# Y'all want a new couch? Bizarre doorbell experience. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 27, 2003, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-want-a-new-couch-bizarre-doorbell-experience/204174 "2003-09-27T17:33:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2003, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-want-a-new-couch-bizarre-doorbell-experience/204174/1 "2003-09-27T17:33:38Z")
The setting: A small New England town on a Saturday morning. The scene: \ **LotV** opens the door, expecting yet another kid hawking fundraisers for school. Mysterious door-to-door salesman speaks in a Southern accent… “Hi there. We’re from North Carolina. We’re selling furniture.” **LotV** looks out, sees two plain white tractor-trailers parked on her quiet, generally traffic-free road. **LotV** is so surprised, she is unable to think of a single thing to say to rescue this scene except… “Errr…we’re not interested.” **LotV** closes door, and locks it behind her. \ The End. What the heck was that? Door-to-door furniture sales? In a small, rural town? Stolen furniture…or trying to steal our furniture? Has this happened to anyone else? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2003, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-want-a-new-couch-bizarre-doorbell-experience/204174/2 "2003-09-27T18:17:45Z")
Are you in the Nashau area, by any chance? Here’s the Google cache of the minutes of a city council meeting from August 7th, which includes an [Application for Hawker’s & Peddler’s License: Scott Vernon d/b/a Thomasville Classic Interiors](http://www.google.ca/search?q=cache:WCVx4p1dkiUJ:www.ci.nashua.nh.us/Aldermen/Minutes/Personnel/2003_08_07_Unofficial.htm) > [@](#): > > To summarize the issues, the company that is requesting licensure goes under the business name if you will of Thomasville Classic Interiors. Last year during the summer our office received a number of complaints […] [which] fell into three categories; one that some of the people knocking on the door stated that they were in the city to deliver furniture that had been ordered by another party, but the party had refused to pay on delivery, therefore, they had a load of furniture in their truck that they were able to offer at a discount so that they could head back home, another point was that some of the sales representatives were promoting their furniture as the brand name Thomasville Furniture, which was not the case, and the third point was that some trucks were parked in residential areas for long periods of times while these individuals were going door-to-door in the neighborhood. Mr. Vernon did tell me that he felt that this was another company not his. To be honest with you it is quite possible that a company could be operating in the city without a license at all. Thomasville Classic Interiors was the only door-to-door furniture sales company in the city that obtained a license last year. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2003, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-want-a-new-couch-bizarre-doorbell-experience/204174/3 "2003-09-27T18:20:21Z")
(I know Nashua isn’t exactly a small town, and can even spell it, most days.) ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2003, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-want-a-new-couch-bizarre-doorbell-experience/204174/4 "2003-09-27T18:26:05Z")
And I guess I should have quoted this part, too: > [@](#): > > One issue here that I had was the as far as going up and telling the people at the doors that we had cancelled orders or whatever the thing here says – what I normally tell the people at the doors is that we are from North Carolina, we are from High Point North Carolina with two truck loads of furniture and what we are doing is selling to the public at discounted prices.\_ What I can do is if you are all familiar – North Carolina is the furniture capital of the world. --Scott Vernon (New Hampshire resident.) ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2003, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-want-a-new-couch-bizarre-doorbell-experience/204174/5 "2003-09-27T18:34:45Z")
That my comment marking the guy as a New Hampshire resident, and it’s based on a typo in the transcript. The guy really is from NC, not NH. I can’t quite tell if I’ve had too much coffee, or not enough. ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2003, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-want-a-new-couch-bizarre-doorbell-experience/204174/6 "2003-09-27T18:36:15Z")
Wow **Larry**! How did you find that? I don’t live in Nashua, but it is within a reasonable driving distance. Who knew that this was a big industry? I feel much better knowing that they weren’t casing my house. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2003, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-want-a-new-couch-bizarre-doorbell-experience/204174/7 "2003-09-27T18:40:53Z")
Heh-- I don’t know that it’s such a big industry – That page is the lone return on a Google search for [“Door to door furniture sales”](http://www.google.ca/search?q=%22Door-to-door+furniture+sales%22&ie=ISO-8859-1&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search). Thank god. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tanookie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/48db29/32.png) [@tanookie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanookie)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2003, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-want-a-new-couch-bizarre-doorbell-experience/204174/8 "2003-09-27T20:58:05Z")
Yeah we had people knock on our door selling furniture too and it was really odd to us… I’m afraid furniture isn’t something I’d likely impulse buy from a guy in a truck! ---
**Author:** ![80sHairMetalMaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/8/ed655f/32.png) [@80sHairMetalMaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/80sHairMetalMaven)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2003, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-want-a-new-couch-bizarre-doorbell-experience/204174/9 "2003-09-27T21:36:02Z")
That IS wierd. Kinda like that one time in my first apartment where a kid was so desperate for money he came to my door and asked _ME_ if he could take out my garbage for a buck. 😕 Same kid came back a month or so later, asking if he could ‘buy’ one of my cats because they were having mouse problems. I told him no. MetalMaven ---
**Author:** ![i\_like\_bacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@i\_like\_bacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/i_like_bacon)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-want-a-new-couch-bizarre-doorbell-experience/204174/10 "2003-09-28T01:47:17Z")
ok i never had a furniture salesman, but i have had a guy selling meat out of his back seat. how weird is that? i asked if he had any bacon but he said no. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-want-a-new-couch-bizarre-doorbell-experience/204174/11 "2003-09-28T02:29:50Z")
I wonder if all the furniture had receipts. You know. The kind the “salesmen” would get when they _purchased_ the furniture, as opposed to any other way of getting it. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![White\_Lightning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@White\_Lightning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/White_Lightning)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-want-a-new-couch-bizarre-doorbell-experience/204174/12 "2003-09-28T05:39:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by \*\*i like bacon \*\*\* > ok i never had a furniture salesman, but i have had a guy selling meat out of his back seat. how weird is that? i asked if he had any bacon but he said no. I’m sorry, have I told you before that I adore your username? Well done. ---
**Author:** ![Sinshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Sinshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinshine)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-want-a-new-couch-bizarre-doorbell-experience/204174/13 "2003-09-28T17:51:20Z")
This to **i love bacon** : > [@](#): > > \*\* Well done. \*\* **White Lightning** - bad. :smack: I love it! ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-want-a-new-couch-bizarre-doorbell-experience/204174/14 "2003-09-28T18:48:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by i like bacon \* > ok i never had a furniture salesman, but i have had a guy selling meat out of his back seat. how weird is that? i asked if he had any bacon but he said no. Maybe there wasn’t any bacon in the back seat, but there’s usually a lot of pork(ing). Has anyone considered how this might be a hijacked load of furniture that some dingbats are trying to fence (albeit slowly)? ---
**Author:** ![KP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@KP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KP)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-want-a-new-couch-bizarre-doorbell-experience/204174/15 "2003-09-28T23:05:18Z")
Apparently there are other roving bands of furniture sellers in the Nashua area, but they are far less reputable than the one cited. He has receipts, contact information, and a track record of customer service. His display book purportedly is clearly labelled with the correct manufacturers. He explains his true business, and applies for licenses. The others are unlicensed (I’ve seen them set up a tent across from a major furniture store and sell furniture until the cops came, in response to the store’s complaints, and asked to see their license) They also, according to citizen complaints, tell cock-and-bull stories about coming to town to deliver furniture, COD, to a customer who refused to pay, They claim they’ll sell it at a discount, so they can deadhead back. (This is fishy on so many levels: who sells furniture COD? From 700 miles away? Delivering in their own truck? And if that’s not the seller’s truck, what right would a shipper have to sell the load? And why would they bother trying - they’re truckers not furniture salemen. In this age of credit cards and electronic payments COD is pretty uncommon and people without credit cards are often a bit short on cash, so this can’t be the first time they were refused. Maybe the seller can’t qualify for a merchant account -or checking account- or wants to evade the consumer protections a credit card offers. Why would I want random furniture the original chooser didn’t want, once they’d seen it? Since they’re driving back anyway, I have to wonder how much of a discount they’d off - gas money? That’s just a fraction of a normal delivery charge. BTW, the guy didn’t have any bacon, but he had sold a side of beef to Michael J. Fox, who costarred on Family Ties with Michael Groos, who was in the movie Tremors with … Kevin Bacon ---
**Author:** ![ILikeMadonna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8baadc/32.png) [@ILikeMadonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ILikeMadonna)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-want-a-new-couch-bizarre-doorbell-experience/204174/16 "2003-09-29T07:59:01Z")
I hate people peddling things! We have a no solicitor thing on our fence and they still bother me. I was watering the grass on Saturday and this kid is showing me chocolate throug hthe fence trying to bother me and I said no thanks…then Sunday morning I was washing my car and this woman asks me if she can wax my floor for free. Wax my floor for free? She said if I don’t like it I don’t have to pay. She was trying to case my house! ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-want-a-new-couch-bizarre-doorbell-experience/204174/17 "2003-09-29T09:09:39Z")
I don’t mind peddlars calling, if I’m not busy. I had a great experience with an Irish traveller the other day. He came to my door with a bag of orthopedic pillows: “Would ye like to buy a pillow, they’re fully hypoallergenic and orthopedic, like?” I had been meaning to buy some new pillows anyway - so I asked how much. €20 for the pair. I checked my wallet. No money. “I’ll give them to ye for €16 then.” But I honestly hadn’t got any money in the house. Well, maybe in my change jar. So I went and counted it out: €8 was all I had. I went back to the door and told him that was all I had. “Hmmm,” he said. “All right then, have you any auld tea? Gi’s a package of tea and the €8 and you can have 'em.” As luck would have it, I did have a brand new unopened packet of Barry’s Gold Blend teabags, so I fetched it, gave the gent the tea and the €8, and got my pillows. As I closed the door I heard him shouting to his wife: “look what I got! A package of tea!” They’re great pillows, too. Fair exchange is no robbery! ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-want-a-new-couch-bizarre-doorbell-experience/204174/18 "2003-09-29T10:01:05Z")
You know, I might be interested in buying the couch if they took mine in trade… ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-want-a-new-couch-bizarre-doorbell-experience/204174/19 "2003-09-29T10:40:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jjimm \* > **As luck would have it, I did have a brand new unopened packet of Barry’s Gold Blend teabags, so I fetched it, gave the gent the tea and the €8, and got my pillows. As I closed the door I heard him shouting to his wife: "look what I got! A package of tea!"** Based upon this portion of this post alone, I have concluded that Ireland is a really, really cool place. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-want-a-new-couch-bizarre-doorbell-experience/204174/20 "2003-09-29T11:35:02Z")
We’ve had guys come by peddling fresh shrimp out of the back of their pickup. Of course, we’re 30 miles from the Gulf and we can run down the road and buy fresh seafood at a market a couple miles from our house every day that was fresh caught that morning, so it’s not quite as unusual as it sounds. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-want-a-new-couch-bizarre-doorbell-experience/204174.md?page=2)