Electric company telemarketing calls

Boyd

Administrator
Staff member
Site Administrator
Jul 31, 2004
9,826
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Ben's Branch, Stephen Creek
Starting a couple months ago, I've been getting 3 or 4 robocalls daily on my cell phone from numbers all over the place. I don't answer calls from unknown numbers and just ignore them. Sometimes they leave a recorded message saying I can lower my electric bill.

Never got any of these before Atlantic City Electric was bought by Exelon. Is it just them, or are others receiving similar calls? Yeah, I know about do not call lists, etc. but it's not worth the effort. My phone is usually on silent and I just delete the voicemails. It's just notable how these started all of a sudden and that there are so many. These are just about the only telemarketing calls I receive anymore.
 

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,658
4,836
Pines; Bamber area
Up here we can get the actual power (not the infrastructure maintenance & power delivery) from a company other than JCPL. I am getting mail (not calls) because they think my last contract was up. Lowest price offered so far for generation service is from North American Power at 8.99 cents per kWh. The JCPL default rate until May 31 is 9.72 cents.

BUT, several towns around here got together and negotiated that down for all willing residents to 8.65 cents until Dec 2018. They are using Southern Energy (or something like that). I signed on.

So yes, it's worth investigating if you want to lower your costs by buying the actual power elsewhere.
 
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46er

Piney
Mar 24, 2004
8,837
2,144
Coastal NJ
Starting a couple months ago, I've been getting 3 or 4 robocalls daily on my cell phone from numbers all over the place. I don't answer calls from unknown numbers and just ignore them. Sometimes they leave a recorded message saying I can lower my electric bill.

Never got any of these before Atlantic City Electric was bought by Exelon. Is it just them, or are others receiving similar calls? Yeah, I know about do not call lists, etc. but it's not worth the effort. My phone is usually on silent and I just delete the voicemails. It's just notable how these started all of a sudden and that there are so many. These are just about the only telemarketing calls I receive anymore.

Not getting any of those calls. We use JCP&L. We use a free service called NoMoRobo, which was offered by our phone supplier Comcast. I think anyone that they list can use it; Verizon FIOS is listed. If you get a robo call it will ring once to let you know of the call and that's it, no messages, no nothing, just gone. They maintain a database and so far we have not had any robo calls.

Their site;

https://www.nomorobo.com/
 
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enormiss

Explorer
Aug 18, 2015
607
409
Atco NJ
I get them on house phone (yea, still have one... talk to my wife) I was getting so many I started adding the numbers from caller ID to my blocked calls list.
That did away with them completely for awhile but now get them occasionally again.
Going to look into that link now, thanks
 

Boyd

Administrator
Staff member
Site Administrator
Jul 31, 2004
9,826
3,005
Ben's Branch, Stephen Creek
Thanks - glad I'm not the only victim. ;) I also got two pieces of junk mail about this yesterday. I haven't used a landline since 2008 and am sure I never will again. I wanted the FIOS package without phone service but found out it was actually cheaper to get the bundle that included phone. I have never connected a phone to it.

I see that nomorobo has a service for cellphones but it costs $2/month. Why would I waste money on that? They can call me as often as they like, I have never actually answered and my phone is on silent 90% of the time.
 

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,658
4,836
Pines; Bamber area
I wanted the FIOS package without phone service but found out it was actually cheaper to get the bundle that included phone. I have never connected a phone to it.

Mind games being used on us. Comcast is a master at it, and so Verizon is getting good at it too. Until we have a true cafeteria menu to select from at will, we are being manipulated by service providers. The only cure for this is either regulation or more competition, and the competition may be colluding due to the lack of players. It's sickening, and another pet peeve of mine.

Wait until net neutrality is banished. It will only get worse.


 

Boyd

Administrator
Staff member
Site Administrator
Jul 31, 2004
9,826
3,005
Ben's Branch, Stephen Creek
Wait until net neutrality is banished. It will only get worse.

No need to wait, it was just banished a half hour ago by a vote along party lines.

Funny, I just now received this e-mail from Verizon. Maybe a nice update for you LandLineLubbers? :D
_____________

We get lots of complaints about unwanted computerized calls, and we get it—no one likes robocalls. To help you identify them,
we've added a new "Spam Alerts" feature to your home phone's Caller ID. Beginning on 12/18/17, your Caller ID will
show "SPAM?" before numbers that have been identified* as a possible unsolicited call.
 
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Banjo

Scout
Apr 17, 2005
76
0
S.W. Missouri
My wife and I have been getting them out here in the Ozarks. We escaped from NJ two and a half years ago, but still have 609 cell phone area codes on the cell phones. Even got some snail mail from SJ Gas!!
 
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