Episode 4 Rip Off Britain

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

and you've contacted us in your thousands.

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

and the customer service that is not 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.

You 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 back to the Rip-Off Britain office,

where, as usual, as you can see, the team is very busy investigating

some of the thousands of e-mails and letters you very kindly send us,

telling us about everything from out-and-out scams

to mistakes you might have made yourself

and you simply want to warn other people.

And it's those stories of bitter experience

that can sometimes be the most interesting.

Because they make us all think about the things we buy or sign up for,

often without asking exactly what we're going to get for our money.

Or taking a moment to make sure

we completely understand what we're buying.

That's exactly what happened to the people in today's programme.

They all bought something

that just didn't work out quite the way they expected.

And in each case, what they were buying was the kind of everyday thing

that we might find ourselves in the market for.

And if you do, by the end of the programme,

I hope that you'll have picked up some tips

to ensure what happened to them is not going to happen to you.

Coming up, the terrible results

of choosing the wrong dealer to sell you a puppy.

How do you explain to three young children

that you've had to put their pup to sleep?

And lifting the bonnet on the second-hand car industry.

How to spot if what you're buying really is up to scratch.

I don't want the car. I want nothing to do with the car.

It's caused me too many problems. I don't feel safe driving it.

One in every three homes in the UK has a dog.

In fact, I've got two of them at home.

Whether it's a family pet, a working dog,

or even a pocket pooch for your handbag,

dogs really are still man's best friend.

That means there is always a huge demand

for lovely little new puppies.

But as our next family discovered,

there can also be serious consequences for the new owners

and the puppies themselves if a breeder is cutting corners.

There are around ten million dogs in the UK.

That's one pooch for every six people.

But it seems that's still not enough,

as the demand for newborn puppies far outstrips the supply.

Now, these two gorgeous dogs are great companions to me

and really are part of the family.

They're just great fun to have around and the initial excitement

of finding a puppy that you know is the one for you

is a moment you'll cherish forever.

However, if you're buying a puppy, say, out of an ad in a newspaper

or indeed on the internet, it's very difficult to know

whether the pup you end up with is the one originally advertised.

And with those big soppy eyes,

well, of course, all rational thinking goes out the window.

David Steele and his family are about to experience

that very special moment of choosing a puppy for themselves.

Just go straight through here.

Ah, look, Connor! Look at those!

But this isn't the first time this year David has chosen a puppy.

So, which one would you like?

-The blue one.

-This one?

-Yeah.

In January, he and his wife Tina

chose their first from a different breeder.

We decided we were going to buy the boys a puppy.

Tina decided she wanted a golden cocker spaniel,

so we searched the internet for a few weeks.

Eventually, they discovered what seemed to be

the perfect-looking litter.

The online advert said the puppies had been vet checked,

de-flead, wormed and had their first vaccination.

They also came with four weeks' free insurance.

I made the phone call, spoke to the young lady,

asked if they had the golden cocker spaniels.

She said, yes, they had two. Two boys left.

So David and Tina headed to Stoke to see the puppies for themselves.

But when they got there, they weren't allowed to go into the house

to see the litter.

Instead, they were asked to wait on the porch.

I asked if I could see the dog's mother,

to which she replied that the dog had gone back to her nan's property,

which was a bit strange because we were told

that the mum to the puppies was at the property.

The person at the door then went into the house

and brought out two golden cocker spaniel pups.

One in particular, I fell in love with.

He just looked at me with his puppy dog eyes

and he had a little love heart on his head

and that's the one we picked.

When David and Tina arrived home,

their three children immediately fell in love

with the eight-week-old puppy, as well.

They named him Buster and tried their best to settle him in.

But something didn't seem quite right.

And when he didn't improve after three days, they began to worry.

Buster was being sick

and a local vet told them this could be because the family

had recently changed his diet.

But Tina had a feeling it was more than that.

And the next morning, she rushed him to the vet.

We thought we'd done something wrong. It was something we did.

Changing his food, you know.

It wasn't until we took him to the vets, she took one look at him,

she said she thinks it's parvo.

Sadly, Buster was diagnosed with parvovirus,

a potentially life-threatening virus

that's passed between dogs by close contact.

It is treatable, but the younger the puppy, the worse the prognosis.

The vet put Buster on a drip

and told Tina that it was unlikely that he would survive.

They were horrified that the puppy

they'd only just bought could be so ill.

Tina and David tried to call the breeder for an explanation.

I left answerphone messages.

Any respectable breeder or anybody that sells a puppy,

the minute parvo is mentioned,

they should have been on the phone, giving me the details,

"Can I have the phone number for your vet?"

It wasn't until about 12:00 the following day

where I actually got to speak to the young lady on the phone.

She basically said, "You're insured, deal with it. It's not our problem.

"Things like this happen all the time."

And that just enraged me even more.

Just hours later, the vet called David

to say that Buster was not responding to treatment.

It made me cry straightaway.

Telling the kids just destroyed me.

How do you explain to three young children

that you've had to put their pup to sleep?

Naturally, David wanted answers.

Whilst they couldn't prove that Buster had contracted parvovirus

before he came to live with them,

he hadn't been in contact with any other animals,

or even left the house in the three days since they'd bought him home.

After trying to get hold of the breeder, a Mr David Rowley,

he eventually picked up the phone.

He said, "It's not my problem. It's not my dog anymore, it's your dog."

He said, "You're insured."

I said, "No. I've paid you my money. This is down to you.

"This isn't about insurance, this is about you putting things right."

But Mr Rowley refused.

Angered by this, David started looking online

to see if anyone else had had

similar problems with the same breeder.

There was people saying, "We've had a puppy from this guy."

It's either been really ill, or the puppy had died that they had bought.

David reported the breeder to the RSPCA,

the council's Animal Welfare department and to Trading Standards.

But he's worried that while any investigations take place,

the breeder is still trading.

He's still selling puppies.

He's still got his breeder's licence.

The family are trying to move on from Buster's death,

but the memories are still so upsetting for Tina.

It's something I didn't want my kids to go through so young.

It's caused a lot of sadness.

I can't even talk about him without crying. Yeah.

We got in touch with the breeder, David Rowley,

who told us that he would never knowingly sell a dog that's ill.

He and the people who work with him love their animals

and the last thing they want

is for anybody to be upset with one of their dogs.

He told us that he doesn't allow visitors

to go into the house to visit the puppies

because his porch is very large and the floor is tiled,

so it's easy to clean in order to prevent a spread of infection.

He also reiterated that when the family visited,

it wasn't possible to see Buster's mother

because she'd already gone back to her own home.

Mr Rowley told us that when he heard about Buster's parvovirus diagnosis,

he told David to do whatever it takes to treat the dog.

And that whilst the insurance would cover these costs,

he would pay the £100 insurance excess.

He also says that he immediately quarantined his other puppies as a precaution,

but in any case, he disputed that Buster died of parvovirus at all.

Instead, suggesting that he may have tested positive for it

because he had recently been inoculated against it.

But when we checked this out,

we were told there is no scientific evidence of it being possible.

What's more, we have discovered that Mr Rowley sold another puppy

that also died of parvovirus just four days

after he'd been told about Buster's diagnosis.

However, when we put that to him,

he insisted he hadn't been informed that any other puppy had died.

But since we spoke to Mr Rowley,

we've been told that he has pleaded guilty to four counts

of operating a pet shop without a licence.

So, with so many pets advertised for sale online,

how can you be sure you're buying from a reputable breeder?

I've come to the British Veterinary Association to find out.

Always see a puppy with its mother.

And that's very good advice in almost every case.

When people who are trying to pull the wool over your eyes

realise that's the main criteria you ask for,

then it's not beyond the wit of man

that will find a dog and call it a mother.

So you've got to have your eyes open.

The other big thing, of course, these days,

is buying puppies on the internet. So, how do you view that?

With great caution.

The internet is a great place to advertise.

With puppies, you should go and see the environment,

see the puppy, see its parents.

As well as asking lots of questions about the puppy, its parents

and the breeders themselves,

you should see if the breeder can give you a puppy contract

with detailed information about the puppy's background and its health.

All of which a reputable breeder should be happy to provide.

Meanwhile, now that a few months have passed since Buster's death,

Tina, David and the boys have decided it's time for a new puppy.

But this time, they've done their homework, found a reputable breeder

and organised for extra-early parvovirus vaccinations for the pup.

We've been on the Kennel Club website

and we followed the guidelines in choosing a puppy.

We've seen Mum. We're very happy indeed.

The old stereotype of the dodgy second-hand car dealer

isn't quite so true these days.

And yet there's still an extraordinary number of problems

and complaints about buying a used car.

In fact, last year, Citizens Advice dealt with 84,000 of them.

That's more than for any other purchase.

And nearly three quarters were to do with faults

that developed in the first month.

So, how many of us really know what to look out for

when we're buying a second-hand car?

We did a test on the streets of Exeter to find out.

Here's one used car that definitely isn't fit to drive.

It's 13 years old, has done enough miles to take it almost to the moon

and beneath that two-tone paint job,

it's been specially rigged with problems.

But if you were in the market for a new motor,

how many would you spot?

We wanted consumers to be more aware about what they were buying.

So one side is good and one side is bad.

On the green side, there are various faults

and we want to see if consumers can actually find out what they are.

The white side is in perfect condition, but the green side isn't.

There are nine problems which any car buyer should be looking out for.

Some of them potentially dangerous.

Let's see how many these Exeter shoppers can identify.

Well, this looks a bit dodgy already. Look at the light!

So, you're not happy with the light?

-Not massively happy with the light.

-No?

I don't really know what I should be looking for.

She was right to spot the loose headlight,

but there's also a worn front tyre,

the front wing doesn't fit properly

and the suspension spring is broken.

Front wing's out of alignment, the panel gaps are all wrong.

Obviously, there's a bit of trim missing.

The bonnet's dented, as well,

so it's obviously had a bit of an impact...

Yeah, but it's 2001, it's going to have a few little blemishes.

A bit more than a blemish, though, isn't it?

-It's a bit rusty, the suspension.

-Is it?

When you were looking at the spring,

did you notice the coils weren't complete?

The spring's actually broken.

Ah, yes, I see that. Yeah. I see that now, yeah.

It's a particularly dangerous fault

because what can happen is the broken section of the spring

can spike the sidewall of the tyre.

But our car has other serious problems

you might only spot after a careful look at the paperwork.

Not least a discrepancy in its true mileage.

200,000 miles.

It says, like, 97 in here.

-So, it's different?

-Yeah, completely different.

It means it's been clocked.

And our car shouldn't even be on sale.

Close study of the documents reveals it's been scrapped.

It says something about DVLA, it's been scrapped.

It is not looking good.

It's a stereotype that girls know nothing about cars.

And I think you don't want to embarrass yourself,

so I probably wouldn't even ask the questions, I'd just go, "It's fine."

Take it at face value.

And that's what a lot of us do when we're buying a car.

Charley Evans from Bridgend, for one.

In the summer of 2013, while pregnant with baby Chloe,

she decided the time was right for a family car.

She went to one of Wales' biggest chain of dealerships,

The Trade Centre Wales Ltd.

"We like to make sure your journey is worth your while."

But Charley doesn't feel her experience

with The Trade Centre Wales was worth her while.

We were really excited.

They sounded like they would give us a great deal, which they did.

Well, we thought they did.

The couple chose a six-year-old Vauxhall Astra and paid £5,000.

But they didn't do any checks on it before signing on the dotted line.

They said they'd give us £1,000 off

if we bought it there and then on the day.

We didn't have to pay a deposit.

And it looked like a really good car.

But things weren't quite so good on the inside.

After two weeks, there was a huge sort of rattling under the engine

and we just about made it home

and that's when we got someone to come and have a look at it

because we didn't want to drive it.

The Trade Centre Wales say all their cars

go through a 99-point inspection before they go on sale.

But Charley's car ended up back there

only a very short time after she'd bought it.

I was just devastated.

You don't expect such a huge problem to go wrong with the car.

So I was having doubts straightaway

that I had made a huge mistake.

The Trade Centre Wales agreed to look at her car

and reassured Charley that they'd now fix the fault.

We went down there and complained

and they said they'd take it and have a look at it themselves.

And a couple of days later, the noise came back

and we were, like, "Great!"

Not wanting to drive the 30 miles to the dealership in the faulty car,

Charley went to an independent garage

who told her the problem was still there.

Exasperated, she complained again to The Trade Centre Wales.

They agreed to come and get the car

and promised to fix it for a second time.

But after she got it back,

it wasn't long before Charley felt the car was playing up again.

To the point where she says she was having difficulty even starting it.

She took the car to another garage

and they told her that far from being fixed,

the engine needed to be completely reconditioned.

By this point, I said, "I don't want the car.

"I want nothing to do with the car.

"It's caused me too many problems.

"I don't feel safe driving it while I was heavily pregnant."

Next, The Trade Centre Wales

asked an independent mechanic to look at the car.

And after he concluded there was a fault

that hadn't yet been identified, they did agree to take the car back,

cancel Charley's finance agreement

and refund the money she had paid.

I was devastated. I've never been through so much stress

and I did not need that while I was heavily pregnant.

When we contacted The Trade Centre Wales about all this,

they told us it is simply not accurate

to say the car had a massive engine problem.

They say at no time was Charley told the car was unsafe to drive,

pointing out that their technicians drove it for over 62 miles

without incident and that over a considerable time,

the engine performed faultlessly.

They added that while the independent mechanic

they asked to inspect the car

did conclude it had an underlying problem,

this was absolutely not due to any lack of proper attention

by their mechanics.

Indeed, they said the car had been troublesome for them, too,

and it's caused them substantial financial loss.

Stressing they're the UK's fifth largest independent used-car dealer

with five-star reviews on independent websites,

they also told us they've applied assiduous

and sympathetic attention to Charley's complaints

and offered her a goodwill payment of £500 to cover the cost

and inconvenience she experienced.

And they told us about the detailed consumer protection systems

they have in place to protect customers

at every stage from pre-sales to aftercare.

But for Charley, the car simply didn't live up to her expectations

and she wishes she'd known more about the sort of problems

that can occur before she bought it.

I don't know anything about cars. I really wish I did

and had been more educated knowing

what to look for in buying a used vehicle.

Charley didn't even lift the bonnet when she bought her car.

There's nothing to say she would have noticed a fault if she had.

But even just a little knowledge can save a lot of trouble later on.

So let's go back to our shoppers in Exeter

to see how much of that knowledge they have.

How well are they doing at spotting

the problems with this second-hand car?

Would you ever check the tyre size?

Yes, you must check the tyre size.

If we look at the front one and compare it,

that's actually illegal

to have tyres of different size on the same side.

The average person wouldn't notice that.

Well, we're trying to make sure the average person does now.

-Thanks to you.

-Yes, that's right.

It seems there aren't too many of us

who can properly assess a used car before we buy.

But on our website, bbc.co.uk/ripoffbritain,

you can find more tips from Tim

on the key things to check with a second-hand car

to improve your chances of buying

something that's safe and won't let you down.

Still to come on Rip-Off Britain, the ads are everywhere,

but are savings plans aimed at the over 50s

as good a deal as the famous faces might lead you to think?

I felt cheated, yes. But I felt also pretty helpless.

Our Rip-Off Britain pop-up shop is open for business!

And you've been out in force,

getting as much information as possible from our experts.

Because their primary job in life

is to make sure you do not get ripped off.

And first in line when we opened the doors was Lisa Archer.

After a paranormal holiday trip fell flat,

rather than giving up the ghost,

she came for advice from trading standards expert, Adrian Simpson.

The coach turned up, there were no toilet facilities.

Bearing in mind there's 70 people on the coach

that were meant to be on there 12 hours. It took 18 hours.

We got to Eurotunnel, it wasn't even booked.

So instead of having the whole day to look around,

we got there at 4:30, had a very rushed trip around.

We've got e-mails proving they didn't even book it.

If you promised so much to somebody and you don't get any of it,

to me, that's not been sold properly.

So let's go to Adrian. What do you think of this case?

If they've failed to use reasonable care and skill,

then they are deemed to be in breach of contract.

You should be able to, as a consumer, claim back damages.

Which could be a refund or some money back.

My advice would be to take it up with the business,

perhaps by the form of a recorded-delivery letter,

explaining the situation, detailing what happened.

-Sorry.

-She's shaking her head.

They're moved to Ireland. Nobody has their address.

I believe people did recorded deliveries to their previous address

and they were being signed by different names.

If they're based elsewhere in the European Union,

there is an advice service called the UK European Consumer Centre.

-Oh, OK.

-They can assist you with complaints

against businesses based elsewhere in the European Union.

-Stick with it.

-Thank you.

-Be like that terrier.

-Bit between the teeth and keep going.

-Thank you so much.

Meanwhile Andy Shenton and his family came to see

communications expert David McClelland.

They're unhappy with their broadband provider which has

brought in a more limited data allowance.

David, we have Andy here who's got problems with his phones

and his internet and you're just the man to sort him out.

I've got a broadband and telephone package.

One of the things

they introduced was a 20G allowance, before that I was on unlimited,

so I never gave it a thought until the first bill came through

and I was hit with a £10 surcharge for exceeding the data cap.

I thought, well, I'll give them a ring to see what was happening.

And they said, "Yeah

"because you've exceeded your data allowance. You should have

"had an e-mail to say you're getting close, once you get to 80%."

I said, "Well, I never

"got an e-mail." I get an e-mail to say that my bill's ready so...

-So they do have your e-mail address?

-Yes, but there's nothing to say that I'm

-getting close to my limit.

-How do you use the internet in your

-house these days?

-Surfing the web, watching a bit of the old iPlayer.

We've got three children, so you can imagine they're all on their games on the internet.

-It's a massive part of our life.

-Yes, definitely.

And there's nothing that you're doing which is particularly extravagant or out of the ordinary

in terms of your internet usage. Speak to their customer services rep

and find out why you're not getting these e-mails because this is

a key part of you understanding your usage and say, "Look, we're going over

"our monthly usage. Rather than paying this £10 service charge every month, what

"other options are there?" If you're still not happy use your power as

consumers to take a look at the rest of the market to find a better deal

that will suit you - because loyalty counts for nothing, I'm afraid to say, these days.

So, how does all of that strike you? Do you think you've got a plan of action out of that?

-A plan of action, yes.

-And let's face it, particularly a family with three kids, as well,

your data usage is not going to shrink over time, it's going to carry on growing, isn't it?

And that's something you definitely need to be conscious of

-when choosing your broadband package.

-Yeah.

Now, let's be honest, very few of us really want to spend much time

making arrangements for after we pass on.

Obviously, we don't want our families to be out of pocket

paying for funeral costs, but really,

sorting out all the details isn't a job that any of us relish.

Which is why life insurance products known as Over 50s Plans have

become so popular.

They market themselves on their simplicity -

nothing complicated, just a very easy monthly payment

and a painless sign-up process that means you don't need to think about

the unthinkable for too long.

But they may not always be the best bet.

And it could be that thinking the unthinkable for just that little

bit longer could save you and your loved ones hundreds of pounds.

I've met thousands of fascinating people and I have some wonderful

memories, but if you'd like to leave your loved ones

more than happy memories, you might want to look at this...

It costs from £7 a month and with LV

there's no medical or health questions.

They're one of the bestselling retirement products

on the market and with trusted faces like Sir Michael Parkinson

and Cilla Black fronting their ad campaigns, Over 50s Plans

offer reassurance, peace of mind, and security.

You can't prepare for the grief,

but there is a way you can ease

the money worries of those left behind.

And Parky and Cilla are in good company.

Now, you may remember that some years back,

I also advertised an Over 50s Plan. The idea is quite simple,

each month you pay in a small amount of money and then at the end of your

life it pays out a lump sum to your family to cover things like funeral

costs and so on. But what I didn't realise and maybe those of you who have taken out

an Over 50s Plan don't realise either, is that what you pay in

in your lifetime, can be a lot more than your family actually get out.

They work like this. The amount you get as a lump sum stays the same.

It's fixed, in other words.

But, the amount you pay in each month is fixed at a set rate as well.

So, the longer you live, the more you end up paying.

Because after a certain point you'll start paying in MORE than

the lump sum is worth.

It's called the break even point.

Margaret Seamen took out an Over 50s plan back in 1997,

as did her husband John.

They were together for 65 years after a rather sweet chance

encounter in a London tube station.

He had a doughnut in his pocket...

SHE LAUGHS

..and he pulled it out of his pocket and I said

"That's rather nice, I haven't had a doughnut for six years!"

SHE LAUGHS

So, that was the first day.

So a doughnut started it all, eh?

And I'm still quite fond of doughnuts now.

They married six weeks later after this meeting.

And many happy years followed.

Then in September 1997,

they both took out the Sun Life Guaranteed Over 50s Plan.

And how much were you paying into the fund?

£14 a month. But we thought, "If one of us dies,

"we will help to pay for the funeral expenses."

But when 14 years later, John passed away, at the age of 89,

daughter Charmaine got a shock.

The money they had got back was little more than HALF of what John paid in.

What amount did they give you?

Erm, £1,200 and a few pence.

And, we worked it out that he'd actually paid in

about £2,300.

And I don't think that the policy, that it

was explained quite how it would work.

This business about continuing to pay in after you've reached

the sum that you're going to get back, it wasn't made clear at all.

Although it was unclear to Margaret,

this fact WAS stated in the policy documents she signed.

And she soon realised that the fixed value of her own plan was

only ever going to be £1,650,

no matter how much she paid in.

As it was a plan for life, she'd be making payments for ever -

long after she'd paid in more than the policy would ever pay out.

So you felt cheated and...

I felt cheated, yes.

But I felt, also, pretty helpless.

Now, in 2009, the Financial Services Authority told the companies

that they had to make it very clear in their advertising that what

you paid in wasn't necessarily what your loved ones would get back out.

As of March 2014 all providers have had to implement

guidance drawn up by the Association of British Insurers which

should make it crystal clear that this is an insurance plan

and NOT a way to save.

We looked at the website of five top providers of Over 50s Plans,

including Sun Life.

And the required warning IS now clearly evident on their websites.

They're included in the adverts, as well, in the small

print at the bottom of the screen.

And there's no doubt that despite criticism, Over 50s Plans

are still an incredibly popular product - with more than

439,000 of them being sold last year.

But financial expert Ros Altmann is very worried that not everyone

who's bought one fully appreciates what they've signed up to.

I think a lot of families feel miffed, they think, "Well, my dad

"paid in nearly £4,000 and yet we're only getting £1,800",

or whatever it is.

So, apart from the pain of losing a loved one, they really feel

the misery of not getting as much money out as the person paid in.

Yes, I think a lot of families end up being quite shocked

when they calculate how much money was actually paid into the plan

and then how much they get out of it.

And they are very upset to find that there's nothing

they can do about it.

And that's what's happened to Margaret.

Having paid in £2,300 already,

she decided to stop the payments.

We just told my mum to stop paying because we didn't see

the point of her continuing to throw money away like that.

But by doing so she broke the contract

and her family will now only get £642 when she dies,

That's nearly £1,700 less than the total she paid in so far.

The family complained to Sun Life and got nowhere.

Our complaints weren't upheld because that is what the policy was

and so, legally, that was absolutely right

but we just think that it's not fair and people need to be made aware.

We contacted Sun Life Direct,

who no longer run Margaret's policy but they did at the time she bought it.

They told us that they're very sorry to hear

she was disappointed with her plan, but stressed that it is more common

for their customers to get back more than they actually paid in -

although...

Of course, if you DON'T live too much longer after taking

one of these policies out, it could feasibly end up paying out

MORE than you'd paid in.

So, before buying one, it's absolutely crucial that you understand exactly how it works

so that you can decide if it's the most appropriate product for you.

And keep in mind that

if you're just looking for a way to leave something behind to

cover funeral expenses and the like, there are other options.

There are conventional funeral plans which you can take out which

mean that the plan itself will cover the cost of your funeral.

One alternative, if you're only in your 50s or maybe 60s...

is to just put the money in a savings account.

And, then, over time, that will mount up and if you do live an

average life expectancy - you'll then leave a lump sum for your family.

For Ros that gives a bit more certainty than Over 50s Plans

where the benefit depends on how long you live for.

It seems ironic that you have to die at the right time.

That's the problem - none of us know when we're going to die.

And it is really quite sad to think that a lot of them

end up living a long time, which is great news, but then being really

disappointed, that what they thought

was putting their money into something sensible,

turns out to be or feels like, for them, to be a bit of a rip off.

We've put together a free booklet of tips

and advice to help safeguard your hard-earned money.

You can download it from our website...

Or, for a hard copy, send a stamped, self-addressed

A5 envelope to the address we'll give at the end of the programme.

You'll also find on the website lots more information on the topics

we've tackled throughout the series,

with plenty of tips on how to save money - and avoid being caught out.

Moving into any new building is always pretty exciting, isn't it?

But if it's brand-new, and not even built yet,

then you might well have to trust the developer's design drawings

to really get a picture of how your new home is going to look.

And those plans SHOULD give you a pretty good idea of important things

like the size of the rooms, the layout of the building and

if it's a block of flats then the location of lifts and fire escapes.

But unfortunately, even when something appears to be

shown very clearly on the plan, that doesn't necessarily

mean that it is going to end up being included in the finished building.

As the bitterly disappointed residents of one

block in Huddersfield have found out.

Nestled in a valley on the edge of the Yorkshire countryside,

Waterside Mill is part of an historic complex of former textile mills.

But, unlike the two other mills in the development,

THIS building has never produced so much as a thread... because it

was only built in 2012. When the old mills next door were redeveloped,

this new block of 16 apartments was added.

But some residents don't feel that everything about their smart

new homes is quite what they were expecting.

And, top of their list of frustrations is

what's behind this white panel.

We think this is the door that should be a lift door

but it's not.

We know that the lift shaft is there, the wiring's there.

Why we haven't got a lift, we don't know.

The mystery of the empty lift shaft has frustrated

several of the residents of Waterside Mill.

Janet Porteus and her husband Barrie live on the lower-ground floor

and they say one reason they moved in was

because they believed a lift would be present.

We have to negotiate two flights of stairs to get

out of our apartment and, obviously, two flights of stairs, down with shopping, to our apartment

which we're finding difficult and it's going to get

more difficult as we get older, I'm sure. This is why we want the lift.

The building's developers, PJ Livesey, insist that a lift was

NEVER on the cards and they just built the lift shaft in case

residents wanted to install their own lift at a later date.

But this is news to residents, many of whom were convinced that

a lift WOULD be present.

After all, one IS shown on the plans.

We have a plan on our lease... which clearly shows...

..the lift in situ.

We feel like this is what we've paid for so why on earth isn't it here?

Two floors above Janet and Barrie live Dave and Pam.

They too think the developers should have installed a lift.

We have now been here 12 months, and no sign of installation of the lift.

-We have great difficulty with my wife with her shopping.

-Yeah.

And, certainly, our disabled friends are not able to visit us.

One floor up at the top of the building

lives 23-year-old Anthony Schofield.

The stairs don't pose him with a huge problem but he does say that he would

have thought twice if he'd known that the lift would not be installed.

Personally, I would never have bought an apartment on the top floor

without a lift, so it's just disappointing.

A lift is even referred to in the residents' tenancy agreement.

We can only use the lift for the relevant amount of people

specified in the lift and to not carry furniture in the lift

and then there's no lift, so it seems daft that there's a contract that

we've all signed up to and there's not actually a lift for us to use.

Anthony and other residents are adamant

that they were told by various sales reps that a lift WOULD be installed.

The developers totally reject that.

Either way, Anthony was

so determined to get to the bottom of the mystery of the missing lift

that he employed a solicitor to take up the case.

The developer's solicitors have just come back saying that they

built a lift shaft for the purpose of the residents

if we ever wanted to put in a lift ourselves, we could do.

Other buildings in the development DO have lifts, but the developer,

PJ Livesey, say that the flats in those buildings were specifically marketed

as having lifts, and as a result, they were more expensive to buy.

The developers say that residents shouldn't have ASSUMED

that they were getting a lift,

and if they'd checked when they bought the properties,

they would have been informed that there were no plans to install one.

Property expert Henry Pryor says this is a classic example

of buyers or their legal advisors not asking enough questions.

A new development is a living thing, it's evolving through

the planning and build process.

And, inevitably, therefore you need to be double sure,

doubly sure that what you are going to be given is what you've ordered.

Make sure that when people are giving you the undertaking or

the impression that they're going to deliver gardens or certain

levels of kitchen, that that is, in fact, what they're committed

to do, and you need to talk to your lawyer and ask probing

and searching questions of the builder and the developer.

At the end of the day you're parting with a considerable amount of money,

much of which you will have borrowed from a bank or

building society. It's up to you to ensure that you are getting

what you think you have ordered and what you've paid for.

Back at Waterside Mill the empty lift shaft isn't the only

problem they've had with the development since it was finished.

That obscure-looking concrete structure in the middle

of the reservoir SHOULD be supporting a walkway which was

designed to take residents over the water and out of the development.

But the walkway HASN'T been finished, meaning that

if residents want to leave the site on foot,

they can either take a long detour through

the rest of the development or try and negotiate the edge of THIS road.

You've got a blind bend there that you cannot see round.

If the walkway came over... the pond...

it would actually exit at the top by the gates.

So the people would not be in danger in this area.

Plus the water beside the buildings, initially a haven for wildlife,

has been left looking rather scruffy, as has what was

supposed to be visitor parking.

A building tip behind, that the builders have left from

when they was building our apartments.

Put together, residents say that these problems are ruining

their enjoyment of the homes that otherwise they love.

When we put all the residents' complaints to the building

developers, PJ Livesey, they reiterated that there was never any

intention to install a lift in the empty lift shaft - and that, despite

what some residents claim, no sales representative said otherwise.

They also said that when the lease agreement refers to the lift,

those references...

And they pointed out that

because the entrance to the building is on the first floor, no resident

has to walk more than two floors up or down to their apartment.

But there was good news too.

The company agreed that the cordoned-off waste ground

in the corner of the car park was "unsightly".

And since we got in touch, they've cleared up the whole of that

area, and refilled and cleared up the reservoir.

Plus, they've assured us

that work to construct the walkway will happen before the end of 2014.

So that's most of the residents' concerns resolved.

Except, of course, for that lift.

We shouldn't be having to deal with all these problems

when we've got a beautiful apartment.

No problems with the apartment or the building, it's just

the areas that aren't finished off and we do really need this lift.

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

more of your stories.

And we'd especially like to hear from you if you've had

a problem on holiday or while travelling at home or abroad.

So if you feel let down by your airline,

disappointed that the hotel looked very different from the glossy

pictures in the brochure, or maybe you're angry about hidden charges

that weren't clear when you booked.

You can write to us.

Or you can send us an e-mail to...

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

Now, when you're spending your hard-earned cash you want to be sure

of exactly what you're getting before you hand over a single penny.

So whether it's a used car or indeed that new puppy, hopefully

you're now in a better position to know what to ask or look out for to

be totally confident that you'll end up with what you thought you would.

But, in fact, however well prepared you are there are going to be

those unexpected situations where you find yourself out of pocket,

short changed, or thoroughly ripped off.

And those are exactly the times when we are here to try and help.

And you never know, it could be your story that we feature

in one of our future programmes - which are going to include

a week of live shows coming up very soon.

As well as even more consumer reports in our Food and Holidays series

next year. And as all of our stories come from you,

please do keep sending us all your letters and e-mails,

they really are the lifeblood of this programme.

And we'll do our very best to look into as many of them as we can.

But until the next time, from all the team here, and from us,

-bye-bye.

-Bye.

-Bye.