She thought she paid $91. Contract says 48 hour right of refusal, but I didn't catch the sale on her bank account until 9 days later. Vacuum company refuses to take it back! What can I do?
This is plain & simple elder financial abuse. Repairman, not vacuum cleaner salesman! Just because she invited him in, shouldn't make a different. The lousy people are praying on the elderly & it's well known & a disgrace!!
Contact the authorities and tell them that she has been financially exploited by this company and they will not work with you.
This will help get them to change their business practices, nobody likes to do business with a company that exploits seniors or vulnerable people.
I would also contact the better business bureau and file a complaint, contact your local business license bureau and find out if they have a way to make a complaint.
Financial exploitation is a crime.
It may be time for her to not live alone, God forbid but what if he was a violent criminal?
TV stations can intervene in these situations. I've seen our guys here in Cleveland get results with these kinds of people. Having a known reporter show up at your store asking questions and knowing that's going to show up on TV in front of thousands -- or potentially millions, in a large enough market -- can get even the hardest jerk to back down.
I see you're in Indianapolis. Here are some email addresses/websites for your TV stations and newspaper:
You've explained that she's old and confused and the vacuum hasn't been used, IMO anyone with an ounce of integrity would have no problem taking it back. If this a** h*** wants to play hard ball then you are justified in doing the same. Do you have a community facebook page? You don't need to say anything slanderous, the facts speak for themselves.
Selling this to ANY elder is right at the base of it consumer fraud, and there are laws against fraud on elders. This would be worth checking in with a phone call to Elder Law Attorney to see where to report this. Then tell the dealership that you are contacting Electrolux and do so. Call the news agencies in your area. Tell the dealership that you will see to it that this story is widely distributed if you have to show up with a posterboard in front of their place every weekend for a year. Tell them that they are now your "life mission" to tell the world who they sold a 1,000.00 vacuum to. Make them very afraid. Put it on the phone and put it in writing and start at once. Tell them you will take them to small claims court for elder fraud and elder abuse and deceptive sales fraud. Tell them you will make them FAMOUS. Enlist people, if you have friends, in calling the dealership daily.
Something similar happened to my mother with a home security company. We called the company and did not get refunded. I contacted my mother's charge card company and explained the situation. They were great and immediately stopped payment. Additionally, my brother wrote our state's Attorney General with the details of situation, including my mother's dementia diagnosis. The Attorney General's office investigated and sent a letter to the company and to us. We were amazed. Good luck.
Let me play devils advocate here. To be fair she invited the repairman into her home. They did not come knocking on her door. This could also get turned around on you - if you had concerns about her ability to handle her finances and you have her POA because of this, then why didn't you do a better job of making certain she could not get taken advantage of in this way? Remove the checks? Only give her a credit card with a certain limit? As consumers and caregivers we cannot have our cake and eat it too, we cannot say "Oh, I want Aunt Mary to live at home as long as possible and she will pitch a fit if I take her checkbook so I don't want to deal with that right now" and then complain when she uses her checkbook. This is why businesses get tired of dealing with elderly consumers and their families and make it so hard. To you it is a one time thing, to them it is a daily occurrence. If you question someone's cognitive status just because they are elderly you are accused of age discrimination and ageism - if you don't and treat them the same as other customers and respect them as adults, you get accused of fraud.
Christopher Elliott is a Consumer Guru. He has a website and writes for several newspapers. He has a team that works on problems such as this, when they feel they can do some good. It is a free service, and he also shows names and addresses of CEO's and higher-up's who one might write to. He always suggests paper trails, which it sounds like you're doing. He has helped me in the past with a consumer issue, and you may wish to try using him and his team.
This will help get them to change their business practices, nobody likes to do business with a company that exploits seniors or vulnerable people.
I would also contact the better business bureau and file a complaint, contact your local business license bureau and find out if they have a way to make a complaint.
Financial exploitation is a crime.
It may be time for her to not live alone, God forbid but what if he was a violent criminal?
I see you're in Indianapolis. Here are some email addresses/websites for your TV stations and newspaper:
(NBC affiliate) 13investigates@wthr.com
(ABC affiliate) https://www.theindychannel.com/news/call-6-investigators
(CBS affiliate) news4@cbs4indy.com
(Indy Star - Newspaper) justin.mack@indystar.com
The other advantage to this is you may prevent some other older person with cognitive issues from having the same problem.
Best wishes.