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Touching moment Allison Langdon tells a retired couple on the brink of bankruptcy that viewers bailed them out and paid off their $25,000 debt
- Nine viewers collaborate to rescue retirees from a huge legal bill
- Couple took village to court for $1,375 to fix unit’s air conditioning
- Walter and Carola Sadlo were hit with costs of $25,000 as a result
Ally Langdon has surprised a retired couple by presenting them with a bailout from their cruel and crippling debt.
Walter and Carola Sadlo were left with a $25,000 legal bill after taking their nursing home to court over an air conditioning unit and losing the case.
The heartbreaking story appeared on A Current Affair weeks earlier and sparked an outpouring of support for the retired wrestlers.
“Our viewers have paid their debt,” Langdon told the stunned couple, who at first couldn’t believe it.
Ally Langdon has surprised retired couple Walter and Carola Sadlo by presenting them with a financial bailout from their cruel and crippling debt.
“We didn’t expect that,” Carola said.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart,” said a tearful, shaky Walter.
“I don’t normally get excited. I better make sure I don’t have a heart attack!
It has been hanging over our head. It’s something we don’t want other people to go through.
The couple were left with the huge bill after taking their south-west Sydney retirement village Mount Gilead Estate to the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Court (NCAT) over a claim for $1,375 to repair their air conditioning in 2018. .
The village’s operator, Australian Retirement Holdings, defended the claim by retaining a lawyer and solicitor, while Walter represented himself, but proved no match for the expensive legal team.
Although the village operators wanted the Sadlos to pay their full legal costs of $59,000, the court agreed to a payment of $25,000.
Carola and Walter were shocked to learn that ACA viewers had dug deep to pay a $25,000 legal bill hanging over the couple’s heads plus a $15,000 estate.
The Sadlos had been having trouble keeping up with their payment schedule and just two days before Christmas, the town threatened to declare them bankrupt for being late.
This forced the Sadlers to invest their only savings, a $15,000 inheritance that Carola received from her mother.
Without it, they feared losing their home.
However, Langdon told the overwhelmed couple that not only had viewers contributed enough to pay the $25,000 bill, but there was also enough to replace the $15,000 inheritance.
Langdon said the Sadlos’ plight had so moved viewers of A Current Affair that they began sending money even as the story aired.
Langdon said Sadlos’s plight had touched so many viewers of A Current Affair that offers of money poured in even as the original story about them was airing.
A woman in Queensland had gone to get money from a bank where the storytellers had seen the story and expressed hope that someone would help the Sadlos even as the withdrawal was about to take place.
Walter said the financial help was particularly timely as an expensive operation was looming that would have otherwise racked up credit card debt.
“Despite many things, there is much good in the world and many good people,” he said.
“Hopefully there are village operators who see this story and show a little more heart.”