'Lay off elderly' warning

Angry relatives have criticised Midland Coatings Co Ltd. for persuading the elderly people living alone to sign contracts for work to the outside walls of their Bradford homes.

And two claim the Leeds-based company has threatened to sue their parents after they tried to cancel the contract.

West Yorkshire Trading Standards officers say they have had more than 60 calls about the company so far this year.

But Midland Coatings says it does not target the elderly, customers are not forced to sign the contracts and they have the right to cancel them.

Tony Ainley criticised the company after it threatened legal action against his 89-year-old mother who suffers from dementia.

He said a representative persuaded her to sign for £1,800 of work before driving her to the bank to take out £500 deposit.

Mr Ainley said he immediately phoned the company to cancel the order and sent a fax and recorded delivery letter to a company address on the contract in the West Midlands.

He said a salesman visited his mother's Bingley home next day and drove her to the bank again to get the rest of the money.

But Mr Ainley's wife was alerted and rushed to the bank in time to stop her handing over the rest of the cash.

"The company then said they were not aware we had cancelled the contract and would sue her for the balance.

"But we obtained a specialist's report saying my mother was suffering from Alzheimer's Disease and was not in a fit state to enter into a contract.

"They should not approach old people living on their own."

One woman, who did not want to be named, said a company rep spent three hours with her 91-year-old mother in her Bradford home.

"My mother is confused anyway and he spent three hours convincing her her house was falling down," she said.

"She was told it desperately needed pointing. They asked for a cheque for £3,000 deposit and said the total would be £6,000."

"She was very distressed - very upset. I immediately phoned the company and said the contract is to be cancelled immediately and should be returned.

"We also immediately stopped the cheque - she hadn't got £3,000 in her account anyway."

Her mother has since received a letter from the company's Bradford solicitors T I Clough & Co telling her to pay the deposit or face legal proceedings.

Midland Coatings office manager Melanie Archer said: "We certainly don't rip people off - we are a reputable company and we have dozens of letters of satisfaction from customers. If you look at the amount of work we carry out and the number of complaints we have, the ratio is very, very small.

"It isn't the elderly we target - it's areas - and when we make the phone calls we don't know how old the people are.

"We don't force anyone to sign a contract. They have plenty of time to think about whether they want us to come and see them. They have three opportunities to cancel.

"After the first, introductory, call asking if they would like a visit, we phone a second time to confirm they still want it and we phone again a short time before the visit to check it is still on.

"If they ask us to leave during the visit we are quite happy to do so and if they sign a contract they then have the right to cancel it.

"I think age is irrelevant - if the person wants the job doing we don't discriminate against old people."

She would not answer further questions on the cancellation period and the reason representatives drove a customer to the bank, saying she was "very busy".

West Yorkshire Trading Standards officers say they have investigated all the calls they have received - 28 of them since the beginning of July.

They say most of them are complaints from or on behalf of elderly people.

A spokesman advised householders not to start conversations with phone callers offering free surveys or home visits. And he said they should not sign anything on the spot if they did agree to a visit by a sales representative.

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