Money missing afer workmen in home

C

Concert

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Have just had workmen in our home installing a new wardrobe in one of the bedrooms, it was quite a big job which involved removing a wall into a walk in wardrobe and opening the room into the bedroom and installing a new wardrobe with sliderobes. Delighted with the work as this company did some very good work for us before. Prior to commencement of the job we put everything from the wardrobe into our spare room. There were four money boxes full with money which included notes belonging to my young daughter who had been saving her spare cash (including notes) for Xmas. This evening when I went to put everything back into the new wardrobe I noticed that one of the boxes was missing. We turned the place upside down as the missing box had about 300 euros in it. My question is should I mention this to the company, my husband says no point as there were four of them here and they will naturally deny it. Both myself and husband were here all the time and i know it was silly to leave this money on view so i accept that. I'm just very annoyed that they might do something like this especially as we are supposed to be getting further work done with them soon. We would never leave money in the house but never thought someone might lift a childs money box.
 
You should tell the manager and ask if their is some form of compensation coming your way....if not - you should consider cancelling the next job and let them know that you are going to reconsider another company to take on the next job !

That kind of stuff is not acceptable.


All the above is said - if and only if you are 100% sure that this company has taken your money.
 
Concert said:
= We would never leave money in the house but never thought someone might lift a childs money box.
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How were they to know it was a child's money box?


Silly really leaving money in a house when strangers are about.
 
I wouldn't make any accusations without having any evidence to back it up....or are 100% sure it was them.

The golden rule I suppose as regards not only cash but personal belongings
is to lock them away in another room till job done. Bottom line ~ trust no one unless you know em, sad but true.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
If you decide to take it up with their employer, make absolutely sure first that you have not mislaid it.
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in my work I go into peoples homes every day, and you'd be amazed how casual people are with their possessions, but Brendan is right be absolutley certain you havent mislaid it in all the moving of stuff in the preparation, BEFORE you ring their employer. But if it doesent turn up after you have sorted everything out then a phone call to the empolyer is a must, if only to make them aware of your suspicions .
 
If it is the case that one of the four workers did pinch your child's savings then I would be adamant that none of those particular workers came back into my home to do any follow up work.. If someone is capable of stealing from a child's piggy bank then you don't know what else they may be capable of..
You have to be more careful with personal belongings in the future when strangers are in your home, still a yucky feeling though even if they are strangers as it is your home where your belongings should be safe..
 
Is there anything else missing?you probably may not even be aware its gone until you go to look for it in a few weeks.
 
If you have no proof that one of these men did it so don't accuse them. How would it stand up in a Court? You could easily end up in hot water for falsely accusing someone of theft.

Assuming your suspicions are true, then you will have to learn from the experience and move on.

Is there even a remote chance that your daughter or and other visitors are responsible?
 
You should explore all possibilities.

I've heard of cases where other parties have used the presence of workmen in a property as an opportunity to steal.

If having exhausted all other possibilities you still believe that it was the guys, let their boss know and advise him that you won't be using his company for that reason.
 
Both myself and husband are one hundred per cent certain that this money disappeared over the course of the two days work was being carried out and most likey on their last day. Part of job involved laying a new wooden floor and the new wood was also stored in the room the money was in so they would have had access to the room. We have decided it's too risky to take this any further but have learned a valuable lesson from what happened. As we have not yet given the go ahead for the further work to be done I'm just going to look elsewhere. Such a pity as this is a company based throughout Ireland and the standard of work is excellent.
 
You don't have proof so any accusation you may make is groundless.

But I would call the company anyway and tell them what you believe. They should be told that there is a probable thief on their payroll.
 
Some of us are losing the run of ourselves here. Let's go over the obvious stupidity, money was left visible. The temptation was there.

Money evaporated. It is possible that a workman stole the money. No proof exists, but the chief suspect is among the workmen.

In my 40 years working I am amazed of the trust people have in others by leaving large amounts of money in clear view of people they don't know.

The original poster has been burned. It could have been much worse. My advice is to put it down to experience and say nothing. It has been an expensive lesson. Let's say it was one of the workmen; no matter how much you complain the money is not going to reappear.

Dont employ them again.
 
Something similar happened to an ex girlfriend years ago. She was unable to prove anything, but did mention it to the company and told them not to finish the job as she couldnt trust them, paid them for the work that was done. When it comes down to it you have no real proof, just suspicion, one word aganist another.
 
Concert,

I think you should let the employer know of the events so they can watch out and be on the look out themselves.
When we were building our house one of the workmen threw an expensive item over the hedge on the quiet. My brother who was working on the site happened to see him and reckoned he was going to come back later in the night and retrieve it when no one was about. My brother told the mans boss what had happened and he was grateful to be told as he didn't want to be tarred with any accusations that may arise if one of his workmen was robbing goods as he himself would lose jobs over it.
Needless to say the workman wasn't back after that.
 
I would be contacting the company and saying that you are not levelling an accusation, but money went missing during the time the workmen were there and you wanted to flag it that there could be a thief.

Maybe next week someone else will contact them and say something similar - then it becomes obvious there is a real problem.

While I wouldnt be leaving cash out on display for strangers in my home, I really dont know how far one is expected to go in terms of locking away the valuables when work is being done. There is an expectation when you hire someone from a reputable company to work in your home that theyre not coming in to rob the place!
 
I agree with truthseeker. Contact the company asap. As you have no proof of the theft, do so in a non confrontational, non accusatory manner that lets them know of your suspicions, without them coming down hard on you for slander/libel. If the company does have a thief working for them, how will they find out and deal with him, unless customers alert them as to what is going on? It is probably too late in the day to do any thing about your loss, but you may save the next person that hires this company a similar loss. For all you know, they may have had complaints about about this team of workers before. Your complaint may be the straw that breaks the camels back, and prompts them to do something about it.

It is a tough call knowing how much you need to secure your home and its contents when you have workers in. But I would certainly not leave any cash or small valuables (jewelry, iPods, iPhones etc) within sight of workmen. I'd probably remove them from the rooms that they would be working in altogether. Leaving cash or small things out out in the open, or easily findable, that can be scooped into someones pocket with no one any the wiser, is just asking for trouble.
 
Concert said:
There were four money boxes full with money

...notes belonging to my young daughter who had been saving her spare cash (including notes) for Xmas.

... the missing box had about 300 euros in it.

... We would never leave money in the house
Click to expand...

Hi Concert,

You'll have to help me out here.

Your daughters "spare cash" amounted to €300.
There were three other boxes - all "full with money"
Yet you say you "would never leave money in the house".

That doesn't make logical sense.

Going on what you posted, it seems you do keep money in the house on a regular basis, in relatively large amounts [for kids], in cash form, in multiple insecure locations [4 money boxes].
All four boxes were kept together for the duration of the work, but only one was taken - it seems unlikely that any thief would leave the other three.

Site operatives tend to be scrupulous about not dirtying their bibs around their employers.
In over twenty years practicing as an architect I have not known of one theft.
Are you also saying that they were aware of more work in the pipeline?
It makes no sense that any of them would steal the money.

By all means raise the matter with the company - with a conciliatory and embarrassed air - and see what they say.
If you have been unfortunate enough to be the victim of a rogue operative, I suggest rigging up a security cam.

These are affordable and the building firm may assist with costs - its in their interest to catch this person.
Here is a random link from Google - no connection, no recommendation http://www.spycameras.net/
 
The message is Don't trust anybody. Ask any bank official or post office official who worked in banks/post-offices before security cameras. Money is the greatest temptation.
 
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