A Caerphilly county borough couple have spoken out after being targeted by a nationwide scam, which left them tied into a contract costing thousands of pounds.
Peter and Grace MacDonald from Cefn Hengoed contacted Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Trading Standards team after realising that they had been victims of a scam after agreeing to the installation of a burglar alarm system, not knowing that this would then tie them into a contract for monitoring, upkeep and rapid response facilities totalling thousands of pounds.
As Mr and Mrs MacDonald contacted Trading Standards within seven days of signing the contract and installation of the equipment hadn’t taken place, Trading Standards helped them to cancel the contract as part of the seven-day cooling-off period.
Cllr Lyn Ackerman, cabinet member for the environment said, “This scam is one that is circulating nationally at present, and I am full of admiration for Mr and Mrs MacDonald for speaking out after becoming victims of a scam and helping to discourage others from signing up to receive similar offers.
If an offer seems too good to be true, then the chances are it probably is, and I would encourage anyone who is offered free or cheap goods such as these burglar alarms to seriously consider whether the offer is genuine.
Speak to family and friends about the offer before making any commitments, do not agree to the company making a visit to your home and if you are in any doubt at all, so no.”
As part of this nationwide scam, the companies will often claim they are working with the police or as part of a Government scheme, or that they are researching for a fire and security alarm system company.
The salesmen will typically cold call, keen to make a home visit the same day to discuss the installation of a free or cheap alarm. The companies are reported to use high-pressure tactics to scaremonger residents about rising crime levels in the area.
Some are also reported to make misleading claims about the alarms being directly linked to the police or the availability of a hotline to police patrol cars.
Mrs MacDonald said, “I hope that us speaking out about how we fell victim to this scam will deter others from succumbing to the offers these companies make, which although they may seem professional and genuine, are more often than not too good to be true.”
Some residents across the UK have found themselves tied to a six-year contract agreement costing up to £6,000 as part of this scam.
For help and advice, please go to the Consumer Direct website or call 08454 04 05 06.
