Episode 4 Rip Off Britain

Now on BBC One, Angela, Gloria and Julia are putting

the consumer world to rights in their special live

Thank you very much, and thanks, of course,

to all of you at home for joining us on another of our special live

And this morning we really have packed the programme full of tips

and nuggets on the subjects you've asked us to tackle on your behalf.

So whether it's your broadband speed, charges that don't make sense

or businesses that haven't delivered, stand by for 45 minutes

We asked you to tell us what has left you feeling ripped off and you

contacted us in your thousands. We are all just numbers at the end of

the day, profit is all that matters. You asked us to track down the

scammers who stole your money and investigate the extra charges you

say are unfair. Why can't they just give you the price it should be?

They just try and charge you as much as they can. You have come to us to

stop others falling into the same trap. When it comes to customer

services, it is dreadful. So, whether it is a blatant rip-off or a

genuine mistake, we are here to find out why you are out of pocket and

what you can do about it. Your stories, your money, this is Rip Off

Britain. Hello and welcome to

another morning of putting And we're very much hoping you'll

want to get involved - as of course you've been

doing all week. We'll be catching up

with more of the comments And as you'll see, our item

yesterday on smart meters really Let's see which of our stories today

prompts a similar response. I think you know how to get in touch

by now but just in case, And we're also on Facebook -

at BBC Rip Off Britain - which leads us seamlessly to a story

we'll be looking If you buy something after seeing it

on Facebook and it all goes wrong, does the social media site have ANY

responsibility to help? I imagine we'll hear strong views

on both sides of that And we'll be returning to a subject

that always gets you fired up. And why you don't always get

what you're promised. Plus - we sent one man

and his daughter to try and make sense of the inconsistencies around

child prices, after his nine-year-old daughter was charged

the full adult rate for a haircut. On top of all that,

singer Lesley Garrett reveals her own unpleasant

brush with fraudsters. And we'll be back outside

with the experts at our Personal finance expert

Sarah Pennells is with us again, along with technology guru David

McLelland. But first, the social

media giant Facebook. Its name pops up in a fair number

of the stories you send us. But could that be because sometimes

we're that little bit too trusting on a site where it seems everybody

wants to be your friend? In the UK, 60% of us now have a

Facebook account. While that has revolutionised how we stay in touch

with friends and family, perhaps inevitably, it has also opened up

new ways for us to lose our cash. They know who they are, the friends

who convince asked to do this, by this, and talk to him... But the

site is also home to a busy marketplace, where all manner of

goods and services are sold. And with the site so successful in

encouraging us to treat everyone as friends, some fear we might be drawn

into purchases we would otherwise approach with caution. And if things

do go wrong, you may not always be as protected as you would hope. Amy

spotted a Facebook page called South Shields Day Trips, which was

offering excursions to families. Because she could see friends had

clicked onto the site, she was keen to have a look. People had booked

trip is and they all looked great. And then I saw that they were

offering a deal to go to Disneyland Paris. This had been a dream for Amy

and her children. And, with the reassurance that the trip was being

offered by a local woman with a good track record, Amy paid ?300 for

their weekend away. Probably would have been more hesitant if it was a

faceless person who was hundreds of miles away. I knew from reading the

post on the Facebook page that people who lived in her street had

booked with her, some people went and played at her house in cash.

People had her address, her mobile number, I did not really have any

concerns because I saw so much good feedback. But as the day of the trip

approached, all that changed. Somebody had posted on the Facebook

page that I think they had tried to confirm the booking at the hotel,

and the hotel had no record of the booking. When this was queried with

the woman who ran the page, she was instantly reassuring. She said not

to panic, she said she had the booking details and she would sort

it all out. But just hours before they were due to travel, Ashleigh

Turbitt declared that the trip would not be going ahead. She posted a

message initially, to say that she had been conned. But in fact,

Ashleigh Turbitt had pocketed the money herself. When it all came

about that it was a con, that was three coach falls of Islay is that

was supposed to go, all local families who could not afford to

lose that money. It turned out that the dream holiday Amy had seen on

Facebook had never existed. It would have been my son's first time

abroad, and was a big deal. I just think, if you're going to concoct a

way to con money out of people, that has ought to be one of the most

wicked ways, to upset children by telling them that their dreams are

going to come true. And they've been shattered. In March this year,

Ashleigh Turbitt was convicted of fraud by false representation and

giving a two-year suspended sentence. 151 people had booked

nonexistent trips to Disneyland Paris, and there were other families

who had paid for trips to different destinations. Now, Amy had paid

using PayPal which does usually offer protection if a purchase goes

wrong. But as so much time had passed since making the payment, she

was outside the time frame in which PayPal allows you to raise a

complaint which means it is unlikely that she will get her money back.

Because Facebook itself does not offer any protection in this kind of

situation. And while you might assume that the site has

responsibility for what you see advertised there, as far as the

deputy head of Action Fraud is concerned, very often, it may not be

much different to buying from someone you have just met in the

pub. When you are buying from social media, you're not protected at all.

Essentially you have no idea who you are buying from. It's not like

online shopping, where you know who the retailer is, you are directed to

their websites. Because it is a local environment that you're

dealing with, you're almost treating these people as a friend, and you're

not doing the checks that you would normally do. But with more than a

billion people using Facebook every day, should we really expect the

company to take responsibility for the contracts we make through the

site, if they turn out to be not what we think? In some ways,

Facebook works in a similar way to classified ads, in other words,

buyer beware. But we do often hear from people who tell us that they

feel disappointed, or even that they have lost out as a result of

responding to ads on the site. For example, shallots from Epsom was

drawn to a company with a particularly strong presence on

Facebook, Perfectly Precious Pearls. It offered jewellery made with

high-grade saltwater. Part of the sale was a special pearl party for

customers during which the pearls they had ordered were opened in a

live Facebook stream. People who place orders on that day have their

oysters open to live on Facebook. It was more the thrill of seeing the

colour, the size and the value of it. Charlotte says it was partly

this live stream that drew her in, and she ordered five items of

jewellery, costing ?172. At that stage they seemed really, really

genuine, I thought I was getting the pearls, really high quality, worth a

lot of money, very desirable. The first order didn't turn up, but the

second order, for my sister-in-law, my mother and my daughter, did

arrive but with the wrong pearls and the wrong lettuces. The company

offered to put things right but as Charlotte continued to check the

companies Facebook page, she began to worry. I noted that a lot of bad

reviews were being posted, people not receiving their jewellery, that

they were genuine, and then I started to wonder what was going on.

Charlotte says she tried contacting the company on numerous occasions,

but didn't receive the replacement goods she was promised. Because

shallots hasn't had paid using PayPal she HAS had most of her money

back, but she has been left wary of responding to anything she sees on

sites like Facebook again. If I see adverts on Facebook now, or

generally online, I will not buy, just because of the risk you take.

But adding to her frustration is the fact that the pearls she had ended

up with were not actually the ones she was promised. Instead, she was

sent something far less valuable, as the president of the British Pearl

Association confirmed. Very low quality, in my opinion hugely

overpriced, and I was expect to pay about ?2 for something like this,

such a low-grade quality. Based on the peachy colour of this pearl and

the lay around the pearl, I am confident that this is a freshwater

pearl, not an Okoye pearl. When we got in touch with the Company, it

says its supplier was responsible for providing the wrong pearls. As

soon as it found out, it updated its Facebook page accordingly, it said.

Although the company accepts it has experienced teething problems come

it says it has been the subject of a hate campaign on social media, and

the vast majority of its customers are happy. It says it has never

misled customers, was transparent about issues with the supplier, and

all refund requests will be processed via PayPal, as long as

customers return the goods. While Facebook is not directly connected

to the many businesses that you will find on it, there are many people

who would say that their confidence in those businesses comes from the

reassurance of having found them on such a familiar, friendly site. But

some people think that is a mistake. Be very wary of what you are buying,

look closely at what it is and do some market research, see what those

goods look like from a genuine online shopping site. There are

elements of, if it looks too good to be true, it definitely is. Good

comment. Well, Facebook didn't directly

comment on any of this, but referred us to its commerce

policies and community standards, which it says

all sellers must comply with. And it DOES have plenty

of publicly available advice Our technology expert

David McClelland is with us. David - not all the purchases

people complain to us about were actually

made ON Facebook. It is a bit like an advertisement in

a newspaper, or a postcard in the newsagents, they are just telling

you about it. So do they have any responsibly at allit doesn't, its

role is to facilitate communication between someone who wants to sell

something and someone who wants to buy that thing. Once those big

people have made contact, Facebook is out of the game. So how can you

check that accompany you are dealing with is genuine? Often you are not

dealing with companies, you are dealing with individuals. All you

have got to go on on Facebook is their profile. There are ways of

looking at people's profiles on Facebook but obviously you can only

see what people want to share. If somebody's profile goes back for

years, you might have more of an idea that they might be genuine, but

it is very difficult to tell. Said it yourself, lots of other people

are talking about it, Facebook is a place where you have lots of

friends, so does that mean you let your guard down a bit because you

think it is a friendly site and if somebody else has said it is OK, it

is bound to be? I think so. Facebook is a social network, people are

sharing things, that makes it better for business for Facebook. So, we

need to be careful, essentially, unless they are a friend on

Facebook, they are not a friend. They may try and be your friend, but

you have got to be so careful. And very briefly, how can you protect

yourself? I beware, treat everything with suspicion, be very cautious.

Let's catch up on some of the emails you sent

You'll remember we looked at smart meters and how they may not stay

But lots of you have raised other concerns with them, too.

In particular, whether or not they'll work if you have solar

Brian Exley, Carol Bolton and John Morris are just some

of the people to tell us it doesn't seem that they do.

Carol says that when the engineer who came to fit her meter saw

that she had solar panels, he made clear it wouldn't work

Well, we asked Smart Energy GB about this -

that's the body which does all the PR for the smart

It's all a little complicated, but it seems the smart meter

basically will clock the energy you take from the grid,

but they won't recognise the energy you put in -

in other words what's generated from your solar panels.

Smart Energy GB also responded to a question asked

by Sheila Mayberry, among others - does a smart

meter make you more vulnerable to cyber attack?

The answer we're told is no, and these meters have been

specifically designed to stop that happening.

But we'll give the last word on this for now to Martin Leeming,

who emailed with the very sensible point that smart meters

are only useful if you take notice of the readings.

And they're not a magic way to save money.

And we had a flurry of emails when we said we'd be talking

His house has been "speedchecked" as being able to receive 79

But in fact, he only gets 2.7 megabits.

And Gloria is with a man who won't like that at all.

Yes, Pete Moorey is from the consumer

organisation Which, which is campaigning

To be promised 79 and only get 2.7 is pathetic and it shows that three

quarters of household are doing the same thing, being promised something

they are not getting. That's right and sadly that story is all too

familiar. We hear from people who struggle to do some of the basic

things, sending e-mails, accessing bank accounts, working from home,

and even watching this show on the BBC iPlayer because they have such

bad speeds. That is why we have launched our campaign because we

want to fix bad broadband. Sometimes with the advertising I feel it is

misleading because a lot of the ads promised the world in terms of speed

but we don't get it. You might see adverts that promise is 80, 100

megabits, but the rules say that only one in ten people have to get

the speed promised in those adverts. So what is happening about that? Is

the advertising standards agency getting involved? They are reviewing

these rules and they say that new rules will come in which means that

a majority of people hopefully will receive the speed promised. But we

need to make sure people are able to sort out the problems they have with

their broadband now and not wait for the rules to change. You have a lot

of information from Which which is on your website and on ours. Before

we go, a couple of good tips about how we can improve things for

ourselves? Personally, check your speed, make sure you're getting the

speed that they are promising to you. Secondly, look into what you

can do yourself. You might need a new route, to move the route, and

also go to the company to see what they can do. Maybe they can help.

And finally, if they can't, you can get out of your contract. All of

that information is available on our website and we want people to use it

so they can fix bad broadband. It took me two months to get a new

route are sorted out so it's not always easy but thank you very much.

Even with these early starts, I don't feel a day over 30.

I guess that makes me a proper grown-up!

But for those so young they're not yet an adult,

it seems some companies want the magic of childhood

to end a little earlier than you might expect.

Every parent knows that children can be pretty expensive so it is always

a relief when you're able to pay less for a child than for an adult

but when does a child become an adult? Legally it is 18 but ask a

teenager and they will tell you they are there already. We took to the

streets to find out what you think. I think a child becomes an adult

when they are 18, legally. But maybe 16 to 18, a bit of a grey area. In

this country 18 is the legal age and that is when they should be

responsible and mature enough to know right from wrong. I would say

about 16, when they leave senior School. But as you have been telling

us, things are not always so clear cut. And different companies can

have different ideas as to when those child reductions should end,

as Richard discovered when he took his nine-year-old daughter Jasmine

for a simple haircut at a salon they had used before. On that day we were

out shopping and we decided to get her hair cut at Supercuts. The first

thing the girl asked was how old she was and I said she was nine and she

said she was an adult mouth. I was taken aback by that asked her to

explain why that was and all could save was that it was company policy.

I was not prepared to play adult prices for a nine-year-old child

when she is not even double digits. Faced with paying almost doubled the

price, Richard went elsewhere, but the later checked the Supercuts

website which confirmed that childhood does indeed end at age

eight in its view. It seems such a price hike to go from eight to nine

years old and they almost double the price. I tweeted them to ask why.

Even then all I got back was that it was company policy. They were not

prepared to explain themselves at all. When we got in touch with

Supercuts, it explained, telling is that children eight and under

generally only require a trim when they visit but as they get older

they can be spend more time consulting with the stylist to

decide on the best cut for them. Supercuts said the whole process can

take just as much time as an adult's appointment. The headers Simtek

added that as a child prices are displayed clearly both online and in

salons -- at the hairdresser added. We have come across confusion in the

past with child pricing. In 2015 when Caroline wanted to take her

newborn baby on a cruise, she was told she would have to pay the full

adult fare for the child, which she considered ridiculous. Obviously

they can't see the shows, they can't take part in any of the activities,

so you expect that the baby would have a minimal fee. When it comes to

pricing there are no rules on exact what age a child becomes an adult

and there is nothing illegal about charging different amounts. But

Richard is keen to get his teeth into this issue so he and Jasmine

are going to compare all sorts of price policies they might come

across as a family. Firstly, flights. This is British Airways.

The adult price of to Alicante is ?58. Young adult is 58 pounds, child

is ?58, it is all the same for a 12-year-old as it is for an adult.

Is that fair? No. There are discounted seats for children on

some British Airways reads like long wool but generally you are classed

as a child up to the age of 11 and after that you are classed as a

young adult and any reduction may be smaller. It is similar on other

airlines. Ryanair, Richard found a seat for Jasmine would cost the same

for an adult before taxes and fees. The same amount of money as an adult

for a child is ridiculous. Again, you might find additional child

discount offered by Ryanair but we wanted to know white airlines often

charge the same and adults so we asked. They didn't really want to

tell us. Ryanair said there are security and information reasons for

the age categories. The Ellen told us that it is crucial to identify

each customer at an adult, teenager, child or infant so it can ensure

that no child under 16 who is travelling alone is seated in an

emergency row or pays passenger duty. Head to the high street and

you will find plenty more examples of how policies on child pricing can

vary. We are keen to find out what the pricing policy is at different

restaurants. Fancy going to Nando's? The children menu caters for those

under ten. At Frankie and bennies, the kids meals are designed for 11

and under. At Pizza Express they are for anybody under age ten but all of

these restaurants said that these ages were a guide and anyone with a

small appetite can order from the kids menus. Meanwhile, Pizza Hut

advised its kids meals were only suitable for 12 and under but when

we phoned some local branches we found this policy is not always set

in stone. With their tummies full, it was time for a spot of

entertainment. How about if we try out the cinema to see what prices

they charge? Maybe go and see Beauty And The Beast. Cineworld's prices

vary across the country but they were charged at 14 and under but at

the Odeon child might apply only up to 12 when the chain as a separate

team rate and the same is true at Vue and don't expect child tickets

to be half price although he could get a bargain on special weekend

family screenings. This man works for the British youth Council which

has long campaigned on the issue of child pricing. We would like to call

on the UK Government to get some companies around the table and

really think about how we can ensure that this issue is an issue of the

past. What is important for us is some kind of standardisation, it is

clear that across the country this huge disparity on the age at which

young people are having to pay adult prices, and we would like to see

some sort of parity across the country. After a busy fact-finding

day, what have our pair learnt? I get the picture we got is that it is

all pretty confusing. There doesn't seem to be any set rules, it could

be they decide a child is nine, ten, 14, 16. It is confusing for the

consumer to know exactly if you're getting a discount or not. We are

all left in the dark. What is a consumer? That's you and me,

shoppers! Love I think Jasmine could be a good reporter! A consumer

Reporter. Incidentally, we mentioned BA's

child prices in that film. But it's worth flagging

that the airline's just launched a summer offer where, on six routes,

kids can fly absolutely free. We've been scouring today's papers

for consumer stories and I was struck by this headline

in The Times, "Air pollution in Britain worse than Mexico,

global health body finds." That's a report on new figures

from the World Health Organisation. Using the same data,

other papers report that deaths from air pollution

here are apparently 64 times more likely than in the cleanest

European country, Sweden. That is an appalling figure. And you

might be interested in this. And The Mirror says,

"Cheapie sun creams Tests by the consumer

organisation Which? offered the sun protection claimed

on the label. You may remember we did

similar tests on our holiday series last year,

so as we head into summer, remember you won't get better

protection by splashing out But they don't smell as nice! That

is true. Well, all week we've been

tackling your problems Whenever I've been out

there, it's rained. But Julia's enjoying

a bit of sunshine. That is because I did my son dance

last night! And over here is personal finance

expert Sarah Pennells, along with Nick Fewkes,

who got in touch with a problem involving

the high street chain Next. He was actually buying it through a

third-party company which went bust and he didn't get his kitchen and

Next said nothing doing. A terrible situation. Very sad, it left that in

a lot of problems. How did you go about approaching Next? I have

written to them a few times to get them to accept that responsible at

the what they advertised which was not what we received. What is your

take? I can understand why Mick was reassured by seeing the details on

the Next website, it seemed many people were, but he was buying from

a separate kitchen company. My advice would be that if you think

you're buying from a company do you know and trust and you start dealing

with somebody else, ask some searching questions about what

happens if there is a problem and where the buck stops. And where does

this leave him in terms of his money? The company has stopped

trading and around 1500 people are owed either a deposit or full price

and the illustrated say they are unlikely to get their money back. It

is worth pointing out that if they had paid the deposit or full price

by credit card they would have been protected -- at the administrators.

Next has made it clear it is not accountable and it did not get any

commission on the sale. He was dealing with a separate company

which they say both the contract and a payment went to the kitchen

company and it was three months after they had stopped dealing with

them. They said they understand if he had made a payment of ?3000 to

accompany that arose from the ashes of the supplier, a good about his

kitchen fitted. Presumably you did not fancy paying any more cash? We

didn't and it was more than the original quote. I doubt that I can

add a tiny ray of sunshine to this, but here goes. This is what

Tabernacle is saying. It is not a complete solution -- what Next is

saying. It reiterates it has no legal responsible at the end without

admitting liability is offering a goodwill gesture of ?3000 which is

the amount you could have paid the successor company. What do you think

about that? I'm very surprised and thank you them every bit helps, we

are in a difficult situation with the money we've lost so to get that

much back is very nice to know. I'm glad that you came along and we were

able to help out. Thank you. Well, that certainly leaves Nick

in a better position And we've also heard of positive

developments on some stories we've Just last week, we reported how

Josie from County Down was among those caught out by Anne Ewing

creasing the common scam. She received a call saying that not only

did she know more than ?900 in backdated tax, but that she could

face prison if she did not pay it immediately. I thought I was going

to jail, I thought, what is going to happen to me here? It was

terrifying, it was really terrifying. Georgie was told the

quickest way to settle the debt was to pay using iTunes vouchers, which

are normally used to purchase music and films online. I said to him, is

this a scam? That's when he said, if I was scamming you, I would be

asking for your bank details. I am trying to help you so you don't have

to go to court tomorrow. But the whole thing WAS a scam. These

vouchers are increasingly being used by fraudsters because they work

effectively in the same way as cash. They are difficult to trace and once

you have handed over the vital number on the back, you have lost

your money. Josie was not the only one the fraudsters got their claws

into. A hoax caller persuaded Peter from Sheffield to hand over ?500 in

iTunes vouchers in order to secure a loan. I have tried to recover the

?500 in vouchers that I paid them, but obviously all of my requests

were denied. Making it worse was the fact that he borrowed the money to

buy the vouchers from friends and family. This is really upsetting,

no-one likes to see the family upsets. And... Sorry! And it has

really upset me. Well, since that report went out, the company that

produces iTunes vouchers, Apple, has told us about new measures it hopes

will make things harder for the fraudsters. It has limited the

amount of vouchers that can be bought in any one day and added a

warning to the cards and packaging to make clear that they can't be

used for anything other than iTunes purchases. And Apple has reiterated

the advice, to ignore any calls you may get trying to get you to pay in

this way, because they are simply a scam. Next, some good news on a

story we featured on our Holidays series earlier this year. Harold and

his partner had to cancel their crews to South Africa after she

received some life-changing news from her doctor. She said, sorry,

it's cancer. And I just started shaking, the tears rolled down my

face and I thought... Oh, my god, I have got to tell my husband! She was

advised by her doctor not to travel, so Harold set about trying to cancel

the ?4200 trip with the company they had booked with, called Infiniti

Cruises. But as we often hear in similar situations, the company said

that in line with its terms and conditions, it was non-refundable. I

could not understand why a company should behave like that, somebody

with a genuine illness, and traumatic stage of their life that

they are going through... But things aren't as simple as that

non-refundable line might suggest. This retired barrister told us he

had successfully challenged a big name on the same point, arguing that

as the company had ample time to resell the holiday they had no right

to hold onto his money. It smacks of profiteering, out of somebody else's

personal calamity. Well, at the time we featured the story, after we made

exactly those points to Infiniti Cruises, gave the couple back ?1750.

And now, after Rip Off Britain contacted the company again, it has

given the couple an additional ?216 to cover the cost of some of the

flights they were not able to take. It told us it was happy to have

refunded the money and apologised for the way the situation was

handled, and added that it is contacting the couple to explain how

the cancellation process works. Staying with treble, in 2014, we

reported that a growing number of people travelling from the UK to

Mecca for the once-in-a-lifetime Hajj pilgrimage for finding that the

travel arrangements they had booked failed to materialise. It is a

spiritual journey which every Muslim is expected to make if they can. But

each year, hundreds of people find their trip simply doesn't happen,

including a specialist eye doctor who was left thousands of pounds out

of pocket. It was a disappointment, leave alone the financial

indications. In January this year, the director of the company he had

booked with, was jailed for 14 months for fraud. It appeared that

an increasing number of the companies that have sprung up to

organise Hajj trips don't end up supplying what was promised.

Well, now's the time of year when bookings for most Hajj

pilgrimages are made, so joining me are

Rashid Mogradia from the Council of British Hajj, and David Clover

from the Civil Aviation Authority, which runs the Atol

It is a very special thing for people of the Muslim faith, it must

make them open to fraud? Absolutely, people aspire all their lives to do

the Hajj. With an economy package costing ?4500 per person and 5-star

packages around 6000 or a ?7,000, it is not surprising that people will

try and defraud people carrying out something which is part of their

faith. And we are sometimes talking about whole family is going, so you

can multiply that considerably? Absolutely, and our main advice is

that people should book with Atol-protected holders, and people

should have a Hajj license well. But is it not a problem that people are

unhappy about making complaints about something which is a

pilgrimage? There is an embarrassment within the community

and we need to get beyond that. What is more surprising now is reports of

intimidation and some people actually being threatened, if they

were to go to law enforcement, we have got to break that taboo, we

have got to encourage people to go out and report these fraudsters, who

are working amongst our communities, so that the authorities can take the

necessary action. And indeed, we have had a very successful case at

the beginning of this year but only absolutely right. It demonstrates

the severity of the situation and it sends a strong signal to the

community, that this is something they should work with us on. The

company involved claimed to be Atol-protected, which is that gold

standard, and indeed they weren't. How can people double-check? It is

very simple, the Atol has all the information you need to check

whether a company is a genuine Atol holder. But in the number, the name

of the company, if it rings true, though ahead, if it doesn't, don't

book. So, having checked that, I suppose the advice then to make sure

you don't lose your money is much the same for the Hajj pilgrimage as

it is for any holiday, and that is, check how you pay for it? Yeah, and

there's two ways, one is a bank transfer. Or pay by card, but the

Atol protection scheme will provide financial protection in the event of

that company failing, and you will not be stranded abroad as well.

Unfortunately this is something which is on the increase, so you

have got to get the message across? Yeah, we are working with the

authorities to reinforce the message. The important message is

that people should look for unlicensed companies, and pay by a

card so that they are getting protection from that. On our

website, the Council of British Hajj, you can get information. As

well as going to the Atol website as well. Thank you both of you very

much indeed. Now, all week some well-known faces

have been spilling the beans And today it's a good friend

of mine revealing a really She's one of Britain's best-known

female sopranos, winning critical acclaim and an army of firms. Lesley

Garrett has appeared in Opera, musical theatre, concerts and on

television. And she's a familiar face on BBC Proms, as well as songs

of praise. But can she hit the right notes when it comes to all things

consumer? As a consumer, would you rate yourself? I think I am pretty

poor, actually. I think your programme, Rip Off Britain, was made

for me, because I am so easily ripped off, I am so trusting of what

people are trying to sell me. Have you ever been ripped off? Quit a few

years ago, our debit card was cloned and our account was completely

emptied, and so was our overdraft facility that we had never touched.

We lost about ?25,000. We got it back. But I think we have just got

to be very aware now that these things might happen. Again, it

didn't occur to me that that could happen. I am much more will now

about keeping sight of my debit card or credit card, much more careful

about not letting people see my pin number. There are sharks out there,

that is the point, and you ought to protect yourself? Yes, I think it is

important for all of us to protect ourselves from our scrupulous

people. And I do try, I am trying to be a bit more streetwise. If things

are not quite right, are you a good complain? I have to be very polite

if I complain face-to-face. I have to say, I'm sorry to have to ask

this, but I am just wondering how you arrived at that figure, could

you just break that down for me? I make it a constructive thing, I'm

sure you don't realise this, but... But I do think we are put off

complaining, certainly by telephone, because as we all know, if you want

to get through to talk to somebody, it is all most impossible. You have

to press various buttons and wait for hours. But I have written the

odd complaining e-mail. I am much more assertive in that situation.

Did it bear fruit? Alan in fact I think I might complain more often!

Sohaib Maqsood me a new, assertive goal coming up! She always says it

with a smile! Sarah Pennells and David McClelland

are here to answer This one says, once you have bought

an appliance like washing between or a freezer, is it good to get

additional insurance, once the initial guarantee has expired? Now,

this is often called an extended warranty, a few years ago, they were

very expensive and often mis-sold. Personally I think it is more

important to buy a reliable brand in the first place, and I would also

buy from a retailer which takes customer service seriously. Having

said that, if you want to buy one of these policies, shop around, because

there is quite big difference in price. You do not have to buy them

the retailer you by the appliance from. There is also a difference in

what the policy might cover. Yes or no, in the end? Personally I would

go more on the brand, than buying such a policy. And David, a howl of

pain, this one, he says, I received scam letters from all over the world

in my post, how can I stop this? I guess first of all, the mail

preference service which only works with companies which adhere to those

rules. But also, to try to stop it in the first place, be careful where

you leave your address, be careful which forms you fill in online,

because those details can go anywhere just people might even

start sending out physical mail to you from anywhere in the world, so

watch out where you give your address in the first place. And lots

of people have sent us comments about the child pricing item that we

had, saying that on and a craft or in a cinema, a child takes up

exactly the same space, so why shouldn't they pay the same amount?

And also, on broadband, this person has said, he is not even getting 1

megabit per second, which he says is a disgrace! And Charlotte says she

would like her broadband company to send out an engineer. Anything you

can add to this? There are any number of reasons why you might not

be getting the speed which you paid for, but get in touch with your

broadband provider and put the onus on them to try to fix it, maybe a

new route IS the solution. But you need to tell them that you've got a

problem in the first place. We have to stop it there.

We'll be back tomorrow for what - all too soon -

We'll reveal the vital consumer resource under threat

and why some say that puts millions of us at risk.

We'll also take a look at examples of all-too

convincing fake ID and unravel why some

airlines seem so keen on overbooking their flights.