Unwanted solicitors

[pomtzu]

How do you deal with them - both by phone, and in person at your door?

When the "do not call" act first went into effect, I registered my phone # with them, and it has worked fairly well - until recently. Now I'm getting a bunch of calls again, and most are recorded messages, so I can't even tell them where to get off. Last week I re-registered my land line again, and also my cell #, so I'll see if that helps. Supposedly you only had to register one time, so I don't know what happened, but I thought it couldn't hurt to register again.

Now for the folks that come knocking at your door - selling religion, magazine subscriptions, educational material to help your kids in school, asphalt for your driveway at a bargain price - just to mention a few. The asphalt is a big scam around here, and people have lost lots of $$$ by falling for it. I'm considering a No Soliciting sign for the end of the driveway or the front door, and was wondering if anyone here had any luck going that route.

I'm so sick of being in the middle of something, and have to stop to answer the phone or door for this nonsense. Exasperating!

[lizbud]

Well, the do not call list registration seems to be working for me fairly
well. They do make exceptions for charities, church groups & political party
calls though. The few sales calls that do get through, I just say "no thanks"
and hang up.

The one that I can't seem to get my name off their list is the CVS "ready
fill reminder" calls. I've called & called to have my number taken off their
list & I still get them.

[Karen]

We pay a small amount to have caller-id, so I do not answer the phone unless I recognize the number. Thankfully, we don't get in-person solicitors, in our old house, we'd only get religious ones, and I would say, "I have a church I like, thanks," and that usually put them off.

We had a "magazine sales" person once, and I said "I used to work for one, so I don't want any coming to my house, all I see are the mistakes," and I told them NOT to go to the couple next door, as if they ever went inside they would have seen stacks of years worth of magazines, and the last thing Kay needed was more coming in the door! I watched, and the guy didn't even approach her house.

[chocolatepuppy]

I did the 'do not call' thing years ago, but still get some calls. I have caller ID and don't answer if I don't know who it is. As for the door, I work dayturn so don't get many. If I do, I just kindly brush them off.

[Grace]

Ellie, do you have Caller ID?

We got a new cordless phone awhile back - a Panasonic. It has Call Block. You can program in up to 30 phone numbers, along with all those Out-of-area, Unavailable, Private Call calls. It works!! What they hear is a busy signal and a hang up. We hear one ring and then nothing. Our caller ID will show what/who was trying to call.

For all those that get through with a real person, I explain that we never donate to organizations over the phone and I ask them to remove our number from their database. And then I program their number into the Block list.

Door-to-Door, I don't answer them.

[Freedom]

At the door, I may get a neighborhood kid once or twice a year. So that isn't really an issue. Not sure how to address it, haven't thought of it.

The phone, I only get automated ones plus one company that calls to ask, "do you have a smoke detector in your house?" Once I answered yes and they were selling house alarms. I gave them a different name and said I was on the way out so they'd have to ring back. Now anytime I get a phone call for "Martha" I just hang up, lol. After 3 of those that stopped.

I do make a point of telling all of them to take me OFF the list. It's the automated ones you get stuck with. And it was horrid last election time, seems all the candidates had funds for that, even local school committee folk!

[pomtzu]

No Caller ID here. What can I say - I'm cheap and I keep my phone bill to a bare minimum. Seriously tho - I wouldn't even have a land line except that I have to have it for my Rescue Alert. I've thought about cancelling the alert system so I could get rid of the phone, but every time I say something to that affect, my son gives me what-for! With my luck, as soon as I did, I'd need it. Luckily when I fell and broke my hip there were people around - might not be so lucky if (God forbid!), something like that happened again. I suppose I could just leave the answering machine on all the time. If no one leaves a message, then it most likely was an unwanted call anyway. Family knows to call me on my cell if there is no answer on the land phone.

As far as the door pests, I'm going to try putting up a sign and see if they get the message. I think I'll put it on the door and not at the end of the drive. That way they will have the inconvenience of driving up, parking, and then walking up to the house before they see it. I've had some of the religion pushers actually come into the back yard if they see me outside with the pups. I hate to be rude, but some just don't want to take "no" for an answer!

[Medusa]

Do what Seinfeld did, Ellie. Tell the caller "I can't talk right now but give me your home phone number and I'll call you back. Oh, you don't want me to call you at home? Well, now you know how I feel!"

[Taz_Zoee]

Do what Seinfeld did, Ellie. Tell the caller "I can't talk right now but give me your home phone number and I'll call you back. Oh, you don't want me to call you at home? Well, now you know how I feel!"

That's a great one!!!

I do not get calls, except from our local newspaper and survey things.
We do get people at the door, and if I see them coming (I live in a court, so I can sometimes catch them going to the neighbors houses) I'll shut the door and just not answer it. However, the dogs barking their heads off gives me away. But if I do answer it I'll leave the storm door closed and talk through the screen. I just stick to my guns and say no thanks, and that I don't own the house and my boyfriend isn't home. Or that I have family in the field of whatever they are trying to sell. We don't get an annoying amount of door knockers though, luckily.
The sign should work though. They aren't "supposed" to approach houses with a sign. At least that's what I've heard.

[pomtzu]

Do what Seinfeld did, Ellie. Tell the caller "I can't talk right now but give me your home phone number and I'll call you back. Oh, you don't want me to call you at home? Well, now you know how I feel!"

That's a good one, Mary. Love it - maybe I'll try it if I don't go the answering machine route.

[Medusa]

Actually, I hardly get any solicitors, no phone calls and occasionally a kid will come to sell something for school. I just tell them 'no thanx' and that's it. You might do as you mentioned; put up a No Solicitors sign.

[K9karen]

Ellie, I was just thinking of putting up a No Solicitation sign on my door. If one more person rings my bell selling windows ("we're working in your neighborhood") or religious advise, roofing blah, blah, blah I'm going to scream. This morning I didn't answer the bell and let Mz Logan bark them away. Ugh.

If I get a solicitaion on my land line, I let it go to my cell, then delete it. I have an ages old land line which I've been meaning to disconnect but hang on to it "just in case" (of what I don't know )

That's it. The sign will go up this week. It's annoying and I'm losing my cool.

[Karen]

Karen, Ellie, don't let go of your land line. 911 depends on them. If you have an emergency where you cannot speak, like a heart attack, stroke, or some falls, a cell phone cannot instantly give them an address where you can be found. A land line does. All you need to be able to do is knock it off the hook and hit 911 - and they can find you. With a cell phone a) reception depends on where in the house you are at time, b) if you cannot speak clearly enough for them to understand your address, they have no idea where you are. Yes, eventually they can triangulate the signal using cell towers, but while they are getting that coordinated, and all the companies on board with it, irreparable harm may be happening to your heart, brain or both.

Be safe. Keep the land line, okay?

[Moesha]

A "No Trespassing" sign might work better than the "No Solicitation" one. Also, just like with the phone calls you could politely ask that the people that come to your door make a notation that you don't wish for them to come to your home. I know that is an option for some of the religious people that stop. Or you might try just listening to them once. They aren't coming because they want to bother you but because they care, even though you may not see it that way. Just think of it from their point of view for a minute. They aren't getting paid and are actually expending time, effort and money themselves. Why would they be willing to do that? Perhaps you could ask the next one that comes and listen to the answer they give. Or just go with one of the other options listed.

[pomtzu]

Karen, Ellie, don't let go of your land line. 911 depends on them. If you have an emergency where you cannot speak, like a heart attack, stroke, or some falls, a cell phone cannot instantly give them an address where you can be found. A land line does. All you need to be able to do is knock it off the hook and hit 911 - and they can find you. With a cell phone a) reception depends on where in the house you are at time, b) if you cannot speak clearly enough for them to understand your address, they have no idea where you are. Yes, eventually they can triangulate the signal using cell towers, but while they are getting that coordinated, and all the companies on board with it, irreparable harm may be happening to your heart, brain or both.

Be safe. Keep the land line, okay?

Karen - this is what a rescue alert system does, and you don't even have to get to a phone to call 911. You remember the commercial "I've fallen and I can't get up"??? All you have to do is push the panic button that you wear and it rings the response center. They in turn place a call back to you and you can tell them what you need, or if they can't reach you, they notify the contacts you have on file with them and also call 911. You don't have to be able to reach the phone to talk to them either since the call they make back goes to a monitor that is hooked into the phone, and it has a speaker. I could fall in my bedroom, and I could talk to them even tho the monitor is hooked to the phone in the kitchen. It has a 600' range, so I could even activate it if something happened outside in the yard, tho I wouldn't be able to hear a call back from them. In about 5 minutes I'd hear the paramedics siren tho!!!
Unfortunately I didn't have this system when I fell outside 3 years ago and broke my hip. It's because of that, that I got it in the first place, so I probably will keep it. Like I said - with my luck............


ETA:
Moe - the reason I don't want to deal with the religious callers, is that I know what sect they are, and their beliefs are just not in line with mine. I know they mean well, but I'm just not a believer that one has to peddle religion. My departed father-in-law made the mistake of listening to a group of them one time that came to his house, and then they were forever perusing him. Once they get that proverbial "foot in the door", then you had better be prepared for frequent visits.