:00:05. > :00:14.mis-selling, Thomas Cook, monarch refusing compensation. The real
:00:14. > :00:22.value of discounted wine at Tesco's, Sainsbury's and ASDA. Plus Ed
:00:22. > :00:24.Miliband here to explain his plan to freelies your Energy Bill. It's
:00:24. > :00:45.watchdog, the programme you cannot afford to miss. .
:00:45. > :00:51.Hello. Good evening. Welcome to Watchdog, we're live, as usual, for
:00:51. > :00:56.the next 60 minutes. Tonight, Curry's, PC World, staff making
:00:56. > :01:03.promises about their care plan. Anything happens to the telly, we'll
:01:04. > :01:08.later repair it or replace it. Anything happens, it's covered.
:01:08. > :01:13.Literally, whatever happens. Buff it's not true. Their staff are
:01:13. > :01:18.engaging in something that seems to be illegal. Also tonight, Monarch
:01:18. > :01:24.Thomas Cook refusing to play out for flight delays. Plus, Ed Miliband is
:01:24. > :01:30.here. We'll ask him if his plan to freeze energy bills is the best
:01:30. > :01:32.option for consumers. Oz Clarke on supermarket wine, he says avoid
:01:32. > :01:48.buying anything at half price. There he is using a wooden plonk in
:01:48. > :01:54.a vain attempt to level our garden after churned it up with a
:01:54. > :02:00.rotavator, but he hasn't taken the old grass away. The new job looks
:02:00. > :02:01.like this, lumps, bumps and humps. Prefer yourself of Jonathan Hill of
:02:02. > :02:08.like this, lumps, bumps and humps. Perfect Turf in you aries, and watch
:02:08. > :02:13.-- in Surrey and watch as he digs himself into a world.
:02:13. > :02:19.PC World and buy anything over £150 and for a fee you can get their
:02:19. > :02:23."whatever happens" aftercare plan. In return they will repair or
:02:23. > :02:29.replace your product. When Watchdog went under cover, we secretly filmed
:02:29. > :02:33.Curry's, PC World staff making promises they couldn't keep.
:02:33. > :02:38.It's a fast paced world and we keep buying more and more things to fill
:02:38. > :02:44.it with. Flat screen TVs, laptops, tablets, but with so much going on
:02:45. > :02:50.around it things can happen that are out of our control - trips, falls,
:02:50. > :02:56.smashes, spillages. Don't get me started on the kids and pets! To
:02:56. > :03:00.keep us protected in this hectic day and age, Curry's PC World offer
:03:00. > :03:06.their "whatever happens" aftercare service. In exchange for a monthly
:03:06. > :03:10.fee they repair or replace a gadget should something unexpected occur.
:03:10. > :03:16.What kind of accidents are you covered for? The promise the name
:03:16. > :03:20.suggests is a bold one - whatever happens they will cover it. From a
:03:21. > :03:26.minor hiccup to a major mishap. Simple, right? Wrong actually. Just
:03:26. > :03:32.ask Andy. He took out a premiere plan when he bought a TV from
:03:32. > :03:38.Curry's in 2007. Signing up to pay 9. .99 a month for six years and the
:03:39. > :03:43.shop promised he would be protected. He never had reason to doubt them
:03:43. > :03:47.until last month. I was decorating my living room. I moved the TV and a
:03:47. > :03:50.stand to the middle of the floor. As I was going up the step ladder with
:03:50. > :03:55.stand to the middle of the floor. As a tray of paint I tripped. The paint
:03:55. > :03:59.went over the toff and the TV smashed off the floor. The TV
:03:59. > :04:05.cracked. Andy wrapping the help line and -- wrang the help line and --
:04:05. > :04:09.rang the help line and someone was sent out. But their conclusion - no
:04:09. > :04:14.repair or replacement. The reason? An exclusion clause stating goods
:04:14. > :04:19.aren't covered if anyone neglects, abuses or misuses the protect.
:04:19. > :04:22.Because of the paint on the back of it, they told me it wasn't an
:04:22. > :04:26.accident. So in other words, it was deliberate. Which obviously it
:04:26. > :04:32.wasn't. Deliberate or not, Andy had been assured that he was covered
:04:32. > :04:35.whatever happens. When we bought the policy we were told it covers
:04:35. > :04:40.absolutely anything. No exclusions, anything at all. And that's why I
:04:40. > :04:44.took it. It's peace of mind. Take a look at the small print and you'll
:04:44. > :04:50.see that despite the name, you really aren't covered whatever
:04:50. > :04:55.happens. So what isn't included? Well take a close inspection of your
:04:55. > :05:00.direct debit form and you'll find what isn't covered, everything from
:05:00. > :05:05.cosmetic damage, weather, fire, even insect infestation. Andy is adamant
:05:05. > :05:09.he wasn't made aware of any of the small print when he signed up. We've
:05:09. > :05:15.heard others saying the same. We thought we'd check out how this
:05:15. > :05:19.policy is being sold for ourselves. We visited ten branches of Curry's
:05:19. > :05:22.and Curry's PC World from Bristol to Birmingham to London to find out
:05:22. > :05:27.exactly how their Whatever Happens Birmingham to London to find out
:05:27. > :05:32.plan is being sold in store. We know it doesn't cover everything, but try
:05:32. > :05:36.telling that to these Curry's PC World sales staff. Anything happens
:05:37. > :05:41.to the helly, we'll -- telly, we'll repair or replace it. Anything
:05:41. > :05:46.happens, it's covered. Literally whatever happens. The only thing we
:05:46. > :05:50.don't cover is theft and loss. But we know this isn't true. Yet many
:05:50. > :05:54.staff were adamant that we could do anything and we'd still get a
:05:54. > :06:00.replacement. If you could bring it back to us, even if it's in 100
:06:00. > :06:07.pieces, as long as you bring it back to us, if we fix it or can't fix it
:06:07. > :06:09.we'll give you a new one. You're watching football, like Arsenal
:06:09. > :06:15.United and they're getting beat and you wing a controller at it and
:06:15. > :06:19.smash it, we'll get you a new one. What about a case like Andy's
:06:19. > :06:26.involving a ladder, a TV and some paint? If I'm up a step ladder and
:06:26. > :06:30.doing painting, fall off? Anything. Get paint in it, whatever? Anything.
:06:30. > :06:34.OK. That's why we call it Whatever Happens. In five of the stores there
:06:34. > :06:42.was at least some understanding of the exclusions of the policy. Minor
:06:42. > :06:46.scratches they wouldn't do that. But none of the staff told us about all
:06:46. > :06:50.of the exclusions and we often got the standard line that everything
:06:50. > :06:54.was covered whatever happens. Except for loss and theft the other five
:06:54. > :06:59.stores made no mention whatsoever about the existence of exclusion
:06:59. > :07:03.clauses. No small prints. No question ask. It's pretty simple.
:07:03. > :07:08.What does a consumer lawyer make of this? Well it was clear that they
:07:08. > :07:16.were not sure or clearly didn't know what was covered and what was not
:07:16. > :07:22.covered by the extended warnts and -- war an toys and were unaware of
:07:22. > :07:25.exceptions. They kept saying "whatever happens" you're covered.
:07:25. > :07:31.That is their headline. That clearly is incorrect. Their staff are,
:07:31. > :07:36.whether intentionally or not, engaging in something that seems to
:07:36. > :07:39.be illegal. So why is this happening? According it a former
:07:39. > :07:44.Curry's PC World employee, staff are barely trained on what is covered by
:07:44. > :07:49.the Whatever Happens plan. We were not aware of the terms and
:07:49. > :07:52.conditions. We had to go on two days training course and it only lasted a
:07:52. > :07:57.few hours per day and that was to sell the plan and find out how to
:07:57. > :08:02.approach customers. It was not right to me that we were selling an
:08:02. > :08:07.agreement that no-one knew exactly what it covered. In the eyes of the
:08:07. > :08:16.law, that means the company is at fault. High Street stores have an
:08:16. > :08:21.obligation to train their staff about extended warranties. Otherwise
:08:21. > :08:26.their staff is mis-selling the product other-wise that's a serious
:08:26. > :08:30.breach. If the staff don't know about the limitations in the policy,
:08:30. > :08:35.what hope is there for the rest of snus -- rest of us?
:08:35. > :08:40.Curry's PC World say they resolve 99. 4% of all the cases in favour of
:08:40. > :08:44.customers. And this justifies the Whatever Happens name. They insist
:08:44. > :08:48.their staff are fully trained to explain the product and the
:08:48. > :08:51.exemptions and that these clauses are highlighted in the written
:08:51. > :08:56.information given to customers. However, they promise to follow up
:08:56. > :09:02.on the issues raised. They have resolved Andy's case. If you have a
:09:02. > :09:09.story for us. E-mail us or text us and make sure you start your message
:09:09. > :09:10.with the letters "WD" or join us on Twitter.
:09:10. > :09:14.with the letters "WD" or join us on Coming up: Discounted wine, ever
:09:14. > :09:23.wondered how supermarkets can have so many bottles on offer so much of
:09:23. > :09:28.the time? Oz Clarke has the answer. So Ed Miliband in tonight. Bit of a
:09:28. > :09:33.buzz about the place. Flowers in reception and bleach in all the
:09:33. > :09:37.loos. An yip's even polished her glasses so -- Anni's even polished
:09:37. > :09:40.her glasses. Laying turf is like being the leader of the opposition.
:09:40. > :09:46.You spend a long time laying the ground work, raking around, trying
:09:46. > :09:50.to get grass root support. Just when you think you've finished, it all
:09:50. > :09:51.gets watered down and fertiliser spread over the top. At least that's
:09:51. > :10:13.the way it should be done. It's summer or autumn. Is it? I
:10:13. > :10:19.don't know, I'm confused. What is it? Doesn't matter, it's when we're
:10:19. > :10:25.at our most British. The Frenchmen have their gravel. The Egyptians
:10:25. > :10:33.their sand. The Germans have their autoban. Across this land it's grass
:10:33. > :10:39.that makes us British! If someone hurts my British grass, it makes me
:10:39. > :10:45.want to cry. What a load of xenophobic old
:10:45. > :10:58.nonsense. There's grass all over the world. Not in Pyongyang. Yes! Get
:10:58. > :11:02.out of it. Go on. It's not a complete pile of John bull. We do
:11:02. > :11:08.love our garden grass. The snoozing in the sun, drinking tea on and
:11:08. > :11:13.playing fetch with lazy dogs. A lawn to love is exactly what Chris
:11:13. > :11:17.wanted. So he called purly based business Perfect Turf and paid them
:11:17. > :11:22.£1800 to lay a brand new lawn. Remember, they're called Perfect
:11:22. > :11:29.Turf. It looks kind of green and OK. But when you get close it's not so
:11:29. > :11:35.good. Tom Jones. Yeah, except it's not so much green,
:11:35. > :11:44.green grass, but more Gordon Brown, patchy and kind of dead grass.
:11:44. > :11:48.Chris, that's a pretty dreadful lawn. It is. This is after about two
:11:48. > :11:54.months of work just to get it looking like this. Yeah, this is
:11:54. > :11:59.actually an improvement on what the garden looked like when Perfect Turf
:11:59. > :12:03.had finished with it. These are the pictures I took about ten days after
:12:03. > :12:08.the lawn was laid. It just wasn't fitted correctly. None of the joints
:12:08. > :12:12.are in place. It looked very brown and old. It was patchy and lumpy.
:12:12. > :12:16.Within two weeks the weeds were coming through. It's just so uneven.
:12:16. > :12:22.It was almost dangerous in places. Over the four weeks following the
:12:22. > :12:27.job, Chris called and E-mailed numerous times to explain but never
:12:27. > :12:31.got a satisfactory answer. Chris had to take matters into his own green
:12:32. > :12:37.fingers. The part nearest the house was so bad was so bad I dug it up
:12:37. > :12:43.and replace today with a patio. I've thrown away a third of the lawn.
:12:44. > :12:48.This is the Frankenlawn. Who was responsible for this soily shambles?
:12:48. > :12:57.Well this man, Jonathan Hill, the boss of Perfect Turf.
:12:57. > :13:01.This is my game. The hills it would seem are alive, even if patches of
:13:01. > :13:04.Chris's grass are not. Croquet, because I think it's time to
:13:04. > :13:08.investigate Perfect Turf for ourselves. As I don't really know my
:13:08. > :13:15.grass from my elbow, I need someone who does. And that's what got --
:13:15. > :13:20.we've got. If you hit my ball, you can take mine, put it next to your
:13:20. > :13:26.ball and use it. I think that's what it is. It's been a little while. OK,
:13:26. > :13:29.so even though Dr Tim Lodge doesn't know one end of the mallet from the
:13:29. > :13:34.other, he's still the man for me, an expert in lawns with a pH D in turf
:13:34. > :13:38.maintenance, there's not many of them about! When it comes to grass,
:13:38. > :13:47.he's the doctor I walk to talk to. What will he make with Perfect
:13:47. > :13:55.Turf's selection of mug shots? That's pretty dreadful. Shocking.
:13:55. > :13:59.Yes, you can make out the lines between the turf in a well laid
:13:59. > :14:03.lawn, but if it's within looked after and well constructed, then
:14:03. > :14:08.those lines will disappear very quickly. Thank you, Tim. I think we
:14:08. > :14:14.have a story. That means a sting, yes. We find a
:14:14. > :14:18.house with a lawn that needs completely relaying and call Perfect
:14:18. > :14:23.Turf out to do the job. Team member Hannah is posing as a croquet loving
:14:23. > :14:28.homeowner, but she owns no ordinary home. No. It's full of cameras,
:14:28. > :14:32.small cameras, some so small we set them up and then lose them. Tim's on
:14:32. > :14:38.hand to see how they get on. Slip into your mankini because turf's up.
:14:38. > :14:46.If it isn't the heavy roller himself, boss man, Jonathan Hill.
:14:46. > :14:51.This is it. Does it look all right? Jonathan and co set to work. They
:14:51. > :14:56.Griff the grass a once over with the mower. So far so good. Here's the
:14:56. > :15:02.starter for ten, task one, remove the old grass correctly. One would
:15:02. > :15:10.normally either remove the turf of the existing surface with a turf
:15:10. > :15:15.cutter or spray off with total herbicide and kill the grass. What's
:15:15. > :15:24.this? It's not a vacuum cleaner or turf cutter. It's the rotavator.
:15:24. > :15:29.He's skipped a whole step. Surely he'll realise he's ignored step one
:15:29. > :15:33.and go back to the beginning again? Apparently not. So, instead of
:15:34. > :15:47.removing the old turf, he's just churning it back into the soil.
:15:47. > :15:53.Speaking ridge makally ---ure ridge makally -- Eurythmics we will be
:15:53. > :15:58.falling on broken grass. It doesn't end, watch his attempts
:15:58. > :16:04.to lead us down the garden path in a little while.
:16:04. > :16:08.We get through a staggering 1. 5 million bolles of wine a year. Watch
:16:08. > :16:24.out, the deals are often poor value. I've been a wine writer,
:16:24. > :16:29.broadcaster, critic for almost 30 years and in that time, the wine
:16:29. > :16:32.industry has changed out of all recognition. There are more wines
:16:32. > :16:36.available to us now than ever before from countries all over the world.
:16:36. > :16:41.Thanks to the supermarkets, much of it can be bought at prices that
:16:41. > :16:45.won't break the bank. But recently, along with a lot of other wine
:16:45. > :16:48.critics, I've found myself increasingly irritated by the way
:16:48. > :16:50.some supermarkets are marketing wine to us and concerned about the way a
:16:50. > :16:55.lot of us have got into the habit of to us and concerned about the way a
:16:55. > :16:59.buying it. I usually go for whatever is the special is or the deals are
:16:59. > :17:04.in the supermarket. Price deal is always really good. Or sometimes if
:17:04. > :17:10.you get two for, I don't know, it £12 or something, that's what I'd go
:17:10. > :17:15.for. If it's half price, you think it's a good deal. We've become
:17:15. > :17:21.addicted to deals. And they're available everywhere, walk down any
:17:21. > :17:24.wine aisle and you cannot miss the labels advertising bargains. Over
:17:24. > :17:30.60% of the wine we buy in supermarkets is discounted, most of
:17:30. > :17:36.it at half price. Now, is it just me, or do some of these bottles seem
:17:36. > :17:39.to be at half price for an awful lot of the time? And if that is the
:17:39. > :17:44.case, are we getting some amazing deal when we pick up a half-priced
:17:44. > :17:52.bottle of plonk? Or are we having the wool pulled over our eyes by
:17:52. > :17:58.some smart marketing device? To find out, we've tracked how the price of
:17:58. > :18:01.some supermarkets best selling discounted wines fluctuated over the
:18:01. > :18:05.last year. The average amount we spend on wine is £5. We've
:18:05. > :18:09.concentrated on bottles that have been discounted to around that
:18:09. > :18:16.price. You might want a drink after you hear what we've discovered.
:18:16. > :18:22.First, seveningo. This is advertised as a 9. .99 bottle. For a third of
:18:22. > :18:30.the year it was sold at 4. .99. It's a similar story for Hardy's. The
:18:30. > :18:38.price zig zagged all year, but was on deep discount for about five
:18:38. > :18:46.months. Next, Sainsbury's. Their 11. .99 was sold at 5. 9943% of the
:18:46. > :18:54.time. For six months you could get this red for a fiver. At ASDA, for
:18:54. > :19:01.more than half a year this £12 wine was just £7. The 7. .50 Jacobs creek
:19:01. > :19:08.was discounted to a fiver or even longer, 62% of the time. If a
:19:08. > :19:15.supermarket is selling a wine worth £10 for only £5 and for a period of
:19:15. > :19:19.time which could be 37% of the year, that supermarket is going to be
:19:19. > :19:23.making a loss. And they simply wouldn't do it. The truth is the
:19:23. > :19:26.only way to make a profit out of these wines they sell so many
:19:26. > :19:33.bottles of is if the wines were never worth more than £5 in the
:19:33. > :19:44.first place. To be sure, I felt I should really taste one of these
:19:44. > :19:51.supposed bargains. It's all right. It's quite smoky, a bit earthy.
:19:51. > :19:55.Slightly jammy sort of flavour, not very fresh. Quite acid in the mouth.
:19:55. > :19:59.I taste thousands of wines, one thing I can say, this is not a o £10
:19:59. > :20:04.bottle of wine. Don't just take my thing I can say, this is not a o £10
:20:04. > :20:08.word for it. Take Alan's. He's a consultant to the wine industry. He
:20:08. > :20:15.was head of wine at Sainsbury's for nine years. He disagrees with the
:20:15. > :20:18.supermarkets current practice. You retail it at a price, say £12 and
:20:18. > :20:22.then you decide having got your stock in, you may not have sold very
:20:22. > :20:26.much at that price, by the way, you then put it into a bigger
:20:26. > :20:33.distribution, more shops around the country and you halve that price, so
:20:33. > :20:41.12 becomes £6. The trouble is it's not worth £12 in the first place.
:20:41. > :20:45.It's a 6 quid wine. If you had £5 worth of wine if that's what you had
:20:45. > :20:50.to spend, you wouldn't have much to complain about. Only problem is that
:20:50. > :20:59.isn't what happens. Let me explain why looking at a typical £5 wine.
:20:59. > :21:03.The first £2 of that is taken up in skies duty. Then -- excise duty.
:21:03. > :21:09.Then there's 11 p if it comes from outside the EU, plus 20% VAT. That
:21:09. > :21:13.mean it's 2. .94, well over half your money, goes on tax. Transport,
:21:13. > :21:19.storage and packaging accounts for another 60 p. And the supermarkets
:21:19. > :21:23.takes around 30% after VAT, 1. .25. After all that, the money you have
:21:23. > :21:31.left is the amount that is spent on the actual wine. And how much is it?
:21:31. > :21:36.Just 20p. Not only might your £10 bottle be worth a mere fiver, but
:21:36. > :21:39.that £5 bottle might actually have just a few pence worth of wine in
:21:39. > :21:44.it. So you might want to think twice
:21:44. > :21:49.next time you see all those enticing offers. I would say as a member of
:21:49. > :21:53.the trade, the industry is not doing us any good, our reputation.
:21:53. > :21:55.Ethically, it's something that I personally would like to see the
:21:55. > :21:59.back of. All three supermarkets deny they
:21:59. > :22:05.deliberately mislead customers on price. Desko -- Tesco say they take
:22:05. > :22:12.their responsibility to cut mefrz very -- customers very seriously and
:22:12. > :22:15.Sainsbury's say wine prices are dependent on various factors. But
:22:15. > :22:18.that they work hard to keep those costs down. Meanwhile ASDA told us
:22:19. > :22:22.they aim to have the lowest prices for longest and say that unlike
:22:22. > :22:29.their competitors, they don't run what they call misleading half price
:22:29. > :22:34.or third Ovcharov -- third-off deals. Os is with me now. Welcome.
:22:34. > :22:40.Please cheer me up. I'm depressed. Remember we said on a £5 bottle of
:22:40. > :22:46.wine all the fixed costs, excise duty and all those things take up 4.
:22:47. > :22:55.80. You only have 20p left on the liquid in the bottle. Go up to 7.
:22:55. > :23:00.50, you have 1. 66 spent on the liquid in the bottle. Those costs
:23:01. > :23:06.stay the same. Yes, we go to a £10 bottle of wine, it's 3. 13 spent on
:23:06. > :23:17.the liquid in the wine. That's 15 times as much. Up to £5 - I'm
:23:17. > :23:21.sweating a bit. Up to £15, you have 6. 04 on the liquid you want to
:23:21. > :23:27.drink, 30 times as much money being spent on the wine as in a £5 bottle
:23:27. > :23:31.of wine. I'm looking for bargains. Is there such a thing? If you want
:23:32. > :23:34.to look for discounts the best ones are generic discounts, when a
:23:34. > :23:38.country is, has all its wines are generic discounts, when a
:23:38. > :23:40.knocked back. Australia, 25% off, Spain, Portugal, whatever. Those are
:23:40. > :23:45.knocked back. Australia, 25% off, always very good. The quality is not
:23:45. > :23:49.compromised on those wines. Are there any countries that I should
:23:49. > :23:55.look out for and say they're the ones to go forment They change all
:23:55. > :23:59.the time. At the moment South Africa's currency is relatively weak
:23:59. > :24:10.and there are good wines. Eastern Europe, people don't take it too
:24:10. > :24:19.seriousily. Hungary and Romania have very good wine. This is from
:24:19. > :24:25.Romania. Oh. Very nice. It is. Delicious. What about supermarkets
:24:25. > :24:28.own brand. The thing about own brands is that the supermarkets take
:24:28. > :24:30.a smaller profit margin, they don't have promotional costs and there are
:24:30. > :24:34.a smaller profit margin, they don't rats all over the world full of wine
:24:34. > :24:37.that actually needs to be drunk. The supermarkets drain the rats, put it
:24:38. > :24:46.in a bottle, sell it at a lower cost for our benefit. I have one there.
:24:46. > :24:53.That's 4. 50 of house beaujolais. What about the superior ones. Before
:24:53. > :24:57.I taste this one? Things like ASDA extra special, Tesco's finest, taste
:24:57. > :25:02.the difference, with those wines you get some of the best wine value and
:25:02. > :25:06.the best quality in the supermarket. That is absolutely delicious.
:25:06. > :25:10.Cheers. Next, energy prices. Watchdog has
:25:10. > :25:16.been campaigning for the big six providers to come in and explain the
:25:16. > :25:19.continual rise in the cost of gas and electricity. Particularly as
:25:19. > :25:27.more and more families are unable to pay their bills. At the Labour Party
:25:27. > :25:30.Conference Ed Miliband added his opinion. If we win the election in
:25:31. > :25:33.2015, the next Labour Government will freeze gas and electricity
:25:33. > :25:42.2015, the next Labour Government prices until the start of 2017. ? In
:25:42. > :25:47.-- 2017. Your bills will not rise. It will benefit millions of families
:25:47. > :25:51.and millions of businesses. Well, the Labour leader is here now.
:25:51. > :25:56.Welcome to Watchdog. Great to be here. That's a great vote catcher.
:25:57. > :26:00.Do you think the energy suppliers are profiteering? Yes. I think
:26:00. > :26:04.what's happening is they're taking advantage of a market that's not
:26:04. > :26:09.working. I think families at home will know what happens, when
:26:09. > :26:14.wholesale prices go up, you end up paying more. When wholesale prices
:26:14. > :26:19.come down, you still pay more. That's why I'm determined to act, if
:26:19. > :26:23.we win the next election, we will freeze prices until 2017. You will
:26:23. > :26:28.freeze prices, but you have 18 months before that. There's nothing
:26:28. > :26:31.to stop the energy suppliers thinking, right, if that's going to
:26:31. > :26:39.happen, we'll raise prices even more to cover that period of 20 months.
:26:39. > :26:44.There's also the analysts saying it will curb investment, that jobs will
:26:44. > :26:48.be lost and actually, the supply of energy is at risk. I want to get
:26:48. > :26:52.into Government as soon as possible to bring in that price freeze. Let
:26:52. > :26:56.me clear about this, we're going to bring in not just a freeze, but a
:26:56. > :27:00.regulator who can cut prices if the companies are misbehaving. You still
:27:00. > :27:04.haven't got any control for the next 18 months. I want to get the control
:27:04. > :27:08.as quickly as possible. Let me answer the point on investment. The
:27:08. > :27:15.companies are having these scare stories about how it's going to
:27:15. > :27:18.affect investment. You've been running a brilliant campaign on
:27:19. > :27:22.this. They're overcharging people, making big profits and they want to
:27:22. > :27:27.carry on doing it. I'm determined to speak up and act on behalf of
:27:27. > :27:32.families. When they say their profits between -- profit is between
:27:32. > :27:35.5% or 7%, is that too much or don't youibly them? I don't believe it
:27:35. > :27:40.when they say they don't make excess profits. They're lying? They're
:27:40. > :27:44.wrong. You must believe they're lying. Let me tell you why I believe
:27:44. > :27:48.they're wrong. When you see a spike in wholesale prices that's all
:27:48. > :27:51.passed on. Because they have such a grip on the market, this is what
:27:51. > :27:55.families at home will know, then prices don't fall when wholesale
:27:55. > :27:59.prices fall. That's why we're determined to act, not just to
:27:59. > :28:02.freeze prices, but to reform this market. Ive think it's right that
:28:02. > :28:05.somebody -- market, I think it's right to somebody speaks up on
:28:05. > :28:09.behalf of families and businesses in this country who are really finding
:28:09. > :28:13.it hard and find the energy companies overcharging them. The
:28:13. > :28:18.consumer gets a bill, but they've really no idea, first of all, what
:28:18. > :28:22.costs what in that bill and how much the energy companies take. Also,
:28:22. > :28:25.your green tax, which you introduced, that's not clear on the
:28:25. > :28:31.bill either. Are you going to find a solution to that? We definitely do
:28:31. > :28:34.need greater transparency. Let me pick up on the so-called green
:28:34. > :28:39.taxes. That's another excuse the companies are using. Again, it's
:28:39. > :28:43.just an excuse. Actually the vast majority of the increase we've seen
:28:43. > :28:46.in people's bills is not to do with that. It's because the companies are
:28:46. > :28:50.taking advantage of what's happening. The green tax? On the
:28:50. > :28:54.issue of the other costs on the bill, some of that is helping
:28:54. > :28:58.pensioners to have lower tariffs. We've set out plans to keep control
:28:58. > :29:01.of those costs, but the real way we keep control is by freezing prices
:29:02. > :29:05.and having a tough regulator with teeth. Unless you have a regulator
:29:05. > :29:09.with teeth and can actually act, then I'm afraid this problem may
:29:09. > :29:12.recur. It's not just about the freeze, it's about the reform of the
:29:12. > :29:17.market. On the green tax, why don't you put that on taxation, so the
:29:17. > :29:20.poorest in the land aren't paying for the green tax? There's different
:29:20. > :29:24.ways in which we help the poorest in the country. We should keep looking
:29:24. > :29:29.at the best ways of doing that. We set out plans to keep costs under
:29:29. > :29:33.control. But it's when the companies say, oh, it's not us, it's to do
:29:33. > :29:37.with these other costs, actually that's not right. It's the companies
:29:37. > :29:41.making the money. Competition, will there be competition with your plan?
:29:41. > :29:45.Yes, there will. One of the problems we've got at the moment is that the
:29:45. > :29:48.companies generate the power and then sell it on to themselves in a
:29:48. > :29:52.sweet heart deal. We're going to say to them, you have to auction that on
:29:52. > :29:55.the open market, so there's more competition and a better deal for
:29:55. > :29:59.consumers. The next 20 months, we won't see rises before you get
:29:59. > :30:02.there? They've announced rises even before my speech, that's why I want
:30:02. > :30:06.to get into Government as quickly as possible to clamp down, take action
:30:06. > :30:11.and let me be clear, through your good offices, I'm going to make sure
:30:11. > :30:15.this is a real and meaningful freeze. If you want to have me back
:30:15. > :30:19.on after the election, to hold me to account, I look forward to it. Will
:30:19. > :30:23.you promise that the lights won't go out? Absolutely. You'll promise?
:30:23. > :30:26.Absolutely. When the companies tell those scare stories - and they'll do
:30:26. > :30:30.that. They want to keep a grip in the next 18 months. They don't want
:30:30. > :30:34.me to win power and freeze people's bills. When they say that it's a
:30:34. > :30:37.scare story and people should know that. Thanks, Ed Miliband. Thank
:30:37. > :30:41.you. Next week, we'll be putting your
:30:41. > :30:46.questions to one of the big six energy companies, E.on and we'll
:30:46. > :30:51.hear from Energy Secretary Ed Davey before the end of the series.
:30:51. > :30:54.Still to come: Monarch and Thomas Cook, the steps they take to avoid
:30:54. > :30:59.paying out flight delay compensation.
:30:59. > :31:04.Back to Jonathan Hill of Perfect Turf in Surrey now. We've hired him
:31:04. > :31:08.to lay a new lawn. But things in our garden are still far from rosy. He's
:31:08. > :31:14.already skipped the first and most important step, removing the
:31:14. > :31:21.original grass. Instead, he's simply gone mechanical.
:31:21. > :31:25.Yes, like Michael Owen at the 1998 World Cup the rotavator has made an
:31:25. > :31:29.earlier appearance than anyone anticipated. Unlike Michael Owen
:31:29. > :31:34.this machine isn't a natural finisher. Having churned up our old
:31:34. > :31:37.grass into the soil, instead of removing it, he's now using the
:31:37. > :31:42.machine for the task for which it was meant, cultivating the soil.
:31:42. > :31:47.Except he's doing that wrong as well. Task two, rotavate the soil
:31:47. > :31:54.deep enough to cultivate the ground, simple isn't it. You need to fluf up
:31:54. > :32:02.at least six inches of the top soil to get good turf establishment.
:32:02. > :32:07.Where he's skimmed over it's just scratching the surface. Dear me.
:32:07. > :32:12.He's struggling a bit. It's only me, but I might have considered taking
:32:12. > :32:16.the washing line down before I started this job. The reality is
:32:17. > :32:22.Jonathan isn't stringing this one out. It looks like they've finished,
:32:22. > :32:26.but we've still got all these lumps and clumps of grass and soil which
:32:26. > :32:34.need to be broken up. They're going onto the next stage. Task three:
:32:34. > :32:38.Level out the soil making a nice, even surface. There's a bit of
:32:38. > :32:43.raking, which is good, but not enough. Then he turns to something a
:32:43. > :32:48.bit more piraty. He's walking the plank. I've never seen a plank being
:32:48. > :32:53.used for anything like this. It's nuts really. ( It's not really
:32:53. > :32:58.doing anything at all. I'm not entirely sure. That's going to be a
:32:58. > :33:04.very uneven surface. What a plank, hey. What should Jonathan be doing
:33:04. > :33:08.now? Oh, yes, task four, fertilise the ground. We've paid for
:33:08. > :33:12.fertiliser but we don't see him putting any down. Now, he could have
:33:12. > :33:16.mix today in beforehand, but either way the turf is going to struggle
:33:16. > :33:23.because what he's using contains compost. And we know this because he
:33:23. > :33:30.tells us. It's a high quality top soil with compost in it. When the
:33:30. > :33:35.turf is cut, it has all its roots sheered off. Yeah, but by laying
:33:35. > :33:41.compost underneath, Jonathan is turning our lawn into the garden
:33:41. > :33:45.equivalent of a trifle, which may sound tasty, but it's really not.
:33:45. > :33:49.The more layers under the turf, the harder to establish itself. So water
:33:49. > :33:54.won't get through the layers and it will eventually dry up. So trifle is
:33:54. > :34:00.bad? Here comes the cherrien on top as they lay their perfect turf.
:34:00. > :34:06.Do you grow the turf yourself? Yeah, I do. Typical garden stuff is it?
:34:06. > :34:13.Yeah, this is. This is general purpose turf. Right. Task five: Use
:34:13. > :34:20.cutters to cut the turf. Do not tear strips off because it's just silly.
:34:20. > :34:25.Is he tearing it? I can't see any sharp implements being used here.
:34:25. > :34:28.That's a shame because one of the nice things about turf is that you
:34:28. > :34:35.can cut it cleanly to fit around whatever it is that you're fitting
:34:35. > :34:40.around. It looks tidy. Because it's such small sections and tearing it,
:34:40. > :34:43.it's probably going to die. These tiny pieces? They haven't got much
:34:43. > :34:47.future in them, I don't think. But it's good enough for Perfect Turf.
:34:47. > :34:52.With that, our lawn is apparently, finished. Now we just have to look
:34:52. > :34:56.after this. And that means water, lots of water.
:34:56. > :35:00.Have you got a hosepipe and sprinkler, because it's going to
:35:00. > :35:05.want watering. It will want it every day. The guy knows what is going to
:35:05. > :35:13.happen. That compost material will get very dry. That particular turf
:35:13. > :35:21.with require an exceptionally large and frequent amount of water. We
:35:21. > :35:26.paid £685 to Perfect Turf. After watering it, as instructed, and
:35:26. > :35:31.leaving the lawn to bed in for three days, our expert Tim comes to have a
:35:31. > :35:35.look. We've got thick weedy bits. Is that
:35:35. > :35:38.acceptable? It wouldn't be acceptable. There's a tolerance
:35:38. > :35:41.level which you're prepared to put acceptable. There's a tolerance
:35:41. > :35:46.up with up to a point. This has gone over that. Even worse, this turf is
:35:46. > :35:53.far from flat. This isn't level. I mean looking around this garden,
:35:53. > :35:57.it's a bit like the Brecon beakens in -- Brecon Beacons in profile. The
:35:57. > :36:02.lumps aren't going to go away. They're permanent features. Then the
:36:02. > :36:07.compost-based top soil. Remember, think trifle. So you're moving from
:36:07. > :36:12.a layer of clay here into this layer of almost pure organic matter back
:36:12. > :36:17.into a clay soil. The turf's not going to like that jumping over that
:36:17. > :36:21.gap. What does the future hold for this lawn? It is going to dry out
:36:21. > :36:28.pretty rapidly. All the greenness will be lost from it. All of these
:36:28. > :36:31.undulations and gaps will get worse and worse. Then, the weeds will
:36:31. > :36:33.start to come up through the gaps. It's going to look pretty much like
:36:33. > :36:40.start to come up through the gaps. a field rather than a lawn. It's one
:36:40. > :36:43.of the worst jobs I've seen. Nothing else for it, then, let's call
:36:43. > :36:48.Jonathan to complain. Except getting hold of him... This
:36:48. > :36:52.you for calling Perfect Turf... Isn't as simple as we thought. We're
:36:52. > :36:58.unable to take your call at the moment. Perfect Turf don't pick up.
:36:58. > :37:05.Nor the next day. Nor the next. Or the... Well, you get the idea. The
:37:05. > :37:11.only way we're going to get a chance to talk to Perfect Turf's boss is by
:37:11. > :37:15.calling him out to another job. That might sound like your typical end of
:37:15. > :37:23.programme, here we go round the mulberry bush. Let me assure you,
:37:23. > :37:28.it's anything but. The Hills may have eyes, but will I ever have the
:37:28. > :37:33.Hill? It's a good question. We haven't
:37:33. > :37:37.been able to track him down so far. Will we come up smelling of roses?
:37:37. > :37:41.What do you think? Watch us grasp the nettle in ten minutes.
:37:41. > :37:47.Monarch, Thomas Cook and flight delays, if you land in the EU, on an
:37:47. > :37:51.EU airline or take off from the EU on any airline and are delayed by
:37:51. > :37:56.more than three hours, you're enable for compensation. What's more, you
:37:56. > :38:01.can claim from any incident over the last six years, in Scotland, the
:38:01. > :38:06.last five, except if there are and I quote "extraordinary circumstances"
:38:06. > :38:11.when are outside the airlines control. Such as terrorism, strikes
:38:12. > :38:15.or extreme weather. But if the airline's at fault, it must pay out.
:38:15. > :38:20.Take a look at this from the last series.
:38:20. > :38:23.Scrord circumstances do not include normal technical faults. The courts
:38:23. > :38:27.have made it clear that technical faults are things which airlines
:38:27. > :38:32.should expect and prepare for. They should have adequate maintenance and
:38:32. > :38:36.they should have stand by aircraft if an unexpected fault occurs.
:38:36. > :38:40.Pretty clear. Also in that report, we revealed that some airlines were
:38:40. > :38:44.citing the extraordinary circumstances clause even when it
:38:44. > :38:48.seems obvious that the delay was their fault. Five months on, and not
:38:48. > :38:55.only has that practice continued, it's got a whole lot worse.
:38:55. > :39:01.When it was decided in October last year that you could claim
:39:01. > :39:04.compensation for delayed flights, we thought it would be a simple and
:39:04. > :39:10.easy task for passengers to get their money. But perhaps it was too
:39:10. > :39:15.much to expect airlines to become models of fairness overnight. We
:39:15. > :39:19.know of tens of thousand of you have applied for compensation after your
:39:19. > :39:23.flight has been delayed, as is your legal right. Only to have the
:39:23. > :39:26.airlines reject your claim. The reason? It seems they're prepared to
:39:26. > :39:33.do anything they're cannot to pay out. Why? Well, lawyers tell us up
:39:33. > :39:38.to 10 million people could have a valid claim, leaving airlines facing
:39:38. > :39:40.a potential bill of 4 billion euros. These are big numbers, they're scary
:39:40. > :39:44.a potential bill of 4 billion euros. numbers. There's a concern that
:39:44. > :39:50.there will be a pandemic. We've heard the phrase "flood gates will
:39:50. > :39:56.open". It's these flood gates that some airlines are desperate to keep
:39:56. > :40:01.close. -- closed. Monarch has one of the worst punctuality records in the
:40:02. > :40:08.UK. It's no surprise they're keen to say it isn't their fault when things
:40:08. > :40:13.go wrong. Colin and his family were delayed a staggering 28 hours coming
:40:13. > :40:15.home from the Greek islands. When Colin wrote for compensation, he was
:40:15. > :40:19.told the delay was due to the old Colin wrote for compensation, he was
:40:19. > :40:23.excuse of extraordinary circumstances and told he wouldn't
:40:23. > :40:27.be getting a penny. But it wasn't severe weather that delayed Colin's
:40:27. > :40:31.plane, it was a faulty fuel pipe. It wasn't a bird strike. It wasn't the
:40:31. > :40:35.pilot becoming really, really ill, very, very quickly. It was a
:40:35. > :40:39.mechanical problem that could have been picked up, in my opinion, at a
:40:39. > :40:42.routine service. Colin didn't take his case further, presuming he stood
:40:42. > :40:48.little chance of victory if he stud his case further, presuming he stood
:40:48. > :40:50.up -- stood up to such a big company.
:40:50. > :40:56.But there is meant to be someone else you can turn to for help - the
:40:56. > :41:00.regulator. In the UK that's the Civil Aviation Authority or CAA. But
:41:00. > :41:04.it's facing a mountain of appeals, having received over 24,000 in the
:41:04. > :41:08.last year alone. This is causing a back log of months. Further proof,
:41:08. > :41:13.if you needed it, of the extent of this problem. And these are just the
:41:13. > :41:18.cases that occurred in this country. The CAA can only look at your case
:41:18. > :41:21.if you were delayed in the UK. If it happened in another EU state, you
:41:21. > :41:27.have to appeal to the regulator there. Becki wrote to the Spanish
:41:27. > :41:34.regulator, after Monarch turned down her claim. She had been delayed 11
:41:34. > :41:39.hours travelling from Malaga to Gatwick rat -- last year. The
:41:39. > :41:42.company couldn't get their story straight either. The captain told us
:41:42. > :41:46.it was a problem with the nose landing gear, a hydraulics problem.
:41:46. > :41:51.When I started asking for compensation, it change today a
:41:51. > :41:54.cracked windscreen, which they said comes under extraordinary
:41:54. > :42:00.circumstances. Following a complaint the Spanish regulator replied saying
:42:00. > :42:03.that Monarch hadn't shown evidence of extraordinary circumstance and
:42:03. > :42:09.should pay compensation. Becki was certain they would pay out now. But
:42:09. > :42:13.their response: "As I'm sure you can appreciate compensation payments
:42:13. > :42:17.cannot be enforced by the said regulatory body."
:42:17. > :42:19.It's really frustrating that nobody listens even when the Spanish
:42:19. > :42:26.authorities say we are due compensation. I don't know what else
:42:26. > :42:30.to do. If Monarch isn't prepared to listen to the regulator, what hope
:42:30. > :42:36.do customers have? Unfortunately, it seems the best option is to fight
:42:36. > :42:41.their airline alm the way. That's what Rachel did. Her Thomas Cook
:42:41. > :42:45.flight was delayed travelling to Turkey. Like Monarch, Thomas Cook
:42:45. > :42:49.doesn't have punctuality records to Turkey. Like Monarch, Thomas Cook
:42:49. > :42:53.boast about. When the company said no to compensation, she decided not
:42:53. > :42:59.to take it lying down. Recalled just before going on holiday, that I'd
:42:59. > :43:03.watched Watchdog and they were very clear that mechanical fault is not
:43:03. > :43:08.an extraordinary circumstance. Refusing to accept Thomas Cook's
:43:08. > :43:14.rejection, Rachel took the company to small claims court and lo and
:43:14. > :43:18.behold, as soon ises a court date was set, Thomas Cook paid out. They
:43:19. > :43:22.were waiting to see whether I would have the necessary to go down there
:43:22. > :43:27.and make the effort to actually put in a court hearing date, pay for
:43:27. > :43:30.that and still have the courage of my conviction that I was going to
:43:30. > :43:35.win. Rachel's story is not an uncommon one. Since our last report
:43:35. > :43:40.in May, Thomas Cook has settled at least 300 cases before they reached
:43:40. > :43:46.court. Monarch has done the same for 70. Both airlines know that like --
:43:46. > :43:54.the likely outcome were the cases were to make it in front of a judge.
:43:54. > :43:58.It's always been clear that the airline should be able to deal with
:43:58. > :44:05.technical issues. It's not inherent in an air career -- carrier. They
:44:05. > :44:09.must take all recautions to prevent the delay. You can take the airlines
:44:09. > :44:12.on and win. Is it fair that you have to take a powerful company to court
:44:12. > :44:17.yourself because they are choosing no the to re-inspect the law? The
:44:17. > :44:21.CAA can bring prosecutions and says it will if airlines systematically
:44:21. > :44:26.ignore the rules. But surely that's what the airlines are doing? So why
:44:26. > :44:30.isn't the regulator taking action? The volume of complaints and
:44:30. > :44:33.correspondence means they should provide it with proper resources.
:44:34. > :44:38.They're not doing that. It seems to us they're almost treating this as a
:44:38. > :44:41.minor inconvenience rather than properly enforcing passengers'
:44:41. > :44:48.rights. Joining MEP now from the Civil
:44:48. > :44:52.Aviation Authority is Iain Osborne. Welcome back. Is it a minor
:44:52. > :44:56.inconvenience for you? Not at all. Looking after passengers is what the
:44:56. > :45:00.CAA is for. Passengers should get their compensation if they've had a
:45:00. > :45:03.long delay and if it's the airlines fault. This question of fault
:45:03. > :45:08.created confusion. That's why we have guidelines out. The airlines do
:45:08. > :45:11.now after our publication in the summer, know what is expected from
:45:11. > :45:16.them. We expect to sort out the claims during the autumn. How bad
:45:16. > :45:19.does it have to get before you do something drastic? Now that we've
:45:19. > :45:24.got clear with the airlines what's expected, over the autumn we're
:45:24. > :45:26.expected to sort it out. We are monitoring carefully how airlines
:45:27. > :45:31.are responding to passengers. We have know we can and will take legal
:45:31. > :45:35.action against them. Why has it taken a year to produce clearer
:45:35. > :45:41.guidelines? Over this last year, we've dealt with a lot of cases. We
:45:41. > :45:44.have over £500,000 worth of compensation for passengers. We work
:45:44. > :45:49.through the detail. Last autumn it was very unclear what the law meant.
:45:49. > :45:52.Would it surprise you to know that Thomas Cook are going back to the EU
:45:52. > :45:57.for clarification of extraordinary circumstances, despite all your
:45:57. > :46:00.work? Thomas Cook like the other airlines know clearly what is
:46:00. > :46:03.expected of them. They're not taking any notice. They know the CAA
:46:03. > :46:08.expects them to sort out these cases. Not doing it. We will monitor
:46:08. > :46:13.what they do. If we see systematic abuse, we will - There is systematic
:46:13. > :46:17.abuse. We will take legal action. A lot of passengers do get the
:46:17. > :46:21.compensation without having to go to court or... You were keen last time
:46:21. > :46:25.that no-one bothered with the small claims court. Everything gets moving
:46:25. > :46:30.once up go to small claims court, much more than when you come to you.
:46:30. > :46:33.We have the guidelines out. We're expecting the airlines to sort
:46:33. > :46:36.people out. We will take legal action if they don't. We're still
:46:36. > :46:41.here if people want to come back to us. What about the 24,000 cases?
:46:41. > :46:47.What have you done with those? About 6,000 of them, we've sorted. We have
:46:47. > :46:51.compensation. The rest are back with the airlines. You just
:46:51. > :46:55.pass-the-parcel? We have got clear now what the guidelines - How long
:46:55. > :46:59.are they going to wait? You've sent it back to the airlines. Thomas Cook
:46:59. > :47:04.is saying, we need more explanation. This could go on forever. Not at
:47:04. > :47:07.all. Over the autumn we expect it to be sorted out. We are monitoring
:47:07. > :47:11.what will happen. The airlines know we can and will take legal action
:47:11. > :47:15.against them. If people still aren't happy they can come back to us for a
:47:15. > :47:20.free advice service. Keep an eye on you Mr Osborne. Thank you.
:47:20. > :47:24.Monarch say safety is paramount and passenger welfare is their first
:47:24. > :47:27.priority. They maintain the delays to Colin Molyneaux and Rebecca
:47:28. > :47:31.Baxter's journeys were extraordinary circumstances and that neither
:47:31. > :47:34.qualify for compensation, in Colin's case they say the fuel leak wasn't
:47:34. > :47:38.caused by a lack of maintenance and couldn't have been picked up
:47:38. > :47:42.earlier. They admit they gave Rebecca two reasons for the delay,
:47:42. > :47:48.but one was sent in error. Thomas Cook say they would like further
:47:48. > :47:50.clarification from the EU on what constitutions -- constitutes
:47:50. > :47:53.extraordinary circumstances. They constitutions -- constitutes
:47:53. > :47:57.point out all aircraft are inspected on arrival and departure. They
:47:57. > :48:00.apologise to Rachel Cavanagh. The say they agreed to pay out, not
:48:00. > :48:05.because Rachel took them to court, but because new information about
:48:05. > :48:08.her case came to light. Both airlines say delayed customers are
:48:08. > :48:11.provided food, drink and accommodation where appropriate.
:48:11. > :48:19.Keep your stories coming. In the meantime, here's a few more: Virgin
:48:19. > :48:23.Trains is set to overhaul its fleet in an attempt to rid carriages of
:48:23. > :48:29.nasty smells coming from the loos. Known to passengers as the Pendolino
:48:29. > :48:34.pong. The odour is thought to affect all 56 of the rolling trains on the
:48:34. > :48:37.West Coast services. The stench was originally thought to have been
:48:37. > :48:45.caused by effluent tanks spilling over when the trains tilt. Virgin
:48:45. > :48:48.now thinks it's because they placed air conditioning vents too close to
:48:48. > :48:52.the toilet. The flaw will be corrected as part of an overhaul
:48:52. > :48:57.programme costing around 3. .5 million. Virgin, you shouldn't flush
:48:57. > :49:03.all that money away. Especially when standing in the station.
:49:03. > :49:07.Halifax Building Society shocked a mother this week when they insisted
:49:07. > :49:11.on talking in person to her six-month-old baby. Last Thursday,
:49:11. > :49:17.Jenny Nicholls rang the bank after a direct debit payment failed to make
:49:17. > :49:20.it into her son Harry's Kids Regular Saver account. When she made it to
:49:20. > :49:23.customer services, she was told the bank was only authorised to speak to
:49:23. > :49:28.the account holder, so she would have to put Harry on the line. Jenny
:49:28. > :49:32.explained that Harry was a baby and couldn't talk yet. Halifax insisted
:49:32. > :49:36.they could only deal with him. Halifax have now admitted they made
:49:36. > :49:40.a mistake. A spokesman said those accounts can't be managed over the
:49:40. > :49:47.phone and that should have been made clear straight away. Harry says in
:49:47. > :49:55.response: (Baby gurgles) vment one in five cars registered in 2010
:49:55. > :49:58.failed their first MoT. Price comparison site TootCompare
:49:58. > :50:04.discovered in total between January and August 253,000 vehicles failed
:50:04. > :50:08.the test due three years after purchase. The website was also able
:50:08. > :50:15.to identify the best and worst performers. Top of the list: The
:50:15. > :50:19.Toyota IQ with a 92% pass rate. Bad news for our friends across the
:50:19. > :50:31.channel. The poorest performers were all French. Two Citroens, the C4 and
:50:31. > :50:45.the bow Lynningo. -- Lolingo. And the Renault Kangoo was bottom. The
:50:45. > :50:51.cost to boy a new one up to £16,000. Not exactly va-va-voom.
:50:51. > :50:56.Time for a final round of tea and cake on the lawn with Jonathan Hill.
:50:57. > :51:03.He's the boss of Perfect Turf. In return for our 600 quid he's left
:51:03. > :51:06.us grass that's shonky and wonky. When we explained, try as we might,
:51:06. > :51:13.we couldn't track him down. Has he gone to ground? Westminster, it
:51:13. > :51:18.would appear -- well, it would appear so. Over the next two months
:51:18. > :51:23.we try to entice Mr Hill out on two separate occasions. Hi, I'm Gemma. I
:51:23. > :51:31.wonder if you can give me a call. Our attempts somewhat back fire.
:51:31. > :51:38.Rogue Traders, Matt frustrated take one. His van has broken down. Take
:51:38. > :51:46.two. He can't make it. Take three. He wants to reschedule. Take four.
:51:46. > :51:58.He doesn't call us back. And walk out.
:51:58. > :52:04.You know, you get the picture. Need turf now. Once my turf rage had
:52:04. > :52:07.subsided we hit the road to find Jonathan Hill, a difficult task when
:52:07. > :52:12.he seems to dislike answering his phone or returning our messages and
:52:12. > :52:16.when the address on his website is incomplete. As we rack up the miles,
:52:16. > :52:21.an evening turns all dusky and there's no sign of Perfect Turf. We
:52:21. > :52:25.start to wonder if we'll ever see Jonathan Hill again. It looks like
:52:25. > :52:28.the end of the road and back to studio.
:52:28. > :52:34.What? What? That's not how the show ends.
:52:34. > :52:39.No, stop, come on. We never give up. Three months on, and we get a break.
:52:39. > :52:44.We've booked a new job with Perfect Turf and we hope Jonathan Hill.
:52:44. > :52:50.We've gone back to basics, a jungle of a garden, another house with
:52:50. > :52:53.cameras and our homeowner Janice playing a gardener in distress.
:52:53. > :53:01.But as the team sits back to wait for Jonathan to arrive, it's clear
:53:01. > :53:06.once again, our plan has failed. Who's Jonathan? It's neither of
:53:06. > :53:10.them. It's not that guy. No it's not Jonathan who's turned
:53:11. > :53:17.up. He sent two colleagues instead. As we have no beef with these two
:53:17. > :53:22.bear huggers. Janice makes her excuses and cancels the job. I'm
:53:22. > :53:23.going to have to go now. Sorry. Curiously not long after his
:53:23. > :53:28.going to have to go now. Sorry. colleagues have left, we receive an
:53:28. > :53:32.e-mail from a rather suspicious Mr Hill. "Please can you tell me, who
:53:32. > :53:37.you are and who it is that's trying to catch up with me by insisting
:53:37. > :53:41.that I'm on a job that we carry out in person? No-one's made a formal
:53:41. > :53:46.approach to contact me, so I have no idea what this is regarding. Is
:53:46. > :53:50.there a telephone I can call you on. Kind regards, Jonathan." It seems
:53:50. > :53:54.like the chances of meeting are looking slim. We send our phone
:53:54. > :54:01.number. We can't play his voice. This is precisely what he says.
:54:01. > :54:08.Hello there. This is Jonathan Hill calling. You sent me your number.
:54:08. > :54:15.It's Matt from Rogue Traders. I've been better. Can you understand why
:54:15. > :54:20.we've been trying to get in touch with you? Erm...... Well, I think
:54:20. > :54:25.that's probably better people to try for. The experience we've had has
:54:25. > :54:32.been really negative. The work that you do, the turf that you provide is
:54:32. > :54:35.very, very poor. Can I tell you something that is 100% true, I bet
:54:35. > :54:38.you haven't had any complaints about our turf in the last four or five
:54:38. > :54:43.months because we've switched providers now. The turf that you
:54:43. > :54:46.provided for us on April 30th was appalling. You know, the preparation
:54:46. > :54:52.work you do on the ground is very poor. You don't rotavate properly.
:54:52. > :54:54.There are basic things that you're missing out.
:54:54. > :55:02.Jonathan all you have to do is remove the turf correctly, use a h
:55:02. > :55:06.eerbicide, don't tear it, only charge customers for fertiliser if
:55:06. > :55:09.you use it and answer the phone. We do have a lot of people that are
:55:09. > :55:15.happy as well. I have e-mails all the time that I can forward to you.
:55:15. > :55:18.People just can't believe how cheap we are compared to competitors.
:55:18. > :55:22.We're half the price. It's no good being cheap if the lawn is no good.
:55:22. > :55:26.You can't call yourself Perfect Turf if it's anything but perfect. If
:55:26. > :55:29.people pay for the extra services, removing the old lawn, not being
:55:29. > :55:33.turned over, they get the perfect lawn. That's not an extra service,
:55:33. > :55:38.that's a basic. That's like 101. You should call yourself like slightly
:55:38. > :55:41.bodged turf, or really not that good turf, but what do you expect for the
:55:41. > :55:44.bodged turf, or really not that good money. Do you want to come and meet
:55:44. > :55:50.us and talk this through? We can give you simple pointers about how
:55:50. > :55:54.to lay perfect turf. Right, OK. We do go around to people's jobs and
:55:54. > :55:59.people are upset about it. With turf, it tends to rectify itself a
:55:59. > :56:02.lot of the time as long as it's looked after properly. The main
:56:02. > :56:06.problem with it is that when people do complain, they can't get in touch
:56:06. > :56:10.with you. You came and did the job for us, it was a terrible job. I'm
:56:10. > :56:14.going to go now OK. OK. You're going to change your name,
:56:14. > :56:18.you're not going to call yourself Perfect Turf any more? I don't know,
:56:18. > :56:21.we offer the perfect service, different service, different people
:56:21. > :56:30.with different budgets. I'm going to go now, O'-Kay? -- OK? Jonathan
:56:30. > :56:33.Hill, hard to contact, until you tell him he's going to be on the
:56:33. > :56:37.telly and this is what you get. Eight different letters from his
:56:37. > :56:40.lawyers, presumably at great expense. Jonathan says he only
:56:40. > :56:44.receives a tiny percentage of customer complaints and these nearly
:56:44. > :56:50.always come from customers choosing the wrong turf or not carrying out
:56:50. > :56:53.proper after care. He says his firm never takes deposits up front and
:56:53. > :56:58.only takes payments when customers are satisfied with the work. He
:56:58. > :57:02.admits when we secretly filmed him it was his busiest period and the
:57:02. > :57:06.company was overstretched. Great news, he's now expanded the business
:57:07. > :57:11.to accommodate all that popular demand. However, for now, he becomes
:57:12. > :57:15.the latest face on our rogue's gallery.
:57:15. > :57:19.Last week we said the bosses of the big six energy companies were
:57:19. > :57:23.reportedly eligible for discounted bills. British Gas and Scottish
:57:23. > :57:28.Power wrote in to say their staff don't get money off.
:57:28. > :57:31.Labour leader Ed Miliband tonight said the energy companies are
:57:31. > :57:35.profiteering, the lights won't go out. He invited us to hold him to
:57:35. > :57:40.account if he becomes Prime Minister. Keep letting us know what
:57:40. > :57:46.you think of all that and send us your stories and tip-offs. Geep to
:57:46. > :57:52.the website -- go to the website, click where it says "your story".
:57:52. > :57:54.Energy Secretary Ed Davey is coming on later in the series. See you
:57:54. > :57:59.then. Coming up next week, Halfords
:57:59. > :58:03.autocentres, it are you getting the service you expect? Sports direct
:58:03. > :58:07.think you've had a free gift, check your invoice. Plus the energy
:58:07. > :58:12.companies, I'll put your questions to E.on. That's all on Watchdog next
:58:13. > :58:19.Wednesday at 8pm. Until then, from you after us -- of us -- from all of
:58:19. > :58:22.us, good night.