Door to Door Salesmen(people)

[atx111]

Does anyone actually answer the door for these guys anymore? It seems like they're getting more aggressive too. I think the guy that came today rang the doorbell 4 or 5 times before he finally left. I've had people walk into the garage when I'm working out there or come through the gate into the backyard when I'm mowing. Before they can even begin on their spiel, I shut them down and voice my displeasure of their disregard for trespassing.

There's also the whole safety standpoint. If we don't recognize the person at the door, we don't answer. This is especially true now that we have toddlers in the house. It seems that at least once a month or so, there's a story in the news about a local home invasion. I know that 99.9% of these people are trying to earn a living doing a crappy job, but I don't want to open up my home to the 0.1%.

It just seems that there have been alot of them coming around lately, and just got me wondering who actually answers the door, much less buys anything from them.

 

[NewfieDan]

Re: Door to Door Salesmen(people)

We don't seem to have this problem around here. In the 2-1/2 years there has only been once when had anyone other than expected deliveries. I think they were recruiting for their church because of the way they were dressed, in black suits and ties. We didn't want to go through the hassle of turning them away so we never answered either.

 

[Don S]

Re: Door to Door Salesmen(people)

You can't stop people from knocking on your door. A simple "not interested" and close the door has always worked for me.

 

[STARCRAFT16SS]

Re: Door to Door Salesmen(people)

Wife was home with the kids one day when a man came to the front door...
knocked/rang doorbell...wife ignored/did not answer..
man went to side of house by gate and was seen by
neighbor trying to get into the back yard...
man was asked by neighbor what he was doing...
he said his cell phone is dead and he need to make call to be picked up..
Claimed He was checking to see if his friend at the house had a phone he could use..
(NOBODY AT MY HOUSE KNEW HIM..ALL A LIE..)
neighbor speaks German as well as English..told grand-daughter in German to call
the police and bring a phone from their house outside...
gave the phone to the man for his phone call...he pretended to make a call
and left before the police arrived...police never found him...
Found out later the house two doors down had been burglarized..
Homes in my area were all built by the same builder...the back door to the garage for
a lot of the homes did not have deadbolts and some didn't even have locks on the door knobs ...
My wife talked to some of the neighbors and talked them into securing their back doors better...
wife says if you just have a lock in the door knob...easy to defeat with just a screwdriver..
Great to have good watchful neighbors..we got lucky..

 

[Don S]

Re: Door to Door Salesmen(people)

Not everyone that comes to your front door is a crook. I buy stuff from the school kids to support the schools, and give donations to the local food drives and such. But if I don't know them, I allow an introduction and say no thanks or not interested and close the door. Never in many, many years had a problem.

 

[atx111]

Re: Door to Door Salesmen(people)

Yeah, I have great neighbors too. We all look out for each other. It's easy to ignore the doorbell, but a whole lot harder to ignore someone who rings the doorbell, doesn't get get an answer and then comes into your backyard, or who tries to peek into your windows. No, not everybody is a crook that rings your doorbell, and yes, we do buy stuff from kids doing fundraisers, but the 20-something year old with a backpack on his shoulders won't get the door opened for him. If I want a magazine subscription, I'll order it on my own.
Speaking of securing garage entry doors, mine has a deadbolt, but still think it's a weak link. I went to the nearest big box home improvement store and got a couple U-shaped 2x4 brackets, used 3" lag screws to secure them on either side of the door, and slid in a 2x4. Now, it would take quite a bit more work defeating that door, and you'd make a helluva racket doing it.

 

[arks]

Re: Door to Door Salesmen(people)

I had a good one a couple years ago.
I pull into my driveway after a tough day at work, and here's a well-dressed young guy standing in my front yard. Get outta the truck and he starts blabbing about replacement windows. I politely said "no thank you" but he persisted- almost like he didn't hear me.
I let him finish his spiel and again said 'NO THANK YOU'. This time a bit more forcefully.
Now, I drive an F250 with sideboxes and ladder racks- pretty damn obvious I'm in the construction trade.
This guy just wouldn't leave. He AGAIN started the bio about how great their product is....blah blah blah.
I just wanna go eat dinner.... so this time I STOPPED him mid-setence and told him to leave my property NOW.

This idiot STILL didn't get it and kept going: 'but 'ya know, these windows are the best......' I QUICKLY advanced to him and said 'GET OFF OF MY PROPERTY OR I'LL THROW YOU OFF. By now his 'accomplice' (who was working the neighbors across the road) is at the end of the driveway and told him to get in the car. Good thing because I was about to pound that guy.
My wife said I was too harsh. I don't think so.
They haven't been back!:laugh:

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: Door to Door Salesmen(people)

I hate to sound like an internet bully, but there so bad around here that I put a no soliciting plaque on my door. Now when they see that and still knock on my door, I simply open the door and point at the (clearly visable sign) on my door, with the tip of my Kimber .45, and say, you must not have seen the sign. They usually tell me to have a good day sir and walk away.

 

[atx111]

Re: Door to Door Salesmen(people)

Yeah, I've seen a noticeable increase in the frequency they've been coming around. I should put up a no soliciting sign on the front door, but most of them probably wouldn't know what that word meant anyway.

 

[matt167]

Re: Door to Door Salesmen(people)

Dog barks and I look out the window. If I know the person, I wait at the door for them and open it when they knock. If I don't know the person and it's an obvious solicitor, then I tell them to just leave, before they get 10' from their vehicle

 

[642mx]

Re: Door to Door Salesmen(people)

Twice in 7 years of living in my current house I've had door to door sales people knock on my door and ask "Is your Dad home?"

I'm 33, have a nice house in a nice neighborhood.... I don't look like I'm 16 or something either. The first time it happened, I laughed & explained that my Dad lives 30 miles away and I had no idea if he was home or not. The second time wasn't so pleasant for the sales guy, words were used that this forum wouldn't like me to repeat.

 

[frantically relaxing]

Re: Door to Door Salesmen(people)

My business is in my basement, so we have about 20 people ring the doorbell every day. We get the occasional window salesman and my favorite, the alarm guys who INSIST 'everything is free'-- Yeah, the parts, the installation, but NOT the monthly monitoring fee. And the last guy, even after repeatedly telling him I KNOW there's a monthly fee, he just kept repeating "everything is free, this is special promotion". I knew it was BS, but I let him in and started signing papers while he talked up a storm, right up the point he thought he was sneaking "...about a dollar a day" past me. I tore up every piece of paper in front of me, told him I KNEW he was a lying MFing SOB and that I'd catch him at it, and gave him 30 seconds to get as far away as possible...

There was a story on the news the other day that said the number one most disliked door to door salespeople were those who sold alarm monitoring. I can see why...

Another nice thing about my basement business, if tell a salesman I'm not interested and they keep after it, I just tell 'em "sorry, but I've got work to do, why don't you come on down and let me show you around?"

Suddenly, they got better things to do... Guess they don't want ME trying to sell THEM something!

 

[Kiwi Phil]

Re: Door to Door Salesmen(people)

No I can't be bothered with a salesman, I've got a battle to fight...

Good one Bubba!

Exactly how I view these salesmen.
I want to know exactly what they have, then:
1. If I have an interest, good.
2. If I am aware of the product/service, and have no interest, I tell them politely.
3. If I am not sure, I want to know about it, get the info, think it over, then make the decision.

I got a great price on electricity rates once from a young guy at the door. I had never looked at what I had been paying. I took his quote and brochure, did research that night (he didn't like that -wanted me to sign up then-and-there). He didn't come in as the best - but no matter, he had done the call, so I rang him back telling him I would go with him. He was pretty thrilled.

Had a disaster with telecommunications salesman - just B/S - but I cancelled out under the 'cooling-off period.

Had solar people last week - I insisted on a brochure and phamplet with prices - looked it over that night - not sure - but needed the info as the Govt Rebates changed maybe 1 yr back.

For me, Bubbas cartoon is most appropriate, as that's a mistake I don't want to make.

Cheers
Phillip

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Door to Door Salesmen(people)

I get a few religious solicitors, I tell them I'm not interested... I find it amusing that the Mormons are trying to recruit in the heart of southern baptist country.

I consider the rest scammers, especially the ones that have something "free" to give you like a bottle of dish washing detergent or a 2 liter Coke.

I've been solicited by the door to door meat salesmen 3 or 4 times. I have no idea who would buy meat from someone you'll probably never see again, and frozen meat that you can't even see! Then when you refuse them they try to sweeten the deal with a "free" box of seafood and a "free" box of chicken... again all frozen and wrapped up so you can't see it. They drive around in a POS pickup truck with a chest freezer in the back that isn't even plugged up to anything, it's just a big cooler that keeps the frozen meat from thawing too quickly.

The usually claim they're with American Meat Processors or some such (always with the word American in it though) and they're affiliated with Omaha Steaks... which they definitely are not.

You can do a google search for door to door meat salesmen and find stories about a lot of gullible people that have fallen for this scam. This is one of many:
Warning about door-to-door meat salesmen - NBC12.com - Richmond, VA News, Weather, Traffic & Sports

 

[generator12]

Re: Door to Door Salesmen(people)

I've actually got some pretty good deals from door to door sales people. Don't know how far they go but a big name around these parts is OmahaSteaks. They do not sell in the stores and instead the sales people have a small refrigerated truck and they come directly to your door. That allows them to cut out the middlemen meaning far better prices than I can get at the local store and the stores meat can't compare in quality.

I had never heard of them until a salesman made a cold call on me.

At least five times I've had one of these meat vendors come to the door with exactly the same story: "I've finished my deliveries in this neighborhood and I have some steaks left. Do you want a good deal?"

The most recent one was about three weeks ago. I saw the truck in the neighborhood and knew somebody would hear the same BS story. Turned out to be me. But I stopped him at "I've finished my deliveries....."

My problem with aggressive/unsolicited salespeople is that they must try to "create" a need in you to buy whatever they're selling. Whether you actually "need" it or not is of no interest to them - getting you to buy it is all that counts. Why would you or I cooperate with that??

 

[roscoe]

Re: Door to Door Salesmen(people)

Dang, I've gotta move.
You guys have all the fun.

In 15 years:

once from the Schwans route driver, just stuck a flier in the door.

twice from religious group. politely pass and point to cross in the hallway.

once from neighbor kid raising money to go to NYC with the drama club. really? your 14. pass. Go ask your rich parents, they own 300 acres of land.

3 times from the town tax assessor. Answer his 3 questions, offer him a cup of coffee.
He declines. I read his mind, "this house is the crappiest I've seen all week." Taxes have only gone up $300 in 15 years.



Things were different when I lived in Milwaukee.
I learned to be rude and close the door.
Or answer the door in my skivvies.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Door to Door Salesmen(people)

The latest "scam" in this area is a van (a very nice full size van) and a young man comes to the door selling potato chips, pretzels and snacks (you know the "mini" bags) in a basket covered in plastic....... raising money for bla bla bla ........ sorry not interested.

The van has out of state plates and they are casing the property........ every time they are seen they are reported to the State Police. Actually I have a fairly good deterrent at the top of my driveway..... my 25 yard pistol target..... well used

 

[Part-time]

Re: Door to Door Salesmen(people)

I found that a 300 lbs bearded felow answering the door in his underwear with beer bottle in hand will turn around even the most persistant salesmen or jehovas witness... :lol:

 

[DayCruiser]

Re: Door to Door Salesmen(people)

I hate it when they catch me outside. You do have to threaten to kick their azzes to get most of them to leave. I don't go to the door unless somebody calls me first. I don't like drop ins for one thing or door to door sales people. Just rude! Another thing there are so many home invasions going on. All they want you to do is crack the door open. What good does it do to lock your doors if you are going to open them for strangers?

 

[coolbri70]

Re: Door to Door Salesmen(people)

my brother once took a job selling vacum cleaners, he quit after training, said they were low lives and scum, and wpould not ba asociated. they wanted him to target young people, with new credit, and strap them with thousands in debt for a sweeper. they wanted him to clean the floor with their own sweeper then he would follow with his, open it up, show them the dirt it left behind(any sweeper will find more dirt) and then put it on them for letting the baby crawl around in this filth, make it sound like, a good parent wouldnt put a price on the babys health and well being. i mean what kind of bad parent wouldnt spend a few grand to buy this vacuum