Van Hire Don't Get Done Get Dom

I've been fighting your consumer battles for years,

but the same old problems just keep flooding in.

And it's all the usual suspects - poor customer service, faulty goods and hidden small print.

No wonder some of you are fed up with the way you're being treated.

What really grinds my gears is when I place an order and the company gets it wrong.

The consumer and customer has been completely forgotten.

And it's never their fault.

I couldn't agree more. Things need to change,

and we're on a mission to get companies to treat us better.

I'll be taking on your cases and fighting your fight with the big companies.

It makes your system sound very flawed to me.

And I'll be showing you how to shop smart and stay one step ahead.

She is a really good shopper!

So remember, Don't Get Done...

Get Dom!

On today's show, I come to the aid of a group of people

all driven round the bend by a van hire company.

Alarm bells started ringing in regards to their customer service.

It's not constructive whatsoever.

The more I phoned back, the more ruder they became.

How one man saved an entire village from paying over the odds for their heating fuel...

It's a community service

on behalf on the village that deserves it, I believe.

Rani Price gets a foot in the door

of the inside world of estate agents.

-You're potentially bidding against yourself.

-Absolutely!

Every now and again, there comes a time

when a normal car is not big enough for certain tasks -

you know, like moving house or going on a trip.

When that happens, nothing will come in handier

than a nice big van.

That's exactly what Akin Ali and his friends needed

when they were organising a charity trip.

We were doing the Three Peaks Challenge to raise money for Parkinson's UK.

They needed a minibus and chose A1 National Van Hire.

It cost us £500,

but we had to pay a £500 deposit upfront, as well.

The team split the cost between them

and made the booking using one of the team's credit cards.

Just before we left, we noticed we'd been double-charged on the deposit and minibus hire.

After successfully completing the challenge and returning the minibus,

the team tried to rectify the error with A1.

We were told that we'd get a refund,

then we were told that they needed to talk to management

and since then, we've not heard anything.

The team are still waiting for A1 to return the two deposits

and the extra hire charge they took,

to the tune of £1,543 and 56 pence.

Understandably, they're not feeling too charitable about the situation.

We got a lot of people to put their money into us to do this challenge,

so it's definitely put a downer on it for us

and definitely a downer on a trip that was actually a good trip.

And Akin and his friends aren't alone.

Meet Shareen Hall, who lives in Milton Keynes.

Thanks to A1 National Van Hire,

she's £759 out of pocket

for hiring a van that she didn't end up using.

It was a stressful period for Shareen,

who had recently lost her husband.

My late husband was living in Scotland when he passed away.

I needed the van to go and sort out some belongings

to, er, bring back, to clear out of the house.

She was expecting the van to be delivered to her daughter's house in Barnsley at 10am.

We had a phone call to say that...

..they couldn't provide us with the van at the booked time

because, erm,

the tail lift on the back of the van that's been allocated to us wasn't working.

A1 said it would take some time to send a replacement

so Shareen found a van through another company.

But a week later, she discovered A1 had taken the hire charge from her account,

making her overdrawn.

A1 told Shareen that the money would be refunded straight away. It wasn't.

After several weeks of phone calls and emails, she took independent advice.

I was told to send a letter to them, giving them time to respond.

I gave them seven days because that's plenty of time.

And then, erm,

I still didn't hear nothing,

so a second letter was sent

and still nothing.

As Shareen is no closer to getting her money back,

she's called me in.

And she and Akin aren't alone.

I've had five more complaints about A1, taking the total to seven.

More from the other disgruntled customers later.

It's time to meet Akin and Shareen.

It sounds to me like A1 National Van Hire

haven't been treating their customers properly.

I've arranged to meet a couple of them to hear it for myself.

Hi, Shareen. Hi, Akin. Thanks for coming along.

-Delighted to meet you.

-Lovely to meet you.

I know you guys don't know each other,

but you do share a common problem with a company named...

A1 National Van Hire.

-Same with you?

-Yes.

Akin and Shareen have had money taken from their accounts when it shouldn't have been,

in Akin's case, two lots of hire charges and deposits.

They've paid around £2,000 and are owed back just over £1,500.

-It's a lot of money for anybody.

-Yes.

-Who had forked that money out?

-That was split between us.

'And Shareen is £759 out of pocket

'for a hire charge and deposit on a van she never set eyes on.'

-You must feel like you've been robbed.

-Oh, yes! Of course I do!

It made a deeply upsetting time,

clearing her late husband's home, even more stressful.

It was hard. I knew that, erm,

I was actually...

..finalising the time that I'd had with Martin.

The final time that I shut the front door, I did cry.

I'm appalled by Akin and Shareen's stories.

As they tell me about their unsuccessful attempts to reclaim their money,

I don't feel any better.

They said they'd look into it.

We had a couple more calls where they said, "It's someone else's problem!"

-or they sent us to a different department.

-Fobbed you off, basically.

-Yes.

They stopped replying to that, so we sent a letter

formalising what we'd paid and what we were owed.

They didn't respond to that.

We sent several emails and they didn't respond.

Has anybody ever given you a straightforward reason why they've not refunded your money?

No. I've not heard nothing from them.

-So a bit like Akin, you feel you're getting fobbed off?

-Absolutely, yes,

because I was phoning them up every day, every other day,

and every time I phoned them up, they just came up with an excuse.

And every time I phoned them, they were absolutely downright rude!

'I'm not surprised that the experience with A1 National Van Hire

'has left a nasty taste for both Akin and Shareen.'

Their customer service has been poor.

They're certainly not a company I'd like to deal with again.

'For Akin and his friends, it soured what should've been a celebration.'

The money still went to charity, but we're out of pocket.

It's quite disheartening.

'And being without his money continues to cause problems for Akin.'

Being a PhD student, it's money that I could definitely do with.

'For Shareen, who can't work due to a heart condition,

'it's been a strain.'

How badly has this hit you, Shareen?

It's left me in debt,

erm, I've had bank charges for non-payment of direct debits.

As a result of the money being taken and you never even got the van,

-you had neighbours buying you dinner and feeding your electric meter.

-Yes.

-And my daughter.

-Things got that bad?

-Yes.

I was literally scraping around for every penny that I could find

through my pockets, through my bags.

'As Akin and Shareen's efforts to reclaim their money have stalled,

'I'm going to get into the driver's seat.'

I'm going to try contacting the company

and very politely ask for your money back and see where I go.

I'll keep you informed.

-Good to meet you, guys.

-Thanks.

-Cheerio, Shareen.

-Thank you.

-Take care. Bye.

But before I start,

I like to know a bit more about who I'm dealing with.

Sadly, there's not that much information out there.

On their website, A1 National Van Hire simply claim to be

"the premier van hire and minibus hire experts in the UK".

Time to call A1 to ask why they're withholding all these deposits.

I know what the guvnor's called. Mr Hammond Kumar.

Let's see if I can speak to him.

PHONE RINGS

Oh, hi. Could I speak to Hammond Kumar, please?

It's Dominic Littlewood from the BBC.

'I'm told he's not in at the moment.'

Has he got an email address? I could drop him a line.

'They happily give it to me.

'It does seem to be a generic company address but it's a start.'

Is there a mobile number I could ring him on, please?

'The gentleman tells me he doesn't have his number, but they don't give them out anyway.'

He is the boss, though, isn't he? 'I'm told that's right. I'll try Mr Kumar another time.'

The boss, Mr Hammond Kumar, I've just confirmed that he is the guvnor there -

that's always worth doing in case he denies it at a later date -

he's out the office and won't be back for three hours.

But I did get the email address.

'I'm sending Hammond Kumar an email with details of all seven unhappy customers,

'asking why A1 are still holding on to their deposits.

'But as I get to grips with the issues of this case,

'the question is, will I ever get to speak to Hammond Kumar?'

Hmm... Let's try again.

Wouldn't life be easier if we had a little insider knowledge,

if we knew exactly how companies operated

so, for once, we as consumers, could be ahead of the game?

Well, I'm about to meet somebody who is fed up of keeping quiet

and they're going to let you in on the tricks of the trade.

Today, we're looking at estate agents.

As property is a pricy business, it pays to be clued up.

Our estate agent has been in the business for 22 years

so there's not much he doesn't know about buying and selling property.

And whilst most estate agents are reputable,

he's going to raise the roof on the tactics used by some to get us to buy and sell.

To protect him from industry backlash,

we've concealed his identity.

As an estate agent, how do you earn your money?

Our money is obviously based on commission.

You have to get a deal together. No deals, no commission.

Don't be tricked by the agent that says they can get you the highest price

because they will sign you into a long-term contract.

Are you saying they just say the highest price

because they know that we want the most we can get for our property, because maybe we want to move on,

and they know full well that you're not going to get that?

Absolutely. That's one of the tricks estate agents will use.

The key feature for a vendor is to make sure you do your homework.

Look on the internet to see who's got the most advertised sold,

and choose local estate agents to come and value your house.

So after the estate agent gets your business

by inflating the asking price,

how do they go about selling your property and making their commission?

I have known for fictitious people to go round and look at properties, which are set up by the agents.

How do you mean? Explain that a little more.

-Your house is on the market for £200,000.

-Right.

Somebody comes and views your property

and offers you 180,000.

-If he put forward an offer of 180, you're going to decline it.

-Mm-hm.

If he put forward an offer of 170, which is a fictitious offer,

you're going to decline it.

But then if he goes back or pretends to say,

"Look, they've come forward with their best possible offer of 178"

you're going to be thinking, "That's 8,000 more. I'm not getting the interest."

The agent would then say to you,

"What about if I could get you the 180?"

The difference between £10,000 on an estate agency fee is very minute.

The incentive is getting some commission out of it.

And what about hidden extras?

When selling, you have to have an Energy Performance Certificate.

Tell us about the EPC.

Generally speaking, estate agents can get them for about £35.

I'm sure I've heard estate agents say "If you come with us, we'll do that for free."

Do not be fooled by the word "free".

On your contract, it will say that the EPC is provided by the estate agent.

If you want to break the contract or the property doesn't sell,

they will charge you and it could be up to £150,

when they would pay £35 for it.

All EPCs have to be registered so check on the internet.

If there's an existing one, you can download it yourself.

Now, what do we need to look out for if we're the buyer?

When buying a property, it's often the case there's more than one buyer interested.

How do you know that the estate agent is looking out for you?

The agent is looking out for himself. It's a business.

If somebody offered you 180 for your house

on a price band of 180 to 200,

the agent would, or could, say

they've already had a higher offer, knowing full well that they haven't.

-And now you're potentially just bidding against yourself.

-Absolutely!

-I've got to ask about the sales patter.

-Yes.

When you're buying a property, you get through the door,

what kind of things would you use to make me want to buy the property?

You'll tell them the features of the property.

-You're not under any legal obligation to notify them of any defects.

-OK.

If there has been a survey done,

you're not legally obliged to give them any information about that survey.

An estate agent is legally obliged to disclose any information that is asked.

We cannot mislead you.

So don't assume the estate agent will always be transparent.

Other tips are - if you're selling, shop around.

Don't just go with the estate agent who says they can get you the most for your property.

If you're buying, know what the local market is

and what price comparable properties are on sale for.

-Thanks for coming in today.

-Pleasure. Thank you for having me.

So now you know some of the insider info,

you've got nothing stopping you climbing that property ladder.

I've been helping Shareen Hall and Akin Ali,

who have complaints against A1 National Van Hire

about withholding their deposits.

Akin's group are owed just over £1,500

and Shareen is owed £759.

I said, "I'm absolutely penniless. I've got no money."

They just didn't want to know.

So far, I've been unable to get through to the boss of the company.

I've received a total of seven complaints about A1,

all with a similar story.

Whenever we make a large purchase or a rental,

it wouldn't be unusual for someone to request a deposit upfront.

Fair enough.

But what if, when the time came for you to get your deposit back,

you found you couldn't?

Meet Leon Heynes. He's in a Killers tribute band.

They needed a van to get to a gig.

The hire price was 95.99,

with a £250 refundable deposit.

Derek and Victoria hired a van

to move some of their daughter's belongings.

I realised there was a deposit being taken, and I knew that it was £500,

and the actual cost of the van hire on the day

was £140 and 99 pence.

And Helen also hired a van for a house move,

to help her parents downsize.

They had a lot of furniture to get rid of

so me and my sister said we'd happily relieve them of some.

It wasn't until two weeks later, when we checked our statement,

that we realised they'd taken a £500 deposit that we weren't aware of.

Uh-oh. I think I know where this is going!

After a week, I realised that my deposit hadn't been refunded.

When I realised the deposit hadn't been returned, I was really surprised

because I assumed it would be there within a couple of days,

the same as the deposit was taken from out of our account.

That's when I started telephoning them.

Leon, Helen, Derek and Victoria

all made contact with A1 to ask for their deposits back.

Like Shareen and Akin, they were told the money would be refunded

but it never was.

Alarm bells started ringing in regards to their customer service on the first day that I called.

They picked up the phone and didn't say what company they were.

I had to do all the guesswork.

The more I phoned back, the more ruder they became.

You get passed from pillar to post, from one person to another,

and it's not constructive whatsoever.

And you guessed it - like Akin, Shareen and the other two people I heard from,

these three are still waiting for their money to be refunded.

As we've been unable to reach A1 on the phone,

we've emailed them details of all these complaints.

And it seems I'm not the only one who has had problems getting them on the phone.

We were given the run-around a bit before they stopped contacting us.

This issue has got me thinking.

Every time we hire something,

be it a car, a suit for a wedding or boat on a summer holiday,

we expect to put down a deposit.

What happens to our money when we pay a deposit

and what can we do if it's not returned?

Someone who knows all about this monetary minefield

is Andy Foster from Trading Standards.

There are two types of ways in which the company will take a deposit.

One will be a ring-fenced arrangement

where they will take the money - from your credit card typically -

and that money is processed like a transaction, so debited from your account.

The other way is some kind of refundable deposit,

so they'll pre-authorise your credit card.

In general terms, most reputable companies will use that money

and put it into a separate account, like a client account,

so they know that they have to refund it and the money is safe.

Generally speaking, there are no legal requirements for how a company stores your money.

But what about when it's time to return it?

As far as your consumer rights are concerned, it's simple.

You're entitled to your deposit so long as you satisfy your conditions of the contract.

If a customer is unable to get their deposit back,

go back to the business and ask them why.

Ask them to set out the reasons why they're withholding it and try and rectify it.

What if you end up in a dispute with a company

who won't return your deposit?

You need to go to Trading Standards for further help.

Or if they're a member of the Trade Association, go to them,

who will be able to intervene on your behalf

and arbitrate a satisfactory outcome.

There is one time when you will probably not get your money back

and that is in the event of business failure.

If the business goes into liquidation or stops trading in some way,

the chances are your money is lost.

This is all about choosing your company wisely.

So do your homework.

If you're handing over a deposit to a company,

make sure they're reputable, with a long track record of customer satisfaction

otherwise you might not see it again.

Deposits ranging from £250 to £1,000

have been withheld by A1 National Van Hire

for all seven of the complaints I've received.

And looking on the internet, there seems to be plenty more.

Whenever I hear about companies that have more than one complaint about them,

one of the first things I do is go on the internet,

in this case, Facebook.

I'll type in their name, A1...

..National...

..Van Hire,

because I can bet your bottom dollar that if there's more than one complaint,

there's probably a group of people complaining.

"I contacted Watchdog, too. Not sure what step to take next."

She should've called Don't Get Done Get Dom! Never mind.

Someone here's contacted Leicester's Trading Standards.

Someone's contacted their MP.

Crikey! Need I say any more?

I've got pages and pages of complaints.

So far, the only meaningful communication I've had with A1 has been one-way.

I've got to say, I'm surprised, but we've had an email from A1

responding to our group of unhappy customers.

They're blaming this on their PDQ machine,

saying it wasn't working correctly.

That's the little machine that takes your credit cards.

However, it doesn't mention why they took some people's money twice. Strange that.

They're saying that they've had everybody's bank details back so they're able to make the refunds,

apart from Akin's friend Mark, who's card was used to make their booking.

They're saying they haven't got his bank details.

I'm not going to forget about this last problem with Akin's friend,

but this is good news for the other six cases I've been dealing with

who have had their deposits withheld.

Receiving the £250 back might not seem a lot to some people,

but it meant a big deal to myself.

We're very pleased to have got the deposit back. We think Dom helped us immensely.

I'd like to thank Dom for helping us customers tackle A1 and getting our money back.

But Akin and Shareen's cases are not just about deposits.

Shareen's case was slightly different.

She didn't just have her deposit withheld,

she was also charged for a van she never even saw.

There was no way I was going to have a van through them anyway

and give them my custom.

And in Akin's case, A1 say they can't refund the money

because Akin and his friends haven't provided them with bank details to make the refund.

He told me they were hesitant to hand them over in an email

when the company had their credit card details from the original transaction.

But was this the right thing to do?

One of the riskiest ways of exchanging information,

particularly personal or financial information,

is through email. Just don't.

It's one of the most unsecure methods of communication that is out there.

If you need to exchange sensitive information,

do it in person or do it in a way that you're happy with,

but don't do it by email.

Sending your bank details via email

to somebody who you already don't quite trust

does carry an element of risk.

You can hardly blame Akin or his friend Mark

for erring on the side of caution.

The battle with A1 is not over yet.

"It has not been possible to connect your call. Please try again later."

When the money was put back in your account,

did Hammond Kumar or his company

give you a letter of apology or a phone call

-or any sort of apology at all?

-No. None whatsoever.

More and more of you are becoming consumer savvy.

By putting your knowledge to the test, you're getting cracking results

when it comes to your fight against the big boys.

Here's just one story of how you did it.

This is Howard Lilley,

who lives in the small village of Frittenden in Kent.

Here, the houses run their heating from oil,

but when visiting a neighbour,

Howard discovered that's where the similarities ended.

We were at a Christmas drinks do in 1994, I think,

and we were with this lovely old lady

and she told me that she'd received a Christmas hamper from an oil supplier.

Now, being a somewhat suspicious character, I wondered why.

So a few days later, I asked if she would let me have a look at her invoices for oil.

I discovered that she was paying considerably more than me.

In those days, I think it was about seven or eight pence a litre

and she was paying 13 or 14.

That might sound cheap these days, but it was still a significant discrepancy.

I felt angry that the company was taking advantage of her

because she came from an era where, if she phoned up a company,

she would expect them to deal honestly with her.

She was one of these people that would trust people.

I felt it was a breach of trust.

But rather than just feel aggrieved,

Howard was fired up to do something about it.

I said to her, "This is not good.

"How about I buy your oil for you in future?"

because her house was a similar size to mine,

we used about the same amount of oil.

A seasoned negotiator from his former career in sales and marketing,

Howard put his experience to good use.

In my working career, I dealt with some fairly major companies

so I was quite happy to negotiate at a senior level, if need be.

But I'd always phoned around

and got the best price I could from the various oil suppliers,

so this particular time I included this lady on my order

and did it for two of us.

It was at this point that he realised the potential of his plan to help his neighbour.

It just occurred to me that if I'm buying for her,

why not try and get a tanker-load and see if we could get a better price,

and it turns out you could.

I spoke to a few friends and I think it was nine of us did it the first time round.

We bought just under 18,000 litres,

which is one of the big six-wheeler-tanker lorry-loads.

How was Howard selling this idea to the oil companies

whilst negotiating his next deal?

The saving for the oil company is that they can come to one small area

and empty a tanker very quickly, without doing a lot of mileage.

What I'm asking them for is

at least part of that saving in a reduced price for my members.

Over the years, news of the scheme spread.

I started my group, I think,

with, erm, I believe about nine or ten people

and I'm now up to 230 for the Frittenden group.

So it just grew organically, if you like, for quite a few years.

So the oil companies save money by delivering in bulk

and, currently, 230 villagers enjoy a discount on their heating fuel.

But wait until you hear how much they've saved.

Personally, I have bought just under 40,000 litres of oil,

which, if you work at an average saving of about 4.5 pence a litre,

means that I have saved getting on for £18,000 by doing it.

For the Frittenden Village Group,

I've bought a total of 2.6 million litres

over that same period of time,

which again, at the same sort of average saving of 4.5 pence a litre,

gives us a saving of just over £117,000.

Yes, you heard correctly. That's £117,000.

And it's better for the environment, as well,

as fewer tanker trips are required to deliver the same amount of fuel.

I think we would probably have been saving about £50 of fuel,

having joined the group.

I think that I get two free weeks, by Howard doing this,

in the winter.

Howard does a very good deal

and we always get well below what is the advertised market rate.

It's very, very wonderful

to have someone like Howard doing this for us.

Such a large number of people on his database

means a lot of hard work for Howard,

but he does it all out of a burning love for his home town.

I don't charge for this because it's a community service

on behalf of village that deserves it, I believe.

He's a wonderful guy and his heart's in the village.

He's doing this not for any gain of his own,

but simply to help out other people in the village

and to make sure that we don't get ripped off by unscrupulous companies.

So thanks to Howard's dedication,

the consumer, the oil suppliers and the environment are all winners.

What's his top tip for making sure you always get the best deal?

It is up to the buyer to negotiate.

If you want a better price you've got to ask for it,

you can't expect them to give it to you.

See you again, I hope! Cheers. Bye-bye!

I've been helping a group of people,

all with complaints about A1 National Van Hire's less-than-A1 service,

withholding people's deposits.

At the time, I felt very angry.

They're just not listening, they're not willing to give you anything.

So far, we've been able to get a good result

for the majority of our unhappy customers

who have now had their deposits returned.

But in the case of Shareen Hall,

not only was her deposit withheld,

she cancelled the hire when they couldn't deliver the van on time,

yet they still took the deposit and hire charge from her.

After about five months of Shareen trying to get her money back from A1 National Van Hire

without any luck - and trust me, she's needed it -

there's finally been developments in this case.

I'm off to meet her to find out what's been going on.

-Hiya, Shareen!

-Oh, hello.

-Nice to see you again.

-And you.

-Any chance of coming in?

-Yes, come on in.

-Thanks very much.

-It's good to see you again.

-And you.

I've got some news for you and I believe you've got some for me.

The situation you got yourself into when this money was taken from your account

was pretty dire last time we met.

I was left penniless, really.

I'd got no money whatsoever and I was...

My friend and my daughter were, er,

lending me money to pay for my electric

and feed me and different things like that.

Shareen had been in contact with A1 multiple times herself

regarding the return of her money, but had got nowhere.

I'm not usually a quitter

but I really didn't know what else to do.

You know, I just thought I'd exhausted all avenues, really.

Which is when she turned to me.

But I haven't found it easy dealing with the company, either.

Every time I've phoned and tried to speak to Hammond Kumar,

he hasn't been available, he's not been there.

'But I've been told Shareen does have some good news for me.'

I had a phone call, erm, to ask me to check my bank account.

My money had been returned,

all £759...

..and 18 pence.

-The full amount?

-Yes.

When the money was put back in your account, did Hammond Kumar or his company

give you a letter of apology or a phone call

or any sort of apology at all?

No. None whatsoever. There was no email, no phone call,

no letter, no nothing. I never heard a word.

I'm thrilled for Shareen,

but it's disappointing that A1 or Mr Hammond Kumar haven't acknowledged their error

and the financial difficulties they caused Shareen.

I couldn't ask him for any compensation

or your out-of-pocket expenses to be covered,

but the important thing is, you have got your money back.

-You're back in the black now and out of the red.

-Yes, I am.

-Good.

I would imagine that is a huge weight off your shoulders.

Oh, yes, unbelievable,

because I really couldn't see me getting it back at all

after all the phone calls and everything that I made, erm,

and getting in touch with my bank, as well,

I really didn't think that I would see it again.

Shareen, on that note, I wish you all the best for the future.

-Thank you.

-Good luck.

-Don't hesitate to call if you get any more problems like that. Cheerio.

-Thank you.

I can't thank Dom enough, actually.

I never expected to get my money back.

Her dealings with A1 National Van Hire are in the past,

but there is a lesson there.

If you're about to use a company, check them out on the internet first.

If she had, she never would've used them.

Shareen and five of the others who contacted me have now all been refunded.

I was happily surprised to find my £200 had been returned by A1.

The fact that Dom's been able to help us is absolutely fantastic.

Hopefully, he's done a good job for everybody else, as well.

Well, I'd like to think so, but I'm left with just one problem.

Akin and his friends still haven't had their money returned.

They've had £1,000 of the £1,543.56 pence they're owed

put back onto the card by the credit card provider.

But this is a temporary measure,

pending the bank's own investigations into A1,

so it's not safe yet.

I'm really not happy. I'm going to try and speak to the owner, Hammond Kumar, once again

to find out why Akin and his friends are still waiting for their money.

Let me predict what's going to happen here.

I'm either not going to be able to speak to him

or I'm going to be told he's not there

and he'll call me back, which won't happen.

"It has not been possible to connect your call.

"Please try again later."

"It has not been possible to connect your call..."

Have they changed their number?

Hm...

Let's try again.

"It has not been possible to connect your call.

-"Please try again later."

-Hm...

Interesting. Have they closed down

or have they just changed their number?

Have I become the catalyst for that?

This case has been a difficult one to crack all along

and this is not making me feel any better.

I've asked Akin to do some digging into what's going on with A1

with an organisation called Companies House.

Who exactly are Companies House and what do they do?

Companies House is a registry of company information

and we record all details of limited companies.

That allows us then to keep records,

which we make available to the public.

If you want to find out about a company and its status,

it's pretty simple to access the information.

Most of it is available for free or a small fee - 50p or £1.

All we need is company name and/or company number.

If I just put that in there... It's A1 National Van Hire Ltd, yes?

You've got their accounting records there,

when their accounts were due

and when their last annual return was due

and when the next one is.

They're overdue on their return

and the status is now "Proposal to Strike Off".

This means that A1 will effectively be forced to close down.

For a company to get to this stage,

Companies House will have tried contacting them on numerous occasions

to ensure they file the relevant paperwork.

In the case of no response,

a decision will be made to go down the strike-off route.

Public notice goes in the paper The London Gazette

and the company will be struck off around three months later.

If they've been struck off,

how does that affect how we can claim our money back?

It's perhaps easier if they're still on the register

and they'll still have obligations under the Companies Act.

You can put an objection to the Registrar of Companies.

You can do that by putting it in writing, so a letter or email.

You just have to show current documentary evidence

that you're actively pursuing the company for a debt.

Akin has the credit card statement

showing they were charged twice and are owed £1,543.56 pence,

plus proof of his correspondence with A1,

not forgetting mine, too, so he can easily provide that.

The registrar will review it all

and if there's reason to keep the company active,

an objection will then be put in place,

which would be for a six-month period.

By stopping a company being struck off,

anyone with a dispute has a much better chance of getting the matter resolved

as the company remains active and details, such as addresses and phone numbers, remain traceable.

It means Akin can still pursue A1 for his and his friend's money.

That's great to know. It's useful that you can see all their information.

Hopefully, you'll get your money back and resolve the issue.

-Best of luck.

-Thanks very much.

-OK.

So the next step for Akin and his friends is to write to Companies House,

objecting to A1 being struck off. Ha!

I'm in a better position because I know what I can do

to stop them getting struck off the Companies House list

and that can help me get the money back that I'm owed.

Striking whilst the iron is hot,

Akin's friend Mark, whose credit card was used to make the booking with A1,

sends a letter to Companies House, objecting to them being struck off,

including details of the money owed

and evidence of all the contact we've had with A1.

Speaking of contact,

I finally heard back from the elusive Mr Hammond Kumar.

He emailed the office and in a statement to us, he said...

We already know this but it's good to hear it again.

He also states...

Nice for his customers to finally get an apology.

But what about Akin's friend Mark and the money that is still outstanding to him?

Well, Mr Kumar does say A1 Van Hire...

OK, at least he's aware that Mark's credit card provider is on the case, as well.

But the question is, what has he done about it?

Akin and four of his buddies went on a charity hike

and raised quite a lot of money for Parkinson's UK.

For young lads, that's very noble of them.

Unfortunately, because they hired their van from A1 National Van Hire,

they were all left quite severely out of pocket.

I'm here to give them some good news.

Hi, Akin. Are you all right? How're you doing, bud?

'After getting nowhere themselves with getting their money back, I took over the case.

'Time to give Akin an update.'

The name of the boss is Hammond Kumar.

I phoned up and tried to speak to him on numerous occasions,

and although I spoke to various different people,

everybody denied being him or saying he wasn't there.

He wouldn't address the situation He didn't return my calls.

He didn't answer my emails. He was very, very evasive.

Akin and his friends are owed £1,543.56 pence by A1.

After Akin met with Companies House,

it looked like we'd made a breakthrough with stopping A1 being struck off,

but there's been further developments.

HMRC - Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs -

had beaten him to it and were in the process of winding them up,

so Mark couldn't stop that happening.

Now, that company does go bust, you join a long list of creditors

and it means there's very little chance of you getting any money back

and even less chance of getting all of your money back,

so things aren't looking good.

'Mark could potentially reclaim some money back through his credit card provider,

'but it's not a guarantee.'

As you're probably aware,

when Mark put the complaint in to his card provider,

they credited him back with £1,000

on the understanding that they give A1 National Van Hire

90 days in which to respond and try and sort this problem out.

If they do, they'll take that £1,000 back

and you'll have to fight it through the courts.

If they don't, you get the £1,000 back.

Now, here's the news...

He didn't respond to the allegations

either at all or with the correct information.

And Mark's card provider

is now going to refund the extra £543.

-Ah, great!

-Plus, the £1,000 is safe. It's money back.

'It's fantastic news for Akin and his friends,

'and it means that everyone who contacted me has had their money refunded.

'What a result!'

-How do you feel about it?

-Great! That's really good news!

-I can tell you're chuffed!

-Yes!

It's been such a struggle for all of us,

but mainly for Mark because he's been the one that's been chasing them most.

I'm really happy that that's been sorted.

Akin, you and your buddies have done a lot of good work. Congratulations on that.

-Don't let what's happened here put you off. Keep it up.

-I do.

-Try and make loads more.

-It's been a pleasure.

-Thank you.

All the best, mate. Good luck with that charity work.

You can just see the relief and happiness on Akin's face.

Him and his buddies deserve that money more than anybody else.

I feel really proud that I managed to get it back for him.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd