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Original poster

Has anyone ever bought anything from a cold caller?

24 replies

BertrandRussell · 13/02/2019 10:52

Surely you don’t think “Oh, maybe I will buy an adjustable bed/change my windows/get my oven cleaned” when some poor sod from a call centre gets you out of the shower to answer the phone?
But people must, or they wouldn’t keep doing it, surely? Unless it’s all some incredibly complicated scam....

OP posts:
cakesandphotos · 13/02/2019 10:56

My parents 🙄 They bought a kitchen from a guy on the doorstep. I suggested it wasn’t a good idea but they did it and it cost them an absolute fortune. It wouldn’t have been so ridiculous if my step dad wasn’t a joiner who is capable of fitting a bespoke kitchen

Katterinaballerina · 13/02/2019 10:58

I can only think that they make money from those who are emotionally vulnerable and easily steered.

RiverTam · 13/02/2019 11:00

we once had a man from Everest windows come in (we were contemplating getting our windows done, not entirely random), he spent ages going through everything and giving us a quote and then when we said 'ok, that's fine, we'll think about it, get some other quotes and get back to you' he said we had to sign up there and then! What a waste of time, we would have told him straight that there's no way we would do that. He must have been in our house for over an hour!

And I once bought some stuff from one of those ex-prisoner blokes, which I now understand is often a scam. It was all very overpriced so even if it's not I'm not spending that much on some dusters.

I think people walk down our road and think everyone on it is loaded, and then they come to our house...

Original poster
BertrandRussell · 13/02/2019 11:38

I can understand buying at the door- it’s harder to say no, and they can adjust their patter so to speak. I always buy from the ex-prisoner types because it’s not much money and it might be true. It’s the phone calls that really puzzle me....

OP posts:
Finfintytint · 13/02/2019 11:46

I bought a kitchen once after a cold call from a kitchen company (we were contemplating getting a new one).
When I said "yes" to someone coming to quote, the caller said "Erm...I will put you on hold while I just check with my supervisor as to what to next because no one has ever said yes to me before".Grin

Onetwopyjamacrews · 13/02/2019 11:54

Our solar panels were a result of a cold caller, Didn’t know much about them but she explained how they work & that it doesnt work on direct sunlight so is more efficient and that you also get payments for excess energy and for generating it so we had their sales rep come to quote us. He measured the house to work out the roof space & used our energy bill to work it all out and it genuinely paid for itself the way they said it would. After that experience I always always listen to what they have to say! Also signed up to the milk man from the door which has been a godsend while we’ve been through winter ilnesses and couldn’t be bothered to go out to the shop, we get all essentials through the week and fry up ingredients at the weekend it’s honestly brilliant

TheVonTrappFamilySwingers · 13/02/2019 11:57

Sorry the 'ex-prisoner' types are a total and well know scam. Called Nottingham Knockers for some reason. There are 0 charities helping people on parole get back on their feet by selling £10 dusters door to door. It is a way of locating vulnerable people to rob in the future. I called 101 last time we had one knock at our door and they actually sent around a police car - that's how seriously the police take it.

bigbluebus · 13/02/2019 12:35

I refused cavity wall insulation from an endless number of cold callers on the phone but then said "yes" to a man who knocked on the door with exactly the same script - although it didn't cost us anything as we have a qualifying person living in the house which meant we got it free.

I give short shrift to anyone who rings trying to sell stuff as I'm registered with TPS.

FireCrotch · 13/02/2019 14:13

My mum pretty much furnished our house with stuff bought on the doorstep. We used to get a lot of gypsy callers too. I have a patchwork bedthrow that she got in the 80s. She paid a £3 deposit and they never called again. She also got a navy blue real leather 3 piece suite for £25 that she sold for £50 6 years later. Everyone also used to buy joblots of meat. On a Friday our local butcher would go around on his bike selling stuff. My neighbour years later told me he'd call at the houses where people were struggling and sell cheaply to them and would encourage his sister who had a grocery shop to do similar with stuff about to go out of date. I remember coming home with a bag of yoghurts and cottage cheese that was about to go out of date. In fact that made me hungry for some Langley Farm produce. Best cottage cheese ever.

doctorfrog · 13/02/2019 14:20

I've done cold calling - though businesses rather than people's homes. I don't think anyone ever invited us to quote out of the blue, but the idea was if they were thinking about buying the thing we made anyway then we wanted to be in with a shot. A lot of it is being lucky and calling the right person at the right time.

BitchQueen90 · 13/02/2019 14:55

I've done cold calling selling home improvements. It wasn't my job to get them to buy over the phone, just to get the sales representative in the door to give a quote and then it was their job to get them to buy.

I got one or two a month on average. You need to catch people who are genuinely already thinking about having work done. It's luck more than anything.

I wouldn't do that job again but at the time I was on benefits so had no choice but to take the first job I was offered.

Tootyfilou · 13/02/2019 15:00

I bought a Kirby vacuum cleaner. It was a few years after the Miners Strike and unemployment was very high. This young lad came to the door and I felt so sorry for him. We bought it on a payment plan... it was the best vacuum I have ever had and lasted over 20 years... tbh we would probably still have it if we had more carpets.

DontCallMeCharlotte · 13/02/2019 15:17
  1. Like the earlier poster, someone from a double glazing company rang the day after DH and I had discussed getting double glazing. They couldn’t believe it when I said yes! I felt a bit sorry for them as they came right down in price (my brother had sold double glazing in between “proper” jobs and assured us the company would have made nothing on what we were paying for the windows but a big commission on the finance) but then DH got turned down for finance because it transpired the credit reference agency had spelled his surname wrong. So we just paid for the windows out of our savings.
  2. A long handled duster from a “Nottingham Knocker” – I wanted one and saw it sticking out of his bag. I still use a sponge mitten thing in the car that my cousin bought from one over a decade ago when she was staying with us.
  3. Gousto meals – we’d just been bemoaning the dullness of our diet when they came to the door.
  4. Milk & More – not sure this is benefiting us as the price of their milk is extortionate!
  5. And some frozen chicken goujons from someone who really wouldn’t take no for an answer.

I’m obviously a sucker but, apart from the goujons, these were all things we wanted anyway.

youwantathingamibob · 13/02/2019 15:21

I signed up to getting milk delivered with first 2 deliveries free. I loved it but DP was apparently always tripping over the milk if he was first out the door so ended up cancelling it after a few months and just send DP out now if we need milk. I also bought a picture of a deaf man, I figured it was a scam of some sort but I really liked the picture and it was only a fiver (the price said 15 but I only had a fiver in my purse) still have it up in my dining room.

I've only once said yes to a phone call and that was to switch energy suppliers (which I wanted to do anyway) worked out pretty well nice and cheap until we were moving and they wanted a couple hundred off us to leave them! (they got fuck all) but most cold callers end up either being hung up on or passed over to my 3 year old who can talk for hours 😂

Notso · 13/02/2019 16:01

I bought some tea towels from a dead guy, DH thought it was some sort of scam but they were decent tea towels.

I signed up to have my bins washed once a month which is actually really good.

FIL once bought a gigantic piece of meat from a man in a van, he claimed it was beef. He cut it up into various bits but it was tough as old boots no matter what they did with it. MIL even bought an expensive mincer and it was still horrible. They were eating it for weeks as they hate waste.

RiverTam · 13/02/2019 16:09

Notso a ghost came to you door??? Or was he walking dead?

RiverTam · 13/02/2019 16:09

or did you mean deaf??

Notso · 13/02/2019 16:26

Grin Deaf not dead!! I wouldn't casually hand over £6 for some tea towels from the afterlife!

DontCallMeCharlotte · 13/02/2019 18:41

And I'm still trying to work out how youwantathingamibob can tell her picture is of a deaf man Wink

SpamChaudFroid · 13/02/2019 18:46

And I once bought some stuff from one of those ex-prisoner blokes, which I now understand is often a scam

Oh no! Didn't realise this was a scam! Blush

tierraJ · 13/02/2019 18:59

A guy came to my door while I was outside offering to clean my windows.
It hasn't occurred to me that I may need a window cleaner but I thought, why not.
It helped that he was good looking.
So he cleaned all my windows & I gave him a tenner.

He's now been my window cleaner for a few years! He even cleans inside the windows for no extra cost, every 4 weeks, & wipes down the doors as well!

I don't usually open the door to people I don't know or buy goods & services from door to door sellers but in this case I'm glad I did.

PivotPivotPivottt · 13/02/2019 19:04

I used to sell accidental death insurance over the phoneConfused. 12 sales in one day was my highest in the whole 2 months I worked there.

chemenger · 13/02/2019 19:13

My family have been buying odds and ends of clothing from someone we know as “the tweed man” for more than 50 years. It started when we lived up in the highlands of Scotland when I was a small child. We then moved to Aberdeenshire (in 1966 or thereabouts) and he found us there. He called once or twice a year on his route which covers most of the country. My brother still lives in my parents house so the tweed man still calls. He still manages to sell him socks, ties and shirts. He retired the year before last but then last Autumn he was back, he’d got bored and went out on the road to favourite customers. I remember him well from my childhood, though I haven’t seen him for years, he used to have a big grey van and would always be in the house for ages drinking tea and catching up. I do wonder how he made a living, but on the other hand he was so adept at selling that he’s probably a millionaire!

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