I will try to remember this and try it in the future.
An even easier way to end the sales call is to just shut the door in their face. I’ve done that from time to time.
Another useful trick (just in case they have something legit to offer) is ask them if they have a printed brochure you can have. Usually, they do not. Sometimes, they do. Then I tell them that I’ll read it over and call them back if I’m interested.
These guys came around from time to time in the large apartment complex where I worked. I called the police once or twice, but when the cops showed up, the guys were nowhere to be found. I also informed the apartment manager a few times. Now, at the time, we had an apartment manager who could be a really nasty bitch when she saw fit. She got really nasty with the door-to-door guy, and escorted him off the property.
The tactics described in that story sound just like the ones I’ve experienced.
I fell for it the first time it happened, but cancelled it immediately. Then I got about five of them, all from different companies, over the next few weeks, once two days in a row.
It really sucks to be fooled and feel like a dunce.
Business assholes ripping people off by gouging them or sealing them into unbreakable contracts is bad business practice enough, but when they lie, skirt the law, and defraud people, and it is proven in court, their assets should be seized, the owners thrown in federal pound me in the ass prison, and the victims should be paid all their court costs, and at least 10 times what they were scammed out of, and all the remainder should go to whatever government agencies are involved in punishing the shit out of these companies and prosecuting them, so they’re just as rich and powerful in court as they are.
Business assholes are probably the single biggest cancer in America. All the focus is on petty criminals, and no focus is on the corporate assholes who rewrite the laws in their favor and then go about legally or almost-legally screwing over as many people as possible.
Legalized theft.
You can lock your doors to keep the thieves out, and they’ll still get inside merely by owning a business and being able to drain you of your money directly and fraudulently. And they have better lawyers and they influence our legal process through money and legislators being in their pocket.
Fuck them, I want hell to be a real place so they’ll burn there for all eternity. Sadly that’s just a pipe dream, so it needs to be federal pound me in the ass prison.
Yes. And these people are especially low because the prey on people who are home on week days, who are largely the elderly and the unemployed.
I happened to not be at work today and I was at my mothers house. She’s 85 and because she’s recovering from an illness she’s been a little confused at times. I hate to think what would have happened if I hadn’t been there.
This guy sounded sincere and convincing (I suppose that he may have been lied to and believed what he was saying.) Intellectually, I knew what was going on but there was a part of me that felt like I was closing the door on someone important and ignoring an issue that needed to be addressed.
I can imagine her calling me in tears saying that she can’t find her electric bill and she needs to show it to someone from the power company now or else they’ll raise her rates or cancel her service.
Eh. They saved my mother money. Nearly $70 a month.
When does her introductory rate expire?
So are the guys selling speakers out of a van. But they’re still scammers.
In some communities, a license or permit is required to sell things door to door. If your community is one of those, then you have the right to ask to see their license/permit.
If they try to tap dance around showing it, you can still close the door you can still call the police. The difference is, now and there might be something that the cops can actually do about it.
There’s always something the cops can do about it. If you order them to leave, and they refuse, they are trespassing.
Maybe so, but many people have a different experience, and I’m suspicious of any company that trains its employees to act in such misleading ways.
Did your mother sign up with someone going door to door asking to see electric bills? How long has she been saving money?
I’m not trying to pick a battle here, but lets say 10-15 minutes later a police car comes. The police officer gets out of his car, listens to you, and then says,
“Look. I didn’t see it. If I didn’t see it, I can’t charge them with anything. He’s not on your property now. If you want me to file a police report I will, but it will list their side too. It will be available for you to pick up Friday of next week. Is that what you want me to do…?”
Conversely, if they are selling door to door and if they don’t have a license, they’ll get a ticket from the police officer which they’d have to go to court to fight and which will cost them time / money and which will show on their police record.
In effect, all I’m trying to promote is the scenario (when applicable) where they can be found by the responding officer on the wrong side of the law, however minor, because that goes a long way further than a simple “he said, he said” report.
I think your plan is missing a few steps.
My scenario: “there was a door to door salesman trespassing here. He was from XYZ Company.”
Your scenario: “there was a door to door salesman trespassing here. He showed me his license and he was from ABC Company.”
I’m not seeing anything in the latter scenario where the cop now saw the offender trespassing.
I think you misunderstood. In my scenario its
“…there was a door to door salesman trespassing here. I asked to see his ID and his peddler’s license for our city and he refused to show it to me. I don’t think he has one. When he refused to leave my property, I called you. He walked away just before you drove up.”
What I was trying to show goes right past the trespassing and right to the one possible charge (depending on location and the law there) that they can immediately see and verify:
“…May I see your ID? Ok… Mr Smith, you were here today on business? Ok… what business are you in? Do you have a door-to-door sales license/permit for this city? OK, I want you to wait for me here in the back of the patrol car. I’m going to get his statement and then I’ll be back.”
INAL but cops can’t make charging you for trespassing stick if they didn’t see it or if there isn’t reasonable evidence indicating it. You can insist until you are blue in the face, but they won’t charge him unless they see it or unless they have reasonable proof. You filing a report does show up
when they run his ID, but its still your word against his plus any evidence (video, etc).
Him getting a ticket/fine costs him money and will get back to the boiler room he gets dispatched out of daily. Towns that require licenses tend to be avoided by these scammers… and in the end isn’t that what you want?
Other than that, having a misdemeanor (or a couple of them over time) for door-to-door sales without a license will stand out like a red flag every time his ID gets run and may make a difference to the cop who has to play “guess who is lying here”.
That… and if you’re that worried about not being able to press trespassing charges? Get a security camera.
I am. And this is not even remotely accurate.
The ones I encountered were so bad they paper, hand-written badges.
The PA utility board has a very dim view of these electriticy providers and how they try to scam customers. Complaining to them is almost a certain win if you can get through to a human being.
We were de-regulated here in California so long ago, I don’t even remember if these scams happened.
But there is a new one going around. Someone (“Officer Judy Smith” is a commonly used pseudonym) calls and says that you owe the IRS back taxes, and the cops are about to arrest you for non-payment. Call us right away!!!
I actually had to pay some back taxes very recently due to a stupid error I made, so it was relatively fresh in my mind. Immediately, I panicked and my heart started pounding. Fortunately, it was a voice mail, so I was able to think for about half a second.
Whenever I’ve had any kind of dealings with the IRS, have they EVER called me? Have they ever leapt to the “you’re about to be arrested” language? Is it the cops that are the ones calling? It didn’t make any sense. I first went to the IRS and reported the phone number of the call. Then, I found an online complaint site to log these kinds of incidents. Several people commented that they actually called the number back and talked to the scammers, who folded like a cheap suit.
I’ve since gotten the call twice (in the last month to six weeks). It must work well enough to keep 'em going.
That IRS thing is a scam from the start, with no legitimacy whatsoever. I assume they try to get a credit card number or bank info.
The electricity thing is real companies with a real product. The scam is the way they try to trick you into signing up.
A guy came to my condo and a neighbor signed up my neighbor g/f and I were trying to tell him not to sign up , but he did . He canceled it the next day . Then the next week another guy came to my door and he would not leave I told him to leave or I will call 911 and say he is trespassing ! The guy left !