A nan said she was nearly scammed out of £1,500 when she called for a roofer after torrential rain caused a leak.
Sylvia Robbins, 79, from Wallasey, Wirral, said she had woken in the night to find water pouring in through the ceiling of one of her bedrooms.
After placing buckets all over the room, she had called a few tradespeople and managed to find someone who would come out to take a look on Thursday, September 9.
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She told the ECHO: "I knew this was going to happen after seeing the weather forecasts and I was so glad when someone said they could come out and take a look.
"He went onto the roof and came back and told me he could fix it so I asked him how much it would cost.
"He told me £1,500.
"I said there was no way could I afford that - I don't have that type of money."
Sylvia said he then said he could do the job for £1,200, when she said no again, he continued by offering to fix the roof for £1,000.
She said: "I knew something wasn't right when he came down in price so quickly.
"He asked me if I had any family who could help pay or if I had any savings - he must have thought I was born yesterday."
The roofer came down in price to £400 - over £1,000 cheaper than he had originally quoted just minutes before.
But Sylvia told him she couldn't pay, asked him to leave and immediately rang someone else.
She said: "I called Abbots Roofing and got him on his day off, but he came over to Wallasey all the way from Neston.
"He took a look and said he could do it there and then as it would only take an hour and said it would cost £95.
"I said 'OK', but then I had to go back and ask him again, I thought I had misheard.
"I told him how much the other man had quoted and he told me that unfortunately, that can sometimes happen.
"Just shows you how you have to be so careful, because you are not to know how much these things cost, it is not as if I can get on the roof to check."
She added: "The other man rang me this morning telling me he had been worried about my roof and offered to come and do it for £200 - I couldn't believe it - the cheek.
"I didn't tell him I had already had it fixed and just said no.
"I just hope someone else doesn't fall for something like this if they are in a difficult situation [such as their roof leaking]. Always get another quote."
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