No Soliciting signs - mostly a JAWM

[Spryte]

They mean what they say.

 

Gaaaaah!

 

There is a particular company that has been circling in our neighborhood for a few weeks.  They aren't known for doing great work, but they are known for high pressure sales.  

 

Our area is full of trees, and a lot of the houses - unless the roofs are less than a year old - have staining.  It's not harmful, it's just part of living here.  So, this company circles and tells people they need a new roof.  They also lead off with, "we're doing work for your neighbors, Mr and Mrs Smith" (who don't usually exist).

 

We've had two approach while I was in the yard.  I am polite and send them on their way.

 

But at dusk last night, they rang the bell.  We have a No Soliciting sign.  Grrrrrr.  So he says, "I read your sign, but I'm not a salesman."

 

Ummmm.  Yes.  Yes, you are.  You are not offering free services to me, you are absolutely soliciting.  I sent him away.  I'm sure my irritation showed, though my words were polite.  

 

I wanted to scream.  Seriously, my kid had been in the hospital the entire night before, I was blotto, DH out of town, kids were trying to go to bed, and we have a sign.  Don't argue semantics with me.

 

 

[school17777]

That is frustrating!

 

We have a no solication sign too and we still have religious and political people knock. I point to my sign and remind them that it includes them as well and then we know who not to vote if they can't even follow a sign. For actual business sale companies, they are to have a permit and when they get a permit, they are reminded to not knock on doors with signs and if they do, we are supposed to call the police on them (we have local police). It irritates me when businesses leave their flyers on our door too. They are not supposed to do that with a sign up as well.

 

Sorry about your child in the hospital, hope all is well now and you get a good night's sleep tonight.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I don’t see anything wrong with letting your irritation show.

 

 

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[MrsMommy]

I don’t see anything wrong with letting your irritation show.

 

 

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This. There is a certain point, when people are infringing on my time and personal space, where I cease to be polite. And they really shouldn't expect anything else, having seen your sign.

[Rachel]

I'm sorry!

 

Our former neighborhood was a hotbed for soliciting. It was rare to go a day without someone trying to sell me something. The no solicitors sign only semi helped. The baby sleeping don't ring bell post it worked better.

[SparklyUnicorn]

We have had issues with ESCOs.  They sell energy services.  They claim they aren't selling anything and ask to see your utility bill to "make sure you are saving money".  Sure....  So I once had a less obnoxious one at the door and I basically asked how I can get them to stop coming to my door.  She said they are instructed not to knock if someone has a "No ESCO's" sign.  So I posted two signs on my property.  And it worked great!  But recently, some guy came to the door and my husband said didn't you notice the signs?  He said it doesn't say "No Soliciting".  It needs to say that.  He knows damn well what our sign says and what it means and why in hell would he attempt to sell something to someone who would go out of their way to specifically ask them not to even knock on the dang door! 

 

Grrrr  

[LarlaB]

We have a typed sign in the window at our front door....even though our HOA has no soliciting rules AND we have a No soliciting sign on our door.

 

"NO SOLICITING"

Anyway who rings to bell to try and sell, will receive a negative review on YELP, Facebook etc and a complaint call to your home office. Step right up to claim your prize.

 

Sigh

 

That's all my husbands doing and it has been 100% effective. We've literally watched people walk up, read the sign and turn around.

[Mommyof1]

LarlaB love that sign. That was a great idea. I wish I had that many times.

[itsheresomewhere]

I hate it. We have one and apparently if you are part of our town, that means you ignore the sign. Because it doesn't apply to things from our town i.e. Organizations. Guy said it with a straight face. I then gave a lovely lesson on what that sign means and how he would be dealt with if he chose to ignore my sign again. He goes - don't you want to help people? No. I wrote to what organization he was/is part of. He hasn't returned yet but we will see next year during the fundraising drive if he learned or if his boss helped him understand.

[kewb]

You have to get one of those no soliciting signs that spell it out.

No estimates

Politics

Food/menus

Religious

Etc.

 

I wish my town would institute a no knock policy but they like the money from the permits.

[mom2scouts]

I've always tried to be polite to people because I understand they're just trying to do a job or sell for their organization, but I'm getting annoyed with the number of people who think I should give them my time and money. It's only slightly annoying if they come to the door, quickly present their organization/product, I say I'm not interested, and they go on their way. Lately though, I get people who want me to have a 10 minute conversation, hear about all the (supposed) neighbors who bought/donated, show them my bill that's none of their business, hand them cash, or debate my religious beliefs. I've had to be far less polite, cut them off, and close the door. The same goes for telemarketers. I used to politely tell them no, but now I just hang up on them. I pay a lot to have a phone for my convenience, not for the convenience of every company and scammer in the world.

[Katy]

The last time we had a persistent guy I asked for his business card, snapped a photo with my iphone, and said if he ever ignored my no soliciting sign again I'd have him arrested for trespassing.  Haven't seen him since, but it's only been 3ish months.

[displace]

Same.

 

Solicitor- ding dong. Nice decorations...

Me- oh, you must not have seen the no soliciting sign because of my wreath. Sorry, no solicitors!

Solicitor- oh, that's fine. We're just here to...

Me- I don't talk to strangers. Good buy (accidentally slam door)!

 

I try to always look out the peep hole now, but sometimes I forget. Honestly I never expect visitors but I check in case it's a neighbor.

[displace]

ETA - I think a lot of people don't actually know the definition so they ignore it. I can't imagine doing that as a job and not knowing it, though.

[JFSinIL]

I got a nice sign from Amazon that lists:

 

No Sales

No Religion

No Surveys

No Politicians

 

and one or two others.  I gave up on plain No Soliciting since too many folks either ignored it or did not know what it meant.

 

[Junie]

My neighbor had a sign posted on the window next to the front door.  It was a long list of who was not welcome:  people selling things, people wanting her opinion, people from churches, etc.

 

At the bottom of the list:  If you are a Girl Scout with cookies, please knock.  :)

[theelfqueen]

I've actually had people come Chase my Boy Scouts down after they heard them say "there's a no soliciting sign, don't knock on that one" and thank them them buy whatever they're selling lol

 

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[gardenmom5]

my dd has a solicitor sign they've hung in the widow next to the door, that warns them that before they can deliver their spiel, they have to listen to your spiel.   oh, and it's $20 a minute to listen to their spiel, payable in advance.  as soon as they start talking indicates they have accepted your terms.  they don't' get many solicitors anymore.

[kiwik]

I just open the door, smile, say no thank-you or not today firmly and shut the door again.

[fralala]

I have a yard full of solicitors who turned to stone after making the fatal mistake of looking at my you-just-woke-the-baby face (and saying "I'm not soliciting, I'm just here to tell you about a terrific opportunity"). What truly pushes me over the edge is that when I ignore the knocks, they just pound harder, and longer, with that insistent We know you're in there and we see your sign and we don't care because this opportunity to have us provide a free estimate for your roof is just so amazing.

[Sammish]

Lately though, I get people who want me to have a 10 minute conversation, hear about all the (supposed) neighbors who bought/donated, show them my bill that's none of their business, hand them cash, or debate my religious beliefs. I've had to be far less polite, cut them off, and close the door. 

 

I've found that having a loud, barking dog works wonders for keeping the visits short. (It worked even better when we had two!) I make no effort to keep her back from the door, or to shush her. I should probably teach her to behave better when the doorbell rings, but frankly, I kind of like that "feature." :laugh:

[Word Nerd]

My "No Soliciting" sign didn't work on anyone from what I could tell, so I didn't bother to even put one up when we moved. All the door-to-door people think it applies to someone else.

[ktgrok]

I've found that having a loud, barking dog works wonders for keeping the visits short. (It worked even better when we had two!) I make no effort to keep her back from the door, or to shush her. I should probably teach her to behave better when the doorbell rings, but frankly, I kind of like that "feature." :laugh:

 

Same, or at least back when I had my sounds mean but is a big baby pit bull :)  We had a guy who was selling alarm systems door to door, and after retreating halfway back to the street in panic he said, "I'm selling security systems, but you don't need one."  He never came back  :lol: 

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[xixstar]

 

 

At the bottom of the list:  If you are a Girl Scout with cookies, please knock.  :)

 

 

These signs cause me so much stress at this time of year because my girls sell cookies. I don't want to piss people off but I found that people with these signs almost always bought cookies. 

 

How it would happen is that daughters go door to door together but knock on houses individually and sometimes would be a couple houses down from where I was physically standing.  They would not see the signs (cause they weren't looking for signs), and I'd only notice the sign once I caught up to them. I would feel panicked, worried that we had really annoyed someone, but the people were too busy buying cookies to notice my concern. 

 

I think I finally concluded that we would risk annoying someone with a generic no soliciting sign but more elaborate ones would get a pass. And my kids also learned to start looking for signs before knocking too.  

 

And since we will be going door to door starting in 2 weeks, I apologize now to everyone that doesn't want Girl Scouts knocking. 

Edited October 20, 2017 by xixstar

[eternalsummer]

I would be not mad at kids knocking after seeing a no soliciting sign because kids don't always know the meaning of the sign (or are not aware enough to look for one, or notice one).  If there is an adult with them, I don't care how special your cause is, or how much better your product is than other people's, or how important your religion is and how true - no soliciting means no soliciting.

 

We often do buy the things we can from (especially kids) who come around, even though we hate solicitors, because A. they are kids and B. we're generous.  

 

But that doesn't mean we didn't want you to stay away.  The reason we wanted you to stay away is that we don't want to be pressured into buying these things.  The fact that we're buying them doesn't mean we wanted you to offer them, it means you ignored a rule of basic decency and we are paying for it.

[KungFuPanda]

I need to make a sign that says "No adult soliciting. Scouts and school kids are welcome." I DO buy from kids and I AM happy when the snow shovel kid knocks. I just don't want any home improvement guys knocking. I don't even mind flyers because I can choose to call or not. It does help to have a big, black, barky dog.