Need for door-to-door sales permits

They can be pushy and often don’t take no for answer.

No matter how politely you ask them to leave.

One neighbor in Midtown Tulsa is talking about door-to-door salesman.

Some are honest but others are selling a scam or casing your neighborhood and watching for the right moment to strike.

One Alert Neighbor wants to stop harassing knocks at the door and wants the city councilors to pass an ordinance requiring a permit for door-to-door sales permits.

Over the summer police say Southern Hills neighbors reported a woman posing a curbside-address painter.

However, she was casing neighborhoods and stealing property.

She was also known to hit homes for sale all over Tulsa and posing as a potential buyer.

Now one Midtown neighbor wants the city to pass an ordinance that would require a sales permit for door-to-door sales.

For most people it’s a no brainer, you hear someone knock and you answer the door.

"A couple of times we had someone come to our door twice in one day,” says Jennifer Harmon.

She is a Midtown Alert Neighbor talking about sales people who choose to ignore her “no soliciting” sign.

"You say 'I am not interested,' they still stick around and they try to persuade themselves inside your door. You still say you are not interested and they just don't go away,” says Harmon.

Another neighbor living near 17^th and S. Lewis says the salespeople get annoyed if you ignore them.

"They seem to get a little bit offended, and they say ‘why don't you open your door for me?’” says Linda Grant.

Some Alert Neighbors send e-mail warnings about suspicious salesmen.

"A lot of them have warrants out for their arrest. A lot of them are registered sex offenders who can't get
a job,” says Harmon. "That's really unsettling I think when you are living in a neighborhood because you don't know who is knocking at your door."

Some are crooks using products as a front to get inside your home or come back when you’re gone.

"I eventually turned off my doorbell,” says Grant.

However, the salespeople still knock on her window and she asks them to leave.

Harmon says the city needs to step up. Next Thursday she will go in front of the city councilors and ask 
them to consider a door-to-door sales permit.

"If there is some kind of law or ordinance on the books so when we do call police we can call and say they are trespassing or they don't have their permit, they are suspicious and they are not supposed to be here,” says Harmon.

Police recommend that you never leave your door open while you retrieve money, never let a stranger in your home and no matter how smooth and professional they sound do not let them into your home.

Instead speak to them through the door.

They caution that salespeople don’t need to get out of the rain, use the phone, restroom or a drink of water.

Officers also recommend that you call 911 when something just doesn’t feel right about the salesperson.

Again, no matter how legitimate they may look or if they know your name, ask them for identification, product literature and ask them you’ll think about it and ask them to return. Make sure someone is with you when they return.

Bottom line, police recommend that you only make purchases at your door from someone you personally know.

Other cities across the country have similar ordinances with fines, some are commercial only, others exclude Girl Scout cookie sales and school fundraisers.

Harmon would also like Tulsa to include a “Do Not Knock” registry like a “Do Not Call” list.

The City of Tulsa Treasury manager says the city would need to consider implementation and enforcement.