Men going door to door selling cleaning products

Amp Mangum

Amp Mangum

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Anyone have guys showing up in your neighbor selling cleaning products? There were 2 in my neighborhood last night going door to door. They were dropped off and later an old silver Ford 18 passenger van with 4 more came and parked at the end of the street and sat there. The van had Nevada plates and I tried to get the number but they sped off before I could.

I think it's mighty suspicious. They have been seen on Christian Light road between Lillington and Fuquay also.

Angier PD has a Facebook post asking for the public to call if they are seen.
https://www.facebook.com/angier.org...xmhps75xFru0GSy1Sv9gbteP-ipJGgpLI&__tn__=kC-R
 
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charliesgrave said:
Sounds kind of like those old scams where they duped a bunch of people into selling magazine subscriptions door to door.

https://u.osu.edu/osuhtblog/2018/04/19/labor-exploitation-on-door-to-door-sales-crews/
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Ha! Not to derail the thread, but when I was in college I was one of those dupes sucked into selling encyclopedias door to door. I spent a night in the Frankfort, KY jail on account of it :rolleyes:. Experience is a good teacher, but a painful one. Anyhow, thanks to Amp Mangum for the heads up.
 
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Sounds like Kirby vacuum scams men. A group I hate more than ISIS.
 
Derek8404 said:
Kirby vacuum scams men.
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One of those Kirby guys knocked on our door in 1999. My roommate at the time never met a stranger, and once you let them in the door the sales pitch goes into overdrive! Dude wound up shooting pool and getting $hitfaced drunk with us and didn't leave till like 4 in the morning. Kirby is good stuff tho... My buddy still has that vacuum 20+ years later.
 
Kirby is legit, just high pressure. But, those vans with multiple "sales people" are nefarious, as the article states. Same with some of the street corner "beggars". I've seen some get into vehicles with others, like a team. Often, they're under the control of others.
 
They’re welcome to come by here. I could use the $50 if they ring my bell or knock on my door.
 
Catfish said:
One of those Kirby guys knocked on our door in 1999. My roommate at the time never met a stranger, and once you let them in the door the sales pitch goes into overdrive! Dude wound up shooting pool and getting $hitfaced drunk with us and didn't leave till like 4 in the morning. Kirby is good stuff tho... My buddy still has that vacuum 20+ years later.
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Saw a comic once. Vacuum sales guy dumped a pile of dirt and said if my vacuum can’t clean it, I’ll eat the dirt myself. Kid starts walking off. Salesman says, “where are you going?” Kid replies, “To get a fork because we don’t have electricity”.
 
I have my house posted “no soliciting” but they still keep coming. Don’t get me wrong I respect the hustle of a legitimate guy going door-to-door trying to earn a living, that’s a pretty rough way to make a paycheck. But the amount of scammers trying to sell retarded stuff just pushes me past the limit.

I had a crew at my door trying to sell cleaning products from a Van like the OP is talking about, Woman wouldn’t take no for an answer kept spraying my storm door and cleaning the window trying to show me stuff wanting to come inside to show me how great their dust remover was. Finally had to get pretty testy with them. I shut the door turned off the porch light, and they still tried to talk through the door. Don’t come to my house after dark trying to sell me something you’re liable to get shot.

nowadays I have cameras up, and I just don’t even bother answering the door. I watch them on the monitor until they go away.
 
georgel said:
Often, they're under the control of others.
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That's the feeling I got from talking to them as they keep saying the were thankful to have the opportunity and how great the company was. One was from Nevada and one from New Mexico. They sure came a long ways from home to sell cleaning supplies door to door.
 
SnowRooster said:
I have my house posted “no soliciting” but they still keep coming. Don’t get me wrong I respect the hustle of a legitimate guy going door-to-door trying to earn a living, that’s a pretty rough way to make a paycheck. But the amount of scammers trying to sell retarded stuff just pushes me past the limit.

I had a crew at my door trying to sell cleaning products from a Van like the OP is talking about, Woman wouldn’t take no for an answer kept spraying my storm door and cleaning the window trying to show me stuff wanting to come inside to show me how great their dust remover was. Finally had to get pretty testy with them. I shut the door turned off the porch light, and they still tried to talk through the door. Don’t come to my house after dark trying to sell me something you’re liable to get shot.

nowadays I have cameras up, and I just don’t even bother answering the door. I watch them on the monitor until they go away.
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That’s when I’d want to say, “I’ve told you to leave, you’re now trespassing. You’ve got spray, well so do I. See this here? This is called pepper spray. Wanna test it out? Good bye.”
 
charliesgrave said:
The signs, they do nothing.

I had a guy beat on my door last year trying to sell frozen steaks out of a painters van. I asked him why he ignored the sign and he launched into this speech about a customer refusing an order and blah blah blah want some suspect frozen meat?

I pointed to the cows across the field and said "No thanks, I've got plenty of beef right over there".


Those sales teams share a lot of characteristics with cults. Isolate someone away from any family or friends who could offer support, make them dependent on you for basic needs, apply pressure to get what you want.
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The closest I have ever come to shooting someone was one of the steak merchants. Two less than savory looking white dudes knocked on the door of my college apartment and tried to sell us some of the sorriest looking steaks I have ever seen. Wouldn't take no for an answer and got shitty when I told them to leave. One pushed the door back open when I tried to close it. Ended up escorting them off my stoop with a BPS I kept by the door.
 
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Amp Mangum said:
Anyone have guys showing up in your neighbor selling cleaning products? There were 2 in my neighborhood last night going door to door. They were dropped off and later an old silver Ford 18 passenger van with 4 more came and parked at the end of the street and sat there. The van had Nevada plates and I tried to get the number but they sped off before I could.

I think it's mighty suspicious. They have been seen on Christian Light road between Lillington and Fuquay also.

Angier PD has a Facebook post asking for the public to call if they are seen.
https://www.facebook.com/angier.org...xmhps75xFru0GSy1Sv9gbteP-ipJGgpLI&__tn__=kC-R
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Saw this posted on our NextDoor app. I didn't realize they were on our street. I've been working from home thankfully, I'll keep an eye out for them and the van. My neighbor is a widow and I'll watch her house too. Thanks for the heads up.
 
Haven't had anyone doing that where we live now but it happened a few times in our old neighborhood (which is only a mile away) years ago.

Two notable times it happened at our house I answered the door (armed of course) and the dude hands me a roll of paper towels and tells me he forgot something in the van and headed back. Now I never played football in HS, but as he was headed back up the driveway I switched my gun to my off hand and tossed that roll of paper towels in a near perfect spiral and tagged him in the back of the head. Hollered, "No thanks you may go!" And slammed the door....

Second time it was a group of three people. Two men and a woman. What they couldn't see through the door, that I had braced with my foot, was that my gun was already drawn. The leader of the group started his schpiel and I cut him off and said no thank you. He continued on and I repeated myself. On the third attempt at schmoozing his way inside to demonstrate whatever magical elixer was in that bottle I said, slowly and with enough malice to make his eyes widen that I had nothing for him that he wanted... Emphasis on that last part.

They left...
 
Not an issue at our place last 10 years.
I took this picture Sunday (?) morning- it's about 50 yards from the front steps to the gate in the far center background. Gate has 3 signs- Beware of dogs, alarm company sign and no trespassing.
If they knock on our door, it's only because the dogs didn't hear them. Good luck with that...
And I'll leave it at that-
368f2718d7adb2a6644923b1fab2b77a.jpg


Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
 
Scsmith42 said:
Well, if they stop by here they'll meet our personal greeter....

View attachment 209085
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The beast in my profile pic is 110#'s of psycho. I'm with ya. However, I consider him my backup...

This reminds me of the church ladies when we first moved out here nearly 30 years ago. My Gosh they were relentless. I'm secure in my religion/church/etc. but I give them kudos for trying. I even told them I was Jewish at one point and I think that was just a challenge to them. I hated to be rude to them but finally had to start being more curt.
 
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Thanks for the heads up. I heard about something similar a few years ago. I can't remember where. It was stated as sketchy then too.
 
SnowRooster said:
Very true! I had a personal protection trained German Shepherd. I never slept so well as did the 7 years I had him.
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Only 7, that's unfortunate. Ours is 5.5. Last one was 10, the one before that 17. My wife tells me this is the last one...
 
Last year around Easter week white van with two dudes giving away Tide laundry jugs as samples, knocking on the doors in the area, I called the sheriff office and they responded. Seemed fishy but they left after talking to the deputy. I have NEST cameras and we don't answer the door.
 
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Sp00ks said:
Only 7, that's unfortunate. Ours is 5.5. Last one was 10, the one before that 17. My wife tells me this is the last one...
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very sad, Canine degenerative myelopathy took my buddy way to soon.
 
All my neighbors but one are law enforcement. I should just tell them No but the that guy might be interested...
 
SnowRooster said:
very sad, Canine degenerative myelopathy took my buddy way to soon.
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Yeah, that is brutal brother. We think our 10 year old had a brain tumor, started having seizures, we treated but after two weeks we couldn't let it continue. Ok, enough of that discussion... Sorry
 
Sp00ks said:
The beast in my profile pic is 110#'s of psycho. I'm with ya. However, I consider him my backup...

This reminds me of the church ladies when we first moved out here nearly 30 years ago. My Gosh they were relentless. I'm secure in my religion/church/etc. but I give them kudos for trying. I even told them I was Jewish at one point and I think that was just a challenge to them. I hated to be rude to them but finally had to start being more curt.
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That’s rough, I’m sorry. Here for such a short time And take such a big piece of our hearts.

yup black on topic.
 
Speaking of the steak guys, years ago now (maybe like in 2003-4 or so) dude pulls up in the van and gives the spiel. I tried politely to say that I was happy with the Fresh Market meat products I'd been buying. So he then says "so, I guess you really don't care about quality meat and cooking?" I'm not entirely sure what must have happened with the expression on my face, but he was already moving quickly to his truck when I said "I think you'd better get off my property." And this was long before I ever considered CC and I'm not physically intimidating at 5'7". But I'm pretty sure he saw the Gates of Hell opening up.
 
Oneofsix said:
Not an issue at our place last 10 years.
I took this picture Sunday (?) morning- it's about 50 yards from the front steps to the gate in the far center background. Gate has 3 signs- Beware of dogs, alarm company sign and no trespassing.
If they knock on our door, it's only because the dogs didn't hear them. Good luck with that...
And I'll leave it at that-
368f2718d7adb2a6644923b1fab2b77a.jpg


Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
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With all the crap going on, the closing on the land I am buying has been delayed, but finally getting done in the morning. I am planning a 600+ft driveway, with a gate, the dog, and the cameras. Anyone making it to, or near, the house uninvited will be met with the muzzle of my shorty 556 pointed in their direction.
 
Schattenreiter said:
So I take it you never met the Rainbow guy?
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I think I posted this here before but it was funny so I’ll do it again. I was having a meeting with a contractor about rebuilding my sunroom. I’d put my German Shepherd in her kennel before they got there. She was not happy about it and was raising hell! You know how hard it is to even get a builder to look at something and here comes an old car down my long driveway. Out pops this guy and he goes into a spin about Rainbow Vaccum cleaners. On and on and on and on. I tell him I’m not interested, he still keeps interjecting thing about his product. The dog is now going wid, barking, jumping, trying to get out of her kennel. The guy now wants to make an appointment with my wife. BWHAHAHAHAHAHA! He would rather fight a pit bull with aids over a dollar than deal with my wife! The dog still going nuts. Now the builder is still here and we haven’t even gotten to the project yet. So i turn to the Rainbow guy and told him,”You see that dog over there? I’m about to turn her loose and you’d best be gone! She’s out all the time so dont come back!” I haven’t seen him since!
 
bigfutz said:
I mean, honestly, in this day and age, if someone rolls up in my drive, I automatically think home invasion. At best, they are casing the joint to see if it’s worth a second trip when no one is home. Who would think they could legitimately sell products door to door?
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It's a shame it's gotten this way, but it is what it is. I didn't make it that way, it was not my choice. I'm lucky, the "no solicitors" sign at the end of my 100yd driveway seems to do the trick, except with the occasional church people, but it's easy for me to size them up as harmless. In the past 20 years, I've dis-invited one "salesman" off my property with a shotgun. I'm not proud of it, but in that particular case I believe I did the right thing. When I first moved to my current place the UPS guy told me "there's no crime around here". I asked him "why's that?" He laughed and replied :"Everybody's armed!"
 
Back up by detroit some very large guy from "the gas company" walked in my front door while I was cleaning and then tried pressing his luck (slowly advancing on me) when he saw the gun in my hand. Impolite words and a pistol laser on center mass got him to go back out... but I'd hate to think what would happened if I had turned out to be a small unarmed woman. I very frequently think of that day and pray that the laser on his chest and my finger on the trigger made him reevaluate some life choices before it was too late for somebody.
 
Two of them came through here last week. I saw one coming and shut him down at the top of the driveway. Apparently a second one came to the door a little while after I left. Looked like scumbag scammers casing houses...
 
I live in a small new neighborhood of 70 homes.
My home is in back, #70.
Most of my neighbors are yankees.
Anybody, and I do mean anybody, has to deal with my yankee neighbors before they ever get to the last house in the neighborhood.
Which is mine.
Me? I’m just armed.
 
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There might be another pretty well armed Southern gentleman up the street. We are surrounded though.....Only had one panhandler in the neighborhood, some dude from Edwards and Jones “selling” retirement accounts. Haha
 
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