I think I just did the wrong thing.

I live in an incorporated village and you're not supposed to solicit in our neighborhood. Someone just knocked on my door, telling me he was some college student earning "points" for his communications class by going around and "meeting" people. He had some identification card that had something to do with a $15K bond for college or whatever. Then he cuts to the chase that he's trying to earn this $15K bond for school by selling magazines and books. I didn't buy it and told him I wasn't interested and that I worked full time to put myself through college and that I didn't agree with going door to door for money. So I called town security to come check him out and see if he's for real or what not. But now I feel bad because what if he was legit? My gut instinct was that he was in no way legit. Ugg. I feel bad now, though.

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I wouldn't feel bad. You can never be too careful nowadays....

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No you did the RIGHT thing. TOO BAD, don't worry about him.

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I mean, it's not that I think he's dangerous or anything, but we have quite a few older people in the neighborhood and I'd hate for them to get scammed out of money. I figured that the village security will check him out and if he's legit, fine, if not, then at least someone contacted them about it. I mean, besides the fact that there's not supposed to be any soliciting and all.

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You did the right thing; if he's legit it's no harm no foul.

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You did the right thing. A similar thing happened to my friend recently in NJ - she bought the magazines though and it ended up being a scam (she told her DH what had happened and he made her call the cops so she knew right away).

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I would have done the same thing. I live in Northern NJ and this has been happening all over where I live. There are articles in the papers all the time about this "scam" 2 weeks ago, some girls came to our neighborhood in the pouring rain to sell magazines and the cops came and picked them up.

Do not feel bad !

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He may or may not have been legit, but you didn't buy anything, you weren't in danger, I'd never go out of my way to call and report something like this, I'm sorry.

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Never feel bad for going with your gut. You were trying to protect yourself, your family and your neighbors. If he is legit, the worse that can happen is that he can go back and tell the professor (or whomever) that going door to door is like the worst possible way to try to earn points/dollars.

ETA: You'd feel a lot worse if that was your gut feeling, you DIDN'T call, and someone got harmed.

Message edited 8/31/2009 1:57:35 PM.

Re: I think I just did the wrong thing.

No soliciting is no soliciting--you didn't do anything wrong by reporting someone breaking a village rule.

My mom calls the town on people who water on the wrong days, so I'm sure you aren't the first person to all the village police abut something like this.

Re: I think I just did the wrong thing.

most of those programs are a scam, they want your personal info.....

or they scam the poor kid, and only pay him pennies on the dollar of sales...

either way you did the right thing in calling and i would have called too if i lived in an area with rules like that and dont let others make you feel bad for doing what your gut told you to do.....

worse case senario, and he was legit, he will be told to leave and he can find another area to go door to door where its not illegal to do so

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I got scammed once by someone claiming to sell magazines. You really can't trust anyone. I would have done the same thing.

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We've had them come by too. I think if they were legit they would say I'm selling magazines instead of the points thing.

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We had a solicitor like this a couple of months ago - same thing, but an unemployed father looking for points to get credit towards a job. In fact, I think someone posted on here right before that about that fact that someone in their neighborhood saw the solicitor (who was black) and called the cops. I don't see that they were causing any harm regardless of the town rules. Personally, I would never report something like this.

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Wow, I should do that for my tuition. It never dawned on me to ask others to put ME through college. Instead, I use these things called STUDENT LOANS. I guess he never heard of them but if you see him again you should tell him that he can get his 15 grand that way! It works wonders.

You definitely did the right thing - most of the time, if it seems like a scam then it is a scam.

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Always go with your gut! If you think something is "off" you're probably right.

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You Def did the right thing! Ive had this young girl stop by several times, I nicely and politely tell her I cant talk, I have children in the house, and she proceeds to ask me if I can step outside and talk to her on the porch
what part didnt she understand ???
at that point I said it again and closed the door.
another time, similar story (also female) I answered from the window so she'd stop knocking (and my kids were in the house yelling "mommy-someone's at the door, who is it mommy ?????" so I HAD to respond somehow,. Im talking to her from my bay window and she's trying her shpeel on me from 15 feet away, I can barely hear her, and Im thinking is this girl kidding me ?????

one of my aunts in queens, many moons ago. her house was robbed as she was giving directions to someone right in her front door (they followed her as she was putting in the key, to ask for directions to something. and person #2 got into her bedroom and stole tons of jewelry...

I have zero tolerance for this stuff.
in this day and age, there has to be a better way to raise a few bucks. door to door isnt for me. ESP if youre ignoring me as I speak to you, how on earth do you expect me to listen to you ?? (as I have children to supervise in the house)

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Well, the more I thought about it, the more I feel confident in what I did. My girlfriend lives a few blocks away and when I told her, she said her neighbor got scammed about three months ago with the same exact spiel, and I feel totally confident in what I did now.

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Good for you. The behavior you described sounds shady and aggressive. My gut would have set off alarms too.

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Good for you! They do this in our neighborhood too. My DH, the town sleuth, has followed them around and sees older men in vans from NYC who drop them off. There's just something sketchy to me about going door to door for money. Especially in this day and age when there's so many other ways to ask for real and true donations.

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You did the right thing! I CANNOT STAND people soliciting door to door. That meeting people for points is a a scam.

I have no issues with ignoring people that ring my doorbell when I know they are selling something. I don't care if they know I am home...I don't answer the door.

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Don't feel bad. You have a child. You did what you felt was right and safe for your family. There are too many horror stories and IMO, you can never be too careful!

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