Report: Vacuum salesmen escorted from Clover neighborhood

Nearly a dozen people selling vacuums door-to-door were escorted from a Clover neighborhood after several homeowners reported that the salespeople wouldn’t leave their homes, according to the York County Sheriff’s Office.

A homeowner on Kilbeggan Drive told deputies on Saturday that a man came to her home and was trying to sell her a Kirby vacuum, but she became suspicious when he pushed on the door to make his way into the house.

The man began pulling vacuum parts out of a cardboard box even though the owners told him they weren’t interested, according to the report. The man was asking inappropriate questions about the homeowner’s employment, work hours, travel plans and making comments about items in her home.

The woman’s husband had to carry the box of parts outside and tell the man to leave, and the salesman left in a gold-colored minivan with dark tinted windows and duct tape on one of the windows.

A sheriff’s deputy encountered the vehicle and spoke with the driver, who said she was with a group of people selling Kirby vacuums in the neighborhood. He told the woman they had received numerous complaints about the group and that they would have to leave, and she said she would comply.

The officer returned to the neighborhood an hour later after a similar incident was reported at another home on Kilbeggan Drive, the report states. He told another manager of the group that they would have to leave, and that he would follow the van to pick up every salesperson in the neighborhood.

Several homeowners told deputies the sales representatives were invited into their homes, but they became uncomfortable “with the insistence of the representative not leaving.”

One homeowner said they expected the presentation to last about 30 minutes but that the sales representative was still in the home three hours later, deputies said.

The group was escorted out of the neighborhood, at the entrance of which a “No soliciting” sign is posted.

This story was originally published April 12, 2016 at 4:19 PM with the headline "Report: Vacuum salesmen escorted from Clover neighborhood."