money buggersEveryone makes mistakes from time to time with small or sometimes large financial consequences. In this series, people talk about their monetary misstep. This week Willeke Barens (72), who paid 4000 euros to have her life story recorded and ultimately received nothing.
Why did you want your life story on paper?
“Because I’ve had a rather bizarre life and I wanted to pass that on to my grandchildren. And I noticed reactions on social media that people took to my story, because I am a positive person who survived a lot of adversity. Moreover, I have not built up a pension and thought that a book might be an addition to my old age income. I can write reasonably well myself, I am an English translator, but I soon noticed that I went into too much detail and couldn’t make a conclusive story out of it myself.”
It came across fantastic. She would do it for 7000 euros, a common price
So did you seek help?
,,I heard from a colleague about a lady she had known for a long time, a journalist, who wrote down life stories. She had written books, and before I started working with her, she sent me her television interviews. It came across fantastic. She would do it for 7,000 euros, a common price.”
Have you met her before?
,,No, she lived in the south of France. We had a Skype conversation, without a picture, because it supposedly didn’t work with her computer. We made an agreement that she would interview me for an hour every day for a month, also via Skype, and that she would then put my whole story on paper and turn it into a book.”
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How did those interviews go?
“Great, I noticed from her questions and responses that she loved my story. After that month, she said she would need another three months to put everything on paper.”
And then?
,,Nothing. She got sick, she moved and was homesick, there was always a reason she put it off. After two years I still hadn’t received anything. By now I had already paid 4000 euros. I said, ‘Now it’s done. I need something now.’ Then, instead of a book, I got one A4 page, full of spelling mistakes and factual errors, that I had done three years Mavo while I was doing HBS. I said: ‘Send the recordings and I’ll type it myself.’ But they were completely useless. You heard the occasional word and then crackling.”
What did you tell her?
“She suddenly disappeared. I found out that she had returned to the Netherlands because she had posted a picture of her house on Facebook. I went to Google to find out what her address might be and I found her. I was a member of the FNV so called legal aid. It became a lawsuit. The judge agreed with me and thought I should get a full refund. But my lawyer already said: you can’t pluck feathers from a frog.”
I might have had to rely on more than one reference and not have done it without person-to-person contact
Did you eventually get your money back?
,,Because she had nothing, I agreed with 1500 euros that she had to pay back, in amounts of 62.50 euros per month, within two years. But after three months she stopped paying. It drove me crazy, so I agreed with my lawyer that the money would go through him. So I can’t say how much is still open. In any case, I no longer have the money to have my life story put on paper again. Too bad for my grandchildren and also for myself.”
How could you have prevented?
,,That colleague who recommended her is sorry, but I don’t blame her, it was of course my own responsibility. I might have had to rely on more than one reference and not have done it without human-to-human contact. But on the other hand, if I have to choose between being naive or suspicious, I choose the former. Because that makes life a lot nicer.”
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