Episode 4 Rip Off Britain

We asked you who's left you feeling ripped off

when it comes to your holidays,

and you came back with a catalogue of travel disasters.

It was absolutely gutting, you know, we just...

We thought, "That's it, we've lost our money."

Never in my life have I experienced anything like that.

It... I wouldn't wish it on anybody.

So, whether it's a deliberate rip-off,

a simple mistake or a catch in the small print,

we'll find out why you're out of pocket,

and what you can do about it.

Your stories, your money, this is Rip-Off Britain.

Hello, and welcome to Rip-Off Britain, where all this week,

we're bringing a bit of much needed holiday feeling into your homes,

and that's because we've come to the island of Lanzarote

for our special series of programmes

investigating all the things you've told us

have gone wrong with your travel and holidays.

Well, I'm sure that many of us would probably say that

the whole process of planning a trip in the first place

is actually part of the fun,

and even when that's just a means to an end, it really is fantastic

when all the preparations are made and you can start really

looking forward to everything that you've booked and paid for.

Provided, that is, that all of your carefully laid plans don't

suddenly start unravelling before you've even ended up going.

Bit of a warning there, Angela,

but I'm afraid our stories today are all situations where, through

no fault of your own, vital details of your holiday have ended up

being changed, swapped around or simply just muddled up,

sometimes right at the last minute, which is utterly infuriating,

and then you might spend precious days of your trip trying to

catch up or simply put things right, but certainly

you'll end up wondering how on earth it is that such fundamental changes

were ever allowed to happen in the first place.

Coming up - why getting your money back after a big change

to your cruise itinerary probably won't be plain sailing.

You're put in a position where they're not giving you what you've paid for,

but they aren't giving you time to do anything about it.

And what should happen when you've booked and paid for your flight,

but the airline says there isn't a seat for you on the plane?

It doesn't happen in any other form of business,

and I don't understand how they think that this is reasonable.

Now, you wouldn't believe how often we at Rip-Off Britain

hear from people telling us

they're desperate to get rid of their time-share.

Whether it's because of rising maintenance fees,

or a change of circumstance or ill health,

they can't make use of them any more.

But this next story is almost the complete opposite,

because the time-share owner we're about to meet

loves the place his family has been going to for decades.

In fact, he'd like nothing more than to keep going back year after year.

So, why does it appear that's not going to happen?

The '80s, a decade of shoulder pads, big hair, ginormous phones,

and one business in particular was booming - time-share.

Holiday accommodation shared by multiple owners

guaranteeing you a couple of weeks in the sun

at a fixed price in a place you know,

but just as the fashions have faded,

so too has the popularity of time-shares.

Ownership has declined, and many people are now desperately trying

to get rid of theirs, but that can't be said for Gary Pennington.

His time-share at the Palm Beach Club in Tenerife has been

in the family since the '80s, and holds many happy memories for Gary,

who has owned it personally since 1999.

I've owned the time-share at Palm Beach Club since my mum died

and she left it to me in her will.

The reason we go back there every year is we've made some nice

friends that stay at Palm Beach the same weeks.

It's just a nice place to go at that time of year.

The Palm Beach Club resort in Tenerife is

something of a landmark in Playa de las Americas.

On its website, it boasts of a prime beach location

and facilities that entice guests back year after year,

including Gary, who's been returning

for his two weeks there every November.

So, the apartment is 507, which is on the front of the building.

It looks out on the beach in front of it out at the Atlantic Ocean.

It's just a perfect position for me.

Like many time-shares, this complex is run by a committee,

which in the case of the Palm Beach Club

consists of time-share owners

and a company called Silverpoint, a big name in the industry.

It's this group of people that decides how to best manage the club,

from setting the maintenance fees to the servicing of the apartments,

and Gary's relationship with the committee has been a good one.

I've always thought the maintenance fees for my studio have

always been good value for money.

But in 2014, the committee voted in favour of a decision

that changed all that.

As a result of falling revenues, instead of members like Gary

having fixed weeks and apartments as they'd always done,

their time-share would instead be transferred

to what's called a floating system, with no guarantees

of which apartment they could stay in or when.

The changes within the club mean

that my apartment is no longer my apartment.

My fixed weeks are no longer my fixed weeks.

I'm expected to enquire, "Can I have such and such an apartment?

"Can I have such and such a week?"

On top of that, Silverpoint told Gary that his apartment would

no longer be part of the time-share scheme.

Instead, it would be transferred to a holiday company

to be rented out however they chose.

As a result, Gary wouldn't be able to stay in the apartment

ever again under the time-share scheme.

I couldn't believe it when I was told

I couldn't use my own apartment.

It's like someone stealing something from you. That's how I feel.

And I've had no control over that theft.

Silverpoint argued that however unhappy Gary might be,

the changes had been voted through by the committee.

The company did offer Gary an alternative for his next trip,

an ocean view apartment on the ninth floor,

for the same two weeks that he'd always had in November.

But Gary was reluctant to agree without having seen it.

And by the time he was able to do that, 13 weeks later,

it was no longer available.

So instead Silverpoint offered Gary another apartment,

on another floor, but this time without a sea view.

It's much smaller, the outlook isn't the same,

it wasn't acceptable to me.

Gary still couldn't understand how Silverpoint could change

the terms of his time-share so significantly without his agreement.

Particularly as the paperwork he owns seemed clear to him

that he was entitled to occupy his apartment for his chosen weeks

until the year 2036.

I said, "How can I now no longer own that apartment

"when I have a deed that says I do for those two weeks?"

Palm Beach committee's response to my e-mails were

that's what's going to happen,

there's nothing that you can do about it.

Your apartment has gone.

But Gary had already booked his next trip to Tenerife for November 2014.

And, seemingly powerless to overturn the committee's decision,

it seemed this would be the last time

he'd be staying in his beloved apartment.

It was a very stressful time, the emotion of not knowing

whether I was going to be back in my own apartment again,

the sentimental value of my mum having spent many holidays there.

Two months later, Gary, as usual, received an annual

invoice for maintenance fees at the Palm Beach Club.

But this bill was different.

Instead of it having my apartment number

and my weeks number on it, it just said "studio".

It had no apartment number, it had no weeks on that invoice.

My feeling was that if I accepted and paid what I considered to be

an invalid invoice, then the committee would think,

"Well, yeah, we've managed to get that apartment from them.

"He's paid the invoice, therefore he accepts the invoice we've said."

So can the time-share company just change owners' contracts

part way through? Well, according to the terms and conditions

that Gary would have had to agree to when he inherited his time-share,

the Palm Beach Club is entitled to amend part or all

of the committee's constitution at any time, as long as

any changes are voted upon and agreed by

a majority of the committee, which, in this case, they were.

But international property lawyer Stefano Lucatello believes

that Gary could challenge the time-share company's decision

if he can prove that he and the other shareholders

have been treated unfairly by the committee.

He has legitimately paid for something, signed up for something,

used it as he should be using it

and then these rights are being taken away from him.

But it seems Gary's situation isn't an isolated one.

We've heard from other unhappy time-share owners,

not just at the Palm Beach Club, who've found themselves in similar

situations with their previously fixed apartments and dates turned

into either floating weeks or points by the companies they're members of.

Meanwhile, Gary and several hundred other Palm Beach Club time-share

owners have formed a pressure group to challenge the decisions made.

And one of them has gone to court to seek arbitration, hoping to prove

that the changes to the Palm Beach Club's constitution were unlawful.

Arbitration is now under way.

But as this will be the first case of its kind,

whether it will help Gary get his original apartment back

remains to be seen.

When we contacted Silverpoint,

in a joint response with the company that manages the resort,

as well as the Palm Beach Club Committee,

which voted through the decision,

it told us that while the previous status quo had been enjoyed by

all parties, in common with other time-share resorts,

difficult economic circumstances

had led to difficult decisions having to be made.

And without these, the Club would most likely have had to be wound up.

The companies said they've satisfactorily resolved

matters with other members who'd initially been unhappy

and that discussions will continue with Gary to find alternative

accommodation that suits him.

If that isn't possible, resolution services will be offered.

But they completely rejected any suggestion that there's been

a breach of contract, pointing out that

when Gary purchased his membership of the Palm Beach Club,

this was always subject to the provisions of the constitution.

And as changes to that constitution were made

in a properly conducted process, including an AGM,

they are binding.

But Gary, who considered his time-share

a part of his family's history, remains unconvinced.

It's like someone saying,

"Well, I know you own that house but you can't live there any more."

That is as it felt to me.

I think all of us agree that sometimes things have to change

and the holiday that you'd planned for, for whatever reason,

is no longer feasible.

But what happens if the change to your plans is a detail

that was fundamental to you choosing that holiday in the first place?

Do you just have to grin and bear it or can you actually cancel?

Well, the couple that we're about to meet feel that the last-minute

change to the itinerary of the cruise that they had booked

meant that they ended up with a holiday that they did not want.

And, as you'll hear, the cruise company didn't agree.

Ever since the first holiday ocean liners set sail back in 1844,

cruises have been the perfect way

to visit several destinations in one trip.

Often mixing the bright lights of the big city with relaxation

time on the beach, it's no wonder that every year upwards

of 1.5 million of us choose life on the ocean waves for our holiday.

Come on, then, shall we go for a walk?

And it was the specific mix of destinations that attracted

Sidney and Janet Foster from Edwinstowe

to the 16-day trip they booked with Celebrity Cruises.

Janet saw this cruise advertised in the paper

and she said, "This is just the perfect cruise."

We hadn't been to New York

and I wanted to go to Bermuda as well

and I just thought, "Well, that's lovely",

and we more or less booked it straight away.

The Broadway And Beaches cruise would set sail from Southampton

and head to New York,

where it would stop off for two nights

before heading to the Caribbean island of Bermuda.

And in November 2014, the couple excitedly arrived in Southampton

to board the ship.

But just as they were checking in,

they were given a letter saying their itinerary had changed.

We were handed a sheet of paper saying,

"We have to announce that we have made an important change to the

"itinerary of your cruise

"and Bermuda is now not on the cruise."

The letter explained that due to adverse weather conditions -

in other words, a storm -

the ship's course had to be modified.

Instead of Bermuda, which is a two-day, one-night stay,

we are doing a seven-hour stop in Madeira

on the way across to New York.

Sidney and Janet weren't happy with the very different destination

that had been substituted

for the two days they'd been looking forward to on a Bermuda beach.

So Sidney asked Celebrity Cruises if they could cancel the trip

and get their money back.

But Sidney says the company refused.

So, in fear of losing the £3,500 they'd paid,

the couple felt they had no choice but to accept the alternative

itinerary on offer and go on the cruise.

To drop that on you right at the last minute

is a bit sort of sharp practice.

They put you in a position where they're not giving you what you've

paid for but they aren't giving you time to do anything about it.

Despite the rocky start, the couple did enjoy their trip.

But on their return,

not going to the destination they'd wanted still rankled.

So Sidney wrote to Celebrity Cruises to explain his frustration.

I thought somebody somewhere must have known this change

was going to occur before we actually arrived at Southampton.

But Celebrity Cruises said the couple wasn't entitled

to any compensation because, as far as it was concerned,

the altered itinerary wasn't classed as a major change.

If they were taking away one of the two major selling points

of the cruise, then surely that should have been

classed as a major change

and not a minor change.

Celebrity Cruises does state in its terms and conditions that it

has the right to omit or substitute any port on its itinerary.

And indeed that this could happen at any

stage before or during the cruise thanks to a variety of reasons.

Many other cruise operators will say something similar.

But, like the Fosters, Janet Mitchell hadn't realised

the full significance of that

when she booked her two-week cruise to the Caribbean in November 2014.

Janet, her partner Gerald and some of their friends chose the trip

with Thomson because there was one place in particular

that they'd always wanted to visit.

I noticed that this particular one

had the island Antigua on it,

and when we went on a cruise in 2011,

that were the one island that I would've liked to have gone to.

When the holiday came around, the group flew to Barbados,

where their cruise, island-hopping around the Caribbean, would begin.

We sailed on the Sunday from Barbados,

called at various islands,

and then on the Thursday we docked in St Kitts.

And the next day,

we should have been going to Antigua.

But once back on the liner, ready to head to Antigua,

the holiday-makers were informed a problem with the engine meant

they might not be going anywhere for a while.

They told us they would do an announcement at ten o'clock,

an announcement came saying that the ship still wasn't fit to sail.

The problem with the engine meant

they'd be staying in St Kitts until it was fixed.

And it was the next afternoon before the ship was finally ready to sail.

But not to Antigua, the place where they'd been so keen to go.

Instead it went straight onto the next destination, Dominica.

It did put a dampener on it because of course we'd missed out Antigua,

but then we thought, "OK, it's just one of those things,

"I suppose, not happy with it but not a lot we can do about it."

Though they were frustrated, after that, as they headed on to Barbados,

it did seem as if the cruise was getting back on schedule,

albeit sailing slower and with that vital stop missed out.

We thought we were back on track with the second week of the cruise

but then they announced, after the ship had sailed,

that we wouldn't be going into the next island either.

Again the boat was changing course, this time missing out Grenada

and heading straight for Bonaire.

Janet's 11-stop cruise had been cut back to nine.

We couldn't understand it were happening again

because we thought once you were back in Barbados

and back on track time-wise,

there were no reason why it should happen.

Janet knew there could be alterations to the itinerary

but she hadn't anticipated that might mean that islands

would be missed out altogether.

I do understand that changes can be made

but I expect changes to be made for the better.

I could see that my friends were a little bit upset about it all.

It made me feel bad

because I'm responsible for booking the trip.

On her return, Janet complained to Thomson,

but, as with our previous case,

was told she wasn't entitled to any refund.

So is she right in thinking that that is unreasonable?

Travel expert Simon Calder says,

in fact, where cruises are concerned,

it can be par for the course.

Imagine if an ordinary holiday company changed your destination

and said, "Right, we're going to send you to somewhere else",

you'd be furious and you'd want some compensation.

Well, I'm afraid in the special case of cruises,

it doesn't quite work like that.

Anything from political turmoil, to bad weather,

to overcrowded harbours,

can mean you don't end up where you hoped you would.

I've been messed around royally on a number of cruises.

I booked one specifically because I wanted to go

to the Scilly Isles and I ended up feeling pretty silly in Falmouth,

where I'd been the year before.

But when we contacted Thomson Cruises

about Janet's cruise,

there was good news.

While reiterating that the two missed ports were down to

technical issues and stressing that instances such as this

are very rare, the company said it was sorry to hear of her experience

and will now be refunding her a total of £1,000,

equivalent to £200 per person.

We also got in touch with Celebrity Cruises about Sidney and Janet's

case and it told us that during the cruise,

heavy weather and high seas

made it necessary for the ship to reduce its overall speed

to ensure the continued safety and comfort of both guests and crew.

As a result, it was necessary to change the itinerary,

and, while it sincerely regrets having to take this action,

the company pointed out that

while there are many things it can control,

unfortunately Mother Nature is not one of them.

Even so, it has contacted Sidney and Janet to discuss their concerns.

But Sidney wants others to realise that steering a course

through your rights and entitlements

if the details of a cruise holiday change

may not be quite as straightforward as you think.

If we'd known beforehand that the cruise wasn't going to Bermuda,

we wouldn't have booked the cruise.

To me and Janet, the money we spent on that cruise,

which was upwards of £3,000,

we didn't get value for money.

Still to come on Rip-Off Britain...

They paid their money in advance

so why when both these men went to pick up their holiday hire cars

were they told they couldn't have them?

I was absolutely stunned and devastated.

There was no solution offered

and no suggestion.

When you've very carefully selected a particular flight

and booked and paid for your seat, well, it's not unreasonable

to think that you'll be on the plane that you expected to be.

But that's not, I'm afraid, always the case.

It may turn out that your flight is overbooked

and instead of taking off at the time you'd arranged,

you may end up being bumped onto another flight altogether.

But if that does happen, while airlines have to offer you

an alternative way of getting to your destination,

it doesn't necessarily mean

that it's going to be directly comparable,

or that the process will be as straightforward as you'd hoped.

Hopping on and off a plane to the Costa del Sol has become

second nature to Jill Upton.

Jill and her husband Mark have a property out there,

and together they've clocked up thousands and thousands of miles

visiting it as often as they can.

We always book our flights online - one, for the convenience...

Obviously we can compare all the different airlines

and it's usually the easiest way to do it.

In May 2015 the couple were due to fly out to Spain again

for an important meeting with their Spanish solicitor

and, just as they'd done countless times before,

they expected to be able to check in for their easyJet flight online.

But this time there was a problem.

A message came that said there was a seat, 5C, for Mark, my husband,

but nothing on mine,

and then the same message appeared again -

"it's not available, try again later or check in at the airport."

The couple decided to follow the on-screen advice

and check in the old-fashioned way, at the airport.

We decided we'd wait and get to the airport in plenty of time,

hoping there wouldn't be a problem.

So, next morning, Jill and Mark arrived at Liverpool Airport,

more than two hours before their plane was due to take off.

I decided to go over to customer service.

That's when the staff informed me that the flight had been overbooked

and that there was a seat for my husband but there wasn't one for me.

The couple were dismayed and really frustrated.

After all, they'd deliberately booked and paid for seats

on that particular flight,

but they were now being told that only Mark could fly,

meaning that Jill might miss that legal meeting in Spain.

I was really upset.

It was really important that we were both on that flight that day.

Um, so I did start to worry at that point.

Jill and Mark were told that if one of the passengers

on the overbooked flight didn't turn up,

Jill could have their seat.

There were four people who didn't arrive straight away

so they put a call out, and then, one by one,

the four people turned up, so the flight was booked,

it was full.

With only one seat on the plane, the couple had to make a quick decision,

either to stay in Liverpool together or Mark would fly to Spain alone.

There was then a mad panic to try and force my husband

into making a decision whether he was to get on that flight, or not.

I was obviously getting upset at that point so he just made

the decision that he wasn't getting on without me.

But determined to get out to Spain that day,

Mark got on his phone immediately and started to look

for alternative flights.

When he found one with a different airline,

flying from not-too-far-away Manchester,

he asked easyJet to get them both on it.

We thought, "At least, then...

"That's great, we're there the same day."

So we then went back to the customer service and explained this

to the staff there who told us that wasn't an alternative

because the flights were £400 each

and we weren't prepared to pay that.

easyJet told them that if Mark had got on the original flight,

they might have paid for Jill

to take the alternative one from Manchester.

But, as he hadn't, this was no longer an option.

To make matters worse, because Mark had refused to fly to

Spain on his own, he wouldn't be entitled to any compensation.

Instead, easyJet had another option for the couple.

We were told that the only alternative flight was

out of Southend the following day

and that they would then put us in a taxi there and then,

put us up in a hotel overnight,

and then we would fly from Southend the next day.

With easyJet saying this was the only option,

Jill and Mark felt they that had no choice

but to make the four-hour journey from Liverpool to Essex.

It's a fair distance down to Southend,

and it's frustrating knowing how many airports that are closer,

that we virtually had to pass to get to Southend.

It was exhausting.

They eventually arrived in Spain 28 hours after the flight

they'd originally booked and paid for.

We were only going over for six days initially,

so, in effect, we lost two days of a six-day break.

On their return, the couple complained to easyJet once more.

Jill was offered 400 euros compensation,

but as Mark hadn't taken that original flight,

the company again said that he wasn't entitled to anything.

Now, of course, experiences like these aren't confined

to just this couple or indeed to any one airline.

Former British tennis number one Annabel Croft made headlines

when her family's flight to Portugal was overbooked

and her daughter had to take a different flight

late the following night.

And a quick look online throws up tales

from other disgruntled passengers who've booked with companies

right across the industry,

only to find at check-in that the flight has been overbooked.

Known as "bumping", airlines often overbook flights to protect

their revenue if passengers, for example, don't turn up.

Usually they'll ask for volunteers, but if they don't get them,

they'll choose people to take another flight.

Simon Calder explains what actually SHOULD happen next.

If you are denied boarding a flight, they've got to find you a seat

on an alternative flight as soon as possible,

even if that means paying hundreds of pounds to another airline

to get you onboard.

What's trickier is if you're travelling with someone else.

In theory, the airline can say, "No, sorry, Mrs,

"the fact that we've off-loaded your husband

"doesn't mean we have to pay YOU any compensation."

Even so, when we told Simon about Jill's case,

he wasn't sure that on this occasion easyJet got it quite right.

easyJet are not convincing me

that they made every effort to find volunteers not to fly,

and, frankly, it's a pretty poor show from an airline

which in the last financial year was earning £19 a second.

But when we got in touch with easyJet,

it said its normal overbooking processes WERE followed,

with appeals at the bag drop and the gate for volunteers

who would be willing to off-load in return for compensation

and indeed alternative travel arrangements.

The airline apologised for any inconvenience but said that,

with an overbooking rate of around 1%,

but around 5% of passengers on average failing to show up

for a flight, it's "extremely rare for easyJet to deny boarding"

because of overbooking.

And the company reiterated that Jill WAS compensated.

But for Jill and Mark, this isn't simply about the money.

It's the inconvenience, it's the stress,

it's upsetting.

You wouldn't dream of arriving at a theatre or a football stadium

and they'd sold your ticket just in case you didn't show up.

It doesn't happen in any other form of business

and I don't understand why they think that this is reasonable.

Our travel expert Simon Calder

is sharing his top tips on favourite destinations across the globe.

This time - Tenerife.

The cheapest way to get around this perennially popular Canary Island

is on public transport

and Simon knows how you can make it an even better deal.

Bono!

No, not the well-known Irish rock superstar,

but this very useful ticket.

It gets you a 1/3 discount on cash fares on all the buses

and trams in Tenerife.

What you do is you buy one for between 15 and 25 euros.

Every time you get on the bus or the tram,

you put it in the machine, and it will deduct the appropriate fare.

What I particularly like about it is the way that you can use it

multiple times which means that the whole family can travel together.

And, look, it will even tell you how much you've got left on the ride,

which means, of course, you can plan future journeys.

But watch out when you are out and about in the busier resorts,

especially if you're spotted taking photographs.

Can I take a look at your camera, please?

Beware of shopkeepers who seem as keen as mustard

to give you advice on camera equipment.

Once they've hooked you in, then you'll be pressured into buying

all kinds of expensive upgrades and unnecessary extras.

Even the savviest of tourists have lost thousands of euros.

So just keep on walking.

Or instead of shopping, why not join in a taste of the local culture?

There's a packed calendar of festivities year-round in Tenerife

and these centuries-old celebrations

take place in towns and villages right across the island.

With live music, traditional costumes

and often samples of things to eat and drink for free,

well, it would be rude not to, wouldn't it?

Salud!

Now, when it comes to booking something online,

I'm sure very few of us can put our hand on our heart

and say we really have ALWAYS read all those terms and conditions

that we so cheerfully click to say we accept.

But while this next report is a real reminder of what can happen

if you aren't aware of a vital detail in all that small print,

there's a lot more to the cases we're about to hear

than simply that.

And you can understand why the people we've filmed with

have been left feeling pretty cheesed off.

Because although it's easy to say they should have taken more care

about what they were signing up to,

in each case there was a fundamental reason why the bookings they made

should never have been accepted in the first place.

Two men separated by 62 years

and almost 200 miles with one thing in common.

They've both been refused a hire car because of their age.

Nathan Little from Poole is 18 years old

and, having passed his driving test the previous December,

as summer 2015 approached, he and his friends, Harry and Charlie,

began planning a road trip around France.

We were planning on getting a car in France

and driving around Normandy, really,

and taking a road trip down to Paris for the weekend.

It was just supposed to be like something we will remember

when we're older.

Nathan decided to see if he could hire a car in France,

even though he'd only passed his test a few months earlier.

I wasn't really sure I'd be able to get a hire car

because of my age and how recently I'd passed my test,

but I was surprised to see Auto Europe offering me a hire car

with Europcar.

All it stated was that the minimum driver's age was 18,

so I thought, "Great!"

Auto Europe is a website that brings together prices

and offers from lots of different hire car companies.

Nathan saw that he'd need to pay a "young driver surcharge"

that everyone between the ages of 18 to 24 had to pay,

but there certainly didn't seem to be anything stopping him

from going ahead with a booking.

The driver's surcharge is just additional insurance

for younger drivers.

You pay it before you pick up the car at the Europcar office.

The surcharge of 36 euros a day

would more than double the £141 booking cost

but, to get on the road, the lads were happy to pay the extra.

Six weeks later,

they found themselves in the Europcar office in Cherbourg.

But when Nathan handed over his booking form and his ID,

he was met with a reaction he didn't expect.

The lady basically told me that we couldn't have the car

because I didn't have enough experience on my licence.

And she just sent us out the door with no car.

Nathan was told that anyone hiring a car with Europcar

must have held their licence for a minimum of 12 months

and he'd had his for seven.

But that being the case, Nathan couldn't understand how it was

that his online booking had been accepted in the first place.

After all, he had entered the date of birth,

and agreed to that young person's surcharge.

Nowhere in that booking process has anything about experience

been highlighted to me.

It's not said that this might be an issue.

Nathan does however admit he didn't read the terms and conditions.

The terms and conditions aren't even on the booking page,

you have to go to a separate link to read the terms and conditions.

I just skipped through and clicked the box like most people do.

If he had read the small print, Nathan would have discovered that

Europcar's rule on needing 12 months' driving experience

was in fact trumped by the terms of his booking with Auto Europe,

which stated that he must have held his licence for three years

to pick up the car.

And yet the site still allows anyone as young as 18 to go through

the whole booking process, pay that young driver surcharge,

and believe they've hired a car.

The first thing you do on the Auto Europe website

is enter your age and I entered 18 and they had offered me car hire

which to me signalled that I'd be OK.

In hindsight, I would've read the terms and conditions more carefully,

but it's just habit to click accept the terms and conditions.

And because it allowed him to complete his booking,

Nathan believes Auto Europe shares the responsibility

for what happened.

They knew I was 18.

I think that should've flagged up on their system that there's

a high chance I wouldn't have had the licence for three years,

because, as a UK driving licence holder,

it's impossible to have held your licence for three years at that age.

Worse still, the fact that Auto Europe's rule WAS in the Ts and Cs

meant that Nathan wasn't entitled to a refund on the £141 cost

of the booking and the friends were forced to turn to public transport.

We spent a lot more money than we'd thought

because we had to book the train to Paris,

which was quite expensive, and we had to pay additional hotels

because we hadn't planned to be in Cherbourg for the night.

So is Auto Europe alone in allowing someone

under the minimum age to book a car?

Well, we compared Auto Europe's website booking process

with those of four other well-known car hire brokers.

Not one of the ones we tested allows you to proceed with a booking

if you enter an age below their minimum age requirement.

We also looked at the sites of the top five car hire companies.

Hertz, Enterprise and Budget all make their age restrictions clear

during the booking process, although Budget does allow you

to proceed even if you don't meet the age requirements.

But you could still get into a muddle on some other sites.

On the Avis site, for example,

there seemed to be conflicting information on what age

you need to be to hire a car.

And Europcar will let you book a car on your 18th birthday,

meaning you'd need to have passed your driving test

the very day you turned 17

in order to get the full year of experience the company requires.

But we also discovered that it's not just people new behind the wheel

who can fall foul of age restrictions when hiring a car.

80-year-old Malcolm Lethbridge

has clocked up well over half a century of driving.

I was 22 years old when I passed my test

and I still drive regularly every day.

Malcolm and his wife Sandra have been travelling to the Greek island

of Kefalonia for the last ten years, and for the last five of those,

Malcolm has hired a car with Europcar.

This year, the couple paid £410.87 for two weeks' car hire,

but while he was booking,

Malcolm noticed something he'd not seen before.

At 80, he was too old to hire a car in Greece with Europcar

and, in fact, he had been for the past five years.

But because the site let him book this year's trip

and there'd been no issues on his previous ones

he didn't question it.

I know people that will say, "Idiot, you're over 75,

"you shouldn't have rented it,"

but having rented it for the last five years,

one would assume on that basis

that it is just small print that is put there but is ignored.

Well, it has certainly been for the last five years.

But this time, when Malcolm and Sandra went to collect their car

after landing in Kefalonia, they were told they couldn't have it.

I said, "Why?"

He said, "You're too old."

And I said, "Well, you've accepted my money

"and you've accepted my booking -

"how can you say that I can't have the car because I'm too old?

"It's been bought and paid for."

He said, "No, you can't have it."

After making little progress, Malcolm asked for a refund,

hoping he could book with another hire company.

He was told that simply wasn't possible.

There was no solution offered,

no suggestion whatever,

and I was absolutely stunned and devastated.

The couple took a taxi to their hotel, and, a few days later,

they were able to hire a car with a local firm in Sandra's name.

But they were still determined to get their £410 back from Europcar.

And when they returned home,

Europcar DID give Malcolm a refund as a gesture of goodwill.

When we contacted Europcar,

it stressed that customers are required to read

and accept the terms and conditions during the booking process

and that these "clearly state the upper age limit" for Greece.

The company also told us that Europcar Greece had advised Malcolm

the previous year that he would not be able to book

with the company again due to his age,

something Malcolm emphatically denies.

And when we asked Europcar about Nathan's booking,

it couldn't comment as having booked through the website

of a different company, Auto Europe,

he was bound by that company's terms and conditions.

So we got in touch with Auto Europe, who explained that the reason

its site allows drivers to book cars in France from the age of 18,

despite its own three-year minimum licence rule,

is because in France it's possible to have a driver's licence

at the age of 15.

It said the booking agent's decision not to allow Nathan to pick up

the car "probably seemed reasonable at the time",

given the company's Ts and Cs.

But it agreed it "should not have allowed the booking"

to be processed from the UK in the first place

and said it will now change its terms and conditions

relating to UK bookings for rental in France,

raising the minimum pick-up age to 20.

Even better, because of Nathan's "poor experience", Auto Europe says

it will be refunding the money he's paid in full.

That's a good result.

But whether you're 18 like Nathan or 80 like Malcolm,

both men's stories show how vital it can be to thoroughly read

those terms and conditions before clicking to say you accept them.

I've definitely learnt to read the terms and conditions

on everything you buy. I do it on pretty much everything now.

If you've got a story that you'd like us to investigate,

you can get in touch with us via our Facebook page - BBC Rip-Off Britain.

Our website is bbc.co.uk/ripoffbritain

Or you can e-mail us at...

Or if you'd rather send us a letter, then our address is...

Well, I know I'd be absolutely hopping mad

if someone told me at the last minute my holiday had been changed.

And it's no wonder really that the people we've heard from today

feel it's unfair that what they thought they'd booked and paid for

-wasn't what they got.

-I think we'd all agree with that, Julia.

And, you know, when it seems the goalposts have been moved

and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it,

that is so frustrating.

Especially if at the time you're already abroad

and perhaps having to struggle with a language barrier.

That really makes things twice as hard to sort out.

So I'm absolutely delighted that at least in some of those cases

we have been able to get things resolved, Gloria.

After all, that's what we're here for.

And, of course, we also want to give advice and information

so that you'll know what to do

if the same type of thing happens to you.

I'm afraid that's where we have to leave it for this programme

but I do hope that if you're planning a trip anywhere soon,

that we've been able to give you some tips to keep in mind

so that your holiday turns out exactly the way you'd planned it.

-So from all of us here in Lanzarote, bye-bye.

-Bye-bye.

-Bye.