Paranoid/Demented Customers: Can I see your ID?

[Jryanruch]

What have you found to be the most effective (and humane) way of dealing with Elderly customers who have developed paranoid tendences and/or tell wild stories of thieves crawling through keyways etc in order to rearrange their furniture?

You can: A) $oak them for some $erious $ecurity upgrades. B) Suggest they seek professional help. C) Try and get a relative on the phone that you can explain the situation to and hand it over to them...

What else have you?

[UWSDWF]

the only thing you can do....

[desert_gold_hound]

If they are paranoid then install some upgraded security. So what if they have lost some of their rational thinking. They feel insecure then make them feel secure again. They have deserved the right to security by their age. I would let them live their last years as comfortable as possible. Do not milk them for everything sell them a basic cheap system upgrade. It’s their comfort that matters the most.

[Jryanruch]

The problem happens when you take on these customers they cost you big money in time. You put medeco on and the bad guys are coming under the door..., you put in a raised threshhold and they bad guys come in through the mailslot.. it never ends.

[Dooms_day]

give them a lock with 7 pins, ALL the pins are high security pins and put it in that masterlock deabolt with the complete lockout feature, bar the windows and reinforce walls and the roof, making sure no one can get in OR out!

[desert_gold_hound]

After the first or second time yes contact the family. This info should only be gathered in a manner that makes the customer think its in there best interest. I can say there is one sure fire way of getting this information.

Bring up a casual conversation with them. Ask them if they have any family in town if they say respond with something on the lines of “Oh that’s too bad you have family that at least lives near by right?”.

What ever the situation, always think in the customer’s best interest. I would not wont to live in a hospital for my last few years so to me it would not be in my best interest to have adult services called on me.

When you talk to the family let them know your concerns however make sure they know you will do what it takes to save them money, give the family member peace of mind, and try to find problems before they acore.

Remember in the end it is the peace of mind of your customer that is important. OK OK and your wallet.

[Raccoon]

Sell them an alarm with motion sensors, CCTV, laser trips-- the whole 9 yards. If the baddies still sneak in via flesh-eating mist, then sell them a dehumidifi.. er, ectoplasmic thermal neutralizer.

I have no idea how to respond rationally to this question, as it has just never come up. Even customers whom I've pointed out security concerns to, felt that I was absolutely right and were prepared to spend lots of money, but then I gave them the grain of salt to chew on, and they typically felt that their existing security was satisfactory. If someone wants to break in, they will. And I'm happy with convincing my customers about that, even if it means not making a sale.

[zeke79]

Personally, you should sell piece of mind to an extent. Reinforced door jambs and doors. UL listed locks. Security laminate for windows at least on ground floor with window stops if they like to leave windows open for fresh air. An alarm is at their discretion but keep in mind that people in a state of dementia are not going to be able to utilize an alarm without causing so many false alarms that police stop responding in a timely fashion.

The above "to an extent" is what I use to atleast give MYSELF piece of mind that when I leave town for my main job and my wife a children are home alone that the place is alot more secure than most and will give a "window" of time for a call to the police and a response from them if needed.

[Shrub]

You should NEVER pray on people especially the edlerly,

You can: A) $oak them for some $erious $ecurity upgrades.

If you were near me now i would smack you clean in the face,

B) Suggest they seek professional help.

Who the hell do you think your talking to? you do not go to a customers house then suggest they need to seek professinal help, if you did that to one of my familiy i would call you out to a job and again give you a clean smack in the face,


I very rarely get this high up on the horse but your statements are what i would expect to come from a cowboy, aloing with a lot of the other comments on this thread,


You sell security to what the customer wants, the customer is always right, you can suggest things that would solve an issue the customer has but to bear down and tell them what they are having is bang out of order,

Make resonable suggestions to secure a property keeping in mind cost, area, property being secured, person to oporate the locks (a 90 year old woman isnty gogin to start moving bars etc away from a door in the event of fire),

Basically as zeke said, secure it so its safe and to what the customer reasonably has asked for and to a standard that you would leave your own family protected by,

If asked to do somthign you do it and then can make polite suggestions or quotes to further work, if you are called out more than once for the same reason youve not done your job properly in the first place,

Never ever push a customer into somthing especially the expensive things in life,
Never do work not asked for then charge for it,

I know ive been harsh but i explain again why, the posts on this thread and in main the ones ive quoted above give me the impression that you go to a old person and give them the hard sell for expensive hardware they ay not need anyway and if that is so then i hope your stuck down with the plague very soon and will label you a scumbag for your duration of your stay on here,

If there is an issue you can out right ask if they are being looked after ok and maybe who by then you can feel free to contact that person or association and tell them of your worries,



Of course as always these are my own opinions and i am entitled to them,

[raimundo]

Of course one should be gentle and patient with the elderly, but there are other loose nuts running around who expect you to defer to their delusions, this is nothing more than an attempt to get everyone to treat them as 'special' these are annoying people to have around, and if you only have to deal with them one time be gentle and get away fast, but it you are being annoyed by a paranoid, you can wind them up so tight their springs just jam. You will detect that they are using the 'paranoia' as a tool to manipulate the people who will tolerate them, you have no obligation to play their game by their rules, if its about secuity flaws in their personal space, I would start out by mentioning the real secuity flaws that you will see, most of us can spot big holes in anyones security, and mentioning these casually as a sort of aside, will get them to pull some stupid, and inadequate fix, and you can really have some fun with that before even resorting to adding to the mythical fantasy insecurites that they enjjoy cultivating in themselves. paranoia is a lifestyle choice for inadequate people who are manipulative.

[Jryanruch]

Shrub: Easy there chief. My first two suggestions were meant to be obviously unreasonable. I should prolly tone down my sarcasm as it seems to get me into trouble on this board.

In practice, I have met this situation several times (my city it seems is a wonderful place to retire). Every time we have dealt very respectfully with the customer and not tried to soak them for money or give them unwanted advice. At the same time, we have been very frustrated with these customers because they call us out to there home for irrational needs that simply can't be met. Eventually, in the worst case I've met, we convinced the customer that they needed to see a glass company in order to further their security. At this point we had already made all the reasonable security upgrades our conscience would allow us to make.

I would never charge for something a customer didn't ask for -- and sometimes I won't install security that they do ask for.

[desert_gold_hound]

I took it the same way shrub did. I have had shrub knock my door down with his comments before and I know the feeling. I will tell you this though I have learned more info from Shrub then anyone one person on this forum. I have gained a respect for Shrub though I have never met him. He says it how he see's it. It isn't necessarily the right way or wrong way but he voices his opinion. I will say this though I have never had Shrub mount his high horse. Frankly The first bit of info I gave you is the only way to deal with this. GIVE THEM THE PEACE OF MIND THEY WON’T. This does not mean you have to give them government type of security. It means to do as they request. DECENT SECURITY.

The post I made because I do have a family member that is like this. They tried putting this family member in a home once and I stood up for them. Even if it cut their life down a few years they are happier in their own home and not a senior home. I hate adult services.

On the note where you suggested a glass company THATS WHAT YOU SHOULD DO. If they feel that they need their glass upgraded then do so. They worked all their life for the money they have. Don't gouge them for everything but give them what they WONT.

Shrub if you had any problems with any of my posts here please say what it is as I may agree/disagree with you and even if I don't agree I will probably learn from it. So let it lose.

[NKT]

I'd suggest that you should engage the customer, and talk to them about what they need to feel secure about themselves and thier home.

It can be really hard dealing with some of the situations.

I went to one, the dad was senile, and the mother was mostly blind. The daughter was beside herself with worry, wanting me to upgrade the security and change locks. I simply reset the curtain, then opened it, stripped the (brand new) BS2004 deadlock and checked it was all perfect.

I was pretty sure that someone had tried to break in. I told the daughter, as in my professional opinion, there is no possible way that lock had been nudged by the key on the way out. Then the mom pipes up with the news that there was something scrabbling at the door early that morning.

Fantastic! So some scumbag was trying to get in. I'd break their arms.

I felt terrible, as there was no real suggestion I could make to improve things. At least it was a good lock on a good door.


The obvious option for the cheap paranoid is a panic room. You can set one up for not a lot of money, a few hundred pounds in materials will do it. That way, they can see the entire perimeter at a glance, call the police, activate the alarm system (if there is one) and so on, while knowing that they have a good 20 minutes of safe time in the event of burglary or fire.

[Shrub]

Sorry my bad for misreading then, sarcasum is hard to get if im trying to get a lot done so sorry,


Desert, you know ill say it how it is and especially if im on one due to somthign youve said so its all good right now

Its true i upset noobs and this is unintentional unless they have posted up auto stuff then it is intentional but im a busy person and coming here to deal with the volume of stuff i have to takes a lot of time and i just tend to get the point accross and say it as i dont believe in tip toeing around,

Im usually ok in the afternoons lol

[raimundo]

in that last case where someone was actually trying to get in, a barn door bolt inside perhaps low on the door, would be a good supliment to the other lock for locking up at night. and just a proximity activated light on the porch might do a lot to help. or a proximity light inside that comes on when it detects someone on the porch would work nicely.