Episode 5 Rip Off Britain

'We asked you to tell us who's left you feeling ripped-off.'

I think this is very wrong for what they have done.

The bank passed charges upon charges upon charges.

Legally, it was right. Morally? That's where the doubt comes, in my view.

'You contacted us in your thousands,

'by post, e-mail, even stopping us in the street.

'The message could not be clearer.'

-They just try and fob you off.

-I'm not happy with them at all.

It's that small print that's got the clause in that you didn't realise.

We're being ripped off.

'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.'

Keep asking the questions. Go to the top.

We do get results.

'Your stories, your money. This is Rip-Off Britain.'

Hello and welcome to Rip-Off Britain,

where amongst the topics we'll be tackling today is something that thousands of you

have told us is right up there with your biggest bugbears.

-It's known as small print.

-Oh, yes.

When you feel ripped off, all too often it's actually the devil in the detail that's caught you out.

In fact, the Office of Fair Trading has said that the overwhelming majority of their workload

-is dealing with people's confusion over...

-Small print!

Well, in fact, we're probably all guilty sometimes of not reading through those terms and conditions,

so today we'll hear about what can happen if you don't know exactly what you're getting into

when you sign on the dotted line.

Coming up, why, when this woman lost £16,000 to fraudsters,

her bank just didn't believe her.

It's a nightmare that you can't wake up from. What else can you do?

How can you prove you're innocent?

The pricing antics of one of Britain's best-loved comics.

£2.50! Crumbs!

And for one weekend only,

we opened a consumer advice clinic to solve problems

and give help to as many of you as we possibly could.

Whenever we use a credit or a debit card,

we're always asked to keep the PIN number somewhere safe,

where no-one can get hold of it and use it without you knowing.

We're told you have to have a number that no-one else knows, and not to keep it anywhere near the card.

It's all common sense, really, because by doing that

you significantly reduce the chance of a card being used fraudulently.

In 2010, there were over 100,000 cases of card fraud identified in the UK,

with the losses on those cards coming to a whopping £365 million.

'When the chip and PIN system was introduced in 2003,

'it was the biggest change in the way we pay since decimalisation.

'Ever since, it's been heralded by the banking industry as infallible.

'But Professor Anderson disagrees.'

We've found a significant number of vulnerabilities in chip and PIN,

which have led to a lot of fraud.

What's more, in many cases, this fraud is blamed on the card holders.

'Chip and PIN cuts down on fraud in two ways.

'Firstly, there's a microchip on your debit or credit card

'which stores personal data securely so it's difficult to counterfeit.

'The second is the PIN - much harder to copy than a signature.

'Since the scheme started,

'card fraud has dropped by 69%.

'Dr Stephen Murdoch, who works with Professor Anderson, also believes

'that it's not as secure as the banks would have us believe.'

The biggest source of card fraud in the UK is from "card not present" transactions.

That's things like telephone, mainly online transactions.

In most cases, customers do get their money back from this.

The biggest threat to customers, when they don't get their money back,

is fraudulent ATM withdrawals.

Your card might have been taken out of your wallet and used.

We asked ourselves,

how is it possible for a stolen chip and PIN card to be used

by someone who doesn't know the PIN?

We found that if you put a suitable piece of wicked electronics

between the card and the terminal, you can tell the card

that a signature is authorising a transaction,

and tell the terminal

that the card accepted the PIN that was put in at the terminal.

And everything works.

'In other words, these Cambridge boffins have found a high-tech way

'to crack chip and PIN.

'Dr Murdoch's about to prove it.

'He's doing an experiment as if the card he's using has been lost or stolen.

'But with the help of this special gadget, he's hoping

'to trick the sort of terminal used in most shops and restaurants

'into thinking that the correct PIN is being used.'

First, we'll put the card into this device.

This can be made smaller and quite easily hidden up someone's sleeve.

Then we put the card into the terminal, just as normal.

Type in the PIN.

I typed in 1111, which is not the right PIN for the card. Press enter.

-The transaction goes through.

-The transaction HAS gone through.

'Worryingly, it worked.'

We told the industry about this vulnerability in October 2009.

'In the middle of 2010, one of the banks did some work to fix it

'with one of their suppliers, but by December,

'the fix had been taken out and the fraud worked.'

We suspect that they found that the fix was causing too many false alarms

so it would be better to take the risk, rather than upsetting a lot of customers.

That's fair enough, provided they're prepared to give their customers

the benefit of the doubt when they complain about fraud.

'The UK Cards Association is...

'They say, though technically possible...

'And once you've reported your card stolen,

'it would be blocked and the device could no longer work.

'They insist that any innocent victim of card fraud

'won't suffer any financial loss.

'But as you'll see later, it isn't always that simple.'

Now for something generations of us have grown up loving and trusting -

the good old Beano!

The nation's favourite comic has been making children laugh for over 70 years.

But it's the antics off the page which prompted this letter from Christine Knox,

who regularly buys a copy for her grandson.

She wanted us to come up with an answer to this question -

"Why does The Beano feel the need to rip off young children and grandparents?"

The Beano? Ripping people off? Now, that would not be funny.

So we couldn't resist taking up the challenge on Christine's behalf.

Though, as you'll see, we needed a dictionary to do it.

For children, The Beano is as much a part of growing up

as riding a bike and washing behind your ears.

Since the first issue was sold in 1938,

the capers of characters like Dennis the Menace,

and the Bash Street Kids have made the comic a national institution.

12-year-old James Knox is a big fan.

Dennis and Gnasher... and probably Billy Whizz.

They're the main two characters that I quite enjoy.

They cause mischief in Beanotown,

like slingshotting people with tomatoes.

The whole of Beanotown's really, really scared of them.

You're all right while you're not catching cabbages and stuff, James.

James's grandma Christine also has a really soft spot for The Beano.

It encourages them to read, because the stories are all short

and you can read through them pretty quickly.

Of course, it gives them hints and tips on how to be rascals as well!

Christine wrote to Rip-Off Britain, as she thinks that The Beano,

just like Dennis and Gnasher, is up to mischief.

Picture the scene. Christine goes to her local shop to buy The Beano,

as she does every week.

I hope they've got this week's Beano.

AH! There it is!

She goes to pay the usual price.

There you go, £1.50.

Only to find it's a pound more expensive than last week.

No, it's £2.50.

£2.50! Crumbs!

I'm not paying that!

Christine noticed that every time there's a "gift" with The Beano,

the price goes up from £1.50 to £2.50,

and she's pretty miffed about it all.

I just think it's a rip-off.

I don't think if something is advertised as a gift

you should pay for that privilege.

So, to me, a gift is a gift,

and shouldn't have a cost to it.

And clearly, The Beano do charge an extra pound.

The Beano don't actually advertise these gifts as free,

instead using words like "amazing" or simply, "gifts".

But Christine, along with Roger, thinks that's dodging the issue.

If you're going to give a gift, give a gift.

Don't try charging your poor customers extra for that privilege.

The Oxford English Dictionary agrees.

It describes a gift as "a thing given willingly to someone

"without payment".

So, if a gift is something you don't charge for,

how can The Beano put the price up every time one is included?

Christine wrote to the comic twice to ask,

and when they didn't respond, she wrote to us.

We asked The Beano the same question.

They said the cost of producing comics over the last year has...

while at the same time...

To help them attract new readers and...

They adopted a...

..which depends on the overall package presented.

They're stress they're...

..pointing out that there's a cost to them and the readers

as these issues cost more to produce.

And they say research and sales have shown most readers like the gifts.

James, five more minutes, then I want you in.

-Yeah.

-OK.

But Christine thinks The Beano should forget about gifts

and concentrate on what it's been doing so well for over 70 years -

making a magazine which children love.

I will buy it at its normal retail price,

purely and simply because,

it is, at that price, fairly good value for money.

And it does keep him occupied in the back of the car, in his bedroom...

I will not buy it at the inflated price with "amazing gifts" at £2.50.

So, at least James will get his favourite comic some of the time,

which is lucky for him but maybe not so much for the rest of the family.

Remember, five minutes.

Beano is a very good way

of thinking of stuff to menace about.

If gives you ideas of what you can do to your parents when they're asleep,

like draw moustaches on them with marker.

-Have you ever done that?

-No, but I'm going to try it.

At a time when money is tighter than ever,

you need to know your cash is working hard for you,

avoiding rip-offs along the way.

So, we've put together a booklet of advice

to help safeguard your hard-earned money.

You can find the link to the free guide on our website.

If you want a copy in the post, send an A5 self-addressed envelope

to the address we'll give you at the end of the programme.

Earlier, we showed how easy it can be to crack the chip and PIN system

that we all rely on to keep our credit and debit details secure.

With banks reluctant to accept that the system might have flaws,

where does that leave you if you think that somebody has been using your card to withdraw your cash?

'Four little numbers to keep your card details safe.

No PIN, no purchase.

'The system has significantly reduced credit card and bank fraud.

'Banks repeatedly insist it's fool-proof.

'One person who definitely wouldn't agree is Eve Russell.

'She's had a lengthy dispute with Barclaycard which started in August 2010,

'when she queried a new credit card number on literature they sent to her.'

I phoned Barclaycard up and I was told it was my new card.

I said, "What new card? I don't know anything about a new card."

They said the card that I ordered.

I'd phoned up and ordered a new card. I said, "No, I didn't."

The story Barclaycard was told was that I,

or someone pretending to be me, was in a bar in London,

had too much to drink and lost their card so they needed a new one.

This is according to Barclaycard, obviously.

And I said it wasn't me.

'Eve was adamant it wasn't her who'd ordered it, but in any case,

'a new card was out there somewhere in her name.

'Although it had a different number,

'Barclaycard said the PIN was identical. Eve was baffled.'

I thought it was a mistake. Maybe the wrong card number, the wrong Evelyn Russell.

I couldn't believe what they were telling me. I have my card!

I did not order a new card. I did not receive a card.

I did not spend anything on a card, other than the card that I have in my possession.

'Whoever rang gave one wrong answer to Barclaycard's security questions,

'Eve's age on her next birthday.

'For some reason, that wasn't picked up,

'allowing them to order a new card.

'Eve thinks the bank should have also picked up on another big clue that something was amiss.'

In one month, whoever got my card spent £15,000.

My normal spending pattern is roughly £50, £60 a month

on my mobile phone bill, that's all.

Not £15,000!

And I only have a £10,000 limit.

Barclaycard state they will monitor irregular spending.

This is worse than irregular spending.

This is somebody going for a jolly for £15,000 on a £10,000 limit!

Totally different from however I've used my card.

I've been a Barclaycard customer for over 20 years.

Barclaycard should have flagged this.

'As Eve continued to protest,

'Barclaycard produced a somewhat grainy photograph

'of the door the courier had delivered the new card to.

'But it wasn't Eve's front door.

'Although Barclaycard said the card went to a neighbouring address,

'her nearest neighbour said they didn't receive it.

'But that wasn't the worst of it.

'Despite watertight alibis to prove she wasn't present when the card was used,

'Barclaycard said she must have been because the correct PIN was used.

'So they insisted that Eve pay back all the money that had been spent,

'well over £15,000.'

It's a nightmare that you can't wake up from.

What else can you do?

How can you prove you're innocent when you're told,

even if your card had got delivered to Scotland, and the PIN was used, you would still be liable?

'Eve's case is surprising

'because in cases where banks refuse to refund disputed payments,

'they are supposed to provide evidence that the customer's to blame

'either through fraud or negligence, for example, letting someone know your PIN.'

The law has given people additional rights to say that,

even where a PIN was used, that is not proof that the customer

authorised the payment.

The bank have got to come up with very good reasons and some evidence,

to prove that you were either negligent or fraudulent

in the way in which you'd used your card.

They can't simply say, "We're not going to repay you."

If you feel that your bank has acted unfairly,

you ought to go to the Financial Ombudsman Service and let them sort it out.

'Eve did just that and, in October 2011,

'more than a year after the trouble began, the Ombudsman recommended

'that Barclaycard wipe off all the disputed debt,

'remove adverse information from her credit file

'and provide her with compensation, which they've done,

'as well as offering to "contribute to her costs".

'Barclaycard told us they're sorry for their...

'..They claim that Eve gave them contradictory information about the records she'd kept of her PIN,

'but now accept that she was...

'While her battle may be over, Eve is furious

'about what she had to go through.'

I feel terrible about the whole situation, emotionally drained.

It's been an absolute nightmare of a year. Very, very bad.

It's left me absolutely dreadful.

We're here at the Trafford Centre in Manchester where,

for one weekend, we've opened Rip-Off Britain's first pop-up shop.

We've a great selection of experts here

to point people in the right direction.

Mobile and broadband specialist Mike Wilson is expecting a busy desk

and there's one rip-off he sees quite regularly.

Typically, it's customers who've been put on to packages

that probably aren't really suitable for them.

Often they pay over the odds, both for broadband and for mobiles.

It's not long before Mike starts meeting his first customers.

Larry, you're talking to Mike here,

who's our broadband and telephone expert.

-What's your problem?

-The problem is,

I received a letter through the post

offering me a service with television, broadband and telephone

at a much cheaper rate than I was getting from another company.

-How much was that going to cost?

-£30 a month, according to the blurb I got through the post.

How much did it end up costing you?

I began to notice that the bills were saying £57 a month

before I started paying for anything else.

What was going on here, Mike?

What it looks like, is that when Larry signed up for the products,

they put him on a really expensive package,

one of the top packages you can get,

probably more suited to a family of five than Larry and his son.

-Larry, you're 82 now?

-I wish!

-Add another four and count.

-You're 86?

-I am, plus.

-Right.

So clearly he didn't need the package

that was suitable for a family of five.

I think we'd all hope that the provider would recognise

if you're on the wrong tariff and get in touch with you.

But have a look at the bill at the end of the month and say,

realistically, what am I using?

A lot of people sign up for TV packages, all singing,

all dancing, all 900 channels when they don't need half of them.

Check if you're getting charged over your standard package

and make sure you ask them for an itemised bill

and where these costs are coming from.

-Mike, is there anything else we can do for Larry?

-Absolutely.

I'll look at the itemised bills for the telephone package

and make sure you're on the best deal for you.

-A result.

-Very much, yes.

-Nice to meet you, Larry.

-It's been very nice.

-Arrivederci!

-Arrivederci.

If you feel you've been short-changed

by a company you've put your faith in, then do let us know.

We'll have all the contact details later in the programme.

Next, a viewer who got in touch after an experience

that left them feeling bitterly let down.

Geoff and Jackie Churches' plans for their retirement were abruptly halted

when Jackie went for a routine medical visit.

I went to my GP's surgery for a normal diabetic check-up.

During the course of my check-up I asked the nurse whether she could have a look at my right breast,

as it was very uncomfortable. She called in my GP, he had a look,

and he found an extremely large lump.

The lump was diagnosed as cancer and further tests revealed that it was already at an advanced stage.

I'm quite a private person. I burst into tears,

and was carted off somewhere to have a good cry,

and, "That's it, girl! Get it out your system!"

And we actually went out for a meal that lunchtime,

because my daughter said, "I don't want to remember this day as the day I was told my mother had cancer."

The cancer was so advanced that the family was told to prepare for the fact that Jackie was dying.

Any treatment she would receive would only be palliative.

Being told you're terminally ill

is...I think...the most frightening thing anyone has ever said to me.

Your mind goes blank to start off with,

and you think, "One in three people have been told they've got cancer, you're now becoming a statistic...

"What the hell am I going to do about it?" You know, there's things we've got to do.

"How can I live without her?

"How am I going to finance myself, etc...?"

But most of all, "I'm going to live without her, I'm going to be on my own."

When the doctor told me I was terminally ill, it literally was, "I'm going to die..."

You know, do I arrange a funeral, do I...?

There's just so much that went through your mind,

but each time interspersing all of that is, "I'm going to die."

And that's about all I can say is, yeah, you do feel very self-centred,

you want to be private, you want to sneak off somewhere...

Can we stop now?

After the terrible news had sunk in,

the family turned their attention to planning how to make the most of the time they had left together.

And you put L above it.

My youngest son, Stephen, who's very practical, asked whether we had any insurance cover.

And we dug out the old policy, had a look at it,

and, yes, we were covered for terminal illness.

In that sense, we were quite relieved that we could sort some of their debts out and bills,

and there'd be money left over for them to do those little small things they always wanted to do.

But their hopes of a little financial help to ease the situation were soon dashed.

The insurance policy had very specific terms and conditions

relating to terminal illness.

For Scottish Widows to deem that I am actually terminally ill,

they have to write to your oncologist and get proof of your illness.

This is the letter that my oncologist wrote back to Scottish Widows.

I'll read you the relevant paragraph.

"The critical point from your letter of 25th November 2010

"was whether I could confirm life expectancy of no greater than 12 months.

"Although some patients can survive long-term,

"there is a greater than 50% risk of death in the 12 months from the time of diagnosis of metastatic disease."

To me, that paragraph is straightforward.

To Scottish Widows, it wasn't enough.

The sticking point was that Jackie's consultant would not say 100% that she would die within one year,

and as their insurance policy defined terminal illness as "death within a 12-month period",

Scottish Widows refused to pay out.

Jackie and Geoff were left devastated.

I mean, she is terminal, I'm going to lose her eventually,

but they seem to be giving us both a hard time for existing.

I've lost count of the number of times that I've apologised directly speaking to Scottish Widows advisors

for living. It's the biggest mistake of my life is to actually have ended up living,

as opposed to dying to their timetable.

Jackie has already lived longer than the 12-month definition of terminal,

but because that figure is pretty much industry standard, used by all the big insurance companies,

when she appealed to the Financial Ombudsman service, she lost.

Scottish Widows told us that while Jackie is suffering a serious illness,

a specialist medical assessment said that her life expectancy can be...

They say they go beyond the industry's best-practice guidelines when assessing claims,

and use an independent panel to take a second look at any that aren't clear cut.

And they've advised Jackie that "only in the unfortunate event"

that her condition deteriorates to the point where her life expectancy is...

..will they be in a position to pay out.

But whatever the rules, Jackie feels that terminal illness should not have a timetable,

and she's been left feeling very bitter.

I will fight them to the end, to the end, for my money that I've paid in.

Are you baffled by your bills?

I thought, "This can't be true. It's totally unacceptable."

I was so angry.

Tying to wade through never-ending small print

that leaves you totally confused?

I might have been stupid for not reading it,

or I've read it and not took it in.

I could kick myself, I really could.

You can write to us...

..or send us an e-mail.

The Rip-Off team is always looking for the stories that matter to you.

It seems that when faced with unacceptable goods or service,

we Brits simply grin and bear it.

-Perhaps it's down to our stiff upper lip!

-You're right!

Here at Rip-Off Britain, we believe, in these tough economic times,

-you really should stand up for your rights.

-That's always our message.

Bear in mind that it's far more expensive

for companies to find new customers

than it is to satisfy a disgruntled one.

So, there's usually everything to play for.

And remember, if you genuinely feel you've been ripped off or let down,

you need to complain. Again, that's one of our messages.

As consumers, we have very clear rights.

That's where we have to leave it for today,

but obviously, we hope you'll join us next time,

for some more of the rip-offs that are driving you crazy.

-Until then, bye-bye.

-Bye-bye.

-Bye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd