9OYS Investigation
Neighbors piece together puzzle of a door-to-door sales pitch
Reporter: Jennifer Waddell
Web Producer: Mekita Rivas
TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - Palo Verde neighbors contacted 9 On Your Side to let us know about something that didn't seem quite right.
"Two women -- (with) uniforms, patches -- were telling us they were there to swap out a panel for their alarm," said Kat Robey. "Of course red flags are going off in my head."
Robey and others were approached by convincing door-to-door marketers pressuring them for business.
Robey and her neighbors immediately knew it didn't seem right when they couldn't get much contact information.
"They had ball caps on, perhaps associated with GE," said Candice Filipek. "There were no cards, no information, so that right there puts you on your guard."
So Robey contacted her alarm provider who told her to beware of the bogus scheme.
"What they're doing is getting you into a new panel, (a) new system, which will then have new charges because you'll be under contract with them," Robey said.
This information didn't align with what the sales people had said -- they claimed their services would be "absolutely free," Robey said.
9 On Your Side went to TPD and found out that while GE Honeywell is a legitimate company, their tactics aren't so much.
"They wanted to go around the neighborhoods selling alarms, using less than honest tactics to do it," said Tammie Thomas, community resource officer.
Although Thomas said there isn't necessarily a criminal component to what they're doing, it's best to not let these people into your home.
"There are are thieves who jump on the coattails and get into houses, which they have in the past," Thoms said.
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