Hug and tea and sympathy please

Twinkley Lights

Twinkley Lights

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Not like me but I'm really glum tonight after a nasty shock. Our freelance groom has been with us most of the time we have lived at our new place around 4 years. They have been very helpful and although a one for cutting some corners / streamlining process I trusted them completely until today...

To cut a long story short the last couple of invoices have been lumped over 2-3 months with no breakdown this was a change so I asked for a breakdown of hours as usual and monthly invoices. I have one horse at home and the grooms horse stays with only hay and feed costs shared no livery etc....

Anyway the CCTV chap was showing me how great the new system is and that I haven't been using all the jazzy features etc He said that it tracks cars at the gate as an event and logs them in and out on a time stamp, he picked one and set it up to log. He left this function open when he went and I looked at the log today when I was shutting it down. My groom has been charging an hour and a quarter for morning muck out and evening bringing in when I'm away or working from home. I challenged the hours the other month for one super easy to do horse but really didnt think anything more. Anyway the cctv log clearly shows the time elapsed has been 30 odd minutes max per day to do both horses. So I've been charged double and paying them to muck out their own horse!!!!

I was so shocked and sick and when I asked what could be going on praying for a reasonable answer they said they "rounded up" to make it economical. Really sad that they did this when I was subbing (obviously not as much as I now know I was) their old horse and trusted them .

Where are the nice horsey folk because I need to meet some very soon to resore my faith.:confused:

Tea and a hug please it was a really hard lesson.
 
The tea will be hard but...
(((((Hugs)))))

What a gutting thing to discover. It is horrible to realise that what you think is a good relationship is actually based on greed and dishonesty.

You are absolutely right to be upset!
 
(((((BIG HUGS))))) That's awful and a real betrayal of trust. Even if you're happy with the way the person does their work, that's no excuse for them to rip you off like that. I'd be really upset too. Hope you manage to sort it out ...
 
Unfortunately this happens in all walks of life. I had employed a girl and trusted her and actually thought of her as a close acquaintance. She ripped me off for a lot of money. Sold to friends at a reduced cost and often didn't put sales through cash register but into her pocket. Took me all of 18 months to catch up with her and I ended up so out of pocket but Health & Safety, fire visits and payments (out of insurance) claims for injury at work. I do not trust anyone anymore! She also accused other members of staff of theft when it was her all along.
 
I can understand you are shocked but when I go away I pay for an hour each end of the day even though it takes much less, because it wouldn't be worth them coming otherwise.

However, as their own horse is there and they would be coming anyway and they get free livery, that is taking the mick. Oddly I could understand the hour, it is the quarter where she is really pushing it :(
 
I found out I was paying someone £20 per hour to walk her dog. No wonder the muck heap never got any bigger.
I always pay on time and always say thank you. Having someone reliable means you can go out for the day or go to work but when you are having to work were you are timed in and often work over for nothing its not nice to find out someone you trust is taking the p***. I did not confront her too small an area, I just cut her hours to the bare minium and she stopped coming.
I think they do not see it as a job, its a favour and think we have more money than sense.
 
Thanks all:) for the hugs I feel a bit better now it's sinking in. Yes RR the hour is a good point but we didn't discuss a minimum charge upfront and there were lots of jobs to do just that they weren't being done ... and the killer point I was subsidising her horse (didn't know then I was totally supporting it). The poo picking was always a nagging point and the grooming and excercise as agreed didn't happen either ... now know why. Feel a bit silly as they must have thought as you say HP more money than sense :o.

Still kick on , tougher skin and less trusting in future.
 
Had a cleaner years ago who never seemed to do much cleaning but charged for three hours, anyway got next door neighbour to keep an eye on her and she was only here for an hour but still taking all the money! When i got rid of her and did a deep clean the house was filthy she was basically skimming the surface, shame when people do this as it makes you very untrustworthy of people.
 
NooNoo59 said:
Had a cleaner years ago who never seemed to do much cleaning but charged for three hours, anyway got next door neighbour to keep an eye on her and she was only here for an hour but still taking all the money! When i got rid of her and did a deep clean the house was filthy she was basically skimming the surface, shame when people do this as it makes you very untrustworthy of people.
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It is Noo noo and I liked them but they obviously just saw me as a fool. My cleaners are also like that but I'm onto them and just nag evey week until it's put right but I trusted the groom so didn't see this coming.
 
I stupidly employed a friend full time as my groom in 2011, and will never, ever forgive him for what he did to me.

He lied about his hours, didn't do jobs he was asked to do, lied a lot in general, cut corners (ie, didn't bother to skip out boxes in the evening) when I wasn't there, shut my dogs outside all night when I was away, took drugs on the yard, drove cars in the fields and smashed fencing, lborrowed £3000 to buy a landrover and lied about the fact that his father would pay me back the money when his next pay cheque came in, and then didn't pay me back (father had no idea about the landrover), and to top it off, he stole from me.

I left an envelope with £130 in it for him to buy some feed which would come to no more than £50, and the rest could be kept while I was on holiday in case he needed to buy anything for the yard. I asked him to keep the receipt as usual, and had written on the envelope "£130 for feed and emergencies" and a list of the few bags of feed I needed him to buy with it.

When I came home, he claimed there was no money in the envelope. Long story short, there was money in the envelope, and he was found out.

It's so heartbreaking when someone you've trusted and tried to help takes the pee like that. I've now found an absolutely fantastic groom, who is a devil for UNDER charging me and dug her car out of the snow, then drove for over an hour in a blizzard, through over a foot of snow, to get to me last week.

You'll find the perfect person - there are lots of lovely people out there. I was one when I was a groom (I hope!), and have found some really fab people since firing the idiot.
 
I gave her two weeks to move her lad so she could get sorted, didn't want to be nasty and make the horse suffer and it helped so I could get a companion etc she is moving him tomorrow morning and leaving my horse alone. Total utter bitch I wouldn't do that to my worst enemy let alone someone who had helped me and I'd ripped them off:mad:

Any advice on how to settle my girl tomorrow until I can sort an emergency companion? i.e. calmer first thing , keep her in????
 
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Sorry she's ripped you off, it isn't a nice feeling at all. But under the circumstances I'm not surprised she's leaving so quickly - she probably (and rightfully so) feels somewhat embarrassed and ashamed. Hope you get a companion sorted out quickly.

ETA is your horse worried when the other goes out for a ride etc? If not she may not be that bothered for a day or so if you manage to sort something quickly. Good luck.
 
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that's awful....but eventually it's her loss, her greed has lost her what sounds a good arrangement. sometimes people see niceness as a weakness I've learned that
 
Thanks yes she is a worrier so it doesn't bode well. I do think she thought I was weak , I was trying to give her a break with the retired horse as I thought she was short of cash ... obviously cash generation activity was already underway.
 
Thanks I'm South Yorks / North Notts borders Dn10 area .
I'm hopeful because my mare at home is a Bransby rescue and I'm hoping they can help. I would never leave a neddy without a friend and can't believe it was necessary just because she has been found out.

Thanks so much to all who have posted:)
 
Do you know what? There are so many crap employers out there, and you lot sound completely the opposite. People do take the raving pee sometimes don't they? You'd think in a recession they'd be thankful for the work and show a bit of integrity. 'Never s*** on your own doorstep', it's a good code to live by.
 
You won't believe this but talk about brass neck she who ripped us off for three quarters of an hour every day, didn't groom, poo pick or lunge etc but did charge us for her time to muck out her own horse that was staying free gratis ... do you remember ... has chased up and asked when I'm paying her last invoice:mad:

I can't believe that she is that thick so she must think we are that thick :confused:

I said she's had all she's getting and said I would be happy to appear in court and share the cctv footage.

In any case she worked less than half the time, half that timewas spent on her horse and she owed me £95 quid for food so I feel quite comfortable telling someone who has defrauded us for years to get lost. Perhaps I'm missing something and it was actually acceptable to try and scam us for some more:confused::confused:
 
People can be amazing sometimes. Cant believe that she thought you were still going to pay.
Hope you got sorted with a companion
 
What a ******.
I would pay a minimum charge/ charge it, but I would be upfront and I would work the miniumum charge (very easily to find little things to fill time with)

It's the lying to which is unacceptable and gutting :( *hugs* there are lots of good'uns out there, sorry you got a rotten one.
 
PandorasJar said:
What a ******.
I would pay a minimum charge/ charge it, but I would be upfront and I would work the miniumum charge (very easily to find little things to fill time with)

QUOTE]

I would have had no problem with that as there are plently of jobs to fill the hour and it has to pay or folk won't turn up , as you say it's the lying that got me.

I'm now advertising for a new freelancer and have had one no show to interview after they had my address.
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What a witch! you've done the right thing IMO. I'd make sure that you up your security/ change passwords/locks etc, some people are vindictive. Maybe cctv on your yard would actually give you a better idea of what is being done when you can't be there, (lots are remote view now) I'd have no problems working under cctv, if you're doing things as they should be done, then you have nothing to hide! There's someone on here who's looking for a home for her Mum's mare, Montyforever I think. Hope you get someone trustworthy next time:)
 
It might also be worth a solicitor letter (cheap and brilliant things) sent to her to advise her not to discuss the yard and that slanderous comments would be followed up.

Or... A quick text reminding that you have the current footage...

Perhaps a thread with where you are could prompt some recommendations. I'd keep livery and jobs separately this time round though
 
Hugs (()) I used to work as a fraud investigator so I've seen 1st hand the upset it caused those who'd been taken advantage of in situations like this. In some cases they'd e angry with me and refuse to believe I was right.

Good CCTV system though and think of how much money it will have saved you by spotting what was happening :)
 
PandorasJar said:
It might also be worth a solicitor letter (cheap and brilliant things) sent to her to advise her not to discuss the yard and that slanderous comments would be followed up.

Or... A quick text reminding that you have the current footage...

Perhaps a thread with where you are could prompt some recommendations. I'd keep livery and jobs separately this time round though
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This^ plus she's guilty of theft by deception and falsifying records for financial gain. The police could quite legitimately give her a warning for this should you wish to inform them and make a formal complaint. You probably don't want to do this but maybe a good card to keep up your sleeve.
 
Thanks just helps to know I'm not going mad!!

She was never a friend as she was a bit standoffish (now know why!) but we trusted her and treated her in our races hospitality and let her keep her horse for free . The standard of work was really slipping badly over the past year and I had a meeting with her and asked her if she really wanted the job anymore - of course she did as it was easy cash:o. - and the standard was probably good for 15 minutes:(

I agree will separate livery and work and be very careful how I trust. People always have my trust but with this girl she was doing quite a few things to disearn it and the penny didn't drop until the cctv shock.

I called the new fraud helpline today and they said its fraud obtaining funds by deception. I didn't file a report but will do if she doesn't back off.
 
Twinkley Lights said:
Thanks just helps to know I'm not going mad!!

She was never a friend as she was a bit standoffish (now know why!) but we trusted her and treated her in our races hospitality and let her keep her horse for free . The standard of work was really slipping badly over the past year and I had a meeting with her and asked her if she really wanted the job anymore - of course she did as it was easy cash:o. - and the standard was probably good for 15 minutes:(

I agree will separate livery and work and be very careful how I trust. People always have my trust but with this girl she was doing quite a few things to disearn it and the penny didn't drop until the cctv shock.

I called the new fraud helpline today and they said its fraud obtaining funds by deception. I didn't file a report but will do if she doesn't back off.
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It is worth mentioning that conversation with her if she does hassle you again just so that she can understand how serious a matter it really could be if you wanted it to be.

She should be grateful you have been so lenient!
 
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