What can I do to stop Door-to-Door salespeople ?

dispossessed

-taff said:

How about a signt hat says, No cold callers. If you ignore this we will report you to your organisation for not respecting our privacy.

I suspect that you may not have read my original post.

Did you mean a sign in addition to the other three 'No Cold Callers' signs on the street door and one in the front window that I mentioned in my orignal post ?

Additionally, as I said in my reply to elsien's post (above), a significant majority are self employed tree pruners, roofers and road workers with "..a little bit of tarmac left over..". 

Others, particularly approaching the Christmas period, include (probably voluntary) charity collectors asking for cash donations. What I find curious is that every year the Trading Standards department at the same district council who licence these collections put out an appeal advising people not to give money to cold callers claiming to represent a charity.

But I digress.

I would estimate only 25% (ish) of these people are 'employed' using the very broadest sense of the word.

On a couple of occasions we have reported them, or more accurately - the episode, to the organisation for whom they were canvassing. On both occasions the response was along the lines of "no one else has complained" combined with an attempt at justification.

I would love to see the activity prohibited by dedicated legislation but this seems highly unlikely to occur. Hence I am seeking some practical solution. As I have now exhausted my ideas and after yet another interruption by a cold caller this morning, I thought I would ask others for their suggestions.

Arthur

FreeBear

Carrot007 said Maybe. I aint buying stuff from you, but I will string you on for as long as possible. Maybe even make an appointment where I will then not answer the door. I'm sure your bosses will be happy with you.

Scruffy little oik knocked on my door one on behalf of Anglian Windows. Asked him to give me his ID and then shut the door in his face.

A few minutes later, a timid knock... He was asking for his card back. I told him I hadn't been able to confirm his identity yet, so he would have to wait....

Five minutes later, another timid knock. Again. told him I had not been able to confirm his identity, and I was of the opinion that he was either casing the "hood" or on some sort of scam. On that basis, I would be destroying his card.

Ended up with me calling the chief exec of Anglian and ripping a strip of his PA for wasting my time and sending out scruffy little **** canvasing for business - Something they would never get.

dispossessed

FreeBear said:

Carrot007 said Maybe. I aint buying stuff from you, but I will string you on for as long as possible. Maybe even make an appointment where I will then not answer the door. I'm sure your bosses will be happy with you.

Scruffy little oik knocked on my door one on behalf of Anglian Windows. Asked him to give me his ID and then shut the door in his face.

A few minutes later, a timid knock... He was asking for his card back. I told him I hadn't been able to confirm his identity yet, so he would have to wait....

Five minutes later, another timid knock. Again. told him I had not been able to confirm his identity, and I was of the opinion that he was either casing the "hood" or on some sort of scam. On that basis, I would be destroying his card.

Ended up with me calling the chief exec of Anglian and ripping a strip of his PA for wasting my time and sending out scruffy little **** canvasing for business - Something they would never get.

Good for you ! There exists a useful website called CEO e-mail addresses that (fairly obviously) lists contact details (sometimes including telephone numbers) for the CEO of many large companies. I'm fairly sure Anglian Windows is on their list.

I am seeking something that prevents them knocking in the first place. Apparently the presence of four signs plus a clearly visible CCTV system is ineffective.

I did wonder about placing a human skull in our bay window but thought I might get tired of police officers enquiring as to its provenance.

Arthur

elsien

Man trap.
Only option left. 
Unfortunately the house to house mob are back out again now lock down is easing,  complete with visors. I had one trying to flog me an alarm system and when I pointed out my bull terrier was fairly effective,  they switched to telling me that he'd be burned alive if there was a fire and I'd end up with a hot dog without said alarm system. 
You really couldn't make it up. 

billm

Not an answer to your problem, but potentially an explanation as to why your callers do not use the bell, or door knocker.
Many years ago when I first started as a 'home visitor' for local council where I would make calls to assist claimants with benefit claims or to check council records, as part of our training we were advised never to press a doorbell in case a needle had been placed in it, or to use a door knocker as it could be covered in something unpleasant.
This was standard advice for anyone working with the LA or DWP. As a result even to this day, I always knock on a door, and never use a doorbell.
Possibly similar advice is still given out today.

dispossessed

elsien said:

Man trap.
Only option left. 
Unfortunately the house to house mob are back out again now lock down is easing,  complete with visors. I had one trying to flog me an alarm system and when I pointed out my bull terrier was fairly effective,  they switched to telling me that he'd be burned alive if there was a fire and I'd end up with a hot dog without said alarm system. 
You really couldn't make it up. 

Sorry to read of your experience.

A mantrap is becoming an increasingly attractive option.

Arthur

dispossessed

billm said:

Not an answer to your problem, but potentially an explanation as to why your callers do not use the bell, or door knocker.
Many years ago when I first started as a 'home visitor' for local council where I would make calls to assist claimants with benefit claims or to check council records, as part of our training we were advised never to press a doorbell in case a needle had been placed in it, or to use a door knocker as it could be covered in something unpleasant.
This was standard advice for anyone working with the LA or DWP. As a result even to this day, I always knock on a door, and never use a doorbell.
Possibly similar advice is still given out today.

I am genuinely interested to learn this - I had absolutely no idea.

We don't receive any calls from the LA or DWP but it might explain why Royal Mail employees bang on the door in a manner akin the the Stasi. They are the only group who call on us whom I can imagine receive any training relating to such a risk.

Thank you for this information.

Arthur

Davesnave

If you move to somewhere out in the sticks, like us, you'll not see one cold caller in a twelvemonth. Even the Jehovah's Witnesses don't find us here.

longwalks1

Open the door, if they start a hard sell, or with ‘hi-sir/madam, don’t be worry I won’t take too much of your time today’ then simply close the door on them without even acknowledging them.  

It won’t stop the next hard seller, but hopefully it’ll get some of them to re-evaluate what they do for a living and realise it really is a hated profession. 

longwalks1

dispossessed said:

elsien said:

if you do inadvertently answer, take their details and report them to whichever body has sent them out. It won't stop the others but it may mean that that particular organisation takes more care in future. 

A significant number of them are of the roof repairs, trees pruned and "little bit of tarmac left over..." variety ...if you catch my drift...

Arthur

They’re the last people anyone wants knocking and peering indoors.

TIP: if a transit tipper with a roof light on it and an old fridge on the back knocks, just ignore the front door.