PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. — Neighbors in several Paulding County communities say they are concerned about the aggressive tactics being used by some door-to-door dealers trying to sell children's books.
Deputies say the sales people are showing up late at night, and have resident's personal information.
"It is illegal and we actually have issued a few citations to these folks. Our citizens don't want this, especially the tactics they are using," said Cpl. Ashley Henson, with the Paulding County Sheriff's Office.
"He has visited every house in this neighborhood. I know one house he visited three times," said Amy Anderson, a concerned neighbor living in a subdivision in Northern Paulding County.
Anderson is one of more than a dozen people who posted on a neighborhood Facebook page with concerns about the door to door sales people selling children's books. She says one salesman even knew the names of kids in her neighborhood.
"It is unsafe the way he is using our children's names and their ages," Anderson said.
"I told him he was not supposed to be in the neighborhood. I'm not interested, he is very pushy and I just had to shut the door on him and call Paulding County," said Karmen Thornton, another neighbor.
"Going door to door asking questions about people's families and children -- that's where you draw the line," Thornton said.
The Paulding County Sheriff's Office says they've gotten many complaints and say the sales people are reportedly college students who work for Southwestern Advantage, an education company out of Tennessee.
Channel 2 Action News spoke with a student over the phone who says he is just trying to help families with their education needs.
"We want to be welcomed into the Atlanta community and take any complaints very seriously. The students are independent contracts and they make their own hours. We tell our students to respect homeowners' privacy," said Trey Campbell, communication director at Southwestern Advantage. Campbell added the company has been around for more than 150 years and has a stellar BBB record.
"Because they sell educational products to families with children, they are actively seeking to skip the homes of those who would not be prospects for the products. Typically, they do know some information about a family prior to knocking from the lead given to them by a friend, family member or neighbor," Campbell added in an email to Channel 2's Rachel Stockman.
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