in thinking that door to door salespeople or other should not be knocking on your door when its dark

[woahthere]

I can't stand them, they drive me utterly insane. The charity ones are the worst, they really pressure you. I'm quite rude to them and tell them Im not interested at all and if they start to protest I start shutting the door saying 'thank you bye' but thats me...what if its an old person or someone easily intimidated - it really shouldnt be allowed. While Im on the subject...what is it with all the sodding charity bags that get put through my door. We get at least 5 a week...its crazy!

It is annoying when you have had a hard day at work then go to sit down and the door goes (usually when I eating dinner) so yes I can see your point.I don't really get rude to charity people but I do tell them I already give, but to people pressuring you to change your gas and electric grrrr just go away!

But I guesse they just doing their job

I always just say that I never sign up to anything at the door but if they've any leaflets I'll read one and decide in my own time - but they never do have leaflets, which always seems a bit odd to me.

They don't usually argue, but then again they can hear my dog furiously barking from behind the inner door and can't see that he's a dachshund not a doberman

I get loads of those charity bags as well... Really bizarre ones, this mornings was a breast cancer one for women in Lithuania?? It said something along the lines of 50p for every tonne collected, or something equally as ridiculous, it went straight in the bin.

I never answer the door unless it's the postman, I really cannot be bothered, I do have a sign on my door which says no cold callers.

Ah, see I have this sussed. I live in a flat, so I unplug the phone that connects to the door. Trades persons cannot enter after 4pm.

On occassion a neighbour buzzes them in and they do all 4 flats I simply say - I didn't let you in, you must have the wrong address.

I would love to know how much business is done by cold calling

We have a sign on the door which reads "We do NOT want junk mail. We do NOT want to switch our gas and electricity company. We will NOT donate to your charity. We are NOT interested in your religion. And we do NOT want to buy anything. Have a nice day!"

People still knock. I point silently to the sign. And keep pointing, silently, until they go away.

We used to get loads and then I downloaded the 'no cold callers' sign from moneysavingexpert.com (or co.uk!) and I have only had once since who apologised for seeing the sign after he knocked on door. Download it now and stick it up

Love the idea of pointing silently

one knocked on my door - i askedhim the time he said 7.50 i said thanks, now please leave its bed time - but dont you want to save monet madam? no thanks ive plenty fuck off

YANBU - I 'hate' answering the door after dark but always do in case it's an emergency - someone broken down or something - does my head in when it's a cold caller!

i verbally abused the one who was stupid brave enough to knock on my door and ring the doorbell despite the fact all the downstairs lights were off and the living room blinds where closed at 8pm (decided to have an early night after being up 3 nights in a row with DS2 and his chest infection).

I came down stairs in my jammies (cos i thought it was one of the neighbours with a problem) and gave him a mouthfull of abuse and then phoned the charity in the morning to complain, which i wouldn't have done if he hadn't started laughing when i opened the front door.

Tosser

Having 2 bloody great German Shepherds and a furiously pissed off for being disturbed from his evening nap Labrador is a marvellous way to deter cold callers from returning to my door. I can thoroughly recommend it. :o

I've seen door to door salesmen almost fly down my garden path when I've opened the door with one hand, using the other to "hold back" a large nosey and dopey German Shepherd! :o

vallhalla any chance you could rent me one of your dogs please for next time....? lol

What is wierd is that the sales people generally are better behaved than the charity people - presumably because they have rules they have to follow. I always tell them not to call on my neighbour as she is in her 90s, and most sales people tell me of course... it is not our policy to doorstep sell to over 60s or over 70s or whatever. (Because of so much negative publicity in recent years I assume)

Is this a new thing, charity doorsteppers coming round at 8 or 9pm? We had one the other week at nearly 9pm, knocking really loudly on the door. I was sure it was going to wake DD up. Rushed to open it thinking it must be a neighbour with an emergency - who else would knock in such a desperate, loud way at nearly 9pm - only to find some charity chugger .

Didn't realise it was quite common.

I really can't imagine they get many people signing up from this. Who gives their bank details to someone who's just banged on their door at night?

There was something on the radio recently about all those bogus charity collection bags. We get loads round here too. Apparently there's a thriving trade in rag. It's worth quite a bit of money believe it or not. I've started giving my old clothes to a women's refuge.

I tell you who does annoy me the parcel woman! my next door neighbours order things then are never bloody in so same woman always knocks on my door.I normally go ok and just sign and take them in.

But one day she was there knocking and knocking, my dc had been ill, I was still in my pj's and was feeding ds while on the phone, I went to the window and she waved the parcel.

I opened the window and said 'I never ordered anything'

She said 'I no it is for over the road!!' still waving the parcel and ds crying at this point.

I then said 'no go away' just like that and shut the window! I was angry and could have said more but that was me just being polite!

I would have stuck her parcell somewhere if she had of knocked again though, she never came back after that

Most of the charity bags are a con, fake charities and all that. Makes it difficult for the genuine charities out there!

The charity ones are really pushy, even when you are polite to them. The more annoying thing about tonight was that he had called once and my partner had told him to go away as we were about to have dinner - to which he replied 'ooh, is there space for me' my partner very blankly said 'no' and goodbye. So the fact he came back when my partner had gone out infuriated me...his opening line was 'was your dinner nice' creepy

Put a sign on your door. I used to do it in England and if people ignored it I would just say "read the sign" and shut the door without feeling like I was being rude. People don't cold call here (Sydney) which is bliss.

i don't think i can put a sign on my door as i dont have glass panels in it apart from a small one at the top, would look a bit odd wouldnt it just sticking it on the outside of the door. or am i being thick.

Unless I am expecting someone I just ignore the doorbell.

You do know you don't have to answer the door, don't you? I don't. They have to walk past my window to get to my door, so I often have a good idea who it is. If I don't want to answer, I stay put.

I'm reasonably sure they can see me, but I don't care

Same with phone - eating, don't answer. busy, don't answer. can't be arsed, don't answer.

I have no idea why people have the whole pavlov's dogs thing going on