Episode 5 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 that you think get it wrong,

and the customer service that simply is not up to scratch.

They just want to take money from people, that's what it's all about.

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

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

What kind of people could do this to an innocent human being?

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 have to go through various levels of authority

and push your way through.

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, welcome again to Rip Off Britain, where, as ever,

we are here to investigate situations where you feel

you've been left out of pocket or feeling thoroughly let down.

And, of course, it's our job to battle on your behalf for answers,

or - even better - to get things resolved.

That is so right. I'm delighted to say that's exactly

what we've succeeded in doing for some of the people

that we've been meeting today.

All of our stories involve companies that simply have not stuck

to their end of the bargain,

or, indeed, even kept to the most basic of promises.

Because when you hand over your money, quite frankly,

all you want in return is to get exactly what you paid for.

You are absolutely right, Gloria.

But, as you're about to see,

things turned out very differently for the people we're about to meet.

Whether that was deliberate

or because the company was overstretched,

the end result was the same - an awful lot of customers losing out,

often to the tune of hundreds of pounds.

So, as we try and put that right,

we'll have some advice to stop it happening to you.

Coming up - hundreds of customers let down by the same company,

one that promised to find and sell sold-out goods,

but just didn't deliver.

I was extremely angry.

That's when I really started to panic and thought,

"Hold up, I'm not going to get my goods."

That awful, sinking feeling,

you feel that you're going to let your daughter down.

That was just... It was awful.

And the removal firm that kept this family waiting

the best part of a year to get back its possessions.

It's been terrible,

it's almost like I feel that

I've basically lost all of our possessions.

Now, when a company fails to deliver on its promises,

it can be bitterly disappointing,

and that's going to be even more crushing

if their failures means that you've got to let somebody down as well.

I'm afraid that's exactly what happened

to the people in our next film,

all of whom had very similar experiences with the same company,

a business that seemed to be offering must-have items

that, apparently, nobody else could supply,

but at the last minute wasn't able to provide anything whatsoever.

So, we've been investigating

what went wrong and seeing if there's any way

that the rest of us can avoid losing out in a similar fashion.

Now, whether it's a Buzz Lightyear toy or a Cabbage Patch Kid,

if the shops run low on the latest toys and gadgets,

parents really will go to infinity and beyond to track down whatever

is top of their child's Christmas or birthday lists.

And Emma Hurley from near Maidenhead is no exception.

Her nine-year-old daughter, Lydia,

desperately wanted one of the hottest toys of Christmas 2016.

'Introducing Hatchimals.

'They live inside of eggs and it's up to you to help them hatch.'

A toy animal that, once hatched from its egg,

can be looked after and raised to walk, talk and squawk.

IT SQUAWKS

She was desperate for this Hatchimal.

It had to be this Hatchimal.

She'd seen it on the television,

and she was absolutely besotted with one.

40 miles away in Eltham, in south-east London,

nine-year-old Damian Sparks

was hoping to wake up to another of 2016's

most in-demand gifts on Christmas Day,

and his dad David was determined to get it for him.

Damian loves his games console, his PS4.

So I thought it would be a good idea if we tried to purchase

the virtual reality headset, which was the must-buy present.

But, unfortunately for Damian,

he wasn't the only one who had his sights on one of these headsets.

In fact, wherever David looked, they were sold out.

It was extremely hard to get hold of.

They were saying the virtual reality headsets were not going to be

in stock until end of January.

Back in Berkshire, Emma was having an equally fruitless hunt

for a Hatchimal in her local stores.

I was only aware of how popular they were

when I actually started looking for one.

Then I realised that everybody had sold out of Hatchimals.

You could not get them for love nor money.

But, after a thorough look online, she came across a retailer

that seemed to have the answer to her prayers.

A company called SavviBuy

was claiming to have stocks of the elusive toy.

Every time I kept putting in the search engine for a Hatchimal,

this company kept popping up - SavviBuy, SavviBuy,

loads of Hatchimals in stock. SavviBuy.

And, in south-east London, too,

the search for a virtual reality headset that had seemed

virtually impossible looked set to be resolved

when dad David also stumbled across the SavviBuy site.

Every time I searched, they were top.

So, when I had a look at the website,

I thought it was professional.

Just to be on the safe side, I gave them a call.

To David's relief, when he rang SavviBuy,

which was based in Rochdale, Greater Manchester,

he was reassured that it did definitely have

the headset he wanted in stock.

Better yet, it was the same price he would have paid

in the high street - £340.

So, David placed his order

and received an e-mail confirmation stating he would

receive the headset in four days.

We were happy that Damian's main present

was located, we didn't have to worry,

and it was going to arrive before Christmas.

Meanwhile, it seemed Emma's search for a Hatchimal was also at an end.

I was euphoric. Absolutely euphoric.

I'd looked online, I'd obviously got the Hatchimal,

got the colour that she wanted, paid for it and that was it.

Emma paid just under £90 for her toy,

which actually was £30 more than the typical retail price.

But knowing that she had secured

what her daughter wanted made it worth every penny,

especially when the company confirmed delivery would be

in time for Christmas.

Unfortunately, however, the delivery date came and then went,

and then Emma started to worry.

Every time a car came along,

or every time a van pulled up, I kept thinking, "This is it."

Because they'd promised delivery,

I assumed that they were going to deliver it.

I started to chase them for e-mails, as I needed reassurance.

I got a response from a gentleman that reassured me

that I would have that Hatchimal.

In south London, David had also become tuned in to the sound

of the postman's daily visit.

-See you later.

-Bye, Dad.

But every delivery was another without the headset.

So, with Christmas creeping closer,

David decided to do some digging

into the company that he'd pinned all his hopes on.

And what he unearthed did nothing for his spirits.

Not only did David find plenty of negative reviews

about the company online, he also discovered a Facebook page

with the heading...

..and he was shocked to find

it had nearly 2,000 members.

I discovered there was a Facebook group, lots of people had joined,

unhappy with the company,

been constantly trying to contact them,

and had the same issues that I had.

It seemed that right across the country, people had ordered

all manner of hard-to-find gadgets from SavviBuy,

from toys to quad bikes,

robots to computer consoles,

and although the company's website had guaranteed Christmas delivery,

it was clear an awful lot of customers were being let down

after placing orders that simply had not arrived.

David realised that unless he took matters into his own hands,

he risked not only losing the £350 he had paid for the headset, but,

worse still, nine-year-old Damian would not be getting the gift

he so desperately wanted.

At that stage, I was extremely angry.

That's when I really started to panic and thought,

"Hold up, I'm not going to get my goods."

That wasn't a situation he was willing to stand for.

So, even though the head office of SavviBuy was over 240 miles away,

David made a last-minute dash to the company to find his son's gift.

But when he arrived at the Rochdale address,

he found no trace of SavviBuy, only this shop,

which was called Advance Technologies.

And, although David said the shutters were down,

he spotted a delivery truck being unloaded by staff

around the back and took this photo. So, seizing his opportunity

but unclear what connection this shop had with SavviBuy,

David asked them about his order.

They initially denied that they were SavviBuy,

and that they had nothing to do with them.

They were Advance Technologies, they were...

You know, SavviBuy... Nothing to do with SavviBuy at all.

But David was having none of it.

I just said, "You've taken my money

"and I wasn't leaving until you refunded my money."

At that point, he ummed and ahhed, then said,

"OK, give me your details."

David was lucky, and did eventually get his money back.

But he still didn't have the headset for his son.

Back in Berkshire, Emma was still £90 out of pocket

with no Hatchimal to show for it.

That awful, sinking feeling,

you feel that you're going to let your daughter down.

That was just... It was awful.

Awful, awful feeling.

With time ticking, I'm glad to say Emma was able to find

a Hatchimal from another seller.

But she was determined to get back the money she'd paid to SavviBuy.

I e-mailed SavviBuy, saying that I wanted my money back,

that I'd had to go and purchase another one.

I haven't had a reply, I'm still waiting for a reply.

We've actually applied to get our money back

through our credit card company.

We've sent all the paperwork back over to them.

Many other disgruntled customers of SavviBuy

found themselves in the same boat.

And those who've been in touch with Rip Off Britain all say that when

they contacted the company for an explanation or a refund,

they were advised to get in touch with their bank and to do it through

what's called the "chargeback system".

Now, as we've said before, that's an extra level

of customer protection you may get when you pay

on debit or credit card, for purchases under £100.

But Sylvia Rook, from the Trading Standards Institute, says it's not

guaranteed to get you your money back and, in any case,

it's odd for a company to suggest it to its own customers.

It's very unusual for a retailer to direct you straight to the bank

to get chargeback. It is their responsibility

to sort out the problem. With chargeback,

the bank has to claw back the money from the merchant bank

used by the trader. That means there has to be money there

for them to claw back. Certainly that's a breach of contract,

and the consumers are entitled to their money back.

Well, to try to get to the bottom of exactly what went on here,

we tried contacting SavviBuy for answers.

But with the company's website and phone number now no longer active,

our only lead was the shop in Rochdale that David had visited,

Advance Technologies, which, of course, is the address

from which SavviBuy had claimed to be operating.

The manager there told us that although his team

had been processing payments on behalf of SavviBuy,

it had only ever been a middleman

and it no longer had any links to the company.

He said that although his business in no way responsible

for SavviBuy's unfulfilled orders,

he is nonetheless refunding the company's disgruntled customers,

though, as a result, claimed to be out of pocket

to the tune of £500,000.

He lays the blame for all of this firmly at the door

of those that own and run SavviBuy,

and pointed us toward some Birmingham-based businesses which

he said shared the same owners as SavviBuy.

However, when we tried calling them, we were either cut off

or told that no-one knew anything about this whole sorry affair.

So, while we may never know whether this was a company

that got out of its depth or was something more sinister,

Sylvia has advice to ensure that next time any of us

are trying to secure the latest must-have toy or gadget,

we don't end up losing out the same way.

The first thing I would say is do some internet research

on the name of the company. If people are unhappy,

they tend to post reviews,

so you'll get an idea if there are likely to be some problems.

Secondly, it's a good idea to use companies

based in the United Kingdom.

Just because a business has a ".co.uk" address

doesn't mean they're actually based in the UK.

You can do some checks to find out where the company is actually based.

Despite the failed promises of SavviBuy,

thanks to the determined efforts of their parents,

Damian and Lydia did both end up getting the presents they so wanted.

Damian's dad David found his virtual reality headset at a local store,

just in the nick of time.

Damian was over the moon, he was ecstatic.

As for Emma, she did succeed in getting her money back

through her credit card company and, despite the hassle along the way,

Lydia couldn't be happier with her beloved toy.

The relief that flooded in once I'd got that Hatchimal,

I knew that my daughter would be so happy.

-How good is he?

-The best toy ever!

HATCHIMAL BABBLES

Various surveys over the years have found that, for many,

moving home can be just as traumatic as a bereavement or even a divorce.

And that stress is made even worse if the move is between countries

that are thousands of miles apart.

So, you would hope that paying a removals company that specialises

in shipping precious possessions

from one side of the world to another,

though it's likely to cost you thousands of pounds,

is going to be worth every penny.

But we've heard of hundreds of disgruntled customers

of one such company, one that, far from delivering

its clients' worldly goods to their new address as promised,

has left them high and dry,

without a clue as to where their belongings have gone.

And, even worse, with no idea

if they'll ever actually ever see them again.

Dubai has a booming expat community,

with tens of thousands of Brits living there on a permanent basis.

And you can understand why, its combination of good salaries,

low taxes and fantastic weather can make it so appealing.

Martin Hartwell and his wife Leona

were among those to fall in love with the distinctive lifestyle.

It was special. You wake up and you've got the sun

coming over the mountains - phenomenal.

It really is.

You're genuinely out there, living life on a different scale.

We had a lovely, very big, spacious one-bedroom villa,

at the foot of the Jebel Hafeet mountain in the desert.

Having made a home out there, the couple decided to start a family.

In October 2015, Olivia was born.

But, hours after she was delivered, the couple received

the devastating news that their baby was seriously ill.

They told us that she's got a hole in her heart

and more tests need to be done.

We assumed the worst.

We got very, very nervous and very, very upset, very quickly.

Adding to the couple's worries,

they discovered their current health insurance wouldn't cover

Olivia's treatment and the only way they could afford the long-term care

that she needed would be for them to return to the UK and use the NHS.

We obviously had Olivia registered in the UK anyway,

and we were literally just backwards and froing every month,

to take Olivia to Birmingham Children's Hospital.

After several months, the couple decided to move permanently back

to the UK. So, whilst Olivia was in hospital in Birmingham,

Martin stayed in Dubai and arranged for the family's goods,

which included an apartment full of furniture and all the other things

collected over the time they'd lived there, to be shipped back home.

And, after shopping around for quotes,

he was drawn to one company who boasted of...

..in moving goods internationally.

A business called Expat Relocations, which, though based in Dubai,

also had the reassurance of an address in the UK.

And, initially, things went well.

The company came to our house, they packed everything up.

We watched them do it.

Obviously, we tried to help them, but they were like,

"No, this is what we do." They itinerarised everything,

obviously, we got the receipts of everything they'd taken,

we saw that they were writing

on the boxes what it was, where it was going.

So, kitchen, bathroom, front room, bedroom.

Martin paid the company £1,750 for its services,

about average for this kind of move,

which not only involved packing up all their stuff,

but also shipping it almost 7,000 miles by sea from Dubai to the UK.

It was all done very, very well.

It was a case of "Great, we'll see you in a couple of months,

"thank you very, very much."

With their lives boxed up,

Martin said goodbye to Dubai and headed back to the UK.

But, eight weeks later, when the couple had been led to believe

their belongings would turn up...

..they didn't.

There was no explanation from Expat Relocations.

When we called round, a full six months after that,

not only had their possessions still not arrived,

but the couple had almost given up hope that they ever would.

I'm missing Olivia's stuff, Olivia's clothes that she had,

that we'd bought for her.

Her bed. Yes, hello, we miss that, don't we? We miss our bed.

It has put us through a lot of extra stress.

I don't think that emigrating

or buying a house is a particularly stress-free thing anyway.

But when you sit in a house that's practically empty,

it just adds to that stress.

Martin says he's persistently called

and e-mailed Expat Relocations,

but his efforts have either been ignored

or he's been given excuses

and promises that haven't got him anywhere.

It's been terrible. It's almost like I feel that I've basically lost

all of our possessions.

Martin's only clues as to what might have happened after he waved goodbye

to his possessions back in Dubai

have come from other people who also used the company

and posted their feedback online.

And it seems there are a lot of disgruntled customers.

Here at Rip Off Britain,

we've heard from dozens of families and individuals

from all over the world

who have found themselves in exactly the same position as Martin.

And, like Martin, every one of them says that they have been let down

by Expat Relocations.

Among those we've spoken to, the Ramsey family,

who paid the company £6,000 to get their possessions sent from Dubai

to Aberdeen, but when Expat Relocations

failed to pay the shipping companies its fees,

the family ended up having to fork out

another £6,000 to get their belongings home.

Similarly, teacher Emma Godfrey

was told that her stuff would take four to eight weeks

to arrive back in the UK. But she ended up waiting four months,

and had to pay out an additional £500 in shipping fees

to get it all back.

A social media group made up of people with unhappy experiences

of Expat Relocations now has over 130 members.

But when we tried contacting Expat Relocations in Dubai

to ask about all those unhappy customers, we got no response.

We understand, however,

that the authorities out there have launched an investigation

into that end of the business.

Meanwhile, we were able to get some positive news for Martin and Leona.

We traced their possessions to a shipping company that had been

holding on to them while it waited for its fees to be paid

by Expat Relocations. When we got in touch with that company

and discussed the situation, it confirmed that it would be

delivering Martin and Leona's possessions free of charge.

-Good girl!

-MARTIN AND LEONA LAUGH

So today's the day that, after eight months of waiting,

Martin hopes to be reunited with all their worldly goods,

and I've called round at their home to check that they finally arrive.

Hi, Martin. Good to see you.

Hi.

'The word is that two lorry loads of their stuff

'is heading up the motorway,

'but Martin won't believe it till he sees it.

'The stress of the last eight months has taken its toll

'and he fears they may be let down again.'

We're sitting here waiting for this container to arrive.

Do you have any anxiety at all?

I've got nothing else to give, emotionally.

We'll just see when it arrives - if it arrives, I guess.

But as the day wears on and the delivery time passes by

with no sign of any lorry,

Martin fears he's going to be disappointed again.

So, when a further three hours have gone by, I make some enquiries.

I'm sure you've been as helpful as you possibly can be,

but we rang this afternoon at half past one

and was told it was coming at half past two,

and now you've told us it's going to be here at seven

or eight o'clock this evening.

And, just as we were about to give up all hope,

two lorries finally arrived,

and I'm glad to say they WERE carrying

Martin and Leona's long lost possessions.

And, of course, all Olivia's stuff, too.

Hopefully, she's excited to obviously get all of her toys back.

It's a bittersweet moment for the family.

Focused on their daughter's recovery, they didn't need

the distraction of chasing down a removal company to get back

what is rightfully theirs.

It's here. What a relief.

I don't think it's quite sunk in yet, but I guess when it does,

we'll be over the moon.

Still to come on Rip Off Britain -

the music fans led on a wild-goose chase,

who forked out hundreds of pounds for tickets they never received.

It makes your hurt sink. Like, it's all your hard-earned money

and they've just took it away from you, for nothing.

Rip Off Britain is on the road,

with Manchester Trafford Centre once again hosting our pop-up shop.

Are you ready? Let's go.

As usual, we loved meeting so many of you face-to-face.

You're doing a wonderful job.

Oh, I'm glad to hear you say so.

I want you to tell me what's really bothering you.

I do! What's really bothering you?

You came to see us in your droves,

and this year we had more experts

on hand than ever before to offer advice.

They have the facilities, as far as I'm concerned,

to suspend the account.

Olive Bailey from Norfolk and Lesley Garrow from Bradford

both came to see solicitor Gary Rycroft to see if they might have

a case, following some disastrous medical procedures.

So, Olive, begin by telling us what happened in your case.

I went to the dentist to have a crown fitted.

The dentist, he gave me one injection,

started to prepare the tooth.

He said, "Oh, I'm afraid I'm going to have to give you

"a second injection." So it went on, probably about another 15 minutes.

And he said, "I'm going to have to give you another injection."

'It was only after he'd fitted a temporary crown

'that the dentist dropped a bombshell.'

He said, "Well, I've got to tell you,

"during the procedure, I drilled your tongue,

"so I'm going to have to give you an injection in your tongue

-"so I can stitch it."

-What did you feel at that point?

Well, I just wanted to run!

But Olive stayed put while the dentist stitched up her tongue,

and then she headed to reception.

I paid my £196, I think it was.

-And...

-He still charged you,

even though he'd drilled through your tongue?

That was my initial payment, yes.

And went home.

'As the injections wore off,

'Olive says she suffered persistent pain in her mouth and tongue,

'and she's been left unable to face going to the dentist again.'

You have no idea how petrified I am.

So you've got the basic facts there, then, Gary.

Olive, you've got a very strong case for medical negligence.

There was fault, drilling through your tongue,

and that has caused you distress,

so your claim would be for, I would say,

the cost of the treatment that you've had,

the pain and suffering that you underwent

and the psychological impact.

But you've got to bring a claim within three years

of you first discovering the injury.

Lesley, yours is quite a different problem.

From teeth to eyes.

To eyes. I had lens replacement surgery in 2015.

Went and had the left eye done first - fine, everything fine.

Week after, I went for the right one doing, for the distance.

Had it done, gave it time to settle, you know.

Had the bandages taken off, went for a check-up.

"Oh, yeah, everything's healing fine." I said,

"But I haven't got any distance. I still can't see."

'Though the surgeon said Lesley's eyesight would improve over time,

'it didn't, even after she followed his advice

'and subsequently forked out for laser surgery, too.'

Did you get any guarantees when you had the work done?

They did say that when we went we'd get 20/20 vision or your money back.

But they're now saying that, no, that's only on laser.

Effectively, have they told you that what they've done is failed?

They say they can't understand why I haven't got the 20/20 vision,

why I can't see long distance.

Any medical procedure has inherent risks.

And, as a patient, you're meant to have informed consent

to understand when you go to the dentist, or go to the optician,

that things may not work out.

And just because they don't work out doesn't mean you have a claim

in medical negligence.

You will have a claim if there has been fault,

and if that has caused damage to you that could have been avoided.

Have you had time off work as well?

Yes, I've had time off to go.

So, you've got loss of earnings by having to take time off work,

and that will actually all form part of your claim.

So you've both got strong legal cases.

Are we sending away two people who are a bit happier

than they were when they came and sat down?

-Yes, definitely.

-Looks to be light at the end of the tunnel.

-Thank you for your time.

-Thank you.

-Pleasure.

-Thank you.

When you want to have a good old moan about a consumer issue

that's got on your nerves,

what better place to come than our very own Gripe Corner?

No wonder so many of you are taking the opportunity to let off steam.

What really makes me angry as a young woman

is going to a car garage, because I know they can rip me off

because I don't know anything about cars.

Each time you go into a shop and the prices have gone up

and they use Brexit as an excuse.

Cold callers, they drive me nuts!

"Hello. How can I help today?"

Don't call again!

From The Beatles to Bieber - that's Justin, in case you didn't know -

getting your hands on a ticket to see your pop idol

has always been a bit of a scramble.

But whether you've had to queue up at the box office

or hang on the phone in the hope of getting a seat,

it's all been part of the fun of being a fan.

But these days things have got a lot murkier now that so many tickets

are booked online.

While the internet has undoubtedly made some of these

transactions much easier, it also means that most of them involve

dealing with someone who you can't see or speak to.

And when it's hard to know who you're dealing with,

how can you be sure that they'll actually deliver

the tickets you want? Unfortunately for some people, they don't,

like the families we're about to meet.

But, after years of headlines warning about rip-off ticket touts,

it could be that things are about to get better, at last.

# Go through the darkest of days... #

17-year-old Brandan Fowler from Leeds

is more than a fan of Justin Bieber.

He's a super-fan.

I'd seen Justin Bieber previously in concert.

Justin Bieber inspired me to play guitar when I was about ten.

And his sister Roxy and mother Louisa watched

as his music skills developed.

He'd followed Justin Bieber from, like, the very beginning

and kind of idolised him and he'd been a really big influence

in his life in learning instruments and things like that.

He probably wouldn't admit that now as a 17-year-old,

but he does have a soft spot for his music.

Two more dedicated Beliebers are Leah and her friend Erin

from Retford in the East Midlands.

Their mountain of memorabilia says it all.

I've had this since I was little.

And it means so much to me and it was always my favourite toy

when I was a child. And it even sings and everything.

DOLL PLAYS "BABY" BY JUSTIN BIEBER

I can't even describe how much he means to me.

I don't know, he's just everything!

So, when Justin Bieber announced to his 2016 world tour

would be taking in the city of Sheffield,

just 40 miles from their home, Leah's mother Sadie

leapt in to action as soon as the tickets were released.

So the tickets went on sale at nine o'clock.

I had my iPad, a laptop, two phones all, you know, refreshing each one.

I did that for about an hour.

And, up the road in Leeds, Roxy was also poised,

ready to buy tickets so the family could surprise her brother Brandan.

Well, cos he's such a big artist, it's so hard,

so you have to sort of get there within, like, 30 seconds,

they can be sold out, so I was looking through every kind of,

you know, online place I could to try and find the best tickets

for the most affordable price.

With the official ticket website quickly under strain,

both families started to panic that the tickets might soon be sold out.

So they began looking elsewhere and each found themselves on a website

called ticketselection.co.uk.

To their delight, it appeared to have plenty of tickets

for the Sheffield dates, although they came at a price.

The Ticket Selection website just looked like

any other normal website, really genuine, you know, just...

Yeah, it looked really professional, it wouldn't ever cross my mind

that it wasn't professional or legitimate.

When we found the tickets,

they were obviously a lot more money than what they were on general sale.

But we were that glad just to have found the tickets

because it meant our daughters could go

that it was a massive weight lifted.

We were so excited.

-We were jumping up and down.

-We were so happy.

I remember jumping off the couch.

Yeah. We were really giddy.

-So excited.

-We couldn't wait to tell Brandan.

-Yeah.

Unofficial online sellers, usually called secondary ticket websites,

have attracted a lot of attention in recent years.

Initially set up as a place where fans could off-load tickets

they could no longer use,

over the years they've gained a reputation for selling them on

at many times the face value.

So Sadie and Joanne each paid ticketselection.co.uk £300

for a pair of tickets, and Roxy and Louisa paid over £400

for all three of theirs.

Though they were relieved to have been able to get them at all,

some niggling worries began to creep in.

I had an e-mail back saying,

"The tickets will be posted out but if they don't get to you three days

"before, then we'll get you to pick them up actually at the venue."

Which I thought was a bit suspicious cos I'd never heard of that before,

but obviously you just go along with it

and accept that's what's going to happen.

Well, three days before the event, no tickets had arrived.

I started to think, "There's definitely something wrong

"because we haven't got the tickets, what are we going to tell the girls?

"What am I going to do if they don't come?"

They'd been counting down for a year.

Every day. I've been watching it.

It's... They'd have been heartbroken.

Absolutely heartbroken.

Joanne and Sadie did what they now wished they'd done much sooner

and checked out other people's experiences of the company online.

To their horror, they read a stream of negative reviews, and though some

customers HAD got their tickets, albeit at the last minute,

they were many who had received nothing at all.

Now desperately worried, Joanne called the number

on the company's website and, to her surprise,

someone picked up.

To make sure she got all the information she needed,

Joanne recorded the call,

and was reassured she could still collect the tickets on the day.

Joanne was told she could pick up her tickets

from someone called David at 7:15pm outside the arena,

just before Justin Bieber was about to start.

And in Leeds, after making similar enquiries,

Roxy and Louisa were told the same thing.

They needed to meet David, presumably the same one,

also at 7:15 at the venue.

So, on the day of the gig, we were still really optimistic, weren't we?

We had a whole day planned, we were going out for a meal,

we were going to spend time with family in Sheffield,

and then we were going to surprise Brandan

and go to the gig, weren't we? We were really excited.

But, on the other hand, despite all the excitement,

Joanne couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't quite right.

So, on her way to meet David,

she called again to confirm the arrangements

and the reaction wasn't at all what she'd expected.

We're on our way there now.

Because you said quarter past seven.

Because you said quarter past seven.

Baffled as to what was going on,

they got to the arena as quickly as possible.

But when they arrived,

they found a crowd of other fans doing the same as they were,

looking for this mysterious man called David,

who was nowhere to be seen.

And, as the start time for the concert drew ever closer,

Roxy, Louisa and Brandan arrived at the venue

and faced the same realisation - there were no tickets.

I went into the arena and I said to the person behind the counter,

where is this guy called David?

And she said, there's no person called David whatsoever.

So she then told me that I'd been conned buying tickets.

I then came outside, and when I came outside,

there were a congregation of about 20 people.

-Yeah. All stood right here.

-All stood roundabout here.

It makes your heart sink, like, it's all your hard-earned money

and they've just took it away from you for nothing.

All of them had been left hundreds of pounds out of pocket.

But, sadly, their story comes as no surprise

to ticket industry expert Reg Walker, who's worked for some

of the UK's biggest venues to help them tackle

this kind of ticket fraud.

And he believes that it's the way concert tickets

are typically sold that leaves them open to abuse,

not least because touts have developed software

that allows them to snap up thousands of tickets

at once to sell on at inflated prices

on these secondary ticketing sites.

Now, not long after we filmed this report,

the government announced that it would be cracking down on that

and Reg was able to demonstrate why such action was sorely needed,

by showing us what happened when tickets

for a Lady Gaga concert were released.

OK, so it's just coming up to nine o'clock now.

And what you should see is the general on sale for tickets.

So these tickets are now available to the public.

But, as quickly as they go on sale for £66 on the official websites,

those tickets start to appear on the secondary sites, too.

And, even as we speak,

the tickets on the secondary sites are already increasing.

We're seeing a jump on a second site here which is advertising

318 tickets for a London show,

306 for the Birmingham show,

and 280 for the Manchester.

That's on a secondary site.

Reg is in no doubt about how they've got there so fast.

Now, these are not genuine fans that have simply purchased tickets.

Hundreds of fans don't purchase tickets and then think,

five minutes later, "I can't make that event, I better resell them."

It's an absolute nonsense.

This is harvesting by touts who then relist these tickets at

hiked-up prices and it artificially forces

the price of tickets up to fans.

So, effectively, it's a rigged market being manipulated

by pretty unscrupulous people.

Following a major report into the industry,

and after years of fans being ripped off,

the government's announced it will change the law and issue

unlimited fines on touts using the type of software

that lets them bulk buy tickets.

But it's one thing to charge over the odds for a genuine ticket

and quite another to do the same for one

there's no guarantee you'll ever receive.

Trouble is, Reg fears that when even the more reputable firms

don't always stick to the rules,

consumers are left wide open to being scammed,

as they've very little way of telling which sites can be trusted.

Looking through these, we're increasingly seeing

that the majority of these tickets for Lady Gaga shows

have no resellers' details and they certainly only have partial

or incomplete seat details.

This exposes the public to risk

and the chance that they are being ripped off.

And Reg's concerns are backed up by Sylvia Rook from Trading Standards,

who says the law is clear when it comes to selling tickets.

The Consumer Rights Act introduced rules for

secondary ticketing agencies advertising online.

The rules say that any ticket that is being advertised

must give the face value and it must give the exact seat details

so you know what you're buying before you enter into a contract.

The reason that these rules are there is to make sure

that we don't end up with a seat that's being advertised

that doesn't actually exist.

But Reg says that, if you do find yourself looking at tickets

on a secondary site, there are things you can do

to ensure you're dealing with a legitimate company,

so that, even if you end up paying over the odds,

you can at least be sure you'll get your ticket.

If you are considering purchasing from a secondary website,

check with the venue whether they have an authorised resale partner.

And if there really are no further tickets that are

going to be released for the event,

only try on their authorised resale site.

This will ensure that, if there is a problem with your ticket,

you can get it solved on the night, at the venue.

Check, too, that any site you use has a proper address

that isn't simply a PO box, or indeed an address overseas.

Otherwise, if things go wrong,

there may be less chance of getting them sorted out

or of getting your money back. As, I'm afraid,

has proved to be the case with those disappointed Justin Bieber fans

we met. The website they booked through, ticketselection.co.uk,

ceased trading a few months before the Justin Bieber gig

after being taken over by a very similarly named website,

ticketselection.com, run by a company in Spain.

Well, when we contacted that company, it told us that...

..is always its priority.

The company went on to say that the person David

that Roxy, Louisa and Joanne were all communicating with

in order to collect their tickets,

worked for an external courier company that they no longer employ.

It apologised...

adding that the business has invested in its systems

to address this, and suggested that the customers we filmed with

get in touch to resolve things.

The company also questioned the credentials of our expert,

Reg Walker, and what it called his "wild claims",

although, after doing all the appropriate checks,

we're confident that Reg DOES know what he's talking about.

Meanwhile, I'm pleased to say there was at least some relief

for our disappointed Justin Bieber fans.

They did manage to get to see their idol after all.

The venue still had a few seats left but,

at this late stage it meant

Roxy, Louisa and Brandan had to sit apart.

Sadie and Joanne also succeeded in getting in.

And while all of them have managed to get their money back

from their bank and credit card company,

they won't be taking any chances

on where they buy their tickets in future.

In the future, I will buy the tickets from the venue,

because I feel that's the safest option.

Yeah. Definitely more cautious now in buying tickets.

I'll now only buy tickets off official ticket sites.

I won't buy tickets off any resale sites now.

If you've got a story you'd like us to investigate,

get in touch with us via our Facebook page, BBC Rip Off Britain,

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

..or e-mail.

Or, if you want to send us a letter, then our address is...

Well, sad to say, we may never know for sure the entire truth

behind some of the stories that we've heard about today.

The businesses that were involved certainly all do claim

to have genuinely intended to supply the services

for which their customers ordered and paid,

even if, ultimately, they did no such thing.

That's one of the things that annoys me the most

when I hear about cases like these.

If a company knows that it cannot deliver what you've asked for,

why on earth does it make out that it can?

We know, of course, that anyone can make a mistake,

but when it does the same thing to a number of people,

as happened here, in all honesty, you can't help but question

either its capability or, indeed, its motives.

Well, perhaps the best tip is to be aware of any business

that says it can supply something its better-known rivals can't,

however much you might want to believe that.

And, on that cautionary note, it's where we have to leave things today,

but please do keep all your stories and letters coming.

We wouldn't have a programme without them.

And we'll be back to investigate more of them very soon.

So, until then, from all of us, goodbye.

-Bye-bye.

-Bye-bye.