a sneaky rip off merchant ?
I was spitting feathers this morning. I went to my dads as usual, through the back garden, noticed the bushes in the corner had been chopped down and removed( it appears to have been done on Saturday, 2nd.. The agency carer was there and we looked in the front garden, some bushes were cut right down in front of kitchen window. We discussed how this could of happened because I'm the one that trims them back! I asked my dad about the gardening, he was very vague, well, he had no idea and said something completely different. Eventually I found a business card and on the back was written 'To cut down all shrubs in back garden take rubbish £ 150.00". I roughly worked out what had happened, a cold caller came to my dads door,offered to do some work and quoted ( who knows £'s). I knew my dad couldn't have given him cash, because he still has the £5,00 note in his wallet so I thought this guy had taken my dad to his bank to get the money, but no. Anyway, I telephoned his bank twice and tried to get the cheque cancelled, but it was too late, the guy had put the cheque in his bank on the Saturday
I knew it was a cheque because I telephoned the number on the card to find out how and why my dad had garden maintanance done. The guy said he was working in the area? and knocked on some doors and my dad said he wanted the bushes cut back/removed? The guy said he cut down the bushes on one side in BG, thats a lie, it was only in the corner. The guy said he ONLY takes cheques, probably another lie,as the only reason he got a cheque was because my dad hadno money there, thank god. My dad wouldn't even know where to look first for his cheque book, he hasn't written a cheque in years, so he must of had help and this guy was in my dads bungalow, I bet he wrote out the cheque and got my dad to sign it. Also, there is a No Cold Callers sign on the front door, I told the guy that he couldn't of missed it and he delibratley ignored it, the guy said" I don't know what type of cold callers it is!!!! another lie. I was getting quite agitated with this guy and told him £150.00 was an outrageous amount and he took money off of a vunerable old person,knowing NO cold callers were to knock on the door. My dad will be 90 this year and is a friendly sort of person and this guy, I think, quickly latched on to that as all the house in the my dads row and surrounding are bungalows. I told the guy I was taking it further and would get in touch with the Police, which I did when I got home. They were very understanding and a police officer is going round tomorrow at 10am to chat with us. My gut feeling when I saw the garden was confussion, somethings up and something dodgy has gone on? I think this guy was an oppotunist and he must of thought 'bingo' when he knocked on my dads door. I am angry at this guy,he knew what he was doing and managed ( I feel) to get £150.00 out of my dad when the cost of the work, looks like a lot less. The guy was touting for business, hoping to get lucky( he probably wasn't even working in the area in the first place, because thats what he told me) and he appears to have got lucky and how many other OAP's and the vunerable has this happened to ? I just don't know, or maybe I'm being too over protective, but, the carer felt the same as me this morning.
Please be on your guard and your caree's,I know it's difficult, but it makes my blood boil when I read about rip off merchants and its even worse when its a close family member ggrrrrrr
Take care with best wishes RRB
I was spitting feathers this morning. I went to my dads as usual, through the back garden, noticed the bushes in the corner had been chopped down and removed( it appears to have been done on Saturday, 2nd.. The agency carer was there and we looked in the front garden, some bushes were cut right down in front of kitchen window. We discussed how this could of happened because I'm the one that trims them back! I asked my dad about the gardening, he was very vague, well, he had no idea and said something completely different. Eventually I found a business card and on the back was written 'To cut down all shrubs in back garden take rubbish £ 150.00". I roughly worked out what had happened, a cold caller came to my dads door,offered to do some work and quoted ( who knows £'s). I knew my dad couldn't have given him cash, because he still has the £5,00 note in his wallet so I thought this guy had taken my dad to his bank to get the money, but no. Anyway, I telephoned his bank twice and tried to get the cheque cancelled, but it was too late, the guy had put the cheque in his bank on the Saturday

Please be on your guard and your caree's,I know it's difficult, but it makes my blood boil when I read about rip off merchants and its even worse when its a close family member ggrrrrrr
