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A few days ago my wife told me about some college student selling textbooks to help with school studies, and that he's coming back to talk with me. Sure enough, last night, he came back. The product is a set of textbooks to help students study, along with a 1 month subscription to their site...4 books would cost $420.
These people use a lot of social engineering to establish a rapport: bringing up neighbors' input, getting kids interested to apply more pressure to the parents, showing family pictures, sob stories about coming from a big family and struggling as the classic starving college student, handwritten testimonials, etc.
I said NO for a variety of reasons. First, I'm not ready to hand someone a check for *anything* without researching first. Second, we budget, so the money isn't even there. Third, I never give in to the Today Only mode of selling. Fourth, I don't trust giving money to a person I don't know peddling stuff regardless of purported ID badges.
Please beware of these, and all door to door vendors. In my case, the company was Southwestern Advantage. There is a lot of information online about this company; I'll leave it to the reader to do their own research and reach their own conclusions.
Finally, keeping safety in mind, do not allow these people or any vendors into your house. I allowed the brief sales pitch to occur on my front porch (with plenty of mosquitoes to expedite the interaction).
These people use a lot of social engineering to establish a rapport: bringing up neighbors' input, getting kids interested to apply more pressure to the parents, showing family pictures, sob stories about coming from a big family and struggling as the classic starving college student, handwritten testimonials, etc.
I said NO for a variety of reasons. First, I'm not ready to hand someone a check for *anything* without researching first. Second, we budget, so the money isn't even there. Third, I never give in to the Today Only mode of selling. Fourth, I don't trust giving money to a person I don't know peddling stuff regardless of purported ID badges.
Please beware of these, and all door to door vendors. In my case, the company was Southwestern Advantage. There is a lot of information online about this company; I'll leave it to the reader to do their own research and reach their own conclusions.
Finally, keeping safety in mind, do not allow these people or any vendors into your house. I allowed the brief sales pitch to occur on my front porch (with plenty of mosquitoes to expedite the interaction).
All worked out well. I was pleased with the work and the cost and nothing bad happened.
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