OFAS took care of housing and communal services payments that frighten Volgograd residents

The reason for considering the complaints was the leaflets that were thrown into mailboxes, with threatening inscriptions – “instruction”, “repeated”, “notice”, “notice about verification of meters”, equipped with the coat of arms of Russia, the seals of a certain company “Zhilservis”, as well as links to legal norms. Volgograd residents who complained to the OFAS were especially outraged by the fact that the leaflets contained a statement that the period for checking the water meter had expired, so it was urgently necessary to call a specialist from the Zhilservice company. And those Volgograd residents who do not “obey” are threatened with additional charges with an increasing coefficient.

During the investigation, the Federal Antimonopoly Service established that an entrepreneur registered in the Republic of Karelia was distributing advertising. Direct services for replacing meters were provided by another businessman, also from another region. However, the department came to the conclusion that such advertising is not permissible, as it misleads consumers regarding the mandatory nature of the promoted services and the status of the organization.

Such a trick in advertising services in the field of maintenance and installation of various metering devices is far from new, noted the OFAS. But, since the described methods are still in use, it means that citizens are still falling for this trick, the department stated. And they called on citizens to oppose such dishonest marketing techniques with conscious consumer behavior.

However, as V102.RU previously reported, a lot of cases have already been recorded in the region when gullible residents fell for the bait of visiting teams of “plumbers” who convinced citizens to change water meters that do not require replacement. As a result, they had to pay the guest performers several times more than normal rates for this work.