Episode 19 Rip Off Britain

We asked you to tell us what's left you feeling ripped off

and you contacted us in your thousands.

You've told us about the companies you think get it wrong

and the customer service that simply isn't up to scratch.

People should expect more when they're paying for something these days.

Everything you buy, I just think we're getting ripped off.

You've asked us to track down the scammers who stole your money.

and investigate the extra charges you'd say are unfair.

We have to rely on them giving you a fair price for something,

you can't always rely on that.

You don't want more hassle,

you want them to honour their agreement with you.

And when you've lost out, but no-one else is to blame,

you've come to us to stop others falling into the same trap.

That is disgusting!

So whether it's a blatant rip-off, or a genuine mistake,

we're here to find out why you're out of pocket

and what you can do about it.

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

Hello, and welcome to Rip Off Britain,

the programme that helps you make the right choices

when it comes to your cash,

whether you're spending your money, or indeed trying to save it.

After years of low interest rates, a simple high street savings account

probably won't be earning anything like the interest you want.

So if you are anxious for your money to grow,

when you're offered an exciting new opportunity

that promises big returns for relatively little investment,

it can seem very hard to refuse.

And in amongst all the sales patter, it's not always easy to understand

what you're getting yourself into.

As we'll see, however foolproof or glamorous it might appear,

even the most dazzling investment opportunity

can quickly lose its sparkle if it doesn't deliver what was promised.

Coming up, a company that promises glittering returns on diamonds

that you may never even see.

I didn't come into this to keep the diamonds forever,

I'm not James Bond.

We don't think there is a diamond that we're going to get

and we don't think he's going to get his money back.

And it's glamorous, exciting,

and you might even get your 30 seconds on the red carpet,

but just how risky is investing in the movie business?

The actors' agents had never heard of such a film,

they'd never been contacted regarding this film.

So for me, at that point, it was like 100%,

I knew, it wasn't as it had been sold.

They're said to be forever and a girl's best friend,

so what is there not to love about diamonds?

Well, particularly if the ones you own are going up in value.

And that is pretty much the sales pitch that's used by a company

that cold-calls, offering diamonds as an investment opportunity.

Sadly, the promises they make can quickly lose their sparkle.

Diamonds,

the ultimate statement in wealth and glamour

and the epitome of romance and luxury.

In recent years their value has increased so much

that the global market is now worth £42 billon a year.

It's that high-value market that Christine Ball's dad Les Goodrum

was given the chance to invest in

when he was cold-called in April 2013.

But Christine and her husband Douglas are worried that

far from investing thousands in something with

almost-guaranteed returns, he might have been scammed.

Douglas, good to see you, hi.

We first discovered a letter in his house which was saying,

"This is our initial letter with the contract for your purchase of a diamond."

So we took that away and had a look at what the company actually was.

-Solitaire Alternatives?

-Yes, he gave that to us,

and we thought, "Well, that looks very professional."

But then we started looking into the organisation and realised

that this was potentially not as kosher as we thought it might be.

Solitaire Alternatives claims "extensive industry knowledge"

and promises to help both private diamond collectors

and first-time buyers, like Les.

But despite the slick website and brochure,

Christine and Douglas still weren't sure Les had made the right choice.

And as they dug deeper,

they discovered he hadn't bought just one diamond.

We challenged him about the second one, and said you know, "These people

may not be what you think," and, "Why don't you let us see the diamond?"

Les's response to that made the couple even more concerned.

He said, "Oh, no, it's OK. They're going to store it for me safely

"in Switzerland, you know, so that I don't have to have it in my house."

In the contract, it stated, if you asked them to come to your house,

they'd send them to you.

You'd be able to look at them through a plastic covering,

but if you opened them, they lost value.

Well, diamonds can't lose value because they're a hard substance.

Did you say this to him at the time?

We didn't say much at that time

because we thought we'd investigate it first, because we didn't

really want to challenge my dad on his own decision.

You know, he's 95.

Although he's 95, he can still make his own decisions and he does so.

Before former coal miner Les was called up out of the blue

by Solitaire Alternatives, he'd never thought of buying diamonds.

And though at first he was reluctant,

the sales rep was persistent.

They bombarded me with telephone calls, the telephone got red hot.

How often were they ringing you?

Well, you think of a time of the day and that's it!

-So, three or four times a day?

-Sometimes.

-Really?

-Mm.

-And always the sales pitch to buy the diamonds?

-Yeah.

-Did you ask them how they knew what your telephone number was

and how they'd found you?

No, I didn't do that. I didn't do that.

So, really, you had to put your trust in them?

Yes, I did. I was trusting them.

Les initially bought what he was told were two yellow diamonds

at a cost of £7,300.

The company was holding on to them to keep them safe

and Les never got to see them.

Because, within weeks, he had a call from George,

his contact at Solitaire Alternatives,

who claimed he'd found a buyer who was interested in buying them.

And what's more, Les would make a profit,

so he agreed to sell.

They didn't tell the actual amount of money

-that was the profit that was made.

-Did that bother you?

Well, of course it did, of course it did.

Because when I first went into this, I said I wasn't going in

because I wanted to be a diamond merchant or anything like that.

All I wanted was to make a bit of money, that was it.

A few weeks later, George called again and told Les

he could invest the profit he'd made from the yellow diamonds

in a more valuable blue diamond.

He'd need to pay another £2,000 to make up the price,

but it would be worth it

because the blue diamond would soon be worth over £45,000.

On the telephone they told you

you own a diamond that is worth £45,000.

Now, what happens, have they explained,

if you want to sell those diamonds and get the money?

-Have they explained what happens?

-No, they haven't.

Instead, a different sales rep from Solitaire Alternatives asked Les

to invest even more than the £9,300 he'd already spent.

He said, "Do you want to put another £10,000 in?"

I said, "No, no, no, not another penny. That's it.

"That's as far as we go.

"I want to see some capital."

You want to see some return.

I want to see some return before I make any further decisions

and that's it.

But that call was nearly a year ago,

and since then Les hasn't heard anything more from either that rep,

or from George, the initial contact,

who up until then had called him quite frequently.

You're still convinced they're genuine, that he's a genuine guy,

and that there is a diamond there?

Well, not having seen it,

you know, you start to get little bits of doubt in your mind.

But then Les revealed the real reason he's still hoping

his investment comes good.

The 95-year-old fears in the future he may need care

and doesn't want that cost falling on his family.

You know your daughter and your son are a bit worried?

Yeah, but then again, to me,

to me, Angela,

I realise I may have to go into a home later on because...

I mean, they look after me at the moment as best that they can,

but there might come a time when they can't.

I mean, it'll have to be paid for,

that was the idea of going into it in the beginning.

So as things stand, Les has spent £9,300

on what he believes is a blue diamond,

held for safekeeping in a Swiss vault.

He doesn't know for sure whether he'll see a return

on his investment or indeed whether he owns a diamond at all.

I don't want to drag the police into it.

I'd rather come to agreement between them and myself.

I didn't come into this to keep the diamonds forever -

I'm not James Bond.

I just want to make some cash, that was all.

Christine and Douglas have tried to contact Solitaire Alternatives

on Les's behalf, but with no luck.

Every time we've rung up, it's always been an answerphone.

I've never managed to speak to them.

I don't think you've managed to speak to them,

you've left messages for them and said, "Stop contacting him,

"he's an old man. You know, stop contacting him."

And they've obviously just ignored that.

And though Les hasn't heard from then for some time,

Christine worries that someone from Solitaire Alternatives might

call him again and win back his trust.

My father's 95, he's quite lonely, and he would say that himself,

and therefore he enjoys an hour in the day having a chat

with someone on the phone and obviously these people,

like I said before, have established him as their friend.

And therefore they're not going to deceive him or tell him lies,

they're not going to take money from him for something that doesn't exist.

He didn't accept that and we're not even sure

if he really accepts that now, we're not even sure of that.

Do you both believe now, along with your brother, that the £9,000,

whatever it may be, that your father has spent is gone?

We believe so. We don't think there's a diamond we're going to get

and we don't think he's going to get his money back.

Later in the programme, I'm on the case of the company

who sold Les his diamonds to find out where his money's gone.

-Maybe they're taking a long lunch.

-PHONE RINGS

Next, a financial investment that sounded a lot more exciting

than most of the ones you'd typically come across.

A scheme offering a lot more glamour and showbiz, with the opportunity

to put your cash into the production of a new movie,

not just any old movie, but one with lots of big-name stars taking part.

So what's wrong with this picture?

Well, an investor who wrote to us about it is starting to wonder

if it's more than just the film's plot that's a little far fetched

because as far as she's concerned, it's been not so much a case of

lights, camera, action, as seemingly no action whatsoever.

A visit to the flicks is as close as most of us get to Hollywood.

But for property developer Sherry Bennett, the allure

of the movies was so appealing that she wanted to be a part of it.

She had spotted a project which would give her not a starring role,

but certainly a supporting one in an upcoming British film

alongside some very big names, like Sir Michael Caine, Ray Winstone

and Vinnie Jones.

It would have been exciting, not just to be an extra on set,

I mean, that wasn't a selling part for me.

It was more about the returns I was going to get.

Although Sherry was set to have a brief appearance on screen,

she would have a much more important role to play behind the scenes

as one of the people actually funding the film.

It was an unusual investment, to be sure,

but compared to other things she could have done with her savings,

the movie business looked much more interesting.

It sounded like a really good investment, but I actually

enjoy films, and especially films like, you know, Braveheart,

all those sort of films. So I knew the returns could be really good,

and it was quite an exciting product to be a part of,

because obviously you're there for some of the filming,

you get to go to the premiere,

and I suppose, yeah, that was what attracted me.

The film was called Henry Five

and its unusual premise transposes elements of Shakespeare's Henry V

into a science fiction story set around the apocalypse.

For me, it was along those lines of like a Gladiator, Braveheart film,

two of my favourite films. I mean, yeah,

how could it not be a hit? So that was why I was getting a bit excited.

You know, if a film such as that did go public,

then I'm sure it would be a box office smash, as they say.

Sherry's foray into the movie business began in June 2013 when,

after hearing about the opportunity to invest, she bought

£5,000 worth of shares in the film from a company called

Alternative Solutions, who also trade in things like wine and gold.

She was promised a potential 25% return on her investment

plus a share of the profits.

I checked out Alternative Solutions and I'd also spoke to people

that had previously invested with them, they're more bigger for wine,

so the client that I spoke to knew of them through wine investment,

and said, "Yep, they're a reliable company. They trade. They seem OK."

Sherry also checked out the production company

that would actually be making the film - Warlord Productions.

And again, she was happy with what she found.

Meanwhile, Warlord Productions and the film's distributor

announced that the first tranche of funding was secured.

Pre-production would start in just a few weeks and they were set

to officially reveal details of the film at the Cannes Film Festival.

So, with an all-star cast, a rip-roaring plot

and a £10 million budget,

it was time to sit back and let the action begin...

or not. Sherry thought the cameras would start to roll

over the next few months.

But instead of getting news of the walk-on-part

all investors were promised,

she was told that her investment was now being handled

by a related company called Spice Factory,

and they had some worrying news.

Spice Factory contacted me at the beginning of this year saying

that Ray Winstone is no longer a big enough actor to perform in the film

and that they're now seeking a guy called Robert Pattinson

from the Twilight.

Not heard of him, don't watch the Twilight.

Sherry was also told that Vinnie Jones would no longer be starring

in the film and there was no longer mention of Michael Caine at all.

It's now all about Robert Pattinson which, I mean, every time you sort of

mention the man's name, it was making me feel more sick

than the first time he said it,

cos a soon as I Googled this guy, I thought, you know,

him alone is going to want about £20 million to star in this film.

From what I'd read in the contract, there was about a £10 million budget,

so you don't need to be great with maths to work it out.

Sherry's suspicions prompted her to do some more research online

and she discovered a newspaper report from six months earlier

that made some very worrying accusations.

I read an article concerning the film from the Mirror

and the actors' agents had never heard of such a film,

they'd never been contacted regarding this film,

it was nothing known to them.

So, for me, at that point, it was 100%,

I knew, it wasn't as it had been sold.

Worried about what was she reading and what it meant for her investment,

Sherry called the Spice Factory straightaway.

They assured me that it was total rubbish.

They was 100% sure this film was going to go to production,

reassuring me that they'd seen this article

and at present they was trying to take the Mirror to court

to try and have this article removed.

And it was at that point I knew,

you know, I knew that it was a bad move investing in this film.

Sherry asked the Spice Factory to provide details

of when filming was due to start,

and how much funding they'd secured so far,

but no such information was sent.

That's when Sherry came to us.

But it's not been easy to pin down how much about Henry Five is fact

and how much is complete fiction.

But one thing we have established for sure is that

just like Ray Winstone, Vinnie Jones and all those other big names,

the actor Robert Pattinson was never confirmed to star in the movie.

Now, Sherry is no stranger to investment -

she's been taking calculated gambles on property for years -

but putting money into movies can often be extremely risky.

Even Hollywood companies make big losses.

So how sensible is it for someone outside the industry

to try and get a piece of the feature film action?

Overall, the film industry is really not for beginners.

It's not for outsiders. It's a difficult industry to understand

and I think investors would be really wise to stay away.

It does look attractive, it seems as if it's very glitzy,

but the amount of things that can go wrong on film productions,

on film projects, and the amount of things that can go wrong

when a film is released to the public are so numerous

that for any individual, you're at high, high risk.

It's quite possible for a producer to have a wish list of stars,

you know, big names that might seem attractive, when in fact

they may have just had a casual conversation with someone's agent.

They're not really geared into the industry and how it works.

We contacted the various companies involved in Henry Five.

Alternative Solutions, who sold Sherry the initial investment,

told us that after that, it had no further involvement in the film.

We also approached Warlord Productions and Spice Factory,

who in a joint response confirmed their

"complete intention to produce the film",

even giving a date when filming would apparently begin,

although this has now passed.

They said that Robert Pattinson was approached to star in the movie,

"but he passed".

And they also insisted that, despite reports to the contrary,

actors including Michael Caine, Ray Winstone and Vinnie Jones

were all linked to the film, although they didn't make it clear

whether they had actually been formally approached.

They went on to say there are

"a number of individuals who invest in films"

and "many people have made substantial returns."

And while they said they have no record of Sherry contacting them

for updates on the film's progress, they apologise

if that was the case, but maintain that she has no reason to complain

about anything "other than a failure to deal with an enquiry".

But even so, they did offer to refund Sherry her investment,

an offer she has now taken up.

The man whose original play supposedly inspired Henry Five

once wrote, "All the world's a stage,

"and all the men and women merely players."

But Sherry doesn't plan to play any more part in the movie business

and she certainly won't be going

"once more unto the breach, dear friends"

with this kind of investment.

No way. Just be wary of any nice sales people that call you up

with a great pitch telling you you can make

extraordinary amounts of money, I mean, just be very wary.

Still to come on Rip Off Britain...

why asking the right questions before you sign up to invest in property

could save you a whole lot of hassle later on.

It was just appalling. My eyes could not believe what I saw.

I couldn't believe that I was sold this thing

and I actually own this place.

-For one weekend only...

-It's a one-stop shop full of advice.

It's Rip Off Britain's pop-up shop.

This year, we brought our top team of experts to the West Midlands,

ready to tackle as many of your problems as they could.

-Hi, James.

-Hiya.

-I'm Julia, nice to meet you.

-I'm Janet, James's mum.

'James Nicholls called in to see us after investing a huge sum of money

'into a Brazilian property deal that now looks like it was a scam.

'Financial ombudsman Caroline Lusted Wells

'and legal expert Gary Rycroft were keen to find out more.'

When I bought the actual land, the guy, on numerous occasions,

never answered the phone, etc, never got back to me

and basically I've never heard nothing of him

since the actual date of signing over the documentation.

Tell us the sorry tale in terms of how much you paid over.

Basically, we was told an initial £500 deposit was required.

I followed that by £9,500, so £10,000 in total.

What did you think you were getting for the £10,000?

We were told we were going to get 400 square metres of land in Brazil,

which was going to be able to be built on.

James, can I ask you a question? How did you pay for the deposit

-and the £9,500?

-I actually paid in cash.

-Cash?

-Yeah. Which is a sort of silly thing to do,

really, looking back on it now.

'Unfortunately for James, having paid the full £10,000 in cash,

'there was no way to trace or recover

'any of his hard-earned savings.'

It doesn't look good. If you buy land in this country,

it gets registered at the Land Registry

and you can establish ownership of land that way.

Have you ever had any evidence

that you've actually ever bought any land in Brazil?

Only with the documents that I have with me today.

It may be worth checking with the Brazilian Land Registry

whether you actually do own any land...

-Yeah.

-..where you've been told you own it. I suspect you don't,

but it's worth just closing off that avenue of enquiry.

-Yeah.

-But I think this is probably a kind of chalk it up to experience,

lesson learnt. Hopefully, people watching will learn from this

and take some pointers away with them.

-Think about going onto social networks...

-Yes.

-..and put it out there.

-Yeah.

-I bet you'll find you're not the only one

-connected to this person.

-No, definitely.

-Thanks for coming.

-No problem, thank you.

Outside, we ran workshops packed with tips and advice,

including this one, where financial expert James Daley was keen

to tell the people of Dudley how to avoid being stuck with

what's intriguingly called a "zombie bank account".

You know what Zombie's are...

walking dead.

A lot of you might have your money in what Julia was talking about,

these accounts are called zombie accounts.

These are the majority of savings accounts out there

that are earning next to nothing,

almost zero, £1 of interest every year for £1,000.

-Shocking.

-Millions of people have money trapped in these accounts.

The banks make their money

from people not being savvy and moving it.

'If you do manage to switch to a bank account that for a fixed period

'does have a good interest rate, make a note in your diary

'for when that rate expires.

'That way you can switch again

'and avoid being stuck with one of those dreaded zombie accounts.'

You know, it's not so long ago that buy-to-let was big business.

Property investment clubs were prolific,

and many people were buying up homes not to live in

but to rent out in order to make money.

The financial crash put paid to those boom days

and in many areas the market was all but wiped out.

But now, buy-to-let is back, and in a big way.

The booming housing market has made this kind of investment attractive,

but do make sure that you've asked all the right questions

before being tempted to sign up.

Because here's a cautionary tale that proves how crucial it is

to know exactly what you're getting yourself into.

Back in 2012, Jason Bernard was looking for a house to buy in London.

But his plans changed when, with his wife Michelle, he was invited

to a seminar to hear about a new property investment opportunity.

The sales pitch was very convincing and...

part of that was representation on the side of the estate agent.

She told me that she had bought a property herself

and it was working out really well for her.

The presentation had been organised

by a long-standing estate agency business

called Choices Property Investments.

They said the buy-to-let market was booming

and now was the time to invest in a flat that, once it was rented,

would produce a healthy return.

This video from the company's website gives a flavour

of what so enthused Jason on the day.

We don't work for the sellers, the vendors,

we work for you, the buyers...

Jason was impressed by what he heard.

And over the next few days he says he received follow-up calls

from the sales team encouraging him to sign up,

giving him the impression he'd need to act fast or miss out.

It won't be here for ever.

Before anyone can buy a property through Choices,

they have to pay to become what the company calls a "retained client".

As Jason understood it, £1,800 up front, plus a monthly fee,

would mean he was signing up to an arrangement

where the company would take care of everything on his behalf.

The company says, in fact, that wasn't the case.

But either way, whatever he thought he was getting, Jason was convinced

this was the start of being able to make a healthy profit.

The cost of joining it was about £1,500 plus VAT,

and it seemed really good cos it suggested or it stated

that we would be getting a yield of about 12-15%.

Choices told Jason about exciting opportunities

with properties in Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria,

300 miles away from his home in London.

The company said it was a "regeneration area

"benefitting from huge ongoing investment"

with "high demand for rental properties".

Jason was hooked, even though he didn't actually know much

about the property or where it was.

It was the first time I heard of Barrow.

The location of the property was not really an issue.

It was just... I was more interested

in what I could have gotten out of it.

The couple agreed to buy a flat in a prime spot for £51,100.

And as they'd chosen one with a tenant already living there,

it came at £2,000 less than some of the other flats

because it wouldn't be refurbished by the developer.

I specifically requested for photos

of the property that we were going to buy.

But there were only two pictures and I asked for more,

but we didn't get any,

so it was not very clear as to what it is we were buying.

Choices didn't have any further pictures of the flat

they could send on,

but they told Jason that he and Michelle were eligible for

a 90% mortgage, meaning all they'd need to pay up front

was a 10% deposit of just over £5,000.

In turn, they stood to make a 23% return on the investment

and in the unlikely event that the flat wasn't tenanted,

the management company who looked after the building

would guarantee up to six months' rent.

All in all, it seemed too good to miss.

Everything would be taken care of and we wouldn't have to

set foot in the place or even go near it

to manage it or do anything to do with it.

We just had to pick up the money

at the end of the month from the rent.

So, worried that they might miss out, Jason and his wife

signed on the dotted line, four days after they'd been to the seminar.

The mortgage deal came with a solicitor already attached,

one Jason couldn't change.

But over the next few months, as the sale went through,

Jason felt unhappy with various aspects of the purchase

and details and fees he says he hadn't understood or expected.

We called up the estate agent and said, "Look, what is this?"

And everything just seemed really confusing

and just really frustrating.

But in July 2012, six months after the seminar,

the purchase went through.

Finally, we own this property,

and it was a good feeling that we are finally over the hurdle

and we can actually start making money out of this property.

Meanwhile, his solicitor said he'd report the sale to the Land Registry

so that Jason and his wife would be named on the deeds

as the owners of the flat.

All seemed to be going to plan.

By now, the tenant who'd been living in the flat had moved out.

But when Jason told the management company

he wanted to go and visit the property,

he was given some news that, well, made his skin crawl!

She said to me, "Mr Bernard, the place is infested with fleas."

So it was with some sense of trepidation

that Jason finally made the journey

to Barrow-in-Furness to visit his flat.

Having seen no pictures of the inside,

he wasn't sure what to expect,

but he certainly wasn't ready for what he found when he got there.

It was just appalling. My eyes could not believe what I saw.

The sink was broken, the bathroom was in a state,

the water was all over the place, the carpet was ruined.

The stove, sink, everything was broken, it was just in a mess.

I couldn't believe that I was sold this thing

and I actually own this place.

Jason shopped around for a quote on making the flat habitable

and was told it would cost almost £9,000.

He complained to Choices, demanding that THEY should repair the property,

but they said, unfortunately, it wasn't their responsibility.

They reminded him he had paid £2,000 less for the flat because it was

tenanted, and the original agreement had made clear that HE would be

responsible for refurbishing it after the tenant moved out.

They told Jason they would try to help, although at this stage,

they weren't sure what they could do.

And having seen the state the flat was in now,

Jason's dreams of a healthy rental income suddenly seemed a lot

further away than he'd hoped.

We cannot rent it since, because it's just...it's uninhabitable.

Thankfully, the flat had come with a six-month rental guarantee,

so Jason was paid rent by the management agency while

he tried to sort things out.

The fleas alone cost him almost £200 to get rid of

and the cost of all the repairs was entirely down to him.

Of course, if Jason had actually seen the property before

he bought it, he'd have known what state it was in,

but he believed he was getting a much greater service than

the estate agents say he had signed up to.

There was not really anything for me

to believe that it was in a bad condition.

We were never told that the place was in a bad condition.

We were thinking that it would be a place where we could buy.

And since then, there's been a further blow.

The solicitor who'd handled the sale went out of business before

registering the property in Jason's name.

So not only is Jason paying the mortgage on a flat that isn't

what he thought it would be, he can't even prove he owns it.

And while he'd like to blame the estate agent who first told him

about the flat, he accepts that, in all the excitement, there were things

he should have done differently and considered more carefully.

We didn't really take the time to dig into the terms

and conditions and see what clauses were there,

and what it really was that we were getting into.

When we spoke to Choices Acquisitions about Jason's case,

they thanked us for bringing it to their attention

and apologised unreservedly to Jason.

They say that they "take great pride" in their

"high standards of customer service", having won industry awards for it.

But they admit that "no matter how good the service,

"or the market, things can and do go wrong."

They said they don't believe they're responsible for what happened

to Jason and couldn't have prevented it, but if he had followed

their complaints procedure they "would have offered assistance".

Since hearing from us about the extent of what went wrong,

the company says it's improved a number of processes...

And they've told us they've "approached Jason with

"an offer of help" to help him make the flat "a successful buy-to-let".

We also contacted the solicitor who handled the sale.

The firm he worked for is no longer operating, and he wouldn't comment

on the specifics of the sale, but he did assure us that if it is the case

that the flat wasn't registered in Jason's name, he would resolve it.

Roger Southam is an expert on buy-to-let.

He says, before being seduced into buying ANY property like this,

it's crucial you understand exactly what you're getting into

and take time to get the right advice rather than base

the decision on what you're being promised.

You have to make sure that you do all the checks and all

the investigations that make you comfortable with what you're buying.

It is no good relying on someone

who happens to ask you to go into a seminar.

Meanwhile, Jason is paying for repairs to his flat

as and when he can afford them.

It was definitely naivety that caused us to jump into it and just

the excitement of having something that we can call our own home.

Earlier in the programme, we met Les and his family,

who are starting to wonder about an investment opportunity.

Diamonds are the commodity that he's supposedly making his money on,

and yet 95-year-old Les has never actually seen the stones that

he's been persuaded to buy, and, frankly, no-one else can

say for sure that that is what his money has actually bought him.

Well, I wanted to see what an expert would make of this

kind of investment and, importantly,

hear what the company behind this diamond buying opportunity

could say to convince me that it is all above board.

Diamonds - for many of us,

they remain the most desirable stone you can own.

And with sales of diamond jewellery generating over £40 billion a year,

these rocks attract the attention of any would-be investors.

So when 95-year-old Les decided to buy some

diamonds from a friendly telephone salesman who called him out of

the blue, he believed he had a great opportunity to make some money.

But, 12 months on, he's come to suspect something is not right,

a view shared by his daughter Christine.

Unlike most other investments,

the diamond market in the UK is not regulated,

so investors are not protected if something goes wrong,

and traders aren't held to account

if they fail to meet the right standards.

Some diamond investments can make money,

but it's only recommended for experienced,

informed diamond collectors.

If I could get my capital back, and a profit, I'd be happy.

But it's becoming increasingly common for people like Les to

be targeted by companies offering this kind of so-called opportunity.

Fellows Auctioneers in Birmingham's jewellery quarter deals with

legitimate diamond trades every day,

but recently the firm's specialist gemologists were asked to

give a second opinion on some diamonds that didn't seem to

have been traded so legitimately.

Like Les's stones, these had also been bought

from a company that cold call potential customers.

So what sort of quality does this kind of investment typically buy?

This was a stone which is accompanied by a genuine

Gemological Institute of America report.

It's exactly what it says on the tin.

However, they have paid £12,000 for this stone.

But is the buyer's stone actually worth the £12,000 they paid for it?

Geoff has a very similar diamond as a comparison

and the real value of something like this appears to be a lot less.

This stone reads a virtually identical colour grade, very similar

carat weight, same clarity grade, could be purchased for £2,900.

So, the stone bought over the phone by the client appears to be

worth a fraction of the £12,000 handed over.

In fact, for that sort of investment,

this expert would expect someone to become the owner of a diamond

which is much more impressive.

With that £12,000 spending power, what they could have actually bought

from a reputable source is this stone here,

which is immediately significantly bigger.

The bad news for this investor is that Geoff believes they've paid

well over the odds for what they've ended up with.

This stone which they own is not terribly well cut.

It's not cut symmetrically - one of the corners is a bit wonky -

that has a direct knock-on effect with what it is worth.

And this is just one of ten stones bought by this investor.

All told, they spent £130,000 on diamonds,

which experts estimate are actually worth just £6,000.

Like Les, this investor had also been convinced to trade up

from their first or second diamonds to buy bigger,

better and higher value ones.

It's a familiar tale to Geoff.

They are led to believe they've already made money on their

original purchase, but rather than have that money returned to them,

they're given the opportunity to roll that up to another stone,

pay a balance and own an even more valuable stone, as they see it.

But in cases like this, the stones are rarely if ever

worth what the buyer has paid, or what the extremely convincing

sales staff say they might be worth in the future.

The people who are actually selling the stones to the clients who buy

them probably aren't gemologists, they're simply salesmen,

and they could be selling snake oil

for all the difference it makes to them.

They are selling a product at a margin and they don't really care.

They are preying on people's insecurities to make the sale.

The danger signs in buying any investment jewel or gemstone

is that you should buy from somebody who's got a reputation

for dealing with these things, has got a visible high street presence

or a company address that you can check and be certain of,

and if the deal is too good to be true, it is too good to be true.

Don't touch it.

Of course, Les has never seen his diamonds or had the chance

to take them to a jeweller for a valuation.

So he has no proof his diamonds even exist,

let alone how much they're worth.

I think it's time we tried asking Solitaire Alternatives what's

happened to Les's diamonds and, more importantly, to his money.

PHONE DIALS

RECORDED MESSAGE: 'Hello, you're through to Solitaire Alternatives.

'There's nobody available to take your call at the moment.'

PHONE DIALS

Maybe they're taking a long lunch.

I repeatedly called the numbers we have for them,

but no-one at Solitaire Alternatives ever answered.

No point hanging on for another recorded message.

They're obviously not that keen for my business

or for the business of anyone else who is calling them today.

I think it leaves a very big question mark over

a company which is supposedly in the business of selling high-end

diamonds as an investment opportunity to people,

a very big question mark indeed.

For a company that was particularly keen to stay in touch with Les

when he had money to invest,

Solitaire Alternatives now seem surprisingly hard to get hold of.

We've also left voicemails, e-mailed and written to them,

but they've simply not replied to any of our attempts to talk to them.

And since we last tried to contact them,

it also seems their website is no longer accessible.

Unfortunately for Les, that means we've not been able to find out

whether he will ever see his money again, which would seem to confirm

the suspicions of his daughter Christine and son-in-law Douglas.

It's sad...because it would be nice for Les to find out

that what he had invested in was worthwhile.

And, really, he's not doing it for himself.

He's thinking that for his family, at some point, they will get

the value of these things, and we don't think we will.

We don't think there's any way that's going to happen.

Here at Rip-Off Britain, we're always ready to investigate

more of your stories.

You can write to us at...

Or send us an e-mail to...

The Rip-Off team is ready and waiting to investigate your stories.

It's almost certain that any investment promising high returns

is going to be a risky one and, in some cases, as we've heard,

there could even be a question mark

over whether your money has been invested in anything at all.

So, whether you have a few hundred or even a few thousand pounds

at your disposal, it pays to do your research before you invest

in anything at all.

And our website - bbc.co.uk/ripoffbritain -

is a great place to start

because that's where you'll find details of where to look for help

with your money and, most importantly,

advice on how to say no to those hard sales tactics.

Absolutely, because time spent going through all of that really is

an investment that we can recommend.

But I'm afraid that's where we've got to leave it for today,

so we'll be back very, very soon to investigate more of your stories.

-Until then, thanks for watching and from all of us, bye-bye.

-Bye.