Hello everyone. Long time away from the site but appreciate advice and help from the past. My mother passed away from Alzheimer's almost 4 years ago and the family still has an ongoing legal case about withdrawal of her CHC eligibility for the last year of her life with the CCG so took a step back from fighting the case, hence my prolonged absence.
This posting is more about me and a bit of a tight spot I've got myself into. The link to this site is a similar thing happened to my mum almost 20 years ago just after my dad died and mum was showing the early stages of not coping with the everyday routines of living at home alone, which transpired to be dementia soon afterwards.
In short, in 1998 she was scammed by a traveller community "gardener" and charged £400 to remove two smallish plum trees. I discovered she had been driven to the bank to get the money by this person. It was horrible but fortunately nothing more came of it, mainly I think because I rushed around and told him to leave and although the police were informed, not much more could be done.
Now bringing things up to date, I have just had a sleepless night after possibly being scammed by the travelling community, and I fear they might be coming back to extort money and I'm really worried and wondered if anyone could kindly give me some advice please. I already feel stupid BTW.
In short, I wanted 2 big hedges cut and the recommended local gardeners just wouldn't show up despite emails and phone calls. On Wednesday a chap knocked on the door and asked if I needed any work done. I had already agreed with the neighbour to share costs, and it was quite a big task. So after the chap quoted £250 including removal of all waste, I agreed. Payment on completion.
3 of them worked that afternoon and yesterday morning (Thursday) for a total of about 3 hours. When finished, he said it was £250 per side, making £500, double the agreed amount. After a "discussion" I had to threaten to call the police, which had some affect as they left. Later I found most of the waste hidden in the next door neighbours garden (the house is empty and being sold) plus my other neighbour's garden waste bin (not happy!) and then discovered a massive bag of waste left on the pavement outside.
Before they left they made me sign a piece of paper including name and address with work shown on it and a figure of £250 which I paid there and then in cash (yes...I know!).
But here's my real worry - the paper has three tick boxes on the top: invoice, estimate or contract. The contract one was ticked. I fear the next part of the scam is to send an "invoice" for work done under the "contract" (hence why name and address) and they'll be back for more money as I can't prove I paid the cash.
The travelling community can be intimidating and I've been awake all night scared of the possibilities.
I know I've been stupid but it shows how easy it can be to get reeled in.
I haven't told my neighbour who's sharing the cost - the work is actually ok, just.
Should I ring 101 and tell the police, the LA trading standards or contact Citizen's Advice please? Very grateful for any thoughts. They might not ever come back of course, but I won't know that for several days or even weeks and I'd like the reassurance I'm not on my own and have someone supporting me on my side should they try.
Administrators - please delete if not appropriate, but thought I'd turn to this website's forums as needed to talk to someone about it. Many thanks.
This posting is more about me and a bit of a tight spot I've got myself into. The link to this site is a similar thing happened to my mum almost 20 years ago just after my dad died and mum was showing the early stages of not coping with the everyday routines of living at home alone, which transpired to be dementia soon afterwards.
In short, in 1998 she was scammed by a traveller community "gardener" and charged £400 to remove two smallish plum trees. I discovered she had been driven to the bank to get the money by this person. It was horrible but fortunately nothing more came of it, mainly I think because I rushed around and told him to leave and although the police were informed, not much more could be done.
Now bringing things up to date, I have just had a sleepless night after possibly being scammed by the travelling community, and I fear they might be coming back to extort money and I'm really worried and wondered if anyone could kindly give me some advice please. I already feel stupid BTW.
In short, I wanted 2 big hedges cut and the recommended local gardeners just wouldn't show up despite emails and phone calls. On Wednesday a chap knocked on the door and asked if I needed any work done. I had already agreed with the neighbour to share costs, and it was quite a big task. So after the chap quoted £250 including removal of all waste, I agreed. Payment on completion.
3 of them worked that afternoon and yesterday morning (Thursday) for a total of about 3 hours. When finished, he said it was £250 per side, making £500, double the agreed amount. After a "discussion" I had to threaten to call the police, which had some affect as they left. Later I found most of the waste hidden in the next door neighbours garden (the house is empty and being sold) plus my other neighbour's garden waste bin (not happy!) and then discovered a massive bag of waste left on the pavement outside.
Before they left they made me sign a piece of paper including name and address with work shown on it and a figure of £250 which I paid there and then in cash (yes...I know!).
But here's my real worry - the paper has three tick boxes on the top: invoice, estimate or contract. The contract one was ticked. I fear the next part of the scam is to send an "invoice" for work done under the "contract" (hence why name and address) and they'll be back for more money as I can't prove I paid the cash.
The travelling community can be intimidating and I've been awake all night scared of the possibilities.
I know I've been stupid but it shows how easy it can be to get reeled in.
I haven't told my neighbour who's sharing the cost - the work is actually ok, just.
Should I ring 101 and tell the police, the LA trading standards or contact Citizen's Advice please? Very grateful for any thoughts. They might not ever come back of course, but I won't know that for several days or even weeks and I'd like the reassurance I'm not on my own and have someone supporting me on my side should they try.
Administrators - please delete if not appropriate, but thought I'd turn to this website's forums as needed to talk to someone about it. Many thanks.