Episode 10 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's simply not up to scratch.

When you have to call them,

it takes ages and somebody else answers the phone who pretty much

doesn't know what you're saying.

The customer is not benefitting and, no, I'm not getting value for money.

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

and investigate the extra charges you say are unfair.

They don't deserve to be in any form of business whatsoever and they just

want shutting down.

And when you've lost out, but nobody else is to blame,

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

They took the money out of my account and I don't even know who it

was that was scamming me.

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 where, as ever,

we're here to fight your corner when you don't think that you've been

treated fairly.

And, you know, that really is at the heart of this entire series.

Unpicking those times when you've handed over your money with great

hopes, only to be left feeling let down or even taken for a ride.

Yes, it's horrible when you realise you haven't got the best deal and,

in fact, you may even be paying much

more than other people for the very same thing.

Or, try as you might, you still can't get something that everyone

else seems to access perfectly easy.

Well, hopefully, we're going to put a stop to all of that right away

because today we're going to be exposing some really shocking

examples of situations that, quite frankly, really do seem unfair.

Just wait till you hear one of them. That really will shock you.

So by the end of the programme what we hope is that you're going to have

a really good idea of how to make sure that it isn't you that's left

paying over the odds.

Coming up, as you tell us more of your broadband woes,

why this woman was told that if she wanted the fastest speeds,

she'd have to pay thousands to get the line put in herself.

For that amount of money,

I'd want it gold-plated and a big plaque to say that I own it.

And why the cost of booking a venue

may rocket as soon as you mention the word 'wedding'.

Wait till you hear how much extra we were quoted to hire

exactly the same place.

?1,750.

Don't think you'll be going down that route. Definitely not!

Over the last few years we've been following very keenly the commitment

from the government and BT to get most of Britain hooked up to

superfast broadband by 2017.

And, indeed, on one of our live programmes I spoke to a senior

spokesman from BT who gave us some pretty solid assurances about the

number of homes that would be plugged into those fast connections.

And, yet, we still hear from viewers for whom the experience has been

anything but positive,

with tales of missed appointments, failed installations,

painfully slow connection speeds and much more.

But things were even worse for the viewers that we're about to meet who

after years of confusion were told that their superfast connection

would only be possible if they paid for the equipment that would cost

tens of thousands of pounds.

It's not impossible to live without a fast internet connection at home,

but it certainly isn't easy,

and earlier this year the government confirmed its plans to enshrine

in law everyone's right to fast broadband.

One of the key measures in this Queen's Speech is for the first time

a universal service obligation to deliver broadband to every home and

every business in our country.

Of course, the government first announced its commitment to get us

all up to the right online speed some time ago, and key to hooking

the nation up with, not just broadband, but superfast broadband,

has been the part of BT that installs and maintains

the phone network - BT Openreach.

Investing ?3 billion to bring you superfast fibre broadband.

But while BT has declared that the roll-out is ahead of schedule,

the company has come in for heavy criticism for how it's handled the

whole business, not simply from consumers or even rivals,

but most recently from MPs and the regulator Ofcom.

BT should be forced to sell the country's leading broadband provider

Openreach because of poor performance.

That's the conclusion of a new report backed by 121 MPs.

There have been warnings that Openreach could be broken up if it

doesn't improve, after complaints that it's too slow to make repairs

and new connections.

BT Openreach is not investing enough in the infrastructure

and there's problems as a result of that.

Well, you've been telling us your own experiences of all of this

for quite some time now and the government's

Select Committee for Culture, Media and Sport has now

also slammed what it called BT Openreach's poor service and patchy broadband coverage

not just in remote rural areas,

but in parts of the country where you might assume that the network

could be more easily made superfast, like the capital,

and that's something that Lynn-Ann Sinclair knows all-too well.

When she and her family moved into their new home two years ago

in West Molesey in Surrey, less than an hour from the centre of London,

getting online was top of her to-do list.

We needed the superfast broadband to have the television package that we wanted.

We've all got devices that need to be used and, so that they can

get their homework and coursework done efficiently,

it needed to be able to support everything in the house.

Being so close to London,

Lynn-Ann thought getting the speedy connection would be simple

and when she saw ads for BT's superfast Infinity service,

it seemed ideal, but there was a hitch.

I was told that Infinity wasn't available at the moment,

but it would be very soon.

So they said if we sign up, then as soon as it's into the area,

we will contact you and transfer you over.

Lynn-Ann signed up for BT's standard broadband while she waited for

the area to be hooked up to the superfast service

and with BT Openreach working in her area already

she didn't think it would take that long.

I thought with all the work that was going on around and you constantly

saw BT engineers out and about around the area that, actually, yes,

there was going to be something happening soon.

Lynn-Ann waited and waited,

but as homes nearby got their superfast connection,

BT kept telling Lynn-Ann that her house still couldn't get it.

On the news regularly you hear about they're struggling to get the

super broadband, but that's normally in the rural areas,

but then, I'm here on the outerskirts of London

and I'm still having the same problems as what they are.

After more than two-and-a-half years of waiting,

Lynn-Ann logged a formal complaint with BT and while she'd initially

been told it would just be a matter of time before she got

the speedier service, now the company told her that because of the

way her home is connected to the local exchange, she wouldn't be able

to get BT Infinity after all.

What's more, it seemed from the company's letter that the only way

she could get a superfast connection with BT would be very expensive.

They said, "Well, your other option is you could always club together

"with your neighbours and pay for the line to be installed yourselves."

Stunned by the company's suggestion that she and her neighbours should

sort the problem out for themselves, Lynn-Ann got in touch with us.

And to help her understand why she can't get the connection she wants,

we asked broadband expert Andrew Ferguson to pay her a visit.

It's more frustrating, I think,

for some people now in the urban environment because the assumption

is you do have it, so you maybe don't do quite as many checks

as if you're moving to sort of a nice countryside house.

Andrew's research has uncovered Lynn-Ann's problem.

Hi. Hi.

Her home and the homes of more than 30 of her neighbours are

amongst just 2% or 3% of the properties in the UK that are served

by what's called an exchange-only line,

meaning they can make calls and get a slower broadband connection,

but the line simply won't meet the demands of superfast broadband and

installing one that can is neither easy nor cheap.

So the letter said that I needed to look at other options and it said

one was to consider paying for it to be installed myself.

My initial thought was, how much would that cost?

To put in a cabinet, it varies between ?20,000 and ?40,000.

So that's quite horrendous.

For that amount of money,

I'd want it gold-plated and a big plaque to say that I own it because,

actually...

..if I've paid that sort of money, that's mine.

Well, rather than do that,

Lynn-Ann has signed up to a company that doesn't use BT cables.

Something she would've done right back at the start of all of this

if she hadn't been told that she could get

her superfast broadband from BT.

But, of course, Lynn-Ann is far from the only person to contact us after

having problems getting BT's superfast connections.

Last year, on our live series we put some of the concerns that we heard

to one of BT Openreach's directors.

Well, we are trying to get to the

high speeds for as many people

as possible.

You're not doing it quickly enough,

particularly in rural communities.

Why aren't you working harder and quicker to bring high-speed broadband to them?

I think we're on journey. We've not announced the end of this.

Well, after that interview,

our inbox was inundated with yet more e-mails

from people telling us that for whatever reason,

BT has been super slow in getting them superfast broadband.

And as well as the tales of sluggish speeds,

failed connections and missed appointments,

we also heard from other viewers like Lynn-Ann who'd signed up

for BT's Infinity service, only to be told later on

that they couldn't actually get it after all.

Angela Butcher from Birmingham is one of them.

She's a pastor this community church

and was keen to keep the congregation better informed

about everything going on there.

We have our normal Sunday services

and then we have children's ministry, youth ministry.

With the church needing a better web connection,

Angela started looking for a new provider,

but it was crucial that the church could move its phone number, as well.

So when BT told her that it could do that and get the church

onto BT Infinity, she enthusiastically signed up.

An appointment was booked for an Openreach engineer to call round,

but Angela's faith in BT soon proved misplaced.

Unfortunately, when that day came, nothing happened.

There was no phone call to say that they couldn't come.

I was then chasing BT to find out why they hadn't come.

It took two months from that initial date until BT finally sent

one of its Openreach engineers to the church.

He came in to say that he was putting in a new line.

I immediately said, we don't want a new line,

we just want our old line transferred over to BT

and a better broadband.

So we rang BT and they assured me that the process of getting the

broadband that we so desperately needed was to give us a new line.

Angela didn't want a new line,

but the engineer told her that there was no other way and that the

church's old number could easily be transferred across.

That, however, still meant a few days with a completely different number,

during which time no-one could get hold of her.

We've got a funeral coming up,

we've got funeral directors trying to contact us.

I had the organist who was going to play at the funeral

trying to contact the church and not able to get in contact with me.

Six days later, when there was still no sign of the old number being

transferred over, Angela called BT to complain again

and its response really wasn't what she was expecting.

BT then said we couldn't get the Infinity package where we were situated.

This was a devastating blow because this was the whole point of moving.

Had they said that to us two months previously,

we would have said, "Thank you very much, we'll try somewhere else."

Angela asked BT to cancel the order and return everything back

to the way it had been two weeks previously,

with the church's old phone number.

But it took another nine days of phone calls and stress

on Angela's part before that finally happened.

By that point, the church had been without the phone number

that everyone knew for two weeks.

We're still hopeful we can get superfast broadband

and we're going to be looking at that again, but with someone else.

Well, BT told us that it appreciates the frustration of people who can't

access superfast broadband,

especially when, like Lynn-Ann and Angela,

their properties are so close to others that can.

It agreed mistakes were made in these two cases,

explaining that Lynn-Ann was given inaccurate information

about the fibre broadband plans in her area due to a mistake

by its advisers and that a system error led to Angela being

given the wrong information, too.

And it's apologised for the frustrations that Angela

experienced getting things resolved.

But, again, BT insisted its efforts to meet the government's target of

delivering superfast broadband to 95% of the country are on track,

and that it's doing all it can,

investing more than any other company

to take coverage even further.

As such, the company was disappointed by the recent criticism

from the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee,

which it doesn't feel reflects current levels of investment.

Adding that it will pump in a further ?6 billion over the next three years.

And while BT did agree that service levels have to improve,

something with which the company says it's making significant

progress, it said separating Openreach from BT would lead

to less investment and not more,

claiming it would fatally undermine plans to deliver high speeds for

the final few percent of the country.

It's clear, however, that over the next few months, the role of BT and

particularly BT Openreach in rolling out superfast broadband

will be under plenty of scrutiny.

Indeed, not long before we finished this programme, the company

came in for further very vocal criticism

from a former government minister.

But whatever happens for now, at least,

Angela and Lynn-Ann's relationship with BT has come to an end.

They're meant to be a communication company.

They're one of the biggest in the world,

but it seems to me their systems need a complete overhaul

and a change of system because when you talk to them,

it seems within the company the right hand

doesn't know what the left hand is doing.

Now, whoever said you can't put a price on happiness has clearly never

been involved in planning a wedding.

'Mind-bogglingly expensive' are the words that spring to mind.

Indeed, the average price of a wedding these days runs

into the tens of thousands of pounds.

Now, it's easy to get swept up in the excitement of it all, of course,

but is that hefty price tag really worth it?

Well, we've conducted a little experiment of our own.

We wanted to see what difference it would make to the cost of arranging

the event if we didn't mention the W-word at all.

ROMANTIC WEDDING MUSIC PLAYS

So you've taken the plunge and decided to get married.

RECORD SCRATCHES, MUSIC STOPS

But as the excitement mounts, so, too, can the costs,

which is something the couple I'm about to meet is starting to realise

as the big day gets closer.

Kate Meadows and her fiance Jay been together for three years.

When did you pop the question?

It was August last year. We were on a boat in Turkey.

It was our family's boat and everyone knew apart from Kate.

I could see him messing about with the music

and then I seen him crouch down next to me.

I was about to turn around and go, "Just sit on the chair.

"Why are you sitting on the floor?"

And as I turned round, I've seen him on the floor.

He was standing there with the ring and I just went, "Oh!"

I didn't even actually hear him say, "Will you marry me?"

Kate says she's been dreaming of her wedding day since she was a toddler,

so she wasted no time turning her fantasy into reality.

When did you start planning the arrangements and everything?

On the boat!

Blimey, you were quick off the mark.

Very quick! Do you think you'd got it in your head?

It was already planned, I think. I just needed the ring.

But half of all brides say they expect to spend more on their

wedding than they'd budgeted for,

and it already looks as if that'll be the case

with Kate's celebrations, too.

So what was the budget that you settled for your wedding?

Originally, we decided about ?7,000 to try and keep it as cheap as

possible, but as we've been putting deposits down

on more things and we've renewed our budget

and had a little look again,

it's actually coming out more at ?10,000.

And that's really playing on Kate's mind.

I suppose the thing that's worrying the most

is that we can afford everything.

We don't want to go into married life in debt.

One thing she's found frustrating as she's done her research is that in

some cases, planning a wedding seems to command a premium

just because it's a wedding.

When I was looking at bridesmaids dresses,

if you put 'bridesmaid dress' into the search engine,

it was coming up really expensive.

But if you were to put 'prom dress' in, the same dress would come up

sometimes and it'd be half the price.

You're joking. The price is insane.

The wedding premium Kate thinks she's being quoted

is something that lots of us may have wondered about.

Whether we're guests at someone else's wedding,

paying what seems like over the odds for a hotel room

or planning our own big day and watching the bills mount up.

So what would happen if you don't mention the W-word at all?

Would the quote be less if it wasn't for a wedding,

but, say, a birthday party instead?

Well, to find out, we did a test,

concentrating on one of the single biggest costs of all -

the venue.

First, we check some prices in Liverpool

where Kate's getting married.

Then to get a slightly bigger picture,

we rang several venues in Leeds and Manchester, too.

In total, we called 15 venues and we rang each of them twice -

the first time enquiring about costs for a wedding and the second time

asking about a 60th birthday party

on the same date with the same number of guests.

And we told them we were sorting out our own catering and

entertainment, so all we needed a price for was the room hire itself.

You might assume that would be a pretty standard cost,

but you'd be wrong.

Of the 15 venues,

no fewer than ten quoted us more when we asked them about room hire

for the wedding than when we said we were planning

the 60th birthday party.

And, as you'll see, sometimes it wasn't simply a bit more,

it was a whopping great amount.

I've brought along both sets of quotes to show Kate.

Let's see what she makes of how big the price difference can be.

Now, my pile, we said we were booking for a 60th birthday party.

Your pile consists of the ones where they knew it was a wedding, OK?

So I'll fire away and open mine and tell you what's inside,

and you see what's inside yours.

First, here's what one hotel quoted for the 60th birthday party.

300.

And here's what the same venue said it would cost for a wedding.

1,500. My goodness.

It's a bit like the Oscars, this, isn't it?

I feel like it's my birthday.

It was a similar story with the next one

where, again, the birthday party quote was much less

than the one for the wedding.

200. 1750.

I don't think you'll be going down that route. Definitely not!

And the price variations at the other venues we checked were pretty dramatic, too.

One Manchester hotel increased its room hire price for a

wedding by ?300 and another by ?800.

While in Liverpool, one hotel told us room higher for a birthday party

would be free, but it would cost ?300 for a wedding.

All of which is a bit worrying for our bride-to-be, Kate.

She hasn't booked her venue yet,

but now fears she's about to be royally ripped off.

I'm surprised because if it's just for the venue,

do you get anything else extra for that amount of money?

I would like to know where my money is going?

What is it for, exactly,

if you can do this for a totally different price?

A very good question, Kate,

which we put to the venues where the price difference was the biggest.

Some of them didn't want to comment,

but the hotel that quoted a ?1,550 difference

between the two prices did tell us that it's wedding quote

automatically includes eight bedrooms

and assumes a larger space for a longer period of time

than a birthday party.

All things that can be changed to reduce the price.

But when we asked the British Hospitality Association

its views on why some venues charge more for a wedding

than a birthday party,

it told us that a wedding is a big occasion

that often requires access to other parts of the venue

than simply the room itself,

meaning these spaces can't be used for other events.

It also said many venues will be fully involved in the planning and

delivery of the wedding,

so their expertise in ensuring that day goes to plan

may also be a factor in the price.

But it wasn't all bad news.

Some of the venues we contacted did charge exactly the same

for a wedding as for a birthday party.

One of those was the EDEN Suites at Liverpool Hope University.

Nice to meet you, Kate.

So Kate and I went along to take a look.

So what do you think? It's absolutely lovely.

The reason why we charge the same room hire is because, ultimately,

clients are getting the same service

regardless of whether it's a wedding or a private function.

So there are no kind of extra things that are involved in providing for a

wedding than there are for a 60th birthday?

Well, for the staff, the staffing costs are exactly the same.

We offer a bespoke service to our clients.

Guests are allowed to bring in their own flowers, their own chair covers,

their own centrepieces, DJs, etc..

So the more you do at the venue yourself, the less you'll charged.

And while, as at most venues, once you factor in the food here,

it will have a big effect on the cost, again,

you don't have to pay a wedding premium.

If you keep things simple and stick to finger food,

you'll pay the same price, whatever the occasion.

Obviously, our menus are priced accordingly,

so a wedding breakfast would be more expensive

because it would include the set-up of our chairs and tables,

and the tables as laid out in the room currently.

Whereas with a private function, a 60th birthday party,

you wouldn't need that set up necessarily.

That would be a buffet station set-up.

So if you had a buffet for a wedding

and a buffet for a 60th birthday party,

they'd be the same price, would they? They would, yeah.

Our buffets that we offer, everything on there is individually priced.

So, I mean, a cheese sandwich for the 60th

and a cheese sandwich for the wedding would cost exactly the same?

Correct, yes.

But while food and venue costs can rocket as soon as you utter the word

'wedding', you won't necessarily pay more for other essential parts

of the big day.

A quick ring round by our researchers found, for example,

that as photographers and florists typically provide a bespoke service

anyway, there wasn't much of a price difference between them tailoring

that service for a wedding or a birthday.

The same goes for cakes, cards, stationery and entertainment,

where changing your choices is probably the only way

to make big savings.

But if you are prepared to be flexible,

holding back on using the word 'wedding' needn't be

the only weapon in your money-saving arsenal

because events expert George Watts,

who styles himself The Wedding Fairy,

says there are plenty of ways the costs can come right down.

If somebody comes to you and says, "I want to get married,

"I want this, "I want that,"

what's the area that you would encourage them to look at

to save the money, apart from the venue?

I have secured and worked on a wedding once under a grand,

which is unheard of!

How did you do that?

And we had a gorgeous room in a pub, small buffet,

friends and family got heavily involved in the planning.

That's the interesting point.

If you want to keep the costs down, tap into everybody,

tell everybody you know that you're getting married,

because a friend or a family member knows somebody who's got a great set

of wheels, who loves to bake cakes, who's a great photographer,

and that will help bring the costs down.

I always say a fairy tale does not have to cost a fortune.

It's all about having a party at the end of the day,

that's what's to focus on if there isn't a massive budget.

And George's wise advice might help Kate plan for the big day.

I can see, even with other things apart from venue,

I mention the word 'wedding' and I can see, with research, as well,

the price soars.

This is highlighting an issue in the wedding industry that some venues

really are bumping up the price and it's unacceptable.

And do you know what I would do? I would ask them why. Yeah.

I would actually put them on the spot and say, well,

I understand that you can hire this space, with this, for this price,

so why, when I'm doing a wedding here,

is it doubling, tripling in price?

If they haven't got a justification,

then you're in a very good position to be able to barter a better deal,

if you still want to get married at that venue,

or move on to another one.

Armed with that information, with the wedding day fast approaching,

Kate's determined she will pay no more for any of it than she has to.

I think I'll take on The Wedding Fairy's advice

of just asking them, why is it so much more expensive?

And maybe being a little bit more forceful in the quotes to find out

if it was this price if it was a party, why is it so much more?

So, yeah, I think I'd probably not use the W-word unless I had to.

Still to come on Rip Off Britain,

is there any truth in the long held belief

that mechanics charge women over the odds?

Well, we've put it to the test.

What's really scary is that the sexism existed ten years ago

when I opened this place,

unfortunately, is still there.

We took Rip Off Britain out on the road this year to Manchester,

where we set up our annual pop-up shop at one of the UK's biggest

shopping centres.

It's a chance for shoppers to get top consumer advice on the spot

and we do try to help as many of you as we possibly can.

I was going round in circles

and the last resort was I just e-mailed Rip Off Britain.

It's information we wouldn't have known without this programme.

Without Rip Off Britain's help and advice,

I don't think we would ever resolve this.

And where we can't instantly solve your problems,

we can at least provide a listening ear.

Do you feel any better, having got it off your chest now?

Oh, yeah, very much so, I feel a lot better.

I love looking down at our pop-up shop and seeing just how busy it is,

and of course this year, for the first time,

we've actually placed it in the shopping mall itself,

which means that people have greater access, they can just

stop their shopping for a second and come in and see our experts,

and hopefully get some of their consumer problems solved.

It's a great idea. I love being in it,

and I also like watching it, as well.

And solicitor Gary Rycroft had two cases

booked into his next appointment.

Nouhou and Ramatou from Sheffield

and Thomas from Keighley have run into trouble over exactly the

same thing, and it's an issue that you contact us about it a lot.

Now, as Gary knows,

we get scores of e-mails and letters about parking problems.

One of the most common complaints is exactly what happened here -

a disputed parking charge while out shopping.

Nouhou and Ramatou,

and indeed Thomas, feel they have been treated very unfairly,

and shouldn't have to pay up.

In our case, we went to a store, made some purchases, left the store,

went somewhere else.

The couple were in the car park in question for less than half an hour

before driving elsewhere.

But several hours later, in order to make some more purchases,

they came back, and that is the root of their troubles.

A couple of weeks later, we had a letter through the post,

saying that we have overstayed in this car park.

The parking firm had timed Nouhou and Ramatou's stay

from the first time they arrived in the morning

to their exit after their second visit later that afternoon,

and as a result, they were demanding a ?60 fee for staying six hours

longer than allowed.

We went straight back into the shop to explain to them the accusation

that we have overstayed for six hours.

The shop immediately wrote to the parking company,

backing up the couple's story, and Nouhou and Ramatou

also got in touch themselves,

providing receipts of their visits to other stores,

along with proof of parking in a different car park.

We have CCTV in between that time in a car park,

going in and coming out.

Now, the same car cannot be in the same place twice.

But despite the couple's best efforts,

the parking firm has insisted that they pay up.

And what's more, it's upped the cost as well.

Now the fine is no longer 60, it is actually ?100, but also,

each time the solicitors write to us,

it will cost us ?54 in addition.

Otherwise, we are going to get a County Court judgment.

Gary is already shaking his head,

but before we ask him for a judgment on this, Thomas,

tell me what happened in your case.

Mine is a little bit different.

I went up to the machine, I put a pound in, got the ticket,

put it in my windscreen.

A month later, I got a letter through the post,

saying I hadn't paid for a ticket, I'd parked illegally,

I'd breached the terms and conditions

and they wanted a ?60 fine off me.

Now, we've seen the ticket that proves that Thomas did pay to park

at the time he says he did.

Even so, when he appealed the charge,

the company just wouldn't budge.

So however unjustified, he felt pressured into giving them the cash.

I was worried about it going up to 100, court action,

having bailiffs come round my house, so I was worried

about the repercussions of not paying it within 14 days.

Well, Gary's advice in disputes like this when you know for certain

that you have followed the rules is simply, "Do not pay up."

What these companies are doing is they are piling on the pressure,

they are saying, "Pay now, if you don't pay now, it will be more."

They're saying, "Well, we're going to impose a legal charge."

They can't say, "You are paying for our solicitor's letter,"

they just can't do that.

So don't be intimidated by them.

Absolutely stand your ground.

And just as Nouhou and Ramatou did, Gary recommends

gathering as much proof as possible to back up your case.

Evidence is absolutely key in all these cases.

So get your evidence there and then.

Take photographs of where your car is parked,

take photographs of any signage that there may or may not be.

Gary, what's the advice, then, for someone in Thomas' position?

Should he have just dug his heels in?

The advice is to do what Ramatou did and from the word go

to challenge it.

Should have said, "Take me to court, I'll show the judge the ticket...

Yes. "..cos I paid it and I can prove it."

And whilst Gary thinks Thomas could challenge the charge via the appeals

service, as he's already paid up,

it may make it less likely that he gets a refund.

The argument they would make is that the payment was an admission

that Thomas was at fault.

Even though he's got the proof that he wasn't at fault?

Well, they would say, "Well, if you had that proof, why did you pay it?"

You have been a victim of their bullying, I'm afraid.

Well, that's going to be a lesson to everybody, then, isn't it? Yeah.

To not pay it and fight it.

Yes. Thank you all very much indeed.

I think for our viewers at home, lots of very valuable information,

so thank you for sharing your stories with us.

You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you for having us today. Thanks.

And thanks for the wonderful advice. Thank you.

It's a pleasure.

Now, if you've ever had that sinking feeling that you might have paid

more for something than somebody else, or indeed you've been sold

something that is quite expensive and you didn't really need it

at all, you'll understand the concerns that some people have

raised about an entire industry accused of doing both those things

to a large proportion of customers.

You might think that it it's just an old, old chestnut

that you'll be charged a higher price and treated very differently,

taking a car to be fixed if you're a woman.

So we set out to discover once and for all if it really is true

that mechanics give men a better deal.

Believe the reports, and you'd be forgiven for thinking that

it's a place where women are routinely given the cold shoulder,

deliberately bamboozled, and charged more for the same jobs as men.

And it's not just the papers that think women get a raw deal

at the garage. One survey of 182 independent garages

found that just 6% of them gave the same quote for the same job to men

as they did to women. It said on average,

women paid ?45 more for car repairs than men and that in Birmingham and

Manchester, they might be quoted up to 30% more.

Although in Sheffield and Edinburgh, the tables were turned,

with men apparently quoted more,

and that's precisely the reason why Caroline Lake set up her own

female-friendly garage, simply because she was fed up hearing that

women might be getting a raw deal.

Back in the day, I think women were very unfairly treated,

in that they used to, very, often hate bringing their car into the

garage because they were frightened of being ripped off,

frightened of being intimidated, blinded by jargon,

which sadly still goes on...

..and, yeah, worried about having to pay more than their male counterpart

would. That was what actually initially gave me the idea to set up

the garage, was that women were coming and wanting and loving

the fact that I would treat them in a totally different way.

The budding entrepreneur started her own garage, Caroline's Cars,

near Norwich in 2006 and recruited a largely female staff.

Miranda Ames is the current head mechanic.

I think, being a female customer and coming into a garage

where there's a female boss and mechanic,

they would tend to feel a little bit more comfortable,

cos I would, personally, myself.

And certainly, some of Caroline's clients have come here to avoid

problems they've had in the past.

I think I was taken advantage of at this tyre and exhaust centre.

I think I ended up with five new tyres and a new exhaust.

I had quite a few problems when I was younger,

turning up at garages and having things done

which later turned out to be not the right thing, or

more expensive, perhaps, than could have been done.

And you've been telling us similar stories as well.

Tracy Scollin from Hemel Hempstead wrote to us about a garage she'd

asked to examine her car after she'd hit a pothole.

They phoned me back and said it would need a new alloy wheel

and that'll be ?500, and I was quite shocked.

So Tracy took the car to another garage for a second opinion.

The other place I took it to said

there's no way it needed a new wheel,

the alloy was repairable.

And so they did it for ?45.

So I would have been overcharged by ?450 if I hadn't questioned it.

Of course, there's no way of knowing if Tracy had initially been quoted

more just because she's a woman, but that's definitely what

the second garage suspected.

The person I spoke to there said, well, unfortunately, with ladies,

they do tend to exaggerate the costs and the repairs done.

And it's quite a male environment,

so it can be quite intimidating, sometimes, to go there as a woman

and feel that maybe they perceive you as someone who won't know what

they're talking about, and you won't know what your rights are.

To help combat that,

Caroline runs classes at her garage to make all her customers,

female or male, by the way, feel a bit more confident about their cars.

All right, ladies. So, we're working on Jan's car today.

Part of the advantage of the classes that I run, as well, is just

giving women that little bit of knowledge,

so they're not only feeling empowered,

that actually they can undo their bonnet,

they can actually walk into a garage and say, well,

I think my discs and pads are a bit worn.

As soon as there is even an assumption that this woman

actually knows a little bit about her car,

she's much less likely to get ripped off.

But the world of cars can seem just as alien to men

as it sometimes can do to women.

Initially, when I opened the garage,

I did market it very much towards females,

but I actually had men that came for the same reason as women did.

They knew that I would explain things to them,

that I'd show them underneath their car,

and actually I've had some men that have come up to me and said,

"Look, Caroline, I wouldn't actually admit this to a man,

"but I don't know how to undo my bonnet either.

"Can you show me?"

Even so, ten years after opening her garage,

Caroline isn't convinced that the industry as a whole

has changed for the better.

What's really scary is that the sexism I encountered

all those years ago, and that still existed ten years ago

when I opened this place, unfortunately, is still there.

So, is she right?

Discrimination by gender is, of course, against the law,

but with so many people claiming that it still goes on,

we thought we'd put it to the test and see if we could find any garages

that would charge women more than men for the same job.

Five male and five female members of our production team

took to the phones. Good afternoon.

I'm just after a quote. I've had my car serviced...

My local garage...

They called a total of 20 garages around Cardiff, Edinburgh,

Bristol and Sheffield, asking for a quote to have new brake pads fitted.

They told me that I need to get... My front brake pads doing...

To make sure we got identical quotes,

we even got identical cars...

It's a 2013... Ford Focus...

..and gave the garages our numberplates so that they could be

sure to give us the exact cost for that make and model.

Just wondering how much you charge?

?61.44.

75 plus VAT.

Anything between 80 and 90.

And is that with VAT or without VAT?

And at the end of it all, we crunched the numbers.

Thanks so much for your help.

Thank you, goodbye.

The quotes themselves varied from just ?60

to about ?120,

but on this occasion, that difference had nothing to do with

the gender of the person who had called. In fact, overall,

the women on our team were quoted slightly less than the men,

an average of ?78,

compared to about ?80.

Of the 15 garages that gave us quotes,

12 were exactly the same.

Perhaps surprisingly,

two quoted men more than they did the women.

Only one garage quoted a woman more, by just ?3.

And while this was just a tiny snapshot,

rather, of course, than a scientific test,

when it comes to price,

sexism hardly seems rife in the garages we spoke to.

Perhaps the truth is, as Caroline fears,

there are simply some garages that may charge too much,

whatever your gender.

30 years ago, men

would perhaps be on the drive on a Sunday afternoon,

and if they weren't cleaning their carburettor,

they might be changing their gearbox.

Things have changed, society has moved on,

so men don't do that so much.

So men, more and more, yes, potentially, can be ripped off.

So, to prevent anyone paying over the odds,

Caroline has three handy hints

to keep down the costs of repairing a car.

Number one is to try and get recommendations from friends,

family, neighbours, and ask them why they think it's a good garage.

Number two, do not let yourself be intimidated.

If they tell you you need ?700 worth of work, or you're unsure at all,

take the car away and get a second opinion.

Number three is, even if you don't feel you are at all,

try and come across as knowledgeable.

Try and come across as if you know a little bit about your car,

because you're less likely to be ripped off.

If you've got a story you'd like us to investigate then you can get in

touch with us via our Facebook page...

..our website...

..or if you'd like to send us an e-mail, our address is...

And of course, you can send a letter to our postal address...

Now, even if you're not quite brave enough to book a wedding pretending

that it's a 60th birthday party,

that story we heard earlier just goes to show that sometimes

the reason a wedding costs so much,

nothing whatsoever to do with the value of what you're getting,

but simply what the venue thinks it can get away with charging

for your big day.

Well, we'd be very interested to hear about any charges that you've

encountered that you think were unfair and indeed,

any tips you might have on how to get round them.

And indeed of course, you can e-mail us at...

..or contact us through our Facebook page.

And perhaps then, we'll be able to share your story AND your advice

with as many people as possible on a future programme.

Sadly, though, I'm afraid that's all we've got for you today.

Thanks, as always, for joining us and until the next time, bye-bye.

Bye. Goodbye.