‘Cowboys’ preying on elderly in their homes

Vulnerable elderly people are being preyed upon in their homes by hearing aid companies, cowboy builders and landscapers who see them as a debt-free market with life savings to target.

The Irish Society of Hearing Aid Audiologists has warned that the country’s audiology sector must be regulated urgently, as untrained staff are carrying out hearing aid tests in the homes of elderly people and then charging sky-high prices for aids or offering aids where none are required.

Elderly people are waiting up to two years to have hearing aids fitted in the public health service and therefore many are open to speeding up this process. Hearing aids cost about €1,000, but some private companies are charging over €2,000.

A spokesman for advocacy group Friends of the Elderly says its network of volunteers are regularly hearing stories of old people paying inflated prices for hearing equipment and home improvements and “third age” landscaping following cold calls and targeted door-to-door sales. Many, they say, feel under pressure to accept the offer of a home visit.

“This targeting of old people is a cynical recession industry,” said Dermot Kirwan. “They are seen as the last section with a regular disposable income and unencumbered by debt. These companies, whether they are builders offering to re-roof their houses, ‘third age’ landscapers charging enormous prices so they can redesign their garden so they can continue to garden into their old age, or people offering to unnecessarily fix guttering are all preying on their vulnerability and isolation.”

The cold callers buy data from demographic companies that can sell the names, addresses and phone numbers of certain types of people, such as anyone living in a house over the age of 70 who has been living at the sameaddress for over 40 years. The purchase of such information is entirely legal.

One woman, Jill O’Sullivan has spoken of her disgust at how her 81-year-old mother, living alone in North Cork, was targeted by the Hearing at Home company. She was contacted twice by phone before she eventually agreed to a home visit.

“As a family member, I cannot overstate how creepy I think this cold calling and offer to call to her home is,” she said. “My mother was very flustered by the process. Elderly people are incredibly vulnerable in this scenario.”

Ms O’Sullivan cancelled the visit to her mother after speaking to Hearing at Home representatives.

Hearing at Home has told relatives it acquires its database from Demographics Ireland Ltd which has “details of people in a certain age bracket”.

It also said the people conducting hearing tests in elderly peoples’ homes are not degree-level trained audiologists, as there is no regulation governing audiology training in Ireland.

The company was unavailable for comment last night.