Door-to-door salespeople

I have a major problem with door-to-door salespeople. Previously I have wrote about door-to-door salespeople letting themselves into my home without my permission. They just basically opened the door and let themselves in “looking for my utility meters”. The excuse they kept giving was, “Oh I didn’t realise this was the actual house!”. They would then go on with their sales pitch as if nothing bad had happened. I have sent complaint after complaint to the company they work for, but I have had no responses or aknowledgement. I have since kept the door locked at all times, but another one tried opening the door a few days ago. I am getting sick and tired of these people thinking they can just walk into people’s homes. The culprits seem to be British Gas salespeople. I really ought to have called the police, but what would they do? They do not seem to go out of their way for burglaries and assaults.

90% of the salespeople that come to my door are from utility companies. They go to people’s doors trying to get them to change utility suppliers, often with a “I’m your best friend!” approach. I keep telling them that it is not possible to change suppliers, nor am I interested. Some take the hint and leave, however some stop becoming so “friendly” and pitch more aggressively. I am sick to the back teeth of these people.

I know they are just doing their job and that they need to earn comission or their pay will be pittance, but I wish they’d stop knocking. I do not trust door-to-door sales and never will. Too many people get conned out of their money by pressure selling, especially the elderly and vulnerable. I do not believe in aggressive, hard selling. I find it disgusting. I used to work in a call centre, cold calling and offering loft and cavity wall insulation to people. Most of the people we called were elderly, so I felt very bad. One colleague could sell to anybody and didn’t care. What made me realise the job was not for me was when the said colleague pressured an elderly man with alzheimers disease to have a surveryer come over to his house. They were ruthless, on the telephone with him for over half an hour. I was disgusted to the point that I didn’t care if I lost my job. Needless to say I wasn’t there long. I believe people deserve choice. I prefer to shop around before making any decision, but these salespeople cannot seem to grasp that. They do not seem to listen to the “customer”, they just keep going and going, hoping you will cave in and sign the contract. I will not cave in.

I have been considering putting a sign on my door to deter door-to-door sales. I know they’re not enforced by law, but I have heard some salespeople will skip a house with a no salespeople sign. It’s worth a try, I suppose.

What are your thoughts on door-to-door salespeople? Do you have them come over often? If so, what do you do?