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My daughter was chatting to my mum on the phone yesterday when a knock came on Mum's door. She popped the receiver on the table and went to answer it to find a salesman, there to try and persuade her to change her phone provider. Mum wasn't interested, she's had the same line for 50 years and started out with a 2 digit number, which has had extra ones added to front and back over time until now it's up to six digits, but still the original 98 is in there. (it wasn't 2 digits for very long) Mum is settled, she's very happy with her phone/gas/electricity supplier and just doesn't want the hassle of change. Normally telling the salesman this is enough, yesterday it wasn't - he was leaning his shoulder against the door frame so she couldn't close it and eventually he had become so heated he was shouting. A colleague of his joined him, but instead of calming the situation down he waded in too. My daughter was listening to every word and at this point, using her mobile so she could keep the connection to her Nan, she phoned me. Daughter and I both live a good 20 miles from Mum and as Mum's in a small village the local police would have taken almost as long to get to her as we would. Fortunately a friend of my son had just bought a house nearby so phoning son at work I managed to get his friend's number. As luck would have it not only was his friend home, but his father was visiting and the pair of them raced round and saved the day by politely but firmly asking these people to leave.

This whole situation, from Mum answering the door until they left, lasted 35 minutes. She's still very shaken.

My daughter immediately phoned the company involved to complain. I am going to follow this up with a strongly worded letter. If it had just been the one man I would have thought that he was probably just an isolated problem, but the second one appeared and made the situation worse. My daughter also says that he seemed to turn up just at the right moment, almost as if it were a well orchestrated plan. I don't know if this is something that has been cooked up by this pair or if it's company policy. I just want everyone to be aware of this, tell any elderly relatives not to answer the door unless they are certain of who is there, and if anyone calls trying to sell anything ask the salesperson to push leaflets/information through the letterbox and tell them they'll be contacted if the homeowner is interested. It's just common sense really I suppose, but Mum's lived there all her adult life, it's a quiet little backwater and most of her neighbours bought their homes around the time she did and they've all grown old together, things like this come as a surprise to them and they're not well equipped to deal with it.

Sorry to hear about your distressing tale. Would you care to tell us the company's name as I wouldn't like to inadvertedly give them any business.

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

That is appaling, your poor Mum, I would inform the police as well as contacting the company involved, what they did was totally unacceptable. Can you name and shame the company?

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Imagination is everything, it is a preview of what is to become.

That is truly shocking, I hope your Mum is able to get over this whole sorry episode soon.

These people make me really angry.

If your Mum lives in a little village it may well be covered by a "No Cold Calling" scheme http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/g...%20Calling.pdf as it is in our village. It makes it very clear to anyone entering the area that cold calling is not welcome, and the householder has the right to say no. I think the callers can be legally removed from the area by the police, but don't quote me on that.

At our old house LadyWayne and I made the mistake of having a double glazing salesman in the house. After 3 hours he wasn't taking my hints and I had to physically remove him from my house. Coincidentally we had our doorbell stolen three times in the following weeks, a small thing I know, but made me quite cross regardless.

Hope it all works out for your mum though bluemoon, and that they catch and prosecute these blighters.

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A simple dude trying to grow veg.

http://haywayne.blogspot.com/ - Udated - 11th August

http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/p/dev036pr___.png

Wasn't sure I'd be allowed to, but it was Talk Talk

What a horrid experience for your mum. I hope it hasn't upset her too much.

Thanks for naming the company, I avoid them like the plague anyhoo as my Dad was a business customer of theirs and they made it very difficult for us to change back to BT.

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Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

that is just so awful BM, I hope your mum (and you and daughter) are ok - what a horrid person!!

Good advice from Wayne, have a look for her

nasty people grrrrr

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aka
Suzie

I am so sorry to hear of this. Big hugs to you all. I hope Mum soon recovers.
Yes, please do name the company!

We had problems with talk talk in the past -cr@p service.

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Imagination is everything, it is a preview of what is to become.

I am also an ex-Talk Talker - they are the pits

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aka
Suzie

Nasty .
If your mum is a member of Homewatch, then she can request a card which she can place in her window saying ' We do not buy from callers at the door'
(It doesn't stop some determined folks though)
The cards are supplied by the police and they are interested in hearing about cases like this.
Do make sure you contact your local Homewatch coordinator and police- they may well not have been from talk talk....had you considered that???

What a horrible experience. I think you're absolutely right to complain in writing as well as via phone. Send the letter recorded delivery, then they can't say they didn't get it.

Hope your Mum feels more settled again soon.

This is awful, to think that sales people/businesses feel they have to resort to thug tactics to hit their targets. I hope you are all okay.

I was once visited by a childrens hospice charity representative (I had never heard of them before, nor since). Having just lost my mother to cancer, I was very vunerable and felt compelled by his stories to sign a direct debit agreement and give my debit card details to him there and then!!

Once I had shut the door I realised how stupid I had been - this man could have been anyone! And I'd just given him all my personal details! I did manage to cancel the direct debit without losing any money, but I was lucky.

Be warned, we are all a risk from this bullyboys! I was only 27 at the time and able bodied - that doesn't stop them using psychological means to reach their end goal!

We have just moved house talk talk were the provider for the previous householder,
when we tried to get a connection from our provider we were told that we had to wait three weeks until the lease of the line had finished before BT could have the line back, I ended up swearing at the dumb girl on the other end of the line and told them in no uncertain terms that there would never be a chance of me using talk talk.

I think people who take advantage of the elderly are despicable. I've heard bad things fo this company before - son-in-law had some unsatisfactory dealings with them. The police should take an interest here.

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Each day is a gift. That's why it's called The Present.

vegheaven.blogspot.com Updated Aug 20th 2008

What an awful thing to happen. Contact Ofcom too (Ithink they are watchdogs for telecoms) and report them, sending a copy of the letter you send Talk Talk.

How lucky your daughter was on the phone and able to call for help once she realised what was going on. 3 cheers for her

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I'd rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion.

http://hollandsroadparadise.blogspot.com
updated 14 May 2008

I've just spoken to Mum and she seems fine. She's in her 70's, but she's never been the shy retiring type. She's still mobile and she still drives, although she does have a minor heart condition. There are, however, one or two living nearby who aren't so lucky, I'm thinking of one old lady in particular who would probably not have coped quite so well if this had happened to her.

Having spoken to Mum now when she's had time to calm down I've discovered one or two other worrying details. She was on the phone at the time, as I said, but it hadn't occurred to me that this means that she was sitting by a window which is visible from the road. She also says that they did not knock on the door, but banged loudly on this windowpane. I'm not sure I like the sound of this at all as it means that these people were discussing with her the one solid piece of evidence that they had about her - that she had a phone, and that they knew that she was elderly before they approached the house, so it's possible that they were not all they pretended to be. I think I will have to inform the police about this, but at the moment she just wants to forget it.

Thank you all for your help and concern, love Bluemoon.

bluemoon, another organisation I would contact to report them is the local Trading Standards Office. They can be very effective in stopping this sort of thing.

My stock answer when we get hawkers at the door is 'I'm sorry, but I don't do business on the doorstep.'

valmarg

Sounds like a most unpleasant experiencefor your mum - hope she's OK now.

Salesmen will never like calling on me - if they don't have an appointment - the door is simply not opened - I just look at who it is through the letter box - and give short shrift to the undesirable and unwanted ones! On the odd occasions where my son has been at home and I have opened the door without realising its yet another leccy salesman or similar - I am greeted with lots of bogus info they have been given about me. I never let them know which bits are wrong but have no hesitation in letting them know their bosses must be lying to them!

I know everyone needs to make a living but some engage in tactics which make the vulnerable almost feel obliged buy into. If she doesn't have already - get a strong doorchain - allow no-one in, including opening the door (unless someone else present in the home), without an appointment, ask for a leaflet through the door - some 'say' they are not allowed to (ho ho) - and NEVER sign anything - even if they ask for you to sign to confirm they've been to your address - that's their problem not yours - and are you 'really' signing' what they say you are.

Considering how apparently 'aggressive' they were in knocking - a complaint to the police would not be out of order - if only to get someone to speak to them about the level of unwelcome approach. On the other hand there may already be people out to distraction con/burgle OAPs operating in your mum's area.

Hope she's fine now and wish her well.

That's terrible! Things like this really make me wish they'd come and knock on my door. Of course they're probably only pushy when they think they can get away with it.

If it was me, I'd write directly to the managing director of Talk Talk and ask what he's prepared to offer in compensation for this harassment, before you take legal advice! I'm guessing the two helpers wouldn't mind being mentioned as potential witnesses.

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Resistance is fertile

This might be a bit late, but does she have a chain on her door...?

If not perhaps fitting one will give her more confidence in shutting unwanted visitors out.

But of course if she is like my gran, then getting her to actually use it might be a bit of a trial.

My best wishes to her.

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I wish i could make a yo-yo work.
http://www.guerrillagardening.org/

another useful place for advice and help is Age Concern, the local branch will then be able to alert the authorities on your mothers area and warn them that this has happened, they might still be prowling the area. they could also take up the cudgel on your mothers behalf with the company concerned

glad she is ok, there are some real nasties about arent there

ann