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Im glad i was watching the programme this evening, as i went to see my grandfather last week who is 87 and lives on his own.
He told me he thought he had a visit from social services about help aids for him, he also mentioned that they were from Nottingham ! my grandfather lives in wakefield yorkshire, when my mother called social services to find out if he had a visit they replyed no, so has this company or one like it, visited him ? thank goodness he refused anything they offerd
its very worrying.

It doesnt have to be just rogue traders who use these sort of sales techniques....high street mobile phone retailers use the same techniques, infact if you dont do the 'hard sell' they say you're not doing you're job properly and can dismiss you for not following the sales process.

I'm shocked at what I have seen so far, I used to work in this field for a reputable company in Nottingham. My advise would be always consult an occupational therapist who will correctly assess what your needs are and will put you in touch with a list of reputable companies in your area.

I am a homecare manager and work with vulnerable adults everyday and it sickens me that there are companies out there that are able to get away with this. Something needs to be done immediately to protect vulnerable adults.

I seriously cannot believe this, how can these people get away with this and how can the elderly be protected. Can't the government make some sort of new legislation, these companies who do this sort of thing just seem to be able to close down and re-open under a new name with the same people, I am absolutely disgusted and shocked!!!!!

I don't know what I find more rediculous. The awful sales training these people are being given or the fact bbc doesn't appear to understand direct sales. Or sales itself.

I'd kill one of my reps if the refered to a cost as the "big price".

Not a huge fan of the presenters surprise and over emphasis of a sales woman. Bit sexist that.

I know another company like this [edited]. They go to old peoples houses and give them a free prize draw ticket to win a car or 6,000 pound, which will be drawn in december. then the next thing they know they are getting calls to comfirming there ticket as been register and that they have recived a compimentary carpet shampoo. which is a ruse to get a salemans into the home, then they dont leave to they get a sale. they do the same as this story i mean calls from the office. but there atcaully ring the persons house saying they cant get hold of the saleman and asking them to pass a message on to get the salemans to ring the office. i think it is disgraceful. if you want more info then please dont hesitate to get in touch.
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I am also glad I watched this programme tonight. Absolutely disgraceful company. I have and elderly father who has suffered 6 strokes and therefor has a serious speech inpedement,and the thought of someone mimicking him makes me so so angry. This company should be banned from trading and the people working for it should be punished when doing such impersonations. I sincerely hope they dont have to suffer the way some elderly people do after experiencing ill health. I am glad they have been named and shamed,and so they should! Disgusting!

This is despicable. This happens to my Grandmother all the time over the phone. She's elderly and companies ring up offering her things. If she puts the phone down they ring again and again, but as soon as I answer and start speaking to them and tell them who i am they quickly say their goodbyes or hang up. How can people live with themselves knowing what they do to the elderly... how can they sleep at night!?!

watched the show tonight my grandparents had a visit from Emma whyte and was conned out of £800 , i have being tryin to get the money since the visit , i have made lots of phone calls to nottingham council and trading standards and got nowhere. the last couple of months have been horrible for my grandparents even though we had cancelled in the correct time .i have no intention of giving up as £800 to anyone is alot of money.
Thank you watchdog for bringing ABM mobility to everyones attention and hoefully it will stop other eldery people conned ..

I was absolutely disgusted when watching this. People who are meant to be providing elderly people with aids to make mobility etc more easier had no consideration in how distressed they were making their clients feel. When listening to the conversation between the mole and a sales rep whilst they were in transit I was saddened by the lack of thought for the poor gentleman who passed away, there was no thought from the salesman, all he was interested in was his commission. More so after they pressured a gentleman who had suffered a stroke to buy something far to expensive, and then to do impressions of the man talking, I hope that the gentleman and that salesman was watching it tonight, the salesman should be absolutely disgusted with himself.
There was no consideration by any of the sales people about how vulnerable elderly people can be especially when living alone, when there are signs of distress the sales person should recognize this and leave.
All sales people should be taught people skills and that NO means NO.

Absolutely disgusted by the sale tactics of Virgo mobility they should be put out of business

having just e-mailed Watchdog earlier about this company my mobile phone has had a huge influx of calls so decided to look on website and there they are "Virgo" my story is, since about April I have had the odd call here and there about this company one even asking about a reference for someone. Just recently the calls have increased and I did ring the odd person back explainig I know nothing about this company but tonight the calls have been immense and can I just say that people are ANGRY and I don't blame them (I work for the NHS)!Just so you all know your calls are not getting through to the people you are hoping to contact and I know you can't get through on the landline number as I have tried, as I was advised to by trading standards to google the company as that is where they got MY number! There it is in black and white MY number! I'm utterly disgusted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hope you get some positive results

We would like to reassure all viewers that Virgo HEALTH is a reputable and highly respected health PR and communications consultancy based in Richmond, Surrey and is in no way associated with the company Virgo Healthcare featured on tonight's Watchdog programme.

We are as shocked and appalled as everyone else at the way the Virgo Healthcare featured on Watchdog has conducted its business and are happy to assist in redirecting any calls we receive to Derbyshire Police who are now investigating.

Thank you, on behalf of all us at Virgo HEALTH,

Angie Wiles

My mother had a similar experience with this same company under yet another name at the time - she signed up for a reclining chair with them. The salesman sold it to her for £1,700 (after he had 'luckily' managed to reduce the price from his initial £2,100 after phoning his 'helpful' boss).

When my mother said she could not afford the whole price, he offered her a credit arrangement (from my investigations, the credit company is a subsidiary of this company). He never told her the total price or the interest rate, merely saying it would cost her 'just' £62 per month for FIVE years, total cost £3,720 !!

The market rate for similar chairs on the high street is around £600 - £800.

Luckily she mentioned it to me the day after and we managed to stop the transaction within the statutary 7 day cooling off period but it was a worrying time. I sent a letter cancelling the order by registered post and telephoned them to say my mother was cancelling the order, which they claimed was already in production and it would cause them much inconvenince etc to pull the order now etc etc. We also asked the bank to stop the deposit cheque that my mother had given to the salesman. I also kept a record of all conversations and saved all paperwork etc.

And can I just add that this happened to me with V Festival tickets that I purchased through Xlusive Leisure just so you know that if any items are bought with a VISA debit card they may well be covered by the VISA cashback scheme go to your bank and don't be fobbed off as they tried with me at first GOOD LUCK

Watching tonight's program was an action replay of what happened to my elderly next door neighbours three weeks ago. They were telephoned by a salesperson from a company called [edited] who arranged to come and talk to them about buying a bed. When the salesman arrived he spent over two hours with them and persuaded them to buy a motorised bed which he originally quoted at over £5000, then after a quick phone call this was amazingly reduced to just over £3000. Luckily my neighbour didn't pay the full amount (he was asked) and just paid the £600 deposit. When we found this out we contacted the company, cancelled the order, and then went to the bank with our neighbour and stopped the cheque. He didn't lose his deposit. If we hadn't intervened though, they would be over £3000 poorer by now. These salespeople who prey on elderly and vunerable people are absolutely despicable. Be on guard!

I completed Virgo Healthcare's training course and made two home visits before I realised that they were not in the least interested in helping the elderly and infirm. I was told that they purchase data from the internet and have a team of telephone operators calling people to arrange home visits. The first call was to a gent near Shipley. He was wheelchairbound and very poorly, I spent 2 hours with him and we got on well, I realised that there was nothing i could sell that he hadnot already been supplied with by NHS. another sales man arrived and he continued the pitch, I will never forget the look of horror on his face when told of the price of the chair we were trying to sell. We never made a sale (TG!)
My second call was to an elderly couple, I was instructed to observe the salesmans patter and learn. He went through the same patter trying to sell a bathlift. once again the look of horror on the elderly mans face when told the price. we never made a sale and the one thing that made me realise they were scammers was when the mans wife apologised to us for wasting our time as she had been led to believe that we were from the social services.

A couple of days later I tracked the couple down and telephoned them to apologise, and that I had not realised the type of job I was expected to do and was back on the dole again.

I asked them if Virgo had said that they worked for the social services and they said no, but the first call from virgo possibly implied it but did not actually state it.
Andy.

I work for the Volunteer Centre in Erewash which includes the Long Eaton area. We are constantly hearing about 'con men' and unscrupulous companies who are preying on older and vulnerable people in our community and it is disgusting! We issue safety cards and information to people but many of our clients have dementia and are just 'sitting ducks' ready to be fleeced of their money! I believe the whole of the county (and rest of the country) should be a 'No Cold Calling Zone'. At present there is just one road in Long Eaton which is and no-one is allowed to knock on any doors (although those intent on doing so probably still would!) I was at the house of an older lady a while ago to discuss her having a volunteer befriender and a young man knocked on her door asking her to change her electricity supplier - she was so relieved that I was there to tell him it was not necessary. I called the mobile warden at the Council and the Police and also the company to tell them not to do this. That is just one incident. Something needs to be done to stop these people. The trouble is they are more and more isolated these days, they do not see Home Helps unless they need personal care, no Hot Meals on Wheels volunteers visit as these were stopped by the County Council (cost cutting) to have them replaced by frozen meals (which they cannot deal with!) and it goes on and on! Without the help of volunteers in this borough many people would be even more isolated.
Just wanted to get this off my chest!!!
[Personal details removed by Moderator][Personal details removed by Moderator]

I never watched the programme last night but a friend told me about it and I just wanted to share my experience.
Last year my mother who is 77 had a call from someone claiming to be from Help the Aged.
He called on a Wednesday afternoon.
He told her he had come to assess her and asked her about her medical history.
He then took her for a ride on a mobility scooter up and down the street.
He told her she "qualified" which immediately made her think that she was somehow in need of one and somehow special. This must be a buzz word.
As she qualified she could now have one. As I was not there I cannot comment on how the rest of the visit went but I can imagine it all in my mind.
I speak to my mother every day and she neglected to tell me what had happened on the Wednesday.
When I spoke to her on the Thursday she was very excited at the prospect as she told me that she had had a visit from someone at help the aged and she qualified for a scooter.
When I asked her for more details she told me about going for a ride on one and "qualifying" I asked her how much it was and she told me it was £200 and hers to keep.
I asked her to get the paperwork and she got very upset and thought I thought she was stupid.
I went to my mothers to examine the paperwork and found that it was actually £3000.
I got in touch with my mothers bank and the money had been taken out of her account on the Wednesday.
They had written the full number from her card on the order form along with the three digit number from the back.
On the order form it stated a delivery date of the Friday.
In the small print it said that the only way to cancel was 14 days in writing or by signing the order form and e mailing a scanned copy to their office.
How many elderly people have access to scanners and e mail?
How could you cancel in writing 14 days prior when they were delivering in two days. What about the seven day cooling off period?
I took the copy with me scanned it and e mailed it to them to cancel.I also rang them and cancelled delivery.
I took my mother to my house on the Friday so that they could not deliver but this never stopped them, they left it in the back garden with no signature or anything.
There is no access for a scooter into my mothers house as there is a step so they had considerately also sold her a lock and cover.
I asked for the money back and they were reluctant to pay it back straight away as they said they never had the facility for same day transfers.
I said if they can take it out in one day they could jolly well put it back in a day.
You have to be very careful when speaking to these people not to get irate or raise your voice as they are all trained to stop speaking to you as you are getting offensive. It is very difficult not to get angry when you know what type of people they are.
I got my mums money back, but I wanted to know why she had been contacted.
They said that she must have filled a form in somewhere.
I asked for evidence and had to send authorisation from my mother. I sent authorisatio but never received confirmation. I became a nuisance to these people ringing every day for over a month, but life moves on.
This week my mother has had a visit from another company trying to do the same thing, luckily I rang whilst the salesperson was there. I asked to speak to him and told him to get out of my mothers house immediately or I would go down and eject him, he scarpered.
I then became a nuisance to that company with phone calls but these people are very resilient. I was told the same story as before that my mother had filled a form in, I asked for a copy of the form and was told that the details would have been entered onto their system and the form destroyed magic no evidence.
I asked for a blank form to see if my mother could identify ever having filled one in but they would not let me have a copy of this form that is allegedly found at doctor's surgeries and events all over.
Is there not a way to tighten up the law so that these people have not got access to all of our details?
How can we protect our elder generation against these people?
My mother was fortunate that I was able to fight for her, what about the people who have no one?
Why is the goverment letting people trade in this manner, is there not a way to tighten up the law?
I have contacted Help the aged to tell them, I also contacted trading standards and TPS what else can I do to protect my mother?
Where are they getting these peoples details?
In the fight for justice I would love to fly the flag for the elderly in these peoples faces, come the revolution count me in.

As a mobility dealer for 20 years we have always had these rogue dealers which are allowed by the importers/manufacturers selling to companies they know commit these sales.

If they where only to sell to dealers which can show they have a retail outlet and a service back up this would help.

There are a number of companies which allow there products to be rebadged which allows the seller to fix a higher retail price as it is now a different!! product

When they are made aware of any problems they could easily be blacklisted by all importers.

these practices are employed by a number of companies within this industry and also in the double glazing industry please continue your investigations and drive these unscrupulous men and women out of business

I am well aware of ABM Mobility following a phone call they made to my mother early in 2009 where she believed she was speaking to social services but ended up being the victim of a hard sell. The salesman came & pressured her into committing to a bath seat at DOUBLE the normal price & had it delivered in a matter of days before any of the family were aware of the situation.
We contacted the Director at the ABM who declined to revoke the contract and later made both the police & trading standards aware of the situation. We then actually made representation to the Managing Director of Dentos Bath Lifters about the situation but regrettably he did not even give us the courtesy of an acknowledgment let alone a reply.
Needless to say I am delighted that they have finally been caught up with & can only hope that they never again get the chance to pull another fast one with elderly & vulnerable people.

ATTENTION THIS COMPANY IS CHANGING THEIR NAME TO [removed].
we watched the show last night and my other half works on the buisness park and confirmed this to me.
they have took their virgo sign down and this is what they will be calling it, they are a disgrace.

p,s the owner of the company is not able to trade due to bad complaits from diffeent towns in previous years and had to move the buisness he has just got someone else to run it for him.

i could not believe what i watching.

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I used to work for ABM mobility - I was on the phone making the appointments with the elderly. I soon worked out that it wasn't all as innocent as what they made out to me and I took at £2 hour pay cut and moved to a different mobility company in Nottingham. They are also a private company but they are accredited to the Governments Mobilty Scheme - everyone is always aware that they are a private company - I suppose the point I'm trying to make is that yes, ABM (Virgo Healthcare which it is now called) are complete scumbags but it's not to say that all companies work the same way. You will always be advised to go to social services but in most cases they can only help you with the smaller aids and so therefore for those that genuinely can't get out and need these aids then having these appointments is a blessing. My adivce would be ask as many question as possible, go to these appointments with your mum,dad,grandma etc and see for yourself.
I am so glad they have finally been named and shamed - I wrote to trading standards when i left there but that was over a year ago!
All i'm saying is don't judge all companies by the standards of these cowboys!

I would also like to comment on LindaB's comment. Whilst yes, i totally agree that something should be done to stop these elderly people from being violated in their own homes I can't help but go back to your point that these women are isolated???
Perhaps so isolated that they can't get to the shops and certainly wouldnt be able to get any mobility aids that they may need. That is the sort of case where (providing she wanted one) a scooter would come in handy and with that - the sales rep.
I remember the lies ABM tried to force us to say to these elderly and it was disgusting (hence leaving) but the company I work for now who genuinely help people and SELL products at a genuine price will be punished as a result of this show.
We speak to many elderly that have no family and without us going to their house, letting them have a go and providing them with a scooter they would never have gone out at all. You get elderly who are begging us to come and see them as they are so desperate to BUY a scooter but their family (who come round twice a year -if that) won't allow them because they would be spending their inheritence!
Be wise, be clever but don't deprive the elderly of genuine help all because of a bunch of money grabbing clowns at ABM/VIRGO!!!!!

Again another example of a company that shouldnt be allowed to sell mobility items. And by the way there are some big well known companies that employ the same "window selling tactics" . i wonder why they didnt go after them as well ?

its a despicable practice. and we like a few other dealers(swindon too) operate in a completely ethical manner . we believe that if it is a home visit . then a neighbour,friend otr member of the family should be there too !!

what is amazing is the suppliers should stop supplying these companies. however as suppliers seem to sell their products to jhust about anyone these days. then you will have these unethical companies surviving

has it occurred to anybody, that the lady mr young sold too was refunded, and the daughter could only fine a "similar product" for a undisclosed "cheaper price" and she was fully refunded in the end.

the actor made comments like "its just a little bit to much for me" which would encourage any saleswoman to try n drop the price down. plus the customer rang the company asking for them to come round and sell her a scooter. so any salesperson would recognise this that she did want to buy the product soon (maybe on the day) as opposed to "just thinking about it for the future" like an average customer.

the trainer mr routh made claims that he sold 3 items on 3 separate occasions, which means that the customer must of been more than happy with the products and the prices. or more likely in my mind. i would bet that this was a lie that was used in sales training to try and encourage and excite the sales rep into thinking they could make big money, a tactic that is widely used in direct sales training referred to "dangling a carrot". also mr routh comment of "we all have to make a living" is correct, we are in a recession after all.

the sales rep mr murphy however i cannot support, however according to forums this person was sacked over a month ago, more than likely in relation to what has happened.

The company itself is a sales company, and i personally know of far worse sales company's hard selling mobility products at much higher prices and much worse tactics, i believe this company was focused on because they were one of the largest, not the worse. the 300+ complaints were made against abm mobility, does anyone know how many virgo have had against them ?

mr gill faced an injunction to "trade fairly" earlier this year according to google search, now any1 in there right mind would clear up there act as opposed to continue as they were and face jail time ? a name change would protect them, i would imagine the name change was part of this new "trade fairly" company.

also in regards to the commission structure .... the high the sales person sells the more commission they get ..... find me a sales company that doesn't work out there commission in the same way. that's how it works in the world.

just thought i'd show you another side to this story.

I went round to my Grandads house a week last Thursday after a call from my Dad saying that there was a woman calling herself a 'heath visitor' when I got round there she was still there and was non-other than EMMA WHYTE and was trying to sell him an adjustable single bed for £3600 (a silent night one is £800) from Argos, I politly asked her to leave, and she insisted that she had given him a 10% discount and that it was his decision as he wanted a new bed, at this point I was getting quite frustrated as was my Grandad after 15 mins she still left, about 10 minutes later my brother was walking round and called me asking if she was in a Mercedes Van, when I said yes he said she was still sat at the bottom of the hill he lives at!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, then to my utter amazment I turned the TV on a week later to find her gracing the screen, I am utterly disgusted at the way that the actress was treated, and angered at the fact that she treated my Grandad that way, I hope that Karma comes back and hits them straight back where it hurts.......... there wallet by the looks of it

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I was disgusted. Surely there must be some legal action that can be taken to hit these people where it really hurts, in their pockets. They must be blocked from just changing their name and carrying on regardless. I'd like to see some follow ups on this and hopefully, that update will also show a result. Just how many more of these people are out there ? I would put it down as an assault on vulnerable adults.

You think this company are expensive? Call [edited] who place huge ads in all the national papers...their Riser Recliner Chairs start at £4300 and we have this on video. Always use a local retailer.

This Guy used to sell Vacum Cleaners around 5 years ago, they were priced again at very high prices around £3500 (and a promised 10 year guarantee hmm wonder what will happen to all those people who purchased this WATCHDOG needs to let the public know [edited]), I worked there for a week and left as I am not a pushy sales person I know a NO means NO, anyway the way they got information was they would get a the customer to give 10 peoples details, then they would get the people in the back office who you would not have any kind of contact with to call these poor people and force appointments, technique was exactly the same,[edited] i was shocked, i was disgusted when i saw the company hopping from one company name to another so i thought id let everyone know that those 2 were not the only 2 companys this man has used [edited].
(if you are reading this man shame on you)

For months we have seen ABM and Virgo healthcare skipping what looks like perfectly good furniture - now we know how they are doing this. After seeing the show I was horrified to see their sales techniques. This company is still trading (under a different name - Nationwide Healthcare I believe) from the same address in Long Eaton. We have also witnessed people going in for interview - so Rogue Traders have unfortunately not stopped them.