people preying on my granny

Becles

Sorry to hear that.

Similar was happening to my Gran and she was paying hundereds of pounds to people who knocked on the door and told her rubbish like her chimney was about to fall down and she needed special paint on her roof tiles as they were about to start leaking.

She was starting to struggle with the house anyway and being preyed on by rougue tradesmen got her a lot of points on an application to move into a sheltered accomodation flat.

Might not be relevant now, but thought I'd mention it in case you want to use that at a later date.

Hope you manage to get something sorted out. It's awful when they pick on vunerable people.

hollydays

Could you find a reliable local tradesman and get him to build up a relationship with her so that she always knows she could ring him if anyone suggested she needed work doing.Perhaps he could have a thorough check of her property now to establish what does and doesnt need doing.same with local gardener.TAlso she might listen to their warnings rather than yours .Trading standards have a site called trusted trader

Evilm

Watchdog had a piece on one of these guys.. perhaps its worth contacting them?

sophisticat

tanith wrote: »

See if there is a neighbourhood watch in your grans area, if so contact them and ask if they have stickers or could regularly knock at your grans to put people off...or just ask if she has had callers..

You can also get No Cold Calling Zones set up - although the unscrupulous b*******s will probably ignore them...

savemoney

£700 ouch if its small tree/shrub fairly easy to remove granted she cant remove it

I think age concern have a list of approved traders might be worth baring in mind for her when she needs odd job

google "age concern traders" and its mentioned various traders in different counties

WhiteHorse

tanith wrote:

To be honest I think that once a unscrupulous sales person gets money out of a vulnerable person they pass the details on to all their mates... and then the hoards descend..

This is not as far fetched as it seems. Once a local wide boy has been down the pub bragging about how much he got out of the little old lady at No 26, word gets round fast.

Ideally, they should be greeted at the door by a couple of burly sons.

Patiolove

I know this is probably a bit daft but does she have to answer the door? I'm serious its shocking the amount of door-to-door we get round here and I don't answer. Anyone that knows us (milk man, postie and window cleaner included) all know to knock lightly on my window?

Good luck what rotten B@£$%^& there are out there. Praying on the old got to be one of the sickest crimes.

heretolearn_2

Has she got a spyhole thing in the door. She shouldn't open the door to anyone she isn't expecting. Problem solved.

Soubrette

My elderly neighbour in her 70s was out mowing the grass one year (while I was lying in upstairs in bed ) and I could hear someone talking to her...and talking to her...and talking to her. After about 20 mins of listening to a louder voice and her voice I decided to do a spot of gardening of my. I actually thought it might be Jehovah's Witnesses (sorry guys:o) who weren't taking no for an answer although I couldn't actually here the words.

I thought that if it turned out to be a friend who just happened to have a loud voice, I'd do a bit of weeding and then go back inside.

It actually turned out to be a gardener offering to cut our bushy boundary plant - they're hydrangeas and are her boundary (I hate them - way too bushy), He was trying to persuade her that he could cut them so they would never bush out again but my goodness me he wasn't taking no for an answer.

After 5 mins in my gardening, I popped my head round the hedge with a cheery hello, listened for a few minutes and told him he wasn't convincing me and it didn't sound like he was convincing my neighbour. He told me about this special pruning device he uses so I asked how that could possibly work (honest question - not sarky) and so then he says he'll get a leaflet from his van....never saw him again.

I'd do this for anyone, not just on older person as a lot of people are just way too polite to get rid of really persistent people and two people I think gives a safety in numbers (or outnumbered feel depending on which position you are in).

molit

thanks for all the replies - will certainly try as many as possible.

I hate to say it but I am quite sad reading how many people this happens to. Do no old people have neighbours anymore?

I remember a young lad turned up next door when I was out in the garden, and said he was there to cut my elderly neighbours lawn. He got a hell of a shock when I casually wandered over there and said hello to my neighbour (i am not exactly a small chap, and have a couple of tattoos on my arms) just happening to have a spade in my hand - in my defence I was gardening and digigng at the time. Poor guy looked as though he was about to supply fertiliser for the whole street until my neighbour pointed out it was her great nephew. But he said how glad he was that someone cared enough to ask...