Door-knocker at WSB HQ: Do we e-mail ourselves about it?

Some young guy, white, brown hair, Comcast polo shirt, badge around his neck, claiming to be from Comcast doing a customer survey. We’ll check with their PR department tomorrow if they were legit, but seriously, do they send people around door-to-door at 7 pm asking for opinions on their service? We told him through the window, just send around a link to an online survey and we’d be happy to fill it out.

15 Replies to "Door-knocker at WSB HQ: Do we e-mail ourselves about it?"

  • Rhonda Porter May 5, 2008 (7:22 pm)

    I’m sorry…it seems odd to me. I’m looking forward to your follow-up report to see if this is legit.

    I posted a “heads up” warning the other day for our neighborhood and somseone commented that they (the door knockers) were nice guys looking for gardening work…with all the weird stuff that goes on these days…I don’t want a stranger at my door trying to sell anything.

  • hopey May 5, 2008 (7:24 pm)

    We had the same guy last week, I think it was Friday evening. I meant to call Comcast about it but neglected to follow up.

    The kid said he was going door-to-door to tell people that Comcast would soon be doing work in our neighborhood to upgrade the cable service lines. He had a clipboard with what he said was a spreadsheet of Comcast customers & how much they paid per month. He called me by my correct last name. Where it started to get odd was that he didn’t know what products we had, and did not offer to tell us what our payment amount was. We asked him for a business card and he said he did not have one. He mumbled something about how someone would be “coming by” to offer us a “discount” because of the work on the lines, but he himself did not offer the discount, which we found VERY strange. When pressed about exactly what work they were doing, how much it would impact our service, when it would occur, etc. he continued to completely back down and provided less & less information. He professed ignorance and could not get away from our very specific questioning fast enough.

    TR, I’ve emailed you before, so please keep me in the loop if/when you contact Comcast on this one. I really should have done so in a timely manner, and would be happy to chat with someone from Comcast about it if you do make contact there.

  • Sue May 5, 2008 (7:34 pm)

    I had just had a woman at my door on Fauntleroy near Dawson – claimed to be from Comcast, said that she was at “the apartment building a block or two north of here” because they were having problems with channels 4 and 7 and wanted to make sure our service was okay, and by the way, do we have Comcast, are we happy with our service, etc. I said that if she was with comcast, certainly she knew my services, but she said they just asked her to go door to door and make sure everything was okay. She was a white woman, shoulder-length curly hair. I told her we were happy with our service, closed the door on her, and watched her walk to the corner where she met with a black man, also with clipboard and “ID” and they loitered there for a few minutes then they jaywalked across Fauntleroy, walking north. I felt very uncomfortable with her questions and called 911 about them. Then I called Comcast. they said that they had no record of any outages of those channels in our area (only channels above 100). She said that yes, they do have door-to-door canvassers, but did not know if they were legitimate or not. I told her that I had called police and that if they’re legitimate then there won’t be a problem. She said she marked my account that I called, in case anybody else called about it.

  • Matt May 5, 2008 (7:36 pm)

    He’s legit. We had him stop by our place last week and he answered quite a few tough enough questions. I think Comcast is just trying to improve the image of their customer service.

  • lina May 5, 2008 (8:06 pm)

    he also stopped by my house last week near 35th and roxbury, i just said i was not interested-i am not into folks approaching my home, no matter what the reason. it also helps that i have two dogs that go ballistic when someone knocks on our door. i saw this same guy today while i was driving to PCC near admiral.
    not sure if they are legit or not but i would rather receive a call or email about customer service.

  • Todd in Westwood May 5, 2008 (8:09 pm)

    what does the law say about the “No Soliciters” sign?

  • Sue May 5, 2008 (8:30 pm)

    Perhaps the guy you’re talking about was legit, but I still have an uneasy feeling about the woman at my door tonight. They claimed to go door-to-door, and yet when they left my house they did not go to the house on either side of me – she met someone at the corner, then jaywalked across Fauntleroy, missing about 3 houses on that side of the street. So they obviously weren’t going to every house. I’m also suspect since they claimed there was an outage that Comcast denies – if they’re solicting business or doing a survey, that’s one thing, but don’t lie to me about why you’re here at the beginning of your sales call.

  • JanS May 5, 2008 (9:58 pm)

    OK…I may not like Comcast, but they’re a little more professional than that, don’t you think? It would seem that they would send an e-mail..or something in writing, letting people know that they’ll be canvassing. I’d definitely be suspect, too…

  • WestwoodWriter May 5, 2008 (10:47 pm)

    After procrastinating for way too long, I posted a no solicitors sign at my front door. I was prompted to post it because my doorbell rang today, which is odd. There is a window right next to my front door. I walked right up to it an saw a man in a logo-ed polo-type shirt holding a clipboard, and the FIRST thing I thought was, “West Seattle Blog.” So, I looked him right in the eye (through the window) and shook my head NO, pointed to my front gate, and I watched him walk away. I’ll report back if my new “no solicitors” sign helps. Do they also not realize that I get the hint when the 15th siding company comes to my door? My siding looks like crap. I know. Thanks for stopping by. :-)

  • WSB May 5, 2008 (11:03 pm)

    WW, sounds like the guy who showed up on our doorstep … logo polo shirt and clipboard. Re: getting solicited for what your house seems to need, our yards and hedges are deliberately overgrown (wildlife etc.) and so we get one of those “Gardener for hire” flyers just about daily …

  • k May 6, 2008 (8:34 am)

    comcast is constantly hiring to fill these positions on craigslist. i am so surprised that people continue door to door service of any kind nowadays. legit or not. my door opens for no one.

  • grr May 6, 2008 (10:09 am)

    lol at WSB :)

  • K Diddle May 7, 2008 (5:10 pm)

    I had a Comcast guy come by more door last week and he actually saved me money… I was paying upwards of 135.00 for internet a cable. The gentlemen that came by my door lowered my bill to 114.00 a month and gave me a phone with free long distance… I was able to keep my same number from quest and eliminate anouther $34.00 from them.. So it looks like I saved about $400.00 dollars this year.. SO THANKS TO THE DOOR TO DOOR GUY THAT CAME BY MY HOME>>>

  • comcast rep September 9, 2008 (6:27 pm)

    As a door to door Comcast sales rep I had to laugh while reading about all the people above who refused to answer the door and at least listen. I do need to say you are in the minority. Most of our job entails making courtesy visits to our cable customers to see if we can save them some money on their internet/phone bills. In some situations they are already getting a better deal then we can provide but in a lot of situations we can actually save our customers over $500-$700 a year. About 90% of the customers we talk to actually spare us some time out of their busy schedules to listen to what we can offer. I always feel a little sorry for those lonely/scared individuals who feel that they cannot safely open their door.

  • Jim W. November 22, 2008 (9:51 pm)

    I actually had some Comcast guys come to my house in the evening as well.I actually work for a local law enforcement agency. I called comcast and even took down their badge number and name and are actually legit. You cannot be too careful these days. There are a lot of door to door people who are not legit. For example in the Seattle area there’s window companies that offer free services but actually try to sell you $1000 windows. Magazine sales are scams and have even broken into houses in the king county area. As long as they have badges and employee or contract numbers they should be fine.

    I have checked the comcast guys and they are pretty legit. Reason they come by so late is because that’s when most people are home from work, and their job is to obviously talk to us.

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