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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Is it a scam? How do they make any money?!

49 replies

StarfishSandwich · 13/08/2018 16:54

Earlier this afternoon there was a knock at my front door. I wasn’t expecting a delivery and we live in the middle of nowhere and never get charities/salespeople at the door so I was assuming it was one of the neighbours calling round for a chat.

It turned out to be one of those ‘I’ve been medically discharged from the army and I’ve been given an opportunity to become a salesperson if I can sell X number of overpriced tea towels’ people. He had no ID, just a slightly crinkled card with some company’s name that I have since forgotten unfortunately and some writing on and was carrying his wares in a battered old rucksack. I felt bad for the guy. He’d clearly had a tough life and was having a difficult day but I didn’t need anything and strongly expected this was something I didn’t want to get embroiled in.

DH says it is a legitimate company but that it’s a kind of MLM and the poor blokes make nothing out of it. I always thought it was just a made up scam to pressurise elderly people into paying extortionate sums of money for things they don’t really need. Which is it? AIBU to still feel a bit bad for the man?

OP posts:
Bananalanacake · 13/08/2018 16:57

I think scam. Hope you got rid of them ok and they didn't threaten you.

smackbangwhollop · 13/08/2018 16:58

I wonder how he got to you in the middle of nowhere? How did he get to you: walk, bike, car? Smells fishy to me.

Original poster
StarfishSandwich · 13/08/2018 17:03

DH was in the kitchen ready to pounce if needed but knows I handle myself pretty well so left me to it. I’m heavily pregnant so did feel a bit vulnerable but I also felt he wasn’t trying THAT hard with the sales patter so possibly had given up just looking at me!

Honestly we live in a hamlet with about 10 houses down a long single track lane. The nearest big village is about a 40 minute walk away so it’s a bit bizarre but I assume he came on foot. I suppose isolated elderly people are a good target 👿

OP posts:
ToadsforJustice · 13/08/2018 17:03

Total scam. They get dropped off in a van and work an area street by street. When I get them knocking on my door, I say I'm the cleaner and I don't keep any cash on me.

madhatter1965 · 13/08/2018 17:03

The scam has been going for years - here's an article from 2014

www.lovemoney.com/news/26698/i-fell-for-a-doorstep-selling-scam

maxelly · 13/08/2018 17:04

I had one of these a few weeks back and it is a 'scam' - in the sense that there are no such door to door selling schemes for people recently out of the army/released from prison (which is what my guy claimed!).

Some people online say it is a way of scoping out houses for burglars to see which are inhabited by vulnerable/elderly people or to try and force their way in to steal stuff, but seems a bit unnecessarily elaborate for that. As far as I could tell this guy was just genuinely trying to flog some overpriced homewares - I live just down the road from the high street where I could have bought the same products for at least half the price he was asking Confused - possibly he'd shoplifted them or was part of a gang?

honeysucklejasmine · 13/08/2018 17:07

Poor blokes. If they are being dropped off in a van I don't imagine it's what they want to be doing with their lives. Less gang, more gang master, I fear.

Topseyt · 13/08/2018 17:07

All scams. I say a firm "not here thanks" and just shut the door on them.

crazycatgal · 13/08/2018 17:10

The police in my area have said that this is a scam unfortunately.

HotSauceCommittee · 13/08/2018 17:10

We had one of these sellers knock. A week or so later our house was burgled while we slept upstairs. It was horrible. Be extra careful now.

Original poster
StarfishSandwich · 13/08/2018 17:26

Oh HotSauce how awful for you! Will definitely keep an eye out for anything odd but my god they’d be disappointed if they burgled us!

OP posts:
LeftRightCentre · 13/08/2018 17:28

Scam. Had one of these a while back. The idea of saying you're the cleaner is a good one. I said I was at work on a conference call and needed to get back to it.

Theresnodisneyending · 13/08/2018 17:29

It's illegal to canvas. I opened the door to this once and he didn't see the police officer stood right behind him, her arms folded as she watched. Didn't know what his story was but apparently it's not allowed.

IsTheRainEverComingBack · 13/08/2018 17:30

I’ve had this a couple of times at houses in two different towns, it does make me feel nervous

Figlessfig · 13/08/2018 17:34

I got one of these a few years ago. Felt so sorry for the guy that I bought 3 tea towels and a pair of oven gloves. They were pretty cheap, and quality was commensurate with the price.

Funny thing is, soon as I saw him on my doorstep, my scam alarm started up, and I was uncomfortable throughout our conversation.

But nothing awful happened. I bought the stuff, the guy went away, never saw him or anyone like him again. So if it’s a scam, fucked if know what it is, cos no one is making much money at £2 for a tea towel.

WoollyMollyMonkey · 13/08/2018 17:35

I really want one of those stickers that says No Cold Callers, where do you get them? We are pestered with double glazing, soffits and facias, Grimsby fish, Ringtons tea etc etc.

BlindedByYourGrey · 13/08/2018 17:40

eBay 99p

Chickoletta · 13/08/2018 17:43

We live rurally too and I had one of these guys a couple of years ago - said he had recently got out of prison and it was a scheme to get ex-offenders back on their feet.I felt sorry for him and bought some cleaning cloths and gave him a can of Diet Coke (hot day). Nothing else ever came of it and I still have the dusters!

Blatherskite · 13/08/2018 17:45

They're called Nottingham Knockers. They're casing the neighbourhood for future break in potential.

Doubletrouble99 · 13/08/2018 17:48

The only guy we have up here is the Kleen Easy guy. He's disabled but been coming for years. Sometimes I buy something sometimes I don't. I have seen groups of young men doing the rounds with black holdalls but not for a while.
It's not illegal to cold call by the way.

KittyHawke80 · 13/08/2018 17:49

@honeysucklejasmine - You’re spot on. It’s a miserable, desperate existence, knowing you’ll be constantly knocked-back and verbally abused. When I was younger, my dad bought some tea towels from a bloke in late middle-age, at the back door. He was quite well-spoken, wearing a clean but quite shabby suit. He didn’t look at all well, very thin, and dad was really worried about him. When I took my bike out later, he was sitting on the slope by the village cricket pitch, smoking. Deep in thought. I said hello and we exchanged pleasantries. After a bit, he shouldered his bag and asked me to thank my dad. I’ve thought about him from time to time, in the last twenty years. He really stuck in my mind. Hope things improved for him; fear they did not 😔

KittyHawke80 · 13/08/2018 17:51

Don’t quite see how it’s a scam, if they’re giving you goods in exchange for money. It might be a con, some of them, but not a ‘scam’.

acousticversion · 13/08/2018 17:54

Nottingham Knockers - a scam

DogInATent · 13/08/2018 18:16

It's legit, and he's being scammed himself (out of his time if nothing else). I've had a similar experience and rang 101. The police could confirm it was legitimate as they'd had a few calls already that week and investigated. The identification document they use is shockingly bad, but genuine.

They're usually North-East based (at least the ones that come round here) and recruit folk off the long-term dole. What's worse is they are actively encouraged to sign up because they get a box ticked against their benefits as having participated in either "work experience" or "work activity" or some such nonsense. A lot of them are ex-offenders or ex-services because these are the most desperate. They've got they're sob story down pat because that's how they're told to sell - get stuck into the sob story whilst opening the bag and starting to lay out some of the stuff.

What I've found out is that a minibus runs down from Middlesborough to Great Yarmouth and they're put up in a cheap doss house for the week. Each morning the minibus drops them off at an assigned postcode (which could be a couple of hours from where they're staying - early starts and late nights) and they're left to it. They're told where to be at lunchtime so they can be picked up and moved to another spot, and again where to be for the evening pick-up. The items they're selling are over-priced and poor quality, and if you get chance for a chat with one of them they know this themselves. They're generally not proud of what they're doing and feel pretty shit about it by the second day.

Last time this happened I didn't buy anything but gave the guy a few quid and said it was up to him whether he put that as "earnings" on his time-sheet or kept it to himself. It's from chatting to him and what the police could tell me that's allowed me to put all this together. Now that I know the system, I've seen the pick-ups and drop-offs a few times in different towns as I've been out and about.

Who is making money, how, and how much, I've not figured out. There's the minibus, driver/minder, fuel and accommodation to be covered. Worst case is that the guy on the doorstep has paid to be on the scheme, next worst case is that it's somehow a government funded scheme and the organiser gets a management fee out of the state.