[Judy2]

or am I just being paranoid? Yesterday the doorbell rang and of course my little dog went bananas yap, yap, yapping while staying just out of my reach from the powerchair. The inside door was open but the glass storm door was locked. There was a guy with my local phone company shirt on (Frontier), holding a clipboard. Being I couldn't get hold of my dog, I just talked "loud" asking what he wanted. He was trying to sell new phone plans to people but it just so happened I'd signed up for a new one a few days before -- by phone. I didn't see any vehicle parked anywhere outside plus he didn't offer any ID. Now I'm a pretty trusting person, but afterwards I started thinking that it seemed kind of strange to have a person from the phone company selling door-to-door...oh yeah, it was around 5:30 pm. Just maybe my little dog, Tasha, did a good thing by making it impossible to let him in. In hindsight, it seems kind of fishy to me and I would certainly make a good target being in a "chair", living alone.

What do you guys think? Maybe I should call the phone company and check him out? This could have been a bad situation. Thanks for your thoughts!!

[Dejibo]

I would dinfinatly call the phone company! There is a scam going around here like that. Someone distracts the owner at one door, while someone else goes in another door, and robs them while the owner is busy. They do it for driveway repairs, or pretending there is an electrical issue in the home, and need to have access to the basement, and such.

Your right, that is just weird. Call the company.

[kicker]

Too weird. Being in a chair and vulnerable, I never let anyone in, guys selling fish out of cars, religious groups. I once talked to a cop who wanted to serve me papers to be a witness in court for something I did not see (my mailbox got hit by a car) and he kinda respected me for not opening door. Bad guys lie about being cops, made him leave paper (which I did not have to do as it turned out - I play the MS card as needed).
Cable guy came to pick up box when we changed. I had a neighbor over. Later she ewas gone, he came back for his pen (Just a Bic, nothing special) He set off my ick alarm, I stayed at door, almost on porch and put msnotty voice on, "I don't know where it is. Look on bookcase. He picked it up, left, but it was awkward there. I don't let anyone in, if I have a SCHEDULED I bring my dog in. He is big and wolf looking, they don't know he's a big baby. He comes over, puts his head on my knee and looks great as he looks at them carefully. I feel very vulnerable now and keep my doors locked.

[AfterMyNap]

Good call, Judy. I agree with Dej, absolutely call the phone company to verify and do any necessary police investigation.

[Kitt]

Sounds fishy. Call the phone company and it's a good thing that you did not let him in.

[tkrik]

Judy! OMGosh! First of all, I am glad that nothing happened to you. Second of all I agree with the others. Call the phone company as well as the police to make a report. While calling the police may seem ridiculous, you just never know.

Story time as this really happened to me and is quite scary. A few years ago I was out on my patio early in the a.m. watering my plants. A guy comes over wanting to use my phone. He said he was one of my neighbors (apartment complex) and that his car wouldn't start and was locked out of his house. I went inside got my cell phone and gave it to him to use. There was something odd about him and the situation but I just blew it off.

I got to work that morning and during my break I was reading the paper. There was an article in the paper about a rapist that they were looking for and they included sketches. The sketch looked like the guy that was at my patio that morning! HOLY SHEEP!

When I got home I called the police and made a report. As I described the man, what he was wearing and oddity of it all, the look on the officers faces and how they looked at each other I knew it was that guy. They took my cell phone and wrote down the number he called. He was caught shortly after that.

I was fortunate as he probably thought I was younger than I am and realized that I just didn't fit his "type." Phew!

Moral of the story - make that report. You just never know who they are "looking" for.

[braingonebad]

Originally Posted by Dejibo

I would dinfinatly call the phone company! There is a scam going around here like that. Someone distracts the owner at one door, while someone else goes in another door, and robs them while the owner is busy. They do it for driveway repairs, or pretending there is an electrical issue in the home, and need to have access to the basement, and such.

Your right, that is just weird. Call the company.

Nobody gets in my yard - fully fenced - without the dogs going off and alerting us. Only one gate which is close to the front door, so we can see if they were trying to pull something like that at my house.

Thanks for the tip about that scam though, had not heard. There had been the scammer roofers going around a few years back though. A guy came to my house and kind of laughed at my dogs - Are those your attack dogs? I laughed - No, but you can hear the attack parrot in the other room, right? Funny, that did seem to freak him some.

[TwoKidsTwoCats]

Judy, you absolutely did the right thing. I refuse to open the door when I am home alone and not expecting anyone.

I made a little sign that says "no door to door sales or soliciting...please" and taped on the sidelight window near my doorbell. Most people see it and leave. I told the neighbors with kids why I did this... that they are welcome to come sell their school stuff. Not far down the road from me, a 75 year old lady was raped a couple of years ago... by someone who rang her doorbell.

[Aarcyn]

I do not answer the door if I do not know who it is.

But FedEx and UPS are my ding-dong-ditchers. We get packages just about every day and those guys ring the door bell and walk away. By the time I get to the door, there is no one there and the package is not within the little peephole area.

I am glad you did not open the door.

[Jomar]

Did you find out if he was legit phone company employee?

I would just have to know if he was or not...

If he isn't a legit employee, then a call to the police and/ or news station to get the word out that an impostor is going around.

Ask neighbors if he paid a visit to them.