Warm weather is here, so be careful of con artists who prey on homeowners, especially senior citizens.
Con artists may show up at your door offering a variety of products and services from household cleaners to magazines and from tree trimming to roof repair. Some may offer to pave your driveway with leftover materials from a previous job, mow your lawn, or remodel your home for a low price.
Often, these fly-by-night operators may drive vehicles with out of state license plates, or set up temporary offices from which they can move quickly.
Before paying money to anyone using this type of approach, and especially before letting an unknown individual into your home, the BBB suggests that you do the following:
- Get the name and address of the company the person allegedly represents. If the person does not represent the known business and the circumstances suggest an itinerant contractor or sales representative, ask for references and contact each one.
-
Get all details of the offer in writing and carefully review it. Make sure you understand everything in the contract. Any verbal promises should be included in the contract.
-
Make sure the salesperson has provided you with the proper "notice of cancellation" form as required under the FTC's "Three Day Cooling Off Rule" for contracts signed in the home.
-
Verify that the contractor is properly licensed, bonded and insured. Also verify if there are any ordinances that prohibit door to door solicitations in your area. Sulphur and Lake Charles have ordinances in the city limits that prohibit most door to door solicitations.
-
If you have checked references and the company's reputation, and decided to hire the company, make the check payable to the company and not to the salesperson or other individual's name. Do not pay in cash.
A legitimate company that wants your business will allow you time to check them out. Don't fall prey to high pressure tactics such as "this is the only chance you have" or "by tomorrow the extra materials will be gone."
The city ordinance for the City of Lake Charles is below and was obtained from the Lake Charles City Licensing Department.
Lake Charles City License and Regulations
Sec. 12-37. Solicitors, pollsters, itinerant vendors – Going uninvited on private premises.
(a) The practice of going to or upon private premises in the city by solicitors, opinion surveyors, itinerant vendors, or other sellers of merchandise or services not having been requested or invited to do so by the owner or occupant thereof for the purpose of soliciting orders for the sale or exchange of goods or services, or disposing of or peddling the same, or the soliciting of information, or conducting polls or surveys, is declared to be a nuisance and punishable as a misdemeanor.
(b) The provisions of this section shall not apply to church surveys or governmental surveys in which no solicitation of any donation, contribution, or payment is made, and which are restricted to single visits to the main entrance of any premises and conducted entirely between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.
(c) The provisions of this section shall not apply to solicitations made for non-profit charitable, religious or philanthropic purposes by non-profit organizations, provided that the organization first secures a permit from the office of the director of finance so that the public will be apprised of the nature and purpose of the solicitation.
(Ord. No. 8471, § 1, 6-3-87; Ord. No. 11002, § 1, 5-7-97)