Submitted by ConsciousMinded t3_108mz4l in pittsburgh
2 people just showed up at my door that said that they were from a company associated with Shell (I forget the name) that provides to Duquesne Light and said that my next door neighbor complained that there was a variable that showed up on their bill. They asked me if I had this variable on a certain page of my energy bill, just a yes or no. They didn't ask for the bill itself. My SO handles that bill so I had no idea. Didn't even know where the bill is in my place and told them I had no idea. They said they were going to have to come back out again in a month and ask again. And just asked for my first name and I gave them that and nothing else. Was this the setup for a scam? I have no idea.
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Update: I spoke with another neighbor that I saw speaking with them and got a little more information. The 2 people said that they were from Aspire, and are under Shell. They asked my neighbor how many lines there were on her bill. She told them the number of lines, and the people said they they had 2 suppliers on their bill. My neighbor looked at her bill and noticed that was correct, they did have 2 suppliers. They asked my neighbor for more information and my neighbor told them no and that they were going to contact Duquesne Light tomorrow. The people said that my neighbors were going to be ending up paying more for their gas and they could end up with 4 providers on their next bill. The people said that they were going to be back to them as well and then left. Some other information is that they were not wearing any badges and when my neighbor asked for one, one showed them it on their phone. They were both wearing shirts with an energy company on them.
I agree with a lot of you that this just feels scammy. Why would they not just directly ask Duquesne Light for the data? None of us thankfully gave any sensitive information.
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Update Update: They showed up back at my door again. It's Inspire energy. Never heard of them before until today when I started looking them up on this subreddit. From what I'm gathering here, It's one of those companies that tries to switch you over to their rates which start off low at first and then they jack them up later on so you end up paying more. I don't know what this guy was going on about with a variable on my bill but I just shut him down this time. He said someone will be back out again in a month. I'm just not answering the door anymore unless I know I'm expecting someone.
Asleep_Heron2179 t1_j3tblvv wrote
SCAM. BE CAREFUL OPENING THE DOOR