Conned 2 - part 1

Conned! 2 - part 1

I do have something to write about – and I have already provided you with the first part of it . I posted it in late September and early October last year, and as may remember, I called it Conned?

So much has happened since then. It probably has been the most stressful period of my last
eight years. And to be honest, it was all of my own making.

To go back and summarise the situation which I was in when I last wrote, it all started when I got an cold call one evening. You know the sort.

“Barbara Day?”

“Yes”

“This is Beth from Envirosolar and I understand you have Solar Panels.”

“Yes.”

“Are you happy with them?”

“Yes”

“Do you feel that you have benefitted financially from them? How long have you had them now?”

“About five years, and yes, I think I will eventually benefit from them, but it will take another three years or so to pay off the cost.”

“You must be saving directly when the sun shines too.”

“Oh, yes, I do most of my electrical things when the sun is shining, thinking how clever I am being to save money. I only iron when the sun shines so my clothes are often wrinkled.”

You might have guessed by now, that I was no longer just waiting to hang up on an unwanted conversation. I am really quite proud of my decision to spent loads of money on my solar panels. And when the sun shines, I feel required in a good way, to make the most use of my free electrcity –
so I save up my ironing, lawn mowing, clothes washing, baking, etc. to when the sun in our in force and I feel that I am getting a good deal.

I won't go into the rest of the conversation with Beth, but she picked up on my enthusiasm and told me that they had some new similar products that I might be interested in. They just happened to have a specialist in my area at the moment, so how about if he came over and had a chat with me.

I was interested and nobody could say I was pressured into it. The new products involved using the outside air to heat water 24 hours a day, winter and summer, and redesigning the way the boiler works in order to produce a nice warm house at up to half the cost. Nobody twisted my arm. I
looked forward to the company's visit the next day.

If you want to the details, best go back and read the other five part story which I wrote as it was happening. I spent four hours talking to the rep, and he firmly convinced me that his product was going to give me a warm house for much less money. It sounded expensive, but I agreed.

That night I couldn't sleep, worried about the financial commitment so first thing next morning, I called him and told him I wanted to cancel. He said a person from the company would come to see me later to sign the various forms.

To make a long story short, the new man charmed me, and convinced me that I really did want this system, and he did lower the cost considerably and also arranged for me to pay in installments which took the pressure off me.

In my first story, I go through all the problems that occurred during the intallation and there were many. My daughter researched the company and tried her very best to get me to change my mind, but I was convinced that I was doing the right thing, and a week or so later, it was all installed
and that was the end of my first story. But it was so not the end of the saga.

How could I have been so stupid?

(to be continued)