Last summer, residents of Rochester’s east side suburbs dealt with aggressive door-to-door salespeople. And in recent weeks, the same issue manifested itself on the west side, with residents from the Village of Scottsville taking to social media to voice words of complaint and warning over door-to-door salespeople in their suburb.
According to their posts on Facebook, the salespeople are peddling cleaning products. And what’s worse, even though they don’t have permits to sell these items in the village.
And it’s not just Scottsville folks filing reports online. According to Facebook, users from Chili, Caledonia, and Bergen have also reported that salespeople have been driving around in a car or van, offering “free detergent” or vacuum cleaners for sale.
According to the Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester towns and villages have differing processes for obtaining salesperson permits. This means that a peddler would have to get more than one permit in order to sell products or services across different towns and villages.
In the village of Scottsville, for example, a company looking to sell products door-to-door must pay $250 per year and an extra $50 per salesperson year. And recently, the village hasn’t gotten any permit applications.
This past summer, residents of Farmington experienced similar issues, when door-to-door salespeople were unlawfully soliciting about paving and roofing ploys. Recent stats reflect that 65% of homeowners are likely to get roof repairs if they experience weather damage. That being said, unsolicited roof salespeople are not only unwanted, but also suspect.
The Better Business Bureau warns homeowners to be diligent with door-to-door salespeople, including saying no to limited-time offers, drawing up contracts for projects, and researching the company before contacting them. The Better Business Bureau also has a scam tracker that allows people to report solicitations and to find out about other scams that are transpiring across the country.
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