Am I paranoid?

All right, I need some input (I know, I'm opening myself up here, but here goes):

Around 4:15pm this guy appears at my door. Doesn't ring the bell, but I find him there because my dog is going crazy and I have a full glass front door (see-through). I open it to see what he wants. He has an "Orkin" shirt on and tells me he's signing people up for pest service, both inside and outside the house. He says he's discounting it in the next few days, but he's very vague on both details and a potential price. He needs to know how many baths I have (?) for whatever reason, then says it'll be about $160-$170 for the service. I thank him and tell him I'm broke-as a courtesy ask for his number or card if I change my mind. He says he's all out of cards, but my neighbor "Bob" signed up for the service, and has his number. Okay no big deal.

A few minutes later I leave-no Orkin truck anywhere-I have no idea where this guy came from.

Come home around 6:30pm and am putting away groceries. Look out my front window and he's in my front yard writing something down (this is 2 full hours after he'd been by). I start to get creeped out. He then goes over the my neighbor 2 doors down and starts knocking. No answer, and he's walking around their front yard writing stuff down. I finally called the Sheriff's Office (non-emergency number) to ask them to check him out.

Now I feel like a paranoid idiot, and am kind of feeling bad for the guy that is most likely just trying to make a living. Did I completely overreact? What would you people have done?

 

he's the guy who goes house to house and dumps termites around your foundation.... then they come back in a couple weeks! 8)

j/k

 

Never doubt yourself -- especially when it comes to issues of safety and security. I'd rather be safe than sorry or embarrassed later than sorry! It's astute observations such as yours about things going on in the neighborhood that are good to hear about it.

Sometimes I think we've all become too blase about things going on. By your description it does sound kind of unusual but I think you did the right thing in informing the local sheriff as he was not displaying an id badge or had any business cards or other means of validating that he's who he says he was.

Did you ever hear any additional feedback from the sheriff or any neighbors?

 

The whole thing sounds suspicious. Someone that does not have a business card or an ID? ...seems pretty suspicious to me.
He referred to "Your neighbor "Bob""?
That is weird I hope he doesn't come up our way.
You are not paranoid. He sounds just plain weird/scary.
I would have called the police too.

 

The "Orkin" man was around the SOuthernwalk area last week.

 

Mdcrim, I think you did the right thing also. I'm sure we have all heard the same horror stories about "salesman" coming to the door and it turns out to be someone "caseing" your house. I agree, if they don't have credentials they shouldn't be selling door to door. I'll see how/if the HOA can do anything about this. We too had a young blonde stop by saying our neighbor had just signed up. I think you did the right thing.

 

We had someone stop by last week also, but the company was not Orkin, even thought the description sounds similar. Told him we just hired a company and he went on his merry way. Did not pay any more attention to him however, I was busy not cleaning my house.

Marianne

 

Thanks for the input. I am pretty sure that in Loudoun County solicitors are required to be registered with the Sheriff's Office. I think they're then given some sort of credentials to wear around their neck for proof of their registration.

I don't think I would have given this incident a second thought if he had gone on his merry way, but the fact that he didn't make it out of the cul-de-sac, or even out of my yard, in over 2 hours is what skeezed me out.

Oh, the guy was blond but probably 40-45. Weird teeth. Balding.

 

An Orkin guy came to my door also. He was a young dark-haired guy and no truck in site. I called Orkin directly (703)323-5700 to find out if they send salespeople door-to-door. They do and many are college students, etc. The truck may not be visible because it is somewhere else in the neighborhood. By canvassing the neighborhood, they can offer a discount. Right now they are looking for spiders. The manager did attempt some scare tactics by kind of telling me we would eventually have an infestation of spiders in the walls, behind the dishwasher, and around any water sources. Maybe this is true but I'm not ready to start a big ($$$)extermination project....

If someone comes to your door, you can call the number above, press 2, and ask to speak to a manager. They can confirm the person is legit. and if you have a complaint, deal with it.

 

Speaking of pest control. We had a major infestation of carpenter ants this spring, and usually have cricket problems in the late summer/fall and mice in the winter.
We tried battling the ants ourselves, but were unsuccessful and called in the experts. We used Superior. They come out quarterly and charge $85 per service. If the problem persists or if you have any problems between visits, there's no charge. We had them out 4 times before the ants were finally under control.
$340 a year seemes to be a decent value for no bug/pest worries.