:00:02. > :00:09.left you feeling ripped off. think it is very wrong, what they
:00:09. > :00:16.have done. The bank piles on charges and charges. Legally it was
:00:16. > :00:22.right, but morally, that is where the Dow it is. You contacted us in
:00:22. > :00:29.your thousands, by post and e-mail, stopping us in the street. I do not
:00:29. > :00:34.always get a straight answer, they just fob you off. We are being
:00:34. > :00:39.ripped off, big time. Whether it is a deliberate rip-off, as simple
:00:39. > :00:44.mistake or a catch in the small print, we will find out why you are
:00:44. > :00:52.out of pocket and what you can do about it. Keep asking the questions,
:00:52. > :00:56.go to the top if you have to. stories, your money, this is Rip
:00:57. > :01:02.Off Britain. Welcome to Rip Off Britain where once again we have
:01:02. > :01:06.been investigating your stories, hearing who has left you feeling
:01:06. > :01:10.ripped off for how you have fallen foul of sharp practices.
:01:10. > :01:16.The financial pressures that households have experienced during
:01:16. > :01:21.the downturn caused 1.2 million of you to abandon saving into your
:01:21. > :01:26.pensions. Some of you have looked elsewhere to secure your future but
:01:26. > :01:29.with devastating effects. Today we will hear how some of you
:01:30. > :01:34.have ended up losing tens of thousands of pounds thanks to
:01:34. > :01:40.opportunities that turned out to be different to the ones you thought
:01:40. > :01:45.you had signed up to. In one case, the company responsible appears to
:01:45. > :01:49.have vanished completely. Later today we will be
:01:49. > :01:55.investigating how this man stands to lose �9,000 after an investment
:01:55. > :02:01.did not go to plan. I have spent a lot of money and I have ended up
:02:01. > :02:06.with absolutely nothing. And how a promise of profits from owning land
:02:06. > :02:09.has had devastating consequences. We found out that they had not
:02:09. > :02:16.applied for planning permission and they had effectively made off with
:02:16. > :02:21.a lot of money. We set up our very own Pol Pot Shop where you came men
:02:21. > :02:25.and told us your consumer concerns. Some of the stories we will hear
:02:25. > :02:31.today are to do with putting your money into some sort of property or
:02:31. > :02:36.land, whether it is at home or abroad. An increasingly popular
:02:36. > :02:40.choice in this country is what is called a part home. These are
:02:40. > :02:45.bungalows style mobile homes usually sit on private estates
:02:45. > :02:50.where the lure of a picturesque location has convinced thousands to
:02:50. > :02:54.sell up and take the plunge. But they are not regulated in the same
:02:54. > :02:59.way as traditional homes and some owners have found themselves drawn
:02:59. > :03:05.into lengthy battles with the part's management.
:03:05. > :03:09.The John Gilmore has lived here since 1978. With the beautiful
:03:09. > :03:15.countryside on his doorstep and the strong sense of community spirit in
:03:15. > :03:20.the area, he expected this to be his final move. He opted to buy
:03:20. > :03:29.what is commonly called a part home. He purchased the property but not
:03:29. > :03:34.the land it sits on. I thought, this is a nice place, I can see my
:03:34. > :03:43.gaze out here. When we moved here, everyone had their own fence and
:03:43. > :03:50.that was it. This is the hanging baskets and the flowers and the
:03:50. > :03:55.decking that I had. Four years after moving in, lie for John
:03:55. > :04:02.changed. The brand new owners took over the site. It was not long
:04:02. > :04:08.before they started to make changes. My place was parallel to the road.
:04:08. > :04:14.He wanted to widen the road. Not only that, he wanted me to 90
:04:14. > :04:20.degrees so I was in line with all the others, which they did. In the
:04:20. > :04:24.process, John's porch and decking were demolished and rebuilding them
:04:24. > :04:32.would cost �9,000, so he asked the company to foot the bill, but they
:04:32. > :04:38.refused. John was astounded. It has been spoilt by the way we have been
:04:38. > :04:42.treated. We asked the owners to comment on the way John was treated,
:04:42. > :04:48.and the owners said that when he purchased a site it was run down
:04:48. > :04:51.and in breach of its licence. He said he explained to the residents
:04:51. > :04:57.what needed to be done to rectify breaches, including moving some
:04:57. > :05:03.homes. He said he would not be responsible for moving unauthorised
:05:03. > :05:09.extensions, and said that John was fully aware this included his porch
:05:09. > :05:14.and the deck. But John fought back into Kay's case to court. John was
:05:14. > :05:20.told to take down a shed that did not have proper permission, but the
:05:20. > :05:27.company was ordered to pay for John's damage property and a legal
:05:27. > :05:31.costs as well. John has still not received all of his money. The site
:05:31. > :05:36.corners appeal be caught's decision and successfully. They still have
:05:36. > :05:41.to pay the outstanding fees. I will not do any remedial work at my own
:05:41. > :05:48.expense. As the number of people buying into this lifestyle
:05:48. > :05:54.increases, so do the problems. This woman is on the road gathering
:05:54. > :06:02.information from people like John. It is typical of what is happening,
:06:02. > :06:06.pretty widespread. Does the part have a residents' association?
:06:06. > :06:13.This woman has sent her findings to MPs in the hope that they will do
:06:13. > :06:17.more to protect residents' right. This is a move that one trading
:06:17. > :06:22.standards officer would welcome. Owners can increase their rounds
:06:22. > :06:26.year-on-year if the part was kept up to the standard that it was when
:06:27. > :06:32.people into their contracts, they are entitled to increase the fee
:06:32. > :06:38.each year by the rate of RPI, but the problems come when parks are
:06:38. > :06:42.neglected and the facilities and then delighted use. Residential
:06:42. > :06:47.property tribunals came into force two naked easier and cheaper to
:06:47. > :06:52.settle disputes, but even now, the onus remains on residents to
:06:52. > :06:58.instigate any legal action. I would not advise anybody in the current
:06:58. > :07:02.climate to buy a part home because even if you are certain that the
:07:02. > :07:07.part home site operator is absolutely splendid, how do you
:07:07. > :07:13.know whether he or she is going to have to sell up? How do you know
:07:13. > :07:17.who will buy the site? Meanwhile, the owner of John's site says that
:07:17. > :07:22.with the help of residents they hoped to bring this place in line
:07:22. > :07:26.with the standard of the rest of their parts. But until that happens,
:07:26. > :07:35.John feels that his dream retirement home has become anything
:07:35. > :07:40.but. I cannot sell the place in its present condition. This is not a
:07:40. > :07:50.place we are proud to living. I used to be able to invite people in,
:07:50. > :07:50.
:07:50. > :07:54.but you're ashamed of the place now. If you're one of the 444,000 people
:07:54. > :08:00.in the UK who owned a holiday timeshare, you have got to be
:08:00. > :08:03.familiar with how they work. You may also be familiar with how
:08:03. > :08:09.tricky they can be to sell on, to end the arrangement if you no
:08:09. > :08:13.longer wanted, so when our programme heard from 50 complaints
:08:13. > :08:19.-- 50 customers of the same company all felt trapped in their contrite,
:08:19. > :08:22.we wanted to see if we could do anything about it, but what
:08:22. > :08:27.happened next surprised even us. Diamond Resorts International are
:08:27. > :08:32.one of the major players in the timeshare market. But Diamond
:08:32. > :08:38.Resorts International is not everybody's best friend. At Rip Off
:08:38. > :08:40.Britain we were contacted by fitted -- 50 British customers of Diamond
:08:40. > :08:45.Resorts International and they are all saying the same thing, that
:08:45. > :08:50.their experience falls short of the glossy standards of the adverts. We
:08:50. > :08:55.cannot identify any of the people we spoke to, and you will see why
:08:55. > :09:02.in a moment, but with the help of one of our research team, we can
:09:02. > :09:07.show you this. We have had lots of it -- lots of e-mails about the
:09:07. > :09:11.company so we decided to look into them. Most of the people we spoke
:09:11. > :09:17.to were initially pleased with their holiday investment, but for
:09:17. > :09:21.some, this Diamond lost its sparkle. Like most timeshare schemes these
:09:21. > :09:26.days, rather than buying into one property, customers of Diamond
:09:26. > :09:30.Resorts International had access to a range of exclusive resorts.
:09:30. > :09:36.People were spending money on points, anywhere from a couple of
:09:36. > :09:40.1,000 pounds, to hundreds of thousands of pounds. With points
:09:40. > :09:44.came the prices of luxury holidays around the world, but there is more
:09:44. > :09:48.money to shell out. Diamond Resorts International customers pay annual
:09:49. > :09:53.maintenance fees for the upkeep of the resort and the amount they are
:09:53. > :09:57.charged is determined by the amount of points they have. That is where
:09:58. > :10:02.the trouble starts. When they signed up they agreed that their
:10:02. > :10:08.management fees would increase with the retail price index, but we have
:10:08. > :10:14.been hearing about increases significantly larger than that. Our
:10:14. > :10:22.and maintenance started off at only �100, it is now more than 1,000.
:10:22. > :10:26.Her management fees were 1004 funded and 50, now they are 2,800.
:10:26. > :10:31.With annual fees now costing more than an entire holiday from a
:10:31. > :10:35.travel agent, the members we heard from decided enough was enough.
:10:35. > :10:39.They wanted out if their contracts even though it meant writing off
:10:39. > :10:44.the thousands be spent on points, but Diamond Resorts International
:10:44. > :10:47.were having none of it. When the colt to cancel the contract they
:10:47. > :10:53.were directed to the small print and they realised that they were
:10:53. > :11:00.trapped. The terms and conditions allied only four circumstances
:11:00. > :11:06.under which customers can cancel, first, the least attractive, death.
:11:06. > :11:11.The second, bankruptcy. You can also cancel if you're over 75, but
:11:11. > :11:16.only if you have no transferable family members. Or if you have
:11:16. > :11:22.medical problems which stop you from travelling. Is such a
:11:22. > :11:26.restrictive contract fair. We need a lawyer. Through the contract
:11:26. > :11:31.there are some interesting points. You can resign from being a member
:11:31. > :11:35.but even if you do that, your liability to pay for things last be
:11:35. > :11:40.on that date. There is a right for the company to sell the points to
:11:40. > :11:46.other people if they wish, but they do not have to do that. It is
:11:46. > :11:51.important that you look at what you are signing up to. I'm happy at the
:11:51. > :11:55.contract, some of the customers stop paying the escalating fees. We
:11:55. > :12:01.have filmed interviews with a whole range of those unhappy customers so
:12:01. > :12:04.you may wonder why you're not seeing them on the screen. It is
:12:04. > :12:09.because after we contacted the company to get their comments there
:12:09. > :12:12.was something of an unexpected development. We gave Diamond
:12:12. > :12:18.Resorts International a list of unhappy customers and suddenly they
:12:18. > :12:23.all received at a letter from the company. It said that they would be
:12:23. > :12:28.freed from their contract under one condition, they could not speak to
:12:28. > :12:33.the media about it. So we're not using the entry views we film,
:12:33. > :12:38.because it seems as if the people speak to us again, they could be in
:12:38. > :12:45.big trouble. I have seen that with lots of confidentiality clauses
:12:45. > :12:48.over the years. This one is unusual because it requires them to pay
:12:48. > :12:53.�10,000 if they breach the confidentiality. They are saying
:12:53. > :12:56.they will go to court and claimed �10,000 if they breached the
:12:56. > :13:02.contract. It seems to be a deterrent in terms of stopping
:13:02. > :13:06.people speaking to the media. Customers may not be allowed to
:13:06. > :13:11.speak, up bat at Rip Off Britain we do not like to keep good news to
:13:11. > :13:14.ourselves. These members will be delighted to be free of their
:13:14. > :13:19.contract even though it does mean writing of the cash they have spent
:13:19. > :13:23.on points. Diamond Resorts International told us they have
:13:23. > :13:24.thousands of satisfied members and their maintenance bills come with a
:13:24. > :13:30.their maintenance bills come with a full explanation of any significant
:13:30. > :13:35.change, which were often due to factors outside their control, for
:13:35. > :13:39.example, a sharp drop in the exchange rate in Europe. They
:13:39. > :13:45.stressed that membership is a long- term commitment and if members stop
:13:45. > :13:49.paying it impacts on everyone else. But the stress that they allow
:13:49. > :13:53.members to cancel under certain circumstances and they have decided
:13:53. > :13:55.that it is in the interests of the individuals we heard from to except
:13:55. > :14:01.the cancellation of their the cancellation of their
:14:01. > :14:06.membership. For these customers at least, Diamond Resorts
:14:06. > :14:10.International's rigid no escape policy is no more. It goes to show
:14:10. > :14:15.that persistence pays off and we're very happy if we have helped along
:14:15. > :14:21.the way. Henry is an independent property
:14:21. > :14:25.expert. He has some advice on how to invest in property safely.
:14:25. > :14:30.Although the market is much tougher as a result of the recent financial
:14:30. > :14:36.crisis, there are opportunities out there for the clever financial
:14:36. > :14:39.investor. One of the problem with Property Investment Clubs is they
:14:40. > :14:44.provide a one stop shop for property, where they provide a
:14:44. > :14:49.source of properties to buy, the finance to date and a management
:14:49. > :14:55.service for when you have purchased it. These three all in house should
:14:55. > :14:59.ring alarm bells in many potential investors' mind. The current
:14:59. > :15:04.financial climate makes it much harder to find the funds and borrow
:15:04. > :15:08.the money in the first place to buy a property to lack, but it also
:15:08. > :15:18.throws up massive opportunities with distressed bales and people in
:15:18. > :15:26.
:15:26. > :15:30.difficult circumstances. -- a Big companies don't always make
:15:30. > :15:35.things easy to understand. It can be confusing trying to work out why
:15:35. > :15:41.you haven't ended up with what you expected. If you feel bogged down,
:15:41. > :15:51.we have put together a booklet of advice. You can find a link to the
:15:51. > :15:54.free guide on our website. Or, to receive a copy in the post, send an
:15:54. > :15:58.envelope to the address we will give you at the end of the
:15:58. > :16:02.programme. The Here's another investment that
:16:02. > :16:09.can go horribly wrong and has already caught out thousands of
:16:09. > :16:13.people. Between them they have lost an estimated total of �200 million.
:16:14. > :16:18.After buying plots of land that turned out to be worthless. This
:16:18. > :16:22.has prompted the Land Registry to warn the public of the risks of
:16:22. > :16:27.buying land as part of a Land Banking scheme. Were you are sold a
:16:27. > :16:32.plot of land which is claimed to have a good investment value
:16:32. > :16:35.because it is ripe for development. All too often it turns out there is
:16:35. > :16:39.a fat chance of that tournament ever happening which you will only
:16:39. > :16:44.discover when you have handed over the cash.
:16:45. > :16:49.Adrian Jones from wigan macro ran a successful chemical company for 24
:16:49. > :16:56.years. When he retired he was hoping to enjoy the rewards of that.
:16:56. > :17:01.My plan for the future was really to enjoy my retirement. And,
:17:01. > :17:04.hopefully, to leave our children some inheritance. Age and have some
:17:04. > :17:10.money to invest so when he got a brochure from a company promising
:17:10. > :17:16.big returns, he was interested. tight and see your returns
:17:16. > :17:20.maximised. It looked simple enough, Land Banking UK would make all the
:17:20. > :17:25.arrangements for you to buy a plot of land. They would negotiate
:17:25. > :17:31.planning permission for housing, and your land increases in value
:17:31. > :17:35.without you having to do anything. The sales pitch was, once planning
:17:35. > :17:41.permission had been gained, they would sell the land to a developer.
:17:41. > :17:46.They expected a tenfold increase in the value of our investment.
:17:46. > :17:52.Decided he could expect big money in the future, Adrian bought three
:17:52. > :17:59.plots, investing �35,000. Once planning permission had been gained,
:17:59. > :18:04.they would be sold to a developer, and we would receive about 60% of
:18:04. > :18:09.any but left in value of the land, the other amount would go to the
:18:09. > :18:15.company which was the incentive to make it work. Their promise was to
:18:15. > :18:20.try, try again, until they obtained planning permission. So hopefully,
:18:20. > :18:25.within a short number of years, the investment would come to fruition.
:18:25. > :18:31.Land Banking UK is one of many companies selling land this way,
:18:31. > :18:35.promising rich rewards further down the line when the site is developed.
:18:35. > :18:38.But the Insolvency Service to investigate companies operating
:18:38. > :18:43.against the public interest has seen too often people fall foul of
:18:43. > :18:51.them. They are called called by persistent sales people who say
:18:51. > :19:00.they have plots of land for sale without planning permission -- cold
:19:00. > :19:06.called. People are duped into paying inflated prices. That is
:19:06. > :19:11.what happened to a gin. We had bought a worthless piece of land.
:19:11. > :19:16.The company never applied for planning permission. In 2007 we
:19:16. > :19:21.found the company had gone into interim administration. In April
:19:21. > :19:26.2008, we found out from the liquidator that the company had in
:19:26. > :19:34.fact been wound up. Far from making a profit, age and had nothing to
:19:34. > :19:39.show for his �35,000. One might think a tenfold increase was too
:19:39. > :19:44.good to be true. It was. As a result, I suppose you could say I
:19:44. > :19:49.was a little gullible, more than a little gullible. The thing people
:19:49. > :19:54.should be asking themselves is why should somebody call you out of the
:19:54. > :19:57.blue with a fantastic scheme to sell a piece of agricultural land,
:19:57. > :20:03.because if the scheme was that fantastic, why are they offering it
:20:03. > :20:11.to you? Chris from Worcester also took up one of these fantastic
:20:11. > :20:16.looking schemes from land bank UK - - Land Banking UK. We purchased two
:20:16. > :20:22.plots of land and we were told the return would be up to seven times
:20:22. > :20:27.out investment, we were looking at �140,000 return on our investment.
:20:27. > :20:32.Chris was horrified to discover Land Banking UK had gone into
:20:32. > :20:37.administration. So there would be no planning permission and no
:20:37. > :20:42.return on his investment. We were very distressed we have invested
:20:42. > :20:46.our money and we had been cheated by Land Banking UK. We have found
:20:46. > :20:52.that they hadn't actually applied for planning permission, they had
:20:52. > :21:00.effectively made off with our money. The Financial Services Authority
:21:00. > :21:05.calls Land Banking UK -- this kind of scheme paid �200 billion the
:21:05. > :21:11.year problem. I feel there are not enough
:21:11. > :21:19.safeguards to protect the consumer from people who are out to actually
:21:19. > :21:26.extorts money from you. A �35,000 investment is never an easy matter
:21:26. > :21:33.to write-off. And, that is why we continue to try to fight, and get
:21:33. > :21:39.some satisfaction for investors, and that is why we will continue to
:21:39. > :21:43.fight until it is resolved. We won't give up on this.
:21:43. > :21:49.It is cases like this that have prompted the Land Registry to
:21:49. > :21:54.reissue its guide on these schemes, with detailed advice on anyone --
:21:54. > :22:00.for anyone interested in these kinds of schemes. You can find a
:22:00. > :22:04.link to this on our website. Not all of these schemes are rip-offs
:22:04. > :22:09.but we only hear about the ones that are. If you think this case
:22:10. > :22:16.was bad, wait until you hear the one we have later on.
:22:16. > :22:23.Still to come full on -- on the programme, sales which haven't
:22:23. > :22:27.lived up to the height. It is a definite scam. Here in Manchester,
:22:27. > :22:35.hundreds of people have been along to our pop art shop and there are
:22:35. > :22:40.plenty more people waiting to tell us their stories. Let us go inside.
:22:40. > :22:42.When Foroozan decided to invest in a timeshare property, she didn't
:22:42. > :22:49.realise her holiday home would be so problematic.
:22:49. > :22:58.They invited me to buy a timeshare from a company. They started to
:22:58. > :23:07.have a timeshare as a temporary, then I had it as a prominent, now
:23:07. > :23:11.until 2067. With high maintenance charges? Yes. I must say, yours is
:23:11. > :23:21.not the first story I have heard. There have been some absolutely
:23:21. > :23:22.
:23:22. > :23:27.awful examples of this selling of timeshares, thousands of people are
:23:27. > :23:33.ruined -- it are in the position of being obliged to pay thousands of
:23:33. > :23:38.pounds for a property which will continue until 2067. That seems
:23:38. > :23:44.absurd. What makes it absurd is it is legal. You side something to
:23:44. > :23:50.make it legal for them to do it. It must be you angry. We're hoping the
:23:50. > :23:53.UK or Europe will legislate to say, people can absolve themselves of
:23:53. > :23:59.their time share liabilities. At the moment, that hasn't come
:23:59. > :24:04.through. I am so sorry, there's nothing in law I can see that gives
:24:04. > :24:09.you protection at the moment. Sadly, we couldn't help Foroozan.
:24:09. > :24:15.Let us hope by hearing her story you will not be caught out.
:24:15. > :24:18.We have had another incredibly busy day here in Manchester. It has been
:24:18. > :24:22.wonderful having the BBC Learning team with us, dispensing a lot of
:24:22. > :24:27.advice to people and I got some myself.
:24:27. > :24:31.We are asking and encouraging people to do is to maximise your
:24:31. > :24:35.maths, then you will not be ripped off. It doesn't matter if you get
:24:35. > :24:38.it wrong, just try. I feel I am setting myself up for
:24:38. > :24:46.failure but I am prepared to give myself a go.
:24:46. > :24:54.What have we got here? I am going to views these two ropes. Try to
:24:54. > :24:59.release yourself without taking the rope off. Can we go around the
:24:59. > :25:02.corner? That is a cheeky. The idea it is to use maps to work out the
:25:02. > :25:07.number of moves to get yourself free.
:25:07. > :25:14.We are getting along like a house on fire. Proving to be rubbish at
:25:14. > :25:18.this task. Give us a week or two! The way things are going, even a
:25:18. > :25:24.week might be optimistic. Thankfully, we have an expert on
:25:24. > :25:30.hand to help us escape. Underneath... Through here. There
:25:30. > :25:35.you go. Maths is fun, something we can all
:25:35. > :25:42.do. Even if we are not very good, have a go. There are lots more
:25:42. > :25:46.games online, lots to practise. In the real world, you are armed with
:25:46. > :25:50.good maths skills so you won't be ripped off.
:25:50. > :25:54.With pension payout rates crashing and the cost of living soaring, it
:25:54. > :25:59.is no surprise that official figures show a rise in the number
:25:59. > :26:04.of newly retired pensioners going back to work. It seems instead of
:26:04. > :26:08.enjoying the so-called golden years, an increasing number of over 65
:26:08. > :26:14.feel forced to return to work. Some you have tried to plan ahead by
:26:14. > :26:17.investing your money to top up your pension. When Ian Langley did that,
:26:17. > :26:22.his investments didn't go at all to plan.
:26:22. > :26:26.Ian Langley is a company director. In his spare time, his collection
:26:26. > :26:31.of vintage fire engines provides a much needed to escape from his
:26:31. > :26:37.working life. When he is not tinkering with his engines, he
:26:37. > :26:41.prides himself on preparing for his teacher. In 2009, the funds in his
:26:41. > :26:46.private pension scheme were cut to half and he looked at other ways to
:26:46. > :26:50.bolster his finances. The one thing I was aware of was property
:26:50. > :26:53.maintained or increased its value over the years which is why I was
:26:54. > :26:57.looking for an alternative form of investment which wasn't too risky
:26:57. > :27:02.but which would produce a better yield than my pension funding
:27:02. > :27:08.arrangements. After signing up to way trade newsletter, he was e-
:27:08. > :27:12.mailed by a company called Property Mentor. They offered prospective
:27:12. > :27:16.investors the chance to climb the property ladder and managed a
:27:16. > :27:20.rental portfolio through a series of courses and tuition. I could
:27:20. > :27:24.invest in property, it would produce meat a net cashflow each
:27:24. > :27:27.month which I could use to top up my pension. From what he read,
:27:27. > :27:31.Property Mentor or were offering the chance to make money by
:27:31. > :27:35.investing in property. Most temptingly, the company seemed to
:27:35. > :27:40.be saying he could do this without using any of his own money for a
:27:40. > :27:45.deposit. I went to a taster session and it sounded plausible. The
:27:45. > :27:49.workshop was run by the guy who roams the company. In the lead by
:27:49. > :27:59.signing up he would be offered a profit-making investment property
:27:59. > :28:03.within 12 months. He liked what he heard and so he paid �997 and
:28:03. > :28:07.signed a credit agreement for �7,200 to pay for the cost of the
:28:07. > :28:12.seminar, and the information he thought he would be getting from
:28:12. > :28:19.them. As I drove away from the course on that Sunday, I felt I had
:28:19. > :28:23.now done what was necessary to secure financial security for by
:28:24. > :28:30.family. In order to secure that future, he agreed to pay the fees
:28:30. > :28:39.in monthly instalments for six years, as well as an additional
:28:39. > :28:42.�1,420 for demand reports giving details of properties. I was by
:28:42. > :28:46.then convinced the system made sense. Other people had stood up
:28:46. > :28:52.and showed all of us on the course how it worked for them. That's why
:28:52. > :28:55.I was prepared to pay extra. With all payments in place, Ian waited
:28:55. > :29:02.for Property Mentor to supply him with details of properties in his
:29:02. > :29:07.chosen area. Ian didn't have long to wait. But, what he received fell
:29:07. > :29:10.way short of his expectations. properties they were sending me
:29:11. > :29:14.were several hundred miles away from where I live or work,
:29:14. > :29:22.difficult to manage those properties. They all require a
:29:22. > :29:27.deposit. The cheapest was a �16,000. Typically there were �40,000
:29:27. > :29:36.touching macro they were �40,000. Ian was beginning to get married
:29:36. > :29:42.and he was on the anyone. -- get worried and he wasn't the only one.
:29:42. > :29:47.Other people on the course were getting despondent. Vienna was
:29:47. > :29:57.convinced for if you �1,000 initial outlay, he would get a profit-
:29:57. > :30:03.
:30:03. > :30:07.making property. Instead he has I have spent a lot of money, and I
:30:07. > :30:13.have ended up with nothing apart from more expense. I am left
:30:13. > :30:19.thinking I have wasted something like 18 months, and I have not yet
:30:19. > :30:23.achieved my ambitions for financial security. To date, Ian has paid
:30:23. > :30:27.property meant for more than �4,000 and is continuing to pay the
:30:27. > :30:35.monthly fee he signed up to because he did not want to damage his
:30:35. > :30:39.credit rating. Because I am involved in financial services, I
:30:40. > :30:45.cannot do this. We contacted the company and asked them to comment
:30:45. > :30:50.on the case. They were so convinced that the money Ian has spent with
:30:50. > :30:57.them has been money well spent that they agreed to give us an interview.
:30:57. > :31:02.We ask them to explain services that they provide. We teach our
:31:02. > :31:07.delegate seven financial tools. Any one of those financial tools enable
:31:07. > :31:13.you to buy property without spending your own money. So in a
:31:13. > :31:18.sense you're spending money -- you are spending what we call other
:31:18. > :31:24.people's money on property, a bank's money, alone, that type of
:31:24. > :31:28.thing. So if he had put our techniques to the properties, he
:31:28. > :31:35.would have been able to buy them without tying up his own personal
:31:35. > :31:40.capital. But Ian is not convinced and he wants his money back. We'd
:31:40. > :31:47.be company be able to give him a refund? We have given him a
:31:47. > :31:52.guarantee which we will stand by. Any business, any product out there,
:31:52. > :31:58.if it is delivered, even with a guarantee, why would a customer be
:31:58. > :32:03.able to get their money back? We have delivered everything in our
:32:03. > :32:08.contract with Mr Langley. I think we have gone way beyond it to try
:32:08. > :32:14.and help and assist him. If our delegates put the effort into the
:32:14. > :32:19.system, it works. If they put the effort into asking for their money
:32:19. > :32:23.back, I would question of where their effort is being paid. There
:32:23. > :32:28.is no suggestion that Property Mentor have broken any laws in
:32:28. > :32:33.their dealings with the in. Ian admits he was seduced by the sales
:32:33. > :32:37.patter and did not fully questioned the scheme before signing up. For
:32:37. > :32:42.him, the whole experience has been an expensive washout which she
:32:42. > :32:50.hopes others will learn from. feel like I have been suckered and
:32:50. > :32:54.that hurts. Earlier we heard about Adrian Jones from Wigan a los
:32:54. > :32:59.�35,000 to unscrupulous land developers. It is a staggering
:32:59. > :33:04.amount of money to lose, but unfortunately not the highest
:33:04. > :33:09.amount that we have heard about in this situation. Sports-mad Eric
:33:09. > :33:13.Wright has worked since he was 14 years old. When he retired he
:33:13. > :33:19.wanted to invest some of the money he had turned to make sure his
:33:19. > :33:23.future was financially secure. was having a good back-up as I got
:33:23. > :33:28.older, and not knowing naturally how your health is going to be. I
:33:28. > :33:36.live on my own since my wife passed away so protecting my future was
:33:36. > :33:40.important. In January 2010, Eric received a cold call from a company
:33:40. > :33:46.called Property Partnership, based in Bishopsgate in London and not to
:33:46. > :33:52.be confused with other companies with similar names. They were
:33:52. > :33:58.offering him an opportunity to buy plots of land which apparently had
:33:58. > :34:03.massive investment potential. They seemed to be kosher Randy promises
:34:04. > :34:11.were reassuring. They made it sound so good that I could not refuse.
:34:12. > :34:15.Eric bought a plot in Peckham for �5,000. He then paid another 25,000
:34:15. > :34:19.for one in King's Lynn, which she was promised would be sold to
:34:19. > :34:26.housing developer by Christmas making him a large hassle-free
:34:26. > :34:32.profit. They said Des was going to be a good return, one of the best
:34:32. > :34:36.sites they had ever had. -- are they said this was going to be. I
:34:36. > :34:42.wanted to increase the money that I had and I thought this would be
:34:42. > :34:48.ideal. Once he had laid out the initial �30,000, the company kept
:34:48. > :34:52.asking for more and more money. Faced with persuasive sales people
:34:52. > :34:58.and what seemed like legitimate business, Eric felt he had no
:34:58. > :35:05.choice but to pay, and soon found he had forked out an initial -- an
:35:05. > :35:10.extra �42,000 on top of his initial investment. They have a way of more
:35:10. > :35:13.less pressurising you and making you see their way. They say that if
:35:13. > :35:19.you do not act urgently you could lose all the previous money you
:35:20. > :35:27.have invested. They say it is nearly at an end, the sale will be
:35:27. > :35:31.going ahead shortly. By the time he handed over another �6,000, Eric
:35:31. > :35:35.was getting suspicious. The paper work he was being sent did not
:35:35. > :35:42.stack up and all his queries seem to be answered with more demands
:35:42. > :35:47.for money. The final straw came when they said that in order to get
:35:47. > :35:54.the payout that seat -- that they insisted was still coming, he would
:35:54. > :36:01.have to shell out more cash. thought this was definitely a scam.
:36:01. > :36:07.I said no, I will not send any more money, there is something wrong.
:36:07. > :36:12.�78,000 down, Eric discovered that despite what he had been told, the
:36:12. > :36:17.land he had purchased had no planning permission. As Larry
:36:17. > :36:22.Russen, a local chartered surveyor in King's Lynn explains, this makes
:36:22. > :36:29.the land virtually worthless. lander derricks owns is probably
:36:29. > :36:35.worth only around �500 because it does not have planning permission.
:36:35. > :36:39.-- At the land that any cones. The council is considering whether the
:36:39. > :36:45.area should be given residential planning permission, but that is
:36:45. > :36:50.not guaranteed. When he realised this, and it asked the Property
:36:50. > :36:57.Partnership for his money back. said he was not happy and he wanted
:36:57. > :37:03.his money returned. I have not had any reply for them -- from them.
:37:03. > :37:07.This gets worse. Rip Off Britain did some investigating and
:37:07. > :37:12.discovered that ownership of the property in King's Lane was never
:37:12. > :37:17.even transferred to Eric. It seems that he has been sold other pieces
:37:17. > :37:23.of land around the country. He cannot complain to Property
:37:23. > :37:29.Partnership because they have gone into liquidation. In the meantime,
:37:29. > :37:34.78-year-old Eric has lost his life savings. It is all right looking
:37:34. > :37:38.back on these things, saying, I would never do that again, and I
:37:38. > :37:46.would never do it now, but I was gullible to taking everything they
:37:46. > :37:49.told me. We did try to cop it -- we did try to contact the Property
:37:49. > :37:55.Partnership, the company that took such massive sums of money from
:37:55. > :38:00.Eric Wright. We sent them a letter, but it came back marked, Return to
:38:00. > :38:07.sender. We have tried other avenues to get in touch with them, but to
:38:07. > :38:13.all intents and purposes, it seems that they, like the money, have
:38:13. > :38:17.simply disappeared. But we will keep trying.
:38:17. > :38:23.According to the FSA, landbank schemes are �200 million a year
:38:23. > :38:26.headache for them. According to them the perpetrators are using
:38:26. > :38:33.ever more aggressive than criminal methods so no wonder, as we have
:38:33. > :38:38.seen today, that so many of our viewers have been conned by these
:38:38. > :38:42.schemes. But what is the FSA being to combat this? I have come to
:38:42. > :38:47.their headquarters in Kenilworth to find out.
:38:47. > :38:52.Our postbag is full of letters from people have been taken in by the
:38:52. > :39:02.so-called land bank schemes. How seriously do you rate the problems
:39:02. > :39:02.
:39:02. > :39:07.here at the FSA? This is one of our top priority problems. Land Banking
:39:07. > :39:12.is in one of our top three problems. We are dedicating a lot of
:39:12. > :39:18.resources to this. Are there any land bank schemes that people
:39:18. > :39:27.should even consider? Have I seen a Land Banking scheme that has made
:39:27. > :39:31.money foreign investor? No, I have not. Is it always Ali -- an illegal
:39:31. > :39:38.activity to sell land that one day might get planning permission? No.
:39:38. > :39:45.But we need to think whether this is a realistic prospect. Is it
:39:45. > :39:48.likely that a large house builder will buy land from you and 99 other
:39:48. > :39:58.people who are all owned land and plots in a field or are they more
:39:58. > :39:58.
:39:58. > :40:03.likely to deal with one person, farmer or landowner? These
:40:03. > :40:09.companies are feeding off stories in the media about to show a --
:40:09. > :40:13.about a shortage of housing in the UK. They make themselves sound like
:40:13. > :40:19.the real deal, like proper investment advisers. They do not
:40:19. > :40:26.come across as conmen. What chances there of people who have been
:40:26. > :40:28.fleeced getting their money back? It is very unlikely, I am afraid.
:40:28. > :40:32.People lose shocking amounts of People lose shocking amounts of
:40:32. > :40:36.money to this and other types of scams that we deal with. Why are
:40:36. > :40:43.you not shutting them all down, you not shutting them all down,
:40:43. > :40:53.where are the teeth of the FSA in tackling this problem? The FSA does
:40:53. > :40:55.
:40:55. > :40:59.not allow it asked to close schemes down. If we can prove that this is
:40:59. > :41:03.a collective investment scheme, we can go to court and we have done
:41:03. > :41:08.several times and closed down �50 million worth of Land Banking
:41:08. > :41:15.schemes. Where we cannot prove it is a collective investment scheme,
:41:15. > :41:18.we have not got the powers to do that. In that case, we speak to the
:41:18. > :41:25.police and the Insolvency Service because they have been good at
:41:25. > :41:29.closing down 70 of these schemes. Thank you very much.
:41:29. > :41:34.He that Rip Off Britain we have always ready to investigate more if
:41:34. > :41:38.your stories. Confused over their bills, trying to wade through
:41:38. > :41:44.never-ending small print at least you totally confused? I might have
:41:44. > :41:48.been stupid for not reading it. could kick myself, I really could.
:41:48. > :41:52.You may have a cautionary tale of your own and would be happy to
:41:52. > :41:59.share the mistakes you have made with fast so that others do not do
:41:59. > :42:09.the same. No one knows about this, so I would like to get this out.
:42:09. > :42:17.
:42:17. > :42:22.You can write to us at the address The Rip Off Britain team is ready
:42:22. > :42:25.and waiting to investigate your stories. There is so much
:42:25. > :42:31.uncertainty over pensions that planning for your future has become
:42:31. > :42:36.more important than ever, but it does not come without its risks.
:42:36. > :42:42.Choosing where to invest safely can be a complicated business always
:42:42. > :42:46.seek independent advice before you hand over any money. As we always
:42:46. > :42:52.says he run the programme, if it sounds too good to be true, that is
:42:52. > :42:55.probably because it is. That is all for today, we hope you will join us