My grandmother has been ripped off!

abbyfabulous

Hiya all, I'm writing for advice. The story is below, I want to stop other vulnerable people targeted by this cold calling rip off team.
So I've written to a TV show called the ferret who deal with poor sales people etc to hopefully investigate, but my nan wants to remain anonymous so I doubt they'd be interested in the story. I basically want this company to stop, is there anyone I can report them too?

The tale of Woe!

My 76 year old Nan lives alone in a one bedroom domer bungalow in a village where there is a high percentage of bungalows and pensioners. She does have a sign on the door saying no cold callers, but it's not the same one as on here which I have - I've emailed it to her to print out.

She had a cold caller come 2 weeks ago, same company who had painted her roof (!!) a few years ago, asking if she wanted her house painted. She said she had been thinking about it. My grandmother then had a heavy sell. She took my grandmother on a 30 mile car journey to see the colour house my grandmother was considering (is this not a little odd?). She measured various things around the house and worked out an estimate of over £4500. My grandmother is embarrassed won't disclose the figure but assures me it was less than £5000. She asked if she could have some time to think and the lady said no, she had to get started right away (so didn't get get any time to consider or check with the family, my mum, my sister and myself all live 5 mins away only!) and indeed took a deposit there and then work started the next day.

There are two issues here in my opinion:

1) An outrageous cost to have a house painted in acrylic paint and a crack in the wall rendered

2) Terrible to pray on the vulnerable, a heavy sell on the doorstep. No time to think about it or to do research on the matter, or check with us. Shouldn't she have had a cool off period anyway?

My grandmother is vulnerable and naive. I can't believe she has paid this amount of money for her house to be painted. It's too late for my grandmother now to get her money back and she is embarassed. She suffers from depression and says that feeling low is what lead her to paying this ridiculous amount, yet she says it's not bad enough to see GP (my nan always sees the GP at the drop of a hat, so she can't be that bad at the mo in terms of her mood).

Thank you to anyone who can offer some advice!

A xx

tomtontom

Was she given any paperwork detailing her right to cancel? Doorstep sellers have to do this, although the cooling off period ends if the customer agrees to them starting the work within this period. If the paperwork was not provided you should report it to the CAB Consumer Line who can pass the details to Trading Standards.

I think the best you can do is name and shame, on here, Facebook, Twitter etc. People need to start talking about these things more, so elderly friends, neighbours etc are more aware.

tomtontom

A note on her mood - she is of the generation that don't tend to see mental health issues as something to bother their doctor about. Perhaps worth calling him and making him aware what has happened, so he can assess her mood when she sees him about something else?

unholyangel

Brains a little foggy today so bear with me.

But pretty sure this should now be covered under CCRs (replaced doorstep selling regs).

Providing she gave your grandmother certain info before the contract was concluded and informed her that she would lose her right to cancel when work began, theres not a lot your grandmother can do.

Unfortunately sometimes we just make bad decisions, this may be one of those times.

Mojisola

abbyfabulous wrote: »

She asked if she could have some time to think and the lady said no, she had to get started right away (so didn't get get any time to consider or check with the family, my mum, my sister and myself all live 5 mins away only!) and indeed took a deposit there and then work started the next day.

Nan needs to learn to say "Not until I've spoken to my family".

There will always be people like this who prey on the vulnerable. If she's on her own a lot, she has to know how to protect herself.

abbyfabulous

Thanks all.

I think naming and shaming will be the way to go. I'm going to check out the paperwork in the week. The moneys gone, but I'm so angry at this company.

My nan should know better, she's already had the roof painted red (!) and a new fuse box from door to door salesmen, she nearly had a new security system a few years back until she called my uncle who also fits them and he managed to intervene. We've told her in the past. She knows it all but a fool and their money are easily parted.

About her mood, I know what you mean about that generation but my nan isn't like that. She goes all the time for various things including depression and has been on antidepressants for a long time. I personally don't think she's clinically depressed at the moment, just unhappy because she's not going on holiday this year/lonely as she's been a widow for 13 years (am a doctor myself). She goes to lots of local things like gardening club, WI etc, but these are all on a hiatus for summer I think.

PasturesNew

She needs some cards to hand out to people at the door ... make it easier for her to say "no". Cards would say "This house is rented .... the landlord may be contacted on the following number....." and put your family number there. It might help if she can simply say to ALL callers "Sorry, I rent this house" and hand them a card. You can't sell much to people who rent.....

Stoke

Unfortunately, it's easier said that done. My nan had a warning sign on her door to stop these door to door sellers, but the thought of one actually knocking makes me think she would be a 'great' customer. She would find it difficult to say no and considering she just wants to be left alone, I can understand why someone might fall into the trap.

I hope this is resolved.

Mojisola

PasturesNew wrote: »

She needs some cards to hand out to people at the door ... make it easier for her to say "no". Cards would say "This house is rented .... the landlord may be contacted on the following number....." and put your family number there. It might help if she can simply say to ALL callers "Sorry, I rent this house" and hand them a card. You can't sell much to people who rent.....

I like this idea - but Nan would also need to shut the door quickly and not start a conversation - and, of course, they come over as very nice, friendly people.

I have heard of someone who put a sign on the inside of the door so that her Mum saw it every time she went to open the door - something along the lines of "Phone me immediately if anyone tries to sell you something".