Cheyenne Residents Angered Over Door-To-Door Salesmen Ignoring ‘No Soliciting’ Signs

CHEYENNE — A wave of unwelcome solicitors throughout Cheyenne has begun to spark frustration among homeowners who say they would prefer to be left alone on their private property.

Cheyenne’s city code includes a section on unwanted soliciting, which states no one can conduct door-to-door business in the city without a license. Licensed solicitors may only conduct business at houses where they are invited to visit.

“No person will contact, engage in or conduct activities as a door-to-door solicitor after having been asked by the owner or occupant thereof to leave the premises or residence,” it reads. 

Despite this, members of city council say they are growing aware of complaints from residents who are becoming fed up with persistent salespeople.

Read The Sign

Cheyenne resident Daryl Orr told Cowboy State Daily he posted several signs around his house informing visitors that he does not entertain salespeople, including a sign that lights up. Despite this, Orr said he has been paid frequent visits by solicitors in recent weeks.

Orr shared a clip from his Ring doorbell last week that shows a salesman who claimed he was not selling anything, but “just wanted to watch the game with you guys.”

The solicitor then disclosed he had seen Orr's "no soliciting sign" and was actually a salesperson from Vivint Security.

These visits, Orr explained, have become a regular frustration for him and his wife.

“We’ve had these Vivint people, big broadband companies moving in and every ten minutes they’re banging on your doors,” he said of his experience with solicitors.

“We have a pretty well-lit 'no soliciting' sign on the glass of our front door, and everybody says ‘oh, we didn’t see it,’ so I ended up buying a ten or twelve-inch octagon silver sign that says ‘no trespassing,’ ‘no soliciting.’”

Orr said he contacted city Councilman Mark Moody with his concerns, who recommended he file a complaint with the city. Orr also learned calling the police can deter the most persistent solicitors with the threat of a potential trespassing fine, though he has yet to take such a step.

“If we want it, we’ll call you but stop ignoring these signs,” Orr said. “There’s a reason why we have them, we don’t want to be bothered.”

“They are a nuisance and yeah, I understand they have jobs to do and money to make but they also have to understand peoples’ privacy and rights too,” he added.

A Vivint spokesperson confirmed to Cowboy State Daily the individual in the video was one of its employees and said it had brought the video to the attention of its internal leadership.

"Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention,” a spokesperson wrote via email. "We train our sales agents to be respectful of all homeowner requests and to follow all rules and regulations around solicitation when representing our company. We have escalated these concerns to leadership and contacted our teams in the area to reinforce and ensure compliance with our policies and procedures."

Hail Damage

Several members of the Cheyenne City Council told Cowboy State Daily they themselves have been victims of repeated solicitations in the wake of last month’s severe hailstorm.

Cheyenne was among several parts of Wyoming that were pummeled with baseball-sized hail in August. Members of local vehicle and roofing repair companies were out in full force in the ensuing days seeking business from locals.

“In the city of Cheyenne one needs a permit to solicit,” Councilman Scott Roybal told Cowboy State Daily via text message. “Normally I do not hear a lot of complaints but after this last hailstorm my doorbell rang probably 20 time and literally got stopped when I was mowing my yard twice.”

Roybal added, however, he believes the local roofing companies do a good job at self-regulating to remain compliant with city soliciting rules.

“I have lived at this address for over 10 years and with excluding the last hailstorm I cannot remember the last time someone knocked on my door,” he added.

Councilman Mark Rinne said he was made aware of some residents who described being “inundated” with roofing contractor solicitations. These companies, he said, also took care to obey posted “no soliciting” signs.

“At this point, I am unaware of any planned action,” he said regarding potential intervention from city council. “The administration sent out several PSAs reminding people that contractors must be licensed in Cheyenne and to only deal with licensed contractors.”

Shut The Door

Cheyenne Resident Madori Presley told Cowboy State Daily she noticed that having a sign from another contractor in her yard was a clearer signal for solicitors to stay away than an actual “no soliciting” sign. 

“Once we had their sign, the solicitations stopped,” she said via phone. 

Madori explained her parents received even more solicitors than she had, forcing her to relocate her contractor yard sign to their house. 

Her dad is a veteran who uses oxygen and frequently leaves the house for visits to the doctor. Madori’s mom is blind, meaning that when she is left home alone, solicitors to the house can become a confusing experience for her.

“Thankfully we have the Ring [doorbell] so that when solicitors come by I can hop on and say ‘no thank you, go away,’ but it was frustrating because she could possibly answer the door and not be able to know what’s going on exactly.”

Madori said she once shut the door on a solicitor while visiting her parents’ house, only for them to ring the doorbell a moment later. Friends of hers who display “no soliciting” signs outside their homes have experienced similar outcomes from salespeople, she said.

While the annoyances haven’t become severe enough to warrant a complaint to city council, Presley said she still isn’t pleased with the frequent visitors who came “almost every day” throughout August.

“I’m basically going to tell them all to go away and to F off,” she said. “An ‘if I need you, I’ll call you’ type of deal.”

One contractor, Presley said, asked her to sign a document which they claimed would allow them to obtain estimates from her insurance company. The contractor, she said, assured her it was not a contract.

“I should have known better, but I signed it and then found out a few days later it was an actual contract,” she said. “I ended up getting it all sorted, but I wasn’t too happy about the fraudulent, misleading wording of things.”

While she acknowledged that local businesses need to make a living, Presley said she wishes they would take a less aggressive approach to drumming up business. Leaving flyers in the mailbox or reaching out via phone, she said, would be more preferable options for her.

“Let the customer come to you,” she said. “Maybe they could put signs out in more public spaces rather than private property.”

Jackson Walker can be reached at walker@cowboystatedaily.com.