"The Rest Of The Story"

-Signature phrase of radio commentator Paul Harvey (1918-2009)

My husband had a theater board meeting on Monday. One of the woman on the board also works for the city and told him that she had received quite a few phone calls from irate citizens in the last couple of months. All complained their city electrical bill had tripled and they wanted to know why. (I found this surprising since I knew our electrical bill had not gone up. If it had I would have heard about from my husband.) It took a little questioning but she discovered that all the people complaining had what she called "Paul Harvey heaters."

Paul Harvey was a very well respected man out here in the red states. He thought the same way most of the people here do and they trusted him . They also believed everything he said about any product he endorsed on his radio show.

The "Paul Harvey heaters" are made by a company called EdenPure. In his radio ad Paul Harvey tells us that we can cut our heating bills up to 50% by using the heater. Now, I am sure most of the people in town who bought these heaters on Paul Harvey's word did not go to the company website but dialed the number provided by Mr. Harvey in the ad.*

 If they did go to the website main page they would not have found this disclaimer at the bottom of the page :

The EdenPure and SunTwin Heaters are ELECTRIC appliances. When purchasing the EdenPure / SunTwin heater, please keep in mind that the unit may save UP TO 50% on your heating (Propane/Natural Gas) bill. These savings are based on your specific kilowatt price charged by your electric company. If you currently use electric heat, please be aware that the heater may not produce the savings desired.

This disclaimer is only on the heater information page. You can order the product from the main page and that page contains the exact same information as on the heater information page but, mysteriously, without this disclaimer.

So, if you placed your order from the main page you would have no idea that the 50% savings claim only applied if you were heating your house with either Propane or Natural Gas. As several naive people in town have found out, you could end up with an electrical bill that is three time higher than any bill you ever received before if you depended on this product for your heating needs.

What I find sad about all this is that, for the people in town who bought these heaters, this ripoff will be their final memory of a man who they respected and thought they could trust.


*In the snippet provided by EdenPure the end of the commercial is cut off since you are already at the website.