Yesterday afternoon I was approached on my front porch by a young man trying to sell security systems. He worked for a company named APX. He looked to have proper Pittsburgh "Peddler" credentials hanging from a lanyard round his neck, but he was a very pushy man. He asked lots of personal questions, made many comments that left me feeling uneasy (upon noticing my jogging stroller: "I see you have children here. Don't you worry about having children in a house without a reliable security system?"), would not take his materials back which he'd handed me at the onset until he'd finished his whole spiel (I finally just laid them on the porch floor), and generally made me feel very uncomfortable. I jokingly said to a friend later, "He made me feel like he was casing the joint." She had had a similar experience and finally ordered him off her property in no uncertain terms. Another HP neighbor mentioned that perhaps this company was who was marking houses in the neighborhood - sure enough, I wandered around a bit after discovered a little red crayoned/grease-pencilled X right by my front steps. There were several houses marked like so. I have no proof that this company is who is marking, or that it's anything more sinister than a simple way to let other salespeople from the same company know that this homeowner had already been approached. BUT it left me with a distinctly creepy feeling. I did not call the police; perhaps I should have. But I did do some research on APX Security, and they have a reputation nationwide for this sort of aggressive sales pitch. I found customer complaints from, among others, Maryland, Utah, and North Carolina. Locally, their solicitation permit has been revoked in Carnegie, and also in Mount Lebanon. (See following Mt Lebo blog entry: http://bloglebo.blogspot.com/2008/07/warning-regarding-apx-alarm-company.htm...) Here is the Better Business Bureau report on this company (national branch): http://www.bbb.org/utah/business-reviews/security-control-equipment-supplier... I didn't want to cause a panic, but this company has an unsavory reputation, and as I said, the salesman left me feeling distinctly uneasy. Do with this info what you will, but it seemed best to share my issues with the list, just in case anyone else has had similar experiences. Thanks, Val Sweeney N Euclid Ave.