Moms car stolen today while at Doctor's office for a checkup...

[ultrarunner]

Yep and the never ending cold callers offering anything from free furnace inspections to trips to the Bahamas...

I always say if it is free... why do they need your credit card???

After Dad passed, I added Mom to my Credit Card... makes it real simple to dispute a charge...

I use to think she was exaggeration... then I was working around her home and 6 solicitations in the five hours I was there...

Last Monday she got two calls from the US Marshall Office saying they had an arrest warrant for back taxes and she would be incarcerated unless she provided bank account information immediately... of course she didn't fall for it and called me right away.

Should be special place in you know where for these crooks.

A very good friend of mine... highly decorated Naval Commander and Fighter Ace lost most of his life savings... got a cold call to donate to Wounded Warriors... said he would send in a $50 donation being a vet himself... caller said they could do it right over the phone... his bank account with 73,000 was drained to an offshore bank and the money has never been recovered...

It will be 4 weeks tomorrow so it looks like it is time to settle with her insurance company... hoping for the best.

So far no problems with the replacement 2011 Corolla... and she loves the remote key fob...

 

[ZR900MAN]

Time to change the law so banks have to replace the funds at their expense when this happens.....bet they won't let it happen then

 

[ultrarunner]

Seniors are prey to all manor of cons...

I help several seniors and have seen it first hand... also sales people that will lie right to their face.

Several times I have said so there is no mistake... I am recording this conversation and CLICK the person hangs up or walks away...

Other times I tell them my Uncle is a Sheriff Deputy which is true although he died in the line of duty...

Most of the time I just hang up...

The WWII Navy Vet passed away within a year of losing his savings... he still had a pension and tricare plus a little in dividend money coming in... at 90 something and wheel chair bound there isn't anyway he is every going to recoup...

Had a quick diversion today... a friend said they might have found Mom's car... it sure sounded like it could have been hers on the side of an alley in the industrial part of town... he waited and when I arrived it was similar but not hers...

When of my elderly friend paid $8500 for 3 rooms of carpet... in her 1922 1,000 square foot home which was all rems because the two bedrooms and the living room were all different... she paid cash... because the contract said cash on completion... I did not want her to feel bad so I could not say much except to call me when she was thinking of having work done...

Her case the guy knocked on the door and said they had overbought for a job in the neighborhood and would pass the savings on to her if they could do it today...

Be careful out there....

 

[MossRoad]

Hey, remember back in post #85 where I told you about my brother-in-law getting his truck stolen down in Daytona a couple weeks ago...

So they went back to their campsite and commiserated with some folks next to them that had an almost identical truck except different color and better options, leather, etc... B.I.L. jokingly asks if they want to sell their truck. Man says yes! All told, B.I.L. says they're upgrading to same truck with lower mileage and better options for a couple thousand. Anyhow, three days ago, mans wife pulls plug on deal. Bummer! So, B.I.L. and his wife rent a U-Haul, hook up camper and head home. Yesterday, they stop at a campground in Georgia for a couple days.... get phone call from Daytona Police Dept... "We have your truck!" Apparently, guy driving it made a traffic infraction, they went to pull him over and he ran from them. Got the truck stuck in mud and they actually caught the guy. Cops told B.I.L. the truck is driveable. Now he has to go back and get it and hope its not trashed, see if they find his dirt bikes, toolbox, keys, etc.... but hopefully he gets it back with not too much damage.

Maybe there's hope for your mom's car... or at least bad karma for the thief! :thumbsup:

 

[ultrarunner]

Thanks for posting Moss!

It's nice to hear that a thief does get caught... even if it is rare.

We have not given up... on the other hand Mom did put out a lot to buy a replacement so a settlement would offset some of that.

I'm glad that she has been able to adjust to the newer Corolla... it was part of the reason we went that route because even though it is newer... it still is mostly laid out in a way that is familiar to her...

I may need to make a run up to Olympia next month and sometimes she comes along... does a great job pruning and on the gravel road detail!

Anyway... she said we should take her car if we go to give it a good test since the Toyota warranty is 12 months or 12 thousand miles and she drives so little...

I'm hoping for the best when you brother is reunited with his truck...

 

[hunter townsen]

Sorry to hear about your mom, my mom is 78, so I know what your worries are. She gets ripped off because she meets " nice people who scam her , all of the time, she wont learn. The worst was I was out of town, and some nice boys came by and offered to trim her trees , and do some clean up for her. They were there for weeks b4 I found out. There was a shop there with tons of stuff of mine and my deceased fathers. So they went through it cleaning it for her. The list of items they hauled away is endless. but a few noteworthy items were a brand new linde 350 am welder , that had never been used, about 10 of my pre 69 chevy small blocks and big block motors, including a hi pro 396, my factory gm 1/4 panels for my 67 Camaro convertible I was working on at the time, still in gm boxes, valued at the time at about 6k , and so on and so on. Heres the kicker
SHE WAS PAYING THEM 150 BUCKS A DAY

They left trees down in the yard and so on and so on.

As far as living in the country I wouldn't live anywhere else but where not safe here, sometimes worse because its less expensive to live here than in town and the crack heads move out here.

several years ago the crack head neighbor broke down my next door neighbors door, stole the jewelry from them and lit the brand new house on fire. Long story, I had a pretty good Idea of what happened , but there was no proof, and because the fire marshall said it was suspicious circumstances they could get home owners for years. Years later the crackheads gf admitted what happened

theres more lol but tired of typing

Rob

 

[ultrarunner]

Sorry to hear about your mom, my mom is 78, so I know what your worries are. She gets ripped off because she meets " nice people who scam her , all of the time, she wont learn. The worst was I was out of town, and some nice boys came by and offered to trim her trees , and do some clean up for her. They were there for weeks b4 I found out. There was a shop there with tons of stuff of mine and my deceased fathers. So they went through it cleaning it for her. The list of items they hauled away is endless. but a few noteworthy items were a brand new linde 350 am welder , that had never been used, about 10 of my pre 69 chevy small blocks and big block motors, including a hi pro 396, my factory gm 1/4 panels for my 67 Camaro convertible I was working on at the time, still in gm boxes, valued at the time at about 6k , and so on and so on. Heres the kicker
SHE WAS PAYING THEM 150 BUCKS A DAY

They left trees down in the yard and so on and so on.

As far as living in the country I wouldn't live anywhere else but where not safe here, sometimes worse because its less expensive to live here than in town and the crack heads move out here.

several years ago the crack head neighbor broke down my next door neighbors door, stole the jewelry from them and lit the brand new house on fire. Long story, I had a pretty good Idea of what happened , but there was no proof, and because the fire marshall said it was suspicious circumstances they could get home owners for years. Years later the crackheads gf admitted what happened

theres more lol but tired of typing

Rob

I'm so sorry to hear that... can only imagine how you feel and the part about being paid only ads insult to injury.

Several of my Washington friends have had encounters... they live out on the Peninsula, beautiful and somewhat remote and unfortunately a prime area when folks are away during the day... neighbors can't help much because the lay of the land often means neighbors don't have a clear line of vision...

One thing that is of great comfort are Mom's neighbors... not a single one I wouldn't trust to have keys to the house and among those neighbors there are just about someone with a key to another's place... when we were away at a family reunion... a neighbor saw water coming out the front door... shut of the main, opened the house, mopped and had fans going all day for days...

I'm afraid society is reverting back to an earlier time where you had better know your neighbors and they had better know you... otherwise you are on your own.

 

[hunter townsen]

live and learn ,I still have to watch her like a hawk. Im still the kind of neighbor that grades the gravel roads for free, have been for 25 years, and would do the same if I saw water running , but not sure about most of my other neighbors. sad state of affairs.

 

[ultrarunner]

Been blessed with good neighbors... both in California and Washington and it is something I am thankful for.

I also go out of my way when I see something amiss like a few months ago when I saw a front door open at a house on my way to work where I only know the folks from waving... they were being robbed and my coming up to the door caused the theifs to run out the back...

A little update...

Sheriff caught a car thief on probation in a stolen car yesterday in the same area... deputy noticed the car driving fast and initiated a traffic stop and was led on a 5 mile chase until the driver jumped out... police dog got a good bite and thief was taken to the local hospital to be treated...

Car thief on probation... something wrong with that but thousands like him have been set free because the court said California prisons were overcrowded... go figure and it is one reason for low Law Enforcement morale.

 

[MossRoad]

....police dog got a good bite and thief was taken to the local hospital to be treated...
.

But more importantly.... did the dog catch any diseases? :laughing: