Erin e-mailed to share word of “a very rude door to door meat seller” tonight at her house on Puget Ridge, saying, “After the incident, I searched (WSB) and found this thread referencing the same company. They may be legit, but they were beyond rude.” Read on for her report:
A gentleman approached my house tonight, 12/28/09 at approx. 6:15 p.m. He started saying that he was the local delivery for meat. (Having previously heard about similar scams) I interrupted him and said “No thank you”. Then I asked for his badge. He patted his pockets before saying “oh, I don’t have one”. I told him to leave now. I closed and locked my door, but went outside five minutes later when my husband pulled up. The man was standing at a truck labeled “Buckeye Meat Company” and he had a coworker who was speaking with my neighbor at her door. I stood by my husband’s vehicle (informing him of what happened) and watched the men get into their truck.
As they drove by, I copied the license plate down as best I could see (it was dark). The plate was B61—-. They slowed as they passed me and asked if I had changed my mind. I said no, not if they can’t produce a badge or license. When they seemed confused by my request, I informed them that it is illegal to sell door to door without a license. The second man then said they have a “Meat handler soliciting license”. I said “ok, can I see it?” He responded “Maybe if you had money, then we would show you”. I will be lodging a complaint with the company tomorrow (their website is down due to nonpayment so I will have to call), but also wanted to have a complaint filed with the AG’s office for their record.
Here are the city rules for door-to-door soliciting.
WEDNESDAY UPDATE: Commenters pointed out that the Seattle Municipal Code section we referenced above indicates the city itself does not license a few categories of door-to-door sellers, including “perishable foods.” In subsequent research, we learned that permit, instead, comes from the combined city-county Public Health department. We spoke with Matias Valenzuela in the Seattle-King County PH media-relations department. He says this type of seller would have to be licensed and certified by SKCPH. He says, “There are legitimate businesses who do that, particularly frozen meat, but usually when we hear about door-to-door solicitations, those tend to be illegal and unlicensed, so if people do hear about a situation like that, or see it in their neighborhood, they can report it to us – we have meat inspectors who would follow up and investigate.” He says that if an establishment does not come up in the department’s inspection database, “they aren’t licensed through public health.” The database search starts here; nothing with “Buckeye” in the name comes up.
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