What amount, if any, should an almost victim pay someone who saved him from foolishly paying for a scam?
March 1st, 2010A long time boarder (in his early sixties) with a 76 year old elderly gentleman at his residence learned his landlord had just signed a $19,000 dollar contract for his home driveway with an asphalt contractor who had just appeared from nowhere saying he had an oversupply of asphalt from another job he had just finished and would begin paving this driveway at a highly reduced rate if he would just allow him to start immediately with the surplus from the other finished job and give him a $7,000 check.
Hearing the price and the story shortly afterwards, and due to the fact it was after business hours on a Friday , the boarder immediately went to his computer and searched for a National Asphalt Contractor’s Trade Assoc. website. Sure enough he found a warning on the home page for customers to beware of contractors appearing unexpectedly saying they had a surplus from another job that they would sell cheap…it’s a scam approach. The boarder then printed out the warning and took it to the landlord who, when uncomfortable concern had initially been expressed by the boarder about the contractor’s price and his approach tactics, replied assuredly he’d assessed the cost of an asphalt driveway some time before and that he thought the price was OK. (He admitted later that he had not really done this) He also said that he had already signed the contract and that it was too late to do anything.
To make a long story short(er), the boarder had to wait until the following Monday (contractor appeared and started the job on a late Friday…that’s part of the scam strategy) to contact the State’s Attorney General’s office. When the contractor returned to finish the job late Monday morning the boarder confronted him, took his vehicle license number and told him he would be contacted by an inspector (name given to him). The contractor was obviously shaken and asked the boarder what he would have to do to not have to talk to that inspector. After we all, landlord included, sat down inside the home office to discuss my suggestion of doing the whole job at $1.00 per sq./ft. the phone rang. It was the inspector wanting to first speak with the home owner, and then he asked to talk to the contractor. When the inspector from the AG’s Consumer Protection Office had finished talking to this contractor (and with whom he had confronted on occasions prior to this incident), the contractor agreed to the following:
1. Repave the already paved portion of the driveway and finish the rest at a depth of 3" (instead of the 1-2 inches he had started with).
2. He would not only tear up the previous contract, but write another at a charge of only $1.00 per sq/ft of surface area for the entire job (the boarder recommended figure)
3. After measuring for the total job area and having us agree to that assessment, he would return the difference in cash between that job cost and the $7,000 the customer had previously paid him.
4. He would make sure the customer was completely satisfied in every way before leaving and after-wards.
Thanks to the intervention of his long-time boarder (and,yes, with the clout of the AG’s office) this elderly gentleman had essentially recovered approximately $14,400 which he would have foolishly overspent on his driveway, and even ended up with a better quality (thicker) driveway to boot.
[The initial contract called for $19,000, a $12,000 final payment when the job was done, after an initial $7,000 payment to begin. The contractor instead refunded approx $2,400 in cash when the new job cost was calculated to be approx. $4,600]
How much, if anything at all, do you think would have been fair for the elderly man to offer his boarder as a reward or compensation for having intervened, despite his initial dis-concern, and who’s efforts had saved him $14,400 from being foolishly wasted…not to mention also getting the better quality, thicker driveway
Just so you’ll know, yes, I’m the boarder and the elderly gentleman never offered a penny. Comments about this elderly gentleman’s behavior aren’t necessary or sought by me, but I would like several comments on what people of different backgrounds think would have been a fair monetary tribute to offer me as a gesture of appreciation, or whether you don’t think a monetary offer/reward was necessary or appropriate.
im not sure he should have paid you money, but i do think that he should have definitely done something. at least a letter expressing appreciation or something. if someone saved me that much money, i think i would have gotten them a gift card and would have made sure that person knew how deeply i appreciated his intervention. that’s not ok that he did nothing.
and good for you intervening, you are a good citizen!