NORTH FORT MYERS, Fla. — LCEC has a new warning about a scam and false information that's going around.
The company reached out to Fox 4 Senior Reporter Kaitlin Knapp to get the word out:
In the past month, a man came to Doug Gurley's home and said he wanted to talk about Gurley's power bill.
"He told me what he was doing, I said well that's what the same guys were here yesterday," Gurley said. "He said who were they?"
The day before, Gurley says two young men came up to him the day before, claiming to work for LCEC and talked about putting new poles up.
"And our power bill was going to go up 25% a year for the next three years, which didn't sound right to me," Gurley said. "Well pretty quick after that I told them to go on down the street."
The young men kept knocking on doors while the man the day after left on a scooter.
This exact scenario is something LCEC wants to warn its customers about, because things like it are happening more often.
"People are going door to door trying to sell solar and they are making false accusations about the future of LCEC operations," said Shannon Williamson, a public affairs supervisor with LCEC.
She says they've sent cease and desist letters to some solar companies due to the false information and some pretending to be LCEC.
"These solar companies are getting a lot more personal and aggressive with their tactics," Williamson said. "A lot of people have reported that they have LCEC shirts on as well. I'm not sure where those came from."
Customers are also getting text messages about rates going up, which Williamson says isn't true and there are no plans to do that.
So what should you look out for?
"All LCEC employees and contractors carry a photo identification badge and documentation with them," Williamson said.
If they are replacing a pole, they will go to your door to let you know they are in your yard, if you are home. However, you will not have to pay for it.
Also, they're not riding around on a scooter. Actual employees are in marked vehicles.
"There are many genuine solar companies out there, so we do encourage customers do their research," Williamson said.
While they have no reports of anyone losing money, Cape Coral Police say you still should report it.
"You might not necessarily be a victim, but it’s still important to call and make that report so we just know exactly what’s going," said police spokesperson Mercedes Simonds. "So if we have different pieces that we can put together, it might allow us to investigate further and get justice for other people who might be victims."
Luckily, Gurley didn't fall for it, and will now put a "no solicitation" sign back up.
"I would say just be careful," he said. "I would say probably just don't open your door, if you don't feel safe."
For more information on how to protect yourself from scams, click here.
