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Post by bchevy on Jan 31, 2007 20:49:54 GMT -4
Somethings fishy here and I'M curious if anyone else had/is having a similar experience? A couple young men knock on my door, introducing themselves as college students working on earning money my selling magazine subscriptions. I'm not interested. But, I can send a subscription to the troops in Iraq! they offer. OK! I can do that! and sign up for TWO subscriptions to be sent to the troops in Iraq. This was on 12/1/06 Flash Forward to this week: I get a letter in the mail from the subscription company, due to "unforseen issues" they can't fill MY subscription, but can offer me THREE other magazine subscriptions at no extra cost. they have a web site www.integritypgm.comno phone, their contact page doesn't work. ANYONE ELSE?
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Post by outlaw on Jan 31, 2007 22:28:15 GMT -4
www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/tmarkg/magzn.htmI've heard of these scams. Check out above website, if you haven't already, which says to call Attorney General's Office. If you wrote them a check or gave them a card number, you should definitely check with the bank. Good luck! This is why I don't answer my front door.
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Post by outlaw on Jan 31, 2007 22:34:02 GMT -4
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Post by melissa on Feb 1, 2007 7:04:09 GMT -4
There was actually an article in the Bay Times a few weeks ago about that happening over here in recent months...
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Post by Mike on Feb 1, 2007 8:45:24 GMT -4
bchevy you got served.
Never trust door to door knockers, especially those ones that sell cookies
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Post by kl on Feb 1, 2007 10:04:36 GMT -4
And here we all though that chevy was a tad brighter than the average bulb. This scam has been around for the past decade that I'm aware of. Usually, the "manager" will drop a van load of "students" in a neighborhood to do their door to door... And Melissa? Apparently folks on the board don't take the Bay Times seriously enough.
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Post by melissa on Feb 1, 2007 11:12:58 GMT -4
And Melissa? Apparently folks on the board don't take the Bay Times seriously enough. I see that!!
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Post by outlaw on Feb 1, 2007 11:22:19 GMT -4
Oh, kl, I do take the Bay Times seriously. I faithfully scour it every week and find two or three articles worth reading. Some of them even make sense and don't have that many typos. There may be a letter or two written by a citizen that hasn't been "edited" to the point of incoherence. Usually I see a couple of real estate ads featuring a convicted felon thief. The Star printed an article about this thievery; the Bay Times did not. I suppose advertising dollars are advertising dollars.
This brings to mind a personal experience I'd like to share. One day another little woman and I decided to get involved in our community and sponsor an event. We reserved a conference room, printed flyers and information, made posters, etc. I called the Bay Times, wrote an announcement for their calendar and faxed it over. When I called to make sure they got it, the staffer assured me she did and it would be printed. Wednesday morning, giddy with anticipation, I open my Bay Times and...drat! No ad. I feverishly flip through the whole thing twice. Nothing. "How can this be?" my mind screamed. Frantically, I call the Bay Times staffer I had spoken to twice. Oh, dear, it seemed she had mislaid the ad. She apologized profusely, promising to show up at our little event (she did not). I heard through the grapevine that the Bay Times did not champion our cause, and that's why the ad was not printed. All's well that ends well, though - legislation was eventually passed, no thanks to the Bay Times.
And seriously, when my husband brings home a basket of smelly crabs, the Bay Times does a good job of covering up the table.
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Post by heather on Feb 1, 2007 11:55:47 GMT -4
And here we all though that chevy was a tad brighter than the average bulb. This scam has been around for the past decade that I'm aware of. Usually, the "manager" will drop a van load of "students" in a neighborhood to do their door to door... And Melissa? Apparently folks on the board don't take the Bay Times seriously enough. Geez kl...give a guy a break. Some people aren't so jaded as to think that kids selling magazines as a fundraiser (as well as supporting our troops) would be running a scam. I'm with outlaw, I wouldn't answer the door. It would be nice to believe there's still some good in this world.
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Post by Rich Fisher on Feb 1, 2007 11:56:17 GMT -4
I read the Bay Times for the first time in the Barber shop and found some usefull stuff in there. For a low circulation community paper it's not bad. I don't really know the history of the paper or what their reporting is like historically, but the issue that I read seemed ok. It had a good article on the expanded bus routes to DC that was useful to me.
Keep us in mind for local news too! WNAV Radio supplies us with news Monday through Friday and the amount of news will increase when we're finished redoing their website - including sports coverage and audio. They will have live access (via RSS) to this site and will update news, weather, school closings, etc as it happens. Everything should be done within a month. If we ever get big enough I would like to hire a 'reporter' for our site to increase news coverage to include local school news, church news, event coverage, that sort of thing. Someday...! We do have a live music section / offshoot site in the works - What band is playing where, that sort of thing. Hopefully it will be ready by the summer.
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Post by ljp on Feb 1, 2007 13:05:00 GMT -4
I am with you guys on not opening the door. In the past we have had to literally threaten these 'college student magazine fundraisers' with bodily harm to just get them off of the doorstep!! My husband pulled out a gun! Seriously that isn't something we would normally do (re: the redneck thread) but they would not leave after repeatedly and repeatedly asking them to. They are the boldest people I have ever met!! (Actually my husband only pulled the gun when I tried to shut the door and this guy put his foot in the way ...)
Recently I was painting around a window and saw a car drop off 3 of them in front of my house. I watched them disperse and then after 20 minutes I called a neighbor to rescue her after listening to her tell this kid no for the umpteenth time. Then made sure she told them to stay away from my door. They are worse then Mary Kay Sales people!! It horrid. I had actually gotten to the point that if they kept knocking I would answer from an upstairs window so that I can tell them to leave and shut the window. And yes I read the ad in the Bay times a few weeks ago, so now when they arrive I just tell them to leave from inside a closed door. Plus if you have ever read their price list?? (which happened the first time I was too nice and talked with them). They are 3 x what you would pay the magazine for a subscription. My husband pays $12 for an annual magazine and they were selling it for $40. Sorry BChevy chalk this one up...
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Post by outlaw on Feb 1, 2007 13:36:51 GMT -4
I do the same window thing, ljp. When the kids were babies and I'd try to get some work done during naptime, these nitwits would bang on the door until they woke up, so I ended up hanging a "DO NOT KNOCK" sign on the door. Then when the kids were toddlers, I just beat them to the doorknob before they opened up to some guy who looked like Frankenstein selling newspapers. We had a long talk after that one!
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Post by bchevy on Feb 1, 2007 18:32:28 GMT -4
And here we all though that chevy was a tad brighter than the average bulb.. I am, believe me. These guys caught me, plain & simple. The strange part is the letter that came in the mail. Bay Times? Blah. I WILL NOT STOP ANSWERING MY DOOR! No way. It's my house and I wont be a prisoner in it. I now have NO SOLICITING signs out front. I'll answer my door, you BETTER NOT be selling something!
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Post by BlueMule on Feb 1, 2007 19:22:16 GMT -4
I honestly don't have a problem telling a solicitor at the door or on the phone to take a hike. It's MrsMule that has the soft heart. Her background from years ago was sales and retail. She and they 'bond' and she takes compassion on the sap at the door (or phone) and gets sucked in. I just had a word with her refering her to this very scenario. I told her to just tell them to get lost. Her argument was that you don't have to be rude do you? I had to tell her sheuttchya you gotta be rude. The guys are trained thieves.
I feel your pain, Bchevy.
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Post by bchevy on Feb 1, 2007 19:33:02 GMT -4
I found those other web sites last nite after posting here.
Man I hate a thief
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Post by Brooke on Feb 5, 2007 10:30:30 GMT -4
I was working in my garage when two of these guys started walking down my driveway. They said they lived in the neighborhood next to us and their mom told them to rake leaves or anything to help out if we would make a donation or sign up for the magazines for the troops. They were shady from the start so I told them NO. When one of the guys started giving me lip about not signing up, I reached over and picked up my circular saw and pressed the button while he was talking. He got the point and walked away.
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Post by ljp on Feb 5, 2007 10:58:53 GMT -4
See what I mean? It is way to hard to get rid of them. 'No' does not work. They do not leave your property unless you threaten them! I work in sales so yes I know how hard it is, but I always respect the person I am talking to. After one 'no', I may say, "But..." once and I move on.
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Post by Mike on Feb 5, 2007 10:59:39 GMT -4
To me ljp, no means yes
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Post by ljp on Feb 5, 2007 11:06:02 GMT -4
lol, watch out Mike comments like that could get Mr. Deputy after you, you know he 'might' be one who gets called when someone says no to you.
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Post by Mike on Feb 5, 2007 11:08:53 GMT -4
But on a lighter note.. in my parents neighborhood there is a band of guys who ride around in pickup trucks pretending to be "contractors" and persist to do work for you.... I call it casing the joint...
ljp, as discussed in a prior thread where many posts got deleted. No one gets called, I use lime ;]
PS. THAT IS A JOKE YOU SERIOUS SAMS
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Post by ljp on Feb 5, 2007 11:22:15 GMT -4
Mike you are exactly right that is what those guys in the trucks are doing. One of those guys actually got into a house in Greenwood while the homeowners were leaving for work a while ago. I guess I missed the other posts!
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Post by Frank on Feb 5, 2007 11:22:31 GMT -4
Over the summer we had a lot of people selling door-to-door religion. The last one I told "Great, c'mon out to the backyard. We're getting ready to sacrifice a goat and I need the blood of a virgin". It must have scared the crap out of them because they skipped all the houses on my street.
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Post by Mike on Feb 5, 2007 11:25:20 GMT -4
ljp you don't remember the initiation thread?
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Post by ljp on Feb 5, 2007 11:26:21 GMT -4
That's a shame Frank some of those people might have had something worth hearing. By shame I mean that some do not have anything worth hearing and give a bad impression to folks.
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Post by shadow1 on Feb 5, 2007 11:28:28 GMT -4
The Girlscouts are killing me - how many cookies can we eat? It's hard to tell them no, and I don't think Frank's tactic would work with them
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