if its taking all your money.
you:I am also disadvantaged by discrimination against me because I’m homosexual which is something you apparently do not have to deal with and probably don’t have any understanding of.
me: thats your choice, no, I don’t have to deal with it, but, yes, I have plenty of understanding
you: I have put in applications for jobs at Tim Hortons and Starbucks but was turned down because of my education
me: education? I know students who work at these places, so don’t tell me their didn’t hire you because your not educated.. and if its education you want, there are government plans out there to help less fortunate people go to school, so, don’t cry to me about that
you: If you really believe in the values you espouse than why don’t you give me a call tomorrow on the number on my website and we can discuss how you can help me find some form of employment that meets *your* expectations of me!
me: i could care less what your job is, just don’t try to tell me that working for universal is a good thing.. because its not.
Chris, I don’t think I’m making myself clear here. If you are going to slander the company I worked for and me on-line, even to the point of threatening me then maybe you have some responsibility to help me rather than dismiss me. It seems to me that the thing you dislike the most about me is simply the fact that other people like myself that face real hardship in life are distraction for other people away from your petty problems.
The fact that I am clinically depressed is a real hardship for which you clearly do not understand. The problem with it is that it creates vicious cycles that reinforce the disease and if you had any sense you would see that. No one wants to hire someone that is clearly depressed. I am also un-attracted and hunched backed because of years of self-esteem problems and the only companies that want to give you work when you are in this state are companies that use your condition such as universal. Because they force me into a situation that reinforces my low self-esteem they make it difficult for me to break out of the job and into a better one. This is how they manipulate many people since the vast majority of people working for universal had low self-esteem. These might be some things for you to consider. Websites like yours tend to reinforce my low self-esteem too as do comments like that my website is garbage!
Also if my business is sucking money out of me and you feel that its not working isn’t that an argument that I should have to go back to universal as your saying I can’t make money elsewhere?
I have certainly tried to get jobs elsewhere and failed for 3 years before giving in and taking a job for Universal. I don’t know why I was turned down by those places. Maybe it was education. Maybe it was my depression. Maybe it was my homosexuality. The point is that I am not lying about being turned down for jobs they way you are lying about a universal employee wearing a hydro one uniform simply because you can’t tell the difference between this a universal uniform.
What exactly is it that is so shit about my website? Perhaps you could try giving someone some positive feedback for a change.
If you know a lot about homosexuality and the struggle of homosexuals you will know that we are called “fags” a term that means kindling or fire-wood. This suggests that the name-caller believers that gays should be burned at the stake. Is this what you believe?
You should also know I did not did not choice to be gay but that I am thrown into a endless battle with conservatives to protect my basic rights which is constant and exhausting. This is an exhaustion you do not face. It is also a source of low self-esteem for many gay people and I hope I’ve already illustrated how I believe low self-esteem condemned me to working a job like universal and could cause me to decide my life isn’t worth anything better. Why should I be concerned about ripping people like you off Chris, when you’ll be the first to tell me that I’m going to burn in Hell regardless!
I also don’t appreciate your sly remark about my living with my parents as being lame. Do you think I’m proud of this? You have the support of your parents, your wife, your wife’s parents. I have never been able to form a long term intimate relationship with anyone despite wanting one. Maybe its my lack of people skills. Maybe its my low self-esteem. Maybe it my internalized homophobia. What ever it is it is clear that you do not feel blessed for the family you have. Instead you see it as being “normal” and will bend over backwards to find ways to protect your own ego by pretending that I go myself in this terrible situation.
So if you are truly a Christ follower lets see you espouse the Christian value of charity. I never said that a job at Universal is a good thing. I never asked you to believe that. What I ask is that if you are so eager for other people to feel sorry for you, why don’t you give some of that back and feel sorry for someone that doesn’t have the same advantages you do. Maybe you could suggest a job for me. Maybe you could pray for me. Just don’t burn me alive!
I’ll be honest, I don’t care at all to read everything you just wrote.. all your trying to do is support a company that scams people.. I did notice that you said I lied about him wearing a hydro one uniform though.. and, I didn’t lie about this, the badge he was wearing CLEARLY said Hydro One.. and I have read stories of HUNDREDS of other people who also said “he was wearing a hydro one uniform” so, no I’m not lying.
I’m done fighting with you, your wasting your energy typing, because I don’t care what you have to say about the company.. its a scam, and it should be shut down forever.
oh, and the thing that sucks about your website, is the fact that it looks like a 2 year old made it.. when I look at a business, if I want to support it, and they have crappy methods of advertising (i.e. a crappy website) that tells me that they don’t care enough to put money where it counts in a business, and that is advertising.
There are HUNDREDS of services out there that allow you to create a website, for free, and it can still look good.
So your saying that there is no problem with my website technically only cosmetically? What exactly is so cosmetically displeasing about it?
And why is it that you expect people to care about what you think or what you write when you have no consideration for the thoughts and feelings of others? What kind of pastor are you? You seem to be a very spiritually void person.
everything about it is cosmetically displeasing.. it looks like there was no time spent on it at all. Look at all the good sites out there, they LOOK good.. even a simple blogger site is better than what you have created.
I’m actually a very caring person, when the person isn’t trying to scam me.
Am I trying to scam you Chris? Do you know how bad it is for a pastor to refuse someone a request to pray for them?
I also think you can be a little more specific. I mean there is no way that everything on my website is cosmetically displeasing. My website is hand coded in HTML and uses a common layout for all pages, style-sheets and text is formatted in tables. All of the HTML is kosher. The only possible criticism that I think would be fair is that I do not use many images in the layout. I have been thinking of designing a corporate logo for some time. Is it the lack of graphic images that bothers you Chris?
So tell me Chris, if your a caring person then how are you going to demonstrate this? When are you going to acknowledge that abuse and lack of charity creates things in this world like Universal and that their employees are abused if anything more than their customers are?
cry me a river man.. I'm all about helping people who aren't trying to mooch off of the system.. ever hear of the idea of "the lord helps those who help themselves" I'm not going to help you, because well.. for starters, we live in totally different places.. and the other reason is, you would rather go out, and work at some job scamming people, rather than trying for legit work.. as I've said before, there are lots of government programs out there that will help you go back to school if education is the problem, which, I am guessing it isn't.. although you say it is, its clear to me from your comments, that laziness is the problem..
Chris, laziness is not the problem. The problem is that your ego is more important to you than the simple reality that there are people in this world with greater hardship than you. You admit that I am well educated. How many lazy people are well educated? Could you had gotten through University if you were lazy? Of course you will always come up with a reason to believe that there are alternatives out there for people in my situation when they're of course are not and it is because of your need to protect your ego and the similar needs of many millions of people that individuals who are not lazy and are not uneducated are forced into jobs like working for Universal. It is because of your ego that you feel the need to insult me to make yourself feel better and why you insult others who are forced into such a position. It is because of your ego that you convince yourself that people who are making little more than what one gets from welfare, perhaps not even, are "filling they're boots". Its because you do not see yourself as lucky or blessed and you feel entitled to your wealth, so you create myths that are completely unshakable to protect yourself from the realization that you have the power to help people who are in need. You have never been a situation where you did door-to-door sales and you have no concept of what the experience is like. It is not a job for the lazy at all.
Just to let you know I'm back in a job programming. The job pays far better than Universal ever did and its only a fraction the work. I know whatever job you are doing is not as bad as the job at Universal and I know it pays magnitudes better even that what I'm making now, and yet you have no sympathy for individuals in such a situation probably because doing so would interfere with your belief that you are entitled to the sympathy of others which is obviously why you created this blog.
Another question for you is, do you vote Conservative? I'm betting good money that you do. Did you know that it was the conservatives that deregulated the gas and hydro industry thus creating the job sector. They did so to stimulate job creation. Now your a very predictable man so I'm guessing your going to justify the Conservative's decision to do so rather than vote against them out of protest for what they created. I'm dying to know what your justification is your that?!
I'm not sure what gave you the notion that I make a lot of money.. in fact, if I made a lot of money, I wouldnt complain about universal scamming me out of all my money.. I don't make a lot of money, in fact, I live pay check to pay check, every month. I'm upset about the fact that you work for universal, I'm upset about the fact that you, and many other people who work for them, are just trying to make a quick buck, at the expense of OTHER peoples finances. You kept saying that there was no where else to work because you are uneducated, and that's a crock, because there are LOTS of jobs out there for the uneducated.. go work at a grocery store, a restaurant, things like that.. my friend makes a LIVING out of waiting tables.. he pays all his bills and travels 2 times a year.. so, don't give me crap about there not being other ways to make money.
say what you want about me.. I don't care.. I know whats true.. I didn't start thing post because of my ego.. I started these posts because there are hundreds, maybe even thousands of people like me out there, who got scammed by this company, and I just wanted to share with them, my experience, and help them in ANY way I could to get out of these scam.
Glad to hear you got a new job.. sad that you still clearly have no life that you continue to come back here and try to fight with me.. get a life.
Chris I come back here because you will not listen. I have said many times that I am not uneducated and that is your problem. I have a university degree and ironically that's why no one will give me a job waiting tables. Believe me I have tried. In fact I have said many times that there were many other university grads working there. In fact I have said many times that I did not make any money off of universal and that they scammed me out of my pay. You say you don't make any money, so then how can you own a house where you pay for utilities? Answer me honestly, do you make more than $500 a month? If so you are in a much better position than I was in working for Universal Energy. Perhaps you should do some research about how commodity brokering works. You might be surprised that it makes sense. For instance ordinarily the price of natural gas in higher in the winter than it is in the summer. When do you use most of your natural gas? The summer? I'm guessing you don't. If you built a tank in your yard and filled it up with gas during the summer to use in the winter do you think you could save money doing so in principle. Many people have saved on price plans. Maybe not on the ones I sold because the economy caused the price to drop out of the market, but believe me people have saved on deals like it. Perhaps part of the reason why the economy is in shit is because of the fact that during the economic good times of 2006 people who were unable to find work in their industry such as myself were forced in jobs like Universal because those were jobs available but these were jobs where we could not meet our full potential. All that anyone cares about is that I was no unemployed, the quality of my employment was not an issue. I can't count the number of rich home-owners I visited who were accountants or top level managers. They couldn't understand why everyone didn't just do what they did. The problem is how much legitimate need is there in society for accountants. Clearly the job market was top heavy with too many people in these specific fields making top dollar while no one would pay me to program for love or money. I believe that this is why the economy failed and why I am now working in my field when I wasn't before while its those people that are foreclosing. Believe me, it was those people who were underwriting companies like Universal by buying stocks in their investment portfolios etc. and many probably didn't even know it is was there. Why would they care as long as it makes them dough…and those people you are not blaming are you?
I noticed that you avoided my question about whether or not you vote Conservative. I think you do. Are you or are you not aware that it was Mike Harris that passed a law requiring utilities to support third party pricing plans. Why do you think this law was passed? If your so upset about Universal than how could you ever vote for this party again?
I just wanted to add Chris that I do not come here to fight with you. I come here because I needed help getting my life together and I thought that someone who hated Universal so much would do anything in his power to help someone in need from having to go back to work there. You have done nothing but made up lies about me and my situation because it was less painful for you to do so than to help a person in need. I want you to know that if you were in need I would do everything in my power to help you. All you need to do is ask.
you came here because you want me to help you? that makes ZERO sense.. I live no where near you, and I have no clue who you are, and you come off as a total idiot.. why would I help you? If you want help, get out on the streets and look for work, don't go to a website, and give someone a sob story, hoping that they can give you work.
Chris, the point I am trying to make here is that the people working at Universal are people that have had sincere problems finding work at the time they took the job. I had a repeat of this recently during the recession. It has nothing to do with us being under-educated. It has nothing to do with us being lazy. We have looked for work and been unable to find it. Many of us are turned down from jobs because we are OVER educated or many other reasons. As a Christian person you should know that its your duty to help anyone in need in any way you can but it seems to me that you are only interested in criticizing the jobs we do when we are in a bad situation. I don’t care whether or not I come off as a total idiot. I don’t care if you know me or not. What I know is that I would not had taken a job for Universal if I had found any other recourse at that time of my life and in the interest of the basic dignity of all of the human beings in the situation I was in, I cannot rest and will continue to come back day after day and week after week until you see that there are people in need of help and I want you to think next time someone comes to your door working for universal or some other company that there is a reason why they were stuck in such a lousy job and that maybe if people like you took action to help rather than pointlessly criticize them or come up with make-believe explanations of why they are in that situation or pretend that they have the power to move on without help or that someone else will take on the responsibility to do it for you. If finding work is so easy why don’t you just find a higher paying job to pay your gas bill for instance rather than complaining about it. I see you do a lot of complaining about Universal but you have absolutely no sympathy for people in that situation. I am willing to come back here as many times as it takes before you see the truth that the people working for Universal Energy do not do so for a quick buck but because no one is there to help them, care for them or even give them a word of encouragement. As a Christian person you should be interested in doing those things but you just seem to come back day after day with the same idea that these people are not in need of help and that they have some kind of basic moral failing and this just isn’t true.
my easiest reply to this is, no matter what kind of financial situation I was in, I would NEVER stoop to ripping people off, and causing them to loose their homes. I would never deliberately LIE to someone, and tell them that I was going to save them money.. when in fact, I know I’m going to cost them more money. I guess thats the difference in my ethics and yours, mine revolve around wanting to help people, yours revolve around wanting to help yourself
Chris, your ethics revolve around being the first to throw the stone. I never lied to anyone. I believed in the program I was selling at the time I did. I don’t believe for a second that you would not rip someone off if your life or the life of your family depended on it. I read in one of your tweets that you believe for instance that its okay to tail-gate on the free-way even though it puts your life, that of your passengers and countless others in danger. Shame on you. You make it perfectly clear that you don’t believe its possible to save on gas or hydro price plans yet you hold the Harris/Eves government blameless for passing affirmative legislation requiring your local hydro utility to support such a plan. This is not the first time I’ve asked you if no one can save on a price plan why would Harris/Eves do this? If you want me to go away I will after you answer this simple question: Do you think that its impossible to save on a hydro price-plan from Universal or any of its competitors and if so how does this affect your opinion of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party?
Just because you BELIEVED that you were going to be saving money, doesnt meant that you were.. universal and all other energy resellers are scams, that is why there are TV segments about them, and thats why there are THOUSANDS of websites dedicated to the demise of Universal, and companies like them.
You may not believe that I wouldn’t rip people off if my family depended on it, but, your wrong. My family and I know the difference between right and wrong, and we would never, no matter what, rip people off, just to get by, its immoral.
If you had of read my whole tweet, you would have read that i got pulled over for tailgating, and the cop said to me that “2 car lengths is not enough” meanwhile, when we go to drivers ed, and take our tests, there is a question saying “how much distance should you leave between you and the car in front of you” and the answer is 2 car lengths, so, shame on YOU for not reading the tweet properly.
No, I don’t believe its possible to save on hydro, not when using a company like Universal.. maybe there is a moral company out there, who isn’t ripping people off, but, I haven’t heard of them yet, and, something tells me no one else has, otherwise, we would be seeing things about them in our papers, and on TV as a legit company that we should all sign up with to save money.
As for my thoughts on the Conservative Party.. the reason I vote conservative, isn’t because I like EVERYTHING they do… because no government is going to be 100% perfect for everyone, the reason I vote conservative is because they are the ones I agree with the MOST in their plans, if the liberal party had more things that i agreed with, I would vote for them.. thats the point of different governments.. surely you, who clearly voted for the liberals, don’t agree with EVERYTHING the libs do, and if you do, you’ve been brainwashed by them, because they do a LOT of stupid things, as does the conservative party.
Please do me a favor, and stop commenting on my blog, nothing you say is going to change my mind, Universal should be shut down, they are scam artists who have caused many people to loose their homes, and in my books, thats not right, and nothing you can say is going to make me think its right. I’m also not ever going to agree with you that it was ok for you to work their, just because you were in a bad situation financially.. no matter what your financial situation, you should not ever be lowered to causing other people to get into the situation you are in. Just because you can’t get a grip on your finances, doesn’t mean that you should rip off the rest of the province, and cause them too to have poor finances.
So basically you are saying that you believe the Conservative Party of Ontario is openly involved in a conspiracy is to rip you off and even so you are going to vote for them because you agree with a few thing they do? However someone on the brink of starvation who believed in the company he worked for at the time should be burned alive? For your information you cannot possibly know what you or your family would do in a situation you’ve never been in. Clearly you have a lot of people in your life helping you that I do not. You have a spouse and her family. You have a church that does not reject you. I only have my elderly parents. Even so I wanted to believe that it was possible for me to find a job where I could help others. Your many friends have given you an illusion that because you have no reason to do “bad” things that you are somehow perfect and incapable of sin. I know I’m a sinner. I am not saying that I’m a sinner b/c of working for Universal, I know I was doing the best I would there, but I know that no one is perfect and that is a basic tenant of Christianity you seem to lack a grasp of. You on the other hand seem to think your helping others simply because so many people are there for you? Obviously you think that you are some kind of perfect Christ figure that can cast judgement on others. You also have way too much faith in the media which does not generally report good things. I met many people in my four months working for Universal who had saved on price plans with other companies, mostly nat. gas not hydro, and that was part of what kept me there.
Also two car lengths is not necessarily enough clearance when driving on the free-way. I suppose now your going to include the police in your conspiracy theory some how saying that they are a corrupt organisation intent on ruining you financially with traffic tickets? Wake up Chris! You can’t just forgive Mike and Ernie and condemn the people on the bottom. The real reason you like the Conservatives is because they make you feel that its okay not to be charitable or kind to others. Apparently anyone that gives you that feeling is worthy of anything, even forgiveness for creating an entire sector of the economy you apparently make your mission to destroy.
you got me man, you totally have me figured out.. everything is a conspiracy.. I’m not going to dignifiy you anymore with answers.. your a loser.. get a life, and get a job..
Oh.. and the 2 car lengths.. I wasn’t on a freeway.. I was on a 2 lane road with the speed limit of 80km/h in which I was going 63 km/h according to the cop.
I’m done with you.. from now on, I will be spamming your posts, so, don’t bother.
Wow, that was an 8 month long disaggreement!
Here’s my story…..
Dude came to my door, talked a mile a minute..promises of lower rates and that Oakville Hydro prices were increasing to 9.2 cents per Kw by May 2009, showed me a newspaper article that was photocopied, which stated as much. To this date, I cannot find this newspaper article at all.
I unfortunately and stupidly, signed the contract…..cashed the cheque…..but, now i’m faced with bills that are now doubled….I have saved nothing…i’ve been misled..and want out of this contract with no penalties…….I have a complaint into UE….I have lodged a complaint to OEB…..we’ll see how this road travels !
Wish me luck!
good luck Lisa.. its too bad that there are people out there who prey on others.. UE is a prime example of this.. go in, scare people and tell them that their prices are going to sky rocket.. scam them into signing, and then in the end, nothing happens.. I wish you the best of luck in getting out of the scam, and make sure you come back to let us know how you make out.
I will definitely…I think I might have some luck with the affirmation CD that I have…that is my daughter authorizing it without my permission…..She was only 15 at the time…I have an investigation on that with UE….and am sending the CD into OEB for review as well……that’s my story..and i’m sticking to it!
I’m afraid to calculate how much i have paid more to UE over the last year, comparable to what my own hydro company would have charged me (oakville hydro)..Possibly I could look at retro payment back to the original sign up after they investigate that the affirmation call was my daughter and not me. I’d be more than happy with contract cancellation with no penalty..that’s what i’m looking for !
Thanks for this site, it educated me. I was shocked after reviewing the CNN Marketplace documentary…WOW !
After all this research, i’m going to be sending a letter to the 86 units in my townhouse complex (i worry about our elderly people who put all their trust in these seemingly know it alls) to find out who else has been cooerced into this misrepresentation.
Thanks for this site !!! It sure opened my eyes up !
Well Chris, the amazing thing is that you think you have me figured out. Why is it that you know me so well and I can’t figure you with this huge awesome website of yours. I have tried to be as nice and decent to you as possible but all you do is insult me at every turn and you don’t even consider how your vote helped create the very situation you complain about. I can certainly understand if you don’t agree with everything the Conservatives do, but clearly if you are this upset about something you should take action at the voting booth before you go on and start insulting companies and people you know nothing about. You voted conservative, they deregulated hydro, you got screwed. Is this my fault?
I didn’t get screwed because conservatives regulated hydro.. I got screwed because I signed up with Universal.. if I didn’t sign up with universal, I would be about $3000 richer.. because that is how much they have overcharged me, compared to what Hydro One would have charged me in the last year.. I know this, because Hydro One sent me documents stating what I paid to Universal.. my loss in finances had NOTHING to do with the conservatives, and everything to do with Universal and their scam..
Yet you admit that it was the Conservatives’ legislation that allowed UE to put their name on your bill. We will not know until five years have past since your sign-up date whether or not you’d had saved or not, but lets assume your right and the entire price-plan industry is a scam. There’s no way to save money on it. If you vote for a political party that legalizes pick-pocketing does it make sense to blame the pick-pockets and then continue to vote for the same political party? I can guarantee you if Mike Harris had not been elected to a second term in office Universal would never had been on your hydro bill. End of story.
Look, I don’t know why Ernie Eves passed the legislation. Maybe its because your wrong and the price-plans do work in the long term. After-all hydro prices do tend to go up fast when they do. Maybe its because they recognized that there aren’t enough jobs in factories or at McDonald’s to employ everyone and knew that if people did not have jobs it would make them look bad. Maybe they did it because they got a cut of the profits. I really don’t know the reason but I cannot think of a reason your bound to like.
I was not the one that signed you up. I was not the one that voted for the party proactively deregulated the hydro industry. It was you that did that and if you think that’s a scam and you keep voting for them it makes ZERO sense and frankly it makes you look like an idiot.
wow.. it appears as though universal teaches you guys everything to say in every situation.. got your script in front of you eh? This is not about politics, any of the parties would have allowed rip off scam artists like universal and direct to stay in business.. I’m blocking you now, because you are bugging the heck out of me with your BS answers and reasons..
I found out after 3 years somehow I have this Lamprey like company attached to me.I have told them that no matter where I live they are not to knock on my door.I will consider this tresspassing and will give them 30 seconds to vacate my property.After that I will remove said person(s) with extreme prejudice from my property.No matter what happens in this case,I am thru with putting up with any and all solicitations at my door.From any organization.Period.
Just thought i’d leave this message to let you know, that after investigating the Affirmation call …..I was let out of my contract with no penalties, no questions, no fight on my part…
Thanks goodness…Lesson learned
thats awesome Lisa, thank you for the update, and I’m glad to hear that there are other people getting out of the scam!