RE:RE:RE:RE:The chart doesn't lie.
tom,
re: "Customers leaving their contracts is down every year. Customers renewing their contracts is up every year.
They dont know they were ripped off I guess."
Most of these customers are not even aware they are being "ripped off". Some are so vulnerable they are not capable of understanding they are being "ripped off". They do not fully understand what they are signing. They are being misinformed and pressured at their door step or on the phone to sign or renew a contract. I know you can say caveat emptor! (buyer beware) but these types of tactics don't make you a good salesperson or business...on the street they call this a con artist.
Newbies the following information can be found on Wikipedia with references:
In 2009 the Illinois State Attorney General’s O?ce reached a $1 million settlement with Just Energy, formerly U.S. Energy Savings Corp., as a result of a lawsuit alleging the company sold natural gas offers using misleading sales tactics that promised consumers savings. Under the settlement, Just Energy must make $1 million in restitution available to eligible Illinois residential and small commercial customers. It also must allow current eligible customers to cancel their contracts without incurring an early termination fee. [8]
In June 2003, the Toronto Star reported that both Direct Energy and the Ontario Energy Savings Corp., a subsidiary of the Energy Savings Income Fund, had been charged with fraud as a result of its agents having forged energy contracts and had been fined. Ontario Energy Savings Corp. defended these charges by stating that the forgery was a result of individual agents, and not indicative of the way the company conducts business.[9]
In January 2007, the Toronto Star reported that agents of the Ontario Energy Savings Corp. had been misrepresenting themselves as a public company while involved in sales, and had breached a number of the regulations of the Ontario Energy Board established to protect customers. It also speculated that the prices the OESC was attempting to charge in order to ensure a fixed price on energy were based on unrealistic projections of how much energy prices would rise in the next five years.[10]
In July 2008, the Attorney General of New York state brought action against U.S Energy Savings (now Just Energy) for deceptive sales practices. The company was obliged to pay $200,000 in penalties and costs to the state.[11]
In April, 2010, the CBS2 Chicago reported that Just Energy[12] was ordered to pay a $90,000 fine for violation of the Alternative Gas Supplier Law. The Illinois Commerce Commission completed an independent audit of the company's sales practices.[13][14]
People who have switched to Just Energy have reported seeing their gas bills go from forty dollars a month to three hundred dollars a month.[15]