Holidays Don't Get Done Get Dom

'My name is Dominic Littlewood,

'and I'm passionate about taking on your consumer battles.

'In fact, taking companies to task has become my goal in life.'

"Do you think she deserves her money back?" I said, "Yeah."

'Big or small - no company is excused from my quest

'to ensure that you get what you're entitled to.'

We were left with no washing machine, no sink, no cooker.

This was quite difficult with a young son of four.

'Whether it's getting your money back...

"It was extraordinary circumstances.

"You're not entitled to any sort of compensation at all."

'..or getting to the bottom of your contract

'and terms and conditions.'

The reason being, what I'm doing, I just want to clarify whether

all these sales reps are in the right position to judge

what product's suitable for a customer.

'Whatever the issues, I'm here to help.'

We all need a break from the rat race,

but I help a family whose holiday was less than relaxing.

It was just a wild goose chase that didn't need to happen.

Also, when borrowing cash leaves some of you out of pocket.

I'm feeling like a fool.

And I give you the lowdown

on what to do if an ad is too good to be true.

I'm taking on your consumer problems to make sure you don't get done!

Every year, millions of us escape the hustle and bustle of life

to relax and recharge on holiday.

But what happens when you get to your destination

and the dream holiday you thought you booked

turns out to be a nightmare? Who do you turn to?

And that's the problem Claire and Gary Saunders from Nottingham faced

when the hotel they booked in Turkey didn't meet their expectations.

I'm a builder and I've been on some sites that are better.

It was disgusting.

I wouldn't have even let a tramp stop in a room like that.

After having to move to alternative accommodation,

the couple were left out of pocket

and they've been in dispute with their holiday company ever since.

'So they've contacted me to see if I can help.'

We paid for a four-star hotel when we booked the holiday.

-We just wanted what we paid for, really.

-Yeah.

Back in April, when the couple booked,

they had no idea of what lay ahead.

We were really excited. I think me and Gary are the biggest kids

when it comes to going away.

To get the fortnight away with the kids,

it's one of the best feelings ever.

Claire and Gary had saved hard for their family holiday in the sun,

so it was important they found a good deal.

I went on the internet and had a look round.

We did look at other places, but On The Beach came up with

the best price for the same sort of holiday, the pictures looked nice,

and the description looked nice,

which, that's what you look at when you go with other holiday firms.

The holiday they found was in the Turkish resort of Marmaris.

We went for a four-star all-inclusive accommodation.

The flights and transfers were included in the price,

which made it all that better.

The two-week holiday came in at £1,900

and the family would be staying at the four-star Hotel Club Pineta.

Let the good times roll.

When we first got to the hotel and we walked up the step

and there was a drunken person there already.

He weren't very nice, what he said at first.

And that's when alarm bells were ringing.

The first thing the receptionist said was,

"Oh, your room's not ready yet." This was at 4am.

Having travelled through the night,

this wasn't the welcome they'd been hoping for.

When we went to the breakfast bar at 7am, the food was just...

The best way to describe it,

you wouldn't feed it to pigs. It was just awful.

There were plug sockets hanging off the walls.

We went into the toilet facilities.

When you looked in the toilet bowls, they were black.

There was still toilet paper on the floor that people had used.

There was broken glass round the swimming pool.

Broken gutters, the protectors, and broken tiles.

On one of the banisters, there was a screw sticking up.

After six hours waiting, the family were finally offered their room.

Perhaps that at least would live up to the four-star standard

they were expecting?

It was a little box room with three single beds crammed into it.

The air conditioning was held together by a razor blade.

The fridge was green, mouldy.

The bed sheets were still wringing wet,

there was mud all over the floor...

It weren't nice and it was so cramped.

Disgusted by the state of it,

Claire and Gary decided to speak to their rep.

When the rep turned up and she said who she was, we're thinking,

"Are you not from On The Beach?"

She said, "No, I'm from YouTravel."

She said On The Beach use YouTravel for their accommodation.

This revelation came as a slight shock to Claire and Gary

but, having booked the holiday with On The Beach,

they thought it was them they needed to speak to,

so Claire contacted her mum in the UK to ask for help.

Between them, Claire and her mum tried to get the matter sorted out.

Whilst we were making phone calls to On The Beach from the UK,

Gary and Claire were using their mobiles in Turkey,

running up extortionate bills

trying to get information

with regard to moving them to somewhere, a decent hotel.

The YouTravel rep arranged for the family to be moved to a three-star hotel

until a replacement four-star could be found.

But this hotel wasn't all-inclusive

so the family had to fork out on food. But eventually...

After being passed from pillar to post

for the three days, we got offered the Pasa Beach.

When you walked into Pasa Beach, you knew it was a four-star.

You had an overwhelming feeling, "Whoa, how good is this?"

It was lovely when you walked in. The staff were friendly.

We sort of got butterflies, but these were nice butterflies.

We were looking forward to moving over there.

So they wasted no time and phoned On The Beach.

'Said, "Yes, we'll have this hotel," and that's when the rep'

on the On The Beach line said,

"The only thing is, you've got to pay an extra £1,000."

Hang on a minute, £1,000?

So, having paid £1,900 for their holiday

they were now being asked to stump up a further grand

to get the four-star all-inclusive accommodation

they thought they'd originally booked.

My heart just sank because I thought,

"Where are we going to find this extra money?"

It was money that we didn't have at the time.

Help was at hand. Claire's mum offered to pay the £1,000.

Claire and Gary decided they would dispute the additional money

with On The Beach when they returned home, and for now they moved

into the Pasa Beach Hotel and got on with enjoying their holiday.

We'd got treated like royalty, basically.

It was a total different atmosphere, wasn't it?

Yeah, it was like you'd gone on a different planet.

It was like a traumatic experience to, like, heaven, basically.

Back in the UK, Claire and Gary contacted On The Beach to complain.

They asked the company to refund the £1,000 they'd had to pay

for the hotel, plus around £500 they had to spend on meals

and phone calls in Turkey whilst trying to sort things out.

When they got back in contact eventually, it was from YouTravel

and not from On The Beach.

On The Beach had passed the couple's complaints to the hotel provider,

YouTravel, who offered the couple £555 in compensation.

But, believing they were £1,500 out of pocket,

the couple turned this offer down,

and they still haven't got what they feel they're entitled to.

Claire and Gary's holiday sounds like it was stressful

from start to finish,

and even though they're back now it's still not over

because they're more than a grand out of pocket!

But I'm on the case now,

so let's see if I can bring back some of that holiday cheer!

On The Beach was founded in 1995.

It is one of the UK's leading online travel agencies,

accounting for over 750,000 holidaymakers every year.

I'm keen to hear what they have to say

about Claire and Gary's experience

and I've made contact with the company

to let them know I'm on the case. I've outlined the family's situation

and hopefully I'll hear back from them soon.

Some things in life we expect to pay for up front -

cinema tickets and holidays, for example.

Other things you never would,

like loft conversions or a meal.

But what if you found out you had to pay up front

for the privilege of borrowing money? I smell a rat.

And that's exactly what happened to Jorge Santos

when he decided to take out a loan to buy a new car.

This one gave me the option of three years for £1,500.

That's why I went ahead with it.

So having found the right loan for him,

he kept his fingers crossed and called the company.

Because of everything they were telling me over the phone,

I was feeling confident that they were going to lend me the money.

And, luckily for Jorge, he didn't have to wait long for an answer.

They called be back on the same day.

They told me that my £1,500 loan was approved.

'I felt very relieved because they were telling me that'

they were going to approve my loan,

I was counting on having my problems solved.

Jorge finally had some good news

but the company wanted more than his signature

before they handed over the cash.

I never thought that I would have to pay anything up front,

but when they asked me to give them the first payment,

they said it would be a first instalment...

first time that I had to pay something back, give them money,

it would be the first instalment out of my...

..my monthly instalment that I had to pay.

Paying out money in order to borrow some? Not an ideal situation

but one familiar to the Financial Ombudsman Service,

who are just one of the many consumer organisations

who deal with complaints about upfront-fee loans.

We receive a steady flow of cases about upfront fees

and what's known as credit broking.

We get about 50 cases a month on this sort of subject.

In Jorge's case, the company wanted an upfront payment of £100

to be paid using an electronic money voucher.

Jorge took his cash and bought the £100 voucher,

which he then submitted to the company's website.

Unlike credit or debit cards,

there is no way of tracing or reversing this type of voucher.

But, with the first instalment paid off,

Jorge waited to get his hands on the loan.

The following day, I get a...

This was always after I'd given them money,

always the following day

'at 9am, they are phoning me back again,

'saying, "Look, you have to pay a transfer fee,"'

which...they had to get that money to make the transfer into my account

and nothing came into my account.

So Jorge has paid the first instalment and a transfer fee

of £150, but still the loan hadn't been put into his account.

The way they speak to you over the phone, like they nearly...

They nearly guarantee you that you are going to get the money, you know,

if you pay that, you get the money, you know,

so that's why I went ahead with it.

And that wasn't the only upfront fee he had to pay.

There followed a guarantor fee of £200 and an error fee of £300.

It... It was a bad situation.

'I was under financial pressure.'

I found myself in a bit of a difficulty.

And each time Jorge paid a fee, he was told the costs were refundable

but if he didn't pay he would lose the money he had already given them.

I didn't have that money and I told them I didn't have the money.

They said, "Look, we can't help you with anything if you don't get that money."

This sounds really dodgy.

If you enter into a loan agreement,

so you go to somebody and they help arrange the loan,

once you have actually entered into the loan agreement

you are usually obliged to still pay the fee

and won't normally be able to get that back.

Feeling he had no choice but to stump up the cash,

Jorge turned to his boss to borrow some money

and sent off another payment.

They told me that this would be the last payment of 350 for the solicitor

and he would be at my door with all the amount of money to give to me.

Sounds too good to be true. And that's what Jorge thought.

When they told me the solicitor would be coming to my house

and he would be here in two hours' time

that's when I found it a bit strange,

because, seeing that they aren't based in London,

I found it a bit strange.

'Although I still came home and I still waited,'

I was just desperately hoping he would come, you know,

after the amount of money I gave to them.

Guess what - there was no knock at the door,

but he continued to wait.

I waited for the following day to see what was going to happen.

'As soon as it struck 9am I had a phone call from them'

saying that I had to pay another £400.

This payment of £400 would bring the total of upfront fees to £1,500.

Hang on a minute! That's the same amount he wanted to borrow in the first place.

It got to the point, saying, "I haven't got money for myself.

"I have a family to take care of and everything.

"I haven't got any more money. I can't give it."

Jorge was desperate.

He had no choice but to try and get his money back,

but guess what again - he was then told that, not surprisingly,

he would need to pay a cancellation fee of £120.

Jorge finally admitted defeat and refused to pay the £400

and stopped all further payments.

However, at this point he'd already shelled out £1,100 in fees

in exchange for a £1,500 loan which never even materialised.

I spoke to my girlfriend and told her, "Look, we have lost that.

"It's my fault. Let's just carry on."

'I don't know how I let myself get into all this.'

At this point I'm feeling... I'm feeling like a fool

and I'm feeling also, you know, shocked with everything

'but of course if I have to look at it back

'I've got to say it was also my fault

'because we do hear about so many loan companies'

not complying with what they promised

and I go fall in the same trap as what we hear, you know.

And unfortunately for Jorge, he's not the only one to come a cropper.

Neil from Staines also e-mailed me.

He had to pay upfront fees of £420 to process a five grand loan.

When Neil asked for his money back,

the company demanded a £75 cancellation fee.

And Anika from Birmingham,

who in the lead-up to Christmas applied for a £3,000 loan.

Anika ended up paying £350 in process and error fees

but when she refused to pay any more and asked for a refund,

she never received a penny.

But how can lenders get away with this?

Are there no rules and regulations?

Loans are covered by the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

There is nothing illegal about upfront loan fees in themselves

so people can arrange a loan for you and charge a fee for that.

The problem arises if actually no loan is then arranged.

Legitimate companies can charge an upfront fee,

but they have to tell you in advance about them

and, of course, have to give you your loan.

Sadly, in Jorge's case, none of that happened

and he got drawn into what seems to be a scam

that left him £1,100 worse off

without any hope of seeing his money again.

So what can you do to stop yourself falling victim?

Do the research yourself. There's an awful lot of information online.

Shop around, think carefully

before you decide whether you need someone to help you with that

and whether you want to pay an upfront fee for that.

But it's really important that people understand what that fee is

and they think very carefully whether it is right for them before they go ahead.

Jorge decided not to take any action against this loan company

but if you find yourself in a similar situation

you could take your complaint to the FOS.

The Financial Ombudsman Service

is here for anybody who has a problem with a financial product.

'We're here to look at things independently'

and see if we can help put things right.

Although there was a time when "being upfront" meant being honest

and frank, when it comes to borrowing money these days,

it can mean exactly the opposite.

So remember, before you shell out, do a bit of research.

Make sure you don't get done.

The Saunders family contacted me

after their holiday didn't get off to the relaxing start they hoped.

Having saved up for a £1,900

all-inclusive four-star two-week break in Turkey,

they were left sorely disappointed with the hotel.

The pool was that dirty, you couldn't see the bottom of the pool!

And when they were finally moved to a suitable alternative

they then had to shell out a further £1,000,

which they had to borrow from their parents back in the UK.

From us worrying how to pay the money back for all the extras

that we had to pay for, luckily we have parents that help us out.

'I've already contacted On The Beach to try and get to the bottom of this

'and let them know I'll be the one dealing with things from now on.'

On The Beach have got back to me

stating that they've forwarded a letter to Mr and Mrs Saunders

from their hotel provider, a company called YouTravel,

and in that letter it states that

they would give a full refund for the Hotel Pineta.

Well, it was a step in the right direction

but it still left the family out of pocket. As we know,

the couple had never heard of the hotel provider YouTravel

until they complained about the Hotel Club Pineta.

And what should have been a simple complaints process became complicated.

We wanted something from On The Beach, really,

because that's who we'd booked with, not YouTravel.

OK, so flights, accommodation

and transfers were all booked through On The Beach.

That sounds to me like a package holiday.

And, if so, Claire and Gary should be protected by

the Package Travel Regulations.

These mean that the company who provides your package holiday

has a responsibility to provide the elements of your holiday

in line with what you've paid for.

Certainly sounds to me like they should have been covered.

I think it's time I got in contact with On The Beach.

I've sent them another e-mail

asking them who is actually responsible for what went wrong,

and why they've forwarded the couple's complaints to YouTravel

when the couple were of the firm belief

they had bought an On The Beach package holiday.

Now, when Claire booked her holiday,

she felt reassured that On The Beach was a member of ABTA,

the Association of British Travel Agents,

and this would mean even more protection.

We went with On The Beach because it was ABTA and ATOL protected

and that gave us a peace of mind that, no matter what,

we'd have help if we needed it.

'Well, I've come to meet the association's Sean Tipton

'to try to get a clearer picture

'of what Claire and Gary should be entitled to.'

Sean, nice to see you.

Can you explain to our viewers about Package Travel Regulations?

Package Travel Regulations were a law that came in in 1992,

and basically it was an attempt at the time

to ensure that all holidays for people travelling abroad

would have to be financially protected

and also the travel companies selling them

would have to take responsibility for every aspect of the holiday.

OK, let's explain the difference

between a package holiday and a non-package holiday, because

I've found, speaking to people, they're not really sure.

It's not crystal clear for them.

There is a legal definition for a package holiday.

If you booked a flight, plus accommodation,

and it's all sold at an all-inclusive price by one company,

you get one invoice through

and your contract is very clearly with one company,

that's a classic package holiday.

Which sounds like what Claire and Gary had booked,

but, sadly, it's not that simple.

Because of the internet, it's very easy to book a hotel with a company

and then say, "Could you get me a flight?"

And that isn't necessarily a package

but it's very important that the company selling it,

if it's not a package, make that very clear to you,

so you know from day one

that it's two separate things you're talking about, rather than a package.

Obviously something was amiss

when Claire and Gary Booked their holiday with On The Beach.

With that in mind, I've asked them

to take another look at their holiday information

and the On The Beach website to see if they DID book a package holiday.

The only thing that was wrong with the package holiday

was the first hotel.

The flights were fine.

I believe it was a package holiday

because you booked everything with one company

and paid one price to that company.

How about what it says in the small print?

"On The Beach Ltd", it says there straightaway. "Ltd".

"As an online travel agent, we don't sell package holidays..."

Hold on. If they don't sell package holidays, what did we get?

A package holiday!

We made our own holiday, they're saying,

so we purchased off other people through them.

"We do not sell package holidays. We let you build your own

"by giving you access to our wide range of cheap flights,

"hotels, and transfer."

-So that's saying that we didn't buy a package holiday.

-No.

So we've made a boo-boo.

So, both the On The Beach website

and the couple's paperwork do state they don't provide package holidays.

Unfortunately, the couple didn't realise this.

But are Claire and Gary alone in their confusion

or is this something other holidaymakers experience?

The man to tell us is Frank Brehany,

MD of the consumer organisation Holiday Travel Watch.

The problem for consumers when they buy these holidays

is that they're not being given

very clear information about what the product is about.

Holiday companies are marketing on these beautiful websites

what looks for all intents and purposes to be package holidays.

But when consumers have a problem

they discover, in the terms and conditions, that small print

that what they bought isn't what they're getting.

But, as we heard from ABTA, agents are expected to be clear

about what a consumer is actually buying.

Consumers go to agents because they trust their skill and care.

The agent should actually be telling them what the differences are

between the package holiday or not the package holiday,

what their rights are, what they're not getting.

Obviously, that doesn't seem to be playing out

in the world of the world wide web!

We've said now for a number of years

that actually the sale of these holidays on the internet

should be accompanied with a health warning notice.

And I'm very pleased to be able to tell that the European Commission agrees with us

and the new law they're going to bring in to protect holidaymakers

is going to make sure that

holiday companies are going to put in such warning notices

so they know what they're buying at the time.

Which sounds great, but there are still loads of people out there

getting tripped up by companies using their small print and T&Cs

to fend off angry customers.

'Holidaymakers should never give up the fight

'in relation to whether it's a package or not.

'Because the courts actually'

don't just look at the terms and conditions.

They'll look at the website,

they'll look at what the consumer understood it to be,

they'll look at the exchange of e-mails,

so you can't just simply go on terms and conditions.

It's the whole product.

Thanks, Frank.

Now, On The Beach do state they don't sell package holidays

on their web site and in their paperwork

but, as we've seen, Claire and Gary missed it and assumed

they were getting a package holiday, and they're not the only ones.

I've heard from Tracey and her dad John,

who booked a week's all-inclusive to Greece

with three other family members through Purple Travel.

We just wanted a great family atmosphere - near the beach,

good food, that kind of thing, really.

Everyone was so looking forward to it.

Shopping, and everything else, getting ready to go.

So we were really, really looking forward to it.

We were only going for a week

but, you know, it meant such a lot to us this year.

But when the family finally arrived in Greece

they didn't get the welcome they'd hoped for!

We just dumped the bags, went to the reception desk,

gave them the paperwork,

and the guy said, "Sorry, we haven't got any rooms for you."

And you just stand there in shock,

and go, "What? You've got no rooms? What are we supposed to do?"

The family was offered an alternative hotel

but it just wasn't suitable.

There was a lot of drunk youths around the pool.

We did go and look at the rooms.

They expected all five of us to stay in this one room,

where there was no clean shower area, no shower head,

there was exposed wires in the bathroom area.

'We were supposed to have two rooms in the original hotel,'

one which my mother and father were staying in

and one which myself, my partner and my daughter were staying in.

They phoned Purple Travel in the UK,

who said they would try to find alternative accommodation

but, with night falling, they took matters into their own hands

and booked into a self-catering hotel,

paying almost £800 for the privilege.

We booked the week in the hotel that we found

for the simple reason it was suitable for us. The only problem was,

we then had to go out, breakfast, lunch and dinner, drinks,

and buy that again.

So, again, it's all extra expense we've had to pay out.

Tracey called Purple Travel

to tell them they had made their own arrangements.

I did ask if they were willing to pay for the hotel that we'd paid for

and she said that wasn't something she could deem over the phone

at that time, and that it would be dealt with when we get back

and we had to make a written complaint.

And when they got back to the UK that's exactly what they did.

We had lots of e-mails backwards and forwards from Purple Travel.

Basically they stated that it wasn't down to them,

and that it was down to another company.

They were then sending e-mails

which were then getting back to Purple Travel,

then coming back to us,

and backwards and forwards for quite a while.

One travel agent and a separate hotel provider -

does this sound familiar?

After having to spend an additional £1,500,

the family was offered £150, which they rejected.

I didn't even contact the rest of the family

to tell them we'd been offered it

because I did actually think it was a bit of an insult.

I re-sent back the e-mail to Purple Travel and told them that

they should look into it a bit further,

because £150 out of what all we spent was a bit of a joke.

'After the initial correspondence with Purple Travel,

'and then backwards and forwards for three weeks with e-mails'

we got a second offer.

Which was the grand amount of £453.31!

And they actually stated that

that would be their final offer for our holiday.

Just like Claire and Gary,

Tracey and John felt they'd had to pay extra to get the holiday

they thought they'd originally booked,

and I've dropped Purple Travel an e-mail to ask them

why they won't pay for the alternative hotel.

Let's see what they come back with.

Meanwhile, I'm back to looking at Claire and Gary's case

with On the Beach.

Now, interestingly, if your holiday company is a member of ABTA,

like On The Beach are,

the hotels they advertise must be accurately described.

Yet when Claire and Gary arrived at the Hotel Club Pineta in Turkey,

it certainly didn't live up to its description as a four-star,

with tired carpets and toilet roll all over the floors of the bathroom.

We've done a bit of research

and, if you look at On The Beach's website, at Club Hotel Pineta

in Marmaris, they rate it as a three-star.

Hold your horses a minute. When the couple booked the hotel,

they thought it was a four-star. How come?

If you go back to the time when they booked their hotel,

here's their advert.

"Club Hotel Pineta - four-star".

Not only that - in a letter sent to the couple from On The Beach,

their hotel provider, YouTravel, is quoted as saying,

"The Pineta is rated officially as a three-star property,"

'which begs the questions, why was the travel agent advertising it

'as a four-star when the supplier says it's a three?

'And, more importantly, that meant Claire and Gary paid

'for what they thought was a four-star hotel.

'Time to check in with On The Beach.'

On The Beach have asked us to deal with their PR company.

Their PR company, once they looked at the facts, have made an offer.

However, I don't think it's good enough.

So it's time to give them a call.

'It's not long before I get through to the person I need to speak to.'

Gathering by the name of your PR company and the initials,

you're the MD there, aren't you?

'I've got the boss of the PR company on the line

'and he's asked us not to use his voice - fair enough.

'But I've still got plenty I want to ask him.'

The Pineta, that was the first one they went to,

I don't know if you've seen the photos but they're pretty horrific.

'He tells me that the hotel is popular with holidaymakers

'and has a cheap and cheerful atmosphere.'

Unfortunately, I don't think

four stars should go hand in hand with cheap and cheerful, myself.

'Here comes my trump card.'

When this couple bought this holiday,

On The Beach were advertising it with four gold stars.

It's now gone down to three. I wondered if On The Beach

or yourselves can give us a response to that?

'I certainly hope so, because I think this is a crucial fact in this case.'

I quite admire the fact they have downgraded it

as long as they're prepared to acknowledge the fact

that as far as Claire and Gary are concerned

they weren't getting what they thought they were.

'And when I was looking through the correspondence

'between YouTravel, the hotel provider, and On The Beach,

'something else has jumped out at me.'

I've also found out that

YouTravel offered a different hotel called the Seray

but that was never, ever offered to Mr and Mrs Saunders

and, had it been, that probably would have been acceptable.

So it seems there has been a miscommunication there.

YouTravel say they made this offer of another hotel to On The Beach

but the couple say

On The Beach never told them about this other hotel.

Miscommunication or not, it's now up to On The Beach to sort it out.

When you look around you,

we are bombarded with adverts from companies

promising us everything in the world

to try and get us to part with our hard-earned cash.

It could be two-for-one offers, discounted deals

or once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.

And I'm not the only one to think so...

Every five seconds we see an advert everywhere - on TV,

radio, newspaper,

billboards, leaflets - there's advertising everywhere.

I tend to ignore them, to be honest. If the programme has adverts on

I'll record it and then fast-forward though the adverts, cos I hate watching adverts.

I have bought something before which I have seen on the advert

and I thought, wow, that is amazing, that's the best thing...

However, not all products deliver on their promises.

It turned out it wasn't quite as amazing as I thought it was from the advert.

It's an all-too-familiar story

for the Advertising Standards Authority, or ASA.

We receive about 30,000 complaints every year. The majority

of those complaints relate to misleading advertising,

where people feel they have been misled

in their purchase of a product or a service.

The role of the ASA is to ensure that claims made

in adverts can be made to stand up so that we consumers aren't misled.

Consumers should expect to trust what they see and hear in ads

and it is the advertiser who is responsible for all the claims that they make within them.

However, it seems not all companies are delivering on the claims

or promises they advertise, if my inbox is anything to go by.

I've had an e-mail from a lady called Cheryl, who tells me

she wanted a new saddle for her horse.

She found a company online who offered a satisfactory fit

or your money back.

Now, in Cheryl's case, she didn't think it was a satisfactory fit

and went back to the company - but they refused to give her a refund.

All advertisers need to be clear and upfront about their offers

and if there are any significant limitations to those offers

they should be made clear in the ad.

But what if there aren't any significant limitations?

If it's as simple as saying that a full refund will be given

irrespective of the time frame,

then I think there is the potential for that ad to be misleading.

For Cheryl it was the money-back guarantee that really

appealed to her and made her spend her hard-earned cash.

Cheryl gave the company numerous opportunities to adjust

the saddle but each time it came back it still wouldn't fit properly.

Eventually she took it to an independent expert who told her

that the build of the saddle was fundamentally wrong

and that it was never going to be a good fit.

Therefore, in order to live up to their promise of a satisfactory fit

or your money back, the company should have given Cheryl a refund.

And it seems it's not just Cheryl who was won over by advertising.

My inbox is full of e-mails from those of you who have been swayed

by promises of free trials of health

and beauty products with online adverts.

Take Di's e-mail here -

she came across a company who promised a beauty product worth £49

for just £3.95 postage and packaging. What a bargain!

So Di snapped it up.

But when she checked her credit card bill at the end of the month

she'd been charged £100 - not such a pretty deal after all.

The company Di had contacted,

Dead Sea Beauty, are one of thousands offering trials like this.

Trials are a legitimate way of incentivising consumers

to take advantage of a product. The problem occurs where significant

limitations of the trial offer is not made clear to consumers.

Fortunately, the ASA have the power to take action

against companies whose advertising isn't clear enough.

And in the case of Dead Sea Beauty that's exactly what they did.

In this case, we considered that the ad was misleading

because the ad did not make clear that if the beauty products

were not returned within 30 days then they would be liable for a subscription.

So in this case we thought it was misleading.

We have requested a statement from Dead Sea's parent company,

DS Advertising, allowing them

to comment on the issues raised in Di's e-mail to me.

And also I pointed out that she wasn't the only person

who had written to me about their free trials

and subsequent subscription withdrawals.

DS Advertising has not yet responded.

As consumers, what should we be looking out for?

The company needs to be upfront

and clear about the full nature of the offer.

Be warned, companies, it's not just me keeping an eye on your promises.

Advertisers always have

and always will show their products in their best light

but they shouldn't exaggerate what their products or services should do.

If we find that an ad hasn't stuck to the rules then

we can withdraw that ad

and we can make sure that it doesn't appear again in the same form.

I've taken on the cases of Claire and Gary and Tracey and John,

who both had holiday troubles and are not satisfied

with how they were treated by their travel companies.

So that's two families who thought they'd booked a package holiday

and then found out they hadn't,

but then had to pay extra money

to stay in the same standard of hotel

that they thought they had booked in the first place.

Well, I've been in touch with both On The Beach and Purple Travel

in the hope I can get some of this money back.

We went all-inclusive just simply so that we had everything paid for,

you had nothing else to worry about.

And then when we got home we had to find some way of paying

that money back.

We had obviously already paid for the first one

and I'd explained this to Purple Travel at the time, on the phone.

But the lady said to me, "There's not really a way we can deal with this now.

"It would have to be dealt with when you get back off your holiday."

Purple Travel have told me that,

while they apologise for the customer's dissatisfaction,

they have to allow time for a hotel provider to find alternative accommodation.

So if you're in dispute you need to give a company time to put it right.

If you have to - book yourself into a hotel for just one night.

Any more and you could be jeopardising your legal rights.

Tracey and her family booked themselves into a hotel

for the rest of their stay... not giving Purple Travel or

the hotel provider enough time to put things right.

We actually needed somewhere to stay for the night. Obviously we had

no alternative but to book. But we had to book them for the week.

Purple Travel is still upholding its offer for £453

but it's not the news Tracey and John were hoping for.

For Purple Travel to have offered us, you know,

basically the hotel cost back is very disappointing.

Because, you know,

-we did pay out a lot more than what we're getting back.

-Yeah.

I suppose I can see it from their point of view,

we went ahead and booked the extra hotel.

We do understand the decision that has been made

and it has opened our eyes now

to the processes we would take for the next time.

Definitely taught us a lesson, definitely.

It's not the outcome Tracey and John wanted but regulations and

procedures are in place to protect both the company and the customer.

So what about On The Beach?

Well, Claire and Gary had rejected an offer of £555

from the hotel supplier YouTravel

because they felt they were out of pocket by more than £1,500.

But the couple have been in touch to say they've been made another offer,

so I've come to meet them to find out more.

Will it be enough to banish the memory of

when they arrived at their first hotel in Turkey?

-Good to see you, guys. Are you all right?

-Yeah.

Right - I tell you what, you're smiling and now you're smiling.

Who is going to tell me the news?

-Do you want to say it?

-Yeah.

We got our money back from On The Beach

and it's all going towards a new venture for us.

-A new holiday...?

-No. An extension to the house.

-OK.

-Loft conversion.

-Something a bit more permanent than a holiday? OK.

-Yes.

'It's taken over 18 months but they have finally got a full refund

'for the £1,000 spent on the alternative hotel,

'plus all their other out-of-pocket expenses - a total of £1,523.46.'

-So are you happy?

-Definitely.

-Very happy.

-Are you sure?

-Yes.

-Yeah.

We spoke to both On The Beach and YouTravel asking for a final word.

YouTravel explained how they...

Claire and Gary declined this offer and it had now been replaced

by the larger settlement offered by On The Beach.

On the Beach told us how they

sincerely apologise, as they did not deal with the complaint in a swift

and efficient manner and they would like to highlight that...

They also tell us that:

And, most importantly for me, they also told me

they have downgraded the star rating of the Club Hotel Pineta.

And as for the Club Hotel Pineta, we contacted them

and invited them to respond to the issues raised in the programme.

They told us:

And on top of that...

Which is good news for Claire

and Gary and they can finally put their holiday woes behind them!

We were just getting fed up, to the stage where we thought,

they are going to win. We were not happy in that

but we thought, we're going to give up otherwise we will

-get more and more stressed.

-Yeah.

So thank you very much, Dom, for helping us out.

Thanks for bringing it to the attention of everybody.

I'm very happy for Claire and Gary, as things have finally worked out in their favour.

But it has highlighted a few points we all need to be very aware of.

And in particular the importance of knowing

whether or not you are booking a package holiday,

and, if not, exactly who is responsible

for each element of that holiday.

Well, I thought that was it, show over, job done,

shut the door on your way out, turn the lights out.

But then I got some surprising news...

Since we last met them, there has been a development for Tracey and John.

We've got an updated letter from Purple Travel,

saying that basically that they would like to give us

an extra £2,000 so we're not so badly out of pocket.

-Very, very happy now.

-Yeah.

-It has actually made the day.

-Yeah. Very good. Thank you, Purple Travel.

Also, thank you, Dom, because this would not have happened without him.

I don't half love surprises!