A day following door-to-door sales people blanketing the Crestview area of Snoqualmie Ridge selling vacuum cleaners and asking to enter homes, and a TV news report about the solicitors described as “odd and extremely pushy,” the City of Snoqualmie is reminding 
residents to check solicitors’ credentials.
According to a city press release, “All door-to-door solicitation companies within city limits must have an active City of Snoqualmie temporary, door-to-door business license. Solicitors must wear a badge issued by the City of Snoqualmie, which provides the name of the solicitor, the business license number, and the license expiration date.”
The city, though, stated that some legitimate solicitors “unintentionally neglect to obtain licenses and badges” and they should be directed to contact the City of Snoqualmie at 425.888.1555.
The city also asks residents to call 911 to report and/or request immediate response from police if they answer the door to a solicitor who is unwilling to present a copy of their business license and badge – or for anyone who causes concern.
Residents can also call City Hall at 425.888.1555 to find out if someone has a legitimate license. However, the solicitor should be wearing a city-issued badge.
Joan Pliego, Snoqualmie Public Information Officer, encourages citizens to contact the City of Snoqualmie directly about city business or public safety matters.
Living Snoqualmie was contacted by multiple readers regarding the salespeople in the area on Monday, November 17, 2014.
Snoqualmie Police Captain Nick Almquist explained that officers responded and spoke with each solicitor on Monday, none of whom had city business licenses.
After the initial contact, Almquist said via email, “The driver picked them up in a van and they were followed onto I90 towards Seattle.”
Some homeowners in the Crestview area were still on edge, saying that the sales people were outlet late at night and back in the area on Tuesday.
City Public Information Officer Pliego stated, “We [city] would put out a notice via email and social media if we knew of any imminent danger.”
Comments
And I have one of the solicitor’s ID and license.
Heads up they were in Historic Snoqualmie today. I saw them down the street near 85th off of 384th. Same van too. I had to go to work and told me older daughter not to answer the door.
My college son responded to an ad recruiting “customer support” people, and attended training at a Kirby vacuum cleaner distributor in Redmond, for one of their new independent dealers in Fall City. Near the end of training he left when it became clear that the job was for commissioned door-to-door sales role, no pre-qualified leads (ie, cold-calling role), and overly aggressive sales tactics. Shortly after that, the Fall City community online forum was alive with a conversation thread about suspicious teens ringing their door bells, fearful they were casing for robberies. It sounds like this Fall City Kirby dealer has expanded their coverage to Snoqualmie, and from what I hear they should already know that the city requires a license/permit for that.
The good news: this is a legit business, not a criminal activity, and they exclusively recruit teens (preferably college kids) who are extra hungry to make some money for meager lives, ie, they are typically good kids who are fooled by their trainers into thinking they can reach a 5-6 figure income in less than a year…if they only follow the “recipe” of proven tactics. Dealers recruit & train 4-8 of these kids to fill each van, dump them off in the morning in a neighborhood, then pick them up in the afternoon.
Also, the Kirby product is very good, and you get a free room cleaning.
The bad news is that these sales kids are trained to be overly aggressive with proven techniques for getting past your front door to demonstrate their product and get you to sign their sales agreement., the product is way overpriced (IMO), and 80-90% of these kids are “fired” in a month for not making their steep quotas so it’s not a fruitful pursuit for them. And, of course, the quite reasonable suspicion of home owners these days that these kids are up to no good, especially when they don’t have a prominently displayed city permit (not required in unincorporated KC).
If you’re not interested in a vacuum cleaner that can be used to spray paint (!), shampoo, blow leaves, etc, and is priced like a Ferrari, then be firm about your “no” at the door, or else don’t answer the knock.
its the Kirby sales people…they have been out here in yelm for the past 6 years that I know of. They are jerks, ignore no soliciting signs, rude, pushy…they always have the van driver that drops off several sales people in an area. And unless you really do want a Kirby, don’t let them clean your carpet, cause they stay for hours…and don’t care if it’s dinner time or you have company coming etc .
They are up on the Ridge today. Just had one on Kinsey St.