Dealing with doorstep callers
This is a message sent via Neighbourhood Alert. This information has been sent on behalf of Nottinghamshire Police
Message sent by
Lindsay Donnelly (Police, Administrator, Nottinghamshire)
With the arrival of spring there is likely to be an increase in doorstep callers offering to carry out gardening work such as tree cutting, selling of compost also roof and driveway cleaning and sealing.
Whilst these callers may well be genuine callers, we’d like to remind residents to carefully consider accepting work from cold callers who knock on your door. If there are problems with the goods they sell or the work they do you may struggle to contact them again, you could end up paying more than you thought you had agreed to, and are likely to have little recourse.
You should always ask to see some identification from callers at your door. Genuine callers will normally make an appointment first and carry identification from their company with their photograph on. Most organisations have a telephone number that you can call to verify the representative’s identity. We would usually advise not to use the number stated on their card as it could be false, and suggest looking up the company in the telephone book or on the internet.
To find details of trusted traders in your area you can use the Buy With Confidence scheme. Buy With Confidence is run by Trading Standards – Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottingham City Council – with support from Age Concern and Consumer Direct. For further details visit www.buywithconfidence.gov.uk . If you don’t have internet access you can call Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06 and they can help you find the traders that you need. The scheme cannot guarantee that nothing will ever go wrong, but members of the scheme must deal with complaints fairly, and Trading Standards will help both sides to reach a fair solution.
For further advice on dealing with unexpected callers please see our dealing with unexpected callers guide.
If you are concerned about cold callers in your area you can call Nottinghamshire Police on 101 or in an emergency 999.
Please pass this information to family members, friends, neighbours and anyone you think maybe vulnerable.