Door-to-Door Sales

AARP 

If you are home during the day, you are more likely to encounter door-to-door salespersons. While some door-to-door salespersons are legitimate, it is important to be wary and protect yourself from being ripped off.

The salesperson may be pitching home improvements, funeral service contracts, living trusts, books, magazines, or kitchen equipment. Be wary. You can choose stores you will patronize and can walk out if you want to, but you have little choice about the type of salesperson who comes to your door.

Door-to-door con artists are charming and friendly. Their smiles are inviting. They are successful because they appear so trusting.

What you should know
Door-to-door Con Artists Often:

Greet you by name to establish friendliness. (They may have gotten your name off your mail or from a city directory.)

Use ruses to get into your home by saying they are looking for an address in the neighborhood, or that they are from a utility company and need to test your water or electricity.

Approach you while you are outside your home. (You can't close the door on them.)

Demand cash. If they will take a check, it will probably only be when banks are open so they can cash it immediately.

Play on your emotions or sympathy, suggesting that you are letting down your family if you don't buy their product, or that the salesperson's own family will go hungry if you don't buy.

Say they are working in your neighborhood but can't give you names of past customers.  

Protect Yourself

Don't buy on impulse. Set your own terms.

Avoid high pressure tactics. Don't allow anyone you don't know into your home. It is OK to tell someone they cannot come in.

Ask to see the person's credentials. Many communities require door-to-door salespersons to have a permit. Verify the permit using the phone number you look up yourself for your local business permit office. (Look under City Government in the blue pages.) The con artist may give you a fake phone number answered by a confederate.

Investigate Both the Seller and the Offer

Tell the salesperson you will get back in touch with him AFTER you have had a chance to read all the material he has given you.

Check out the information and compare with store prices.

Contact the Better Business Bureau or consumer affairs office to check out the company.

Be sure you know what the quoted price includes. Will there be extra charges for shipping or installation?

About That Contract

Be certain you understand all of the terms of the contract. Make sure the contract is complete.

Every promise the salesperson makes must be in writing or you can't hold them to it.

Never sign a contract with blank spaces.

Get all terms of the sale in writing, including the total price, warranties, return policy, financing, and all conditions of sale.

Be sure you have an address (not a post office box number) so you can get in touch with the company.

Get a contract or receipt that is signed and dated.

How to Get Out of the Deal

If you change your mind, you can get out of the contract and receive a full refund. The salesperson must tell you that you can cancel the deal within three business days. This is called the cooling-off period. Along with your contract or receipt, you should be given two copies of a cancellation form that you only need to sign, date and mail.

The Federal Trade Commission's Cooling Off Rule applies to purchases of $25 or more. Your right to cancel for a full refund extends until midnight of the third business day after the sale.

This rule applies only to sales made in person at your home or at temporary facilities such as hotel rooms, convention centers, fairgrounds and restaurants. It applies even if you invite the salesperson to come to your home.

The Cooling Off Rule does not apply to:

car sales, even at temporary locations, if the seller has a permanent place of business

purchases you make in a store

orders made entirely by mail or over the phone

purchases you need to meet an emergency

arts and crafts sold at fairs, schools or civic centers

To cancel:

Sign and date one copy of the "Notice of Cancellation" form.

Mail it to the address given on the form.

Make sure the envelope is post-marked before midnight of the third business day after the sale. (Saturday is a business day.)

Send the form by certified mail so you have proof of mailing and receipt (or hand deliver the form if the business is close by).

Keep the other copy of the cancellation form for your records along with your contract or receipt.

You don't have to have any reason for canceling.

If you didn't get a cancellation form, write a letter. Because the seller broke the law by not giving you a cancellation form, you have extra time to cancel. You still must cancel in writing. The sooner you do this the better.

After You Cancel

After you cancel, the seller has ten days to refund your money and return any note you may have signed about financing the sale.

Sellers must tell you within ten days whether they will pick up the goods they have already provided or let you keep them. They cannot require you to mail or ship the product back.

If You Have a Problem

Contact the Federal Trade Commission,

by toll-free phone at 1-877-FTC-HELP, or TDD at 1-202-326-2502

by mail at FTC
CRC-240
Washington, DC 20580

by electronic form at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/complaint.htm

Call your local consumer protection office. Some state laws give you more protection than the FTC Cooling Off Rule, and some consumer offices can help you resolve your complaint.

Contact the Better Business Bureau so they know of your complaints about the company. You can find your local office at the BBB website.

Notify the credit card company that you want to dispute the charge, if you used a credit card to pay for your purchase. Under the federal Fair Credit Billing Act, the credit card company must acknowledge and investigate your dispute.

Web Resources

Federal Trade Commission

FTC has excellent consumer information on many topics, including how to protect yourself from fraudulent door-to-door salespersons.

National Consumer Law Center

The center discusses the ways consumers can get financially ripped off by fraudulent door-to-door sales of products like satellite dishes and water conditioners.