In spite of the ban on doorstep selling, which has been adopted by a number of towns and municipalities in the Czech Republic, it is no exception that the car parked in the center, and street vendors are issued without signatures to get the signatures of unsuspecting people. "They're always variations on the same topic. The dealer is on the pretext of the consumer, for example, he claims to check the bill for electricity or gas and that he is from the current supplier, " says Tomáš Palla, head of the Prague Personal Advisory Board of the Association of Consumer Defense - Association, zs After that, the vendor will request billing for Energy, from which he comfortably describes the data needed to conclude a new contract.
Heat pump without electricity supply
Traditional range of street vendors include electricity, natural gas or energy-saving light bulbs, which, though, they give away as a gift, but consumers actually make a purchase contract. Recently, street vendors are bypassing residential homes with heat pumps and convincing owners to disconnect from the central heat supply and heat only with the offered equipment. He pointed to this new practice as the first Energy Regulatory Office, with the offer being a simple calculation, which assumes that customers will have one contract for the entire apartment house with a heat pump tariff.
It's not that easy. "It is not possible to apply one contract for the supply of electricity for common heating, the consumption of common areas of a residential building and the consumption of households in an apartment house," says Vladimír Vácha, spokesman for E.ON. The rules for awarding distribution tariffs are part of the price decision of the Energy Regulatory Office, and if the heating system is part of the common living space, it must be powered by a separate supply and also measured separately. The distributor would not agree to such a change and the apartment house would not join the distribution system. "The vendor who promises such a solution can intentionally keep the fate of the customers deliberately after collecting the money for pump delivery and distribution," adds Vladimir Vacha.
Electricity from auction and with fine
There are also rare occasions when street vendors are bypassing households and offering them a share in electronic auctions of electricity or natural gas. The principle of e-auctions is simple. The consumer signs the application and the organizer puts it in a "bundle" of other households competing for the lowest energy prices. Even the signature of this inconspicuous application has its own risks.
"By negotiating participation in energy auctions, the consumer usually commits to subsequently conclude a contract with the winning supplier, that is, a company chosen by the auction organizer," says Jana Poncarová of the EnergyPoradna.cz project. Complications occur when the customer has a fixed-term contract with his supplier. When he denounces it prematurely, he is penalized by the contractor with a penalty, usually in the order of thousands of crowns. However, the auction organizer will demand a fine as the consumer has committed to signing the contract with the winning supplier in the application form.
When the meeting is arranged
Visitors to business representatives in homes are also renowned suppliers, but they are treated differently. "All the meetings that our mediators are doing in the field are pre-arranged. Most of them are negotiated by call center, but we also have cases where a potential customer arranges a meeting on their own initiative, for example via the web, " says Vacha.
At the meeting, the customer can prepare, prepare the necessary documents and documents. "In contrast to door-to-door sales, the consumer is not surprised. The moment of surprise can play a big part. We often encounter cases of people who say they were after the night or come back tired of work and were unable to respond adequately to the pressure of the door vendor, " adds Jana Poncarová.
Signed. And what about it?
Contracts signed in the door-to-door sale, ie outside the usual business premises, such as a customer's flat, a street or a café, can be withdrawn either under the Civil Code or under the Energy Act. "The trouble is when the consumer stays in nothing. Some street vendors simply do not leave a copy of the contract. Issues for electronic auctions of energy are also problematic, which are a problem for the consumer to unbundle because they are not the supply contracts themselves and can not therefore be denounced under the Energy Act, " says Tomáš Palla.
When the consumer comes to the fact that he has changed the supplier, after the commencement of deliveries from the new company, he still has time to act. "Under Section 11 of the Energy Act, the right to withdraw from contracts for the supply of energy on doorstep selling shall be suspended until the fifteenth day after the commencement of electricity or gas supply. Resignation forms are available on the website of the Energy Regulatory Office. In the event of confusion, consumers can contact us on the 800 77 33 22 free customer line, " adds Vladimir Vacha.
Source: tz, edited editorially