In 2016, a salesman for UK-based glaziers Zenith conviced an 81-year-old woman with dementia to pay him £5,700 ($7,800) for new doors—after his company cold-called her and she told them she needed a door handle fixed. The woman's son confronted the salesman when he returned to follow-up, and videotaped the encounter.
"You robbed this poor old woman," the son says. "You robbed her of six thousand pounds and you happily came down here again today to rob her some more."
A handyman could have fixed the doorhandle for price of a new handle and an hour's work: no more than £100 all in (assuming you can avoid Britain's army of shady locksmiths, another matter entirely). But then Zenith wouldn't be nearly six grand richer.
Ths story dates back several years, and is going viral again with further reporting on the company's legal troubles. The BBC reported on the company, noting its many front names and many customer complaints. Local news reporters in upscale, graying Surrey described it as a "dodgy double-glazing firm" and reported that the company was fined £80,000 ($110,000) after targeting vulnerable customers.
The video is especially good in how the son holds his temper while making the salesman participate in a tour of the house so the nature of the scam—two standard doors for nearly $8k— is made absolutely clear to the viewer.
Zenith said it was conducting an "internal" "investigation" but nothing apparently came of it. Though Zenith's website is dead, lawyer sponcon in local media seeking Zenith customers was published as recently as June this summer.
Zenith customers would be worn down by very long, fraudulent presentations, the longest we were told of was ten hours. Trading Standards, the Finance Conduct Authority (FCA), the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) the banks, credit card companies and finance companies all know about this highly illegal and fraudulent process, yet they all choose to ignore the problem. IF YOU HAVE PURCHASED FROM ZENITH YOU MAY BE ENTITLED TO A REFUND & WE WILL ENSURE YOUR GUARANTEES ARE UPHELD
