Episode 4 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 is not up to scratch.

It would seem that, once they've got your money, they're not

particularly interested in coming back to you or to give you

satisfactory customer service.

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

investigate the extra charges you say are unfair.

I think prices are going up and no-one's actually doing anything to

improve that.

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.

You just get to the point it's - "No, leave me alone!"

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 thank you so much for joining us once again

on Rip-Off Britain where, one way or another, all the stories we're

investigating today are about value for money and,

in particular, that old chestnut of whether it's true that you get what

you pay for, either by spending more or indeed by paying out less.

Because when we're comparing prices, very often,

we still like to think that a higher one may be an indication of quality,

particularly, of course, if it comes with the reassurance of a

better-known brand name. But is that always the case?

Well, to find out, we've done some tests on an item that's used by

every single one of us, and I think that what we've discovered could

well change the way that you decide to shop in the future.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the scale, I bet we've all sometimes

wondered if paying a lower price

might turn out to be a false economy.

Well, that's most definitely the case with the situation that

quite a few of you have contacted us about.

Here, the goods in question may not just simply be poor value,

they could turn out to be downright dangerous.

Coming up, the door-to-door mattress

scams conning households right across the country.

As soon as we realised exactly how defective the item was and

realised that we had been scammed, we were just bitterly disappointed.

We felt stupid that we'd been taken in.

And is it worth squeezing out more pennies for your toothpaste?

We test an own brand against a big brand to see if paying extra

is really worth it.

It'll be interesting, I think,

to see if the cheap toothpaste did as well as the expensive one,

and would just prove that it isn't always price that counts.

I think it's fair to say that there's rarely a good time

for a door-to-door salesman to come calling.

It's likely you're either in the middle of something or you're

simply not interested in whatever it is they're trying to offer anyway.

But, sometimes,

their patter really does make a deal appear just too good to miss,

and what they're selling appears so cheap, it seems silly to refuse.

Well, one man contacted us after being talked into just that sort of

opportunity, but it didn't take long for him to start worrying if the

particular item that he'd ended up with wasn't simply poor quality but

quite possibly dangerous, too.

And, as we looked into his story,

it quickly became apparent that dozens more of you have fallen into

exactly the same trap,

finding yourselves lumbered with a purchase that's supposed to help

with counting sheep but that,

instead, has left you counting the pounds that you've lost.

Most of us will spend a third of our lives asleep.

It's time that's vital for our minds and bodies to rest,

but whether you'll have a good night's sleep is, at least in part,

down to the quality of your mattress.

It's often recommended that you have a new one every eight years,

so 81-year-old Margaret Bruff was perhaps due an upgrade when,

in the spring of 2015, a salesman came knocking at her door,

offering to sell her a mattress that

could hardly have come better recommended.

He came in and he said,

talking about mattresses, "How long have you had it?"

I said, "17 years".

He says, "Oh, you want this nice one, the Queen has it."

But even with that supposed royal seal of approval,

Margaret wasn't yet convinced that she wanted to buy a mattress, until,

that is, the salesman from the company calling itself Active Living

told her that he'd been sent by social services,

which was sure that she did need a new one

and that it would cost £795.

Well, he said it was that price.

I thought, "Oh, it will be good," you know, with the Queen having one.

So, Margaret ordered the mattress and handed over a cheque,

but son-in-law Dave wasn't happy

when he found out how much she'd spent.

I thought £795 for a mattress was a bit dear, because you can go into

the shops and probably get the

same mattress for probably half of the price.

Reassured, however,

by the fact that the company hadn't tried to pressure Margaret into

paying by cash, and by the way that the paperwork looked entirely

legitimate, there seemed no other obvious cause for concern.

I would fall for it myself.

It has got the terms and conditions

on the back of the document.

It's all signed by a proper adviser who had come out.

The proper price is on, the proper address is on.

Everything seems so genuine.

But all that changed when, two weeks later,

the delivery date passed without a mattress,

and repeated attempts to contact the company came to nothing.

-RECORDED MESSAGE:

-The number you have called is not recognised.

Please check the number and dial again.

The contact number was bogus, the website address was fake,

there was no genuine UK-based company called Active Living that

sold mattresses, and a call to social services confirmed that

they'd certainly not sent anyone round.

The whole thing had been a scam.

It does seem as though the company has just disappeared off

the face of the earth.

Margaret was left nearly £800 out of pocket and very upset.

They're rogues, aren't they? Really nasty rogues.

I'd knock his block off, if I could.

The whole family was equally furious.

Margaret's daughters felt disgusted because these people can go into an

old age pensioner's house,

tell them this story and take a lot of money off them,

and they felt upset and hurt for Margaret.

It makes you feel angry, to think they've robbed you of your money.

I mean, you need it these days, the price of everything.

When Margaret informed the local police in Derbyshire,

she discovered that, far from being a one-off,

scams related to door-to-door mattress sellers are actually a

recognised problem right across the country.

And it's clear, from all the e-mails that we've had on this,

that there can be a number of different ways that they can work.

While Margaret was simply tricked out of her cash, many others,

including Charles from near Lytham in Lancashire,

have at least ended up with something for their money,

even if it's not quite what they'd bargained for.

In Charles's case,

the salesman who pulled up on his drive said he was from a company

called Luxury Dreams, based in Dewsbury, west Yorkshire,

and not to be confused with any other companies of a similar name.

The van was branded with the company logo and, almost immediately,

the guy presented us with a card, and it gave the business address.

It said that the company supplied not only to

private individuals, but also to hotels and bed-and-breakfasts.

Charles and his wife were about to move house, so it seemed a perfect

time to change the mattress that they'd had for quite some time.

When you looked in the back door of the van, you saw that these looked

to be brand-new mattresses in pristine condition, and they also

had labelling,

which purported to show that these really were

top-quality, all-singing, all-dancing mattresses.

Better still, they were apparently being sold at less than half price,

so Charles plumped for one costing £250,

and was so excited, he tried it out, there and then.

The mattress was so comfortable that we could almost have fallen asleep

outside the house and, for the money,

seemed a really, really good deal.

We were very excited, actually,

that we'd managed to get what felt to be such a luxurious mattress for

half of what we should be paying. It felt really good.

After a quick dash to the cash machine to pay the salesman,

Charles looked forward to testing out the mattress properly and,

while at first he was delighted, I'm afraid that didn't last.

We had a perfect night's sleep.

It just felt really good and we were really happy.

Same, second.

Within the week, probably on the third day,

we realised that something had gone sadly wrong.

The mattress began to collapse on one side.

And it wasn't long before the whole mattress started to collapse.

Within the week, the same thing had happened on the other side.

That had begun collapsing in on itself.

The height was reduced to about two-thirds

of what it had been at the time of purchase.

It clearly wasn't the top-quality mattress that the salesman

had promised.

As soon as we realised exactly how defective the item was and

realised that we had been scammed, we were just bitterly disappointed.

We felt stupid, that we'd been taken in.

But many, many others right across the UK have also been taken in,

so much so that councils as far apart as Devon, Derby, Enfield,

Norfolk and Wiltshire have issued warnings about

dodgy mattress sellers operating in their areas.

And in Devon and Somerset,

the number of reported cases has increased tenfold since 2014.

The Local Government Association has issued warnings about buying

mattresses from these kind of salesmen,

and not just because some of them might collapse, as Charles's did.

There are others that may be too lumpy or, more worrying,

have no fire resistance.

As for the mattress that Charles bought, well,

it was sold as a top-of-the-range orthopaedic one,

but its rapid collapse suggests it's nothing of the kind.

So we took it to be tested at the

Furniture Industry Research Association in Stevenage,

where I met managing director Phil Reynolds.

Phil, we're surrounded by some

-really impressive and noisy robots here!

-Yeah.

What exactly do you do in this building?

Well, in the building, we're testing all types of furniture for

manufacturers and retailers to check that they meet current British

standards and legislation so that they're suitably strong and durable

enough to use.

All the furniture we buy should have been rigorously tested,

and that means mattresses can be pounded up to 30,000 times

to check their durability.

Let's see if that could have been the case with the one that

Charles bought.

Well, even from here, Phil, I can see that, and even a layman

can see that there's not a lot of support just here.

-I mean, it's virtually hollow, isn't it?

-Yes.

You do that, it just completely collapses.

And when we look just here, look, we've got a very fancy-looking

label on here, it says an orthopaedic memory foam.

You would expect that to mean that there is something special about the

way that the mattress responds to your body and supports your body,

-wouldn't you?

-You would.

Unfortunately, the word orthopaedic has no real definition in the

mattress industry, so it's a term that's widely used for a whole

variety of different mattresses that perform very differently.

There's no real regulation on that particular word.

Really? I think a lot of people will be surprised to hear that.

'Time to find out exactly what this mattress is made of.'

So, shall we cut it open and see what's going on?

-OK, let's have a look.

-OK.

Barry's cutting through the mattress quite easily,

which probably suggests the layers are quite thin.

Very quickly, we can see that there are just very thin layers of foam

before the springs.

Well, I'm no expert, but it doesn't look like a top-end mattress to me.

So, is this what you expected to see inside this,

considering that the whole mattress appears to have collapsed after just

-three days?

-The description on the label is maybe slightly

misrepresentative of what's there, yeah.

Yes. Why do you think that, after three days, this collapsed?

I think that's primarily because there's no sidewall to the mattress.

There's nothing to support the edges of the mattress.

So the natural movement to get in and out

of a bed is to swivel on to the edge of the mattress and here,

with no sidewall to add stiffness, it's just collapsing.

Charles had hoped that his £250 had bagged him a bargain.

Clearly, though, he was ripped off, and this is a really cheap mattress,

but at least there's one consolation.

Applying a gas flame to check its flammability proves that,

while it may be poor quality, it isn't a fire risk.

So, I suppose, from that point of view, we can say that there was

at least one of those labels which

-was accurate in that it said on the side...

-Yes.

In fact, it's on that piece of the mattress that we're trying to burn

-there...

-Yes.

-..that it is fire retardant.

-Yeah.

Sadly, the same can't be said for all mattresses being sold

door-to-door, some of which in fact the authorities have described as

"potential fireballs".

Well, we tried to contact Luxury Dreams at its Dewsbury address.

As yet, we've had no response.

But the advice, when shopping for a new mattress, is really very simple.

Phil, presumably, the most important piece of information is never buy

from some bloke who turns up offering you mattresses off the back

of a lorry or out of the back of a van?

I personally would not buy a mattress off the back of a lorry

for that sort of price. I'd always recommend that somebody goes to a

reputable retailer, so that, if you do have a problem, you can make a

complaint, have it exchanged or refunded or even inspected by a

qualified inspector to check to see

whether there's a problem or manufacturing defect.

And, back at home near Lytham,

Charles would be sleeping more soundly if he'd bought his mattress

from a proper store rather than off the back of a van.

With the benefit of hindsight, it's a very embarrassing thing

to admit that you have

been ripped off in this particular way,

but I would be very,

very reluctant to buy a mattress

from out the back of a van at any time in the future.

Now, whether you're after a winning smile,

fresher breath, or you just want to protect your teeth from decay,

you'll have seen dozens of toothpastes out there that promise

that they can do all these things and indeed more.

In fact, there's such a dazzling array of products on the shelves,

each making claims as to why theirs is the one to go for but, actually,

it's quite hard to know which one to choose.

So we've done some toothpaste tests and, if you've ever wondered whether

it's worth splashing out a bit more for a big brand making bold promises

or if you might as well just plump

for the cheapest variety, well, we have got the answers.

Brushing your teeth twice a day is one of the very first life lessons

we're taught and, whilst that advice may not have changed very much since

these films were made, the range and type of toothpaste on sale

certainly has.

You'll find dozens of different brands and varieties,

promising all sorts of benefits.

And with the price of similar-looking tubes anything from

50p to £5, it's easy to wonder if choosing the pricier options might

mean you're pouring your money right down the drain.

And that's definitely something Rip-Off Britain viewer Robert Bagley

from Tamworth had pondered on after paying £5 for a tube of paste,

and it left him feeling rather down in the mouth.

I was suffering with some sensitivity in my teeth, and I saw a

brand-new toothpaste advertised on television, where they were

demonstrating people actually using

the toothpaste then being able to put an ice cube in their mouth.

Hoping that this toothpaste would provide some sort of relief to his

sensitive teeth, the very next day Robert bought some.

So I used the toothpaste until I'd used it all up,

and I had no beneficial effects from the toothpaste,

in relation to my sensitivity.

I thought I'd wasted money and that I didn't feel any benefit from it,

my teeth were just as sensitive.

I couldn't rinse my mouth out with cold water,

I couldn't drink a hot drink, I had to wait for it to cool down.

So, Robert went back to the shops and bought another brand of

toothpaste that also claimed it could treat his problematic pegs,

but at a fraction of the price.

I used that and I did get benefits from it.

I could actually rinse my mouth out with cold water

after a while of using it.

Now, there could be all sorts of reasons why, on this occasion,

Robert found the cheaper paste had a better result, but it got him

wondering whether paying more for toothpaste is ever really worth it.

So he contacted us to help him find out, and, of course,

it was a question we were only too happy to get our teeth into.

I'd like to get to the bottom of actually what these toothpastes do

and why they should be more expensive,

and if they are necessary to have the more expensive brands to get

clean teeth and to preserve your teeth.

Good point. So we took Robert to meet microbiologist Angela Davies,

to see if she can explain what makes one brand of toothpaste different

from the next, and ultimately whether the difference in

ingredients is worth shelling out more for.

She's going to do some tests, to see how a cheap toothpaste

performs in comparison to a more expensive one.

And by the way,

we're not measuring if our samples do anything elaborate or,

as in Robert's case, if they ease the pain from sensitive teeth.

Angela's going to be checking something much simpler -

how effective these toothpastes are

at killing the bacteria in Robert's mouth - the key to preventing

tooth decay. In other words, how well they clean his teeth.

And I'll just take a swab from there.

At Angela's request, Robert hasn't yet brushed his teeth this morning,

so his mouth is full of the germs that have built up overnight,

and taking a sample of that will

give an idea of just how much bacteria the toothpaste remove.

So what that will show us is how

many bacteria you've got in your mouth before we do the clean.

-Yeah.

-OK, so if we take...

if you pick up the toothbrush for me, Robert.

Angela asked Robert to clean one side of his mouth with a supermarket

brand toothpaste, costing 50p for a 100ml tube, and a new toothbrush.

Then with another new toothbrush,

he then cleans the left side of his teeth

with a branded paste at £1.24.

That's two and a half times as much for the same size tube.

But price is the only real difference between the two.

That aside, both toothpastes appear to contain the same key ingredients.

So, to see what this means for their performance,

Angela then carefully swabs each side of Robert's mouth,

to see what bacteria has been left over on each side,

and whether one toothpaste has killed any more than the other.

It will be interesting, I think,

to see if the cheap toothpaste did as well as the expensive one,

and will just prove that it isn't always price that counts.

The samples will be grown overnight, but whilst Robert is here,

he's very keen to find out more about what goes into his toothpaste

and how exactly those ingredients work.

Are all toothpastes the same?

They all seem to have different claims.

All toothpastes have a few key ingredients.

They all contain things like silica or some form of abrasive chemical,

which removes the debris and the bacteria from your mouth.

They contain a detergent or a soapy chemical, which cleans your teeth.

What's the most important one?

I'd say the most important ingredient is the active fluoride,

and that's there really to help prevent

tooth decay, by way of improving the enamel on your teeth.

So it actually has a benefit.

24 hours later, and the samples from Robert's teeth cleaning test are in.

These first samples show how much

bacteria was on Robert's teeth before he brushed that morning.

The petri dish shows plenty of bacteria, not all harmful,

but which, if left, would build up and cause decay.

But once he brushed with the cheaper brand,

it's clear to see that some bacteria has been removed by brushing.

On the supermarket own brand, you get a little bit of a reduction.

As for the sample taken from the side of Robert's mouth that was

cleaned with the more expensive branded toothpaste,

well, it certainly hasn't had the double effect.

The results aren't particularly different.

If we compare both, they're very, very similar.

So even though it's only a slight

reduction, they're very similar.

Angela's positive that,

with the amount of bacteria,

the toothpastes have killed about the same.

It will also be true of their

effectiveness in protecting

teeth against decay.

From that, it's inconclusive as to whether it's worth paying

the extra money for it.

Absolutely. There's no real advantage from the small test sample

that we've done to say that one is better than the other.

Now, from other tests Angela's done on colleagues,

it does seem that you may well get a cleaning blitz from using toothpaste

containing bicarbonate of soda,

which showed a significant reduction of bacteria in the mouth.

But she remains unconvinced that that justifies paying what could be

a significant extra cost.

As far as she's concerned,

whilst bicarbonate of soda will help remove the bacteria,

it's only fluoride that has a long-term benefit on dental health.

And so, there's little benefit really in choosing an expensive

paste, when even a bargain basement

50p tube will do the key job just as well.

And when Robert goes to see Angela's colleague,

chemist Dr Daniel Bernie, it's clear that he agrees.

It seems that cheaper toothpastes have all the same ingredients as

the dearer ones, and probably do just as good a job,

as long as you really brush your teeth really well.

Supermarket toothpastes have got all the ingredients in there that you

need to get clean teeth.

Some of the expensive ones may have different versions of those

chemicals, but they're still doing a similar job.

So price is not a guide, really, to the effectiveness of the toothpaste?

All the toothpastes will clean your teeth,

they've all got ingredients in there that clean your teeth adequately.

They'll all remove bacteria,

as long as you're brushing for your two minutes,

and your lifestyle is as such that you're not drinking a lot of sugary

drinks, you're not eating lots of food that will stain your teeth,

all the toothpastes will be good at cleaning your teeth.

So, it seems that Robert was right to wonder if there's any benefit in

spending extra on a more expensive toothpaste.

The key to good, healthy gnashers is more to do with diet and how you

brush your teeth, and not so much

about the cost of the product that helps you do it.

I think I've learned that most toothpastes will do the job,

irrespective of their price, and price is no guide, really,

to what the toothpaste will do for you,

as a basic toothpaste will work as well as the more expensive ones.

Still to come on Rip-Off Britain...

The bride unhappy at how quickly the designer shoes she'd splashed out on

lost their sparkle.

I noticed that my shoes were damaged and the glitter's all come off,

and I just suddenly felt really heartbroken.

'Once again we've opened up our pop-up shop in one of the biggest

'shopping centres in the UK.'

Yay!

And while the three of us spent a fair amount of time

-having our pictures taken...

-May we have one picture, please?

Yes, you can. I tell you what, you can have a picture.

..mostly, it was very much down to business with our team of consumer

experts, tackling more of your issues than ever before.

Amongst those popping in to see us

were Rosemary Wilkinson and her husband Gary.

They were looking for advice about a piece of technology that they'd

bought back in 2012.

Now, I know that both of you have travelled from Leeds to be with us

-today at the centre.

-Yes.

-Obviously David is your expert today,

-but what's the problem?

-I've a problem with my e-reader.

When I tried to download some new books that I bought online,

they just wouldn't download.

So eventually I contacted customer services,

and they went through a process of "Try this, try that," and it didn't

work, so they said they'd put me in touch with their technical team.

'And that is when the problems really started.

'After following instructions to reset her device,

'Rosemary thinks she's lost all her downloaded books.'

-So everything's wiped?

-It was wiped, all the content was wiped.

-So you were in a worse position after they'd helped you...

-Yes.

..than you were before you engaged with them?

Yes, which was the problem, which I kept trying to re-explain to people.

-When did this all start happening?

-It was last August.

Last summer...

-Yes.

-..the company rolled out a new software update to all of its older

devices, which looking at the age of yours, yours would be included in.

And it was a mandatory update,

and if you didn't install that update on to the e-reader,

then it would stop working. So what I want to check, if you've got it

with you, is the version of the software that's on there...

-Yes.

-..and whether that has or hasn't been updated.

Hey, watch this space!

Well, after doing a series of tests,

David had to conclude Rosemary's e-reader was beyond repair.

But don't worry, there was also good news.

The books that you've purchased,

quite a lot of books that you've purchased over the years,

-you haven't lost those.

-Right.

So they are still in your online lending library,

and were you to buy another one of this brand of e-reader, then you'd

be able to re-download those books to your new e-reader again.

Oh, right, now I didn't realise that.

And the other good thing is that, if you were to use a tablet, for

example, or even want to read books on your desktop,

on your laptop or whatever, you can also read those books from there.

-Oh, right, OK.

-So all is not lost.

Well, thank you, David. Thank you, Gloria.

Thanks very much indeed.

Now, a new face in our team of experts this year

was cybercrime and fraud solicitor Arun Chauhan.

Angela's found a quiet moment just to pick his brains.

Arun, we do get an awful lot of correspondence from people who say

that they've been the victims of cybercrime.

How prevalent is it?

Well, at the moment, the Office of National Statistics has said the

most prevalent crime in this country is fraud and cybercrime.

About 85% of people are worried about cybercrime.

Less than 15% feel safe online,

so it's a real big issue now for every walk of life,

every day-to-day business.

The most common way to get caught remains by e-mail,

so Arun has some very sound first steps to safety,

if you receive anything that you're unsure about.

At the moment there's a really useful campaign out called

Take Five - Stop Fraud, and it's available online.

It gives some really helpful tips.

Essentially, at the heart of it is just take five minutes to have a

little think about what you're being asked to do.

Stand back and have a careful consideration about,

do you know the person who's writing to you?

Is there a reason why they'd be writing to you?

And who are they?

Of course, many scam e-mails appear to be from trusted institutions,

asking for personal details.

On that, Arun's message is very simple.

You won't be asked by your bank to give sensitive information online,

they won't ask you to give your passwords,

they won't ask you to tell them your date of birth.

That won't be asked of you, and if someone's asking you for that,

steer well clear.

In another part of the shopping centre, we set up our Gripe Corner,

where anyone could come along and

get all their consumer issues off their chest.

First up, it's train fares.

It's very unfair on the people who have to use season tickets and then

have to sit on the floor.

What really annoys me is bad customer service.

Companies are quick enough to take your money,

but as soon as something goes wrong, they'll run a mile.

Cold calling. Having worked all day, you're sat at home, relaxing,

and it's constant. Where do they get the numbers from?

Now, how often on this programme

have you heard us talk about reading the small print?

We're always banging on about it because we know how those

pesky little terms and conditions can come back to bite you in almost

every element of everyday life.

But who'd have thought that could happen over glamorous and expensive

shoes? Well, that's exactly what happened to one bride

on her wedding day, who found that her specially chosen pair from one

of the best-known names in the luxury business were looking rather

worse for wear just hours after she'd first put them on.

But when she complained, she was told that she simply hadn't followed

the instructions on how to wear them.

Well, that led her to wonder if her fancy footwear really was made for

walking, and so she got in touch with us to help her find out.

Whether it's sky-high stilettos or trendy trainers,

you can tell a lot about a person from the style of shoes they wear.

And judging by the people we spoke to, many of you could give

Imelda Marcos a run for her money.

-How many pairs of shoes and boots do you own?

-Probably...75.

Can I ask you how many pairs of shoes you think you own?

-Probably about 50.

-Would you ever be prepared to pay as much as £300 for

-a pair of shoes?

-Yeah.

Yeah. What would they have to be if you were prepared to pay that much?

They'd have to be designer, obviously.

-Yeah?

-I've just bought a pair for that much.

-Have you?!

-Yeah.

-Having spent all that much money on your shoes,

-how long do you expect them to last you?

-Forever.

THEY LAUGH

Well, forever may be slightly pushing it,

but when bride-to-be Fiona White from Blackpool picked out the shoes

for her wedding, she was aiming for quality.

Oh, look. Shoes!

And she thought she'd found just the pair she wanted.

-Jimmy Choo, again. There.

-Wow.

I'd been looking online for quite a lot of different brands,

and looking for the right one for me.

And Jimmy Choo was love at first sight.

Jimmy Choo is one of the best-known luxury shoe brands,

and as you can see from this promotional video,

the company positions itself very much at the top end of the market,

both in terms of price and aspiration.

Now, the shoes Fiona fell for from the brand's 24/7 range are described

on the website as "everyday luxury".

So Fiona felt sure that they'd see her through her wedding day

and beyond.

I fell in love with it, and I just...

"Oh, wow, this gorgeous design." And even the heel and the colour,

the glitters, everything looked amazing.

It makes you feel like you're Cinderella!

But whilst Fiona may have felt like Cinderella,

the £450 price tag left her

mother-in-law Carolyn feeling rather more shellshocked.

There was a little bit of a sharp intake of breath when I

found out how much those shoes cost.

But at the end of the day,

I saw first-hand just how much they meant to her.

And when the wedding day dawned,

having planned her outfit so meticulously,

Fiona felt just as special as she'd hoped.

Oh, look at those, the shoes.

You hadn't even had them on your feet when that was taken.

Everything looks perfect. I feel like a princess.

And with my prince, wearing the bestest shoes in the world.

But it wasn't long into the reception when Fiona realised that

her fairy-tale shoes were starting to lose their sparkle.

I noticed that my shoes was damaged, and the glitter's all come off.

And just suddenly felt really heartbroken.

After what Fiona and her mother-in-law say was only about six

hours of wear, the designer footwear

didn't seem to be going the distance.

Both of my Jimmy Choo, the glitters on the edge is coming off.

So I lost a big amount of glitters here.

And it's damaged on the edge, and also the seam was open, here.

So I really believe that the quality is just not good enough.

And then the other one, same.

Having spent so much money on the shoes, Fiona felt thoroughly upset.

It's quite ruin of my day in the end, to be honest, because,

you know, that's expensive shoes I've ever had.

This is not just £20 shoes from the high street, this is a Jimmy Choo.

And mother-in-law Carolyn was equally dismayed.

Irrespective of how much the shoes were,

the fact that they were so badly damaged after six hours of careful

wear tells me that not only are they not of merchantable quality,

but they're definitely not fit for purpose.

So as soon as they could after the wedding,

the pair took the shoes back to where they'd bought them,

a branch of Selfridges in Manchester.

The store itself refused a refund,

and instead sent the shoes off to the manufacturer, Jimmy Choo,

to get its opinion.

But when that arrived two months later,

Fiona wasn't at all happy with the company's response.

'The shoes are not defective from production,

'and the issue to the shoes is classed as wear and tear

'or accidental damage.'

Now, I would've thought that

a pair of shoes, especially at that price, should've been

almost perfect after six hours of wear.

The company pointed out that the

shoe is sold with a care guide, stating that,

"a small amount of glitter may be lost with initial use,"

and wearers should "avoid contact with rain and ground water,

"which may damage the glitter."

But as Fiona insists she'd only walked outside briefly on her

wedding day, she feels very strongly

that she had looked after the shoes according to the instructions.

What's more, after paying £450,

she was expecting them to withstand more than six hours of wear.

And feeling Jimmy Choo and Selfridges were just

digging their heels in, Fiona brought her complaint to us.

So we arranged for Carolyn and Fiona to take the shoes to some of the

finest shoemakers in the land to see what they thought.

Brothers Andrew and David James

and Caroline Collins are from the Society of Master Shoe Repairers.

Between them, they've notched up nearly a century of experience in

preparing and caring for shoes.

So will they agree with the manufacturer that the damage is

simply a case of wear and tear?

Caroline is the first to make up her mind.

Nobody could say these have had excessive wear,

because there's literally no wear on that heel at all.

And for it to split, I would say, is the manufacturer's fault.

And David's also picked up on the split seams.

These seams are a construction fault.

It's the material that's come apart.

In this type of construction of shoe, it would fail at some point.

-But within six hours, it's probably not acceptable.

-Unacceptable.

And though Fiona was told she wouldn't get a refund,

Andrew thinks it's worth trying again.

Would you say that we then have a valid case to be able to go back to

-the manufacturer?

-I would say so.

However, Andrew also stressed that, in situations like this,

it's the retailer that has responsibility for resolving a

complaint, and not the manufacturer.

And that's a point reiterated by our resident trading standards expert

Sylvia Rook.

Whenever you buy any goods, your rights are always against the shop

from whom you bought them,

because that's the only person you have a contract with.

The Consumer Rights Act says that when you buy any goods,

they must be of satisfactory quality.

And that includes durability.

If the goods are not of satisfactory quality,

you can return them within 30 days and get all your money back.

Alternatively, you can ask for a repair or replacement.

After the 30 days, you lose your option to reject the goods,

but you can still get a repair or replacement,

and your rights will last for up to six years.

That doesn't mean to say that all goods must last for up to six years,

but it means you can make a claim for up to six years.

Well, so adamant in their opinion were these members of the

Association of Master Shoe Repairers

that they went on to send Fiona a report stating

that, though the glitter loss on the shoes could be put down to wear and

tear, they considered the split seams were undoubtedly

a manufacturing fault.

And while that gave Fiona all she needed to have another go at

getting a refund, she remains disappointed that shoes from a range

called 24/7 didn't survive a single day intact.

I was surprised, because people were expecting, you know,

you pay a couple of hundred pounds on shoes,

you are thinking they will be the best quality in the world,

and you can wear them maybe ten years, 20 years, 30 years.

But actually, the reality, maybe not.

That's quite shocking me today.

It doesn't, however, surprise cobbler Ryan Tracy,

who works in Manchester city centre.

He's regularly asked to fix luxury shoes from a variety of designer

names, and says splashing out on a pricier pair doesn't necessarily

mean they're built to withstand everyday wear and tear.

Roughly, we get in, on a weekly average,

about sort of 20 pairs, maybe. 20-30 pairs.

They come in, get their toes done, heels done, soles done.

I think when people buy these kind of shoes,

they expect them to wear straight the way through the street going

anywhere in them, really, whereas they're made for sort of, like,

a ball gown or something like that,

when you're just going down some stairs, showing people off your

shoes, then get them off for the dancing shoes to come on.

They're designed for, sort of, just walking down the red carpet and

just showing people what you've got, really, more than anything.

Well, when we put all this to Jimmy Choo,

the company told us it "takes great pride in the quality of its

"products, with all materials carefully sourced and tested to

"result in the fine detail synonymous with

"high quality luxury".

Pointing out that this is the first complaint received about this

particular shoe, Jimmy Choo also said that the Selfridges store

manager who served Fiona had highlighted the shoe's "lack of

"suitability for the wedding location in the notoriously wet

"Lake District", adding that photos Fiona sent show that she "wore the

"shoes on wet and muddy grass,

"seemingly for not an insignificant length of time."

The company went on to say that neither its specialist after-sales

team, nor the staff at Selfridges

who checked them, noticed a ripped seam.

Even so, when Fiona returned to Selfridges with her complaint,

armed with a report from those experts,

the store offered to exchange the shoes for another pair

of Jimmy Choos to the same value.

And it told us it's "delighted to have been able to bring

"the issue to a satisfactory end".

And while that does indeed bring a happy ending to Fiona's big day,

it seems that her brief romance with designer shoes has come to an end.

I'll just never spend that money on shoes again like this.

Well, if you have a story you'd like us to investigate,

then we now have even more ways to get in touch.

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Or if you'd like to send us an e-mail,

then our address is...

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

Well, I must say we all felt so sorry for that bride and her

gorgeous shoes. Now, whether or not, as the company says,

she wasn't wearing them in the most appropriate location,

I can completely understand why she might have expected them to last a

little longer than they did.

But you know, that's really the point about value for money.

It can be entirely subjective, and nothing to do with, in fact,

-the price you paid.

-I think you're right, Gloria,

that's something we'd all agree with, but you know, at the same

time, if you are paying a higher price but not really getting much

more for your money,

as seemed to be the case with the toothpaste that we tested, well,

that's an entirely different matter altogether.

And it does just go to show that sometimes paying a higher price

might not actually get you the added benefits

that you would have expected.

And with that thought, that's all we've got time for for today.

Thanks to everyone who's shared their stories with us,

and we'll be looking into more of the cases you've written to us about

very soon. For now, though, whatever you do,

watch out for those door-to-door salesmen selling those mattresses.

That's one situation where you really can be sure you won't be

-getting good value, eh?

-Absolutely! LAUGHTER

Anyway, until next time, from all of us, goodbye.

-Goodbye.

-Bye-bye.