How dare you rip off my mother!
Son confronts salesman who made ex-GP, 81, buy £6k doors when she needed £50 handle
A DOUBLE-glazing salesman sold an 81-year-old former GP who has dementia a pair of doors for nearly £6,000 when all she needed was a £50 handle.
But Dr Heather Collins’ son was able to turn the tables on the salesman by confronting him and posting a video of the encounter online.
The salesman persuaded Dr Collins to write a cheque for £5,743.73 after spending more than two hours with her.
He had turned up after another representative of Zenith Staybrite Ltd had cold-called the widow the evening before and she had complained that the handle on her front door needed fixing.
The sale only came to light after one of Dr Collins’ carers found the paperwork and took it to the ex- GP’s son Dominic MacMahon, 50. ‘ This is one case – how many other people are going through this, people who don’t have anybody to look after them?’ Mr MacMahon said yesterday.
He condemned the salesman for concluding the deal with Dr Collins – who is easily confused about who people are and what they might be doing in her home. He added: ‘The salesman’s behaviour is unbelievable. How can he look himself in the face after he does that to a vulnerable old lady?’
After his mother’s carer discovered the paperwork Mr MacMahon called the company pretending to be the carer and asked for the sales rep to return to the house in Col- chester, Essex, to do some more measurements for the doors.
When Mr Gibson arrived Mr MacMahon asked the carer to video the conversation. He can be seen confronting the salesman – who claimed he was unaware the pensioner had dementia-like symptoms and denied any wrongdoing. Mr MacMahon uploaded the video on Facebook on Wednesday and has since received more than 500,000 views – and many comments on the salesman’s behaviour.
‘I needed to emphasise to people what this man had done,’ he said. ‘I was very angry but by being able to tell other people what is going on makes more of a difference. Mum has no idea what the implications of signing a cheque for £6,000 are. If that money had gone, it would have directly compromised her ability to pay for her carers. It’s not sales, it’s preying on older people.’ Mr MacMahon blocked the cheque the following day. Zenith Staybrite Ltd said: ‘We are carrying out an internal investigation – we have no comment to make.’