Episode 1 Watchdog

Asda, don't believe all those rollback, KFC, don't believe the

portion sizes, Thames Water, you won't believe the waste. Plus,

Tesco, FIFA 12, and if you are thinking of putting your property

into self-storage, beware, yes, we're back, it's watchdog, the

Hello, good evening. Welcome to watchdog, we are live, as usual,

from Television Centre. Tonight the drought, empty reservoirs, desert-

like conditions, hosepipe bans, so, why are water companies wasting

billions of litres. I think it is absolutely scandalous that they

can't be bothered to come and remedy a leak which has been

running now for two months. Also, Shurgard, it claims to be the

most secure self-storage company own the market, we would hate to

see the worst. Are Asda rolling back the price or playing with the

figures. Is this a large fry? Who does the Colonel think he's kidding.

Who do you think you are? That is the theme of tonight's Rogue

Traders, as we try to unravel a family tree, as for our trees w

what on earth are they doing to them?

It is total tree butchery. Yes, it is panic in the gardens of

Kent, as we meet the Smiths, the sort of people who persuade the

elderly to pay for unnecessary work, do a lousy job, and mess up your

neighbour's garden as well as your own. They are getting away with it.

Now we have caught up with them, and heaven knows, they are

miserable now. Before that, self-storage, a

booming industry, virtually nothing 20 years ago, there are now 800

major storage units across the country. The deal, you pay a

monthly fee, you are given a lock- up for your belongings, a personal

entry code and round the clock security, at least according to

Shurgard. They are one of the biggest storage companies in Europe.

In recent months we have learned of break-ins at four of their depots.

What is going on? Firms needing smaller space,

families denied mortgages for bigger homes, retired couples

downseizing, but unwilling to part with treasured possessions, jurs

some of the people fuelling the -- just some of the people fuelling

the demand for storage. A few big names dominate this industry. This

is one of them. It has 22 units in the UK, all situated in the south-

east, and every customer who reoints a space gets his own --

reoints a space gets his own lock and pin number. And Shurgard offers

security. A reassuring promise, designed to appeal to customers,

like Steve. I chose them because of the 24-hour axe serbs and the core

values, they say clearly it is reliability and security. For a

sound and lighting company, that is what we need. But it is not what he

got. In November 2010, thieves broke in. And made off with Steve's

valuable kit. They drilled the locks off the unit door. And then

took all of my speakers and lighting equipment. Probably

something like �2,000 worth of equipment. Other units were also

targeted. Shurgard promised Steve they would improve their security.

So he stayed with them. In these, thieves struck again, this time

stealing from some units and smashing hundreds of others open.

This was the third time that the Ruislip branch of Shurgard had been

broken into, in the space of 18 months. The criminals didn't stop

there. In September they successfully targeted a branch in

Middlesex and Wokingham and Surrey. Shurgard have been telling

potential new customers there is nothing to worry about. One of our

researchers was shown around the wry lip branch, posing as a DJ --

Ruislip branch, posing as a DJ wanting to store his equipment. He

was told there secure gates and PIN codes.

Another employee described these as the most secure units on the market.

Which is not true. This branch has had three break-s

in -- break-ins, in just over a OK, restricted entry, razor wire,

CCTV footage that is monitored. If those are in place, why the break-

ins. Standby, you may think what we are

about to do could be of interest to criminal, but we do have a

responsibility to Shurgard customers and anyone else who is

thinking of renting units there. I should also stress we told Shurgard

about our findings three weeks ago, they have had ample time to put

things right. Our undercover researcher agreed to

rent a unit at this depot for month. During his daytime visit, staff

assured him that property stored here would be safe. But, would that

claim hold true at night. Right, it is fast approaching 8.30,

we are in Ruislip in west London, we will put Shurgard to the test, I

have my expert in there, and we are off.

Shurgard had given our researcher an entry PIN code, but it turns out

you don't need one. All you have to do is wait for another customer to

enter and exit. The gate then stays open for a good

25 seconds afterwards, leaving plenty of time for anyone without a

code to drive through. Easy piecey, we are in, we didn't

need a pin. Graham is a security and alarm specialist, and knows

what measures are needed to deter thieves. We have cameras along the

front. To be adequate? To do what? Criminal or customer, the only way

to see is if they go inside. We put the PIN code in to enter. What if

we had been burglars forcing entry. Is there an alarm on the front

door? I can't see any alarm. then went into the buildings foyer,

there was a CCTV camera there, we walked past it and we were then

able to explore the entire building unchallenged, despite the presence

of a camera crew, carrying lots of kit. I'm looking for cameras and

sensors, is there anything here. No, that is to turn the lights on,

which is energy saving, good from that respect. We found the unit our

researcher had rented, but what did Graham make of the lock? That looks

to me like a pretty cheap key. That is the sort of thing you would get

on a cheap lock. Look at this, the thickness of the steel, to have a

thicker piece of steel there, 50p, a not very secure lock. Next, what

about the security on the inside? First impressions, look at this,

this is the channel you have the shutter in, it won't take too much

to force this. You have a rather large door, nothing at all at the

bottom to secure it, nothing on the other side. Up there is sort of a

wire netting. Nobody who is working their way along the to see what

they want to steal can see through, pair of wire snippers and you are

through. Look at the side door. Like the main entrance, the

individual unit has no alarm, more reason why the door should be solid

and secure. If we both pushed hard in the middle we could V the whole

front and get in. I feel if I could give it a big kiing we could get in.

We spent 80 minutes inside the storage centre able to walk around

freely from beginning to end. I thought we would have to sneak

around, we have a film crew, lights, microphone, and no-one has come to

see us. No-one knows we are here. We got the free unrun of the place,

we could be taking value -- free run of the place, we could be

taking valuables out of the whole lot. Which is just what the thieves

found when they broke in back in December, the same thieves who

smashed open hundreds of units. would expect some level of security

once you are inside the building, there is nothing. The fabric is

flimsy, there is no electronic security, there is no access

control, it looks as though you can get into both their car park and

through the main door, without too many problems. The whole thing, I

would not describe it as a secure environment.

Since filming we have checked the security arrangements put in place

by five other leading storage companies. Four of them have alarms

throughout their premises, or CCTV monitoring individual lockers.

The fifth, limits access to office hours only, yet Shurgard have been

telling potential customers, they What do Shurgard say? Firstly, they

do insist that criminal activity isn't restrict today their depot,

it is an industry-wide problem. They say they comply industry-wide

practices and exceed security guidelines, and the level of break-

ins is tiny compared to customer numbers. Everything is fine and

dandy? They say they are reviewing security measures, they are

increasing the height of fencing at certain locations, updating the 24-

hour security cameras and lighting, as well as upgrading the alarm

system where is needed. As for the flimsy doors and latches we found,

they are also being reviewed and upgraded. Perhaps, more

interestingly, they have decided to restrict 24-hour access. From now

on, any customer who wants out of hours access to the units will have

to specifically request it through the store teams. I can still go the

tailgating trick? They say it is rare, when it has occurred it is

captured by the Shurgard security measures. They say even if someone

manages to get in, they still need an access code to get in and out of

the building, and there is no easy escape route. If you want to

comment on any of tonight's stories, Coming up:

20 million people facing hosepipe bans, while all this goes to waste.

Who is responsible? The truth about Asda rollbacks, can

you trust them? We're back and taking care of

business. Family business.

The family that passes on key skills from one generation to the

next, like how to persuade a granny to pay for work she doesn't need,

then overcharge her for it. Yes, when it comes to shaking this

family tree, we have discovered a whole flock of black sheep.

BBC One's leading Portuguese television celebrity and qualified

pilot, Dan, has just returned from his latest flight. Now he's about

to go on another journey, to find his own family roots. I just always

wanted to know how I fit into the big picture, I think I'm ready for

this experience. I'm really looking forward to getting to know a little

bit more about me, the Dan. Look at this, who do you think you

are is all about me, Dan and his tree. They are really scraping the

bottle of the barrel. It is me, Timmy Mallet and someone from Big

Brother 2. It says here my great, great uncle's nephew's stepson, had

to go to the hospital to remove a splinter the size of a nail from

his elbow. A splinter the size of a nail. Can you imagine that, it is

my family. Mate that is really emotional stuff. Yeah, but they got

the wrong bloke, turns out I was adopted. Shall we get on with the

story? Yes, this family's story contains

more twists and turns than a wurllitser. We are talking about

The Smithss, not the 80s guitar giants, but the drive cleaning

business from Kent. Their classics include "you are a bit old, I'll

take your money" and "by the time I've conned you, we will be gone".

Done had some of their gigs. Walter Smith offered to clean his driveway

for �150. He was hungry for work, and frankly, he made a good job.

That was several years ago, when Walter offered to do exactly the

same job last July, Donald thought he would be in good hands, this

time Walter refused to say how much it would cost. I just lost my wife,

it upset me, he didn't give me a price, you see. I kept all on. Even

through his side kick. I said to him, look, tell your governor, I

said I'm getting tired of it, but tell him to, because I can still

stop you doing this. But by then he had already started. When Walter

did reveal the price, it was a whopping �1,680.

That was a phenomenal amount of money? I was dumb founded in the

sense that, I realised that I had been a stupid fool, I had been

accepted the fact that they had done the job before, and they did a

good job, and now, they have taken me to the cleaners.

I trusted the bloke, that's it, they have shattered my faith in

humanity. I would love to meet him somewhere

even in a shop, but where there are lots of other people, and I would

just grab hold of his arm and lift his hand up and shout out in the

shop to people, look, ladies and gentlemen, cast your eyes on this

man, he's a cowboy, don't ever have anything to do with him, because

he's fleece you left right and centre. I would like to publicly

expose him. Job done, Donald, you have done your bit. We're going on

the trail of Walter Smith. Other family members that we have heard

about too. They include a second Walter, who

may or may not be his dad. There seems to be a lot of Smiths,

any of them been to court? Funnily enough Walter junior went to court

and received a 12-month suspended sentence in 2010 for altering

customers' cheques in his favour for huge amounts. Creating

caligraphy? For fraud as it is known. Time to check out this

leaflet, sent kept by done -- kept by Donald. We have the lovely Lynda,

take a bow, we have snow, it is that time of year, we have the

house, we have a tree and tree stump ready to be removed. And our

expert ready to comment on the action. So we put in the call, and

before we know it we have a man on our doorstep, which Smith is it? We

Mr Smith, so we are none the wiser, but don't worry, he does go on to

reveal his first name, so we are able to do a bit more digging.

Unfortunately, so is he. You can see the results of that in a about

15 minutes. -- in about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, Asda, two of its ads last week were banned by the

Advertising Standards Authority. Only one supermarket is always 10%

cheaper, they said, a misleading claim, said the regulator.

Asda dispute that, since then watchdog has been investigating its

famous price rollbacks, and some of those aren't what they seem either.

James Sherwood contacted us about their curry sauces, he's a big fan,

he likes the balti version, he buys it for �1 a jar. He noticed Asda

were claiming the price was a rollback from �1.23. Jaiplgs was

puzzled, he had never seen it at that price. It was only on sale for

�1.23 for just three days. Confused? You won't be. Cue the

music s I have a lovely big graph, I have my stick. Robinson, pay

attention. Very sexy! Asda were selling the balti jar for �1

throughout the whole of October, as you can see here, and November last

year. They increased it to �1.18, for just nine days, and then they

put it back to �1 and it stayed at that price until March. Except for

just three days here, December 17th, 20th and 21st, when it was �1.23.

Are there rules against this? If a store claims it has reduced

the price of an ateam, it should be on sale at the higher price for a

reasonable amount of time. Is it in breech? We asked the expert.

guidelines indicate that when you are referring to a previous price,

it should have been a price that was on offer for a continuous

period of 28 days. In this instance, because the previous price was only

present for three days, in a period that spanned over months, the price

has not been properly established. This clearly is not complying with

the pricing guidelines. She's good, isn't she? I wouldn't

argue. Very wise, we found another one for

her. Miller genuine draft lager. Asda are selling a 12 pack for �8,

they claim it is a rollback from �12.74. Have they ever sold it at

that price? They have, that was back in August for just 21 days,

and look at this graph since. Fluctuating a little bit, but

mostly the price has dropped until mid-December down here, when it

went as low as �6. The crept back up to �7 in the middle of the month,

then �8 at the start of January, it stayed there for three months.

compared to its last price, the beer is actually going up, except,

because they claim it is a rollback, it looks as if it has gone down.

Yes. What does Deborah say? When a consumer sees a rollback pricing

comparison, the normal expectation would be that it was the immediate

past selling price. This could be, therefore, a misleading price

indication under regulation 5 of the Consumer Protection From Unfair

Trading Regulations. Strong stuff from Deborah, what do Asda say.

They have been in touch this afternoon and admitted they got it

wrong. They say they price 40,000 PLO ducts each week and on

occasions make mistake. This was a processing error, prices labelled

as rollbacks when they shouldn't have been, both products they say

are the cheapest on the market, but they are correctly displayed on the

website. Next the drought, official in

southern England, and expected spread further as we move into

spring and summer. Hosepipe bans are planned for next month by seven

water companies, including Thames, Southern and Anglian. Which means

you or me could be fined for even filling a paddling pool. The water

companies are calling on customers to restrict their water use, very

responsible, except, they them sofs are wasting billions of litres

every day -- themselves, are wasting billions of litres every

day. Leaks, bursts, floods, causing

chaos for residents. Repair bills for all of us. Seeing so much water

going to waste is annoying at any time. But as we're being told to

save the stuff, it is particularly galling.

3.3 billion litres, that is how much UK Water companies lose every

day. Victorian pipe work may make leaks inevitable, but fixing them

can be painfully slow. John spotted it leak in Wiltshire

at the end of February. I came across the leak, and I thought I

would investigate, because it has been there for a few weeks. It was

just overflowing into the lane. And I could see it must have been

thousands of gallons a day going down the road. John reported the

leak to Wessex Water, a company, currently urging every household to

safe 20 litres of water, per person, per day, but an admin error made

sure they didn't fix it for eight days. They admit it was an error.

think if they can allow thousands of litres to cascade into the road,

it doesn't encourage the consumer to cutback. With larger bursts

companies do manage to respond quickly, but smaller leaks can also

cause huge amounts of water to be lost, and they can go on for weeks,

even months. A North London basement, where the

supply from a leaking Thames Water pipe exits. Owner, Jeremy Gompertz,

first reported it back in December. But, the company's engineers have

failed to stop it. Repeatedly. The last occasion they came, they

reported back that they couldn't even find the leak. I can only

assume that they went to the wrong premises. Because as one stands

here now, one can hear the water running. I think it is absolutely

scandalous, at present, when we are threatened with water restrictions,

because of an impending drought, they can't be bothered to come and

remedy a leak which has been running now for two months.

water, spills over two areas, so how much is actually being lost. We

got ourselves a measuring jug, a stopwatch, and a professor of

mathematics. The first drip loses about a litre of water per minute.

Over eight weeks, that's 56 days, or 1344 hours, that's about 80,000

minutes. The second drip is a bit lower, it

takes about a minute-and-a-half to lose a litre, that means it will

lose about 50,000 litres in this time. So all together this leak

will lose 130,000 litres. So, with the south-east officially

in drought, shouldn't Thames Water be acting with more urgency to fix

leaks like Jeremy's. And shouldn't they try to help customers doing

their best to save water? Kent is one of the UK's dryest

counties right now, but not for Zizi Somoncini. Seven months ago

water from her toilet began breaching the overflow system.

started to notice water coming along our ceiling, the water had

build up under the floor boards and it gave way. We had our plumber

come down, and he went to find our stop cock, it didn't work. He said

OK, we need to find the mains, so we phoned Thames Water, they said,

OK, we will come out and have a look.

They did come out, but despite digging up the driveway, they

couldn't find the main, in fact, according to our independent

surveyor, their attempt to trace the leak has made matters worse.

The problem we have here is that Thames Water have been unable to

locate the outside boundary stop valve. This is the one that aligns

normally at the edge of our property, in order to repair the

leak inside, this one need to be shut off, and this is where it is

all going wrong. It has been haphazard and shambolic, the amount

of water that is being lost at this property is in excess of 20,000

litres a week. That, to me, is boardering on

criminal, bearing in mind -- bordering on criminal, bearing in

mind the empty reservoirs we have. It is official, much of the south-

east of England is in droufplgt While low rainful is the main cause

of the drought, the leaks aren't helping, some companies are

struggling to keep up. Thames Water's website say their average

time to fix a leak is five days. But we monitored 441 leaks, and

during a five-day period, only 210 were fixed.

Worse, 130 of them were still there after 12 days.

And, this one remained active after 16 days. What's the damage there,

John? This leak loses more than half a

litre in ten seconds, that is at least three litres per minute. That

means in one week, that is about 10,000 minutes, it would lose

30,000 litres. That's over 120 really deep domestic baths.

But at least Thames Water has managed to meet its overall water

wastage target, six of the 21 water companies haven't.

The worst offender, Southern Water. They failed to hit their targets

for the last two years. So, as the companies continue to

let precious water go to waste, it seems only a long period of heavy

rain can save us from impending house pipe bans. And, right now,

the forecasters aren't holding out much hope.

With me now is Regina Finn, chief executive of offwatt, the water

regulator. Ofwat, the water regulator. You are

responsible for making sure water companies keep leaks to a minimum,

do you think Ofwat is up to the job? We have driven down leakage by

a third since the 1990s, delivering benefit for customers. Where

companies fail the leakage targets we do take action and we have done

in the past. I think there is a second thing going on here, some of

your viewers there, who suffered really, not just from seeing

leakage, but from quite poor customer service, are not being

served well by their company. 3.3 billion litres of water a day

being leaked. We could be forgiven thinking if the water companies

weren't around there wouldn't be a drought? Well the customers who

talked to us, and we listen to them very carefully, tell us there is

two things they are interested in, yes they want leakage controlled,

but they also want their bills controlled. It is important to

strike a balance and make sure that the right investment is made in

keeping leakage down. But not in a way that drives bills to an

unsustainable level. Do you think the customers really want a

situation whereby 3.3 billion litres of water are leaked by the

water companies, but after the hosepipe ban comes in, if you or I

actually fill a padling pool, or I wish my car for a couple of minutes,

I can be fined a thousand pounds and the water companies will see

that happen? I think you are right, the thing so galling for customers

is when there is a drought and they are asked to use water wisely.

Frankly, customers do well and step up to the mark, it is stickly

galling for them if they see the water -- particularly galling for

them if they see the water companies not doing that. What are

you doing about it? We have hit those companies in their pockets

over the past five years to the tune of �500 million. They are

still leaking water, you are not making it inconvenient for them?

think �500 million worth of penalties does make it quite

inconvenient. I think they made �1.3 billion amongst them last year,

it is not terribly inconvenient? don't think anybody would say that

�500 million is inconvenient. That money goes directly to improving

services for customers, and money going back to customers.

example was Southern Water, they failed their leakage target, they

are paying �5 million back to customers as a result of that.

We also spoke to Thames Water, who featured prominently in our film.

They have told us they have reduced leakage by a third since 2004 and

are in line for meeting Ofwat targets for leakage for the si,

year running. They are fixes 1,000 leak as week. And while repairing

pipes in London is complex, they accept in some cases they are not

quick enough and are working to improve. They have apologised

unreservedly to Jeremy Gompertz, they believe the level of water was

made worse, due to a local retail premises disposing of waste product

down a drain. But they accept it was too slow. And they have

apologised to Zizi Somoncini saying they should have acted more

decisively. They blame cold winters and a huge amount of pipe bursts to

stop them meeting the offset bargts. They say they are in line to meet

them this year. Wessex Water say they have no plans to introduce

restrictions. Still to come: KFC, if you buy their XL fries,

don't expect super-size. FIFA 12, from ultimate team to ultimate

letdown. Now to the Smiths, simple family

flame, complex family structure. Or so it seems to us. We have

established they are from Kent, they call themselves tree

specialists and there is lots of them. We also they they like

cheating elderly customers -- we also know they like cheating

elderly customers out of their money.

We have take an house in Kent and an elderly lady is waiting to

answer the door. We know there are two Walters in the family, and a

man identified himself as Walter, so you can guess who we are

expecting. I'm Wayne. Is there anyone else? I was expecting one

called Walter? He is my son. I thought his dad was called

Walter? Let's imagine he's Walter Jnr. We are trying to establish a

family tree for the Smiths, we are calling it Who Do You Think You

Are? Let's start with the daddy.

mystery man. We don't know quite who he is, but his name, we think,

is Walter Snr. That is wain, don't know that relationship -- wane,

don't know that relation -- Wayne, we don't know that relationship.

Our actress is clear about what she needs, one cherry tree removed and

apple stump taken away. He's clear We have got a price and a Smith, we

have also expert James in place, just as well, we are about to get a

few more Smiths. Wayne has brought in reinforcements, loads of them.

You're Wayne. This is my son Roy. Roy, OK stick him down.

This is Roger. Roger, stick him down, he'sen extra, we don't know

where he -- he's an extra, we don't Tree specialists, not really part

of the family tree, looks nice. Aaron is the brother, we now know.

This is a family-run business. We got that, introductions are over,

it is time for work. There are loads of people in the

garden, but there is something still missing, the most basic of

safety equipment. No ear prodetection, no eye protection, no

face protection, no hand or leg It's more like What Do You Think

You're Doing? And now it's Total Wipout. This pouring the oil on the

thing is mad, it is so unprofessional.

And so it goes on, for a full 45 very unprofessional minutes, at the

end of which, Wayne wants a word We certainly have, we now know that

Go on, surprise us, don't try to Well, it's convincing, but it isn't

The what? I think you will find they are Northern Cyprus.

In fact, he tries to persuade Lynda she has seven more trees in need of

pruning. What will it cost? Yes, he was looking for a job, and then he

found a job, a big job with big money. No wonder he continues

telling her she should have it done. When his persuasion tactics don't

work, the even more persistent Being as we are here, what do you

think he will say next? No idea, Hard sell over, just one more thing

before they go. He has, yes.

Must have been all that water he was drinking.

And after that encore, the Smiths and their support exit stage left,

the verdict? Their working practices were absolutely atrocious,

they did say they would poison the stumps, we have seen no application

of that whatsoever. Not one single one of them knew anything about a

tree. They haven't got a clue. Remember they did only charge us

�280, which would have been reasonable had they done a good job,

and more forgiveable if they then hadn't tried to pressure our

actress into handing �800 more. They haven't given up, they are

determined to get the money, but we are determined to get them, as you

will see later. Thank you very much.

Quick update on all your e-mails and texts. Loads of you are getting

in touch with water leaks, Phil from London says he has reported

one 12 times but it is still there. Will is also a farmer and said

water is constantly leaking from pipes under his field, when they

are fixed they rupture again, they take, on average, six weeks to

repair. Next Electronic Arts, the software

company mind The Sims, Battlefield 3 and out tomorrow FIFA Street.

FIFA 12 has become the most successful sports xirt game, ever.

EAR are in the money, alas, gamers are out of pocket.

Wouldn't it be great to have Rooney and Fabregas on the same team?

would, if you have this game you can do it. Ten million football

fans bought FIFA 12 in the first three months alone. All wanting to

have their dream team. Want your dream team, do you son. This is the

place, here is where you build it. How do you do that, by spending

real cash on virtual coins, the more you spend, the more you can

improve your squad. Purchase better players, get a better team. Once

you have done all that, you can connect to the Internet, pitch your

skills against others, watch your team rise in the rankings. You take

that team and you play, in tournaments, on-line, origins your

mate's ultimate team, do you follow Well I do follow, but unfortunately

this is where the dream ends. We have heard from lots of gamers who

say progressing through the levels is near on impossible. Wins are

often registered as defeats, teams can fall in the rankings, and the

worst thing of all, apart from losing your team pride, you can

also lose your money. Matt was so frustrated about the

problems, he posted a video on-line, it has had nearly 6,000 views.

Since I bought the game I haven't been able to play FIFA Ultimate

Team. When I finish a match, either single player or on the line, I get

disconnected right before the end of the match and I lose coins that

I should have earned, I keep contracts or buy players, it is

pointless playing. Pointless but costly, as well as spending �40 on

the game itself, some players like Dan from Bristol, have splashed out

more to buy new players, creating tournaments and customising steam

strips. I spent �40 -- team strips. I spend �40 on the game, and �40 on

the customising, I'm annoyed spending that on the game and not

getting any satisfaction. Faced with a barrage of similar

complaints EA refused to take responsibility. They claimed on the

website only a tiny minority of users were affected, saying the way

their consoles were connected to the Internet was to blame. What is

clear whatever console you use you can experience the same problems,

as these four watchdog viewers discovered. Is this a problem with

the game for the console? With the game, general. I have two brothers,

one with XBox and one with PS3, they both distebgt. Your parents

have bought the game three times and it doesn't work? No. Different

consoles, same prob embl, what is going on, compute -- problem, what

is going on? It is in the scenario where we are playing the game on-

line, information has to pass from the console, via the router, via

the Internet service providers to the EA servers, something that

looks like it is at the EA end, looks like it isn't responding and

disconnect. Should EA do for more their customers? They have a

responsibility to make sure there is nothing they are doing to cause

the breakdown in the connection. It is beholding for EA to drive it

forward and get to the bottom of what is happening there. According

to players contacting watchdog, that is exactly what EA haven't

been doing. They have heard the problems, they have got the money

and they are happy. They have e- mailed back with solutions for

Playstations and XBox, and I say I'm on the PC, I gave up. After

months I didn't receive anything from them. FIFA is a game I have

been buying over the years, I feel generally let down by them.

These are just a few of the thousands of fans all feeling let

down by the performance of EA games, at least this is one football

scandal that can't be spinned on the players.

-- pinned on the players. You have lost your stick, but you

have good news? I have, EA say customers have been complaining

about the disconnect problem since October. We contacted the company

about them on March 6th, three days later they announced they were

deploying a fix. Make of that what you will. Pure coincidence.

other explanation, they say finding the falt was a -- fault was a

challenge, it needed router hardware that had important pieces

of data being blocked at the crucial points of the game. They

say 4% of customers were affected, and they apologise and will

compensate the gamers worst affected. They insist the problem

doesn't affect XBox 360 players, and say if you are having trouble

there may be other problems and solutions. Thank you to everyone in

touch about that story, here is a few more.

Medium fries, good. Large fries, better, XL fries, a bit of a

disappointment. KFC has been advertising them as part of a

Supercharger meal deal, that also includes a chicken sub, and a soft

drink. After one viewer complained about his meagre portion, our

researchers went to several KFCs and were told there is no such

thing as an XL size. Instead they got a normal large serving, or two

mediums put together. Worst, four out of significance times the

standard large serving turned out to be bigger than the XL portion.

KFC said the XL is two regular portions that should contain more

fries than a large. Some outlets haven't been serving them correctly,

it is contacting them all to make sure that doesn't happen again.

That is a direct order from the Colonel.

Do you fancy a Bilbo Baggins ale or a Gandalf cocktail. You may have to

hurry. Owners of this pub in Southampton have been warned to

change the name and description of drinks, in the run up to the

release of the new Hollywood hofy, the hogt. Middle-Earth Enterprises,

controlling the toll kin rights, have been told they are in --

Tolkien rights, they have been told they are in copyright infringement.

They have won support from one of the film's stars, Stephen Fry,

accusing Middle-Earth of bullying. They are looking after the

interests of a small, round, hairy figure, who is fond of the lonely

mountain, that is enough about me. Tesco advertising its big price

drop, and when it comes to the iPad 3, it was a very big drop. It goes

on sale tomorrow, priced from �399. But Tesco on-line have been taking

preorders for �49.99, north surprisingly word got out, would-be

buyers piled in, only for Tesco to claim it was all a mistake, and

they won't be honouring the deal. The supermarket have apologised

blaming a genuine IT glitch, customers aren't convince, some

have contacted us to say it was a deliberate PR stint, a cunning way

of letting people know Tesco is stocking the new devoice, that is a

shocking suggestion, but when you have a new product to sell, every

little publicity helps. Back to the Smiths, it is difficult,

please don't confuse them with any other Smiths. This family are tree

specialists based in Folkeston, and operating in Kent. They put out

flyers like this. Got it? Good. Wayne Smith tried to persuade us we

needed seven trees cutting down, at a cost of �850, just as well we

declined, there was nothing wrong with them. We called him out to

look at two trees, because we wanted to see him. Our actress is

back in place, and the expert is watching the action, just about to

I think you will finds probably a Cprus.

Whatever it is, it is not about to topple over, even though Wayne

insists that it is. He says this, and the cherry tree, need pruning,

So we have gone from �850 for seven trees to �650 for just two. For

that we expect a show-stopping performance, instead we get a

Ahh, whoa. Different fence, obviously, just as

That's it, we have seen enough, and the trees have had enough. All that

remains is for this lot to clear up all the mess and go home.

Guys? You are going to clear it up, aren't you? Guys?

Right, an hour's break is over, it looks like someone can't ignore

their conscious any longer, or is that their bladder. He's having a

pee. Yes, kids, the three vital rules of life, don't pick chewing

gum off the pavement, don't spit into the wind, and never eat the

yellow snow. All of the snow has now melted and

our expert James is ready with the lowdown. James we only ant wanted

two things doing and we have ended up with arm geten. We have, --

Armageddon. We have, what happened here? We are told we have had to

have this work done, there is no need of it doing, they were

butchered. There was no consideration for the neighbour,

third-party people, anything at all, it was case of get up there and cut

wherever they could reach. The Smiths did return to clear the

garden, well they hadn't been paid yet. It took them an hour, after

which Wayne was touting for yet We will do that Wayne, first let's

tot up the earlier charges: �280 for work not finished and �650

for shoddy, unnecessary work. It comes to �930, if I ever wanted the

Smiths to make a comeback, it is now. So Lynda calls them, dangling

the prospect of even more work, it is time for me to go under cover.

Hello Wayne, being as we are here, I thought I would ask you some

questions, BBC Rogue Traders. You call yourself a tree specialist,

you are nothing of a sort, you don't know your Laylandy from your

Cyprus, that is not your speciality, as we could see from the work you

carried out here. What your speciality, and that of your family

business is going into people's houses, particularly those of the

elderly and vulnerable, and creating work that is not necessary.

I wouldn't say that. Let's have a look at that stump, has a piece of

work where you said you would cut it back and stick it under the soil.

It is a trip hazard now, you butchered the garden. That is that

is what you are saying. The trees you worked on you haven't worked on

at all, if you were a tree specialist, rather than a

specialist in ripping people off, you said one thing you did

something else. Do you know when we done that, when it was deep with

snow. You said you would cut it back? We couldn't do it when it was

deep with snow. You have left a job like that, it shouldn't be left

like that, the cherry tree was buff he butchered? You are saying that,

I know my opinion. Tell me how the family tree works with the Smiths?

What do you mean. What I'm confused about, right, there is you, you are

Wayne, and then there is Walter, he's your son. Not my son. Is he

not? I haven't got a son called Walter. I thought he was your son,

that is how he was introduced. haven't got a son called Walter.

Do you want me to pull away. Wayne might be confused about who his

relatives and offspring are, he does deny Walter works for him.

Either way, when it comes to assessing the Smith's work manship.

You run around giving people a bad name, that is a good thing, the

work I do is perfect. It has never met perfect, it hasn't been there

on holiday. That is your opinion. It has been looked at by someone

who has spent years studying trees. How come he's not here to prove it.

You go into people's houses and find work that doesn't need doing.

Pass on to Aaron not to pee in people's plant pots, pass that one

on as well. All right, goodbye. Tree specialist, there he goes.

Well, the rainfalls down on a hum drum town, the Smiths are back on

the road, and I wonder if they will be putting that on their greatest

hits album. I wish we knew, but we don't,

despite asking for a detailed response to all our allegations we

have heard absolutely nothing back. I wonder if we have upset them. Not

to worry, that is kind of our job. As is this, putting the faces on

our rogue's gallery, tonight Wayne Smith becomes the first in our new

series. Just a quick update, Tesco

customers unhappy at the company not honouring their �49.99 offer, I

think they are all watching the programme this evening, Olivia

wants her iPad, she works for a big retailer, if they mark a price tag

incorrectly they would honour it. Good we hading? Very good. They are

upset on Twitter. Keep visiting with your tip-offs, click on "your

story". Coming up next week. Halifax and

Lloyd's pet insurance, sold as lifelong cover, now it has been

pulled, and these dogs risk being put down. Owners simply can't

afford the hefty vet bills. Disneyland Paris, same holiday,

different price, why do they charge British customers more. And want to