Door to Door Sellers!

[rogera]

If where you live is anything like where we live you will have been bothered by a recent plague of youngsters
on a council backed schemes selling stuff door to door.
They usually look cold, hungry and very pathetic but have only one thing in mind. Parting you from your cash!
A grubby, laminated ID card is usually shoved up your nose as soon as you open the door so that you can see
that they are not spivs...even though by now you are absolutely crossed eyed 'cos the card is so close to your face
and can't see the card clearly anyway.
The wife, with help from our son, has designed our own ID card that can be held up through the locked glazed
porch door explaining to these people where we stand..

[roninnes]

Where do I sign up?

What a great idea.
Can I have a copy please?

Ron

[rogera]

I've sent you a PM Ron.

[rogera]

Just to save time we've uploaded the image to a piece of web space. Here is the link for anyone who wants it!
You can print it off, laminate it if you want to, add a grubby piece of cord and you are ready to shove it up
the nose of your next unwanted door to door salesman (or woman!) This way you have a copy of the picture
now and it saves waiting for me to send out copies.

http://www.horacebros.com/misc/pants-card-1000.jpg

[dave robinson]

Very nice, but I have a more effective way of dealing with this , as well as the 'cold callers' on the telephone. I'll give you a clue, it's two words and the second of these is OFF ! It's been effective for me for a number of years now and I rarely get chance to use it these days as the nuisance seems to have disappeared - I guess it must be working.

[rogera]

We love the phone calls from chaps usually called 'Kevin'!! The ones that come just as you are sitting down to
the evening meal.
One of our ways of dealing with Kev is to tell him we've just been declared bankrupt, so that usually stops any
selling or bad dept management calls. The otherway is to just answer in gobbledegook language so they think
you are a foreigner and can't understand them.

[RayL]

And then there's the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Rather than the usual approach (saying No thank you and closing the door) I've taken just lately to inviting them in and then sidestepping their usual patter by asking them what made them JWs in the first place (tradition, authority, faith, revelation, insurance?). In other words, what made them believe in something for which there is no evidence? They usually try the Design Argument (everything around us is so complex that it must have been designed by a creator) which is easy to counter and at that point they are deciding that it really is time to go and thank you very much etc.

Ray

[Didier]

Great idea !
I'll have to translate it in French (we have the same problem on the other side of the Channel).

Didier

[roninnes]

The most effective way is to register with Telephone Preference Service which is a free service and if you mention TPS you get a dial tone really quickly. There is also Mail Preference Service which stops a lot of junk mail.
And no profanities necessary.

Ron

[roninnes]

Ray,
I don't think a certain Mr Locking may share or appreciate your feelings.
I also feel it is best to keep religious and political views private.

Ron