Door-to-door ex con rehabilitation?

daisiegg

Has anyone else had these come to the door?

Usually a young man with a laminated ID badge/form thing, and a bag of household tat being sold for extortionate prices, saying that it's part of young offenders' rehabilitation.

I have had it before in my old house and just had one come to the door in my new house. He seemed a very nice young man, quite embarrassed, and I listened to him, gave him a glass of water (and gave him a bottle of water to take with him as it's absolutely boiling!) and bought some cleaning cloths for £5 - a bit more than they'd cost me in Wilkinsons but about the same as what they'd cost me in Waitrose.

I then came in and Googled it, because I'm very suspicious about the whole thing - can't find anything conclusive online. Does anyone know if this is a real rehabilitation scheme?

To be honest, I don't mind either way. If it's real, then I'm pleased to have helped someone on his way to starting a college place in September (so he said). If it's not real...well...if someone is so hard up and desperate that they will go door to door in thirty degrees heat peddling rubbish for probably not much gain (particularly in this area - I'm pretty sure most of my neighbours would have sent him quickly on his way!) then I don't begrudge him a glass of water and £5.

So, does anyone know if these schemes are genuine or not? As I said, just purely out of curiosity.

daisiegg

(Just wanted to add, before anyone jumps in telling me it's a scam to steal your stuff while you're distracted...I shut the door and left him on the doorstep while I got the water...and there is nothing steal-able in the front hallway/view of the door anyway - but can't be too careful!)

Oliver14

Any ID should have the name of the organisation and a phone number to ring.

Speak to your trading standards about it, They would likely know.

Oliver14

If you search on google for Door to door probation there are quite a few statements from various probation services stating that door to door selling is not a probation scheme

Mojisola

daisiegg wrote: »

To be honest, I don't mind either way. If it's real, then I'm pleased to have helped someone on his way to starting a college place in September (so he said). If it's not real...well...if someone is so hard up and desperate that they will go door to door in thirty degrees heat peddling rubbish for probably not much gain (particularly in this area - I'm pretty sure most of my neighbours would have sent him quickly on his way!) then I don't begrudge him a glass of water and £5.

The truth is probably neither of those. A gangmaster will have collected together a group of plausible youngsters, kitted them out with the the goods and the badges, driven them to an area and set them to work. Any unsold goods and the money have to be given to the leader who pays the lads a pittance. If they don't achieve a certain level of sales, they get into trouble.

tea_lover

I'm pretty sure it's not real. Where I used to live we had a lot of info from the police about this as we had loads of people trying this on.

Silk

Theres quite a few reports of this it's a scam ....
http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2012/05/03/warning-of-doorstep-%E2%80%98ex-con%E2%80%99-selling-scam/

pogofish

daisiegg wrote: »

Has anyone else had these come to the door?

Usually a young man with a laminated ID badge/form thing, and a bag of household tat being sold for extortionate prices, saying that it's part of young offenders' rehabilitation.

I have had it before in my old house and just had one come to the door in my new house. He seemed a very nice young man, quite embarrassed, and I listened to him, gave him a glass of water (and gave him a bottle of water to take with him as it's absolutely boiling!) and bought some cleaning cloths for £5 - a bit more than they'd cost me in Wilkinsons but about the same as what they'd cost me in Waitrose.

I then came in and Googled it, because I'm very suspicious about the whole thing - can't find anything conclusive online. Does anyone know if this is a real rehabilitation scheme?

To be honest, I don't mind either way. If it's real, then I'm pleased to have helped someone on his way to starting a college place in September (so he said). If it's not real...well...if someone is so hard up and desperate that they will go door to door in thirty degrees heat peddling rubbish for probably not much gain (particularly in this area - I'm pretty sure most of my neighbours would have sent him quickly on his way!) then I don't begrudge him a glass of water and £5.

So, does anyone know if these schemes are genuine or not? As I said, just purely out of curiosity.

This scam has been going round and round in various forms for the last 30-odd years!

raven83

We have it here quite a lot, exactly as you describe in your OP. Tbh I am very weary of people that knock at my door anyway, and most of the time I have one of these knock I tend to swiftly tell them I am not interested and send them on their way, may seem a bit heartless but you can never be too careful, plus they tend to knock when it's dinner time/ or putting the kids to bed time.

Lotus-eater

I had one of these the other day, 1st one in 10 years here. It's certainly a scam of sorts. I used to get them all the time in my old house.

daisiegg

Mojisola wrote: »

The truth is probably neither of those. A gangmaster will have collected together a group of plausible youngsters, kitted them out with the the goods and the badges, driven them to an area and set them to work. Any unsold goods and the money have to be given to the leader who pays the lads a pittance. If they don't achieve a certain level of sales, they get into trouble.

Well then, I'm glad I helped towards stopping him getting in trouble!