Unsolicited door to door salesman making me feel uncomfortable.

We had a sign by the front door which was issued by the Metropolitan Police: 'we do not buy or sell at this door, we will validate any ID you show us etc etc'
One day the bell went and there was a young man on the step with the same-old, same-old crate of dusters, socket sets and the rest.
I was furious. "Can't you read?" I shrieked, jabbing at the sticker.
"Do you think I'd be doing a job like this if I could read?" he answered.

I gave him a fiver.

I don't get bothered much by cold callers at the door but did have one a couple of years ago who got a bit irate because I wouldn't buy his "fresh" fish. When I said I didn't buy things out of vans he said everything was delivered to a supermarket in a van!!

A friend who does get a lot of cold callers has printed off a sign from the internet which says "If you are not coffee, bacon or chocolate - I need you to go away!" It may not work but it does make her smile!

As for the people who ring saying they are doing a survey, I interrupt and ask how much they will be paying me. They will sell the results of the survey or use the answers to make money in some way - they usually just hang up!

I try not to be rude to salesmen, because they have a ghastly thankless job and I've been there myself. I appreciated those canvassed who treated me with patience or humour, since most of the time I hated approaching them in the first place, but the "cold calling approach" is a nightmare for everyone.

We used to get loads of these, but since we put up an official 'No cold callers' sign about 3 weeks ago we have had none....hooray! We got the sign from Trading Standards.

We live in an affluent area and we are tortured with callers. Yesterday i had a man wanting to tarmac the driveway. He was well dressed but I could hear the slight gypsy accent. Sorry if that offends anyone. Next I had a man wanting to sell me solar panels. Nearly every day we have young people with clip boards trying to get us to donate to their charity. They actually want you to sign up and give every month. My daughter got a sign for her door "no cold callers". It is completely ignored. She goes to the door and without opening it, points to the sign! On one occasion I was out, when a group of travellers were knocking on doors. When I returned, two of them emerged from our back garden. They said "we were just round the back looking for you". Luckily they went away, but I dread to think what would have happened if i hadn't returned.

I don't get many cold callers at the door but incredibly large numbers of phone callers. When they start by saying "I'm not trying to sell you anything" you know straight away that it is a "short" survey which is rarely as short as they imply. My stock answer now is "I don't do surveys over the phone. Goodbye!" and put the phone down immediately. I used to feel that was rude of me, but now I realise that disturbing me from what I'm doing for something which is unlikely to benefit me in any way is actually rude of them! Besides I happily do surveys online where I either get paid or at least entered in a draw and I can do them at a time that suits me.

I put up a "No cold callers " sign after two men were really pushy and aggressive to me trying to sell double glazing. It was frightening.

Since then I have had salesmen pretending they haven't seen the sign.

I put up another one ( provided by the police at a stall in the market place in town during a push on preventing burglary) and haven't been bothered since.

In the bad old days of poverty as a single parent, I did door to door doing Kleenezee, but always stayed away from homes with the sign, and took no for an answer straight away.

One idea to get rid of the windows people is to say you are renting the property.

Young man knocked and attempted a very fast patter hard sell 'change your utilities supplier to us' routine. Stopped him politely (saving time for both of us!) and said we had just changed and didn't want to do so again. He then asked how much we paid each month and I said I didn't want to tell him. He got REALLY irate at this and said there was 'no need to be like that'; I pointed out that I didn't feel he had a right to have any details of my financial arrangements simply because he had knocked at the door, and he flounced off, slamming the gate and muttering .

I try to be patient and polite because cold calling is a horrible job; when made redundant years ago when the children were small and being desperate for a job my husband tried this for a week - he had neither the inclination nor the pushy personality and hated every second. However, I did feel like throwing a handful of earth after this charmer! (I didn't)

I have a card on my front door saying that door to door people aren't welcome. Guess who thought it didn't apply to them ? Hint, they were carrying a copy of The Watchtower . Sound of door slamming in face.

We have a sign by the doorbell which states we do not want cold callers to disturb us, I too have a long walk from my garden/ kitchen to the front door and hate being disturbed for nothing. When I answer the door I stop them in mid speech and ask them if they can read. They often look at me blankly and say yes. I then point to the notice and close the door.
I often feel bad doing this but I really get annoyed by unsolicited interruptions especially when they can see we has double glazing/a good driveway/an adequate garage door!!!!

We have them nearly every day now, say they are doing work nearby - then "my father says you will be selling your caravan"..... red flag warning. After about the 3rd one of this kind I thought about time the police knew, especially if my caravan was about to be targeted. Amazed that police came within 10 minutes of the report to the helpline (not 999) , they took details of car registration numbers I had, but some of them parked at the rear of the village hall so were not visible in our road. Said they would visit local encampments but in the meantime told me what precautions I could take - never never open the door, keep it locked, if you can observe them from another window first then do so, have a strong chain fitted on the door, so if you do decide to open you can ask for identification first, put a sticker in the window "No cold selling etc." cost me 99p on Ebay with free P&P !!, secure caravan obviously (already done), 2 policemen were charming, concerned for my safety and urged me not to be taken in by these people. We are very rural so seem to be prey to these people as a soft touch.

Lots of people have the stickers. Definitely a good idea if you don't want to get bothered. They may even sell them in a local stationer/ post office.

chloe If you know what company he was from, I think you would be in order to report him. He sounds like a very unpleasant young man who may well intimidate or even frighten someone very elderly or vulnerable.

A woman came to our door a few years ago with a caseful of household bits and pieces - pegs, dusters, etc. I know some of these things are scams but I felt a bit sorry for her having to drag round selling things door to door. So I asked the price of what I thought would be a fairly cheap item. It was even more ridiculously over-priced than I had expected so I declined. She looked like thunder and exclaimed loudly "That's charming, that is - making out you're going to buy something and then just wasting my time"!!

I have a video entry system but if a person stands to the side I cannot see them! I do not always use it but it is handy if I mam not dressed or do not want to face that person (s).

Others ring and ring the doorbell and when I get to the door I say that I am not sitting in a chair behind the door knitting, waiting for the doorbell to ring. Couriers do that, irritating the hell out of me.

If I do not recognise the caller (whatever time of day) I put the chain on the door so that it only opens an inch, quickly puts off any unsolicited callers. I am not frightened by them, just want them to feel uncomfortable, especially as I have a notice on my door saying I don't want unsolicited callers. As they have been rude by ignoring my notice, I don't feel rude in telling them firmly to go away.

We log all the names of companies that cold call us, doorstep or phone and then ensure we never use them. We have had five phone calls, unanswered, from a large insurance company in the last 24 hours. We had previously been insured with them and once they reeled us in they made ridiculous get-out clauses so we changed to another company but they will not let it go. One more phone call today and I will name and shame them on here

I have said before now that I cannot help because my house is rented and I do not know who the landlord is. That gets rid of them.

Yesterday evening I was outside chatting to a neighbour 2 doors down when the Labour lot came round asking if we had voted. One young man knocked on my neighbour's door and God forgive me I said that he did not speak or understand English so I doubted if he would be voting. He is a retired ophthalmologist, from Iraq but children have been pestering them by ringing their doorbell. He will laugh when I tell him what I have done.

We open the door and say " sorry nothing done at the door goodbye" then shut it firmly with no more contact regardless of what they waffle

We have a sign that we printed off from the Money Saving Expert website bit.ly/1UEXP2x
It works well.

We bought a 'no cold caller' sign online for about £1 including postage. It works (apart from one very cheeky young man who, when I pointed to the sign, said he was warm, not cold!

Thank you for your replies. I have emailed the company concerned and will let you know when I receive a reply. Am now feeling a bit mean and hope he doesn't lose his job just hope he gets to complete a customer service course instead

As soon as they say they are from a company that is working "down the road so decided to call on neighbouring houses" I tell them no thanks. They are never anywhere near neighbours houses.
Yes email the company and tell them they are the last company you would ever use, not that you need any new windows, now that you have met one of them lol.

Well, he isn't going to make a success of that job is he? He needs to go to charm school, cultivate a sense of humour or just grow a thicker skin.

It sounds as if he went about it in an oblique way so he shouldn't have been surprised if you took him at face value and assumed something else. You should never worry about door to door salesmen since it is they who have taken on the job to ask for a sale so that when you say no and goodbye that is the end of the story.

It is difficult if you have no access to the front door other than by going in through the house. I have seen notices on doors which indicate 'no door to door sales thank you' so perhaps that is what you need.

Only ever had one rude one and that was someone selling some brand of Christianity. I would have like to email his company but didn't think to ask for god's email address. Next time I'll be more prepared - or is that the Cubs?

nothing more infuriating when in the middle of doing something a salesman calls! I never ask them what they want I just tell them I'm not interested in what they have to say...they soon leave..