Sweetheart of a woman, we've been neighbors for 36 years. I've gotten to know her daughters, sons in law, and grandkids like my own family. I've watched her outlive two wonderful husbands, both dear friends of mine as well. Salt of the earth, every one of them.
Her house is in need of a roof and she has been seeking bids. One of her sons in law shows up when the contractors stop by to inspect in preparation for their bids. On Monday, a contractor stopped by who was doing another roof in a neighboring development, and noticed from afar that hers might need one as well. Totally unsolicited.
She was on her way out the door when he stopped her, and she told him as much. He got pretty pushy with her, insisting it "would only take a minute" (where the other contractors had gone up on the roof, into the attic, and had conducted thorough inspections). She told him she didn't have time, was running late for an appointment, etc. Just give me a card and I'll get back to you, gotta go...
She was gone for three hours. By the time she got home, his crew had removed her roof. I, of course, heard them working, went out to look, and it all looked legit. When she got home, she was in shock and disbelief - she had agreed to nothing, had signed nothing. She pointed all of that out, and he claimed they had a "handshake agreement", so he felt free to start. She had no idea what to do, so she started to head into her house to call her son in law, and me. The guy pushed through the door, followed her up her stairs, and got very, very intimidating with her. She managed to call her son in law, but not me. She didn't have to.
Her son in law was there in five minutes, and it spilled back out into the driveway. And it got loud. Really loud, with an unfamiliar voice shouting threats. I was in my garage with the door open, working on my 3.0 liter rebuild, so I wandered over to investigate. By now this guy was threatening my buddy, my neighbor's son in law, with physical violence.
That's about when I showed up. In my very best "calm but don't fck with me voice", I informed him that he had been told to leave and that he was now trespassing. He started to protest, took a step towards me, and I asked "do you want to add assault to the charges? It's time to leave".
He was back the next morning at oh dark thirty. The police were there almost before he got both feet on the ground out of his truck. I beat them there, but not by much, and they asked me to return to my home, so I did.
In the after action debrief, my neighbor told me that the cops told him if he returned he would be subject to arrest. She wrote a "cease and desist" letter to the company and gave a copy to the police to put in the case file. She is pressing charges for assault (on her and her son in law) and trespassing.
Fortunately, she signed nothing and didn't give them one red cent. She has bids from three legit roofing companies. Looks like the removal is going to be free... Reminds me of my pre-COVID driveway debacle, wherein a contractor removed my driveway, securing a small deposit before never returning.
I cannot believe that this is a "business model" that these kinds of guys pursue. I think they saw an easy target in an 84 year old lady. I bet they now rue the day they even tried...