All doors are shut to alarm company sales people

A security system company that sells door-to-door no longer has a market in Carson City, after residents complained to the sheriff that sales people were a little too pushy to enter homes.

The solicitation permits for APX Alarm, of Provo, Utah, were denied Friday after residents flooded the sheriff's office with complaints this week.

Sheriff Kenny Furlong said Friday that 18 alarm sales people were working in Carson City this week before their solicitation permits and business permit had cleared.

"I think they were falsely representing their company," he said. "They were being overly aggressive with our residents, and I chose to revoke all the solicitors' permits, which causes them to lose their ability to go door-to-door."

Furlong said callers complained the sale people were "overly persistent" to get inside homes. He said the office received 15 complaints on Thursday. An APX official said it was his sales people that were harassed by the sheriff's department.

"It seems the only people harassed here are our employees, most of whom are college students working their way through school," said Alex Dunn, APX Alarm vice president of business development.

Furlong said his name was even brought into the sales pitch.

"There was a complaint that they were representing that I had purchased the product, which is not true," the sheriff said.

Furlong said it's unusual to deny solicitation permits even before they've been issued. If any APX sales people continue to operate in Carson City, they will be cited.

Dunn said all company sales people were pulled from Carson City after receiving the sheriff's call Friday afternoon.

"We're happy to remedy any situations we hear about, but the sheriff wouldn't allow that," he said.

APX operates in 37 states and is expected to install 100,000 home security systems nationwide. Dunn said the company has about 60 customers in Carson City and the sheriff's action is denying more Carson City residents access to its security system.

• Contact reporter Becky Bosshart at bbosshart@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.