315-407-0400

Tired of getting hang up calls from this number?  It is no longer in service.  Broadvox, the carrier for this number has actually turned the number off.  What has happened is that a "marketing partner" for a company named Positive Energy in Middlebury, CT has bypassed the number by hiding the real number and allowing these marketing calls to annoy everyone on the East Coast.  What you CAN do is call the C.O.O. of Positive Energy.  His name is Guy Ferraelo and can be reached at 203-725-0803.  I figure if enough of us call him to complain - he might get his "marketing partner" to stop the harassing phone calls.  By the way, if you are receiving these calls, technically it can be termed harassment and criminal charges can be brought against Positive Energy, once you have notified the company that you do not want any more of these calls.  Broadvox has already filed a complaint with the Middlebury, CT police department about this situation.

So, instead of just whining about getting these calls, do a little research and find out who the carrier for the phone number is.  Once you do that, flood them with return calls.  Do unto others....

We represent Positive Energy and they have done nothing wrong. You should check your facts before you fire off allegations which smear the reputation of a business. The truth of the matter is that the number is legitimately owned by one of Positive Energy's telemarketers who purchased from the person who bought it from Broadvox. Broadvox never bothered either to check out the facts before they started making complaints, nor did they first contact Positive Energy so that the company could investigate.

I will expect a retraction posted by you or you could be liable for libel and slander against the company. I also will need for you to identify yourself because it seems suspicious that you are not working in conjunction with Broadvox or on their behalf.

You confirm that the number is used by Positive Energy to market its services.... Ms. Gina finds these telemarketing calls harassing. Her post is her personal OPINION, to which she is entitled. What statements do you find defaming?

And may we also have the pleasure of knowing who you are?

I guess we were overdue for another huffy lawyer to make unreasonable demands of site contributors, as if the safe harbor concept and the function of discussion forums are so hard to understand.

It is heartwarming to see your report that Broadvox is making efforts to do the right thing.  I have been a little frustrated with some of the VOIP carriers when it comes to getting service terminated when it was being abused.

Since Broadvoice makes their living selling the kind of services that they now decline to sell your client (if I understand your post) I doubt they are killing accounts capriciously.  

Less heartwarming are your apparent efforts to silence critical voices through fear and intimidation.

Assuming you really are who you claim to be, I see you graduated in Electrical Engineering back in 1979, and then went back to school at Quinnipiac University School of Law graduating 21 years later, in 2000.  I would expect you to have better insight into the realities of law and technology as they apply to this thread, but perhaps the aphorism about old dogs has merit.

It is my personal opinion that anytime a company has "Energy" in its name, one ought to proceed with great caution.  When the name is as generically barker-esque sounding as "Positive Energy", one ought to look around for tarot cards, pyramids, crystals, and incense, and finding none, proceed with redoubled care.

I know nothing about the company under discussion, and so I offer no opinions about them.  I do know that more than a few scams out there have an "energy" slant, so many in fact, that the FTC has at least one web page dedicated to warning about them: <http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2002/04/energysurf2002.shtm>

In any case, while making no judgements about your putative client, I will say that the original poster has every right to assert a personal opinion, just as Broadvox has every right to enforce its AUP and Terms of Service.  I respect both the OP and Broadvox for the courage they have showed, whether or not the respective judgments were well founded.

As always, due diligence is paramount, and the gentle reader is cautioned to do their own research, and form their own opinions.

} Positive Energy ... they have done nothing wrong.

This time or at no time? Positive Energy sales reps have been said to knock on doors and ring numbers long registered with no-call lists, often trying to mislead prospects into thinking the actual local incumbent power supplier is making contact and rewarding good customers with a cut rate offer. I've also seen forum remarks linking PE to service slamming.

Here's a recent thread where Broadvox was apparently struggling with a related number spoof issue.
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-315-407-0040/2

Positive Energy began as an "energy aggregator", fancier name for utility service reseller. Now it's apparently lost its primary business and is just in sales. Drama has been tailing this firm since it began operating in CT a few years ago with a switcheroo CEO who had fraud tendencies from the start.


from August 2010:

Ct Regulators Gave Positive Energy Electric A License Without Knowing Damaging Details Of Real Owner
http://ctwatchdog.com/govt/ct-regulators-gave ... s-of-real-owner

The firm reportedly had applied for state licensing with one person's name and while waiting for the paperwork to clear slid in the *real* boss, Joseph Ventura, who "was ordered to pay a $100,000 fine the previous year by the state Banking Department for lying on his mortgage application at a time when he was a mortgage loan officer."

This manuever was revealed fairly by accident, after "Ventura was called to [state Public Utility Commission] headquarters where he was warned to dial back his company’s aggressive sales approach." Also of interest to this thread, the article author says Ventura "refused to comment ... and threatened a libel suit if I printed anything false about him or his company."

The company's fraudulent sales tactics soon resulted in a criminal complaint filed by a state Rep.

Middletown State Representative Files Criminal Complaint Against Positive Energy Salesman
http://ctwatchdog.com/business/middletown-sta ... energy-salesman

    "... Positive Energy salesman Michael Matteo came to his apartment Wednesday night claiming to be from CL&P and offered to help lower his electric bill. .... [the state Rep] is a member of the General Assembly’s Energy Committee and is familiar with alternative electric suppliers."


A month later, then-state AG Blumenthal sued PE to recover the $100K fine plus penalties for Ventura's tardiness. What's more, "Blumenthal has an outstanding request to the Department of Public Utility Control (DPUC) to investigate new claims against Ventura that he allegedly delayed processing customer requests to switch electricity suppliers in order to divert them to another company. If true, as many as 30,000 to 40,000 consumers could have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars or more in discounts, Blumenthal said."

The New London Day partly explained the delay:

    "Ventura told customers they were signing with supplier Viridian Energy Inc, but never actually processed the contracts, Blumenthal added. Ventura apparently waited months until another supplier, ResCom Energy LLC, received its state license and then signed them with that company."
http://www.theday.com/article/20100813/BIZ02/308139864/1044


Half a year later, Positive Energy was ordered to start writing refund checks.

Positive Energy Electric Ordered To Give Rebates To 3,200 Customers
http://ctwatchdog.com/business/positive-energ ... -3200-customers
(This one has pointed reader responses.)

During that legal skirmish, PE cheerily announced job openings for a telemarketing call center and vague expansion plans in other states. Ventura's sunny view was that his "business model has evolved beyond the need to be an aggregator and we had voluntarily offered to surrender the aggregator license prior to the consent order."

It rather sounds like PE has yet to "evolve beyond the need" for deceptive and annoying phone calls to support its adjusted business model.

Now you've gone and done it Res.  Expect a visit from Luigi about your having the audacity to call out his brother Mario.  No more power ups for you!

Koopa Troopa (aka LS)

ssiighh, I know. The backstory is too good a soap opera not to share it, but I'm sure someone will try to make me regret posting my condensed version. It was all so much simpler when I only had to worry about dodging barrels and fireballs and grasping large mallets evidently hung up by a much taller mechanic.

This clown has no idea what he is in for.