Another door to door scam - Simply Green

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by ken0042

All of these are recent examples from my house:

It could be a neighbour trying to be neighbourly. "Hey- I see you are starting your fence and we have some leftover wood. Do you want it?
I had a neighbour kid ask if I mind if he uses my basketball net at the end of the driveway.
It could be scouts selling popcorn.
It could be a hockey team doing a bottle drive.

With the latter two, when I was a kid trying to fundraise it was often disheartening to be told no, to have doors slammed, etc. I made a promise to my older self to try and help out if I could. I think the value to society for the latter examples out weighs the telling the door to door salesman that I'm not interested.

For some reason my wife has a habit of leaving the garage door open after she parks, must happen once every 2 weeks. Generally that knock on the door is my neighbor telling me he just ran in to close our overhead door.

About 1-2 times a week it is a kid in the nieghborhood knocking to ask if they can go outback on the rink, or asking if my kid(s) want to hang out.

Also, I like my neighbors/neighborhood, so I might be an exception.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by dubc80

Doesn't anyone else creepily approach the front door as quiet as you can and look through the eye hole?

One time I did this and the guy opened the door and I fell right into his foyer.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Jacks

What a world we live in. I remember when people answered their doors and their phones. They also knew their neighbors names and said hello to people on the street. When did we get so cynical?

When every time you pick up the phone you find out you just won a free cruise or when you open the door you find out your pipes are giving you cancer or your soul is going to hell.

[rohara66]

I used to never answer my door.... then I had to solicit signatures from my entire block for a local improvement and getting people to answer their doors is the worst. Literally the worst.

I knocked, I rang doorbells, I left notes with my phone number/email and nothing. I left new notes explaining that if people didn't want to answer their door to me that they could come see me. People would be sitting on their couch watching TV, blinds open, I'd knock and they would stare at me and completely ignore me. This happened multiple times after I'd left notices on their door telling them I'd be back. People are the worst.

After this whole experience I've gone back to answering my door all the time. If its someone selling something I tell them I'll save them the time of pitching whatever they're selling and send them on their way. The odd time it ends up being a neighbor for whatever reason, no skin off my back.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by morgin

Just got notice our house was visited by "Simply Green" who are presenting City of Calgary credentials

Wait a minute, how is this not illegal?

[OutOfTheCube]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

A whole flight of stairs, oh my!

Uh, yeah. And a baby gate in the way too. The qualifier there was "to tell a salesman to piss off". It's enough extra work that I'd rather just sit and continue watching TV in my sweatpants then bother to go down.

And don't act like you haven't avoided doing something or getting something because you'd have to go up a flight of stairs to do so. Or waited for an elevator to go up one floor. Stairs suck, fact of life.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

Uh, yeah. And a baby gate in the way too. The qualifier there was "to tell a salesman to piss off". It's enough extra work that I'd rather just sit and continue watching TV in my sweatpants then bother to go down.

And don't act like you haven't avoided doing something or getting something because you'd have to go up a flight of stairs to do so. Or waited for an elevator to go up one floor. Stairs suck, fact of life.

You seem angry man, a little too angry, did a set of stairs hurt you, hurt you bad.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

You seem angry man, a little too angry, did a set of stairs hurt you, hurt you bad.

Not really. He just seems like a guy who doesn't really care enough about some random peddler to bother making the effort to go downstairs and answer the door. Seems like a pretty good reason. I don't answer the door to random strangers for the exact same reason.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

Not really. He just seems like a guy who doesn't really care enough about some random peddler to bother making the effort to go downstairs and answer the door. Seems like a pretty good reason. I don't answer the door to random strangers for the exact same reason.

All power to ya then.

You are gonna miss your over sized Publisher's Clearing House cheque.

[troutman]

I'm also thinking of cancelling voicemail. I can see that you called. No need to leave a message.

#getoffmylawn

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Originally Posted by troutman

I'm also thinking of cancelling voicemail. I can see that you called. No need to leave a message.

#getoffmylawn

This x1000

text or email me if it's important. I don't want to have to delete your voicemail.


Also I always answer the door. But I live in a small town. Usually if the door bell rings or there's a knock on the door it's my father or brother.

Last two times it wasn't a relative it was kids doing a bottle drive, and two girls who were collecting for something (I don't recall because one of them had a guitar and started serenading me).

I also don't mind the religious people coming. Last time the Mormon's came I invited them in (my wife was NOT happy), on the island in the kitchen which is right there when you come in was about 16 different micro-brew beers, and my first words were "it's cold outside, did you guys want a cofffffffffffff-ughgghghhh something to drink?"

They asked what I knew about Mormonism, and I think they realized they weren't converting me as I asked them about Brigham Young while sipping my coffee. Nice guys, they never came back.

Then again, I like telemarketers. They're fun to chat with and explain why what their offering is of no use to me.

Oh and the scammers are the best.

I'm weird.

Open the door, you'll get good stories.

[Swift]

Originally Posted by dubc80

Doesn't anyone else creepily approach the front door as quiet as you can and look through the eye hole?

This. Neighbour or kids doing a bottle drive, ok I'll answer. Dude with a clipboard, no thanks.

[Sr. Mints]

Tonight at about 6pm in the NW community of Collingwood, we (siblings, spouses, etc) were all at my mom's house for her birthday, and a persistent SOB claiming to be with Telus came to the door and literally tried to push into the house several times, repeatedly demanded our Shaw bill, explain our current services, and would not take no for an answer.

My brother was the one who answered, and it pretty much devolved into a yelling match/battle of wills-type thing while the rest of us chuckled from the living room. But he eventually left. I just assumed he was a pushy, demanding mofo salesman. We've all seen those.

~30 minutes later, my mom's neighbour came over and said a guy (probably the same guy?) claiming to be from Direct Energy pretty much did the exact same thing to them, only her husband put on his assertive hat and got rid of him.

I regret not calling 911 to report this right away. Going to file a police report in the morning. Probably good info for the police to have. It all seems waaaay too suspicious.

Of course it could've just been some schmuck doing his #### job really well, getting people to sign contracts. But you never know.

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by Sr. Mints

I regret not calling 911 to report this right away. Going to file a police report in the morning. Probably good info for the police to have. It all seems waaaay too suspicious.

I'll save you the trip to the D.O. When you want to report this, call the non-emerg line (403 266 1234 x0) and they'll help you out. Probably take maybe 5 minutes.

Of course it could've just been some schmuck doing his #### job really well, getting people to sign contracts. But you never know.

Even some schmuck doing his **** job really well shouldn't be doing that. I doubt that was the case in this part, as I can't imagine the black eye the company would willingly take with an aggressive guy like that. Was likely a scammer trying to scam.

[Daradon]

I would like to cancel my voicemail, it's a fricken pain in the ass to have to delete one or two messages a day of nothing, or static, or a robocall. But I do get enough messages that are useful that I would have missed if I didn't have voicemail.

One example would be I generally screen my calls, for the above mentioned problem mostly. Sometimes I don't recognize the number and then when I go to the voicemail, it's someone I know, about something important. Even time sensitive. They could be calling from a different number, or a business line, or sometimes it's about an appointment I've made (doctor, dentist, whatever) and I haven't memorized the number yet. A lot of people still don't text, especially about stuff like that. I have been using e-mail for appointments recently, and that's very useful, but again, some places are way behind the times.

I'm surprised the two lawyers are thinking of cancelling their voicemail. I would think you'd have even more calls than me like that. Though, I guess you could be talking about personal phones v business phones.

[Canehdianman]

But if I cancel my voicemail how will my mom let me know she called and that I should call her back???

[Inferno099]

After reading this thread....
I haven't seen the folks themselves but downtown by my office on 4 Ave I've seen Simply Green van parked beside Sun Life Plaza a few times.

[FurnaceFace]

Originally Posted by troutman

I'm a nudist.

Reminds me of the husband of a woman I worked with. He's a nudist and she told us about a certain religious group coming to their door and the husband opened the door to them while "practicing his religion". She said they didn't stay for some reason...

We have a one way film on our living room windows which is handy to see who is coming to the door.

[annasuave]

Originally Posted by Jacks

What a world we live in. I remember when people answered their doors and their phones. They also knew their neighbors names and said hello to people on the street. When did we get so cynical?

We got so cynical when unscrupulous and dishonest hustlers realized they could capitalize on the bonhomie and good nature of average folks. I don't think people have gotten tired of being good people. Just overwhelmingly tired of scamsters trying to take advantage at every possible chance.

Perhaps if we were harder on scammers, maybe if we felt free to unceremoniously kick hustlers off our property we might see a return to genial neighborliness.

[Sr. Mints]

So an update: I called the cops yesterday, and based on the info I gave her, the lady I spoke with said she "almost guaranteed it was a scam." And of course reiterated that somebody should have called 911 at the time, and they likely could have investigated or nabbed the guy, especially considering it happened in a gated community and the guy was on foot. No point dispatching a unit after the fact.

But she thought it was worth taking all the info I had, and created a case file or whatever they do.