Roof Scammed

[Anaxagoras]

No news yet, I am working on getting legal representation.

I wonder if a class-action lawsuit is called for here. You are just one of their many victims, right?
Have you tried to get in touch with other victims?

[gnome]

If a company is headed for bankruptcy is a class action suit able to collect much? I've sort of got hopes that I might get more mileage from an out-of-court settlement for part of the amount. But I'm waiting to see what the lawyer I hire says.

[Rob Lister]

If a company is headed for bankruptcy is a class action suit able to collect much? I've sort of got hopes that I might get more mileage from an out-of-court settlement for part of the amount. But I'm waiting to see what the lawyer I hire says.

Have you contacted the police? Called the city prosecutor?

[gnome]

My focus has been on recovering, but that may be a good thing to do. More news when I have it.

[Cool Hand]

My focus has been on recovering, but that may be a good thing to do. More news when I have it.

The State Attorney General's office likely has a consumer fraud unit. That's who, if anyone, likely has the resources to look into such complaints. A local prosecutor (or law enforcement officer as well) is likely to tell you it's a civil matter. From their perspective, they're right. In other words, no local prosecutor is going to be the least bit interested. You don't see cases like this prosecuted in local state or municipal criminal courts.

Recovery? You're joking, right? These are almost surely fly-by-night scam artists. There are no assets to recover from. Your best remedy, if you have one at all, is to try to make amends with the insurance company you unwittingly helped defraud. Good luck with that, as from their perspective you are trying to shift the blame or bag to them. I suspect you are left holding the bag, as most scam victims are. That's what scams do. They leave you holding the bag with no real remedy. Sorry.

Lawyers are not magicians. If there are no assets to recover from, then no lawsuit is going to help you, unless what you want is an expensive moral victory in court, all costs to be paid by you and not the lawyer.

It's hard to have sympathy for folks who run to lawyers for help when those same people bash lawyers and blame lawyers for many of society's ills. This is one of those instances. Lawyers didn't scam you. Scam artists did. Please keep blame where it belongs.

Sorry to go off on you, gnome, but this kind of thing pisses me off. Many folks seem to think "Lawyer up" when you need help, but then it's "Fuck lawyers; they're scum" at all other times. This is one time when this lawyer can rightfully say to those people (not necessarily you, gnome), "Fuck you. Have fun getting a legal remedy on your own."

CH

[Cool Hand]

My rule of thumb is: if I need something, I go after it. If they're coming to me, it's a scam.

That's my rule of thumb too. My firm stock answer to everyone soliciting me (even Girl Scouts and cute little girls soliciting money for candy) is "No." It's a great hedge against scams. A cold caller might alert you to the need for some work to be done, but choose the beneficiary of your hard earned money yourself based on trusted referrals, and get confirmation from at least a second or third independent source. That's doubly true for charities, legitimate or not. I pick to whom I donate money or goods or time to, not someone else.

CH

[Pyrrho]

Excellent article by a scammer:

http://www.rd.com/advice/saving-money/a ... on-artist/

You might be thinking, Oh, those get-rich-quick scams are obvious, and I would never fall for one. When I hear someone say that only stupid people fall for fraud, I feel like asking for that person’s phone number. But here’s the thing: I didn’t want to talk to stupid people, because stupid people don’t have $50,000 lying around to give me. You would be amazed at how many doctors, lawyers, engineers, and college professors I have ripped off.

[Cool Hand]

Excellent article by a scammer:

http://www.rd.com/advice/saving-money/a ... on-artist/

You might be thinking, Oh, those get-rich-quick scams are obvious, and I would never fall for one. When I hear someone say that only stupid people fall for fraud, I feel like asking for that person’s phone number. But here’s the thing: I didn’t want to talk to stupid people, because stupid people don’t have $50,000 lying around to give me. You would be amazed at how many doctors, lawyers, engineers, and college professors I have ripped off.

That's a different kind of scam, one aimed at preying on the greed of potential "investors" rather than consumers or typical homeowners, but the idea is the same. The remedy to avoid getting ripped off is the same, however. It's exactly the same remedy fromthehills mentioned above.

Say "no" to anyone soliciting you. Mean it. "NO!" Then hang up, or shut the door in the person's face, or whatever. Being nice to solicitors of any stripe (even Jehovah's Witnesses, who want nothing more than to steal your time) gives them a foot in your door or their hand on your wallet. Saying "No" immediately to any solicitor, no matter how legitimate they may sound or appear, is the best insurance against being scammed by guys like gnome describes and the asshole who wrote the article you linked to.

Just say "no" to any kind of solicitor, even, or maybe especially, if she has nice tits and a pretty smile. Solicitors know that sex sells too (and so do cute little kids; I was scammed out of $25 years ago by two adorable little moppets supposedly selling candy for the elementary school three blocks from my house, but they kept all the money from dozens of residents AND all the chocolate -- they probably work in a boiler room today). Your wallet will thank you.

CH

[Cool Hand]

Excellent article by a scammer:

http://www.rd.com/advice/saving-money/a ... on-artist/

Best quote he offers:

Victims don’t ask a lot of questions; they answer a lot of questions. Victims don’t read paperwork; they wait for you to tell them what it says. Victims don’t look for why the offer is a scam; they look for why the offer will make them money. They want you to make them feel good so they can pull the trigger.

This is why saying "No" immediately and hanging up or closing the door or walking away is a necessity. Have no mercy or compassion for beggars (scammers, all of them) or cold callers or solicitors at your home, or the street, or on the phone or computer. The more you talk, the longer you stay, the faster you can feel your money leaving your wallet.

CH

[asthmatic camel]

Yup. Need work doing on your house? Ask around people you know and trust to find someone who won't rip you off.

Everyone's a winner that way.

[Cool Hand]

Yup. Need work doing on your house? Ask around people you know and trust to find someone who won't rip you off.

Everyone's a winner that way.

I couldn't agree more.

CH

[Pyrrho]

Excellent article by a scammer:

http://www.rd.com/advice/saving-money/a ... on-artist/

Best quote he offers:

Victims don’t ask a lot of questions; they answer a lot of questions. Victims don’t read paperwork; they wait for you to tell them what it says. Victims don’t look for why the offer is a scam; they look for why the offer will make them money. They want you to make them feel good so they can pull the trigger.

This is why saying "No" immediately and hanging up or closing the door or walking away is a necessity. Have no mercy or compassion for beggars (scammers, all of them) or cold callers or solicitors at your home, or the street, or on the phone or computer. The more you talk, the longer you stay, the faster you can feel your money leaving your wallet.

CH

Scammer came to the door a few weeks ago selling magazine subscriptions so he could "earn points" in some lame contest. Shows me his ID. I say, "Sorry, no, we don't read magazines," and he tries the guilt trip on me. I kept saying no, and finally he asks if the neighbors might be kinder to him than I was. I sent him down the street to Crazy Ivan, who loves guns and has reinforced his house with cinder blocks.

[Cool Hand]

Excellent article by a scammer:

http://www.rd.com/advice/saving-money/a ... on-artist/

Best quote he offers:

Victims don’t ask a lot of questions; they answer a lot of questions. Victims don’t read paperwork; they wait for you to tell them what it says. Victims don’t look for why the offer is a scam; they look for why the offer will make them money. They want you to make them feel good so they can pull the trigger.

This is why saying "No" immediately and hanging up or closing the door or walking away is a necessity. Have no mercy or compassion for beggars (scammers, all of them) or cold callers or solicitors at your home, or the street, or on the phone or computer. The more you talk, the longer you stay, the faster you can feel your money leaving your wallet.

CH

Scammer came to the door a few weeks ago selling magazine subscriptions so he could "earn points" in some lame contest. Shows me his ID. I say, "Sorry, no, we don't read magazines," and he tries the guilt trip on me. I kept saying no, and finally he asks if the neighbors might be kinder to him than I was. I sent him down the street to Crazy Ivan, who loves guns and has reinforced his house with cinder blocks.

Good example of why a simple "No" without any qualification or explanation works best. There is no pre-programmed response to "No." It's an objection to salespersons to which there is no effective comeback. As far as I know, it's the only one. If you absolutely must use additional words, I have found that the quickest way to shut them down is some form of "and I don't have any money." Hanging up, closing the door, or walking away at that point is essential to your "closing" in the transaction with no money leaving your hands.

It's kind of like what Matt Damon's character says at the beginning of "Rounders." If you can't spot the fish at the table in a poker game in the first five minutes, then you're the fish. In any transaction with a salesperson cold calling or otherwise working you, if you're not closing (by shutting them down immediately), then the salesperson is closing the deal with you. Proceed to deal with them at your own risk. See gnome above for a great example.

CH

[asthmatic camel]

I wrote this a couple of years ago at De_Bunk's porn site.

Pissing off Pikey Bastards

So, there I was, walking home from the corner shop when a vanload of cunts stopped me and asked for directions. The ringleader then claimed to be working in my area and to be flagging all my neighbours’ gardens. Bullshit! They’ve all been flagged already.

What did I do? Kept him talking for an hour, negotiated a price of £80, down from £560, which he asked for up front, and then told him to fuck off as we walked to the cash machine together.

Think I’ll keep my doors firmly locked for a while.

My little pony.

I rather enjoyed myself, seeing as I'd done much of the flagging work for my neighbors at cost, and this twat didn't have a clue.

[Cool Hand]

I wrote this a couple of years ago at De_Bunk's porn site.

Pissing off Pikey Bastards

So, there I was, walking home from the corner shop when a vanload of cunts stopped me and asked for directions. The ringleader then claimed to be working in my area and to be flagging all my neighbours’ gardens. Bullshit! They’ve all been flagged already.

What did I do? Kept him talking for an hour, negotiated a price of £80, down from £560, which he asked for up front, and then told him to fuck off as we walked to the cash machine together.

Think I’ll keep my doors firmly locked for a while.

My little pony.

I rather enjoyed myself, seeing as I'd done much of the flagging work for my neighbors at cost, and this twat didn't have a clue.

Another example of being separated by a common language. I have no idea what you English fuckers mean by "flagging" a garden. I do get that by "garden" you mean what we in North America call a "lawn." Beyond that, I am baffled.

CH

[asthmatic camel]

Ah. Sorry about that. In the construction/landscaping business, "Flags" are rectangular lumps of concrete or stone used to cover ground over here.

You may know them as slabs or paving slabs, (I think.)

[Cool Hand]

Ah. Yeah, probably paving slabs. Thanks.

CH

[Bearguin]

My usual first answer is a no.

If they persist, that no becomes a very offensive string of profanity. I tell them to fuck off.

Especially the damn gas resellers. But that is particular to BC.

[fromthehills]

The Jehovah's Witless quit coming to my place. They must keep records. I try to keep them here for as long as I can. I offer them beer, even. I've talked about Moses promoting child sex slavery, and asked why they were wearing those polyester blend trousers when God finds them an abomination. I had my spiel all set up this year on human sacrifice, but they didn't stop, even when I waved.

We don't get many solicitors, being rural. The last one I got was trying to sell steak and seafood. He had them laid out on the hood of my truck, frozen, as I explained that I wasn't allowed to handle money so had to ask my wife. I came in for a good ten to fifteen minutes, then went out to say no. Writing it down, now, it sounds a bit cruel. They were sketchy looking bastards, though.

[Doctor X]

I had my spiel all set up this year on human sacrifice,

You are welcome. . . .

--J.D.