Entertaining Door to Door Salesman - Is It Safe?

Interesting question.

We have a glass storm door which we often keep locked, so I usually send people on their way pretty quickly. I've had a couple of people on my porch which triggered some instinctual "not good folk" intuiation; most are pretty harmless and just trying to do their job and sell a product or service. And I can help them do their job by being very direct and letting them know I am not interested, that way they can spend their time better elsewhere.

And this is why people seem to have no contact with strangers anymore...

Didn't they used to say a stranger is just a friend you haven't met yet?

I'm not really all that paranoid. And I don't need my husband to protect me.

Is it safe? I'd say that's up to you.

I'm sure the poor guy's just trying to make a buck but honestly I don't open my door for ANYONE I don't know or already have an appointment with, especially when I'm home alone.

Yes, I did it once, and couldn't get the guy to stop cleaning the rug and leave. Yes, I felt safe, just annoyed that he stayed so long, and I didn't feel comfortable leaving him alone in the room so I had to sit there and watch him for hours.

He's gone, you don't have to worry.

I have entertained salesmen before. I did not fear for my safety, but I did feel like I had wasted my time. I had the vacuum people (team of two) come out with the promise of a free prize just for allowing the demo. Like you, I had no idea that a vacuum might cost thousands of dollars, so I did not buy, but they were sure using some high pressure tactics. The free gift was a coupon. The second salesman was one of those companies that fill your freezer every month. I didn't buy that because I couldn't understand paying so much to fill my freezer when I can do it myself for so much less. I did not get my free gift from him at all, seems he forgot to bring it. Anyway, I got sucked into these when I was young and gullible, before I had kids. I wouldn't allow them to come not, not because of safety, just because I know better now.

Absolutely not.

1. A common scam is for salespeople with "cleaners" to enter homes to scope them out for valuables so they can come back later and rob them.

2. When a salesperson comes to the door, or mom and dad are talking with a salesperson in a store, my kids know that they are to be quiet. Children need to be taught that not every conversation is to include them. What they say could be a security risk, could interfere with price negotiations, and is not a child's business. It's not in your best interest as a parent to let your child keep chiming into adult conversations. And...it's rude.

I don't invite salespeople in, and I don't waste their time or mine listening to sales pitches for a product I have no intention of buying.

I have let people look at the outside of my house for estimates but I've never let a salesman in. I wouldn't waste their time or mine if I had no intention of purchasing something. And I wouldn't let anyone in that I didn't know. I would feel like you did.

I have a policy. Except for girl and Boy Scouts, I buy nothing at the door or on the phone. No vacuums, cleaners, magazines, insurance, etc.

I watch too much TV, so I'm paranoid. =)

If my husband isn't home, no one comes in this house. I don't even go to the door. If he is here, I'd feel better about it.

Nope.... I do not allow door to door people in my house. My dogs offset most of this because they make if so the sales person doesn't want to come in, lol.

I do let someone know I am home. I open my blind and say "no thank you" and if they insist, I say " my dogs are not all bark, they will bite". That usually works for me.

I don't allow just anyone in my house or garage area because that 1 in 10 is just casing out a good spot to revisit when the owners are not home.

I'm sorry but around here any door to door person without a permit from the city can be cited as well. Our neighborhood has signs prominently posted as far as no soliciting and no handbills.

You were probably safe enough with your husband there, but I wouldn't do it if you were by yourself; I doubt I would even open the door.

I do NOT let anyone in my home period. I do not like salespeople to encroach upon my personal space - and yes I do consider my front porch my space. I also include religious nuts in this group because they are trying to sell their ideas. I typically quickly turn them the other way when they knock on my door.

If you know you aren't going to purchase it, don't let him in. That's giving them false hope.

I am weird about letting people I don't know into my home for sales like that.

I never buy anything from anyone who bothers me at my home- and I would never let them in.

Heck, even people you've paid to have come over might be crooks. A coworker of mine had someone break into her house, which, luckily, they were caught because she has an alarm system and the police showed up while they were there. They turned out to be the delivery men who had brought in her new refrigerator the week before. She said she thought something was off in how interested they were in the furnishings, but it never occurred to her they'd be back to rob her later.

I don't think it's unfair to let a salesman in if you already know you're not going to buy the product. The reason is that they go in there knowing that you're likely not going to buy the product and they know that it's their job to convince you. They know the statistics.

Look... when someone goes into a store looking for something and they're there because they choose to be, 75% of shoppers will still walk out of the store without buying anything. With door to door salespeople that percentage is even worse. They know this. They accept it and have to have a very, very thick skin or else they couldn't be in this line of work. It's the nature of the business. They know that they're going to have to perform some pretty impressive demonstrations and give some great fast-talk and be really charming to turn the automatic skepticism into "Hey I want to buy that after all."

Think about that. Every single door they walk up to in the space of a week is a door that isn't even thinking about buying what they're selling. Not one single person actually wants a vacuum and they're thinking like you are... we are not going to buy a vacuum and we're not in the market no matter what. But they keep going door to door in spite of not getting sales because they'll do it for the maybe 10-15% that WILL make a purchase.

If you're worried about safety, you can call your police department and ask if anyone from such-and-such company checked in with them to obtain permission to go door-to-door. In my town that's required. Even the high school kids selling magazines or candy or whatever for fund raisers are required to do that.

I know this vacuum selling deal. They got me too. They say free cleaning and we needed cleaning so I figured if it was good I would pay for the rest of the house. So don't feel guilty as they misrepresent. I gave the guy a $20 for his time bc I did still feel bad though he spent so much time. Then again, the amount of time was annoying. Never again. Safety is a question and way too much hassle.

i dunno. i'm pretty cavalier about safety, so i'm probably the wrong person to ask. i'm sure the mamas who say 'don't open the door to anyone' are smarter, but i guess i put a lot of stock in my own friendly-but-don't-screw-with-me personal power.
i tend not to let demo people in simply because i'm prone to get caught up in the excitement and buy stuff i don't need (let's not even discuss the cutco gal. i'm still convinced she cast a spell on me.) and i have a low tolerance for people nattering at me, so something like a rug shampoo would involve more time than i'd be willing to spend.
and i WOULD feel guilty letting someone spend a big chunk of their day if i knew in advance there's no way i was going to buy. it may well be part of their job, but i don't have to participate in the downside of it. i'd rather they go on and make a sale with someone genuinely tickled about their product. sales is a hard row to hoe. i don't have to indulge salespeople, but nor do i rationalize that it's okay to make their jobs harder.
maybe if i lived somewhere different, and more urban, i'd be a bit more paranoid that they were scoping me out. but i tend to think that the (very few) salespeople or religious proselytizers we get out here are themselves taking a risk. i've seen their faces and could pick 'em out of a line-up, and i'm in just as much danger from being scoped any time i have a homeschooler or religious or big family gathering in which people i don't know personally are going to be here.
khairete
S.

I think I watch too much TV...no. I would not let someone who just knocked on my door to try and sell me something into my home...sorry...

IF I made an appointment - then yes. But some dude or dudes walking up selling? NO FREAKING THANK YOU...a "team" of unknowns...yep. I watch too much TV...

Sounds like a Kirby vacuum cleaner...my mom had several...three I think...they lasted for decades...it was the only vacuum cleaner she ever loved...

I have had those guys come in and clean my carpet or furniture, listen to their spiel and apologize that I can't afford their machine ... I know I'm awful but it's only happened twice in the several years we've lived in our house, so I don't feel *that* bad about it. I did have a nice clean living room carpet or furniture though...

I have a "no solicitors" sign on my door so nobody (except for a few idiots here and there who apparently can't read) rings my doorbell to sell me anything. It's not the safety factor for me, it's the annoyance factor. If I want something I'll go out and buy it. I don't need strangers in my house selling it to me.

I have never invited someone in my home for a demonstration or discussion of any type. That's just not a safe thing to do. If you didn't initiate the call/visit and you are not interested, then I would not, regardless of how the door-to-door sales operate.No need to feel sorry for him; he's just doing his job and should expect that 75-80% of the people will say no. He is just hoping ot find that one person who wants to buy his overpriced item. I don't want to waste their time for something I am totally not iterested in. Then again, I have no problem in saying "No!"

I think the most effective way to let door to door salespeople know I'm not interested is simply to leave the door shut. I don't answer the door if I'm not expecting anyone. I have a glass front door with an opaque curtain over it, and a glass storm door, so if it were, for instance, a police officer at the door (or a Girl Scout or Boy Scout raising funds) I could tell that and answer it, but otherwise, I'm not going to answer the door. Some posters might think that's rude somehow -- especially if my car's in the driveway so it's clear I'm home -- but I do not ever feel obliged to answer the door or the phone for that matter. We get a lot of folks trolling the neighborhoods seeking landscaping or tree trimming work and I would end up wasting both their time and mine if I felt I had to respond to every knock.

I would never let anyone inside the house to demonstrate anything based on a cold call at my door. Not safe and the technique has been used around here to scope out houses for burglary or even as a way to enter for home invasion robberies with the owners right there -- sorry to say it but it's true and we are in a very nice area. In fact this has been in done in some very low-crime, high-income areas close to us. But the criminals know it's a nice area where people will feel they need to be polite and answer the door or engage with a person who claims to have a product to sell.

Now if I could just stop people from leaving business cards, restaurant menus and brochures in my storm door, mailbox, under the mat, stuck in the front door itself (which means they opened my storm door, which bugs me).It feels so invasive. I actually have up a small sign saying not to leave these things anywhere but they get left anyway. One friend had to put up a large "NO SOLICITING" sign on her front door, things got so bad for a while, but she too still gets the paper junk.

Many moons ago, right after I left the military & before I had a "real" job, I was one of those door to door vacuum sales person :-) Trust me, it's a statistics thing & they know that. Even if you don't purchase anything it's still a chance for them to practice their spiel. The companies actually do put up cool contests for vacations & other things.
As far as the danger of it - I obviously can't vouch for everyone out there but I can tell you that neither I nor anyone I ever worked with went around scoping places out to go back to & rob.
On a related note: the first year my husband & I were married we had a Kirby salesmen come over & we ended up buying one. 14 years later it is still going incredibly strong & while the initial cost was crazy high I fully believe it will last for many more years!