Telemarketing combined with door to door?

I discovered a worrying and very annoying trend, that telemarketing is being combined with door to door sales. I searched on the net and can't find anything about it.

I discovered this only after I changed over to VOIP and the telemarketing guys can't really get to me. All they can get is to my voicemail if I allow them. But then they find something else to get to me!

First somebody called from a local number. I answered the phone but they hang up. Soon, but not immediate, somebody knock on my door. Obviously, it dawned on me that they called to make sure somebody is home to answer the door! However, I would think this is some desperate local business promotion. They have my phone number and my address because I once patronized them. So it's legal to call me. Of course it's legal to hang up, especially I don't know who hang up on me. Still, these business hire some marketing company to do the dirty work and risk annoying their local customers.

Now the others are big guys like solar, energy, windows. They sent a whole team to "invade" whole neighbourhoods. They drop off truck loads of mostly out of work but presentable people on a neighbourhood in day time, and then pick them up at sunset. How do they use the telephone?

No, they don't worry nobody answers the door. They have time, the whole day. They want to make sure that you are not at home! They already know that the "decision maker" blocked them one way or the other, either telemarketing or door to door. They watch you until you went to work. Then they call to see if the wife or somebody other than the decision maker is at home to gain entry. This is evil.

I have received calls at home when I worked at home in those days, but at a time just when I was out!

It's absolutely not tinfoil that they watch me. They just do. Once there was a farm promotion. I told the door to door guy that I don't deal with grocery and my wife is not around. When my wife return home and parked the car on the driveway, the guy soon knock on the door. But I don't think they sit in a car watching like a PI. They drive around or walk around in the neighbourhood and made sure that they visit my wife when she returns before sunset.

The best defence against door to door is a security cam. They don't seem to like it. If you have those cheap ones with blinking led's and able to turn around and pick up sound. They will probably leave you alone in the 1st place because you wouldn't need to go to the door and have plenty of time to decide not to open the door for bullshit. Our house is full of windows and it's impolite not to open the door to told them to go away when they see you near the windows.

But then even neighbour kids are nervous to come to your door when they know that you have a security cam.