Top secret and extremely annoying
The annoying thing was we had TWO window replacement solicitors today. From the same company. I had to deal with the first one. Boy oh boy oh boy, he would NOT TAKE NO THANK YOU for an answer. Next time, I will count how many times I say “NO THANK YOU” and confront him with it.
The thing I figured out today (I think) is that this is more than just a simple scam. This guy led off with something about how his company blah-blah-blah (working with Pella) replaced windows on a house “around the corner”. Well. I KNOW what house he was talking about. They replaced the siding too. It looks great! It belongs to the parents of one of my kids’ best friends and I have known them since our older children were two and five months old.
From here, I can’t quite put two and two together but some things smell fishy to me. I highly doubt that our friends hired work to be done on their house by a door-to-door solicitor. So I’m trying to figure out if this character was involved with whatever company did their work for them AT ALL! Or had some fly-by-night outfit noticed that work was being done in the neighborhood and sent out solicitors to harass other people in the vicinity?
And are these guys getting paid? If so, how much and by who? I mean they were out there at least five hours. How do I know that? Because after the GG took a birthday hike, ANOTHER guy came to the door. The GG (enthusiastically as he does) answered the door this time. I heard this solicitor say about three words and I yelled, “Second time today!” from TeleCubelandia. The guy apologized (not sincerely) but STILL kept gabbling until the GG got a little more firm with him.
Again, if we want/need work done on our house WE WILL LOOK FOR A REPUTABLE CONTRACTOR. And yeah, our windows are old as Methuselah but our house is cozy nevertheless even though 66 is our preferred daytime winter temp. I don’t want it to be airtight.
Top Secret has been crowding my freezer for a while now. Today I let the GG open it. I learned RANDOMLY on Next Door Neighbor that you could order Jean Kay’s pasties on-line. They’re his fave and I had always thought you had to go to the yooperland and maybe even Marquette to get them. So this is his bday present for this year. Maybe not as exciting as TWO coffee grinders, or a raspberry pi computer and ISS above, or a mini trebuchet but I guess it’ll do.
I will still continue to buy our local Uncle Peter’s Pasties!
April 26th, 2022 at 7:36 pm
I’m always glad for my locking screen door when those solicitors come to the door. I’m not very trusting and am usually polite but firm. There is something fishy about going door to door these days. If business for them is that bad, they aren’t doing the greatest job.
April 27th, 2022 at 8:55 am
I confess that about 5 years ago a team of two very pleasant young men caught me on my front porch, gave me the quick drill on replacing our windows (which really need it), and were so polite that I INVITED THEM IN TO TELL ME AND HUSBAND what it might cost. Huge mistake. They stayed for 2 hours, played a lot of tricks that I was aware of but too wimpy to call out (complimenting our artwork, books, etc, asking questions about our life), and finally gave us the dramatic reveal of the final exorbitant cost. When we said “thanks, we’ll think it over — and please leave now” they balked. They stayed at the end of our driveway for 10-15 mins pretending to consult with each other, and someone on the phone, then returned (!!) to say that if we took the deal that day, that minute they would cut the cost in half. I felt like a fool but oddly I was glad to have the full experience. New teams come through the neighborhood from time to time but I now send away post haste, if I even open the door.