She wanted me to let her into the lobby, so she could knock on everyone’s door “for a survey”. Topic undisclosed.
I told her almost everyone was at work and we didn’t like surveys.
“That’s Okay, I’ll come tonight and ask you to let me in then”
Even worse lady. You want to reach them, send them a letter to call you. Opt in.
She says, “Oh but these are comprehensive interviews about viewing habits. We’ve been doing these surveys for thirty years now”. Like Nielsons? “Sort of…”
Then she flashed the badge, which could have been made up at Kinko’s that had her picture and a generic sounding company name, like American Honest Polls Inc.
Which turned out to be false.
Now she threatens me. “Well, you will force me to have to get around you by sending 50 Fed-Ex packages.”
Hey, knock yourself out.
“Well, let me explain what will be in the packages…”
Good bye. I don’t care what will be in your packages.
When my package arrives, it’s from Comcast. The “survey” is a sales pitch to buy HBO and Showtime channels. But the letter is screwed up to sound like I’m endorsing the “survey”. So now I have to go around and put my own tag on each package saying I’m not connected and in fact recommend against giving in to such high pressure tactics.
Why do they have to do all this lying? They are a big company with a big TV ad budget, and endless mail offers. They should have learned how to reach people honestly by now.
(Why post in the Pit? I think this qualifies under the forum description of “For rants about the world…”)
Are you the doorman or security person for an apartment building? Do you have a “no soliciting” sign you could point to?
That’s really creepy that they used your name - how did they get it? Do you have a name tag? Are you going to call them to complain about the unauthorized use of your identity?
Clipboards really are a great way to bluff your way into things. A friend and I bluffed our way into a closed Obama rally back during the primaries with nothing but a camera and a clipboard.
They do it for two reasons:
(1) it works on some people – they test these marketing strategies, and they find that x% will respond positively to them.
(2) they don’t get punished for lying – or at least, they don’t see that some people react negatively to the lies.
Probably not with Comcast at all. Just one of those new Girl Gangs that look safe enough to let in, then case the joint for location of valuables. And she can ask the key questions: Is anyone home to watch soaps or do you all leave the place safe for girl gang burglars all day?
A guy dressed in a torn t-shirt, gym shorts, a do-rag, deeply tanned with a scraggly beard and unkempt hair–but with a badge and a clipboard–was checking out the back of my neighbor’s house.
“Who the hell are you?”
“I’m from the gas company and I’m reading meters.”
His ID looked legit, though I noted any identifying features for future reference and called the gas company."
“Yes, he’s one of our meter readers.”
“Then you should insist he dress more like one of your employees and less like a tramp casing the neighborhood.”
Attitude and accessories. I could probably walk onto just about any non-nuclear power plant in the world with nothing more than my hard hat, my clipboard, a cell phone to my ear, and a sour expression on my face.
AFAIK, it’s not strictly legal in most communities to pose as a political/educational/whatever actual survey taker if she’s basically just a door to door salesmen. Most municipalities have different ordinances for the two different kinds of solicitation. Political surveyors are protected by the first amendment; any ordinance outlawing them would not be enforceable. But you can regulate commercial activities more closely.
I’d call the police. Seriously. They’ll know if she was registered, as most communities require; some do background checks before issuing such a permit.
What an odd thing to think. I’d wager almost no municipality writes laws about taking polls, and most don’t bother with door to door salesmen, except for a business permit, which can be obtained by just listing “sales”.
This is precisely the reason we have a “No Solicitation/By Appointment Only” sign outside our office. We further state that “If you do not have an appointment, you will be asked to leave.”
Not that we wish to discourage our friends in our industry from dropping by and saying hi, but before we put that sign up, it was ridiculous how many people would walk in right off the street. Survey-takers, “copier salesmen,” random street crazies - you name it. Most were either casing the joint, looking for an opportunity to quickly swipe a laptop, or looking to get a model number off a copier so they could send us toner at a 20000% markup.
Our office manager immediately challenges all visitors. “Hi, who are you and who are you here to see?” If the sign doesn’t keep 'em out, she gets 'em to leave pretty quickly.
I am nigh-literally itching for the day that someone tries that scam on my office, because ***I ***know that any unordered deliveries are legally considered gifts, so we’d be under no obligation to pay for them or even return them. Moohoohahaha.
I learned a long time ago that a clipboard and a scowl are almost as good as a master key for getting you into many places. All you need to go with them are some vaguely ‘uniform’ looking clothes, or better, a suit.
This is actually not as effective as it once was as people have become more suspicious of scams. But as long are there are people who believe they’ve won the international lottery or that Prime Minister Abooma Aseeb needs their help to transfer money, there will be people who can get in with a clip board.
Kevin Mitnick wrote a great book on this stuff called The Art of Deception. Social Engineering was one of his biggest hacking tools. It’s a good read because it shows how just simple things like giving your name, as a legitimate employee, can be used by a skilled social engineer to appear legitimate themselves.
