window cleaner / cold callers

[little_treasure]

Hi everyone,

My grandma currently lives in her own home, her long term memory is ok but short term she struggles to remember what she's done that day.

She's adamant she doesn't want to go in a home so my dad has tried to make her house as safe as possible, she attends a day centre 3 times a wk, he visits every day and she has a carer every morning and night.

In July we noticed grandma was spending a lot more money than usual and eventually found out that the window cleaner was collecting 2 weeks windows money quite frequently. He was warned off and we thought we'd seen the last of him, til last week when the carer caught him running out the house. He's on bail at the moment and confessed to fraud but I'm not sure if he'll just get a slap on the wrists as grandma has let him into the house (she trusts the window cleaner and cannot remember how often she has paid him) and she's willingly handed over the money.

My question is has anyone else come across this before? Or with cold callers turning up at the door and taking advantage? I've read various articles where this has happened but there doesn't seem to be anything to help us prevent this from happening! Surely we can not let this one scum bag take away my grandma's freedom.

My dad's been staying with her every day since it happened. I'm staying tonight to give him break, it's breaking our hearts thinking she has to go in a home

 

[1mindy]

We had it with my mum.
A local builder cottoned on to her and said her guttering needed repair ( which it did ). He stole " new " guttering from the empty house next door and charged mum £900. We knew who he was my brother went to see him and got the money back. But its not really about the money its the feeling that they are so very vulnerable . It may be time to discuss more care for her to keep her safe and give you peace of mind.

 

[Dimelza]

Absolutely had it. An unscrupulous tree cutter charged dad £1200 for a job our regular guy charges £165 for
We got around it by putting signs up to say we bought no goods or services at the door and by only leaving him with a small amount of cash and an out of date debit card.


--------------------------------
My dad has mixed dementia and lives with us in an annexe.

 

[little_treasure]

Thanks for replying, yes that sounds like a good idea with the out of date card and having little money, it'll be easier to keep a check then. I'll have a look for one of those signs and we're also looking at getting security cameras outside her house too to catch him if he comes back since he's known to the police now. Hopefully this'll keep him and others away.

Thanks again x

 

[little_treasure]

We had it with my mum.
A local builder cottoned on to her and said her guttering needed repair ( which it did ). He stole " new " guttering from the empty house next door and charged mum £900. We knew who he was my brother went to see him and got the money back. But its not really about the money its the feeling that they are so very vulnerable . It may be time to discuss more care for her to keep her safe and give you peace of mind.

Yeah, it's horrible isn't it, were you not worried your brother going around would cause more bother? It's great you were able to get your money back though

 

[Cat27]

I'd also stick up a couple of small fake cctv cameras at the front & back door.

 

[grove]

Hello & Sorry ....................

Thanks for replying, yes that sounds like a good idea with the out of date card and having little money, it'll be easier to keep a check then. I'll have a look for one of those signs and we're also looking at getting security cameras outside her house too to catch him if he comes back since he's known to the police now. Hopefully this'll keep him and others away.

Thanks again x

Little Treasure that this has happen too your lovely Grandma & am glad she is still living at Home You were asking about a Sign = we do not Buy from Cold Caller's A good idea is too contact your local neighbour hood watch Scheme*** as they might do them ? or contact your County Trading Standards Office ( I am in a NO Call Zone Street which means no cold Callers ! ) & we got the signs for free or ask your local Council they might have a Safety Partnership Scheme with the police etc who might be able too help Hope this helps !


Thinking of you all


Love & hugs Grove x x

 

[fizzie]

We had the same problem with my Ma when the gardener, who she trusted, just like your Grandma does, taking money too often. I got rid of the gardener and we disconnected the door bell when we were not in the house - night or day so that she wasn't disturbed. We also had a notice.
The police were very helpful when we had a cold caller pressuring her with a bed/chair sale - they wanted the name of the company etc and warned them off our area.

We also put up a fake cctv camera (8.00 from Amazon) and the accompanying notice that you are obliged to put up, by the front door - it is very realistic even with a wire that looks as though it disappears up into the fascia boards and we didn't have any more problems. I still think that disconnecting the bell was our best move
Good luck xx

 

[Beate]

I hope you've reported the incident to the police? If he's on bail, he should be returned to prison for this. Your grandma is a vulnerable adult.

You can download and print "no cold callers" signs here:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/no-more-junk
Tradesmen cannot ignore them.

 

[little_treasure]

Little Treasure that this has happen too your lovely Grandma & am glad she is still living at Home You were asking about a Sign = we do not Buy from Cold Caller's A good idea is too contact your local neighbour hood watch Scheme*** as they might do them ? or contact your County Trading Standards Office ( I am in a NO Call Zone Street which means no cold Callers ! ) & we got the signs for free or ask your local Council they might have a Safety Partnership Scheme with the police etc who might be able too help Hope this helps !


Thinking of you all




Love & hugs Grove x x

Great idea! Thank you grove x

 

[little_treasure]

We had the same problem with my Ma when the gardener, who she trusted, just like your Grandma does, taking money too often. I got rid of the gardener and we disconnected the door bell when we were not in the house - night or day so that she wasn't disturbed. We also had a notice.
The police were very helpful when we had a cold caller pressuring her with a bed/chair sale - they wanted the name of the company etc and warned them off our area.

We also put up a fake cctv camera (8.00 from Amazon) and the accompanying notice that you are obliged to put up, by the front door - it is very realistic even with a wire that looks as though it disappears up into the fascia boards and we didn't have any more problems. I still think that disconnecting the bell was our best move
Good luck xx

Thanks fizzie, disabling the door bell is a great idea thank you, we'll give that a go. I think we're going to.get a real security camera so we know he's definitely not been back. We've also been told you can link it to your mobile and get a message every time someone comes to the door so I think we're going to get that too x

 

[little_treasure]

I hope you've reported the incident to the police? If he's on bail, he should be returned to prison for this. Your grandma is a vulnerable adult.



Thanks for the link beate, yes the police were called, but he's just on bail now since this happened last week he wasn't on bail when he went to my grandma's

 

[lin1]

I was fed up with cold callers, so I printed of a no cold callers sign and put it up.
It worked for a while then all of a sudden we started getting more cold callers than ever.
They mostly denied they were cold callers , saying they weren't selling anything

We never replaced the sign when we had a new front door and very soon we stopped getting so many cold callers.

Personally I now believe the scammers think, oh goodie another vulnersble person I can con when they see these signs.

The camera sounds good

 

[jan.s]

I bought a small sign, and have put it on the wall right next to the bell push. I very rarely get any strangers knocking on the door


http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...esmen signs&qid=1444924176&ref_=sr_1_4&sr=8-4