Crime Prevention Tips
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Video from Phoenix Law Enforcement Association about unsafe conditions in many Phoenix night clubs.
Door-to-Door Sales
Home Improvement and Repair Scams:
Purchasing merchandise from a door-to-door solicitor may be convenient, but it is risky to invite a stranger into your home. Likewise, contracting for home repairs with a person who solicits this work by knocking on your door is often unwise.
Door-to-Door Sales
In many cases, door-to-door salespeople use fraudulent or high-pressure tactics to sell you something you do not want or need. You are under absolutely no obligation to allow a salesperson to enter your home.
Arizona's Home Solicitations and Referral Sales Act applies when payment for the merchandise purchased during a door-to-door sale involves installment payments. The law provides for a three-day "cooling off" period that allows consumers to cancel installment contracts within three days of signing them. Federal law also provides some protections for credit or cash transactions of $25 or more initiated through face-to-face contact (like door-to-door sales) away from the seller's regular place of business.
Home Improvements:
Under Arizona law, contractors who perform residential and commercial remodeling where the material and labor cost $750 or more or where a permit is required must be licensed and bonded.
Red Flags:
- Salespeople who say they are taking a survey or that you have just won a prize.
- Salespeople who use high-pressure tactics and don't want to give you time to make up your mind.
- Salespeople who drop by unannounced, claiming you made an appointment.
- Salespeople who suggest they are affiliated with the government.
- Salespeople offering low-cost services or "free" inspections. Do not invite them ino your home.
- Repair people who drop by and tell you "we just happened to be working in your neighborhood and have time to fix your house," or "we have been working in your neighborhood and have leftover supplies we'd like to use up."
- Repair people who cannot provide a local address or telephone number.
- Repair people who cannot provide you with their contractor's license number.
Protect Yourself
- Do not let a stranger into your home. Talk outside or through a security screen door. If you want the salesperson to come back for a more extensive presentation, make sure a friend or family member is with you. It is not rude to refust a sales presentation.
- Get the address and phone number of the company and the credentials of the sales representative before making a purchase.
- Remember that installment payment plans on products sold door to door usually charge high interest rates.
- Do not be rushed into a purchase decision, no matter how attractive the deal sounds.
- If the sale is not conducted in English, the documents should be in the same language.
- Read all contracts carefully and don't sign if you don't understand them or if there are blanks left in the contract. Keep a copy of any signed contract.
- Arizona law allows a purchaser three business days to cancel a home solicitiation sales purchase involving installment payments. Sometimes, the product is not delivered until after the three-day "colling off" period has expired. The delivery date of the product does not extend the three-day cancellation period. Do not rely too heavily on the three-day cancellation period for protection.
- When getting home repairs, shop around - get more than one repair estimate and two or more references.
- Verify the contractor's license with the Arizona Registrar of Contractors before signing a contract and request copies of his or her license, bond, insurance policy and warranty.
- Do not be rushed into hiring a contractor because you are told the repair "is an emergency" or that your problem "is in violation of city code."