2 3 door-to-door alerts: Meat and meet

Two Three door-to-door alerts to share this morning (2 involving what appears to be the same team) – read on:

A resident on Genesee Hill reports:

(Tuesday) afternoon a young man came to my door and asked if I would like some free steaks after…as the stories goes….he had to make a “big delivery” in the neighborhood, and had these “left over”. It seemed very, very suspicious…and as it turn out he returned with a big box with his friend who I can only describe as “the Closer” (think Glenn garry, Glenn ross). The two of them then showed me some excellent cuts of frozen meats….all of which I could purchase. Suddenly my free meat had just disappeared! All that was left was meat that I could buy.

I let them know I was not interested in paying for meat, but if they wanted to leave some for free I would be happy, but no $ for them. This angered “the closer”. He basically politely insulted me and walked off with the meat. Even those I had a less than cordial exchange with his partner, this guy who had originally promised me the free beef told me “he didn’t like to see unhappy customers” or some such…and offered me an even sweeter deal. I asked for a business card which he did not have, and said it was “pacwest foods”..

There is a company online by that name in the meat-delivery business. The writer says he’s going to contact the state Attorney General’s Office; we have a note out to the e-mail address listed for the company by that name to ask about this.

ADDED 10:34 AM: Marianne sent this a few minutes before we actually published this item, and we just saw her note now:

They come to the door claiming that someone in the neighborhood didn’t take their full order and they have extra meat to sell. At first the guy said they were stranded or stuck. Then tried to explain he meant, stuck with meat. Right. This isn’t the first time this has happened. Unfortunately, yesterday was hot and I had all the doors open with fans blowing.

The guy was clearly peering into my house. Fortunately, I have a little yappy dog who was barking like crazy, otherwise I think I would have lost my purse (which could easily be seen from the front door) as I was elsewhere in the house doing chores & I couldn’t see the front or side doors. I came to see what Baxter was barking about and I see a man standing in my front door. When I started asking what he was doing, what he wanted, etc. he started to stutter – I got the stuck with meat story, I told him no & he left.

They were driving an old truck with a camper like thing in the back that had the PacWestFood advertising. They weren’t wearing any type of uniform & didn’t offer to show any ID.

I live on a dead end road. You don’t know my house is back there unless you already know it’s there or unless someone is snooping.

(back to original 10:08 am story) Meantime, this note came in from Briggs on Monday – it’s been mentioned in comment discussions on an earlier thread but we hadn’t yet published the whole note – others had mentioned similar experiences:

So, ironically, I was signing papers to get my alarm system installed with Washington Alarm–awesome company by the way, and local–when a young Filipino looking guy walks up to my open front door (which is in a very enclosed front yard) saying that he is coming around today to “meet new people.” Saying, “Woah, it looks like you’re doing something serious.” When I asked what he wanted, he held up some kind of laminated paper object in his hand. I was sitting on our couch and he was standing on our deck at our front door. I said we weren’t interested, but he insisted that it would just take a minute. Keep in mind all of this was in front of the alarm rep. And keep in mind that this guy walked through my large front yard that is completely fenced in. He commented, “You have such a nice big yard.” Finally he left after I refused several times from the sitting position. I was thoroughly creeped out and signed my contract with extra enthusiasm. Just wanted to let people know. This guy was wearing khaki pants and a yellow polo type shirt. Shaved head. Very clean cut. Maybe late teens or early twenties. I’m at 34th and Henderson (map) and I’m creeped out. Just waned to let people know.

As usual, a reminder that you can read the city rules and regulations regarding door-to-door solicitors here. They include the fact that if you put up a “no soliciting” sign, solicitors can be penalized if they approach you anyway.

39 Replies to "<strike>2</strike> 3 door-to-door alerts: Meat and meet"

  • JenV September 23, 2009 (10:25 am)

    yuck. free meat? who knows where it’s been, how it’s been handled? YUCK.

  • mark September 23, 2009 (10:25 am)

    My neighbors think I am a whack job (I might be) but I now greet all solicitors with a camera and take their picture. A few get offended but as I tell them, its my property, its my rules.

  • Desertdweller September 23, 2009 (10:36 am)

    In response to the 2nd story, I had the same guy come up to my front door on Monday afternoon (I’m at 34th / Barton) and say that he’s “talking to people in the neighborhood” but didn’t really say why (other than some rhetoric about a school assignment. I told him I worked from home and needed to get back to what I was doing and he replied with “oh, well you make your own hours, so you can totally talk with me.” ??? Um yeah. I told him to leave and he went on his way. Door-to-doors have been hitting Westwood really hard of late.

  • carrieann September 23, 2009 (11:03 am)

    We’ve had guys come to our door and try to sell us their meaty trunk wares on more than one occasion. I’ve told them we’re vegetarians (a bit of a fib…) and aren’t interested, but even that didn’t stop them from continuing their spiel. Had to just give a firm “No thank you” and close the door. Sketchy and incredibly unappetizing.

  • JanS September 23, 2009 (11:17 am)

    for folks that are reporting this…there is more than one website to “Pac West Meats…make sure you’re reporting the right one..

    and I would add..see if you can get a license plate #…that should get ’em…

  • burglarbustindad September 23, 2009 (11:31 am)

    I witnessed this “overstock scam” 20 years ago with car speakers. I have solicited door to door for the Little League…so I still open the door. I never accept any “papers” they hand you, this is a sales technique. I normally say no thank you and shut the door, then I watch the solicitor leave. I think the camera is a good idea.

  • coffee September 23, 2009 (12:05 pm)

    I like the camera, but I still swear by my No Solicitor sign….

  • bridge to somewhere September 23, 2009 (12:19 pm)

    i agree with JenV. i can’t imagine a situation where i’d eat meat — even (especially?) completely free — offered by random dudes in an old truck with a camper on back.

  • mark September 23, 2009 (12:33 pm)

    Meat? I can’t imagine buying windows or magazines or siding let alone meat. But someone must or else they would have given it up years ago

  • p September 23, 2009 (12:42 pm)

    RE: two different companies. I did get the right company when I filed with the AG. Pac West Meats is a legit company that does not even have door delivery and specializes in Muslim prepared meats. I just had a long and interesting conversation with a guy at that company. They are WELL aware of PacWestFoods Inc and get multiple calls a week complaining of them. PacWest Meats will be contacting the West Seattle blog about this so there is no confusion.

    PacWest Foods Inc is apparently operated out of a cold storage unit in Tacoma (and no real office even). What a sleazy operation.

    If PacWest Foods Inc came by your house PLEASE use the link to report them to the Attorney General.

  • James Chamber September 23, 2009 (12:47 pm)

    Hello Everyone,

    My name is James Chamber and I’m the GM for PacWest Meats (not Foods) here in Seattle, WA. I just wanted to clarify for the readers that we are in no way shape or form attached to Pac West Foods of Tacoma, WA.

    http://is.gd/3CtgB

    The link above is for their company and assorted reviews attached to them.

    Our company website is http://www.pacwestmeats.com. We’re here in Seattle, with our own USDA plant located in Centralia, WA.

    We do NO Door to Door sales. We only have commercial customers and many are Muslim customers, as we harvest our animals in a safe and humane manner.

    If anyone has any questions, they are welcome to email me at james at pacwestmeats dot com or contact us at 206-686-9009.

  • Mike September 23, 2009 (1:14 pm)

    Sounds like the kid that tried to sell meat to me, he came in our alley way and opened our gate to our back yard to approach our back door. He was greeted with my ugly face pissed off he came to my back door.

    I keep my digital SLR readily handy now so I can snap pics of these jokers. Nice high quality photos for the Police to use.

  • Andrew September 23, 2009 (1:51 pm)

    I also keep my digital camera handy, ready to snap a good, clear picture as soon as the door opens. That’ll teach em.

  • brian September 23, 2009 (1:52 pm)

    I’ve had the meat people come to my door before, and didn’t even let them finish their initial sales pitch… “I’m a vegetarian” (even though I love meat!) seemed to do the trick. His response,”Wow, the last guy I talked to was a vegetarian too!”

    I don’t think they are completely illegitimate, but it still creeps me out that strangers have the nerve to approach my door (which is at the end of a driveway with 2 houses in front of it).

  • SSS September 23, 2009 (4:02 pm)

    I had the guys with the meat approach me last summer when I was weeding our parking strip. I got the same pitch supposely to much meat and have to get rid of it, supposedly free. Come to find out the meat was only free if I bought something else. TOTAL SCAM.

  • Lil\' Wash September 23, 2009 (4:09 pm)

    I was house-sitting last summer and had the same thing happen when I was out in the yard. When I told them “no thank you” they got pushy and backed me up against the house. Luckily the neighbor saw and came over to help. I think Mark with the camera is an nice idea or maybe I will just carry a stun gun.

  • Laconique September 23, 2009 (4:25 pm)

    Door-to-door meat?? What’s next, buying bacon out of someone’s trunk?? :)

  • JenV September 23, 2009 (4:38 pm)

    just tell them you only eat the flesh of humans…then tell him he looks nice and juicy.

  • JenV September 23, 2009 (4:56 pm)

    ROFL @ Laconique. You forgot the “in a dark parking lot” part of that equation.

  • miws September 23, 2009 (5:09 pm)

    Mr. Chamber, good luck to you in dealing with this situation.

    .

    It’s bad enough for residents having to deal with this company of a questionable character, and their pushy and outright rude and intimidating sales tactics. But to bring potential harm to a company of a similar name, whether that similarity is intentional, or coincidental on the part of the shady company is terrible. Especially when the innocent company is a small, local one, that may not have the resources a large company would to deal with any negativity the confusion might cause.

    .

    If the AG’s office investigates, and indeed finds wrongdoing on the part of the other company, hopefully they’ll take prompt action in penalizing them, and in turn relieving your company and it’s employees of the frustration this confusion has caused.

    .

    Mike

  • marty September 23, 2009 (5:12 pm)

    I only take “free beef” from Les Schwab…

  • La September 23, 2009 (8:20 pm)

    I know this is serious business, but the meat guys stories gave me a laugh. You see, some friends near Bitter Lake got a visit from the “leftover meat” truck a few years back and not only did they buy some ground beef, THEY ATE IT. Keep in mind these were young guys who thought they scored a good deal, only to find out – whharrgarrbl!!! – they’d made a really BAD one. They’re older and wiser now…I hope.

  • Jose September 23, 2009 (9:47 pm)

    Forget the meat; this is an efficient way to case hard-to-access properties, now that it seems these scumbags have picked most of the low-hanging fruit, like houses with direct access from a street.
    .
    Take pictures; follow them out and take pics of the license plate and the vehicle if there are people around. Above all, report it to the cops…assuming you can manage to convince our barely-competent 911 Operators to actually dispatch a unit when asked.

  • Leroniusmonkfish September 23, 2009 (10:07 pm)

    Why is the formatting for this page/thread so screwed up in iPhone view? Unlike other posts this one allows you to scroll across to the right for a few blank pages? Not really a big deal but when you try and scroll down you can wander off into a void…

  • WSB September 23, 2009 (10:08 pm)

    I see what happened – the guy from not-the-solicitors PacWest put in a ridiculously long URL. I will tinyurlize it and that’ll fix it.

  • furor scribendi September 23, 2009 (10:17 pm)

    OMG I had a guy at my door yesterday saying he wanted to meet 1000 people to get a better handle on public speaking… I HAVE a sign on my door that says “no solisitor” on my door & when I pointed to it he said “I’m not a prositute” that’s when I shut the door on his face (white, 5’10” & sandy colored hair).

  • p September 24, 2009 (9:25 am)

    My neighbor tells me that many door to door salesmen key off the “No Solicitor” sign and hit them first. Apparently there is some theory behind the psychology of those people who put up such signs, in that they are easier to sell to. But that is just sleazy salesmen logic, so don’t take it from me! Anyway, the neighbor had a some interesting tales to tell about working with a seasoned professional Seattle Times paper salesmen back in the day, lol.

  • Lola September 24, 2009 (10:23 am)

    OMG love the comment by furor scribendi when they showed the guy the no solisitor sign. “I’m not a prostitute. These door to door people are really something. I have been telling all my neighbors about the two who were in our neighborhood last week. Also am vigilant about making sure my doors and windows are locked, and keeping an eye out for my neighbors. I love the Camera Idea. I have taken pictures of suspious cars and trucks that are left for days around our place if I do not reconize them. I also go to the web-site for abandoned vehicles and type them in.

  • KBear September 24, 2009 (12:03 pm)

    I wonder if posting a sign, “All Solicitors Will Be Photographed”, would be enough to deter some of them. Perhaps just the threat of a camera would do it.

  • Stephen September 24, 2009 (1:48 pm)

    This past summer we had the “same” truck with two guys offer us meat, but it wasn’t free. Curious how they stopped in front of our house because we were outside doing yard work, but weren’t going door-to-door. Anyway, they claimed that they had made their commercial deliveries for the day and were trying to unload excess stock (why can’t this happen with a Stella Artois truck?).

    In the end, I refused, but let them show me their wares (since I have yet to learn to not let others waste my time), as well as the “list” prices for the beef. I did some calcs in my head and buying flash frozen beef from them would be more expensive than a local market, and I didn’t need a case of 6 steaks anyhow.

    Of course they didn’t have business cards, but one of the guys ripped off a portion of their order form which had their address, which I promptly recycled.

    @KBear: How about just a sign that says “smile, you’re on camera.”

  • MaxB September 24, 2009 (3:50 pm)

    It seems that these guys changed their name to “Buckeye Meat Co” and have started soliciting farther north. As of right now they are parked on 35th between Manning and Hinds. I snapped pics of their truck, have their license plate, etc. (Wish I could figure out how to attach pics to this comment…)

    Their little white truck says, on the side:

    “BUCKEYE MEAT CO.
    STEAKS CHICKEN SEAFOOD PORK
    253-841-4701
    PUYALLUP, WA”

    Their little Nissan had the following license plate #:
    B47601B

    My neighbor across the street confirmed that he was solicited in the same fashion as described in this thread, and told me my next door neighbor purchased 22 pounds of beef for $140.

    Should I be calling the police?

  • Liza September 24, 2009 (5:42 pm)

    Someone just came to our home (with TWO “No Solicitors” signs up ) selling meat. Rather angry acting woman in her 40’s – 50’s. My husband turned her away after she didn’t know the name of the “neighbor who had just bought” from her. SHE CAME BACK a few minutes later, wanting to tell us she didn’t appreciate being treated like that. I had my camera in hand and took her picture. which she didn’t appreciate either. I live near Andover on 36th.

  • p September 24, 2009 (9:29 pm)

    If you get these people at your house:

    1. Report it to the WA State Attny General (see link in the story we are all commenting on here) if they are using “bait and switch” tactics, or otherwise being unethical.

    2. Demand to see their solicitors license for the city you are in. If they fail to produce it, get their license and call the police (via an non-emergency line). It is against the law (in Seattle at least) to come door to door without the license.

    These two ways are the only ones I know you can get the government involved in busting butt.

    You can also contact the Better Business Bureau and report them there. Also warn your neighbors (at least the ones you care about ;) )

  • (required) September 24, 2009 (9:55 pm)

    Seriously –the AG? Come on. The attorney general is overworked, understaffed, and cutting left and right. Calling the AG office to complain about someone selling meat is as high on their priority list as helping the Cubs win the World Series — in fact, they may even argue that, like with the Cubs, there’s nothing they can do about it.
    *
    Take pictures. Get a gun. Don’t be a victim. Eat or be eaten. Period. But don’t break the law.
    *
    “Call the AG.” Yeah, right.

  • bridge to somewhere September 25, 2009 (7:52 am)

    well, (required), i have faith that the AG’s office has a process for prioritizing complaints and what it’ll investigate. their job is to deal with consumer complaints, and if it seems one company in particular is generating a lot of complaints, they may decide it’s in their best interest to send a brief form letter to the company and that brief form letter may indeed do the trick. besides, i know where i work we want ALL job opportunities to come in, even those we can’t support, so that we can better communicate what our ideal staffing numbers should be. so i say call the AG and trust that the smart people there will know what to do with the request . . .

  • p September 25, 2009 (9:28 am)

    “Get a gun”. HAHHAHAHAHAA. yes. this is the answer to all the worlds problems. good luck with that. more likely you’ll shoot yourself in the foot with it.

  • G September 25, 2009 (11:24 am)

    I was taken for a fool last summer by a meat truck. I was out doing yard work. He had a story about getting to “knock off” early and go to a Mariners game with his co-workers, BUT, he had to sell out his freezer full of meat. I could buy it all for $995 or something outrageous…he could even throw in his chest freezer if I needed one to store it. They were out of Oregon, although I have forgotten the name. I bought a couple boxes from him and ended up throwing it all out. The steaks disintegrated when I thawed them…smelled ok, but creeped me out when they fell apart. The chicken also had a weird texture. Don’t know why I fell for it. Lesson learned.

  • mandy September 25, 2009 (4:43 pm)

    I had one stop by my house today. A few years ago in Cottage Grove OR, they stopped by a friend’s house. The knocked & no one answered, so they broke in. My friend was trying to sleep & ignored the knocking. He ended up approaching them in the living room as they were trying to steal his electronics & put them in their little camper thing.

    I think next time I’ll answer the door w/ a shotgun.

  • lisa October 14, 2009 (4:38 pm)

    I had these same meat sale people come to my door over the summer. when I got to the door there was a girl there who asked ” Do you like meat”? , I replied yes then she asked” what kind”.having a dumb moment all kinds I replied so then surprisingly there is a older man walking up to my door with 2 big boxes of meat. and drops them at my door step and then asks if he can come inside well before I had the chance to say anything he is coming inside my house and puts these big boxes of meat on my dining table. and starts his sales pitch I told him about 5 times I cant afford it right now because the amount they wanted was over 300.00 for meat I can get way cheaper at a grocery store.

    he was very pushy and did not want to leave and proceeds to ask well what can you afford?. once again I say I cannot afford it. and I dont think I could even store all that meat in my fridge so then the girl gos and opens my fridge to see if she can fit it all in. meanwhile im telling them I cant afford it. finally they left. and that evening I go and pick up a no soliciting ,no trespassing sign and I nailed it right in front of the pathway to our door, well its been mostly helpful I have only had 2 dumb people come to my door claiming they dident see the sign. the most recent one was a young black girl who wanted to get violent with me when I suggested she see the sign and leave. then about a hour later I stepped outside to make sure she dident cause any damage to my house or car and I discover she tore my no trespassing no soliciting sign down!. too late now to call the police.I hate door to door sales people now.
    I used to stand there listening to the sales pitches but the meat salesman taught me a lesson you cant be nice to door to door solicitors!. dont even listen to their pitch. they are just there to waste your time and money.

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