Roofing contractor ringing doorbell at night?

Wondering if anyone has experienced this as well in the neighborhood lately...

Tonight while we were eating dinner around 5:40pm, a man in a ski cap and dark jacket, both with a company logo that said POWER something-or-other, rang our doorbell. We debated even opening the door as it was a stranger at night, but since my husband and I were both there, I decided to answer the door.

The man said his roofing company was doing a roof renovation down the street (pointing towards neighbors' homes on LeFevre Drive Inn) and spoke very quickly asking "And have you seen the white streaking on your black roof shingles? I have my guys in the area all week and we want to know when is a good time for us to come back this week to give you an estimate that way if something goes wrong with your roof you'll already have an estimate."

The whole situation was striking me as very odd, so I declined the estimate and he shook my hand and said "Well my guys will be in the area all week, and they will be wearing the same shirt as me [holding out his shirt where the logo is] so if you have any questions you can ask them and they will take care of you." He then left on foot down the street (no company truck in sight, or anything).

During this whole convo, my dog was barking like crazy from within the house, and the man asked "Is that just one dog, or two?"

Strange, no? What roofing company goes door to door? And at night?

Thoughts?? Thanks in advance.

 

Yes, I did. Thank you.

 

I'd be VERY leery of these folks especially when they knock at night AND asking a pointed question about number of dogs in house.

Ya did the right thing in calling the sheriff's office to report it.

 

Did you confirm with the neighbor that they were working on their house? The answer to that question will probably tell you if this guy was legit.

 

AND did they register with Loudoun County - they're supposed to have a visible permit

 

I am all for safety... however, it may be dark but 5:40 is not "night". Sounds like this guy was probably legit and trying to trump up more business, nothing wrong with that. As Cliff posted, it is easy enough to find out by checking with your neighbor.

 

Hmmm.... A guy matching that description knocked on my door yesterday afternoon saying he was representing a window replacement company and that they would do a free window inspection. He wasn't carrying any brochures and I didn't see any company vehicle. Also, the idea of a "window inspection" sounds fishy. When he walked away I watched until he was out of sight and he passed 5 houses without stopping, which is very unlike a salesman.

 

There have been no roofing contractors in sight anywhere near my home since the incident... even though the man who rang my bell said that "his guys" would be around "all week" ... so this leads me to believe my gut feeling that this was sketchy was correct.

The police officer that came to speak with me about the incident said that "there has been roofing work" in the area lately and that the man may have been trying to drum up work due to the difficult economic times... he said there have not been any burglaries in the area for a while, but if someone new comes into town you never know.

Like with Twriter's experience, the fact that the man didn't stop at any nearby houses after ours (as I watched him walk away) is counter-intuitive to the officer's theory (which could have been more reassurance than theory).

Twriter - Your experience with the "window estimate" sounds very similar to ours. You may want to call the non-emergency police # to let them know so that they can start tracking the pattern to this activity.

You should all read The Gift of Fear book by Gavin De Becker, if you haven't already. Gut feelings are to be given credence!

 

Power Windows and Siding perhaps -- they are a shady company -- there is another thread on here about them .. stay away.