What To Do When Someone Working in Your Home Steals Money From You
We leave the plumber to do his job and presto he waves his magic snake and the toilet flushes. He blinks and the hot water heater is new. He pours an alchemists liquid dream into the mouth of the sink and clears its throat. The palace is in order. The royal throne now works.
The hired help have left and the bill will come in the mail. You can still make the 9:30 movie. You go to get your wallet. It’s not there so you panic and thoroughly rip up the house. You finally find it thrown behind the kitchen stove with the money stolen out of it. You know the plumbers did it because no one else had been in the house and the wallet was lying on a table in the living room that morning.
Immediately you notify the plumbing company who stated they would look into it. You waited several days and heard nothing back from them. You call them, but their arrogant attitude snipes, “Prove it! Prove one of our employees stole your money.” You know the plumbing company is insured and could pay the money back without a loss and you know they are responsible for what happened. You know you are not going to get anywhere with them. You give up. This is one scenario.
Maybe the plumbers stole that fifty dollars off your dresser you’d been saving to go dancing Friday. Employee theft does occur, but it’s quite a slap when it occurs inside your home at the hands of a plumber. If it does happen to you remember the company won’t admit to anything. They don’t want to tarnish their good name if they’ve been in the business for years. Although, out of respect, there are some businesses who are honest and will gladly make things right. Whether in order to do so they pay the money back out of their own pocket.
You don’t have to call the company when a theft occurs. In fact, don’t waste time giving them the courtesy of investigating the incident. The minute you realize money is missing Call the Police. File Theft Charges. Let the police do their job. They will examine the employee or employees who worked in your house the day the theft occurred. Naturally the employees involved won’t admit to anything, but by filing theft charges you will gain some control of the situation and have a paper trail should you decided to take the matter to court.
Next tell the Better Business Bureau. Inform them of what happened. If the matter cannot be resolved between the business and you they will step in. Let them put a cautionary flag up to warn potential customers if the business is unresponsive. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Write Dear Abby and discuss the matter. Get the word out to as many people as you can in order to prevent them from experiencing the same thing.
Its more likely you won’t be able to recover your money. The thief will walk away unscathed. By taking the matter into your own hands the thief might at best lose his job. The company will lose business and you can vast in the satisfaction of knowing you helped another individual to avoid going through the same thing. People trust plumbers to come into their home and do their job forgetting they are strangers who are possibly looking for a free fall of money. Unfortunately, life’s lessons can cost.
