“Trying to Get the Owner to Pay”: Family Wakes Up to Loud Hammering Outside and Finds Strangers Tiling Their Front Entrance

Loud, chaotic and unexpected hammering before anyone had gotten up. That's how the morning started for a Reddit user at her boyfriend's family home in the Czech Republic. She posted about the incident on Reddit’s r/MildlyInfuriating forum, and the story reads like a con artist's playbook.

Several workers showed up and began installing tile near the front entrance. Nobody in the house had agreed on this. No contract had been signed, and no one had contacted the family. She stumbled out to investigate, and everyone inside confirmed the same thing: no one had approved any work.

The men demanded payment despite the family never authorizing the work.

"They came while we were still sleeping and these loud sounds woke me up," she wrote in her post. "I came there to see some work being done and no one in the house knew about that when I asked them. They then wanted us to pay."

According to the post, the men appeared to target the correct house. With their equipment in hand, they had approached their door, expecting the homeowners to pay.

While police were on their way, she contacted the police and her boyfriend's mother handled the conversation outside. The cops showed up, looked into it, and came back just for the men.

"Didn't hear about or from the men again. Didn't get it fixed so far or anything as it only happened yesterday. Thankfully we aren't as dumb as to pay them," she added, warning others to watch for these types of scams.

One commenter read about a similar experience. They wrote, "I read on an article where one person had their roof completely torn down and to be reroofed but turned out to be the wrong house and they were trying to get the owner to pay for it or they won’t finish the job."

Another brought up a Florida case writing, "That woman in Florida (I think) had her gate stolen by someone down the street, and they installed it in their own yard. The police kept trying to tell her it was a civil matter." A third user said, "Prior to my buying it, someone literally stole the storm door and framing from the front of my house while it was being renovated."

Commenters appeared most upset by when someone walks up without permission, lays down tile and asks for payment. The incident resembled a common home-improvement scam, according to commenters. They show up, act official, start something messy, and count on the homeowner being too confused to question them.