Door-knockers not aggressive: Sales firm

The Good Guys. Photo / Supplied

A door-to-door sales company says it's helping people in Rotorua rather than harassing them.

A campaign was recently launched in which households can put up "Do Not Knock" stickers outside to deter salespeople. Local organisations said vulnerable people were being pressured into buying products and signing long-term contracts.

But The Good Guys say it offers residents an opportunity to buy products they need that they would not have been able to afford otherwise. The company has 700 customers on its database within the Rotorua district, with nearly all of them repeat customers, general manager Nyree Anderson said.

"The obvious advantage is that people don't have to use transport. There are some customers that live in quite outlying areas, our salesperson travels to Whakatane and Opotiki," she said.

"There are two salespeople in the Rotorua area and I don't think either of them fall into [the aggressive seller] category at all.

"The majority of people are really happy to see us; if we get resistance, we just walk away, we know that there are enough people out there who are interested. There are people who are wanting to have that opportunity offered to them. I'm all for the stickers; if people don't want that that's fine, it's the same as the 'No flyers', on the letterboxes, it sends the same message."

Ms Anderson said her company offered products such as towels, sheets and clothes that some people could not otherwise afford.

"We do have some customer interest from low-income earners because they don't have the ready cash but we also have a lot of mid-income earners as well."

Readers on the Rotorua Daily Post Facebook page shared their stories of sellers. Some mentioned the company Home Direct.

Home Direct executive chairman Michael Wright said his company was not a door-to-door operation. Most of its sales were made through appointments requested by customers through its call centre or website.

"As part of their day-to-day activity, our staff will also sometimes be waved down by members of the community and an appointment made for a later time," Mr Wright said.

"Home Direct's business practices are very clear in this regard, and our staff will only approach members of the community when invited or welcomed."

It strictly complied with legislation and 95 per cent of its clients were repeat customers.