Door-to-door alert: Sightings from Admiral, North Delridge

Neighbors are sharing these sightings, just in case. Might be perfectly innocent. If you’re interested, read on for two reports from Admiral and one from North Delridge:

From Meredith in Admiral:

A solicitor has been going around our neighborhood for nearly a week now. He says his name is Chris Matthews and he’s selling magazines to earn points courtesy of Midwest Clearing. He’s not carrying a solicitor’s license. Neighborhood is aware of him. He was trying to sell to a neighbor we don’t yet have on our alert list today when I was walking on my way to run errands with Screemie. I waved to the neighbor, caught ‘Chris” attention, and asked if he was back with his license. Things went poorly from there. I got myself called a ‘bitch’ and the guy took off south on 39th across Admiral. Police were called.

Description: African American male, approx. 22-24 years old, 5’10ish, slender build. Members Only style jacket and striped tie. Pushy sales tactics.

Also, Iowa Meats is going through our neighborhood trying to sell surplus steaks from their truck. They came to our house twice in one day, kept telling us to check their website. Discount Organic Meat! Must sell or pay whole costs themselves.

Description: Two Caucasian men, one in early twenties with dyed black hair and brown eyes, slenderish; the other stocky, light complexion, missing front tooth.

In North Delridge, M got this visit just as the holiday weekend was getting under way:

Today a fellow came to my door, just as I was pouring hot jam into jars, offering some type of cleaning product or to do cleaning — I didn’t let him get too far with his spiel. He mentioned my neighbor’s name and I believe he called me by my name. I didn’t think too much more about it and got back to my project. Now late this afternoon, I heard our dog bark and noticed him at the door of our elderly neighbor. Yes, she had bought some cleaning product from him.

He was with another fellow, who drove a red older model Chevy Suburban with Nevada plates 668-UCZ. The fellow at the door had a couple towels over his shoulder and had tattoos, I think on arms and neck, Caucasian, 40ish.

Door-to-door selling is perfectly legal, if the solicitors follow city rules (and here they are – including the requirement that they have and display a license). But police have confirmed that it’s been used as a cover for casing, so they have advised wariness, and that’s why some neighbors choose to share the sightings here.

20 Replies to "Door-to-door alert: Sightings from Admiral, North Delridge"

  • JanS September 3, 2008 (1:33 am)

    I live in a secure bldg., 8 apartments,on 42nd SW between SW Admiral Way and SW Lander St. He rang all of our doorbells this afternoon about 4:30pm. Another tenant answered (we can hear each other on the intercom), and all I got was his name, I didn’t listen to the rest of their conversation since I was with a client. Will definitely keep my eyes open…

  • JanS September 3, 2008 (1:35 am)

    Meredith…I just read the description of the meat salesmen..ewwwww…..

  • MAS September 3, 2008 (9:19 am)

    There’s really no such thing these days as “innocent” door to door sales. No matter what the pitch or the cause, you’re either a) giving out a washable check or b) pulling out your cash in front of someone you don’t know.

    I’ve said it before here, but I’ll repeat — offer to take their picture before considering a transaction. They are on your property at that point, so giving them a choice in the matter is really just a courtesy. If you don’t want to expose a valuable camera to potential snatching, keep a disposable by the door. Personally, I just let them know they were photographed when they walked in the gate. You’d be surprised at the reactions.

  • DonS September 3, 2008 (9:28 am)

    The magazine-seller also rang our doorbell. We answered with our ultra-dehumanizing intercom/camera system, and replied to his spiel with a curt, polite “no thanks.” He went on his way. I only hope he wasn’t poking around in mailboxes, too…

  • Irukandji September 3, 2008 (9:49 am)

    MAS, great idea. We’re looking into a motion-sensitive camera. We’ve had ENOUGH of solicitors and neighborhood casings.

    And regarding the meat, I’m with you JanS. The guys came by here offering organic beef for $2.39 a pound. NOT a good sign, eh?

  • deb September 3, 2008 (10:04 am)

    (Long post, sorry)

    I had a really weird exchange with a door-to-door solicitor yesterday. I looked on WSB to see if anyone else had reported also being visited by this same person, but I didn’t see anything. I thought about sending an email to WSB, but by that point I had second-guessed myself into thinking I was overreacting. Maybe I was wrong.

    When I heard the knock on my door, I did what I always do: I looked out my tiny front window, saw a guy that I didn’t recognize standing on my front stairs (about 6-7 feet away from my front door), and asked (without opening the door), “May I help you?” Because the guy was standing so far away from the door, I couldn’t make out what he was saying. So… and this is where I turned stupid… I opened the door so I could hear what he was saying. This guy was perfectly polite (if a little pushy), but I was SO MAD AT MYSELF for opening the door. What if he hadn’t been polite and benign?

    Anyway, this kid (nicely dressed in a shirt and tie (and sporting a glittery Superman belt buckle!) black, early 20s maybe? I’m really bad at guessing ages) said he was with ” Enterprises” and that he was trying to earn points that would earn him money so he could go back to school. I asked him what he was selling (at this point, my indoor-only cats were trying to make a break for it, and I just wanted to end the conversation), and he said, “Why do I have to be selling something?” Again, he wasn’t necessarily threatening; he just seemed a little defensive. I asked, “Oh, so you’re not selling something? Then how do you earn your points?” Then he said, “By offering you household cleaning products.” Ahhhhhh… At this point, I said, “We don’t buy anything from door-to-door solicitors. Good luck to you. Bye.” But he tried to keep the conversation going. He took great offense that I had used the word “solicitor,” as he apparently thought it meant something illicit. I told him that soliciting just means trying to get people to give you something (like money for cleaning products), to which he replied, “Yeah, but it’s not soliciting if you have a permit.” Uhhhh… I had no idea how to respond to that, so I just wished him luck again, said goodbye, and closed the door.

    So, no harm, no foul. But I am still ticked off at myself for opening the door when I was home alone. What was I thinking?!? How do the rest of you WSBers handle answering (or not answering) the door when you’re home alone?

  • GenHillOne September 3, 2008 (10:09 am)

    A mysterious truck full of meat…right up there with the guys (California plates) that were pulling up to cars stopped at a light by Southcenter this weekend – asking us if we wanted a home theater system. How stupid do these folks think we are?? Yeah, please, sign me up right now; and the added bonus of food poisoning is priceless!

  • MAS September 3, 2008 (10:35 am)

    In case anyone is interested, here’s a link to the kind of gear we’re talking about:

    http://www.costco.com/Browse/Productgroup.aspx?Prodid=11286851&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC|50126|50130&N=4014758&Mo=150&No=10&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=50130&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&Sp=C

    Conveniently available at Costco… I don’t have any association with Costco (aside from being a member) or this hardware. Just providing it as an example.

  • deb September 3, 2008 (11:19 am)

    Discount meat sold door-to-door from the back of a truck: If I weren’t already a vegetarian, I would be now.

  • old timer September 3, 2008 (11:38 am)

    @ deb
    “How do the rest of you WSBers handle answering (or not answering) the door when you’re home alone?”

    It’s YOUR home, it’s YOUR door.
    If you don’t want to answer the knock, DON”T ANSWER IT.
    You owe random door knockers absolutely nothing.

  • islewrite September 3, 2008 (11:56 am)

    What to do when home alone:

    1. Make contact in some way, just to let them know someone is home. Yell thru the door or from an upper level window. If you are napping or just ignore, AND if they are up to no good, be prepared for them to case the house, walk around, enter the backyard. (It happened to me.) If that happens, get on that phone and dial 911

    2. One of your errands for today is to purchase and prominently install a “no solicitors” sign. They won’t be able to use selling as an excuse.

  • JH September 3, 2008 (12:54 pm)

    And I was going to eat meat for dinner tonight…now I’ve lost my appetite!

  • Lauren September 3, 2008 (2:14 pm)

    The Midwest Clearing guy was in our neighborhood (Gatewood) Tuesday the 2nd in the early evening. He’s very persistent! Luckily our two dogs went nuts, and they sound impressive. Looks like it’s time for a No Soliciting sign.

  • wsgeek September 3, 2008 (2:26 pm)

    I had an incident with a similar person on Friday night at 8:10 pm. All lights in the house were off and only the TV was on. The porch light was off and my front door was opened (luckily the storm door was locked). A young man, black, 20s, shirt and tie, came to door – mind you, everything was dark. He saw me through the door and started to talk to me. I told him I wasn’t interested and he said “What do you mean you’re not interested? You haven’t even heard what I have to say.” Then he mentioned something about “on the job training”. I explained that it was 8:00 at night and I wasn’t expecting any visitors. I then got off the couch and went to close the door. I immediately closed all windows as well. As I watched him leave, he didn’t seem to be going “door-to-door” and I was a little suspicious that maybe he saw an opened door and would have tried to come in if he hadn’t seen me sitting there.

  • dot September 3, 2008 (2:53 pm)

    I have a security screen door and it blows there minds when I can talk and see them and they can’t see me. They say but I can’t see you, that is the point. They aren’t to happy. :)00000000

  • toomanyratsinacageakaWS September 3, 2008 (3:32 pm)

    My no solicitors sign has helped but I still get people knocking occasionally.

    As previously mentioned..
    It’s a good tip to let them know someone is home or else you could get broken into right then and there or have your house cased.

    Those people selling subscriptions are so annoying! I can remember getting cornered 20 years ago. They are still at it.

  • Irukandji September 3, 2008 (3:37 pm)

    This shirt and tie guy sounds EXACTLY like the same guy that came by our neighborhood over four days last week, but what he’s ‘selling’ changes each time or changes per neighborhood.

    Earning points, selling magazines, sign up here, cleaning products, in training, can’t tell him NO without him making it YOUR problem. Bad news.

  • toomanyratsinacageakaWS September 3, 2008 (3:51 pm)

    Jerk alert.

  • JS September 4, 2008 (1:13 pm)

    Hi all,
    If you are home alone and someone knocks on your door and you are not expecting anyone..just don’t answer the door. I never do. I’ll never buy anything from door-to-door solicitors, so why irritate myself with opening the door and possibly endangering myself. They’ll go away after a minute or so.

  • Steve January 1, 2009 (6:35 pm)

    A black guy matching your description was here at my front door last night in new year eve.
    I live in Irvine, California and I was stupid enough to open my door and eventually convinced by his story and subscribed one of his magazine with my personal check.
    Maybe I should call my back and cancel my check.
    Ha anyone reported that his/her check was modified
    and cashed?

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