|
|
OFT Helps Elderly Deal With Doorstep Seller Tricks
By Tony Levene, The Guardian
July 14, 2004
The Office of Fair Trading is launching a campaign to help consumers fend off doorstep sellers, aimed primarily at people such as the elderly.
Older people are especially targeted by commission-chasing vendors, selling high price items such as home improvements, orthopedic beds, mobility scooters and hearing aids.
Backed by groups such as Help the Aged, Age Concern and the Womens' Institute, which are distributing "door hangers" with tips, the OFT focuses on helping householders learn the psychological tricks sellers use and how to overcome them. Tricks include:
· Offering the "once in a lifetime never repeatable deal;"
· Drawing potential customers into conversations so they lower their guard;
· Taking control - the seller decides where the potential buyers sit and dictates the length of the sales pitch.
"We want to make consumers aware of high-pressure tactics. The home is a unique setting for business transactions as sellers have a captive audience. This concentrates on people remaining in control," said OFT's executive director Penny Boys.
The campaign follows the OFT's focus in May on the lack of consumer protection for those who buy in their own homes - and the high prices they often pay.
"We then called for new legislation," Ms Boys said. "Until that extra protection happens, we decided consumers could best help themselves by being equipped with the skills needed to identify psychological sales tactics."
Film actor Nanette Newman will spearhead the campaign. "Recently, an elderly acquaintance was bamboozled into expensive and unnecessary home improvements," Ms Newman said. "She needed the confidence to say 'no' but that's hard to do because sales reps are trained, like actors, to give a performance."
Former double glazing salesman Jay Shah, who used to earn 18% of all sales, is helping the OFT.
He confirmed there is a need for acting ability.
"There are no born salesmen," he said. "You are taught the tactics. I deserved an Oscar for some of my performances.
"You sell yourself and not product so the ability to pay and the price become unimportant. I would even turn off the TV to gain control. But if I could not control the household within 40 minutes, I would leave."
|
|
