Last fall, Mrs. T was approached by a friendly contractor who told her that some of her roof shingles looked water-soaked. Since Mrs. T had noticed a small leak in her bedroom, she asked for an estimate. The contractor went up to the roof, pulled off some roof shingles, and put up a tarpaulin. He told Mrs. T that he had found a major leak and that he needed to replace some roof beams as well as the entire roof. When Mrs. T expressed concern about the cost, the contractor told her that he would give her a senior citizen discount price of $8,000 and arrange for "market rate financing."

The contractor began work the next day and pulled off much of the roof. A few days later, he brought Mrs. T a loan contract from "We Care Finance Company." Mrs. T discovered that the loan was for $27,500 at 16% interest. When she reminded the contractor that the price was supposed to be $8,000 financed at a market rate, he told her that the work was more

SEEEEE! We sprayed your WHOLE yard. We only estimated that little area there by the driveway. Then you told us to do all the yard.

Many home improvement products are sold by in-home salesmen. They may have been invited by you in advance, or may simply show up. From roof repair to siding, the salesperson depends upon the sale to get their commission. They will not, in general, want to leave without your signature on a binding contract. Some states may have cooling off periods, in which you can change your mind, even if you have signed a contract, but many do not. Yet, the need for you to personally verify all of the information needed to reduce your risk of being swindled logically means that you will have to continue the transaction on another day. Once again, many salespeople will not like this option and will do what they can to get you to commit that very visit. Sometimes, a homeowner can get so frazzled or exhausted by the sales process that they have signed a contract without even realizing what they have done. Pressure is a perennial tool of some salespeople to get the sale. So is the use of fear ("If you don’t rewire soon, your whole house will may burn down"). For this reason, never receive a salesperson alone. Have a family member or trusted friend join your meeting, and tell them ahead of time that you do not want to make any firm commitments that day or night. Then, if the salesperson starts confusing you, your partner can remove you from the room and help you refocus on making an intelligent decision. The next day, or week, you can contact the necessary agencies to help reduce your chance of being a victim of fraud.

Some topics in this essay:
SCAM Request, PREVENT SCAMMED, Care Mortgage, REPAIRS SCAM, Hard Sell, Tactics Home, Elderly Set, Law Consumer, TARGETS Seniors, Alex Williamson, home improvement, consumer law, consumer law center, national consumer, improvement contractors, home improvement contractors, law center, national consumer law, • misrepresenting, home remodeling, 4th ed, supp national consumer, home improvement loan, ed 1999, supp national,