Ripped off Kapiti man gets refund on Home Services

Mar

Ripped off Kapiti man gets refund

posted by admin in Window Cleaning

Two Upper Hutt men charged Roy Samways, 82, $1246 to clean the windows of his small villa after charging him $24 the first time and $600 in January before the exorbitant amount this week.
A bank teller queried Mr Samways cheque when the two men presented it, and though he told the teller to honour it, he made some inquiries and found the going rate for the job was about $25.
Community constable Mike Tahere said he contacted the men after identifying them from the banks security video footage and they admitted ripping off the elderly man.
After seeing the article in The Dominion Post this week, the men - who claimed to be Jehovahs Witnesses - said they felt so guilty they offered to pay Mr Samways back immediately. They turned up at Mr Samways door on Friday with $1200 in cash.
%26quot;I am thrilled and relieved to have the money back, and glad the whole thing is over. I will not let anyone through my front door again unless I know them,%26quot; Mr Samways said.
Mr Tahere said the article made the two men feel %26quot;really bad%26quot;.
%26quot;Its great Mr Samways got his money back. They have promised never to tout for jobs again on the Kapiti Coast.%26quot;
He said the men could not explain why they did it but the article pricked their conscience to give the money back.
If anyone else has similar problems with unsolicited services, they should ask the people to leave immediately, and if they dont, contact police, Mr Tahere said.
Kapiti police were concerned about a sharp increase in similar complaints from elderly residents being charged exorbitant rates for services such as section clearing and window cleaning over the summer.