:00:00. > :00:00.joined by the children's author Liz Pinchon.
:00:00. > :00:00.Next on BBC One, though, Gloria Hunniford, Angela Rippon
:00:00. > :00:07.and Julia Somerville are standing by ready to tackle all
:00:08. > :00:10.And welcome to Day 2 of our special week of live
:00:11. > :00:15.Today we've a whistleblowing former minister, one of the world's
:00:16. > :00:17.best known film stars, and a masterclass in how
:00:18. > :00:25.to get voice-activated technology to actually work.
:00:26. > :00:30.As if that wasn't enough, we'll be tackling the strange case
:00:31. > :00:37.What's the answer if yours do the same?
:00:38. > :00:45.We asked you to tell us what's left you feeling ripped off. You told us
:00:46. > :00:50.about the companies you think get it wrong and customer service that
:00:51. > :00:53.simply isn't up to scratch. I've complained and complained that
:00:54. > :00:57.nobody takes any notice of me. In all honesty I think it's a way for
:00:58. > :01:02.shops to make more money. You've asked us to track down the scam
:01:03. > :01:06.artist to have taken money off you. You don't want to spend any more but
:01:07. > :01:15.they always want to offer you things extra. When you've lost out and
:01:16. > :01:18.nobody is to blame, you tell us how to stop others falling into the same
:01:19. > :01:23.trap. You ring up the company and they say it's not their fault. We
:01:24. > :01:27.are here to find out why you are out of pocket and what you can do about
:01:28. > :01:31.it. Your stories, your money, this is Rip Off Britain.
:01:32. > :01:35.Hello and thanks for joining us once again for Rip Off Britain Live.
:01:36. > :01:37.Thanks too for the huge response we had to yesterday's programme.
:01:38. > :01:46.We've been inundated with your emails and messages.
:01:47. > :01:52.After I told the story of how fraudsters targeted my life savings,
:01:53. > :01:56.dozens of you got in touch to tell us how unhappy you are with bank
:01:57. > :01:59.We'll read some of your comments later.
:02:00. > :02:04.Our experts are standing by to answer your questions.
:02:05. > :02:10.So please do get in touch right now - at ripoffbritain@bbc.co.uk.
:02:11. > :02:14.Or look for BBC Rip off Britain on Facebook.
:02:15. > :02:16.We've got another packed programme for you today.
:02:17. > :02:22.will be spilling the beans on why she feels tens of thousands of woman
:02:23. > :02:25.have been let down by her former bosses.
:02:26. > :02:28.Also coming up this morning, voicing your frustration!
:02:29. > :02:32.Why communicating with technology drives so many of you up the wall.
:02:33. > :02:38.Star Wars' Luke Skywalker, actor Mark Hamill, talks coupons
:02:39. > :02:49.And after some great results yesterday,
:02:50. > :02:51.our experts are back to fight your corner
:02:52. > :02:54.Personal finance expert Sarah Pennells joins us once again,
:02:55. > :03:02.After all, we are live all this week and we want to hear from you.
:03:03. > :03:05.But first, as we've reported before, there's a whole generation of women
:03:06. > :03:09.furious about not simply a big change to when they're able
:03:10. > :03:12.to claim their state pension but, crucially, how and when they were
:03:13. > :03:16.Many of them say they've been left significantly out of pocket.
:03:17. > :03:19.And a woman who's really in a position to know, says they're
:03:20. > :03:23.Former pensions minister Baroness Altmann says she had
:03:24. > :03:26.to hold her tongue on all this - at least publicly.
:03:27. > :03:30.And when she decided to say what she really thinks,
:03:31. > :03:47.Hard-working, self-motivated. At 60, Francesca never expected to be
:03:48. > :03:53.updating her CV and looking for work. She had always imagined the
:03:54. > :03:59.milestone age she reached in January would be the moment at which she
:04:00. > :04:05.could retire. I naturally assumed that come 60 I would be able to do
:04:06. > :04:09.pretty much whatever I wanted to do. I just envisaged I would live quite
:04:10. > :04:17.comfortably, just muddling on, really. But Francesca is one of many
:04:18. > :04:22.who say their plans have been blown out of the water by a major change
:04:23. > :04:26.to the age at which women can withdraw state pension. For decades
:04:27. > :04:31.they could do it at 60. Five years earlier than men. However, by 2020,
:04:32. > :04:38.both men and women's state pension age will be 66. And while that is a
:04:39. > :04:42.response to the fact we are all typically living longer, you would
:04:43. > :04:47.hope that such a fundamental change might have been fully and clearly
:04:48. > :04:53.communicated to those affected, well in advance. But that isn't what's
:04:54. > :05:00.happened. I only found out my state pension age was going to change from
:05:01. > :05:05.60 to 66 when I was 57, in 2013. I don't think it was fair notice at
:05:06. > :05:12.all. We should all have been notified way before then. So we
:05:13. > :05:18.could have put some sort of plan, if you like, into action. It's
:05:19. > :05:22.estimated there are 500,000 women who, like Francesca, were born in
:05:23. > :05:27.the 1950s and had planned and budgeted for giving up work at 60.
:05:28. > :05:31.But it was already getting close to that date by the time they were
:05:32. > :05:36.officially told that they wouldn't get their pensions for another six
:05:37. > :05:41.years. Francesca resigned herself to simply staying longer at work. But
:05:42. > :05:46.when she did turn 60, work dried up, and she struggled to find another
:05:47. > :05:49.job. I felt that I had enough savings to have a comfortable
:05:50. > :05:56.retirement, obviously that has dwindled now. Because I don't have a
:05:57. > :06:05.pension, and also I'm actually unemployed. In fact it was way back
:06:06. > :06:08.in 1995 that the government first passed a bill saying the pension age
:06:09. > :06:14.would have to increase. But it wasn't until a full 14 years later,
:06:15. > :06:20.in 2009, before letters started being sent to the women who would be
:06:21. > :06:25.affected. Even then, the letters weren't sent to everyone at the same
:06:26. > :06:29.time, or with the same information. Francesca didn't get hers for
:06:30. > :06:37.another four years, which she feels left little time to totally rethink
:06:38. > :06:41.her financial future. I've got over 40 years of paying in, national
:06:42. > :06:47.insurance, and it was part of the deal then that I would retire at 60.
:06:48. > :06:53.They have the government of the day, back then and now, have renege on
:06:54. > :06:58.that deal. An awful lot of women feel the same way, as we saw at the
:06:59. > :07:02.pop-up shop earlier this year. I've been in work all my life. All that
:07:03. > :07:08.time I thought I could retire at 60, only to get to 58 years old and find
:07:09. > :07:16.the goalposts had been moved. So all my dreams of retirement are
:07:17. > :07:19.shattered. And someone who feels equally strongly about the issue is
:07:20. > :07:26.former pensions minister, Baroness Ros Altmann. Having left the role in
:07:27. > :07:31.July, she now feels free to say exactly what she thinks, and she
:07:32. > :07:36.agrees with the women that how and when the change was communicated was
:07:37. > :07:42.spectacularly mishandled. How did they get it so wrong? It seems to me
:07:43. > :07:49.that successive governments have failed to understand how ordinary
:07:50. > :07:55.people live, and what ordinary people know. They have failed to
:07:56. > :08:01.tell them properly because they just assume everybody knows it, and they
:08:02. > :08:05.don't. The changes were first announced in 1995. They had plenty
:08:06. > :08:10.of years, plenty of time to tell people. How come they haven't done
:08:11. > :08:14.it? It's a massive failure of public policy. The government had so many
:08:15. > :08:18.years where they could have told them properly, had a national
:08:19. > :08:22.advertising campaign and made sure people have the best possible chance
:08:23. > :08:29.to find out what was happening to their state pension age, and yet it
:08:30. > :08:32.didn't do so. Is it put down to incompetence? The government doesn't
:08:33. > :08:36.want to spend the money on advertising, but as far as I'm
:08:37. > :08:39.concerned, the government spends so much money on advertising things
:08:40. > :08:45.that aren't nearly as important as this. And therefore, this is a
:08:46. > :08:50.justifiable use of public resources. We have seen what problems have been
:08:51. > :08:56.caused for women who didn't know about the state pension age changes
:08:57. > :09:00.that were coming. The work and pensions select committee has also
:09:01. > :09:04.said that more could and should have been done to communicate the
:09:05. > :09:08.changes. Not least because even when women were finally told, it still
:09:09. > :09:15.wasn't always made clear exactly what the changes were. We've got
:09:16. > :09:18.just some of the documents here and they all say something slightly
:09:19. > :09:25.different. A couple of the letters say that it's going to change, but
:09:26. > :09:32.then you have to wait apply for a leaflet that runs to 44 pages. Why
:09:33. > :09:37.didn't they put everything in one letter? Your guess is as good as
:09:38. > :09:40.mine. My guess is that they went designing the letters for people to
:09:41. > :09:44.send them out. They were writing letters that might have been
:09:45. > :09:50.appropriate for themselves, who knew the information. And that's not good
:09:51. > :09:55.enough. Baroness Ros Altmann hopes that from the House of Lords she can
:09:56. > :09:58.try and help in a way that she's frustrated she couldn't while in
:09:59. > :10:02.government. When you were Minister for pensions
:10:03. > :10:05.you were very guarded when interviewed. When you are a minister
:10:06. > :10:11.you are not allowed to criticise public policy and stay being gay
:10:12. > :10:17.minister. You are obviously working within a literal straitjacket. --
:10:18. > :10:22.being a minister. Do you feel any guilt that you couldn't do more? --
:10:23. > :10:26.within a political straitjacket. I'm not sure guilt is the word I would
:10:27. > :10:31.use, but certainly great sadness and regret. I believed what the
:10:32. > :10:36.officials were telling me when they said what I should say, and I use
:10:37. > :10:41.those arguments. It wasn't until later, when some of the women wrote
:10:42. > :10:46.to me directly and I found a slightly different picture, which
:10:47. > :10:51.was that the government failed in its attempts to communicate with
:10:52. > :10:59.them. And it perhaps misled them, all loads them into a false sense of
:11:00. > :11:03.security, believing the state pension age was still 60, partly
:11:04. > :11:07.because the government led them to believe that. But the women most
:11:08. > :11:11.affected are not giving up without a fight. With many, including
:11:12. > :11:17.Francesca, taking part in protests around the country. They are not
:11:18. > :11:22.objecting to the change in pension age itself, but to the way that
:11:23. > :11:26.women born in the 1950s simply were not given sufficient notice or time
:11:27. > :11:32.to plan. It makes a massive difference when you are trying to
:11:33. > :11:38.plan for your retirement and have defined six extra years of money. I
:11:39. > :11:42.only found out in 2012. It has adversely affected me because I've
:11:43. > :11:47.got my mother who is 90 and needs some assistance with her care. I've
:11:48. > :11:53.had to give up work and I'm living off savings. I just had to sell my
:11:54. > :11:58.home and downsize. I shouldn't have been in that position. A rapidly
:11:59. > :12:03.growing campaign group is calling for a more gradual transition for
:12:04. > :12:07.the women born in the 50s whose expectations for retirement have so
:12:08. > :12:12.dramatically changed. Is there any chance at all of the women, and
:12:13. > :12:17.their are about half a million affected by this change, are they
:12:18. > :12:21.likely to get interim payment to see them over that difficult point? I
:12:22. > :12:25.had hoped the government would come forward on its own with some
:12:26. > :12:29.measures that would alleviate the hardship and suffering that clearly
:12:30. > :12:33.some women are experiencing. But I have to tell you honestly, Angela, I
:12:34. > :12:37.don't see any sign of that at the moment.
:12:38. > :12:44.With little promise of financial assistance on the horizon, Francesca
:12:45. > :12:49.faces an uncertain future. At a time in life when she thought she would
:12:50. > :12:59.be receiving a regular pension. This is not a benefit. It's an
:13:00. > :13:07.entitlement. We paid in, and the government should pay out.
:13:08. > :13:12.We are already being bombarded with e-mails from many of you watching
:13:13. > :13:16.the programme this morning saying that you are in exactly the same
:13:17. > :13:18.position as the people we have seen on the film.
:13:19. > :13:21.Well, the Department of Work and Pensions told us...
:13:22. > :13:23."The decision to equalise the State Pension age
:13:24. > :13:25.was made over 20 years ago and achieves a long-overdue move
:13:26. > :13:29.There are no plans to change the transitional arrangements
:13:30. > :13:32.already in place, and women retiring today can still expect
:13:33. > :13:35.to receive the State Pension for 26 years on average,
:13:36. > :13:43.I don't think that will be much comfort at all to the people
:13:44. > :13:45.watching this morning. Ros Altmann is here,
:13:46. > :13:47.along with Lesley Jaggard, who has been affected by those
:13:48. > :13:50.changes, and - giving some advice - personal finance
:13:51. > :13:59.expert Sarah Pennels. Starting with Lesley, when did you
:14:00. > :14:05.hear about the changes and how did they affect you? I first heard about
:14:06. > :14:12.the changes about 18 months before I reached the age of 60. All my
:14:13. > :14:18.working life I have been knowing, not expecting or imagining, but
:14:19. > :14:24.knowing I would retire at 60. And at no time before 2012 did anybody lead
:14:25. > :14:31.me to believe, or give me any information about it increasing. I
:14:32. > :14:37.will retire at 64 and a half. Women a year younger than me will retire
:14:38. > :14:42.at 66. It's far too late to change your plans.
:14:43. > :14:48.And this is something affecting not just your state pension but your
:14:49. > :14:52.work pension. I have a small occupational pension and that only
:14:53. > :14:59.kicks in, I can only take the full amount from the age of my state
:15:00. > :15:02.pension age. I can take it earlier, but considerably reduced. Sarah, is
:15:03. > :15:07.there anything in place the state can do to help women over this
:15:08. > :15:10.period? The real problem, and the reason there result much activity
:15:11. > :15:15.around this is that all the benefits that are designed to help people in
:15:16. > :15:19.older age on low income are links to the state pension age. So for women
:15:20. > :15:23.who cannot work or want to work but cannot get a job, it is jobseeker's
:15:24. > :15:28.allowance, unemployment benefits, but after a few months if you have a
:15:29. > :15:32.husband or partner, their income and financial assets are taken into
:15:33. > :15:39.account, so you may find that you get no money. I think this is why
:15:40. > :15:42.this campaign has found such a strong voice because these women are
:15:43. > :15:45.really stuck between a rock and a hard place. And none of this comes
:15:46. > :15:48.as a surprise to you, Rose. You said that when you were a minister, your
:15:49. > :15:53.hands were tied but a lot of women are seeing, why did you not do more
:15:54. > :15:58.when you were a minister? Believe me, I was really trying. I
:15:59. > :16:00.campaigned for women in 2011 when the second state pension age
:16:01. > :16:04.increase was going through, trying to warn the then ministers that this
:16:05. > :16:10.was an injustice and it should not be happening, and we need to wait
:16:11. > :16:15.and give people more notice. At that stage I did not realise how abject
:16:16. > :16:21.the failure had been in terms of informing women about the 1995
:16:22. > :16:25.changes. But that is what makes it so difficult for me. I assumed that
:16:26. > :16:30.women knew about the first change and that women were aware that they
:16:31. > :16:33.were not going to get their state pension at 60, but the second
:16:34. > :16:38.increase had been imposed upon them. It turns out that the government
:16:39. > :16:44.failed to actually tell them properly that it was not 60. They
:16:45. > :16:49.sent letters to millions of people in 2004 around that time, telling
:16:50. > :16:54.them roughly what sort of state pension level they would get and how
:16:55. > :16:58.much they might get. And we looked at some of those letters. But it did
:16:59. > :17:02.not tell them they would not get it at 60. So now you are in the Lords,
:17:03. > :17:05.and we have heard the pensions minister saying there is no money
:17:06. > :17:09.and he's not going to do anything. Briefly, what can you now do from
:17:10. > :17:16.the Lord's to actually make things better? All I can try to do is keep
:17:17. > :17:22.making sure that this issue is raised whenever there is a debate,
:17:23. > :17:26.to keep trying to persuade the government that there is a serious
:17:27. > :17:30.issue here. There are women really suffering hardship. It is a failure
:17:31. > :17:34.of communication. I think there needs to be some legal action to
:17:35. > :17:39.back this up. Ironically, the best chance is probably in Europe, but I
:17:40. > :17:43.know that the women are looking at that route as well. And all we can
:17:44. > :17:47.do is try to keep highlighting it but the government seems to want to
:17:48. > :17:52.wait until everyone is getting the attention and then just say, well,
:17:53. > :17:59.it is all sorted. And of course it isn't. We have literally been
:18:00. > :18:02.inundated. We will pick up on what they have been saying later.
:18:03. > :18:05.Well, let us know what you think about that, just as you did
:18:06. > :18:07.on the stories we covered on the programme yesterday.
:18:08. > :18:11.And after I revealed how fraudsters walked off the street and stole
:18:12. > :18:14.money from my bank account, lots of you contacted us to say
:18:15. > :18:16.the same thing happened to you, including Bob Turner,
:18:17. > :18:23.But it's always good to hear the other side.
:18:24. > :18:27.Angela Foster emailed to say she works in a building society
:18:28. > :18:29.and every day she gets abuse from customers when she asks
:18:30. > :18:35.She feels her employer's security measures are very stringent.
:18:36. > :18:38.That's something Laureen Sinclair agrees with.
:18:39. > :18:41.She says that when she asked a customer for identification
:18:42. > :18:47.she was accused of being a jobsworth and subjected to foul language.
:18:48. > :18:50.She added, "I agree more must be done, but please bring proper
:18:51. > :18:57.identification and answer any questions with good manners".
:18:58. > :19:00.Lisa David, for example, says, why can't banks use a thumb print
:19:01. > :19:02.system like they do at her son's school
:19:03. > :19:09.And that photograph, that somebody suggested.
:19:10. > :19:11.Well, we love it when you pass on your own tips too.
:19:12. > :19:19.As demonstrated by the reaction to one of our recent stories.
:19:20. > :19:26.If you want to help me with this shredding, there is quite a bit. A
:19:27. > :19:31.few weeks ago we meant some dedicated super shredders, lives and
:19:32. > :19:34.John Cooper. That has your name and address on the inside. Every day
:19:35. > :19:38.they shred everything and anything that has their name and address on
:19:39. > :19:46.it, from junk mail to official letters and much more besides. That
:19:47. > :19:49.is the lot. You have to shred everything that has your address on
:19:50. > :19:54.it if you want to be safer. So much junk mail comes through the post and
:19:55. > :19:59.it has personal details on it, so you have to shred those.
:20:00. > :20:03.Particularly name and address. It has to be shredded. Because it
:20:04. > :20:08.cannot be used. After seeing the Coopers, lots of you wanted to pass
:20:09. > :20:14.on your own tips on how to make sure your personal details do not fall
:20:15. > :20:18.into the handss scanners. -- into the hands. Tom adopts a novel
:20:19. > :20:22.approach. He puts the paper in a sink full of water until it is
:20:23. > :20:27.soaked through, and then he squeezes its like a dish cloth. He says if
:20:28. > :20:31.anyone can find his details in this soggy mess, they deserve to have
:20:32. > :20:35.them. Meanwhile Stephen suggests that rather than shred everything,
:20:36. > :20:40.just rip off the bits that actually has your details on it, shred that
:20:41. > :20:46.and recycle the rest. He says it reduces shredding waste by 90%. And
:20:47. > :20:50.Frank, so careful with his personal information that he only gave us his
:20:51. > :20:54.first name, says that after he shreds, he puts all the bits in the
:20:55. > :20:59.compost heap in his back garden, mixes them up with grass cuttings,
:21:00. > :21:02.weeds and the tea bags from his kitchen, and good luck to anyone
:21:03. > :21:09.trying to reassemble his details from all that lot. Several times
:21:10. > :21:14.recently we have reported on problems people have had their water
:21:15. > :21:16.bills. Jean Garner and many of her neighbours in Northamptonshire
:21:17. > :21:20.discovered they had been paying over the odds for decades.
:21:21. > :21:28.Since at least the 1980s we have been paying Severn Trent ?370 a year
:21:29. > :21:33.for a service that we are not receiving. Jean and the others had
:21:34. > :21:36.been paying their local water company a fee for what is called
:21:37. > :21:40.storm water collection, which it turns out they had never needed
:21:41. > :21:45.because their homes were built with a system that lets water drain into
:21:46. > :21:48.the garden. Even so, until we intervened, the water company would
:21:49. > :21:55.only refund the last year's overpayments. It is the principal.
:21:56. > :22:00.They have been charging us for a service they have not been
:22:01. > :22:04.providing. After we got involved, refunds were backdated to 2003.
:22:05. > :22:09.Meanwhile, a couple of weeks ago we met a man who after discovering how
:22:10. > :22:12.much could be slashed from his water bills, was determined to make sure
:22:13. > :22:17.his fellow council tenants did not make the same mistake. He wanted
:22:18. > :22:25.them to make the same savings. This year you have been paying ?284, so
:22:26. > :22:31.you should be paying ?103. Crikey. That is a big difference! Michael
:22:32. > :22:35.Johnson is now paying well under half of what he previously paid
:22:36. > :22:37.after learning that for people like him living alone, having a water
:22:38. > :22:43.meter could reduce his bills dramatically. Tell me what you want
:22:44. > :22:48.now that you know that you were paying too much and you have a
:22:49. > :22:56.better bill. Hopefully I might get some money back but I am not holding
:22:57. > :23:00.my breath. Frustratingly, unlike other utility providers, we have no
:23:01. > :23:06.choice about who supplies are water. But that may change. Yes, because we
:23:07. > :23:10.understand the government is the king of opening up the water market
:23:11. > :23:11.to competition in a similar way to other utilities.
:23:12. > :23:15.Deryck Hall from the Consumer Council for Water is here.
:23:16. > :23:20.Deryck, presumably you're all for it?
:23:21. > :23:28.Customers would welcome choice, according to our research, but the
:23:29. > :23:36.problem is that the government looks at costs and benefits, and of what's
:23:37. > :23:46.view is that customers would save ?8 on average. -- Ofwat's view. ?8
:23:47. > :23:50.Siemens a small amount. You have to understand that it is only the
:23:51. > :23:59.retail outlets of the bill that would change. The water that you
:24:00. > :24:02.receive, and the services you take away, would still be offered by the
:24:03. > :24:07.companies that currently serve you. It is just the retail element, the
:24:08. > :24:13.metering, billing and answering complaints. And that is just 10% of
:24:14. > :24:17.the total bill. Tell us about this online water calculation system that
:24:18. > :24:22.you have got going. We have a water meter calculator and last year
:24:23. > :24:26.250,000 people used it. Last time it was featured on your programme, we
:24:27. > :24:34.received ten hits per second on our website. It does help customers make
:24:35. > :24:41.a decision about moving from an unmeasured charge to a metre charge.
:24:42. > :24:49.And it could save them about ?100 a time. That is rather better than the
:24:50. > :24:54.measly ?8. Yes, and bearing in mind that Ofwat have taken the view that
:24:55. > :24:58.switching to a different retailer would probably be multiples of that.
:24:59. > :25:01.We are talking about 3 million people. We do not think it is
:25:02. > :25:06.feasible. We think the number of people who switched would be lower,
:25:07. > :25:10.probably about 2%. We shall see. Thank you very much. Good news.
:25:11. > :25:12.Yesterday, in our pop-up shop, we helped retired firefighter Noel,
:25:13. > :25:15.who'd been having sleepless nights over a huge energy bill he should
:25:16. > :25:18.Well, after we stepped in, his supplier wrote
:25:19. > :25:23.And Gloria's outside hoping we can pull off
:25:24. > :25:36.You bet. We will be doing our very best this morning. Lots of lovely
:25:37. > :25:40.people around. Caroline Welles, doing her work. She is the financial
:25:41. > :25:45.ombudsman and we will be talking to her later. And of course we have our
:25:46. > :25:50.personal guru, Sarah pennels. Morning, both of you.
:25:51. > :25:53.Now, sometimes we get emails that make us think, "Oh yes,
:25:54. > :25:56.Well, Margaret Hutcherson from Torquay wrote to us recently
:25:57. > :25:58.questioning why till receipts were literally fading
:25:59. > :26:02.Margaret, tell us what happened to you?
:26:03. > :26:12.Well, it started off when I bought some items from a local shop and
:26:13. > :26:18.found that I did not need them, to be honest. I tried to find the till
:26:19. > :26:23.receipt to exchange it, and to my amazement it had been on a sunny
:26:24. > :26:30.windowsill, and it was as black as the ace of spades. As it was, it was
:26:31. > :26:35.not an important item, so and never exchanged it and I never knew why
:26:36. > :26:40.until I read later. Sarah will know about this but sometimes a shop will
:26:41. > :26:44.say, no receipt, no exchange, no money back. So that receipt is very
:26:45. > :26:48.important. That's right, if you buy something that turns out to be
:26:49. > :26:53.faulty, you do not need a receipt to get a refund. But if you want to
:26:54. > :26:57.exchange it, the shop will be within its rights. In the old days we would
:26:58. > :27:08.have receipt on paper and they lasted for years but now it is an
:27:09. > :27:11.thermal paper because it is cheaper. The problem is, if you pay with
:27:12. > :27:14.cash, as Margaret did, or if you want to have proof of purchase, you
:27:15. > :27:16.have to have a way of holding onto that receipt. Quickly, what would
:27:17. > :27:20.you do? What is the tip? Firstly, shops can e-mail you the receipts
:27:21. > :27:26.but check what they are using your e-mail for. Secondly, take a picture
:27:27. > :27:30.of a receipt, or if you have a hairdryer, use the back of the
:27:31. > :27:34.receipt, Blossom hot air on it and it might come back. My tip is you
:27:35. > :27:38.can always use your bank statements. Come with me because Siobhan is over
:27:39. > :27:43.here, and we are pleased to welcome you to the programme. She wrote to
:27:44. > :27:52.ours recently with a complicated car insurance problem that you have been
:27:53. > :27:59.delving into for how many months? To make years, since 2014. That is a
:28:00. > :28:04.big problem. -- two years. You come up with, Sarah? Well, it is
:28:05. > :28:07.completed its story but Siobhan thought when she switched to ensure
:28:08. > :28:12.she might be blamed for an accident she did not have. The good news is
:28:13. > :28:17.that once we got involved, your insurer said that your file had been
:28:18. > :28:22.incorrectly closed. It is now refunded part of the premiums for
:28:23. > :28:32.the last two years, almost ?200 and what is more, they will give you a
:28:33. > :28:37.?250 goodwill payment as well. Result! I am thrilled with that and
:28:38. > :28:43.I am thrilled that my records are now clean. I've treasure my no
:28:44. > :28:48.claims bonus. It seems very unfair that sometimes it is knock for
:28:49. > :28:52.knock. It is very unfair. It seems like this is a crash for cash scam,
:28:53. > :28:57.which was popular a couple of years ago. They could really devastate a
:28:58. > :29:02.no claims record. I am glad we got this sorted. Thank you. She is happy
:29:03. > :29:04.and we get results! Back to the studio!
:29:05. > :29:08.We'll see what else we can do throughout the week.
:29:09. > :29:12.And there are warnings this morning from Samsung to all owners
:29:13. > :29:16.of its Galaxy Note 7 device not to use it while it
:29:17. > :29:20.investigates further reports of the device catching fire.
:29:21. > :29:27.And we'll be returning to the story of another device catching fire -
:29:28. > :29:30.those Whirlpool tumble dryers - later in the week.
:29:31. > :29:34.Meanwhile, it's reported in one of the papers that fear of big fuel
:29:35. > :29:39.bills means 29% of us delay switching on our heating.
:29:40. > :29:41.That comes from a survey by one of the comparison sites,
:29:42. > :29:44.which also found that next Sunday - October 16th - is apparently
:29:45. > :29:46.the most popular date to turn the heating on.
:29:47. > :29:51.And the front page of the Telegraph - apparently the BBC has been told
:29:52. > :30:02.Well, let's hope we're still working when we get to grand old age of 50!
:30:03. > :30:04.Yesterday quite a few of you responded to our story
:30:05. > :30:06.on the best way to tackle those dreaded cold calls.
:30:07. > :30:10.But Doug from Maidstone perhaps has the most unusual
:30:11. > :30:15.He says if he gets one of those calls about a car accident
:30:16. > :30:17.he's supposedly had, he tells the caller the accident
:30:18. > :30:19.left him decapitated, but a wonderful surgeon managed
:30:20. > :30:22.Well today - we've something else that drives you mad -
:30:23. > :30:44.It's a familiar frustration for many. Liverpool.
:30:45. > :30:50.And she's only trying to find out what's on at the cinema.
:30:51. > :31:00.Useless. This research will lead to hundreds of new gadgets. In the 80s
:31:01. > :31:05.voice recognition was heralded as the future. It should now react with
:31:06. > :31:12.almost 100% reliability. We hope so, anyway. Right... As with any new
:31:13. > :31:21.technology, there were teething problems. Go to word list. One more
:31:22. > :31:27.chance. Go to word list! I suppose it is just one of those things. But
:31:28. > :31:31.even now, despite increasingly becoming part of everyday life, it
:31:32. > :31:37.seems that many of us are still having those same teething problems.
:31:38. > :31:43.London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly.
:31:44. > :31:51.Not everybody thinks it's a nightmare, however. Set a reminder,
:31:52. > :31:56.watch Rip Off Britain. Our technology expert David McClelland
:31:57. > :32:00.is far more enthusiastic. So he has come to Liverpool to see if he can
:32:01. > :32:07.help those struggling with those getting it to work. Nice wheels. My
:32:08. > :32:13.little baby. Malcolm loves new gadgets, and with voice assisted
:32:14. > :32:16.technology that was introduced a car is a few years back, he couldn't
:32:17. > :32:22.wait to give it a go. But the novelty soon wore off. CD player,
:32:23. > :32:33.track one. Oh dear, not off to a good start. CDC, disk four. Didn't
:32:34. > :32:36.like it. Play track one. Oh dear. What do you know about the speech
:32:37. > :32:51.recognition system in a car at the moment? It doesn't work! CDC, disk
:32:52. > :33:03.four, track one. Playing track 47. It's frustrating. BEEP. IT'S
:33:04. > :33:09.FRUSTRATING. Malcolm suggests using words that only the technology
:33:10. > :33:13.recognises. When you are using the systems they are listening out for
:33:14. > :33:16.keywords and unless you say that at the beginning of the sentence, it
:33:17. > :33:20.doesn't have a clue what the rest of the sentence is about. One more
:33:21. > :33:32.time, if it doesn't work, I'll buy your new car. Play disk four, track
:33:33. > :33:37.one. Hurray! Congratulations. It worked, thanks for the lessons.
:33:38. > :33:40.Unlike the technology built into cars, mobile phones are continually
:33:41. > :33:43.updating themselves and getting smarter all the time. Do I need an
:33:44. > :33:55.umbrella today? Welcome to the open top bus, we will
:33:56. > :34:00.give you a bit of history and a bit of humour. That's all right? You
:34:01. > :34:04.might assume the technology only works in the hands of people who
:34:05. > :34:07.talk like our David, and it still struggles with different accents,
:34:08. > :34:15.but that's no longer the case. Hello there, all right. Welcome to the
:34:16. > :34:19.bus. Liverpool tour guide Dave uses his voice all day, everyday, but up
:34:20. > :34:24.until now he hasn't been tempted to engage verbally with his phone. How
:34:25. > :34:29.important is your voice in your job? Very important. A lot of the people
:34:30. > :34:32.who get on wants to hear the Scouse accent. What is it about voice
:34:33. > :34:37.recognition technology that makes you not want to use it? It's
:34:38. > :34:42.frustrating, it doesn't always work. Not the way you wanted to. I come
:34:43. > :34:48.from a generation that if something doesn't work, you smack it on the
:34:49. > :34:52.top and it works. You can't do that with a computer, as I found out.
:34:53. > :34:57.Dave changes his tune when he sees for himself what sort of thing is
:34:58. > :35:01.the latest technology can do. Scientists are saying you can speak
:35:02. > :35:06.three times faster than you can type into a smartphone. Would you find it
:35:07. > :35:10.useful? One of the problems I have with my phone is that the buttons
:35:11. > :35:16.are so small that quite often I will touch two at the same time. So this
:35:17. > :35:20.touch-screen, and voice activation is brilliant stuff. Could you tell
:35:21. > :35:26.me the directions from Liverpool to Wrexham? Getting directions from
:35:27. > :35:34.Liverpool to Wrexham. That's quite useful. I might get one now. Very
:35:35. > :35:38.soon it's this kind of technology banks will rely on to help us access
:35:39. > :35:43.accounts. I must say, I would be interesting in finding more about
:35:44. > :35:47.that after own recent experience with insecurity. I had the channels
:35:48. > :35:51.to test it out with David at this year's pop-up shop. The first thing
:35:52. > :35:57.you need to do is register your voice. What you have to do is say,
:35:58. > :36:00.my voice is my password, three times. From those three times, it
:36:01. > :36:05.will have all the information it needs to uniquely identify you. My
:36:06. > :36:14.voice is my password. My voice is my farce password. It says your pass
:36:15. > :36:19.phrase is now activated. To check it is really secure he tries to log in
:36:20. > :36:26.using his voice. I will do my best Northern Irish accent. My voice is
:36:27. > :36:30.my password. Oh no! I can't log in. That accent. For those struggling
:36:31. > :36:34.with technology already out there, David has great advice. My top tips
:36:35. > :36:39.for working with speech recognition software are, avoid background
:36:40. > :36:42.noise, speak clearly, but make sure you don't leave big pauses in the
:36:43. > :36:47.middle of sentences, and try not to run your words together too much.
:36:48. > :36:51.Also, it's like learning a foreign language, learn the keywords of the
:36:52. > :36:57.speech recognition software, what it is looking for. David is saying we
:36:58. > :37:03.should get used to it, because it's here to some of us are still
:37:04. > :37:10.waiting. Liverpool! I didn't catch that. We had fun making that. But
:37:11. > :37:17.I'm not doing much voice recognition on my phone. It's very simple.
:37:18. > :37:23.Teresa Saunders is with us now. She had some trouble recently with voice
:37:24. > :37:26.recognition. We witnessed an accident, got back to my friends
:37:27. > :37:32.house, and I thought the quickness we would use voice recognition.
:37:33. > :37:42.Where was this? It was coming from Barnstaple. In Devon. We got the
:37:43. > :37:49.number up and rang the app, and I was talking to a police officer. Was
:37:50. > :37:53.that the voice recognition answerphone? It was. We were
:37:54. > :38:00.talking, and I thought, he doesn't know where I am. What made you think
:38:01. > :38:06.he didn't know? He kept asking, where's Mudeford? I kept try to
:38:07. > :38:11.explain to him, and we kept talking at cross purposes. It was nonsense,
:38:12. > :38:19.really. He must've thought, where are you? I thought, where are you
:38:20. > :38:25.talking from? When did the penny dropped? I think it was when he
:38:26. > :38:36.said, sorry, I don't know where you are. I thought, he doesn't sound
:38:37. > :38:44.English, he's not English! It wasn't Barnstaple, where? It was
:38:45. > :38:56.Barnstaple, Massachusetts? We tracked down that policeman. Did he
:38:57. > :38:59.say how long it would take? She said, you probably can't help me,
:39:00. > :39:05.and I said no, our response time would be six hours. I thought that
:39:06. > :39:09.was quite good, actually! Oh dear, that's a comment. I find it
:39:10. > :39:13.hilarious, it's not even the same country. Will you keep in touch with
:39:14. > :39:20.that rather handsome policeman? I would like to. Maybe I would visit.
:39:21. > :39:24.Rip Off Britain is good at sorting out problems. Leave it with us. A
:39:25. > :39:27.funny side to that story, but in fact there are people for whom the
:39:28. > :39:36.whole business of voice recognition can be very upsetting. Shane
:39:37. > :39:41.e-mailed, who has cerebral palsy, tried to use it, and never what he
:39:42. > :39:50.says. It affects the cost of the call and already affects his already
:39:51. > :39:52.self-esteem. Is voice recognition technology something that drives you
:39:53. > :40:00.crazy? Let us know if it is. On yesterday's programme,
:40:01. > :40:02.Jeremy Vine told us how Twitter has become his sounding board of choice
:40:03. > :40:05.when it comes to complaining. Today, we'll see if the consumer
:40:06. > :40:08.force is always with Star Wars actor Mark Hamill -
:40:09. > :40:17.or Luke Skywalker as his Hollywood actor Mark Hamill shot to
:40:18. > :40:22.fame in the 1970s with his role as Luke Skywalker at the start of the
:40:23. > :40:27.Star Wars phenomenon. The box office smash launched his face across the
:40:28. > :40:31.galaxy and he became an immediate teenage heart-throb. He's since
:40:32. > :40:37.acted on Broadway, in film and on television, and he's been the voice
:40:38. > :40:43.of numerous animated characters. In 2015, the Star Wars reboot, the
:40:44. > :40:48.force awakens, brought Mark back to the science-fiction big-screen and
:40:49. > :40:52.his many fans. We are a consumer programme, and we love to ask people
:40:53. > :41:00.about whether or not they have any money saving tips as consumers. I
:41:01. > :41:05.can't resist asking you. I'm the middle of seven children, so this
:41:06. > :41:11.was on our mind growing up. My wife is an only child, ironically, but
:41:12. > :41:17.she cuts coupons. The money-saving things in the Sunday papers and so
:41:18. > :41:22.forth. I thought, this was interesting, she said why aren't you
:41:23. > :41:26.dumping them out? The coffee grounds. She said it's good for the
:41:27. > :41:31.garden. If you mix it in with compost. It feels good because you
:41:32. > :41:35.don't waste anything. In general, are you a good complainer as a
:41:36. > :41:39.consumer if things aren't right? I think so, I think there's a certain
:41:40. > :41:44.standard you should be entitled to if you are paying full price. My
:41:45. > :41:52.daughter will say, the eggs are kind of runny. I say, send them back, get
:41:53. > :41:55.them cooked more. There's finding that balance. You don't want to
:41:56. > :42:00.complain so much that people don't listen to you. Pick your battles.
:42:01. > :42:03.Wait until it's something that's critical to you. Otherwise it's like
:42:04. > :42:07.the boy who cried wolf, they will not listen if you complain about
:42:08. > :42:12.everything. But I think in the context of what you're asking, if
:42:13. > :42:17.you are paying full price, you should expect to get what you are
:42:18. > :42:21.paying for in general. Mark, you have been very generous with your
:42:22. > :42:25.time. Thank you. It's such a treat to meet you. I've been a fan for
:42:26. > :42:31.many years. I couldn't believe it when she walked in, Angela Rippon! I
:42:32. > :42:34.won't ask for your autograph. OK, I won't ask for yours.
:42:35. > :42:40.We've just time to get the answer to some of the questions
:42:41. > :42:44.As well as personal finance expert we're
:42:45. > :42:45.joined by Caroline Wells from the financial
:42:46. > :42:57.We've had loads about pensions, particularly from men. Iain Munro
:42:58. > :43:02.says that at 70 he was looking forward to his wife joining him in
:43:03. > :43:06.retirement. But that will not happen until she's 67, greatly diminishing
:43:07. > :43:12.the years they have to enjoy their retirement. We so often forget that
:43:13. > :43:16.male perspective. That's right. When the state pension ages were
:43:17. > :43:20.originally set at 60 for women and 65 for men, they said part of the
:43:21. > :43:24.reason was that women tended to marry older men which meant they
:43:25. > :43:32.could retire at the same time, which now they can't do. One from Jasmine
:43:33. > :43:35.who says she has one of the Samsung seven phones and wants to get out of
:43:36. > :43:39.the contract because this is the second time it's happened. Where
:43:40. > :43:43.does she stand? She needs to go back to the provider and talk about the
:43:44. > :43:46.phone. I completely understand. If you have something that might blow
:43:47. > :43:55.up and you not sure if it works properly, you need to talk to them
:43:56. > :43:59.it. I think... The floor is yours. We are going to have to end the
:44:00. > :44:01.programme because Julia doesn't have time to tell you anything.
:44:02. > :44:04.Well, once again I'm afraid that's all we've got time for today.
:44:05. > :44:06.We hope you've picked up some useful tips -
:44:07. > :44:08.and of course we'll be back tomorrow with more.
:44:09. > :44:12.We'll be exposing the latest cyber crime - revealing how computer
:44:13. > :44:14.hackers managed to steal thousands of pounds from a
:44:15. > :44:22.And we'll be finding out why a teaching assistant from Lancashire
:44:23. > :44:31.keeps being mixed up with a man on the run in South America.
:44:32. > :44:34.Awkward. We will see you tomorrow. From all of us, goodbye.