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	<title>Do Not Knock &#187; Consumer Action</title>
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	<link>http://donotknock.org.au</link>
	<description>... or call either</description>
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		<title>ACCC puts energy retailers on notice over door-to-door practices</title>
		<link>http://donotknock.org.au/2011/09/13/accc-puts-energy-retailers-on-notice-over-door-to-door-practices/</link>
		<comments>http://donotknock.org.au/2011/09/13/accc-puts-energy-retailers-on-notice-over-door-to-door-practices/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Sep 2011 00:08:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Consumer Action</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ACCC]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://210.8.75.29/~ethicald/?p=543</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is throwing a spotlight on door-to-door sales practices in the energy retail sector, ACCC Chairman Rod Sims announced today.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is throwing a spotlight on door-to-door sales practices in the energy retail sector,<a href="http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/1007291/fromItemId/2332" target="_blank"> ACCC Chairman Rod Sims announced today.</a></p>
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		<title>Why not distribute Do Not Knock stickers in your local area?</title>
		<link>http://donotknock.org.au/2011/07/29/test-post/</link>
		<comments>http://donotknock.org.au/2011/07/29/test-post/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:37:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Consumer Action</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Supporter activities]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://210.8.75.29/~ethicald/?p=78</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Already many consumers and community organisations are distributing the Do No Knock sticker to their friends, family and neighbours. You can too! Just pick up the stickers you need from the distribution points listed here, or fill in this form to request a quantity. If you commit to handing out 20 stickers we&#8217;ll cover the [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Already many consumers and community organisations are distributing the Do No Knock sticker to their friends, family and neighbours.</p>
<p>You can too! Just pick up the stickers you need from the distribution points listed here, or <a title="Become a campaign supporter" href="http://donotknock.org.au/?page_id=110">fill in this form</a> to request a quantity. If you commit to handing out 20 stickers we&#8217;ll cover the postage.</p>
<p>Or if you really want to help, why not take the artwork to your local printer and get them made. You should be able to get several hundred for not much more than $100. (Often there&#8217;s a minimum run).</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Ellen&#8217;s story: Elderly people at risk</title>
		<link>http://donotknock.org.au/2011/07/01/luis-loves-the-do-not-knock-sticker/</link>
		<comments>http://donotknock.org.au/2011/07/01/luis-loves-the-do-not-knock-sticker/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 30 Jun 2011 15:27:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Consumer Action</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Consumer Stories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Consumer stories]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://210.8.75.29/~ethicald/?p=145</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One of the great things about the Do Not Knock sticker is that it can help protect vulnerable members of our community. Ellen recently contacted us about her experience of a gas supplier signing up her mother who was suffering from dementia:  I live with my aged mother who is 81 years old and has [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>One of the great things about the Do Not Knock sticker is that it can help protect vulnerable members of our community. Ellen recently contacted us about her experience of a gas supplier signing up her mother who was suffering from dementia:</strong></p>
<p><em> </em><em>I live with my aged mother who is 81 years old and has dementia.</em></p>
<p><em>Last night I got home to find she had signed up to change my gas and power to a competing company. She couldn&#8217;t even explain to me what had happened &#8211; she didn’t understand and there is no way she would have been able to give the information required to do this without some major assistance which should have been a warning to the salesperson that she was not well.</em></p>
<p><em> </em><em>I got home and tried to stop the changeover but when I got onto the company’s call centre I waited for over 25 minutes on the phone. I only have a prepaid phone as I’m digging myself out of a hole and it has been tough. I have $29 phone credit to last a month. </em></p>
<p><em>Anyway, after the first call used up over half my credit, I got hung-up on by the company’s representative.  I called back waited another 10 minutes only to get told they can’t call me back &#8211; so I was left paying for the phone call. Then after a little more talking &#8211; I get told well mum had every right to sign the documents and there was nothing that they could do.</em></p>
<p><em>After explaining for the third time that she had dementia and that I had Power of Attorney, I was finally put through to a supervisor who then put me through to another department. After explaining the whole thing again and asking to be called back – which they refused even though I had used almost my whole month’s phone allowance &#8211; I finally got put through to Customer Cancellations after an additional 15 min – and FINALLY someone understood what I was saying, and he was able to call me back.</em></p>
<p><em>15 min later and the cancellation was put through</em></p>
<p><em> </em><em>I’m now going to put three Do Not Knock Signs up on the door and try and stop them again. </em></p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><strong><em>- </em><em>Ellen</em></strong></p>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Bob&#8217;s story: Energy marketing mix-up</title>
		<link>http://donotknock.org.au/2011/07/01/annas-story/</link>
		<comments>http://donotknock.org.au/2011/07/01/annas-story/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 30 Jun 2011 15:26:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Consumer Action</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Consumer Stories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Consumer stories]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://210.8.75.29/~ethicald/?p=143</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This story from Ballarat shows how door-to-door sales can go unexpectedly awry. Bob recently signed an energy contract presented to him by a door-to-door salesperson. Unfortunately an error was made and it appears that his neighbour’s energy provider is now his and his provider is now his neighbours &#8211; and they are also in opposite [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>This story from Ballarat shows how door-to-door sales can go unexpectedly awry. </strong></p>
<p><em>Bob recently signed an energy contract presented to him by a door-to-door salesperson. </em></p>
<p><em>Unfortunately an error was made and it appears that his neighbour’s energy provider is now his and his provider is now his neighbours &#8211; and they are also in opposite names. </em></p>
<p><em>Confused ? </em></p>
<p><em>So are they. </em></p>
<p><em>Due to the mix up neither Bob nor his neighbour are authorized to speak to either provider due to the wrong names and addresses being on the contracts. The stress this has caused has been enormous, and there has been financial cost with both households being charged disconnection fees. Last we heard this process was still ongoing.</em></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>A story from regional Victoria</title>
		<link>http://donotknock.org.au/2011/07/01/gordons-story/</link>
		<comments>http://donotknock.org.au/2011/07/01/gordons-story/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 30 Jun 2011 15:22:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Consumer Action</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Consumer Stories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Consumer stories]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://210.8.75.29/~ethicald/?p=139</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Paula’s story illustrates how salespeople can pick on vulnerable households:  I work for a large welfare agency in regional Victoria and we manage a number of properties for the Office of Housing. One such property is in a block of units, surrounded by other low cost housing, where our clients, a middle age with an [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Paula’s story illustrates how salespeople can pick on vulnerable households:</strong></p>
<p> <em>I work for a large welfare agency in regional Victoria and we manage a number of properties for the Office of Housing. One such property is in a block of units, surrounded by other low cost housing, where our clients, a middle age with an intellectual disability, lives. He cannot read nor write fluently and has very poor communications skills.</em></p>
<p><em>We provide affordable rent which includes a fee that covers the gas, electricity and water charges to the property. This means that all services connected to the property are in a business name and paid for by our agency. </em></p>
<p><em>This client has been approached a number of times by energy providers and on two occasions these canvassers have managed to change the electricity from our business account into her name, despite our agency’s best efforts in requesting a flag be put on our account with our nominated provider that, under no circumstances, would our account be removed from our provider.</em></p>
<p><em>The impact on the client has been enormous, not only have they incurred a debt with the providers who changed the accounts over, but the client has also been paying an amenities fee on a fortnightly basis &#8211; sadly the debt has now been forwarded to debt collector. </em></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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