... sometimes I think we should bring back lashings.

Is it traveler season already?

fool and her money? Why should I be concerned about this? Try getting a contract next time.

I hate seeing stories like this. I hate that people like this exist. Makes me almost want to believe in Hell.

"He was the first man, since my husband died, who has come into my house"


approves

Well, she's in Canada so she should be able to get Mike Holmes on it for free.

Was it at least a real water heater? Silver lining and all that...

gameshowhost: How else are we going to let the free market determine who is and who isn't a good repairman unless the elderly get duped out of thousands of dollars?

Clearly, because he made $7500, he's an excellent repairman.

Anybody does that to my mother, I'll be all ITG on him in a heartbeat.

Tatsuma: ... sometimes I think we should bring back lashings.

Oh real good bring back some ancient torture in 2011, we have evolved enough and advanced in technology enough to throw this guy in a wood chipper.

Lollipop165: I dunno about Canada, but in the US, don't some states have laws specifically designed against defrauding the elderly?

i think defrauding anyone even.

"He was the first man, since my husband died, who has come into my house"

So she's single?

gameshowhost: How else are we going to let the free market determine who is and who isn't a good repairman unless the elderly get duped out of thousands of dollars?

Even if that was remotely relevant to the story, note that this occurred in Canada, the golden boy of USians touting the benefits of socialized everything. The only way it could be less free-market an example in the standard narrative would be if it was in Norway.

That headline also makes me incredibly sad.

Her and her husband loved each other dearly, they were a team. The cruel laws of time took her husband's life, and have reduced her to a frail shadow of her former self. They used to be able to lean on eachother for support, for a warm loving embrace in the cold cruel world. But now he's gone forever and she doesn't have anyone to lean on anymore. She can probably barely move, she could die at any moment.

And then this farking dick sucker comes along and defrauds her out of ten grand.

/getting philosophical on a Friday
//getting ITG as well
///I'd like to take a crowbar to his face

Jim_Callahan: gameshowhost: How else are we going to let the free market determine who is and who isn't a good repairman unless the elderly get duped out of thousands of dollars?

Even if that was remotely relevant to the story, note that this occurred in Canada, the golden boy of USians touting the benefits of socialized everything. The only way it could be less free-market an example in the standard narrative would be if it was in Norway.

I think we have socialized assholes in this country.

Andrew Wiggin: Lollipop165: I dunno about Canada, but in the US, don't some states have laws specifically designed against defrauding the elderly?

i think defrauding anyone even.

That, or just have a real repair man come after him. My grandmother tried to get some furniture refinished. The guy didn't do a good job/actually stole some of it. She took what she was able to get back to someone else.

Turns out the new company that she took her furniture to was run by a gay couple who turned out to be former rangers/Iraqi vets. They actually went out of their way to get her money back from the first guy.

shut up old bag. at least you didnt get raped.

jst3p: "He was the first man, since my husband died, who has come into my house"

So she's single?

Probably a lezzer.

I'll bet she'd pay twice that to see that ass crack again.

Contratcs: how do they work?

Fark is full of idiots

stirfrybry: Contratcs: how do they work?

Fark is full of idiots

She's 95, dumbass.

This is one reason I think elderly independent living is overrated.

My angry upon hearing these stories is always proportional to the level of fraud.

I don't mean the $ amount, but the level of complexity.

If a guy says, 'Tada! I fixed your water heater! Now, give me 7k' I go, 'Yeah, that's not nice....but come'on.' I'm not even sure if that is fraud or not, since 'fix' is such a general term. If he didn't claim to have replaced anything and the water heater is in working order....eh. I dunno. To me, that's mostly just like asking someone for money and getting it.

If the guy hijacked the phones of an actual water heater repair company and went out on a visit to fix an actual broken water heater and used some cheap, faulty part, that would temporarily give the appearance of a working heater, and then charged an insane amount for it....that's just wrong.

If the scam is complex enough that a reasonable person would be taken in by it; that bothers me a lot. If the scam is stupid and only a stupid person would fall for it, I kinda go, 'Eh, that's not nice....'

Canadians are such assholes.

Fark_Guy_Rob: My angry upon hearing these stories is always proportional to the level of fraud.

I don't mean the $ amount, but the level of complexity.

If a guy says, 'Tada! I fixed your water heater! Now, give me 7k' I go, 'Yeah, that's not nice....but come'on.' I'm not even sure if that is fraud or not, since 'fix' is such a general term. If he didn't claim to have replaced anything and the water heater is in working order....eh. I dunno. To me, that's mostly just like asking someone for money and getting it.

If the guy hijacked the phones of an actual water heater repair company and went out on a visit to fix an actual broken water heater and used some cheap, faulty part, that would temporarily give the appearance of a working heater, and then charged an insane amount for it....that's just wrong.

If the scam is complex enough that a reasonable person would be taken in by it; that bothers me a lot. If the scam is stupid and only a stupid person would fall for it, I kinda go, 'Eh, that's not nice....'


I'm kind of with you on this one. Old doesn't automatically mean "stupid", and perhaps she should have known better than to just hand over that much money without knowing for sure that something was done to earn it.

In any case, she could have said "Send me a bill". Any service worker who wants payment on-the-spot is probably a scam artist. A legitimate contractor will bill you.

James F. Campbell 2011-04-08 11:59:53 AM

stirfrybry: fool and her money? Why should I be concerned about this? Try getting a contract next time.

This is what libertarians actually believe.



And any other intelligent person as well.

You can't take it with you, you know...

ZeroCorpse: Fark_Guy_Rob: My angry upon hearing these stories is always proportional to the level of fraud.

I don't mean the $ amount, but the level of complexity.

If a guy says, 'Tada! I fixed your water heater! Now, give me 7k' I go, 'Yeah, that's not nice....but come'on.' I'm not even sure if that is fraud or not, since 'fix' is such a general term. If he didn't claim to have replaced anything and the water heater is in working order....eh. I dunno. To me, that's mostly just like asking someone for money and getting it.

If the guy hijacked the phones of an actual water heater repair company and went out on a visit to fix an actual broken water heater and used some cheap, faulty part, that would temporarily give the appearance of a working heater, and then charged an insane amount for it....that's just wrong.

If the scam is complex enough that a reasonable person would be taken in by it; that bothers me a lot. If the scam is stupid and only a stupid person would fall for it, I kinda go, 'Eh, that's not nice....'


I'm kind of with you on this one. Old doesn't automatically mean "stupid", and perhaps she should have known better than to just hand over that much money without knowing for sure that something was done to earn it.

In any case, she could have said "Send me a bill". Any service worker who wants payment on-the-spot is probably a scam artist. A legitimate contractor will bill you.

For the amount he charged you could have easily bought a whole new water system (not just a heater, but softener, piping everything). No way any repair costs 7500.

Salespeople who scam the elderly rank right above politicians on my shiat list. My grandparents almost got taken by one of them selling "home security systems". After getting them nice and scared that someone might break into their house and murder them, they agreed to buy it for some horribly inflated price. Luckily my aunt heard about it and called the cops.

Door-to-door salespeople are getting very crafty though. Had a teenager come up to me while I was mowing the yard this week (selling security systems too). He claimed to be from "General Electric" and had some fliers with the corporate logo. He said GE would be holding a sales presentation for the neighborhood soon to offer some spiffy new system to homeowners. Of course, he had managed to get his hands on a limited number of units that he could sell me for a special price. Their techniques really do confuse the hell out of you, so I can see how the elderly are roped into it.

The_Homeless_Guy Quote 2011-04-08 12:54:02 PM

For the amount he charged you could have easily bought a whole new water system (not just a heater, but softener, piping everything). No way any repair costs 7500.


Thanks for the update Ric. Time to get back to that important wetness of water/blueness of sky work.

Just to clarify for 7500 you could easily add the following to a home:


New tankless water heater with supplement tank (to handle extra high hot water volumes). New water softener. Water filter/60% efficient whole house RO system and still have money left over. Even if we are using Canadian dollars.

toddler1138: The_Homeless_Guy Quote 2011-04-08 12:54:02 PM

For the amount he charged you could have easily bought a whole new water system (not just a heater, but softener, piping everything). No way any repair costs 7500.


Thanks for the update Ric. Time to get back to that important wetness of water/blueness of sky work.

well some people seem to think that this guy just duped the poor lady a little (by not doing work). He was waaay out of hand.

James F. Campbell: stirfrybry: fool and her money? Why should I be concerned about this? Try getting a contract next time.

This is what libertarians actually believe.

No it is not. Libertarians don't believe in coercion by force or fraud. That is the foundation of the entire political philosophy.

The_Homeless_Guy: Just to clarify for 7500 you could easily add the following to a home:


New tankless water heater with supplement tank (to handle extra high hot water volumes). New water softener. Water filter/60% efficient whole house RO system and still have money left over. Even if we are using Canadian dollars.

You mean the Canadian dollar that is worth more the the US dollar right now? That one?

This kinda thing happened to my 91 year-old grandma, they got her for $5000

For $7500 you could buy a new water heater and hire a hooker to install it.

James F. Campbell: This is what libertarians actually believe.

-2/10

So he didn't fix the cable heater?

On an only semi-related note...

Does anyone else find it ironic that the elderly are the easiest victims of these types of fraud (except, possibly, small children) and yet, they are the most powerful political demographic?