SAN DIEGO -- Ida Mae Williams, 78, is a widow and has no family living nearby. In fact it's just her and her dogs in her 2,000 sq. ft. Vista ranch house. When a sales person called to offer Ida Mae new windows, there was no one close to her to help her through the 3-hour sales pitch. Ida Mae said yes, and they closed the deal that day. That deal included 7 top-of-the-line windows, and 3 sliding doors. She paid $24,540.

This sounded like a lot of money to us but we are no expert, that's why we went to someone in the window business with a good reputation -- The Window Factory, and Dan Dean.

The Window Factory specializes in windows; they are known to be competitive -- not generally having the lowest prices, or the highest, but somewhere in the middle. We didn't want to influence the quote so we didn't tell Dean what Ida Mae paid or who did the job. We wanted an estimate for the same deal Ida Mae got. Same quality windows, same number of windows installed. The Window Factory came back with an estimate of $8,128 installed complete.

Let's review: Ida Mae paid 24,450 dollars; Dean's estimate was $8,128, that's a difference of $16,322. But wait there is more; the salesman that came to Ida Mae's house didn't stop at just windows. Ida Mae says, they offered to "throw in" an exterior paint job. Ida Mae thought she was getting a free paint job; instead she got what they called an exterior coating for an extra $25,830.

We went straight to the district attorney's office with what had happened to Ida Mae. Deputy DA Paul Greenwood was shocked at how brazen some people could be. Greenwood specializes in elder abuse crimes. He would not comment directly on this investigation but he says that in these types of situations it's possible that the elderly are victims of burglary. He believes that if, to him, the evidence shows that the salesmen enter the house of an elder with the intent to rip off that elder then that, to him, is residential burglary.

But wait, the worst is yet to come for Ida Mae.

The same salespeople also talked Ida Mae into refinancing her home in order to pay for the new windows, and "free" paint job. Ida Mae tells us "I didn't understand the loan very well and I told him I wasn't clear on the amount of money." Now Ida Mae is locked into an adjustable mortgage that she can't pay. Ida Mae says, 'I'm going to loose my home, If I don't get something done about this loan."

Ida may never wrote a check for anything. The money was paid directly from the escrow company to Pacific Home Remodeling. They got $50,280 for the windows and exterior coating and they also got a visit from the I-team.

We meet the manager and he answers all of our questions. He stands by what they charged Ida Mae. He says $25,000 even $30,000 is pretty normal for 10 windows.

As for the "free" paint job he believes Ida Mae must have misunderstood.

He says there is no way she could have not clearly understood what she was paying for and why.

We ask if they really make sure their clients, especially the elderly, understand what they are getting themselves into, and he stresses that they spend on average 3 1/2 hours in their clients' homes going over the window presentation.

Again, while not talking specifically about this case, deputy DA Greenwood says there are those that target seniors. They know they are dealing with someone vulnerable and often reluctant to complain to authorities or their families. He believes these salesmen thrive on this knowledge. They know that even if what has happened is exposed to the homeowner, the homeowner won't say anything.

This is part of the reason it took over a year for Ida Mae to come forward. It wasn't until her daughter figured it out that the I-Team was contacted. Defeated, Ida Mae says wearily, "I don't know why I let somebody talk me into something like this."