Doorstep sales - alzheimer's sufferer
Discussion
We went to see Grandad last night, he seems well. He was doing his best to justify his purchase and saying the sales man was very nice and replacing the chair just came up in conversation. We all know what his agenda was when he knocked on the door. I would love to ask him how he sleeps at night.
Turns out there has been a bit of miss communication, Mum has all the paperwork and is dealing with it. I wasn’t able to get hold of her last night to see how she was getting on.
We did clean his flat, fill his fridge and checked his accounts weren’t empty.
He has no power of attorney and as mentioned, because of his diagnosis, it is unlikely he will be able to choose anyone.
I like the idea of putting up a No Cold Calling sign, however he lives in a flat so not sure about putting one up on the communal door, and if put on his internal door, they would have already “buzzed”. Are salesmen even put off by these signs?
CCTV certainly would help and I will see how the rest of the family feel about that.
The credit card was closed when Nan passed and he only has a debit card now. I was hoping as a last resort we could call his bank and they would chargeback and investigate.
Turns out there has been a bit of miss communication, Mum has all the paperwork and is dealing with it. I wasn’t able to get hold of her last night to see how she was getting on.
We did clean his flat, fill his fridge and checked his accounts weren’t empty.
He has no power of attorney and as mentioned, because of his diagnosis, it is unlikely he will be able to choose anyone.
I like the idea of putting up a No Cold Calling sign, however he lives in a flat so not sure about putting one up on the communal door, and if put on his internal door, they would have already “buzzed”. Are salesmen even put off by these signs?
CCTV certainly would help and I will see how the rest of the family feel about that.
The credit card was closed when Nan passed and he only has a debit card now. I was hoping as a last resort we could call his bank and they would chargeback and investigate.
Tangentially related but when i bought some double glazing as a surprise for my Dad while he was in hospital the guy who came round - from a company with a name like fashionable secured storage - thought he would enamour himself to me by telling me that most of his customers are the elderly, and that normally he doesn't even bother having to do the whole "this is the price but for you today only its £X" because they've got "loads of cash under the mattress". He didn't get any further than that, and was out the door before he could say "I said you buy one you get one free".
Like, he seriously thought somehow that would endear himself to me, that I would go "yeah nice one, overcharging those OAPs, they deserve it!".
Utter scum, the whole lot of them.
Like, he seriously thought somehow that would endear himself to me, that I would go "yeah nice one, overcharging those OAPs, they deserve it!".
Utter scum, the whole lot of them.
xjay1337 said:
It's very dodgy I think.
These dodgy doorstep salesmen need their heads testing. Then again they need to make a living. I'll blame the bosses of the companies that employ then.
As said, these companies (I expect there are more than one) only market their products to the very elderly and then apply hard sales tactics.These dodgy doorstep salesmen need their heads testing. Then again they need to make a living. I'll blame the bosses of the companies that employ then.
My grandmother - who is still of reasonably sound mind - "really wanted" these particular chairs because she had been bombarded with advertising by mail over the years. My mother was in when the salesman turned up and tried to act as a voice of reason to no avail. She told my grandmother to think about it for a few days and visit some shops to look at comparisons but the salesman said that at £3k each the chairs were half price and that the price could only be honoured if she signed there and then. Unfortunately my mother is too much of a pushover - I'd simply have shown the guy the door no matter how badly my grandmother thought she wanted the chairs. She was well and truly fleeced.
My brothers and I were still only in the process of being granted PoA at the time and only found out what had happened after the order had been placed.
The chairs aren't even particularly suitable for their intended market - the upholstered seat cushions are not removable and washable for example.
Adrian E said:
4x4Tyke said:
Probably too late now if he's already lost the capacity to make an informed choice - needs to be done ahead of reaching that point. I have it for my parents, but not yet instigated legally as my dad is still all there mentally, just physically ruined from caring for an occasionally double incontinent wife of over 50 years who can't walk far and has lost all interest in life, and stares at the TV all day......The fact that easily confused, suggests there is still enough capacity when not confused to facilitate this for future protection.
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