I was scammed out of £3400 today and I feel suicidal

[MoSalahsBeard]

Scammy plumber firm ripped me off today to the tune of £3400. They ripped everything out of the bathroom to ‘investigate’ the problem for which they charged me £300 an hour emergency rate when I never said it was an emergency at any point. Was my word against theirs. Turns out they operate under many different company names and after doing digging into the other company names there are tonnes of awful reviews saying they rip you off by saying either they or you classed it as an emergency and charge a fortune. The man wouldn’t leave my house til I paid him, I’m on my own in the house as husband is away on business.

i spent all afternoon bawling my eyes out on the phone to Trading Standards, lawyers, and the company itself. I absolutely lost it. SENSITIVE CONTENT REDACTED BY MNHQ

Called the Samaritans crying saying I feel like killing myself. I’m trying to hold it together for my kid but I feel utterly broken. Ashamed, embarrassed, furious and feeling like I don’t deserve to eat for months until this is paid off. I don’t know how to cope with this. I’m utterly devastated.

Pleas take the time to read the thread. It was not a scam.

Please be kind to yourself OP. Hope you are feeling better today and / or have spoken to someone irl x

So the whole thing was just a shower pump?

How are you doing OP? I hope you're feeling a bit better now x

It happened to me in 2017 to the tune if 5k. Was travellers (gypsies)

I didn't realise, I believed they were legit gardeners.

I had to let it go and cut my losses. I literally never allow myself,to think about it.

If at the time I'd had any composure I'd have contacted the BBC1s fraud programme to see if they might listen..

In a similar vein they ripped out the garden and left it like a ploughed fields but failed to return once I paid them for the 'materials' they needed to make it look how I wanted it. Sounds like a formula for cash up from then leg it eh.

You must not feel bad about this OP

You acted in good faith to get facilities that your family needs fixed

Please do not kill yourself. You child worships you and needs you and would love you even if you’d been scammed for ten times as much.

You have been the victim of a wicked scammer.

You will recover from this, however it turns out. One day this will be a distant memory.

You must not blame yourself. This guy knew you were on your own with a kid. Scammers are able to read people and identify compliant victims.

My PILs got scammed for some garden work when they were elderly. We estimate that they paid four or five times the amount they should have done for some garden work. The men then tried to tell them all their windows needed replacing (utter bullshit) and took several thousand in “deposit”.

Please be kind to yourself OP. You didn’t deserve this and your family love you.