Over the past few days, a man acting on behalf of a low-cost electricity provider has been trying to lure away electricity customers of Stadtwerke Gießen (SWG) by telephone using trickery and unfounded claims. A customer from Allendorf (Lumda) told the SWG customer services staff that the caller was trying to lure her with an alleged 37 per cent price increase by the municipal utility. "This figure is completely made up out of thin air and was only intended to unsettle the woman," explains Ina Weller, company spokesperson for Stadtwerke Gießen. The advertising caller's tactic failed - in fact, it had the opposite effect. His claim made the SWG customer suspicious, so she made a note of the telephone number and contacted SWG. Another SWG customer made a note of the same telephone number when he recently received an advertising call. Ina Weller suspects: "The man has probably tried many of our customers - using different methods." In the second case, the caller pretended to be working on behalf of SWG and lured customers with favourable tariffs. When the contacted municipal utility customer asked during the call whether the person on the phone was really calling on behalf of SWG, he immediately hung up.
"Both customers acted correctly, did not respond to the unfounded claims and contacted us immediately," explains Ina Weller and warns against giving out personal data or even concluding contracts over the phone. The company spokeswoman encourages anyone who receives similar calls: "Customers can contact our employees if they are suspicious."
SWG customer service staff can be reached on the service number 0800 23 02 100 (free of charge from the German landline network and all German mobile phone networks) from Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
10.07.2013