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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to hate people who put junk mail through my door then expect me to leave it out for them if I don't want it!

62 replies

alicet · 18/07/2007 20:02

OK so feeling a bit ranty and hormonal (I'm 28 weeks pregnant) so I probably am but here goes....

Today we had a catalogue kindly put through our door to join all the other junk mail. The difference with this is that they were kind enough to put a note wiuth it requesting that if I'm not interested I should leave it on my doorstep tomorrow so they can collect it.

Am I unreasonable that this really gets on my wick? If you put crp through my letterbox please don't expect me to leave it out for you just so you can give it to some other poor bstard plus advertise to all the local burglars that my house is empty!!!!! It is in the bin but if I am being unreasonable I will take it out and put it on my doorstep while eating humble pie.....

OP posts:
SaintGeorge · 19/07/2007 15:14

I used to do Betterware.

I paid attention if anyone told me they didn't want books or had a notice in the window saying so. If books weren't put outside then I was obliged under my contract to call back from them at least twice.

I was always unfailing polite, apologised if I disturbed anyone and did my best to offer a good service. I made fairly good money because I worked hard.

HOWEVER, I stopped doing Betterware because a surprisingly large number of householders were rude, many wasted good books by deliberately throwing them in puddles. Some told me they had thrown the book away when I could see the bloody thing in the hallway behind them! One obxnious man set his dog on me because I dared to ring his doorbell when the football was on. Shame he forgot to check if his wife wanted her order that I was trying to deliver. Another woman threw a carrier back full of books (Kleeneze ones!) at me whilst swearing loud enough for the next town to hear.

Gee, you try to work hard and earn some much needed cash and then you come up against such nice people.

Does it really take that much bloody effort to put a book outside your front door or to just have a conversation with the rep and say 'no books, thank you' ?

nooka · 19/07/2007 18:23

I'm sorry that you had a tough time StGeorge, but it is cold calling, and you have to expect that it's going to irritate some people. If I ever met the rep then of course I would be polite to them, and tell them to their face that I am not interested and to stop putting their catalogues through the door. However I really don't see why I should be the person who has to make the effort, and I don't like strangers putting things I don't want through the door, and expecting me to help them out, or for that matter ringing on the door either.

sweetcherrypie · 19/07/2007 18:33

My friend recently gave up delivering catologs because she got fed up doing it. When she joined they said she would only have to do two days plus admin which would be her delivering the catologs then collecting them again.

She got fed up because some people didn't leave theirs out so she would put a reminder through the door and so she kept having to go back to see if they had left it out. She used to have to walk (because she doesn't drive) all that way and most of the time for nothing.

SaintGeorge · 19/07/2007 18:39

So just go that extra mile and put out a single catalogue with a note pinned to the front. No effort, you can do it on your way out the door.

Yes it is cold calling, but there are simple and polite ways to deal with it. Putting the book in the bin doesn't help anybody.

Moorhen · 19/07/2007 18:44

YANBU. I recycle everything that comes through my door that is unsolicited (dont even get me STARTED on the four takeaway menus I get every day on average, plus estate agents leaflets, double glazing firms...).

My DH was accosted a few months ago by a strange (and I do mean strange) old lady asking for her WottaLoadaCr*p catalogue, or whatever it was, and answered truthfully that he thought he had probably thrown it away - and then got given an absolute ear-bashing about "how rude, how VERY rude" it was.

I did not know then that she had probably had to pay for said Brochure of Rubbishness, but I really dont think that if youre going to dump unwanted crud through people`s doors you can claim the moral high ground if they choose to get rid of it...

Niecie · 19/07/2007 18:46

I had one the other week who kept calling back for a catalogue they hadn't even left. I ended up emailing them to tell them this. I have also had one catalogue on my doorstep from another company for a couple of weeks now as they said they were going to come and pick it up and didn't. I hope they will get the point when they do eventually come back again! It is cold calling and it is very annoying. If I want to buy from a catalogue I chose which one I buy from and when. I am pretty sure that I have told at least one of them I don't want their stuff but they still keep putting it through the door.

And what about those ex-prisoners that come round, door to door selling with their bag of stuff and their ID cards, telling some sad tale about they only want to show you what they have or they won't eat that day. I end up buying something I don't want like dusters and then feeling cross that I have been manipulated. If I thought I could get away with not opening the door I would but they would have seen me in the lounge when they come up the path. Maybe net curtains have a use!

newgirl · 19/07/2007 18:53

i think cold calling is rude tbh - and out of date with internet shopping etc

i sympathise with people trying to make some money - but there are other ways - now if someone turned up and offered to mow the lawn for a tenner i would be delighted

MadEyeMisdee · 19/07/2007 19:16

when it comes through my door, i put it straight back on the doorstep. unless i really really need soemthing amde from white plastic for my kitchen

Original poster
alicet · 19/07/2007 19:18

I too sympathise with people trying to do a job and am always polite but firm to them. Some people though don't take no for an answer and I think that is unbelievebly rude - to come to your door and not bother to listen that you're not interested.

Someone from Pennine called a couple of weeks ago on the phone and said they were in the area blah blah and I politely said I was not interested. Then yesterday he came anyway and I had to tell him about 3 times that I wasn't interested. Thats annoying. If the rep was polite of course I would be too.

I appreciate that people are just trying to do their job but I don't think you have the right to ask for something back that you put through their door. And I don't want to put a catalogue on my front step thus advertising to all local burglers that I am not in.

OP posts:
DangerousBeans · 19/07/2007 19:21

sellotape each page of the catalogue to the inside of your window.

pagwatch · 19/07/2007 19:23

I had a local rep that constantly put a betterware catalogue through my door. I used to just pick it up and drop it back on the doorstep. Then when it was out one week a local cat crapped on it. I hadn't even noticed but SHE TOOK IT AWAY and never delivered again.
Wouldn't suggest it as a technique though. How would you get the cat to be that accurate?

ConnorTraceptive · 19/07/2007 19:26

the catalogue thing doesn't really bother me but all other cold calling does. we get alot of the ex prisoner people coming to our door too.

Last time i was so fed up i said "You want £5 for a few dusters, i thought you said you were an EX con?" He took it rather well but dh wasn't pleased

MadEyeMisdee · 19/07/2007 19:27

why does leaving the catal;ogue indicate you arent in? i just put it straight back out.

nomdeplume · 19/07/2007 19:28

I just put a polite note saying "no more catalogues, thank you" with my address on it in the plastic bag and put it back on the step. It seems to have worked for me.

Moorhen · 19/07/2007 19:33

We live in the top half of a converted house, and the freeholder lives downstairs and is quite precious about, for example, our using the driveway (never, basically, even for five minutes, even tho he never parks on it). I don`t think I would get away with putting signs on his nice shiny front door, or leaving catalogues on his nice swept step.

Which leaves me with a constant stream of printed cr*p and the recycling bin.

fruitful · 19/07/2007 20:09

The first time we got one, I put it out with a note saying "no more please". Since that, I give them to dd and ds to cut up and stick with. I haven't had anyone call to collect the gluey collage pictues though.

You can register with RoyalMail not to have unaddressed mail sent to you (the To the Occupier junk). Here -

To stop unaddressed leaflets delivered by the Royal Mail, consumers should write to:

Royal Mail Door to Door Opt Out,
Room 130
Wheatstone House
Faraday Rd
Swindon, SN3 5JW

Tel: 0845 7905 950
Email: [email protected]

southeastastra · 19/07/2007 20:14

dealing with it politely does seem to be the best way with a note etc. i just put them out it's no big deal really

sweetcherrypie · 20/07/2007 09:34

It doesn't bother me if i have to put a catolog outside the front door because it's not like i have to go out of my way doing it. It does however, bother me when i get blooming cold calls with some guy trying to sound very reasonable and convincing on the phone to get me to buy life insurance. Then have the cheek to use my dd as a guilt trip by saying "think about what would happen to your dd if something happened to you", a very clever sales technique.

Cold calls got so bad at one point i used to say no one of that name lives here when they asked for me.

harleyd · 20/07/2007 09:41

i have had moments in the past where i have seen them coming up my path with religous fliers and the likes, i have opened the door and told them politely to bog off

LittleBellatrixLeBoot · 20/07/2007 09:45

Yes YABU

They are politely asking you to leave the catalogue outside the door. They are not leaving a note saying that they will break your legs if you fail to do so. It is entirely up to you if you want to or not. It is a shit job done by mostly very low income mothers, and we would be all be complaining about them claiming benefits if they didn't do it.

I usually try and leave it outside because it isn't that difficult to do. But if I forget, I forget.

sweetcherrypie · 20/07/2007 09:48

silly question but what does YABU stand for?

LittleBellatrixLeBoot · 20/07/2007 09:51

You Are Being Unreasonable

themoon66 · 20/07/2007 10:00

If I don't want to look at the Kleeneze/Betterware/Avon catalogue, I just leave it by the front door without ever taking it out of the plastic bag.

YABU in my opinion... after all, you must go in and out of your own door every day, so it's not exactly out of your way.

They are mostly low income mums trying to earn a bit of money. And, I believe they have to pay up front for the cost of the catalogues.

FlameDelacour · 20/07/2007 10:02

YABU

Put a note inside saying you don't want anymore, and a note on the door/window saying no selling (to stop future ones).

Having done the avon thing myself, you have to pay for the books. The only way to sell is to shove em through doors and hope, and if everyone throws them you can only do about 10 houses rather than a whole street.

FlameDelacour · 20/07/2007 10:03

I've never got the "advertising to burglars" thing - I leave it outside whether I am in or not.

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