- Jul 1, 2011
- 602
- 7
- 121
This happened a year ago to me, but worthy of sharing:
A knock at the door. A guy is standing there in a uniform, saying he's from my insurance company (gave the name of it) and needed to take a few measurements of the inside of the house and backyard. First he asked me to put the dogs in the back yard or kenneled up. Katie my mellow black lab is abnormally aggressive, barking so hard that foam is flying from her mouth. She is literally jumping straigth up from a standing position. I have to literally wrestle her to the back yard. The steel burgerproof screen on the front door is locked when I answer the door and remains to be so as I move Katie and Leaha outside.
He is not wearing an nametag, but is carrying a clipboard, the kind which opens to store papers and clips materials on the outside. I ask where his nametag is, and he acted surprised, as if he forgot it. He smiles sheepishly and opens the clipboard to shift through papers, and says that it won't take long, can he show me inside the house? I ask to see his licence, his work order. Excuses. He presses on, saying that this was a rush because it was overlooked, and all information must be processed before the end of the day, or the Insurance company will not honor it. He is not fidgeting, not looking around, nothing in his body language is raising red flags, including not being overly concerned about the dogs once outside. I was thinking that normally, a person would be jittery after that...
Keeping the screen locked, I look to the street and see no car parked that isn't familiar. He presses with charm; he really wants to help get this done so I won't have to worry. The dogs are still barking, so I use it as an excuse to check on them first. He turns the handle, not knowing it is locked and says he will wait inside. When he comments that it is locked, I'm walking away towards the back pretending I can't hear him and take out my cell phone. Call my neighbor who isn't home, call my insurance company (listed on the phone, get the machine) and go back to the door. Ask him to give me the phone number of the insurance company so I can verify it instead of looking through my paperwork (I lied to see if he had it). Again with the papershuffling. So I was honest, and said I didn't feel comfortable letting him in. Closed the inside door as he was talking.
I went to the window and watched him walk down the street to a beat up car. Couldn't see the licence, but had the description of both car and him. Called immediately again first my insurance company, and this time got a live person whon said that by law, they have to give 24 hours notice to me first, and would NEVER just send anyone out, and no they did not do this. Then I called the police, gave them all the information.
Good dogs!
A knock at the door. A guy is standing there in a uniform, saying he's from my insurance company (gave the name of it) and needed to take a few measurements of the inside of the house and backyard. First he asked me to put the dogs in the back yard or kenneled up. Katie my mellow black lab is abnormally aggressive, barking so hard that foam is flying from her mouth. She is literally jumping straigth up from a standing position. I have to literally wrestle her to the back yard. The steel burgerproof screen on the front door is locked when I answer the door and remains to be so as I move Katie and Leaha outside.
He is not wearing an nametag, but is carrying a clipboard, the kind which opens to store papers and clips materials on the outside. I ask where his nametag is, and he acted surprised, as if he forgot it. He smiles sheepishly and opens the clipboard to shift through papers, and says that it won't take long, can he show me inside the house? I ask to see his licence, his work order. Excuses. He presses on, saying that this was a rush because it was overlooked, and all information must be processed before the end of the day, or the Insurance company will not honor it. He is not fidgeting, not looking around, nothing in his body language is raising red flags, including not being overly concerned about the dogs once outside. I was thinking that normally, a person would be jittery after that...
Keeping the screen locked, I look to the street and see no car parked that isn't familiar. He presses with charm; he really wants to help get this done so I won't have to worry. The dogs are still barking, so I use it as an excuse to check on them first. He turns the handle, not knowing it is locked and says he will wait inside. When he comments that it is locked, I'm walking away towards the back pretending I can't hear him and take out my cell phone. Call my neighbor who isn't home, call my insurance company (listed on the phone, get the machine) and go back to the door. Ask him to give me the phone number of the insurance company so I can verify it instead of looking through my paperwork (I lied to see if he had it). Again with the papershuffling. So I was honest, and said I didn't feel comfortable letting him in. Closed the inside door as he was talking.
I went to the window and watched him walk down the street to a beat up car. Couldn't see the licence, but had the description of both car and him. Called immediately again first my insurance company, and this time got a live person whon said that by law, they have to give 24 hours notice to me first, and would NEVER just send anyone out, and no they did not do this. Then I called the police, gave them all the information.
Good dogs!
