Should door to door sales be outlawed?

El Inho

I realise there is a dedicated thread for this, but its far too hidden away for a good honest discussion about this matter.

If I'm wrong mods I apologise.

Basically I have experience in this kind of work, and still have some friends doing it. Being honest, I would rather just ask the question and see what happens without my own input.

Should door to door sales be outlawed?

Catphish

El Spearo wrote: »

I realise there is a dedicated thread for this, but its far too hidden away for a good honest discussion about this matter.

If I'm wrong mods I apologise.

Basically I have experience in this kind of work, and still have some friends doing it. Being honest, I would rather just ask the question and see what happens without my own input.

Should door to door sales be outlawed?

Honestly speaking, I can't stand them. You come across sales people everywhere, my home is where I won't tolerate it.

spankysue

No. It's people's choice to do it for a living, there have always been people selling things door to door, so no.

Praetorian Saighdiuir

It's why I have a video intercom.

"No thanks, I'm in the nip so I can't answer the door, come back never".

Lawrence1895

Some of them don't understand 'No' if I send them away, they come back instead, and that's annoying.

El Inho

Just wanna point out, this is disregarding personal opinions.

The question here is should he be outlawed?

Praetorian Saighdiuir

El Spearo wrote: »

Just wanna point out, this is disregarding personal opinions.

The question here is should he be outlawed?

I see no benefit to it for me personally. I would rather they didn't come to my door but I'm sure some people don't mind it. So I will say yes, feck off please.

El Inho

Well just to have my opinion on record I think it should be outlawed.

For the welfare of residents and indeed the people who work for these 'companies' doing door to door.

Lawrence1895

El Spearo wrote: »

Just wanna point out, this is disregarding personal opinions.

The question here is should he be outlawed?

No, it shouldn't, but the salespeople have to respect everybody's right not to be disturbed or annoyed.

Thrill

I too would rather they stayed the fcuk away from my door.

Terry1985

cold calling is illegal in England.
Yes, it should be illegal here too.

too many times it's used as an excuse to check if someone is in the house or not.

to me, i didn't invite them to my home.
they rang the bell to force me to go to the door and listen to advertising...

I'll boycott EVERY company that employs this ignorant and intrusive tactic

starviewadams

I'm sure if people didn't actually buy things off door to door salesfolk then the job wouldn't exist anymore,so some people must still find them useful I suppose.

Personally I just don't answer the door,as I find most sales people very pushy and unable to take no for an answer.Goes double for Airtricity reps!

kowloon

Only if it's the representative of a political party trying to sell me bullsh1t. Glad that election is over, even if I don't like the result.

gobnaitolunacy

Most anything that my parents bought from door to door salespeople was sh*t and/or the vendors were complete spoofers....examples

Alarm system: cheaply made piece of crap, wires cut and twisted together during install to make an electrical 'connection'.
Fire extinguishers: Lad took fire extinguisher away to re-fill it. Never returned with it, quelle surprise.
Furniture: Factory rejects with mismatching patterns that members of a certain community deal in.

And don't talk to me about those ones that go round with the wheeled luggage filled with pound shop standard rubbish.

Cookie_Monster

El Spearo wrote: »

Should door to door sales be outlawed?

yes, if only so it means canvassers can't come to your door 'selling' a political party for votes

Wibbs

Terry1985 wrote: »

I'll boycott EVERY company that employs this ignorant and intrusive tactic

I'm the very same I have to say T. I would never use airtricity for example because of their reps constant bloody calls to my door. Same goes for eircom phonewatch, Sky and a couple of others, including charities.

I don't blame the reps. They're trying to make a few quid, like us all(and IMH are often exploited), but I take a dim view of the parent companies tactics. I feel similar about phone cold calling too. On my door I have a sign saying no junk mail, no cold calling. If they ignore that then they get bloody short shrift from me TBH.

Royal Legend

Invite them in, kill them, bury them in the garden, no one will miss them, the perfect crime :cool:

galwayrush

Thery don't come back once the local neighbourhood watch is alerted.

fussyonion

Absolutely yes, they should.

I'm sick to my back teeth of Sky/Electric Ireland etc calling to my door all the time, and it always seems to be at dinnertime.

If I want to know about your "great offers", I'll go online/call you or research it myself, don't bother me at home when I'm up to my eyes.

They never take no for an answer either and I described a situation a few months back where I was forced to say NO fifteen times to a rep because of his pushy nature.

shopaholic01

fussyonion wrote: »

They never take no for an answer either and I described a situation a few months back where I was forced to say NO fifteen times to a rep because of his pushy nature.

I just close the door in their face at this stage, there doesn't seem to be any point in trying to tell them you aren't interested.

DeltaWhite

Ban them, end of... I don't know one person who enjoys being hassled at their door step by sales people who are quite pushy and fake IMHO.

Digs

Absolutely. I had one sky rep last week ring my door bell three times until I answered and I only did so because the dog was going berserk. I asked him to kindly get lost (I'm on maternity leave and he woke me up so he's lucky that's all I did). If I don't answer after the first ring I probably don't want to answer.

My area is plagued by sky reps and as pp have said on principle I wouldn't switch to their service because of it.

fussyonion

Digs wrote: »

Absolutely. I had one sky rep last week ring my door bell three times until I answered and I only did so because the dog was going berserk. I asked him to kindly get lost (I'm on maternity leave and he woke me up so he's lucky that's all I did). If I don't answer after the first ring I probably don't want to answer.

My area is plagued by sky reps and as pp have said on principle I wouldn't switch to their service because of it.

Had the same thing.

Sky rep rang my doorbell last week four times. I blatantly ignored her because I had an armful of wet clothes I'd just taken out of the washing machine, trying to go and hang them out, and I was also expecting an important phone call. She kept ringing the bell, then gave up.

That same evening, she returned and rang the bell and also knocked a few times. Boyfriend went out and told her we weren't interested in whatever she was selling. She'd just started to say "Oh I'm not selling, I'm from Sky-" before boyf closed the door on her.

razorgil

after a hard day at the office, the last thing you want is some tósser using up your down time with the empty promises of some shít hes trying to peddle at the front door, MY front door, go the fúck away.

MurdyWurdy

I don't think they should be outlawed, I know it's just people trying to make a living. What I don't understand is how they do make a living out of it? I don't know anyone who would buy something off someone that knocked on their door (even from electricity suppliers etc). Does it work on enough people to actually make it worthwhile?

keelanj69

Nothing worse than tinkers coming to the door selling pillows. Or those looking for a paid holiday to some far flung place. Building house? Yeah right pal.

smileyj1987

MurdyWurdy wrote: »

Does it work on enough people to actually make it worthwhile?

It makes it worthwhile for the companies because alot of door to door sales work is commision based so if you get no sales you get no wages .

I do think it should be outlawed if I wanted a bargain I will find it myself .

DonkeyStyle \o/

It becomes a more interesting question when you work at home.
The interruption of a salesman "just doing his job" means I have to stop doing my job.
When you put a monetary figure on that loss, I don't think they have any special rights on account of it being their livelihood.

Steodonn

I knock on a lot of doors (CAHWT stuff)but alot of these sales people have no common courtesy. At the end of the day your knocking into someone's home and disturbing them. They say no you thank them and move on and you certainly don't start knocking again. Also leaving the gate open so many of them do it (my gate was damaged because of this) I never would.

I think it should be allowed but some (not all) really need to learn some manners and respect that your knocking at a stranger's door

El Inho

MurdyWurdy wrote: »

I don't think they should be outlawed, I know it's just people trying to make a living. What I don't understand is how they do make a living out of it? I don't know anyone who would buy something off someone that knocked on their door (even from electricity suppliers etc). Does it work on enough people to actually make it worthwhile?

I did it for 6 months last summer, and made a pretty penny at it. It just nearly cost me my girlfriend and some other things which are quite important to me. The lack of a life as one of these reps is horrible. I can only imagine how the 99% who barely make ends meat at the job feel...its a trap people out of work fall into. I was working with talented trades men who gave up on everything to join into this kinda work...desperate.

This is why I thing it should be outlawed. It's not just for the public, such as the 80 year old woman or man living alone. It's for those who work in these environments and are mistreated and led astray. I've seen it happen to plenty.

token101

Lars1916 wrote: »

No, it shouldn't, but the salespeople have to respect everybody's right not to be disturbed or annoyed.

They also have to earn a living. I'd rather piss people off than go hungry.

I don't know if it should be outlawed, but working solely on commission should definitely be outlawed. How it isn't already is beyond me.

fasttalkerchat

Praetorian Saighdiuir wrote: »

It's why I have a video intercom.

"No thanks, I'm in the nip so I can't answer the door, come back never".

I love when they launch into a sales pitch on the intercom!

TheNumpty

I used to do it for a tv company there before Xmas, was out of work and I needed cash to help get through the holidays. It is absolutely soul destroying work. I hated every minute of it and very relieved when the company dissolved last month.
I agree with most here that it should be outlawed but I've some sympathy for the guys that do it now. It's not a real job and its guys like myself that were desperate for any kind of work.

token101

Terry1985 wrote: »

cold calling is illegal in England.
Yes, it should be illegal here too.

It isn't illegal. You can pay an annual fee not to be listed and it's illegal to call those numbers, but if you don't pay you'll get the calls when the companies buy your data.

galwayrush wrote: »

Thery don't come back once the local neighbourhood watch is alerted.

So people who have a bit of drive to go door to door are criminals are they? There's nothing illegal about knocking on someone's door. Whatever about the companies' tactics, victimising the guy doing a job for half nothing is pretty low. I'd have more respect for the guy who got off his ass and tried a really **** job rather than live on welfare than some wannabe vigilante with a torch.

Pumpkinseeds

I hate door to door sales people,I know people are trying to earn a living. I never open the door to them,but they don't just call once and leave it at that when you don't answer. I've noticed now that they keep coming back the same day, at least twice. We'd one guy call 3 times last Friday. He could see that our tv was on and yet still wouldn't take the hint. I wouldn't open the door and shout abuse at them,although some of them make me want to.

ManMade

They should be banned. They are ridiculously annoying and rude. It always airtricity, vodafone and eircom. I don't care if people are trying to make a living. They interrupt people's private lives period. People who are stressed or going through a trauma don't need it. When youre busy or even relaxing you shouldn't need to interrupt it because some guy outside decided that you must give up some of your time just to talk to him.

There should be an opt out system. Telling the same company once a month your not interested is ridiculous. Also if you ignore the doorbell or aren't in it shouldn't mean they can call back multiple times until you talk to them.

Micky Dolenz

I always just say no, I don't conduct business at my door step. If I am a bit bored I try and sell them something from the area I work in. The confused look is often worth it.

Annasopra

Terry1985 wrote: »

cold calling is illegal in England.

Really? I googled it and what you've said doesn't seem to be correct. Have you a link?

fruitman

l worked with a company in Australia doing door2door for a year signing people up to a milk delivery service. It was great fun and we were never in peoples face. The amount of times people would bring you into there home for a beer or drink of water was unreal. Came back and had no job so did door2door here for nearly a year selling a similar service fruit and veg delivery. People here are so rude, if you are not interested fair enough but you don't need to open the door and tell me to **** off.

I was never rude to anyone, didn't necessarily take the first no as a definitive no but knew when not to go over the line. Would never try and over sell to some one it wasn't suited to. The reason they keep calling back to your house when you don't answer is because you are given a certain road to knock on and once you have gone to all the houses you call back to all the ones that didn't answer and see if they have come home yet.

The best approach is to say you don't make purchase at the door, thank you good night.

rubadub

token101 wrote: »

So people who have a bit of drive to go door to door are criminals are they? There's nothing illegal about knocking on someone's door. Whatever about the companies' tactics, victimising the guy doing a job for half nothing is pretty low.

Nobody said they are criminals, they could certainly potentially be criminals checking out if houses are empty. Because this is seen as legitimate it is the prefect cover story.

The law is a bit vague but they could be done for it if the garda wanted, under trespassing laws, if the garda did not believe their story

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1994/en/act/pub/0002/sec0013.html#zza2y1994s13

13.—(1) It shall be an offence for a person, without reasonable excuse, to trespass on any building or the curtilage thereof in such a manner as causes or is likely to cause fear in another person.

Unsolicited mail should be banned too. I wondered if I am legally allowed put all my rubbish in a black sack and dump it in the front door of the local pizza place with a flyer for my own services, is this any different legally to what they do to me?

BillyMitchel

Nah it shouldn't be outlawed, it's just some people trying to make a living. A simple no thank you and they go. No harm.

Sky do annoy me though with their 20 knocks a week so what I do is if its a good looking chick ill go out and practice my chatting up skills or if its a miserable oul bollocks ill let the dogo look out the window and they go pretty quick!

It's just some folk trying to make a living and it's a very hard living to make at that.

FTA69

fruitman wrote: »

l worked with a company in Australia doing door2door for a year signing people up to a milk delivery service. It was great fun and we were never in peoples face. The amount of times people would bring you into there home for a beer or drink of water was unreal. Came back and had no job so did door2door here for nearly a year selling a similar service fruit and veg delivery. People here are so rude, if you are not interested fair enough but you don't need to open the door and tell me to **** off.

Exactly. I often did canvassing for local businesses such as milk rounds and fruit and vegetable delivery. For a milkman or small delivery man that's often the only way to drum up a bit of business. I can see why people may get p*ssed off with Sky etc but why anyone would show animosity to the likes of the local milkman is beyond me. Many people were happy to support a local business or at least give you the time of day, others were giant c*nts. Such is life.

Digs

FTA69 wrote: »

Exactly. I often did canvassing for local businesses such as milk rounds and fruit and vegetable delivery. For a milkman or small delivery man that's often the only way to drum up a bit of business. I can see why people may get p*ssed off with Sky etc but why anyone would show animosity to the likes of the local milkman is beyond me. Many people were happy to support a local business or at least give you the time of day, others were giant c*nts. Such is life.

These people are probably just c*nts in general though. I genuinely have no problem with local businessmen calling and if I have work for them I am happy to give it to them. We have a veg man that calls once a month and I'm happy to see him.

The difference between him and the sky/airtricity reps is that he knocks once and then carries on, he doesn't bang my door down until I give in and answer by which time I am quite rightly peed off! Yes people need to make a living, all of us do but we don't need to be pushy aholes about it. Why do I have to take time out of my day once a month to tell a sky rep we won't be switching to them? My husband has told two reps until they provide internet like upc do he won't consider it. Respect you are calling to someones private house and if they don't want to speak to you they shouldn't have to.

fruitman

I can't remember where it is, think its in the uk but those charity collectors if they ask you for money and you say no and they ask again the company can be fined. I think that's a fair enough rule.

_Kaiser_

Digs wrote: »

My husband has told two reps until they provide internet like upc do he won't consider it.

Be warned - they'll now tell him they are providing internet as well, but it's just reselling standard DSL like Vodafone etc do - it's not anywhere near the speeds of UPC

Degag

I work in an industry that employs sales agents and the hassle they can cause is unreal. We get numerous complaints from our customers each week asking why they got a letter telling him their account was closed. When they're asked if there was anyone at their door over the last week or so, it dawns on them that these guys have signed them up illegally.

In some cases its despicable, sales agents actually filling out forms for old people and basically forcing them to sign, in others, not so much. Some people give their direct debit details and then are surprised when they are changed over... i mean, why would you give a company your bank details if you had no intention of changing?

_Kaiser_

Degag wrote: »

Some people give their direct debit details and then are surprised when they are changed over... i mean, why would you give a company your bank details if you had no intention of changing?

More importantly, why would you give a random stranger hassling you at your front door your bank details?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awK0NrgHUbk

token101

rubadub wrote: »

Nobody said they are criminals, they could certainly potentially be criminals checking out if houses are empty. Because this is seen as legitimate it is the prefect cover story.

The law is a bit vague but they could be done for it if the garda wanted, under trespassing laws, if the garda did not believe their story

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1994/en/act/pub/0002/sec0013.html#zza2y1994s13

The minute a Garda checked their ID there's absolutely **** all he could or would do. They are doing their job, there's your reasonable excuse. Aside from the fact that the Garda himself would want to be a right **** to try it and most generally aren't, a judge would make absolute **** of him in court if he brought some guy up for doing his job.

I love the way people will demonise a guy/girl who goes and tries to make some cash in a perfectly legal, and difficult, way and then be up in arms defending the 'poor, poor people' who wouldn't get out of bed for less than 30,000 because the dole 'pays better'.

IrishExpat

Two sides: sales is an honorable profession. Nothing happens (in the economy) before a sale takes place, and you'd be pushed to contradict me on that one.

That said; we are bombarded, daily with advertisements and direct sales (in the office, chuggers ...) and your home should be a safe haven from it.

That goes for door-to-door sales and tele-sales (cold calling)

Unfortunately, I 'did' work in door-to-door sales for a short time a few years back - was young and naive, and doing it for Trocaire, but was not happy with the underhandedness of the private company we were working for. Never again.

Diabhal Beag

I had to do a couple of weeks of door to door for my old job when a woman was on sick leave. Just filling in but I got the whole experience.

It's an awful job and the salespeople know it. How they conduct themselves is how you can tell if they doing it for just to make a few bob or if they're proper scummy salespeople. I personally made it a principle to knock once and leave if I got no answer in about 15 seconds. Didn't want to bother people. If they're scummy they'll ring the doorbell/knock numerous times.

You don't get as much abuse as you'd expect and it kinda restored my faith in humanity a bit but I also looked like a didn't want to be there and apologized if I felt I bothered somebody in any way. Did have a shotgun shown to me once though but it was in the real rural parts of Mayo. Our guys had to walk around a 5 sq mile area though in the rain usually though so imagine how horrible that would be.

Definitely should be banned though and the same with cold calls.

Degag

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

Did have a shotgun shown to me once though but it was in the real rural parts of Mayo.

That's taking it too far though. Think i'd have reported that person, probably nothing that could/would be done but you can't do that.