Letter to the editor: Beware door-to-door sales

On Wednesday, Aug. 16, a young, seemingly likable, fast-talking fellow knocked on our door to pitch his pest control services. My wife and I listened for a short while and I went back indoors since I was busy. He kept talking to my wife and wanted to quickly check our shed for signs of pests.

Later, my wife mentioned she had made an appointment for him to come back on Thursday, assuming it was for a more detailed discussion about whether to sign up for the services. To make that appointment, he asked her to sign and initial a form on his smart phone. It was in very small print and my wife felt sort of rushed to sign. She felt he seemed trustworthy. A few hours later, we were surprised to get an email copy of an annual contract, with the “appointment” on Thursday to be the initial service.

There is a Federal Trade Commission rule allowing up to three days for a customer to cancel a door-to-door sale: consumer.ftc.gov/articles/buyers-remorse-ftcs-cooling-rule-may-help.

I immediately emailed the salesman and gave notice of cancellation. The next morning, we got a voicemail from him saying we did not have any right to cancel, which was untrue. Based on FTC recommendations, I quickly sent a cancellation letter by certified mail that day.

After two further phone calls, he finally agreed we could cancel but only because he hadn’t had my wife initial a clause which would have waived our right to the FTC rules! Based on his initial position that we couldn’t cancel, I firmly believe that was an oversight and that he normally would have asked to “initial here” during his pitch.

Had that clause been initiated, any cancellation would have cost us a minimum of $206.96 up to a maximum of $417.96 based on how the fine print of the contract read.

Online reviews of the company are pretty dismal, too.

Lesson learned: Don’t sign what you haven’t had a chance to read.

Steve Spencer

La Conner