ADT - Cold Calling - Has anyone else had this?

[Rednaic]

Had a young black girl, looked around 17 years old, call in today saying she was selling ADT alarms for better deals than available on the web. Am concerned this is a scam. Se was not able to give me a card and left me with a mobile phone number which goes straight to answerphone. Has anyone else had her call into them. Am worried we will be burgled. What are your thoughts?

[Pickle]

We have had ADT round a couple of times in the last few weeks, most recently last weekend. Very young salespeople, but each time they have been in groups of 2 or 3.

[Cedges]

I saw an ADT salesperson on Blackwater Street on Monday eve but he wasn't terribly young, was on his own and didn't raise any suspicions - saying that it wasn't me he was calling on so there no saying what card or number he would have left. I say this tho as there may be a possibility of genuine sales reps in the area being followed by those less honest. Just a thought.

[KalamityKel]

It's not a scam just rather persistent and at times aggressive sales techniques...

[susan_]

A young man from ADT called at my house too. I must agree with KalamityKel that the sales techniques were rather aggressive and unpleasant.

[buggie]

Had them knock the other day & realised I had the perfect deterrent... Opened door and said "sorry got toddler on potty, can't talk" and quickly shut door before said toddler came out v obviously not on the potty!

[Lilly Potes]

Don't send warning to Women is too late they are all in trouble. I am sorry to say that and that is why I did not want to get involve.

[Giacomelli]

Yeah. They are aggressive. When I said I wasn't interested chap suggested that I didn't care about my family's safety. With that I just shut the door in his face.

[gog]

They were on Devonshire road yesterday. No hard sell to me though. Young man could not offer a card but left an email address and mobile number.

[setter]

Had the youngish guy call on us TWICE last Wednesday. Both times he was somewhat indignant that I wasn't interested. Looked on the ADT website for some email address to complain to but couldn't find any. Not the best advert for a company looking for our business.

[MarkE]

Yup, also had a very young chap visit. Extremely patronising in his tone ("I presume you don't know the difference between type x and type y alarms") and also throwing in the big "we're giving stuff away for free" without actually explaining what that stuff was, nor how it was actually free...

Close the door on them.

[tllm2]

I've had these guys cold-call/door-step us and whilst we gave them pretty short hrift, we reported them to the local police SNT.

Whilst the young guy we had call on us wasn't overly agressive what I didn't like about was his complete lack of ID (wasn't able to give to any kind of ID - no business cards, headed paper or anything looking vaguely official). His ID card had very little on it - apart from his photo and name and a hi-vis jacket with ADT on it- which could have been printed anywhere.

The dodgy bit was him trying to get into the house to take a look to assess our security measures ..........

[katanita]

I also had them at the door, which I closed on them after I saw his ADT insignia and heard his opening "this isn't a sales pitch" gambit (always a clear sign that something *is* a sales pitch). Really loathe doorstepping like this of any kind, it's annoying but also potentially upsetting for the vulnerable, particularly if they are scare-mongering about personal safety.

So I had a whinge on twitter at them, gave them this thread link (which they have apparently "raised internally") and they've asked me to email [email protected] so that it's properly logged. So I suggest people do posting here might also want to do that.

[ianr]

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADT_Security_Services#ADT_in_the_UK ADT has an authorized dealer program. I'd guess it's one of those at work.

[Smiler]

I worked for them as a teenager many years ago, awful company! Not cold calling but typing up specifications for alarms and things. Odd place.

Sorry to see that they've not changed.

[Ginster]

We had the young girl on Ondine Rd last week (seem to have done the whole road as saw her at other end much later on!)

Luckily answered the door holding 2 full watering cans so managed to put her off saying we were happy with our security.

I lived in Copleston for 8 years and never had door-to-door callers - seem to have them constantly on Ondine and it's getting really annoying now! Planning to answer the door on the phone if I don't recognise who it is in future!

[frankie77]

We've had 3 ADT people in the last week. When I answered the door a couple of days ago I explained this was the third call in a week and they replied "oh there's been a lot of people who feel they've missed out on a promotion on this road" argh GO AWAY!

[Galileo]

We had this on Melbourne Grove yesterday. After passing me a couple of inane compliments she explained they were trying to improve security in the area and we're doing free assessments to see if we qualified for something, I wasn't entirely sure what; then she said "so would you like shoes on or off?" whilst taking a step through my door - this freaked me out so I told them I wasn't interested and closed the door. I was surprised how creepy it is when someone tries to smarm themselves into your home!

Thanks for the complaints email address - I have emailed (using my junk email address). I think we should all do that, causing them to have to take time to read our emails (at least) may make them think twice about their sales techniques and save us (and hopefully any vulnerable neighbours we may have) from this unpleasantness!

[Ginster]

I had put on another thread that they were in Ondine Rd this week (again!!) and now see this one too.

I have emailed so thanks for the address. I can't believe some people have had 3 in a week!!!

[katanita]

Old thread, newer one is http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?5,1232380,page=1. No idea if that email address is still valid, so might be worth checking. I've been in contact again since and I don't think it makes much different tbh, I'm pretty sure they couldn't care less what people think. Better to put efforts towards getting a designated no cold calling zone, perhaps?

[James Barber]

I contacted our local East Dulwich Safer Neighbourhood Team during February.

They've responded that they're going to deliver lots of no cold calling stickers to the areas and investigate a cold calling zone.

They've contacted ADT who stated that not their team but people selling their products.

[Ginster]

Great James, thanks, looking forward to (hopefully) getting a sticker (and hope people actually heed it!!)

[Galileo]

I got an automated response from my email to ADT stating they would try to reply within 5 working days. No response yet but at least we know the address is valid.

[Mustard]

There was an article about ADT and their doorstep selling in the Guardian Money section today. Worth a read.

[ruffers]

Mustard Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> There was an article about ADT and their doorstep

> selling in the Guardian Money section today.

> Worth a read.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/mar/15/burglars-alarm-bells-home