Mobile Specialties

Although we have added the customer to an internal DNC list we are also currently conducting a thorough investigation of how this number got through to our call center agents. Our lists are purchased from licensed vendors who guarantee that their lists are current and scrubbed against the National...

DNC list. Our calling platforms then scrub a number from the database after three total attempts. We attempted to reach the customer to explain this but got the answering machine. Given the nature of the complaint, we will not continue attempting to reach the customer by phone but the necessary steps have been taken to ensure that he does not receive any further marketing calls from any of our reps. MPower takes concerns of this nature very seriously and we are working to optimize our calling protocols and to ensure that every protection has been put in place to prevent it from recurring

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

As requested the customer's information has been added to our internal DNC list which should ensure that he does not receive any more calls from our agents. It appears that until now, the customer has been speaking only to the agents rather than requesting addition to the DNC directly through the...

main office. While this is not an excuse and our agents are required to report such requests, failure to do so is not something we become aware of until the customer contacts us directly. The agents will be retrained or dismissed as required.

We will search for this call in order to identify the caller. This agent will be immediately dismissed. This is completely against our agents' Code of Conduct and we maintain a strict Zero Tolerance policy regarding  any violations.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

It appears that this occurred due to clerical error. The customer had both electric and gas service with MPower. The gas account was dropped in July but the CSR that handled the cancellation either did not realize that the customer also had an electric account, or neglected to drop it. The accounts...

are with separate utilities and this was an honest error due to am employees failure to follow through with BOTH. MPower has now dropped the account and will credit the customer for the difference between what Mpower charged and what she would have been charged by the utility for the corresponding billing cycles from July through her final date of service. The account has been added to our DNC and will not be contacted again.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

M Power knows perfectly well what kind of tele-marketing company they hired and my complaint is only one of 1,000's. They are well aware of the tactics this outsourced third party and a canned answer from M-Power's PR department is insufficient to overcome the absolute rudeness these callers displayed on the phone with me. 
 
 
 
 
In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

We have contacted the customer for more information on the offensive agent.  Of the team that went to her address on the week of the incident, only one agent remains with our company at this time.  We have had no complaints filed against him to date and we require the name of the...

individual in order to proceed with disciplinary action if he is the one she is reporting. The address has been added to our DNK list and will not be visited by our agents again in the future.

[redacted], I attempted to reach you by phone and left a voicemail requesting a call-back from you. Although I would like to discuss the particular circumstances of the solicitation visit, I can state without any knowledge of the case that the alleged sales tactics are not in line with Mpower's...

rigorous agent training or company policies. We uphold a zero tolerance policy toward deceptive marketing and violation of our Code of Conduct is grounds for immediate termination. Our agents are required to state clearly who they represent, that our services are optional and that we are not the utility. It is implicit in this disclaimer, as well as the portion of the TPV which informs customers that the utility (BGE) continues to maintain the grid, respond to gas emergencies or power outages and issue and collect bills that BGE continues its operations. The agent acted outside the scope of her authority whether she deliberately informed you otherwise or took advantage of you misunderstanding of the situation. Because of the nature of D2D sales, it is impossible for management to oversee every sale at the door. and in cases such as yours, we are only alerted to an issue after the fact. I assure you however, that we will take the necessary steps to make you whole. The account will be rerated based on BGE's rates for all cycles in service.  In this way it is effectively as if you had never been switched. This agent has already been removed from the field. Sincerely, Yael D[redacted] Compliance Manager###-###-#### [redacted]

MPower Energy's policies are in strict compliance with FTC and FCC telemarketing regulations. Our telemarketers are only permitted to call between the hours of 8am and 9pm. Cold calls to cellphones are prohibited. Our lists are scrubbed against state and federal DNC lists regularly in accordance with regulations and our leads are purchased from licensed vendors exclusively. Additionally, MPower Energy maintains an internal DNC list. Numbers on this list are immediately removed from lead lists provided to our in-house sales agents and these numbers are updated and accessible in real-time to all independent contractors. Calls to any number on our internal DNC list are punishable by steep fines and ultimately termination. Our agents are required to report requests for addition to the DNC list immediately and to instruct the potential customer to contact us directly regarding this request as well. In the case of verified failure to do so, agents are promptly terminated. As our calls are spot checked, there are times that we only become aware of an agent’s failure to report a request for addition to the DNC list after a complaint has been lodged. MPower Energy has allocated significant resources toward record retention and compliance including numerous Quality Assurance specialists whose sole responsibility is the close monitoring of sales and retention campaigns and who are usually able to locate the recording in question swiftly.If our agents failed to report the request for addition to the DNC, they will be held responsible for not relating the request or advising the customer to contact MPower directly.The number listed in this complaint has now been added to our internal DNC list and the customer will not be contacted again once the change goes into effect. Please be advised that this may take a few days as we must allow for all of our marketers to update their lists.

MPower Energy's policies are in strict compliance with [redacted] and [redacted] telemarketing regulations. Our telemarketers are only permitted to call between the hours of 8am and 9pm. Cold calls to cellphones are prohibited. Our lists are scrubbed against state and federal DNC lists regularly in...

accordance with regulations and our leads are purchased from licensed vendors exclusively. Additionally, MPower Energy maintains an internal DNC list. Numbers on this list are immediately removed from lead lists provided to our in-house sales agents and these numbers are updated and accessible in real-time to all independent contractors. Calls to any number on our internal DNC list are punishable by steep fines and ultimately termination. Our agents are required to report requests for addition to the DNC list immediately and to instruct the potential customer to contact us directly regarding this request as well. In the case of verified failure to do so, agents are promptly terminated. As our calls are spot checked, there are times that we only become aware of an agent’s failure to report a request for addition to the DNC list after a complaint has been lodged. MPower Energy has allocated significant resources toward record retention and compliance including numerous Quality Assurance specialists whose sole responsibility is the close monitoring of sales and retention campaigns and who are usually able to locate the recording in question swiftly.If our agents failed to report the request for addition to the DNC, they will be held responsible for not relating the request or advising the customer to contact MPower directly.The number listed in this complaint has now been added to our internal DNC list and the customer will not be contacted again once the change goes into effect. Please be advised that this may take a few days as we must allow for all of our marketers to update their lists.

Customers who sign up with MPower Energy incur no additional fees at all. By enrolling with MPower Energy the customer agreed to contract supply of energy through a third party rather than through the utility. Delivery and maintenance continue to be provided by the utility. The customer continues...

being billed for the exact same two services, supply and delivery. Many customers assume that they are being billed for additional charges or fees because of the addition of a third page to the [redacted] bill that includes MPower Energy's charges, but if the customer compares the new charges to those on an older bill she will see that the supply charges that were previously displayed on the same page as the delivery charges are now displayed on the third page. There is no evidence of malpractice in this case as we have a recording of the customer accepting our services and we are unable to refund the entire amount paid to MPower as the energy has been consumed. As a gesture of good will however, MPower Energy will credit the account for any difference (in the customer's favor) between MPower's charges and what the utility would have charged for the corresponding period. The amount will be wired directly to the utility and will appear as a credit on the account. The account has already been dropped.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.One final note regarding the phone recording of my agreement.  What might not be audible on the recording is the agent standing beside me telling me what to say and assuring me that this is not what I think it is (namely, a competing company attempting to get my business).  Also, having heard a bit of the audio myself while cancelling on the phone with MPower, I can quite audible be heard saying "what?" and asking the agent to repeat things many times.  In one instance I completely misunderstood a question and answered with my birthday instead of saying "yes" in agreement.  Furthermore, I was not given the MPower pamphlet until the agent was about to walk away.  Only when I asked for his card as he was leaving did he give me the pamphlet.   My gullibility in this scenario does not excuse the misleading practices.   But I thank you for rectifying the situation with cancellation.  
Sincerely,
[redacted]

The customer was speaking to a telemarketer - not to MPower Energy directly. Though agents are both required to respect a request for addition to the DNC and to report them, we often do not find out about their failure to do so until the issue is reported to us directly. The customer's information...

has been added to our internal DNC list and the customer will not be contacted again in the future.  We do, however, request a grace period to allow all marketers to scrub their lists.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Given that the exchange was at the door we have no way or refuting or verifying the claims made by the customer. Given the nature of the deception, even with a complete and valid contract and third party verification recording, the sale would have been completed under false pretenses and no record...

exists of the claims made by the agent at the door. We have every possible protection in place to prevent this from occurring but we can never fully anticipate or account for the behavior of an agent that chooses to act dishonestly. This is an instance of an agent acting outside the scope of his authority, of his own accord. We do not tolerate or condone these marketing practices and this is grounds for immediate termination. We have sent an email to the customer requesting her account information in order to identify the agents, ensure her account has not been enrolled and to add her to our DNE and DNC lists. While we do keep records of which territory is being worked each day, there may be more than one agent in a specific zip code at a time. We would like the customer's assistance in identifying the agents at her door and will take immediate disciplinary action thereafter.

As previously stated, this is NOT part of our agents training. The agents' actions were entirely their own and in clear  violation of their Code of Conduct.  MPower has neither denied the claim nor condoned it. We have confirmed that the customers claims were in fact a problem we encountered with some of our agents and all parties found responsible have been dismissed. It's not clear why a follow-up complaint has been filed since no new information is being offered.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

As the customer himself has pointed out, our agents carry picture ID's which they are required to display prominently when out in the field. In addition to branded company uniforms and an assortment of other company paraphernalia, the agents carry marketing materials and legal documents which all...

bear the name of the company they represent. When customers agree to enroll for services they are also required to complete a telephonic third party verification during which a non-commissioned, impartial third party verifier asks the customer a series of scripted questions designed to prove that the customer has fully understood the services they are accepting and the terms of their agreement with MPower. Part of that script not only identifies the company clearly but asks the customer to confirm his/her understanding that we are retail suppliers of electricity and gas, unaffiliated with the utility or government. Whatever an individual may choose, of his own accord, to do in the field, it is clearly not in our interest, company policy or agent training to encourage, tolerate or condone any form of deception or misrepresentation. Furthermore, I can't fully understand the alleged strategy of attempting to hide their identities when the eventual steps of the enrollment process will necessarily make these known. Our agents go out in groups,  usually accompanied by a supervisor, not for intimidation tactics but for accountability in situations exactly like this one. The team that visited this address will be called in for investigation and if appropriate, disciplinary action. As far as banning our agents from marketing on the premises, our agents are required by law to respect non-solicitation signs. Violations are severely penalized. If no sign is present, we would be happy to add the customer's address to our DNK list but our agents will be permitted to continue marketing to the rest of the building.

Our agents are required to report requests for addition to the DNC list, and continuing to call a customer who has explicitly requested that the calls stop is against our Code of Conduct. Furthermore, our calling platform discards a lead after 3 attempts. Unfortunately, we cannot always account for...

agents who choose to deviate from the rules though their actions are neither encouraged nor condoned by MPower and are dealt with severely when brought to our attention.  In the event that a caller reports such behavior, we search our call logs in order to locate recordings of the call and to identify the agent or agents in question. Verified offenses are punishable by immediate termination.It is always best to request addition to our DNC list directly through MPower and not through its telemarketers. The Compliance Dept. can ensure immediate addition to our internal DNC list against which all contractors are requested to scrub their lists. Although like the FTC's list, this can take up to 30 days to go into effect, every effort is made to ensure that the calls stop as soon as the complaint is brought to our attention. The number has been added to our list and the calls should stop by the start of next week.