What makes people think this is acceptable?

[Venus Pax]

Within the last few weeks, we have had two separate people (separate occasions) ring our doorbell AT NIGHT wanting to sell us something. Mars opened the door and talked to the first one; I talked to the second one through the door without opening it.

I really don't like solicitors anyway. I've considered a "no soliciting" sign, as well as a door mat that says "We gave at the office, we know God, and we love our vaccuum cleaner," but I hear that just eggs them on, and I don't want to discourage my neighbor kids from selling school/church fundraiser items, nor do I want to discourage the Girl Scouts.

Do many of you here have this problem where you live? If so, what do you do about it?

[seamusTX]

Desperation makes people do this. They have lost jobs and/or are in debt.

Then they get hooked up with some get-rich-quick-scheme.

It happens to us. We had an unwelcome caller today.

As I have said many times, I can see who is at the door without opening it. If the person is not someone that I want to talk to, I do not answer the door. If they persist, I have the means of telling them that we are not interested.

- Jim

[brianko]

I really don't like solicitors anyway. I've considered a "no soliciting" sign, as well as a door mat that says "We gave at the office, we know God, and we love our vaccuum cleaner," but I hear that just eggs them on, and I don't want to discourage my neighbor kids from selling school/church fundraiser items, nor do I want to discourage the Girl Scouts.

Well, you have to be willing to take the good and the bad. A "Positively No Soliciting" sign is actually very effective, especially if you live in a community that have laws governing when vendors can visit and under what conditions. We've had one for over 10 years, and I can count on one hand the number of morons who chose to ignore the sign (and of those, 3 of them were affiliated with a very large FIOS company I won't mention, as they don't deserve any free advertising).

--Brian

[skip]

I tend to talk to them and get rid of them politely. Just because I don't want them keying my car or something while I am not watching.

[killerfly128]

Do many of you here have this problem where you live? If so, what do you do about it?

I dont have that problem here, but if a unknown person came to our door at night i dont think i would be answering it. Sounds alot like a interview to me, but im a bit paranoid.

[Excaliber]

Within the last few weeks, we have had two separate people (separate occasions) ring our doorbell AT NIGHT wanting to sell us something. Mars opened the door and talked to the first one; I talked to the second one through the door without opening it.

I really don't like solicitors anyway. I've considered a "no soliciting" sign, as well as a door mat that says "We gave at the office, we know God, and we love our vaccuum cleaner," but I hear that just eggs them on, and I don't want to discourage my neighbor kids from selling school/church fundraiser items, nor do I want to discourage the Girl Scouts.

Do many of you here have this problem where you live? If so, what do you do about it?

My solution is a wireless intercom set.

I answer the door from either of two master stations, neither of which is in view of the door. Unless the visitor is someone I want to talk to, I make clear that we don't have any business together and they leave.

Advantages:

1. No opportunity for a push-in home invasion.
2. The visitor does not get to visually size up any occupant to determine if he/she looks like a good target risk or not
3. If it's early morning or late evening, I don't have to get dressed to answer the door
4. It's very unsettling to bad guys. They figure (correctly) that if the occupants thought things through enough to put in an intercom and use it, an intrusion attempt is likely to be met with more unwelcome surprises.
5. The intercom conversation is confirmation that someone is home, so a burglar looking for an empty house will keep on looking.
6. My most used intercom station is just outside my safe room which I could very quickly secure and then set up a welcoming party for a determined intruder if necessary.

Drawbacks:

1. You need to test it periodically to make sure it's working properly and the batteries are still good (they last about a year).

Cost: Around a hundred bucks for one outside and one inside station. More stations can be purchased at additional cost. The master station can be either a tabletop model (about the size of a clock radio w/cd player) or as a flush mount unit that requires a wall cutout.

History: My current setup has been in use for about a year and a half. It works like a charm!

[The Annoyed Man]

My neighborhood must look like a dump (it's not). I haven't had a door-to-door salesperson visit me since I bought the house 2.5 years ago.

[longhorn_92]

My neighborhood must look like a dump (it's not). I haven't had a door-to-door salesperson visit me since I bought the house 2.5 years ago.

Maybe it is the smell of Hoppe's #9 that keeps them away?....

[Venus Pax]

My solution is a wireless intercom set.

I answer the door from either of two master stations, neither of which is in view of the door. Unless the visitor is someone I want to talk to, I make clear that we don't have any business together and they leave.

We have an intercom system, but it's old, and I'm not sure that a solicitor would know how to communicate using it. (You have to actually push a button and talk. Does yours work like this?)

Also, do you always answer the door by using the intercom, or only at night? I don't mind going straight to the door for the neighbors, but don't care to deal with strangers. Of course, I wouldn't know until I got there and looked out the window.

[Bunkins]

I dont get them very often out here, long driveway pretty far off the road. I did have one guy about a yr ago come up. Worked for Dish Network.. I already have Direct TV and I'm happy with them... Some how, it ended up in a heated argument. The guy was very rude after telling him I was happy with my current service.. I was not having a good day, but tried to be polite. After trying to walk away, and go back inside the house the guy followed me up to the house, and it flipped my switch. The girl scouts dont even try to sell me anything here.. Which is good, cuz I'm not supposed to have that stuff anyways

We see a lot of it at work. People down on their luck and such. If they have something I'm interested in I'll bite, otherwise I quickly tell them I'm not interested. I dont mind that, it's a place of business, as long as they dont bother my employee's I'm ok with it. When I go home, I dont want to be bothered by anything business related. So it's a good thing they dont come to my house often.

[Excaliber]

My solution is a wireless intercom set.

I answer the door from either of two master stations, neither of which is in view of the door. Unless the visitor is someone I want to talk to, I make clear that we don't have any business together and they leave.

We have an intercom system, but it's old, and I'm not sure that a solicitor would know how to communicate using it. (You have to actually push a button and talk. Does yours work like this?)

Also, do you always answer the door by using the intercom, or only at night? I don't mind going straight to the door for the neighbors, but don't care to deal with strangers. Of course, I wouldn't know until I got there and looked out the window.

Mine also requires a visitor to push the button. I have a very simple sign above it telling them to do so, and I put a red reflective dot on the button. If they don't respond to my initial intercom query I tell them verbally over the intercom what to do. If they aren't able to follow those instructions, they aren't friends (none of mine are that dumb) and we don't have anything to talk about. I do not allow myself to be roped into going to the door because someone appears to have trouble figuring out how to push the button.

I use the intercom all the time. There's no magic protection from bad guys at the door during the day - it's actually when most burglars operate.

My door has a large center glass panel and is at the end of a long hall. If I'm near the hall, I take a quick peek to get an idea of who might be there. If it's a neighbor or friend, I don't bother with the intercom. If I'm not near the hall, I make my initial assessment by intercom only and confirm it with a look down the hall if needed.

[anygunanywhere]

Our subdivision has "No Soliciting" signs but they are ignored. League City has a permit system that door to door panhandlers can obtain. I had one jerk tell me he had the "right" to knock on my door since he had the permit. I can not post what I told him.

We actually had Kirby people recently.

I have been looking for one of those intercoms. Thanks, Excalibur.

Anygun

[jimlongley]

I routinely answer the door with a .45 openly displayed on my hip, and under some circumstances in my hand, and a pack of dogs backing me up. What few we get in our little cul-de-sac neighborhood are usually pretty subdued and leave quickly.

The other night I started to dial the phone and hung up after dialing the first digit, a 9, and a couple of minutes later the 911 center called asking about our abandoned 911 call. I assured the young lady it was nothing more than a dialing error. A few minutes later the doorbell rang, and the dogs went berserk per their training, but I answered the door without a gun visible because I knew that our local police ALWAYS dispatch on 911 hangups and I didn't want to get anybody riled up.

[HighVelocity]

you just hit 9 and they STILL came?

[Liko81]

We actually had Kirby people recently.

Interesting; my parents own a Kirby, so I'm familiar with their sales pitch; they always called ahead and scheduled a convenient time to come by. The normal pitch is to have you vacuum one room of your house beforehand; they will then stop by and vacuum it again, showing you what your vacuum missed. I haven't heard of any Kirby rep who went door-to-door (for one, those vacuums are heavy; for another, they lose time asking people who do let them in to vacuum a room while they sit there, and for a third, door-to-door is not very efficient salesmanship).

As far as solicitors are concerned, I've only ever had a couple, usually cable guys going around the complex trying to sign other people up after one guy gets his installed. It's been at least a year since I've been solicited; not exactly sure why.