Nanny cam, why not a contractor cam? (PAH)

jmacina

did u get the job

hot_rod

Video cam peeking out from curtains

Today while on an estimate, the lady of the house kept leading me to one spot for additional questioning regarding what's wrong with their heat pump system and asking for comments regarding what she said other contractors said about what's needed to correct the deficiencies.

Midway through the third set of questions, I spied a small web-cam type of thing partially hidden in the window curtains. We were standing dead center in its view. She was saying "other contractors have said we need additional registers in every room", which they clearly did not - and other off the wall things too.

Creepy stuff. I repeated (for the camera) what I'd told her in the basement. I'll gladly quote you the new system you've requested, but please be aware that this system might only need a good going over by one of our service mechanics for it to work properly.



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Dave_8

Hidden cams

A few years back we had to fire one of our guys who had gone on a service call to a home where the people had left the house open for us to do the call with the request that we lock it when we left. Our guy did the call and locked the house, the next day the woman of the house came by and gave us a video tape of our tech raiding the refrigerator and the cookie jar. He was fired that same morning and the rest of the crew were shown the tape, there were some red faces in the rest of the crew which led us to believe that he was just the only one caught. In the years since I have found many video cameras hidden in corners of basements watching to see just what it is we do on service calls. Keep it mind guys, it is not just the equipment that has gone high tech!!!!

paul lessard_2

That is creepy!!

I've seen cameras while working alone in houses,once I flipped it off just for fun ..no not the switch!
I guess people have reason to be suspicious just flip on the tv for those sting programs
Why do you think she was recording you? Did she try to get you to bad mouth the guy before you?
Would you work for her If she gave you the job?
If you do the job and you find yourself alone in the house put on some spandex and dance around with the village people cranked up to 10,if she smiles next time you see her you were taped!....or you could just sing the double your fun song;-)

Murph'_4

can she read lips....

If not then possibly was recording what you say, that is illegal to voice record someone without their knowledge, let us know if you end up on the tube or worse!! why you're a gutsy guy, why did you just not ask her what was up?? I just got off the phone with some lady, would not give me directions to her house.....?? I sez how will I find you......when you coming then call.....what the h**l is the difference?? some peoples kids !!



Murph'

hot_rod

If'n it was a sting operation...

they won't be airing my segment!

First go in front of the camera (I hadn't seen it till the 3rd go around), she says the house was 40 degrees last winter on a cold day - I glance at the stat and eyeball the hi-lo returns. It's a heat pump, so my thoughts turn to the toaster in the duct. Did the em heat light come on? Yup. High bills? - damn right! Humnnnn, sumpin's fishy.

Second go around in camera view. Other contractors said we need addition registers in ALL rooms. By now I'd seen enough to know that was a silly suggestion. Ductowrk in basement was laerge enough for proper air flow too (it's a 3-ton system). The breaker would indicate a 10Kw toaster, so my suspicion is it's not toasting.

Third go around for camera. I explain I need to measure whole house to determine if existing HP and 10Kw toaster were properly sized. She asks once again about installing an oil or gas furnace instead & that's when I spied the camera peeking out from the curtain.

The thing is, she (seemingly) kept trying to get me to bad mouth others and tell her she needed something other than the existing system.

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maintenance-guy

Been a lurker here for a long time but this topic finally got me to post.

I'm a maintenance manager and security is one of my responsibilities. I was in a large building with nearly 200 employees and we were having problems with employee theft, mostly stealing from each other.

We bought a tiny color camera, time lapse VCR, and all the equipment we needed to set up a hidden camera anywhere for under $500. After a meeting with our lawyer where he went over what we could and couldn't do, we caught our first thief in three hours steeling from a co-worker's pocketbook.

Caught a half dozen other thefts in about a year...people steal in the same places over and over and that makes catching them easy.

Laws for video and voice recording vary by state. Typically you can't record audio without the person's consent or unless the person recording is a party in the conversation.

And these things are tiny. We've hidden them in smoke detectors, telephone wall jacks, fly strips (no kidding), electrical boxes, once in a phone. We're probably all recorded all the time and never even know it.

Tony_8

maybe

she was practicin' for law school !
or tryin' to convince hubby what she wants is right ?
Fired a very knowledgeable tech a year ago in the midst of super-busy season because of an "unguided tour". He gave himself away when he informed them of a mistake they'd made in remodel of other section of house he didn't belong in. Duhhh.

Mark Hunt

Now that is weird


You're probably right though, they would not show your answers. You are not controversial enough.

The truth is a good thing!

Mark H

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Geno_15

eyespy

This is great!!!! I'm going to show this to my students this morning. I keep trying to drive home customer relations and TRUST NO ONE. You never know what people are up to. I knew a tech who once told me about a night call where the wife kept coming on to him, he finally noticed that the husband was hiding behind the couch!!! He lived to tell about it because he ignored her.
Geno

Murph'_4

maybe that was celsius

And she was that korny to put a spy-cam on, maybe Geno is onto something, who knows what these folks have down thier duct work. some folks are very strange from the get go, then it's downhill from there. uhhhhh maybe it was situation like when the husband is asking questions from across the table to his wife thats on the phone is relay?? I see blackmail in your future!! sorry about that (G) could be a homer depott commercial where they show how easy it is to get someone to fix it??


Murph'

RAM_2

OK...

Ever think about the possibility that the husband was in favor of the whole thing? Strange and sick... but it happens.

Mark Eatherton1

The thought...

of seeing Dave Yates dancing around in leotards singing Y.M.C.A. brings tears to my eyes...and their not happy tears:-)

I've seen him at work in a chefs hat, and that was a memory I won't soon forget.

Some peoples kids, eh.

Did you ask her if she needed the use of your video editing equipment Dave? Never know, you could have struck some kind of deal.

ME

hot_rod

Funny you should mention that YMCA ditty

Rumor has it that a group of brothers (3 to be exact) did a rendition of that YMCA thing on their backs (think of turtles) during a wedding celebration just a week ago in the middle of a very crowded dance floor- I ain't gonna name any names either! Pictures are rumored to have been taken & threats of blackmail have been broached.

BTW, didja happen to read Bruce Fathers' guide to safe potable water in PMEngineer??? Damn good read, that one is. Perhaps it should be forwarded on to the RPA committee that's "studying" this issue regarding Legionella. Well, at least we get it. GlobalPipe gets it too. Intelligent well reasoned folks get it. If you read Ballanco's column - the code bodies don't yet get it - not yet - they're too busy jockying for political positions to get off their collective arses & do what's right. CIPH almost got it.

The local media folks - they passed up an opportunity to get free CO advice that's in plain English, concise & geared to a consumer's level of understanding. A number of people died from CO poisoning after Isabel & the timing was right for a public bulletin. Sigh.

As for our secret video taper(s)? Always conduct yourselves as if 60 minutes is in the house. Darned interesting replies posted above.


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Mike Murray

Videe-eye-ee-eye-oh

I didn't read through this entire thread (sorry guys) but it reminded me of something that a past apprentice said to me not long ago. He said, "One of the most valuable lessons you taught me was to always work as if you were being videotaped"

Years ago I'd found myself on a service call that was just too weird. I mean, it had to be a setup but I didn't notice (nor even look for) any hidden cameras or anything. But it got me to thinking, especially after seeing 20/20 exposees, etc that this could actually happen.

Bill NTSG

Creepier than cameras

We had a guy hiding in the stair well while we replaced his boiler , just listening. I caught him when I went to the truck for parts.

Then today , replacing a boiler, the lady was hiding in the room above listening and watching through the grate for the wood stove heat.

I guess for some it is better entertainment than Jerry Springer

Murph'_4

wow bill ntsg !!!!

you just reminded me. what a howl, had this lady (schitzo) screamin at me about the noise being made from a power venter, trouble was while she was in the room she could not tell the difference between the venter and fridge that was above the boiler room on the next floor, guess I was with the bullseye that week. while me and the rep were in the basement, she (schitzo) was above with her ear to the vent and a tape recorder in the floor register. needless to say with no support from the builder, this was the begining of the end for my new construction work



Murph'

ScottMP

Man !

People hiding in rooms and behind couches !

Vidio camaras hidden behind curtains !

I have never come across stuff like this, at least, I don't Think I have ? Uh Dave, what did the guys on thier backs look like ? Not that I even Know the words to YMCA. Rumor has it that Hunt was the Indian.

This is something to remind the guys about. I'll keep my eyes open the next time I am in a house. And NO MORE singing.

Scott " Young men, theres a place you can go ......... "

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Dave Yates (PAH)

don't rightly know........

but the other people standing looked very tall!

The DJ claimed he'd never been to a wedding where so many people enjoyed dancing so much. When the dust finally settled, it was discovered that the dance floor interlocking segments had broken apart from the hard usage.

But that's how the mrs became a mrs sooooooooooo many years ago. Our third date was a 24-hour dance marathon for MD. We raised the most moola, so that garnered us first place. I figured if she had the moxie to dance for 24 hours straight through, she could take being by my side(G).

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