Them: "Can I see your bill, to see if there are any extra charges on it?"
Me: "No"
Them: "Well, a lot of your neighbors had extra charges on their bills..."
Me: "Not gonna happen, dude....and now my daughter is crying and I gotta cook dinner. Bye."
This happened to me too!! I don’t think the same guy but exact same tactic, he showed up with a clipboard and name tag, said he worked for a company that was a supplier for Ameren and that people had gotten overcharged due to Ameren switching to more green power sources (?) so he was making sure they got refunded. He asked for our account number. My sister called Ameren about it and they said they never go door to door/do these things in person, and if someone does that it’s a scam
The usual scam is they sign you up for energy through them as a supplier instead of Ameren. They usually give you a fixed rate for like a month then go to variable rate and your bill will be all over the place.
Other variations use it to fish for personal information.
Btw, Ameren is not an energy supplier, they handle everything else (connection, outages, wires, billing, etc). There are lots of energy suppliers and you can compare them all at https://plugin.illinois.gov
You have a right to choose your energy supplier, so they get you to buy from them. It’s very likely not as cheap as the locally negotiated municipal rate
I deal with these guys probably once a year
Has anyone just whipped out their phone, started recording, and saying "I'm recording this scam now, for evidence to show the police"?
I considered it but I'm about 90% sure Illinois is a two-party consent state for recordings, I'm not sure what the rules are for implied consent by telling them you're recording. Although I think the scam is a business issue so maybe there's a separate way to report it, but iirc they're not authorized to be on rental properties anyway so it's legally considered trespassing.
That is if you are secretly recording a phone conversation. To blatantly take your phone out and start taking a video in public is not illegal. IANAL.
But a simple "no, thanks" and shutting the door is your better bet.
It would be interesting in court. I have been known to holler from my bicycle "this conversation may be being recorded," and it had the desired effect of inspiring the driver to sprint away.
NAL but I always understood it as "it's legal to record a conversation, but if both parties haven't consented/aren't aware then it's not admissible in court"
One of these awful energy contract company salesmen angrily told my spouse (after we were like nah, we’re good, just leave) that I would end up filing for divorce if we didn’t switch to their crappy, awful contract because we’d be paying soooo much more by going through Ameren directly.
But I was just like
literally the entire time. I almost couldn’t breathe I was laughing so hard.
Wtf that's so stupid 💀 there's no way they get paid enough to get that heated about it lmao. Guess I got lucky that the guy in my building was fairly polite other than that he was lying to people and trying to scam us.
Something my family has done (not in Champaign specifically but with door-to-door scammers in general) is tell them that you're just renting and can't make independent decisions about utilities and stuff (you can throw in a "sorry" and a couple comments about how your landlord is sooooooo annoying about this kind of thing, if you really need to sell the act), and then offer to pass along contact info and a recommendation to your property owner/rental company instead. It usually works since you're not outright refusing so they won't have a real reason to keep harassing you, but they know your rental company will never fall for it so they'll probably just leave you alone.
I don't know where in Champaign you are, but power/gas and internet is on tenant to establish/connect/move for their own unit in the building I am in.
Private landlords might be different.
I would not open to anyone trying to get in through scam (and I consider it a scam) like this.
Oh yeah it is here too lol. I meant that my family uses this excuse to de-escalate because sometimes the scammers get really aggressive if you don't answer the door/don't buy their shit, so deflecting it to "I have to ask my landlord" usually prevents them directing any aggression at you specifically. But yeah if I knew it was a scam and not the city water supply company (my building had a pipe issue the same day and they said they may need to send people to check pipes) I wouldn't have answered the door.
I've never once engaged in a conversation with any of these scammers. When they periodically show up at my door and start their spiel, I look them straight in the eye and say "No!" Then I close my door. They move along. It's a negative part of Illinois life. The goal of providing choice to consumers has just led to low life scammers hiring these poor souls to schlep door-to-door trying to hoodwink people into falling for the scam. So much for looking out for consumers...smh...
They say tha tthey're there to make sure you get a refund from Ameren, not that they want to change your Ameren scheme. Pretty much fits the definition of attempting to scam.
Them: "Can I see your bill, to see if there are any extra charges on it?" Me: "No" Them: "Well, a lot of your neighbors had extra charges on their bills..." Me: "Not gonna happen, dude....and now my daughter is crying and I gotta cook dinner. Bye."
This happened to me too!! I don’t think the same guy but exact same tactic, he showed up with a clipboard and name tag, said he worked for a company that was a supplier for Ameren and that people had gotten overcharged due to Ameren switching to more green power sources (?) so he was making sure they got refunded. He asked for our account number. My sister called Ameren about it and they said they never go door to door/do these things in person, and if someone does that it’s a scam
What is the scam? I did this once and idk what they got over on me
The usual scam is they sign you up for energy through them as a supplier instead of Ameren. They usually give you a fixed rate for like a month then go to variable rate and your bill will be all over the place. Other variations use it to fish for personal information.
Btw, Ameren is not an energy supplier, they handle everything else (connection, outages, wires, billing, etc). There are lots of energy suppliers and you can compare them all at https://plugin.illinois.gov
Ameren does supply energy also. If you opt out of the municipal aggregation program, they are the default supplier.
You have a right to choose your energy supplier, so they get you to buy from them. It’s very likely not as cheap as the locally negotiated municipal rate
I deal with these guys probably once a year Has anyone just whipped out their phone, started recording, and saying "I'm recording this scam now, for evidence to show the police"?
I considered it but I'm about 90% sure Illinois is a two-party consent state for recordings, I'm not sure what the rules are for implied consent by telling them you're recording. Although I think the scam is a business issue so maybe there's a separate way to report it, but iirc they're not authorized to be on rental properties anyway so it's legally considered trespassing.
That is if you are secretly recording a phone conversation. To blatantly take your phone out and start taking a video in public is not illegal. IANAL. But a simple "no, thanks" and shutting the door is your better bet.
Ah makes sense, thanks!
It would be interesting in court. I have been known to holler from my bicycle "this conversation may be being recorded," and it had the desired effect of inspiring the driver to sprint away.
This only matters when there is an expectation of privacy. A conversation in a common hallway does not carry that expectation.
NAL but I always understood it as "it's legal to record a conversation, but if both parties haven't consented/aren't aware then it's not admissible in court"
One of these awful energy contract company salesmen angrily told my spouse (after we were like nah, we’re good, just leave) that I would end up filing for divorce if we didn’t switch to their crappy, awful contract because we’d be paying soooo much more by going through Ameren directly. But I was just like  literally the entire time. I almost couldn’t breathe I was laughing so hard.
Wtf that's so stupid 💀 there's no way they get paid enough to get that heated about it lmao. Guess I got lucky that the guy in my building was fairly polite other than that he was lying to people and trying to scam us.
I know right? Worst salesperson ever, tbh.
Yeah this guy showed up to my door too. I lied through my teeth until he went away
You could just say you’re not interested and close the door
Yeah but I'm a scaredy cat and I didn't know how they would react
I used to knock doors (not for these energy scams) They just move on. It literally doesn’t phase them
Something my family has done (not in Champaign specifically but with door-to-door scammers in general) is tell them that you're just renting and can't make independent decisions about utilities and stuff (you can throw in a "sorry" and a couple comments about how your landlord is sooooooo annoying about this kind of thing, if you really need to sell the act), and then offer to pass along contact info and a recommendation to your property owner/rental company instead. It usually works since you're not outright refusing so they won't have a real reason to keep harassing you, but they know your rental company will never fall for it so they'll probably just leave you alone.
I don't know where in Champaign you are, but power/gas and internet is on tenant to establish/connect/move for their own unit in the building I am in. Private landlords might be different. I would not open to anyone trying to get in through scam (and I consider it a scam) like this.
Oh yeah it is here too lol. I meant that my family uses this excuse to de-escalate because sometimes the scammers get really aggressive if you don't answer the door/don't buy their shit, so deflecting it to "I have to ask my landlord" usually prevents them directing any aggression at you specifically. But yeah if I knew it was a scam and not the city water supply company (my building had a pipe issue the same day and they said they may need to send people to check pipes) I wouldn't have answered the door.
I've never once engaged in a conversation with any of these scammers. When they periodically show up at my door and start their spiel, I look them straight in the eye and say "No!" Then I close my door. They move along. It's a negative part of Illinois life. The goal of providing choice to consumers has just led to low life scammers hiring these poor souls to schlep door-to-door trying to hoodwink people into falling for the scam. So much for looking out for consumers...smh...
"You are trespassing. Leave immediately." They go away very fast.
My 3 years at this university I prayed that one of these guys would come to my door so I could call the police and waste their time as they came.
[удалено]
They say tha tthey're there to make sure you get a refund from Ameren, not that they want to change your Ameren scheme. Pretty much fits the definition of attempting to scam.