Reply to Contractor Swindled $3500 from MIL

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What recourse do I have?

Quick background- My MIL has Alzheimer's and somehow found a checkbook we had hidden. He convinced her she needed some 'tree work' while no one else was at home and charged her $3500 for cutting a 10 foot dead branch off a tree. It was 5 minutes of work and the branch could be broken into a tiny pile of kindling in another 5 minutes.

He immediately went to the bank and cashed the check.

What can I do?[/quote]

Shameful. Is this an independent "handyman" type or someone who actually owns or works for a established company?

I'm guessing it's the former. Do you have his contact information? Maybe you reach out to him, very calmly, and say that you both know the $3500 charge is unreasonable and [b]you would be willing to settle the matter if he refunds your mother $3000[/b], which you believe is more than generous to him. That will be easiest for all parties. But, [b]if he does not do so, you plan to escalate the matter legally.[/b]

(Now as to what escalation means, that depends on the specifics.)[/quote]

[b]But OP has no right to interfere with a transaction she was not involved in.[/b]  This is a matter between the contractor and OP's mother.    If OP is saying her mother is not competent enough to have made this transaction, OP needs to make sure the mother is never ever alone.   Not for one single minute.  This is the reality of "aging at home."[/quote]

This is not true. The government and banks have protection groups for exactly these type of transactions. Get involved and report it. [/quote]

There are government protection groups for able-minded people who enter contracts and then change their mind-allowing them to take money away from the contractor who held up his part of the deal?[/quote]

Is that what happened here?[/quote]

No, but that's what the pp ("The government and banks have protection groups for exactly these type of transactions") seems to believe will happen.[/quote]

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