Marissa Payton wrote:
Ignoramus6369 wrote:

On Sat, 12 May 2007 20:29:58 GMT, Mike Dobony
wrote:

"Ignoramus6369" wrote in
message
...
It happened yesterday. A truck cruised in our neighborhood
and I
saw them stop by our neighbor's house (we have a concrete
driveway, his is asphalt) and they talked. Then I went to do
something else, the next thing I know is that my neighbor's
asphalt driveway was sprayed with some tar like substance. So
I
went to talk to see what happened.

He said that he was scammed: they first agreed on a certain
price
($175), they took the money, sprayed half of his driveway,
then
acted all surprised and said that "it takes a lot more
coating
than they expected" and demanded $50 more for finishing the
work.
I guess with the implication that if he did not pay, they
would
drive off with his driveway half sprayed looking really
stupid.
So, he said he paid extra $50 and they finished the work.

So. I am aware that the general wisdom says do not give work
to any
"drive by" people. But I would like to know, let's say that
due to
poor judgment, it happened to me and these artists demand
extra
$50 to finish. What would be a sensible thing to do in these
lousy
circumstances?

i

Poor judgment in the first place. Second, having work done
without
a signed contract. Third, not taking their license number and
calling the police.



Would you think that the police would have any interest?

In my town soliciting door to door requires a permit or
notificiation
to the police station. If your neighbor reported them for going
door
to door, the police would check if they have met the
requirements.
If not, our police would be more than happy to stop by and have
have
a chat.

If an actual scam or fraud is reported, they will start the
criminal
process. They are also happy to do a full commercial vehicle
inspection as well, never know what those can turn up.

Though it would be wrong to accuse anyone without evidence this is
a species of fraud characteristic of an American group called "The
Irish
Travelers" which operates in the Eastern and Southern part of the
country.
There was a very interesting documentary about them on the box
some
years ago.

Their itinerant and elusive modus operandi has made legal action
against
them very difficult.

Regards,

Edward Hennessey