Episode 11 X-Ray

You are watching the show that fights for your rights. If you have

been ripped off... Or the deal turns out to be dodgy... We will battle it

out on your behalf. Excuse me, do not manhandle me! You never check

those vehicles. We are here to fight your corner.

We go undercover at Direct Choice, the firm which doesn't

give customers a choice about being cold-called.

We just keep them on the phone basically until they say yes or hang

After 23 calls, Chris had had enough.

If you were the last company on earth I would never, ever,

ever buy double glazing from Direct Choice.

Now I would suggest you get off my property now.

And there's no peace for the fed-up family with a very

It sounds like somebody is downstairs with a motorbike,

This week we're in Swansea - a city well known for

We've featured a fair few of them on X-ray in the past -

but tonight's rogue outfit takes some beating.

Replacing your windows is a big expense -

double-glazing, triple glazing, UPVC - whatever you go for,

they're not much to look at - but then that's the point!

You're supposed to be able to see through them -

shame then that some double glazing firms are anything but

transparent about the way they sell their windows.

Take this lot - Direct Choice Home Improvements Ltd.

Their website has a picture of Conwy Castle on it -

strange because they're actually based in Swansea.

Direct Choice is a company that keeps getting into trouble -

either for being less than clear with its customers, or for not

They've been fined repeatedly - in 2015 for falsely claiming

their windows were A+ energy efficient, last March for illegally

cold-calling 168 people on the Telephone Preference Service

- the register for people who don't want sales calls.

And in October last year - a ?10,000 fine after a sales rep

pressurised a grieving widow into signing a finance deal.

At first he seemed very nice, he was very respectable, nicely dressed.

The woman has agreed to tell her shocking story to X-Ray,

but she's been so traumatised by the experience, she's asked us

He'd discovered that my husband had died and he used that

How my husband would really want me to have these windows.

After first quoting ?10,000 for bay windows, the price

dropped to eight thousand - then six.

I said I wasn't interested and I was really getting upset.

I went into the kitchen to get a drink of water and to try

He said right, just before I go can I make one more phone call..

After 'calling his office' again, he dropped the price to ?4,000.

And, desperate to get rid of him, the woman signed the contract.

He said you know you've done the right thing,

your husband would be very pleased and I thought just go.

He did finally leave and I just collapsed in a heap.

And other customers have told us that Direct Choice sales

reps have pressured them into buying windows too.

Malcolm and Elizabeth Jones from Gelligaer near Caerphilly wish

they'd never agreed to a visit nearly two years ago.

The rep started by quoting ?15,000 - then kept dropping the price

We said we still need time to think about it,

so she was back on the phone and came back and offered us ?5,400.

The couple say the sales rep stayed for around three hours until just

She just kept pressurising to say, if you don't do it now

tonight it's gonna go, and you're going to

In the end we give her a cheque because we thought

Once the rep had gone, Malcolm and Elizabeth

They did get their ?400 deposit back, but say Direct Choice's

First of all he said it was too late to cancel...

this is two days after we gave her the cheque.

here's something wrong with you, he said.

You don't know a good deal when you see one

I said no, please just cancel and he just slammed

And I've discovered that Direct Choice aren't too 'choosy'

This is one of the company's two directors, Richard Norris.

In 2015, he employed his brother Robert.

Trouble is, Robert's a career criminal -

and was jailed a few months ago, for burglary.

Not someone I'd really want in my home.

So some pretty dubious sales tactics - but what about

the quality of their windows, doors and conservatories?

Allan Jones, from Merthyr Tydfil, signed up for a ?12,000 conservatory

I had to have them back in January because they hadn't sealed the sides

Direct Choice has repeatedly promised to fix the problems -

but a year on, the conservatory's still leaking.

So Allan's taken matters into his own hands.

Here I've had to erect troughing with a drainpipe

If I didn't have this here I'd be standing in a paddling pool.

I wouldn't let them build a dog kennel for me now

They've actually phoned here since to ask if I want

I couldn't believe it, young girl it was, and I said sorry love,

I don't talk to liars and I put the phone down.

We thought it was time to check out those 'lies' for ourselves.

Later in the programme, we'll show you what happened

when one of our researchers went undercover to work in

It's not customer services we're doing, it's not

thanks for your time, have a lovely day, enjoy yourself...

whatever, you know - we keep them on the phone

until they either say yes or they put the phone down.

And if you're unhappy with the way a company has treated you,

After two and half years of problems...

Michelle's not impressed with Indesit.

The milk had curdled in the fridge, the cheese had gone soggy,

all the meats that I keep in the fridge - everything.

I've got five children and nobody cares.

Now, the Six Nations tournament is under way -

and we've had a big reaction to last week's story about a new ticketing

are on a limited income - so they weren't impressed

with the Welsh Rugby Union's new website, as it doesn't allow

them to state the price of tickets they want.

Well, many X-Ray viewers were touched by their story -

some of you even said you'd pay for the couple's tickets.

And the good news is, the WRU have now offered

Jeff and Sharn tickets to the Wales-Ireland

home game on the 10th March - and they are absolutely

But Welsh Water's urging households earning less than ?15,000 to sign up

to their Help U tarif, to cap bills at ?190 a year.

Dee Valley Water runs a similar scheme -

better than pouring money down the drain.

It's bad news for viewers who love their greens -

wet weather in southern Europe has affected vegetable crops,

leading to rationing in Welsh supermarkets.

In Tesco, it's three iceberg lettuces per customer -

and Morrisons has limited the sale of broccoli.

Prices in other shops have also risen.

And until now, many rail passengers have bought split tickets to get

the best deal on cross country train journeys.

But this Spring, a trial on three routes across England and Scotland

will automatically work out the cheapest price.

If successful, the scheme will be rolled out to Wales too.

Next, Omar has been looking into whether life really

does mean life when it comes to guarantees.

These days many of us are on a mission to live longer.

And if you're hoping to live to a ripe old age,

buying things which will last the distance with you

I will tell you how it is going to be...

Lifetime guarantees have been around for a while.

Every recording as good as the first - or we'll give you a new tape!

30 years on, not many of us are watching VHS tapes.

But on the High Street, a growing number of brands

are pulling in the punters with goods they say

But what does lifetime really mean? Let's see what

If anything goes wrong with it you should get a replacement

or your money back or something like that I should imagine.

Unlimited, if it says lifetime, lifetime means lifetime.

That's the guarantee, surely to God that's the guarantee.

Lifetime should always mean lifetime?

Yes definitely, without fail. I'll admit - I also thought it meant

It should be repaired or refunded or replaced. Forever, a lifetime

guarantee! I thought it meant the whole of my life.

But it seems there's often a fair bit of small print.

Take outdoor clothing company, Berghaus, which offers the guarantee

So, Berghaus define lifetime as the length of time any piece

of kit can reasonably be expected to keep delivering the same great

Well, that's as clear as the mud these jackets get covered in!

North Face and Camelbak make similar promises,

but spell out that it doesn't cover your lifetime

They don't make it clear how many months -

or years - that is, though. I need some help to navigate

A lifetime guarantee has no legally uniform definition.

So it can vary and it's a bit of a grey area.

A warranty or a guarantee is an offer over and

reassuring but none of them actually mean it's lifetime.

Why do manufacturers use this phrase, lifetime guarantee?

So the lifetime guarantee actually helps people to gain confidence

in what they're purchasing and usually luxury brand

or high brand names you pay the premium for it so you get

Because there can be lots of exceptions.

Things like, colour fading, rips, scuffs and stains.

Has the product failed as a result of its manufacture or construction?

Or has it simply failed as a result of not using it correctly?

So the shoes behind you and the boots that we have,

if the body of the boot fails that would be reasonable

But if the laces failed after six months, are you really going

And there are a few more things to look out for too.

If you pass that buggy or car seat on to a friend the lifetime

Usually you need to register the product soon after you buy it.

And often you're not covered if you buy from somewhere

So even if you live a long and happy life, don't assume those

lifetime products will last the distance with you!

Some useful tips there - definitely worth doing your

Next - to Glynneath and a family who've been getting a frosty

There are a lot of mouths to feed in the Curry household -

so this family rely on their fridge freezer.

At just over ?400 their Indesit model wasn't cheap -

but it gave them the space they needed - and they

Unfortunately their enthusiasm for Indesit quickly thawed

as their appliance broke down again, and again, and again.

Over the last two years I think we've had to throw out at least ?300

- ?400 worth of food because everything in the fridge has had

to go from, you know, butter was all melted

because it was warm - everything went warm.

The milk had curdled in the fridge, the cheese had gone soggy,

all the meats that I keep in the fridge - everything.

This has happened no fewer than 14 times in last two and a half years.

And sometimes the Currys get a warning that trouble's on its way.

It sounds like somebody is downstairs with a motorbike

because it's horrendous, it happened any time of the day,

two o'clock in the morning, whenever it decides to, really.

It's woke us up, it's woke the children up.

We've had to come down then and turn it off

The fan in Michelle's freezer keeps icing up causing the whole

Each time it happens, Indesit promise to sort it out.

But, with so many hungry bellies to fill, Michelle's not impressed

children and nobody cares - that's what it feels

Last time it was just over two weeks.

They left me two weeks without a fridge, in the middle

of summer, beginning of the six weeks' holidays with five children.

And, as she waits for yet another engineer's visit,

she's relying on the kindness of her neighbour -

who's letting her use the spare fridge in his garage.

Not ideal in the middle of winter and with a sick one-year-old.

The baby's got tonsillitis and he's on penicillin and that's got

to be kept in the fridge, so four times a day I've got to come

over to get his penicillin out the fridge because I can't store it

Indesit have already replaced the fridge freezer once -

But it developed exactly the same problems.

I just want Indesit to give me a fridge freezer that works,

I don't mind if it's a cheaper model, I just want a fridge freezer

that I know every day I can get up and I'm not dreading opening

the door to know if it's working or not.

So what have Indesit said about this fridge-freezer fiasco?

Well, they told us safety is their number one priority

and they aim to resolve problems quickly and efficiently.

Now, after more than two years, Indesit have given the Curry

family a brand new fridge freezer - a different model -

plus ?50 compensation, and Michelle and the whole

Now back to that Swansea double glazing firm that just

Double glazing companies don't have a great reputation.

But Direct Choice Home Improvements takes that to new lows.

They've had fine after fine for their bad behaviour.

From pressure selling to a vulnerable widow...

How my husband would really want me to have these windows.

To illegally cold-calling people on the Telephone

Preference Service - the register for people

Something they then promised to put right.

But customers have been telling us that Direct Choice

Mark Davies from Pembrokeshire is on the Telephone Preference Service.

Just before Christmas, the company cold-called him.

I pointed out that it was an offence now to phone people on the TPS

and it was up to him to check our number against it,

and he basically said if he did that he couldn't possibly

from Tenby, is on the TPS too - he says Direct Choice have been

pestering him on the phone for years.

I've said, right, take me off your database.

I've got no intention of ever buying anything from you,

so you're wasting your time, and they say, oh yes,

we'll take you off and you'll never get a call from us again.

And then three days later you get another call.

So Chris decided to start playing Direct Choice at their own game -

and in March, agreed to a visit from a rep.

I told them, look you've come on a wild goose chase,

As you can see the house has got brand new double

glazing, we don't want it, but stop calling me.

Incredibly, that still didn't do the trick -

So Chris said, come on over, so they could see his brand

The last rep I told stop calling me and go away.

You've been fined for mis-selling, you've been fined for

mis-representation, you've been fined for cold-calling.

If you were the last company on earth I would never, ever,

ever buy double glazing from Direct Choice.

Now I would suggest you get off my property now.

Go back to Swansea and tell them to stop calling me.

23 times, tell them to stop calling me.

It's making me angry now that they're still calling me.

I've done everything I can do, so I just don't

We've spotted a job advert, for telesales staff to join

So one of our researchers went undercover in their Swansea call

centre, to find out exactly what they're telling

I'm calling you from a company called Direct Choice.

The call centre is right next to the office of company

Training is pretty basic - our researcher is initially told to

So that's the script - that's what you need

That's what we read to people on the phone.

It says here that Direct Choice are investing a quarter of a million

pounds in the area by subsidising the installation of windows.

Our researcher questions one of the managers.

Is that just to get them to agree to us?

Do we genuinely pay a lot of the price for them?

The cold-calling script also says staff should say they're doing

a survey and just need to ask a couple of quick questions.

We ask the Direct Marketing Association, which runs

the Telephone Preference Service, what they make of this.

It's called "sugging" which is selling under

It's actually illegal under the PECR, Privacy

and Electronic Communication Regulations.

Our researcher is also told to call former customers to persuade them

But many aren't too pleased about it.

The manager's talking about existing customers.

ignoring that request is against the law.

It's probably one of the worst attitudes I've seen in the way

Next we ask a legal expert to look at some of the tactics

used by Direct Choice, like claiming to have

It's all about keeping the consumer on the phone,

keeping the conversation going, because they believe the longer

you're on the phone the more likely you are to ultimately say yes,

so they haven't sent a letter at all.

if they'd like cheap or even free windows.

They're all about making you think you're going to get a really good

deal because they're going to cover a significant amount of the cost.

Whether they are actually is a different matter entirely.

Finally, a fake discount code given to customers - BS 179.

I think we can guess what Direct Choice's

That again is a misleading action about the specific price,

the price advantage you think you're being given and to do

We put the findings of our investigation to Richard Norris,

The company told us they've now sacked one manager

They claim their system does now filter out people on the TPS and say

they will make sure all staff are trained to use

Since their fine for pressure selling, they say reps have

They've now fixed Allan Jones' conservatory -

And as for employing Robert Norris, a convicted criminal,

they say he only worked there for a week.

But they didn't explain why they're still harassing customers who've

asked not to be rung, and why their sales

So I'm heading off to their Swansea call centre to see if I

It's just before nine o'clock now and we're parked at the side

of the Direct Choice offices, waiting to see whether Richard

Then a few minutes later we spot him, and I head into the offices

They claim he's off today - although we'd spotted him earlier.

We just want to talk to him and ask him a few questions.

So we check round the back, but it seems he's keeping

a low profile, and then the shutters come down.

So Direct Choice and its boss Richard Norris choosing not

to answer our questions, but this is the company that doesn't

respect your choice not to be called by them.

Very frustrating - but we're going to be keeping

an eye on Direct Choice, and if you've had any dealings

Now, if you're being bothered by cold callers, make

with the Telephone Preference Service.

It only filters out companies based in the UK -

but the good thing is, you can now register your mobile

But, as we know some companies - and scammers - ignore this.

If you're still getting calls a month after you've registered,

get the name of the firm and take down the times and dates

of the calls - and report it either to the TPS,

or to the Information Commissioners Office,

That's it for this week, but if there's anything

you need our help with we are here for you, so please get in touch.

The contact details are on the screen.

Manhandled and abandoned - the shocking treatment of disabled

air passengers by a company that's supposed to help them.

I really, strongly feel that I will not fly on my