Working for mentally confused customers

I would expect that most of us operating a maintenance round have or have had customers that have some sort of mental deficiency brought on by a Stroke or Alzheimer’s etc.I have had several which are easily confused but the latest event quite worried me.Following the completion of some work for a lady customer I advised the cost. She said that she could not pay just now but would send it on to me. That was fine, so left her an invoice with a stamped addressed envelope. A few days later I received an envelope in the post. Inside was stuffed with £20 pound notes, ten times the amount of the invoice. Apart from writing the amount down, I had actually advised her verbally 3 times before I went.I went around to her house today to return the overpayment which was several hundreds of pounds. She had no idea she had paid more than she should and had no appreciation of the value that had been returned.My overriding concern is that should in the future this lady mistakenly hand over large sums of cash to anyone and then they do not return or point out her error and then perhaps a family member realises there is a load of money missing, then my name along with a few others would be in the frame as the recipient.I know she has a son, so tried to obtain his phone number so that I could advise him of the situation, but she would not give it to me. I also thought about going to the Police to explain the situation, after all I have no idea of the amount of cash that she has in the house and therefore how potentially serious a theft/fraud or deception accusation could be. I however decided against that in favor of confiding in her long term next door neighbor. She fully understood my concerns and said she would look out for her son and health visitor when they visited to explain the situation.Would you be as concerned as I obviously am? I just had visions of the police knocking on my door and the damage it could cause to my good name. (well I think it is good) and the lingering stigma of “no smoke without fire”

Replies

chris nangle April 15, 2010 at 7:38pm

sounds like you did the right thing Gordon well done mate
David Bloomer April 15, 2010 at 7:47pm

never had this particular issue, but i do have a customer who's a bit eratic with his moods sometimes he's lovely sometimes he just doesn't know who i am. He's not allowed to handle money his daughter pays me directly i guess much for the reasons above.

you did the right thing!!!
PRO

Paul @ Ashgate Garden Care April 15, 2010 at 7:51pm

i would be worried too as she sounds very vulnerable and it sounds like you did the right thing. It always worries me when someone says 'I'm just popping out to the shops but the back door is open' and I always ask them to secure their property as I would not like to be responsible / prime suspect if anything went missing.

Would it be possible to try and arrange for the son to take over the responsibility for payment ?
GORDON April 15, 2010 at 7:58pm

Hi Paul

I am hoping something like that will be the outcome and you are right, i would much prefer the house to be secured should the owner go off somewhere.

Paul @ Ashgate Garden Care said:
i would be worried too as she sounds very vulnerable and it sounds like you did the right thing. It always worries me when someone says 'I'm just popping out to the shops but the back door is open' and I always ask them to secure their property as I would not like to be responsible / prime suspect if anything went missing.

Would it be possible to try and arrange for the son to take over the responsibility for payment ?
PRO

Phil Voice April 15, 2010 at 8:07pm

Hi Gordon

Thanks for having the courage of adding this discussion - it could not have been easy for you and I understand your reasons for concern. I definitely would try to contact the son and explain why you are worried.

I've been in similar situations with clients and having a relationship with another family member has been an important part of the triangle.

I wouldn't worry about being implicated in scamming this client...just keep records as best you can - you sound like you're an important allie rather than a threat.
Fenlandphil April 15, 2010 at 8:19pm

Bloody hell Gordon, you did the right thing, echo what others have said try to talk to the son who may not know how bad things are. These conditions can be a bit patchy and the son may catch mum only on her good or better days.
Lawncare-4u.co.uk April 15, 2010 at 11:38pm

yes i agree. sometimes not best to 'alert' but confide in a neighbour / carer quietly and hope they help her.
Lawncare-4u.co.uk April 18, 2010 at 1:25pm

i worked for a guy called steve. he seems slightly unstable (from stoke) left £5 short of payment ;-)

joking apart its rather worrying dealing with these people , i will get a relative now for sure with phone/address details in case something a problem occurs. - always put it in writing as much as possible and give a detailed receipt so relative/carer can see it.
Gary Hedges April 18, 2010 at 5:31pm

One of my nicest customers is 96. I would hate to say she is mentally confused as I only wish I could be as bright as her IF I ever reached her age.
She is so trusting and lets me fill out the payment cheque after each visit.
I felt very unconfortable about this and luckily managed to contact her daughter. She said that she did have some concerns about me as she did not know me and had been checking the amounts on her mothers statement.
She thanked me for contacting her and now contacts me whenever something extra is needed in the garden and I now even do work for her as well.
It is quite eye opening though just how trusting some older folk can be and it makes me so angry that some do take advantage of this fact.