 Some sellers use 'high-pressure' techniques |
Laws governing doorstep salespeople need changing to protect consumers from unscrupulous tactics, the Office of Fair Trading says. The OFT said, in a report published on Wednesday, people were often pressured into buying goods they did not want.
It added that people were not aware of their rights about cancelling a contract, and called on the government to make it easier to back out.
Sales from doorstep selling are worth at least �2.4bn a year.
The OFT investigation was prompted by a Citizens Advice complaint, involving 1500 cases of doorstep selling.
Citizens Advice wanted regulations regarding the "cooling-off" period to be extended from seven days to 14.
 |  It's not like being out at the shops - when you're in your own home there is nowhere to go |
Doorstep selling regulations offer a seven-day cooling off period, but only if the trader initiates contact with the customer through a cold call or a prior phone call.
However, 94% of consumers are unaware they can cancel orders under these circumstances.
The seven-day period does not apply to consumers who requested the visit themselves.
OFT research showed that nearly 40 per cent of consumers had bought goods or services in the home.
While 70 per cent of those were satisfied, 30 per cent experienced problems, with at least 15,000 complaints a year made to trading standards departments, the OFT said.
Tactics
Most respondents to the OFT's consumer survey said they felt buying in the home was more pressurised than other settings.
OFT found psychological tactics were often used to get a purchase.
These included creating a sense of indebtedness to the salesperson, generating potential regret if the purchase is not made, and gaining details about the customer's likes and dislikes to gain a rapport with them.
Citizens Advice spokeswoman Susan Marks said doorstep sales were "particularly prone to high-pressure selling".
"The difficulty is that because it's not like being out at the shops - when you're in your own home there is nowhere to go.
"You have a high pressure selling situation going on and the person is staying there for perhaps hours at a time and you need to get away," she said.
Some people found that the only way they could get the salesperson to leave was to sign up for the product.
A longer cooling off period would allow people more time to "reflect, compare prices and read the small print," Ms Marks said.
Protection
Trading Standards Institute chief executive Ron Gainsford said: "This is by far the most comprehensive report on doorstep selling ever produced. We now know the scale of the problem and we know what has to be done."
Energy industry watchdog energywatch urged regulator Ofgem to "give consumers the improved safeguards they need".
"In particular, we want better protection for vulnerable customers to stop unscrupulous salesmen seeing them as 'easy targets'," energywatch chief Ed Gallagher said.
"We also welcome the OFT's finding that enforcement action against recalcitrant salesmen may need to be strengthened and that it intends to make customers more aware of their rights."
Have you bought something from a doorstep seller? Was your experience good or bad?
Your comments:
| I realise that he was trying to put the pressure on me |
Just last night man arrived trying to sell me cheaper phone calls. He told me that I would already have received a telephone call about it, (I didn't because I'm ex-directory) and that he was just following up. He said he was just collecting confirmations from all my neighbours so that he could go ahead. I told him I wasn't interested, but looking back I realise that he was trying to put the pressure on me, inferring that if I did not agree, I would be letting down my neighbours and they would not benefit from his company's deal. If it had been someone more vulnerable or gullible, they would have felt obliged to take on what this man was offering. I think it's outrageous that companies will prey on people like that.
Gillian, Alloa, Scotland A few years ago a salesman came to my parents' house. He was selling fire-extinguishers. When my mother politely refused to buy anything, he said many horrible things, including that she was putting her children's lives at risk. This kind of method is just horrible, it should be forbidden.
Amelie, Manchester, UK
They should also include doorstep charity collectors and religious order members as well. I give to charity via direct debit and object to having bags etc shoved through my door. But nothing is more annoying than a politician knocking on the door.......
Neil Small, Scotland
I have worked door to door myself, and I can say from experience that customers are very misled. Pressure tactics are used, and your aim is to try and convince the customer that they need what you are trying to sell. If this attitude was taken by a rep in a shop, I'm sure the customer would contact a manager. It's not an experience I'd like to try again. The attitude reps are advised to take towards the customers is ridiculous, and I hope that the government does something to crack down on these sorts of people. Maybe then salespeople will stop visiting when they notice that we already have double glazed windows.
Gareth, Wales
| This man was baying for blood to sue somebody |
The worst door to door visit was a cold call by a chap soliciting no win no fee damages business. As my wife had just had an operation to her foot, he sensed blood and kept pushing. Was it due to an accident - no. Was the Hospital negligent - no. Did the hospital make any mistakes - no, no, no. It took repeated nos and the not too friendly attention of our dog 'Morse' to finally see him off. What really bugged me was this man was baying for blood to sue somebody. How irritating is that.
Charles, Coventry I used to sell vacuum cleaners door-to-door. We used a range of highly unscrupulous techniques:
1. Use aggressive reinforcement techniques, telling the customer how they were feeling and getting them to repeat it back. 2. Telling the customer that through their wise decision to buy the cleaner, I, the salesman, had won a TV and would be awarded it at a company 'event'. If they cancelled I'd have to return the TV. They wouldn't want that to happen would they?...Of course there was no TV. 3. Immediately entering the house scan for any signs of sports, hobbies or interests. Use those to pretend that I had a similar interest, or say my wife did. 4. Price is never an issue. How much do you spend on beer a week? How much on newspapers? Surely for such a good product you could afford 5 pounds a week?
The list goes on. There is absolutely no need for door-to-door selling. Fortunately I have moved on to a much more responsible line of work and will not let anyone salesman through my door. Thank god for the internet.
Name Witheld, UK
The once or twice I have been involved with doorstep selling; the salesperson has cleared off once he's been told (bluntly) that we are getting nowhere. The last one was trying to sell windows and we had invited them round after a cold call the previous evening. Once he realised I would not buy (too expensive) he eventually got the message and left, albeit after an hour trying to convince me. I fail to see any major issue here. If you do not want to buy their products then tell them so and politely ask them to leave. Surely once this has happened they are trespassing?
Ian Rose, Chatteris, Cambridgeshire
| The salesman scratched all the panels of my car with his signet ring |
I had a salesman come to my door about 6 months ago, selling household items such as J-cloths. I had bought items in the past (even though they were overpriced; �3-00 vs �1-00 in supermarkets), but on this occasion I chose to decline courteously. After I bid good bye, the salesman went round the car parked in the drive and scratched all the panels with his signet ring. This resulted in �800.00 worth of damage. My wife saw the whole thing from the window upstairs, but didn't alert me until ten minutes later, as she wanted to avoid a confrontation in which someone might get hurt. We contacted the police, and I was ready to let them pursue it, but my wife asked me not to fearing reprisals, so we let it go.
Saifullah, London, UK Gas company reps have on a number of occasions now knocked on my door and informed me that I was due a rebate from them for gas supply some years ago. I was then asked to sign a form to authorise the rebate. The sales rep kept most of the form covered but when I asked to read the form it was a gas supply transfer request. No rebate just a con. On both occasions when I challenged the reps they insisted that this was not misleading as I would effectively be getting a rebate as they were cheaper than my current supplier (which they are not). They also insisted when pressed that this rebate claim was standard procedure for getting signups. Appalling behaviour.
Alan Dignam, London, UK
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