I’m rude to debt collectors who call me trying to collect debts from people who happen to once have had the same phone number as I once did. Like, I’m not who you’re trying to collect from, fuck off.
I’m also rude to generally any scam caller, they’re some of the few people I take great pleasure in telling off because I can get away with it. They’re scammy assholes, what’re they gonna do? Cry to the authorities? Knowing that they’re pieces of shit who scam people out of money? Good fucking luck.
Solicitation at my door.
I give them one chance to go away. If they press it, I demand to see their license, which “Oh it’s in the truck” or “it’s in the office” or “I am not soliciting, I am giving you a FREE ESTIMATE…” I call the cops. Fuck em. Non-emergency number, I state a description of a suspicious man who refused to show me a solicitation license, and kept asking me to open my door. I describe the direction they are going with dates, streets, and times.
A few get nabbed. Some of these guys are known to the police because they are possibly casing your house and they have a ton of camera evidence of them peeping in windows and gates.
Non-American here.
I have lived in three different countries and solicitors are extremely rare. And in the few cases one ringed my door it was for charity or school kids collecting donations for some summer trip (not sure if this is called soliciting or not).
Is that bad in America that you need to put a sign at your door? How frequent they visit?
Depends massively on where you are. Out in a really rural area, you’ll probably get one a year tops. Middle class suburbia, but not a gated community? Probably substantially more, like 1+ a week.
I’m in the suburbs but up a couple of hills so I generally get fewer than 1 a month (that I know of. I have my doorbell disconnected and live with others so it’s possible I get more and just don’t know about it)
I think it depends on where you live. In my case, I see about 4-5 a week on my security cameras, but only a few a year ignore the sign. On nextdoor dot com, it’s discussed and video camera footage is shared, so we know which neighborhoods are targeted. Mine is because of the aging population of upper middle income folks.
These people saying one a week must be living in hell, but they’re definitely outliers. I’ve lived in the same spot for three years here in Seattle without ever having a solicitor come to my door.