Which companies ignore 'no cold caller' signs?

A question about : Which companies ignore 'no cold caller' signs?

Poll started 8 May 2012, click here to vote

Sadly, while no law says they need to obey it (except energy companies), it's outrageous how many companies ignore 'no cold callers' signs. We want to name and shame the biggies that do it often.

Which companies have ignored your 'no cold callers' sign?
(The list’s compiled from experiences in our forum)

I don’t have a 'no cold callers' sign (get a free one)

Any charity
Any political party
Any religious organisation
Anglian Windows
Avon
Betterware
British Gas
Eon
EDF
Everest
Kleeneze
Lovefilm
Npower
Sky
Scottish & Southern
Scottish Power
TalkTalk
Other company

None

Click 'post reply' to discuss below. Thanks

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Best answers:

• Please put Virgin media on the list, they are the worst in my area.
  I've contacted their customer service on Twitter, filled out a registration form to opt out and they still keep putting things in my letterbox!!
• The motivations of charities, political canvassers and faiths are very different. They'll usually be volunteers and they aren't out to profit from you. I think their inclusion in this list is unfair.
  Disclosure - I do canvassing for a political party as a volunteer.
• Interesting that Anglian Windows are included here as two different salesmen have knocked recently, totally ignoring my sign for 'no uninvited salespeople'. Both claimed they were not selling anything but insisted they were doing a survey and then when I made it clear I was not interested whatever their reason for knocking is, they launched into their sales pitch anyway.
  Also, a British Heart Foundation 'representative' knocked last week and I finally let rip at one of these uninvited callers. The dog ran out the front door and bounded down the road, my young son was trying to round up the dog and all this 'rep' could do was wave her clipboard in front of me. I angrily pointed to the sign and said I was not interested and the reason why I have the sign up in the first place is to prevent this type of thing happening.
• No arriving on my doorstep unannounced without an appointment and expecting me to accommodate your request just because I happened to open the door.
  I don't care that you are from a well known charity that sells large red flowers, or the yellow ones. I give to charity via my wages.
  I don't care that you are from the local politician wanting to tell me how your lot are better than the other lot. I'll vote for who I like based on the literature you push through my door.
  I don't care that you are conducting a survey for , because you'll end up trying to sell me something and I don't buy at the door.
  I REALLY don't care that I am going to hell/some other made up place that you say is where I go if I don't follow your religion. I have religion thanks.
  YOU DIDN'T MAKE AN APPOINTMENT with me and therefore you are cold calling defined as:
  Cold calling is the marketing process of approaching prospective customers or clients, typically via telephone, who were not expecting such an interaction. The word "cold" is used because the person receiving the call is not expecting a call or has not specifically asked to be contacted by a sales person.
  @ g0recki - I think they ARE justified as being included in the survey.
  perhaps people who clicked 'other companies' should name and shame them in the discussion?
• I don't really consider betterware and Avon cold callers it's not like they try and pressure sell just poke the catalogue in and it's up to you if you look at it.
• As a Jehovah's Witness I go door to door giving a message of hope along with nearly 8million others around the world.
  I don't think it's fair to put us in the 'cold caller' bracket. We do not solicit money or want anything from the householder. On the contrary, we offer a message of hope and free bible studies to anyone who wants one.
  We do not charge for anything!
  We may appear a bit pushy sometimes but please realise that we believe our message is extremely important.
  We hear "i'm not interested" quite a bit but a lot of the time it is just a reaction. And if the right questions are posed people very ofetn ask us more questions.
  A firm (but nice) no thank you and we will be on our way.
  We mean no inconvenience and one day may be able to help you.
• Irish bloke called. He wasn't selling anything either. Just pointing out that there was moss on our roof and that some of our roof tiles were slipping.
  Moss?? So what!
  And I asked him to show me the slipped tiles. Couldn't find any that had slipped.
  His accent was neither Northern nor Southern Irish accent (have family and friends in both), so I reckon he was what is laughingly called a traveller.
• I've not got a company to add but a salesmen rang the doorbell,i ignored it,He looked through the window and held his arms out and shrugged his shoulders
  I shot to the door and gave him some verbal about 1.Ignoring my no salesman sign and worse looking through the window
  When i opened the door he was already through the gate walking away.The cheeky git said 'you could have opened the door to see what i wanted you for'
  I shouted back Can you not f***** see the sign you F**** %^&UUUUYou know what he said? I can't read i'm dyslexic
  he would not tell me who he was working for.
  *RANT OVER
• To those saying we shouldn't put charities, religion or politics in the poll. Our poll takes no value judgement. Cold calling means knocking on the door without an appointment - if that is done its cold calling.
  It is worth noting that when we did a 'spill the beans' on this asking which companies do this many of the biggest complaints were about charities, political parties and religion.
  People put signs up as they dont want disturbing.
• Safestyle UK windows, they are the worst for us, please add them.
  They call on my door about three times a year, always ignore my sign. Say they are not here to sell but to give me a free no obligation quote??? Even if I say we have no money, we are not looking to replace, whatever they still try to persuade me to let them come in and give me a quote.
  Also a roofing company, (wish I could remember their name). He said "I can see you have a no sales calls sign but I just want to offer you a free no obligation quote that you can keep safely and tidily tucked into your drawer for a year". It was the most ridiculous thing I ever heard!
  We had a door bell which didn't work and seemed to put them off as I hadn't had an unexpected call at the door (that I heard) for over six months and everyone I know, knows this and to knock instead. The OH replaced the doorbell this week, and the roof company salesperson called within 2 days. I'm tempted to take the batteries out now as I expect more!
• Scope charity! They called this morning and there was a clear sign on the door saying NO COLD CALLERS!
• I also put a sign on the door saying "NO RELIGIOUS BODIES, WE CANNOT BE SAVED!" I made the sign myself!
  This is because there was an incident about 3 weeks ago some Catholics knocked the door. I then overheard the conversation from the visitors and shouted to my partner "I need your help babe, hurry, hurry, please" sounding pained. He then said he had to go and shut the door. The Catholics were still standing there waiting for my partner to come back. They were there for 10 minutes then decided to harang someone else !! He had to tip toe around like Nicole Kidman and co-stars in The Others!!
  Before moving on they shoved some sort of leaflet and Rosary beads in the letterbox. I posted back to them, I cannot remember if I put a stamp on the envelope! MUHAHAHAHAHA!
• When I worked for betterware for a short while i was told by the coordinator to ignore the no cold callers signs as we aren't actually selling at the door or indeed knocking on the door. I presume it's the same for other catalog companies and for those pesky charity clothes bags i get every week even though I have a sign on the door.