Exposing Door-to-Door Cons
Decatur Metro | April 4, 2011Ann wrote in with this just a few minutes ago…
I was just solicited by a Traveler (probably out of South Carolina) who had some leftover blacktop and wanted to redo my driveway. This is one of the oldest scams and the tar was probably old engine oil.
I called the DeKalb Police and gave them a description but I thought you might want to publicize this. They prey on the elderly and naive and it just burns me up to see people scammed.
Good to know. Perhaps it would be a worth while exercise for us to have a conversation about other cons we’ve been exposed to by folks going door-to-door, so that we’re all a little more knowledgeable the next time we get that unexpected knock on the door. What da’ya think?
Haven’t run into this one for a while now, thankfully, but never buy magazines from kids/teens selling door to door. In the past, some organizations did this as a legit fundraiser (I was made to peddle them myself in the Boy Scouts back in the 80s, with little success), but these days it’s a haven for grifters, identity thieves, and often exploits children and teens.
http://listofscams.blogspot.com/2010/01/door-to-door-magazine-sales-scams-tips.html
Who opens the door anymore??
While it’s not really a scam, AT&T UVerse people have come by twice to my house in the past couple months. I work from home so I usually check when someone knocks or rings, but they go over their schpeel and then give you the hard sell – i.e. we’re going to go ahead and set up an appt for one of our guys to come out next week and install it for your free trial.
I said how about you give me a card and I’ll think abou it and call you back. They said they don’t have cards to give out. I said, well sorry, I’m not interested then. The thing is I am actually interested in U Verse vs Comcast, but I’m just not gonna have it go down like that. I guess I’m a little stubborn in that way.
I’d avoid UVerse if I were you. Never heard a good thing about it (and that includes from installers speaking candidly). What they don’t tell you is that, unlike cable, the quality of your service is dramatically affected by your distance from a hub. The farther you are, the weaker the signal. Thus, if you’re close, you might be able to get several simultaneous HD streams (useful of course if more than one person in the house is watching TV and they don’t want to watch the same thing, or if you want to record more than one program, or watch one while recording another). But if you’re not, you may have to resort to lower quality standard def streams and/or a heavily degraded signal. And there are other headaches. We’re sticking with Comcast for now.
Wish we could get Verizon FIOS here, but it’ll never happen in AT&T’s backyard.
Having had Comcast (7 years) and UVerse (1.5 years now), and being the last house on my block who can get the UVerse signal (our neighbor was told he was a few meters too far), I have to dispute what you have been told. It is a digital signal, you are either going to get it or not.
We currently can have 2 HD streams playing or recording fine (or 4 non-HD if we are DVRing) and still get 23.05 Mbps download rate for my internet connection (I am, however, only getting 2.88 Mbps upstream). I have actually cannot ever remember seeing an HD signal degrade looking back.
We have never had poor customer service and seem to get free movie channels about every 6 months just for being us…
Funny you mention FIOS, I was actually just at Verizon in NJ where I was told that they are not expanding the network anymore because it was unprofitable and they got an inordinate number of complaints. From personal experience (parents and sister both have FIOS), it is always going out on them and they have absolutely abysmal customer service.
And no, I am not an employee of any telcom, just a passionate consumer
I agree. I like it soooo much better and I find it much less expensive
Uverse installers came to my door in December 2008 after Comcast THRICE “no called, no showed” on an appointment to fix an additional outlet install they had botched in the first place.
This was after several months of HD signal interruptions and constant pixellation. I’d previously had at least 3 service calls to address the situation. Each technician and a different reason for why it was occurring and a different fix.
So I signed up to Uverse (12/08) and have been extremely happy ever since. I’ve had ONE service call to address an outage, and not only did I get 2 automated reminder calls about the appointment, but the technician called while finished up the previous appointment to let me know he was on the way.
One thing I’ll admit is that the HD signal is slightly more compressed than Comcast’s or Direct TV’s. But to me, that is a very small price to pay for NEVER having to deal with the likes of Comcast ever again (and I don’t trust the reliability of satellite signal in our hood).
We had been trying to find out if our street got UVerse, bc we wanted it. When we got the knock at the door. We signed up. We asked a lot of questions but missed some of the main ones, which had to do with changes in the nature of the service.
THe rest of this post is off topic, but is an fyi for UVerse/ AT&T
We are not completely happy customers. We keep finding problems in the bill that cause long winded phone calls to straighten out.
The recent one: Had long winded phone call about bogus late charge. Got it taken off bill and also paid bill while on phone, paid amount they said was due, which seemed to us to be the correct amount. A few weeks later we get another bill with, you guessed it, a bogus late charge. (How can you have a phone call and pay the amount owed and then get a late charge for not paying the correct amount?) We think we may keep uverse phone and internet and then just dump the tv hook up completely. The price per show is not worth it when there are so many internet options.
After two months, twenty-four site visits, 3 rewire jobs, 4 DVR replacements and recabling a thousand feet of street cable. ATT folks finally admitted that they were unable to make U-Verse work to my home. Went back to Comcast which at least is watchable. ATT folks were professional though and I liked the Uverse features (except it didn’t work).
Not solicited/employeed/paid by Uverse but as a happy customer, I wanted to chime in. We are in Eastlake/Oakhurst and have been VERY pleased with UVerse over the past 2 years. My husband actually signed up with someone going door to door. Do your own research and make the best decision for you. We did and are very happy.
An old trick I use…IF I ever answer the door or pick up phone and get a sales pitch for a service. I tell the sales person that my wife works for their competitor and that (EITHER) we get the employee rate (OR) she could possibly switch to her competitor.
Works for cable, wireless, long distance, insurance companies, etc. They never seem to have a comeback for that. Haven’t tried it on a “Traveler” though…
Good idea.
Now what do I do about the proselytizers and the political donation seekers?
Other than sick the dogs on them, that is.
All of these have worked for me at one time or another:
1. Answer the door naked.
2. Openly display your model 1911 .45 auto.
3. Before they can open their mouths, ask them for money.
4. Stand behind the closed door and yell, “THE OTHER ALIENS ALREADY TESTED ME!”
5. Scratch your privates while the person is talking.
Haha! I love #3. I’m going to have to try that one.
Okay. I did all of those and now I am in jail. Now what?
Try it again with the warden and report back.
Here’s one that a friend of my brother’s used: “I’m sorry. It’s not a good time right now as I’m in the middle of bathing Mother.”
I tell them that I’m very happy with my church.
or
I’m not interested in donating right now.
They go away. No real need to be belligerant, insulting or threatening.
How does this work if they’re selling magazines door-to-door? Do you say “Sorry, my wife also sells magazines in this neighborhood.” That would probably solicit a pretty amusing reaction.
Strangely enough, I’ve found that proselytizers go away when I tell them I’m Catholic. Must think papists are beyond hope of redemption.
I learned after a couple of unfortunate attempts at debate with proselytizers in college that the most expedient course of action is just to tell them what they want to hear, take their literature (straight into the recycling bin) and shut the door.
I’ve had a “no soliciting or canvassing” sign on my door for 6 years now and it’s worked wonders. The only people who blatantly ignore it are selling the AJC. If someone knocks and I don’t know them, I point to the sign and they go away. Poof.
We have U Verse and love it. Zero problems.
I would ask you all to try the direct approach! Make them go away not just now, but forever!
Answer the door and politely say your version of, “I’m sure you personally are great, but Im against door to door sales, and will =never= buy this company’s product because of this, please let them know.” II think if we all directly communicated that it makes us uncomfortable with the big brand (like ATT Uverse) they would reconsider. if you just duck, they’ll be back.
Remember that in Decatur, unless it’s religious or political in nature, the solicitor must have a permit from the City.
What if I believe that AT&T is the creator of the heavens and the earth?
Look at you, DM– makin’ with the wiseacre-ing! Feelin’ a little saucy today, are we?
I’ve had a few that have been soliciting for donations for various charitable organizations but the dead give away is the really dog-eared pamphlet and vague references to neighbors that have already given.
Is this something that people would call the city about? I am usually more amused if I happen to go to the door. We have a doorbell that doesn’t actually work so typically we just miss them.
step 1. Call DPD.
I wish I had read this post earlier today. I wouldn’t have been nearly as friendly to the fast-talking man in a seersucker suit who just sold me a monorail.
D’oh!
Monorail? Tell me more!
For the religious folk, I just try not to be home
Usually, the butler dismisses them. If the miscreants persist, a footman gives them a damn good thrashing and summons the constabulary.
When is somebody gonna do something about all the miscreants?
I just answer the door with my dog who HATES strangers on the porch. Whatever the sales pitch is, it’s usually short and rarely repeated in the future. This also helps discourage any “sales” persons who are actually casing houses.