Mr. Albero:
I just wanted to update you & your readers -
The scam with the door-to-door security company 'sales' is still going on.
I live in one of the subdivisions near Adeloytte Town homes (Old OC and Beaglin Park). Today a white male, in his early to mid 20's, wearing a white shirt that said Pinehurst Security, khaki shorts, a white baseball cap and some sort of fake badge or ID thing hanging around his neck, was going door-to-door trying to get people to sign up for free installation of a security service. (And, I'm sure, give their personal info including their social security number, etc.)
I refused to open the door, yelled through the door to go away, and let the dog loose to bark and claw at the door. He refused to leave, and kept ringing my doorbell until I held my cell phone up to the door that I was calling the police. Minutes later, my husband came home, and when I met him at the door I saw the young man talking to my next door neighbor. We went over and confronted him. He claimed he had a permit from the city to solicit in our neighborhood, and was being VERY pushy with my neighbor, trying to get her to let him in her house. I told him to take a hike and that soliciting is not permitted in our neighborhood, with or without a permit, because our HOA does not allow it. I also told him I had seen something about this on your blog, which got him very agitated. He refused to leave. My husband stood in front of him and called the city police and then County Sheriff's Dept. and confirmed he had no permit. He finally went as far as the end of my neighbor's driveway. My husband called the Sheriff back and asked them to come out and remove a trespasser.
Once he realized we had really called the police, he took off and completely disappeared from the neighborhood, and was gone by the time the Sheriff drive through.
I don't know if this guy is scoping out houses to break into, is just trying to get social security numbers, or what, but it is DEFINITELY a scam. Please let your readers know to be careful - this guy was pretty aggressive.
Thanks -
A Concerned Homeowner in Salisbury
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
13 comments:
Again, I want to emphasize that before you hire anyone to do any electrical work in Wicomico County, --- including security system installation -- you should first check to ensure they are licensed by the electrical board.
Ask for the name of the license holder representing the company you are dealing with and then check this list.
Security system installation can be performed by Master, General, or Limited electricians, only after obtaining the proper permit, and then having an inspection by a recognized inspection agency.
Failure to have proper licensing and obtaining the required permits and inspections could be justifiable grounds for nullifying any contracts you may have entered into. Of course, if you are in this situation, it might be best to consult with an attorney before you initiate legal action.
I know this guy. He's actually scoping out a victim for our sacrifice this weekend. We must do this ritual to please the Gods. The Gods seem to like women who rant and rave, call the police, make threats that they can't keep, and have loud small dogs that couldn't hurt their own tail.
Excellent. Then he won't be back to my place, since I have a shotgun, Pit mix, and a lawyer in the family. I guess I should have just taken him out the first time he came by.
-Concerned Citizen
i cannot believe joe posted that anon 752. how insensitive.
Did this guy drive a silver Hyundai? I saw someone going door to door in my neighborhood yesterday driving this vehicle. No one seemed to want to bother with him, especially since we had Vector Securities coming through last week, which was legit.
My guess is that the "Vector Securities" team is just putting on new shirts now that their name is out there as potentially fraudulent. There is a legit Vector Securities company, but if you go online you will find many, many complaints about them. My guess is that some scam artists are using the name of a legit business--no legit business would use the hard sell techniques these guys are using.
These guys came to my house on Friday evening (In the Village of Aydellotte Subdivision off of the Northeast Collector Road). One guy, referred to by the other as "the Manager," was a stocky white guy who just kind of sat back and watched the other guy put on the show. The guy that did all of the talking was of some kind of ethnic background (maybe Indian or Middle Eastern). Both were wearing white Pinnacle polos with some sort of ID-like thing hanging from their necks, but I couldn't get a good read on it. They drove a late 90's Silver 4-door Honda Accord with Green Colorado license plates.
They start talking about how everybody needs a security system, your homeowner's insurance goes down, they use a cellular chip in their alarms so you don't need a home phone line and that they (Pinnacle) provide 24 hour monitoring services. They then proceeded to hand you all of these laminated diagrams and brochures (nothing you can keep) describing their services and hardware. They talk about how GE makes all of their hardware and that GE products are far superior to other companies that use knock off brand hardware. They continue to explain that the installation and hardware is free, but all you would need to do is put a pinnacle sign in your front yard and pay for the monitoring service. Now all of this sounds like a great deal right?! Now ask them for a brochure...a business card...a phone number...a website...an email address...THEY HAD NOTHING TO GIVE OUT! They said "we work strictly from door-to-door sales and word of mouth from existing customers." Well dudes, your business plan SUCKS! You would do 5 times the business with these things you don't have!
So when the pitch was over, they said "so, when would you like us to install you new system?" I said "I don't really need a new security system, I have all the protection that I need with the arsenal of gun in my gun cabinet that includes an AR-15, 3 .30-06 rifles, a Remington 870 Pump-action shotgun, a Glock Model 22, and a Sig P226...I dare somebody to come in the house uninvited. And if I get robbed when I'm not home then I that's what insurance is for, I'll just get a bunch of newer stuff to replace what was stolen." The guy looked at me as if he shat his pants! So I told him that I would talk it over with my wife and since he had no information he said he could come back in about a hour so I agreed.
Since I remember seeing a scam like this on SBYNEWS.COM (Thanks Joe) some time ago, I went back inside immediately and called the SPD. Upon convincing them that I DO live within the City Limits (which really pissed me off that they tried to pawn me off on WCSD when I know where the hell I live, especial since I got my Salisbury property tax bill THAT DAY!) they agreed to come scope out the situation. By this time, the "salesmen" were at one of my neighbor's house and a timely City officer pulled up and I assume told them to leave. The guys went to their car where they sat for a while, the officer drove off and the guys drove off about 5 minutes later. It kind of irritated me that the officer didn't even wait to make sure the guys left before doing so himself, but apparently they weren't doing anything extremely wrong or they would have (hopefully) been arrested.
Now here is my take on this situation. I did some research and apparently Pinnacle Security is a real company; however, I have read ABSOLUTELY NOTHING GOOD about them in any review. The company is known for doing door-to-door sales; however, apparently you need a permit to do so within the City limits of Salisbury. And anybody who does not have any means of giving out contact information has very poor business etiquette and doesn't deserve any business! I would like to say that these guys are not an immediate threat; however, I would certainly not trust them with my home security. If you see them simply tell them that you have a security system (even if you don't) and that you are not going to buy from them. When they leave, call the police to help run them out of town.
Is this the same as the Safeguard America of Silverline Security that came to my house? The guy was here for over an hour.
Hey concerned homeowner,, did you think about taking his pic with you cell and sending it in with your complaint?
This is true! He came to my house. I live on the west end of rt. 50 Stated he was from college park. Same description, he was on foot. Strange!
I did take a picture, which was forwarded to the Sheriff's Dept.
There is now an official press release from them about this scam.
We had a person come Saturday to Beaglin Park, and he was from a security company in Utah, and the sales rep was from Arizona. Sheriff's dept ID them and found out they didn't have a license to conduct business in City of Salisbury or Wicomico County. He was told that he would be arrested unless he quit going door to door. How good can an alarm system be when they are out of Utah????
They are here in Dorchester Co....showed up on my front porch yesterday about 5pm.
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