Yesterday evening we were expecting guests for dinner. We had everything ready and set up in the kitchen when the doorbell rang. But it was our guests out there, not quite yet. It was "Steve" from the Ontario Energy Savings Corp.

My wife had originally answered the door, while I was in the kitchen considering to get the food going, since I thought out guests had arrived. When I realized that there was someone else at the door, I figured I'd join the conversation.

I started off by pointing at the "No Soliciting, please" sign on our door, asking him if he had seen it. Yes, he had seen it, but he said was not selling anything. He was just verifying our registration, which would protect us from future gas rate increases. He actually asked to see our gas bill to verify. I asked him why he was doing this on a Sunday afternoon, to which he replied 'when are most people home?'. Of course he also used the ever so popular 'your neighbours have already been verified'.

I started smelling a rat (is that really the saying in English for 'den Braten riechen'?). So I asked him: So you are actually selling a fixed rate natural gas plan, to which he replied "no, I am just verifying your registration to protect you from future rate increases.

He did actually leave me his 'independent agent' name and ID, so I was able to complain about the sales practises today. While I feel sort of sorry for the people who fall for the promise of 'easy money' and accept purely commission based positions such as his, I don't really feel sorry for his ignorance. I am was actually under the impression that he didn't really know himself how and what he was selling. The constant use of certain 'trained' phrases supports this impression.

So if you live in Ontario and need to file a complaint with the Ontario Energy Board about sales practises such as this, you can give them a call at  1-877-632-2727 (toll-free) or 416-314-2455. There's also information on the  Code of Conduct for Gas Marketers on their site.