Forum Topic

Agressive Scammers in Chiswick area

Be aware that there are agressive scammers working in the Chiswick area at present, particularly around the Glebe estate. I have twice opened the door to young men with Irish accents offering to jet wash my front garden for £10. I refused their kind offer.My neighbour also refused but they started work anyway leaving a clean patch. When he told them to finish it they quoted £20. When they finished they claimed they had agreed a price of £20 per square metre and demanded £400 in cash. As he had no cash on him they asked him to go to the cash machine to get the money. I witnessed them returning this afternoon to chase their money. The young man was again very agressive but eventually left making threats.They are driving a white "transit" type van with the name Steam Cleaning Services on the side.I would recommend that you do not engage with them if they come to your door and do not take up their offer.Police have been contacted.

Mark Butler ● 1448d18 Comments

A handy tip for doorstep scammers offering to sort your drive/guttering/front garden etc is just to say, "Sorry, but I rent the property, so am not responsible for repairs or maintenance".Heads 'em off before they even get started.And when those people selling cleaning products turn up, I just say "Sorry, my wife deals with all that sort of stuff and she's not in just now". Obviously this isn't much good for women answering the door and is somewhat sexist, but heyho, it works. (And I'm not married, btw)

Richard Cathcart ● 1448d

That is a good tip, Richard. I am a tenant from now on.

Susan Kelly ● 1448d

I am often the cleaner when we get those blasted scamming 'phone calls.

Vanessa Smith ● 1448d

I always say my husband’s builder.

Maggie Dodge ● 1448d

You could also ask them to call back when your policeman son has finished his shift.

Susan Kelly ● 1448d

I am genuinely at the 50p down the back of the sofa stage with cash at the moment. Had a knocker today with a long tale of being ex army , coming out of jail etc., and I really do empathise with how we abandon people. But my genuine statement of 'I have no cash' was followed by your can transfer to my bank account or I'll come back when you've been to the bank. Since when did anyone think standing with a lone sponge on offer was enough for me to transfer money to their bank account ?

Tessa Russell ● 1448d

My husband is in the trade, so I don’t feel like it’s an out and out lie. It’s never failed me either.

Maggie Dodge ● 1448d

No-one who is genuinely ex-Army needs to beg. There are a number of military charities who will help them.

Richard Greenhough ● 1448d

Richard Greenhough explained" No-one who is genuinely ex-Army needs to beg. There are a number of military charities who will help them. "Great advice coming from someone who like myself I assume, has been fortunate enough to have never suffered from mental health problems of any kind, throughout their lives. In this instance possibly exacerbated by their military service, but leaving them fearful of being properly diagnosed Obviously the world would be a much better place if everybody else did the sensible thing, as we would do ourselves. But unfortunately, for whatever reason, it seems they don't    michael adams

Michael Adams ● 1448d

Good Morning Stalker Adams.

Richard Greenhough ● 1448d

You make a very good and heartfelt point, Michael.And that's exactly why so many good people were pleased to supoort Help For Heroes.

Roger Talbot ● 1448d

Richard Greenough announced"Good Morning Stalker Adams"Are those four words meant to signify anything at all ?Are they meant to have any relevance to anything I myself, or anyone else for that matter, has posted on this forum in say the last ten years ?Or have you now decided to simply post words at random, hoping to maybe have better luck than with posts you have actually put some "thought" into ? Well better luck next time, is all I can say.michael adams

Michael Adams ● 1447d

The jet wash mob were in Hadley Gardens again the other day offering to clean our front paving for £10.00. Last year they were targetting older residents who were perhaps not so inclined to insist that "No thanks" meant no thanks. Easy pickings.The mad thing is that these people try to charge £200.00 for a front garden when you can nip to B&Q and buy your very own jetwasher for less than £150 and do it yourself as many times as you like ...

Chris Blackwell ● 1447d

Michael Adas announced "Are those four words meant to signify anything at all ?"I wonder which word or words were beyond his comprehension ? 'Good Morning' - a common form of greeting'Stalker' - someone who obsessively follows another person's posts on social media'Adams' - the name of the stalker in questionNot really that complicated, was it ?

Richard Greenhough ● 1447d

Richard Greenhaugh explained " Stalker' - someone who obsessively follows another person's posts on social media

'Adams' - the name of the stalker in question So can you provide any actual evidence for your claim that myself or anyone else named Adams for that matter, is obsessivly following your posts on social media ?
He then further explained — " Not really that complicated, was it ? " Well it won't be, once you've provided any actual evidence for your claim. Once you've done that, everything will indeed become crytstal clear. But until then, as I said before, you'd probably have done better to simply type another few words at random; as you may have had better, luck that way.

michael adams




 

Michael Adams ● 1447d

Michael Adums explained"So can you provide any actual evidence for your claim that myself or anyone else named Adams for that matter, is obsessivly following your posts on social media ?"in a post that itself provided the necessary evidence. Is that "crytstal clear" enough for you ?

Richard Greenhough ● 1446d

Richard Greenhough asked

Is that "crystal clear" enough for you ?

Unfortunately Richard what *is*crystal clear is that you posted the following claim 

" No-one who is genuinely ex-Army needs to beg. There are a number of military charities who will help them. "

To which I responded perfectly politely, by merely pointing ot that a surprisingly large number of ex-soldiers turn out to have mental health problems — often paranoia as it happens — which can actually precude them from actively seeking help. That and a possible mistrust of authority resulting from their having been as having been "discarded"
as they see it.

So that at best, your original comment could be seen as being "ill-informed "

However at that stage, there was still always the opportunity for you to inform yourself of the facts. Not by your having to walk or cycle miles to the local library; as you would needed to do years ago. But by simply spending two minutes Googling appropriate terms "ex-miliary" "ex soldiers" "mental health" "rough sleepers" etc. When you would soon have realised your error; and possibly corrected yourself.

So did you take that chance Richard ?  Did you seek to familarise yourself with the facts ?

No unfortunately you didn't. did you ?

So that what  is crystal clear Richard, sad to say is that you are clearly a profoundly ignorant and yet highly opinionated person. With every intention on present evidence at least of staying that way. Possibly for the rest of your life 

Obviously there is  never a nice way to say these things. The only real question really is whether any of this, comes as any real surprise to you. I strongly suspect that it doesn't. And nobody's perfect. after all

Anyway I hope this helps.


micchael adams

 











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Michael Adams ● 1446d

Why not both of you change your names... have new identities...and  see if subsequently you both bump into each other in cyberspace!23611957Cpl J LawesCyprus and Libya.(undiagnosed)

Jim Lawes ● 1446d