Preparation, common sense goes a long way

You know the adage, “Truth is stranger than fiction.” Well, to support that insight, believe me, I don’t need to make up the following scenarios. This is the continuing saga of silly things people do with their money:

One day a fellow shows up at a couple’s door and introduces himself and his company. He offers to clean their gutters and roof, but the couple isn’t interested and sends him on his way, explaining they can take care of those tasks themselves.

Fast forward to that night. The couple is watching TV when they hear a noise coming from the ceiling. Half an hour later there is a knock at the door. The same fellow from earlier is there with a handwritten receipt. He tells them he cleaned their gutters and roof, and they owe him about $175.

This is where things get strange. They actually pay him for the unauthorized services and he leaves. Then a neighbor wanders over to tell the couple he lent his ladder to the guy so he could get on their roof. The next morning, the couple files a complaint with the BBB.

When they heard the unusual noise on the roof, why didn’t they call 911? What the heck was the neighbor thinking? Is he that accommodating to anyone who asks? And why did the couple even pay this guy?

Next scenario: I get a call from one of the TV news stations. The reporter tells me a sad story about a guy with a pickup and a problem. The fellow decides he must trade in his truck on a vehicle with better gas mileage, so he begins to visit used car lots. He finds a used car and makes a deal, but 50 miles down the road, the engine blows up. The lot will not take the car back. The three-day cooling-off question comes up, and he wonders why they don’t have to undo the deal based on that rule.

He finds out, after the fact, that he bought a used car that Consumer Reports gave a bad rating for reliability and listed it as one to avoid. Worse, he bought the car from a lot with an unsatisfactory BBB rating – lots of unanswered complaints. Bottom line? He bought a notoriously bad car from a dealer with a bad reputation. Maybe the coffee was good.

Back to the three-day cooling-off period issue: This rule only applies to health clubs, sales made outside of a place of business (like transactions made door-to-door or over the phone) and emergency sales, like home repairs in cases that involve flooding. But not cars, folks. Sorry. There is a reason you sign all that “as is” paperwork when buying a used car.

What’s the lesson here? Do your homework. Check out the reliability of that car with Consumer Reports and other searches before you buy. Also consult “Start With Trust” at www.bbb.org to look up company reports before you find yourself stuck on the side of the road or with some stranger crawling on your roof.

My staff tells me the number one call we get these days concerns fake checks. So, my third story involves the checks you get in the mail saying you are a winner of something.

In this case, a man is doing his best to cash these checks at the same time he’s telling all his bar buddies he has a wallet full of checks. A couple of beers and he’s a wealthy man. Sadly, his buddies decide to mug him for all this money he’s holding. I can only imagine how disappointed they were when they found a bunch of worn-out scam checks.

The good news about these fake checks is that banks and credit unions don’t cash them. They know they are phony, no matter how authentic they look.

No, you are not a winner. Toss them in the shredder and forget it. If you do manage to cash or deposit one, in about 10 to 14 days your bank will tell you it’s phony, and if you spent any of what they made available to you, you owe every bit to the bank.

If one bank turns you away and you try to cash one of these checks at a second, you have moved from victim to criminal.

In summary:

•Do not hire someone who just appears at your door.

•If something fishy is going on, call the police.

•Intimidation is not OK. Call law enforcement before someone tries to make you do something you don’t want to do.

•Research before you buy, starting with the BBB.

•You probably are not a winner.