Episode 6 Watchdog

NatWest,ed Lloyds, and all the other major banks - another mis-selling

scandal. Switching energy suppliers - live tonight. How can we save

these four Football Focus viewers? Portion sizes at supermarkets, and

O2 doubles the charges for Directory Inquiries. It's Football Focus, the

programme you can't afford to miss. Good evening, and welcome to

Watchdog. We're live at usual for the next 60 minutes. Tonight: banks

at it again with the mis-selling of package deals. Here's the ombudsman.

We have to get over this culture in banking where people are sold

products they didn't need and couldn't use. We need banking to

clean up its act. SSE claims price rises are here to stay. In the next

hour, we will investigate if switching suppliers can make a

difference to these viewers. Plus, the railways: First Capital

Connect, Southern, why do you need a maths degree to work out the cost of

a journey. Supermarket food portion sizes are getting out of control

warns the British Heart Foundation. If you're a grandma or grand pass,

you might want to look away because you won't like what you're about to

see. Yes, we fire up our hidden cameras and go under cover to Inter

Defence Security Ltd in Manchester. He's going to sound horrible but the

best thing to do is to scare the old people. They're a delightful bunch

of people as you can see. Prepare to be alarmed and a little while.

First, the banks. After PPI, another scandal, this time, package accounts

where, for a monthly fee, the banks throw in a host of added extras. The

Watchdog investigation shows some customers are not aware they have

one of these accounts. So far, the financial ombudsman has found a case

of mis-selling in 75 per cent of the complaints received.

It used to be that choosing a bank account was simple: you just picked

the one with the best interest rates. But nowadays, thanks to the

package bank account, there's a lot more to think about. Agree to pay a

monthly fee, anything from ?5 to ?25 and your bank will give you a host

of special treats. So, for example, in exchange for ?10 a month, one

bank will give me a flexible overdraft, plus travel insurance,

mobile phone insurance, and even a subscription to a film rental

service. The benefits change from account to

account, but, on paper, if you can afford the payments, some of these

packages can look very attractive. But be warned: appearances can be

dereceiving. It is thought as many as one in five package bank accounts

may have been mis-sold, with many of the optional extras failing to

deliver what was promised. The financial Financial Ombudsman

Service says they're receiving more than 70 new cases every week, and

numbers are expected to keep going up. They're so concerned about these

rising numbers, that they've agreed to talk to us. This is Natalie

Seeny. The ombudsman service has been concerned about them for some

time for a range of reasons. The regulator, the FCA, took action this

year to require all banks to tell customers what they're buying. I

think a lot of customers are now looking at what they are buying and

saying, "Have I been paying for this for the last five or six years?" As

a result, a lot of people are coming to complain saying I don't think

this is what I should have been buying. One of the main areas of

complaint are the insurance policies that come with the packaged

accounts. A lot of the insurance cover may not

be as generous as if you bought that policy on its own. Most customers

don't understand that. You look at the title and think you know what

policy covers. Rebecca James upgraded to a silver

account with Lloyds TSB specifically because it offered insurance for her

mobile phone. For ?8 a month, she thought she would be covered no

matter what happened. When her mobile was stolen, she realised she

was wrong. I had a letter back from the bank saying they had rejected my

claim. The reasons for rejecting the claim was that my phone had been

stolen from a place where people other than my immediate family had

access. The insurer pointed to a clause

buried deep in her terms and conditions that made clear she

wouldn't be covered in these circumstances.

But the existence of such clauses wasn't made clear to her when she

was sold I insurance by Lloyds, and it was only after she disputed this

that she got her pay-out. I do feel that banks such as Lloyds do have a

duty to explain to people explicitly what they are not covered for. The

ombudsman agrees. There is an obligation on the banks when selling

package bank accounts to just explain what the cover is because

there may be limitations in the small print, and it actually the

obligation of the banks to make sure those customers understand those

limitations. Noting able to claim for a stolen mobile phone thing

thing; noting able to claim when your health depends on it is another

another entirely, because it seems serious errors are being made when

banks sign up customers to packages with travel insurance. The ombudsman

has seen many such cases. In one, a man with a serious liver condition

bought his account specifically because he told he would be covered

for travel insurance. It was only when his consultant recommended he

check his policy that he discovered not only was he not covered, he

hadn't been for a very long time. He went back and checked. Sure enough,

the bank said, "Oh, no, our policy never covers liver conditions." Yet

the bank gave us no no evidence when we investigated this complaint that

they had ever asked him to declare previous medical conditions so he

had not been insured for eight years for all his holidays, and he had

been looking for a product that covered him. In that case, of

course, we found in the consumer's favour. The cases the ombudsman are

receiving is not just about the mis-selling of additional extras.

Some people say their banks have signed them up for premium package

accounts without even telling them. Take David Barnes: he only realised

he had one last July when he noticed NatWest had taken ?12.95 from his

account. He had no idea they had done the same thing every single

month for the pr seven seven years. I have no no idea what it was for. I

thought perhaps somebody got into my computer and I looked into it.

Actually, it was the bank. When I phoned them, I was astounded when

they told me this has happened since 2005, and it was for upgrading my

current account. When he complained, NatWest refused his claim. They said

he must have been made aware his account had been upgraded, so he

took his base to the ombudsman. After one year, they won the case,

got all the money back that I had calculated plus interest -- I won

the case, and that was ?1 -400. We've found a number of cases where

consumers didn't realise they had a package bank account sometimes

because it was added to their account, and, in many cases,

actually, these charges weren't described very accurately, so you

might have had a statement with y, so you might have had a statement

with the word "charge". You might assume that's an overdraft charge

but it might be your package charge. The financial ombudsman is now

settling and favour of the customer in more than 70 per cent of cases.

With so many other potential victims out there, we could be on the verge

of yet another major scandal for the banks. For some customers, they're

quite a good idea because, for a fee, you get a whole range of things

that actually might have cost you more than if you'd gone around and

shopped around, but the fact we are finding that three-quarters of

consumer cases we look at actually there was a problem suggests that

something went quite wrong on package bank accounts, and we have

to get over this culture in banking where people can be sold products

that they didn't need and couldn't use, and we really do need banking

to clean up its act. Joining me is the chief executive of the British

bankers' socialliation -- Association, Anthony Browne. Good

evening. When are the banks going to learn to behave themselveses? The

banks have learned the lesson from PPI. It was a very expensive

mistake. What they've done is put in a whole load of new rules and

processes making sure that mis-selling doesn't happen any more.

They have to make sure from April this year, when customers buy

packaged accounts they know what the cover is, it's appropriate for them,

they know whether they're going to be paying for it or not. All the

main banks will will make sure the customers know there are free

alternative, and people should know when there is a free alternative

available. You say they've learned, but, actually, the figure we gave in

the film was the ombudsman had ruled in 75 per cent in favour of the

customer and ruled that there was mis-selling. The latest figure that

came out yesterday 82 per cent of the complaints received from

customers the ombudsman ruled mis-selling. Forgive me, but it

doesn't seem as if anyone has learned anything. These complaints

were before the new rules came in, but the point is there is no - M

Browne - There is no excuse for mis-selling and the banks know that.

If people suffer loss as a result of mis-selling, they should get

redress. If anyone is concerned they've been mis-sold package bank

accounts, if they're concerned about the cover they're getting that's not

appropriate for them, if they think they are being charged money they

should be charged, then they should go to their banks and get absolute

clarity. They should switch. Why has it taken a ruling to come in for the

banks to behave correctly? The banks have actually proactively worked

with the regulators to bring this these new rulings that, as I say,

came in this April, which means that the banks have to make absolutely

clear to the customers they are getting. Why you so anxious to sell

these policies? Why were they so anxious to sell the packages? Was

there an incentive? It is part of the - Was there an incentive for the

staff N- absolutely, one of the problems in the industry which

relates not just to this but elsewhere is staff were given sales

bonuses where they were encouraged to sell more to different people,

sometimes inappropriately, so what the banks have done because of the

dangers of mis-selling there, is to strip out those sales bonuses which

they've done throughout the retail banking sector now. What the front

line staff are paid for, the ones you meet, is to improve customer

service rather than sell new things. PPI, billions have had to be paid

out, there could be millions paid out again with these packages, if

they've been mis-sold. You can't have any idea how large the problem

is. We're looking at the beginning, the publicity that is coming will

surely encourage more and more people to look at what they've been

paying and see whether they've been mis-sold? I think the scale of this

is far less than PPI. Certainly, in terms of the number of customers, it

is smaller. The amounts of money for each customer is smaller, so

although for each individual customer any mis-selling is wrong

and they have a right to be angry about it and have a right to get

redress if they've lost out as a result of it, but it is not on the

scale of PPI. The financial ombudsman who you had on earlier,

only a tiny fraction of their complaints are about package bank

accounts. Not good for the reputation of banks. Anthony Browne,

thank you. Lloyds would like to apologise to Ms

James of the inconvenience caused. It overturned its decision as soon

as more details were provided. It makes no comment on the general

subject of mis-selling. NatWest apologised to Mr Barnes for

failing to meet his needs. It's now refunded and comment compensated him

for the fees and inconvenience. Over the past five years, it's written to

all packable bank account customers and encouraging them to review the

account to make sure it meets their needs, and approach customers at the

age of 70 reminding them they will need to be called for medical

screening to be eligible for travel insurance.

To get in touch with us: Coming up: we put your questions to

energy giant SSE. It claims it had no choice but to bills by eight 8.2

per cent. On tonight's rowing traders -- rogue

traders, we're talking about salesmen.

But there is still a tiny minority much salesmen out there that just

don't get it. Rather than accurately describe what they're selling and

then tell you the price, they are determined to tell you lies and go

for gold. When When I say "tiny minority", I mean about this big.

We're carrying out a little experiment. In this this maze, we

have a pair of mice who are given a regular allowance of cheese - a

wage, if you like. They're alsoing closely monitored by this cat.

As a result, they're happy, and they're very well behaved.

, in this identical maze, the mice receive their cheese as a percentage

commission of whatever they sell. Look: there is no-one there to

supervise their activities. So how do they behave? Well, before

too long, they're telling outlandish lies to sell more cheese and there

by ea more and more cash. It's approved by Her Majesty the Queen.

They're pressuring people to buy the cheese. You need this product - now!

No, we're not really talking about mice or cheese here. We're talking

about people and money. When the market they're selling to includes

some of the more vulnerable members of society, it seems the temptation

to misbehave can be overwhelming. Take Manchester based Group one

Security Ltd, trading name of G Solutions Ltd and not to be confused

by countries of another name. It is run by John Rigby and Ana

Gunasekera. They sell alarms which, when activated, are connected to a

receiving centre and in turn contact the emergency services if required.

They use cold-calling to find their customers. That's how, last

September, their salesmen wound up in the home of these tly lovely

ladies, Phyllis and Rita. I won't disclose their ages, but if you add

them together and subtract them from 200, you're left with six.

I've come to meet Phyllis's granddaughter.

Tell me exactly how you found out that something was up? I received a

letter and a phone call from my grandmother asking for my help.

She'd been visited by two gentlemen from a company called Group One

Security that arrived at the house and then proceeded to try to sell

her an alarm system. But here's the thing: look, Phyllis

already had a fully functioning alarm system from another company.

That didn't put them off, though. Oh, no. They then told her that

company had gone out of business, and therefore her alarm system was

in effect useless. Despite both of these claiming lies, the salesman

managed to convince Phyllis to shell out ?3 - 250 for a new alarm which

was then installed right next to the perfectly good still functioning old

one. Why do you think your grandma went

for this? They're of the generation where they absolutely trust people.

They've been brought up to believe that when people tell them things

that that is the truth. She has since tried and failed to get any of

her grandmother's money back. There is at that stage that is done after

things like this. Their trust has been shaken. It makes them wary

about going to the door or answering calls. Disgraceful. But quite a neat

trick. I mean, selling a monitored alarm system to somebody who already

has a monitored alarm system. I wonder how they managed it. How

convenient: a phone call from a company insider willing to spill the

beans on their sales practices. Yes, we've been tipped off. I am

going to meet a mysterious figure who says he has some inside

information about Group One Security.

Moody! Hey? How did he... . HM hmm. There

was so much I wanted to ask him. Maybe next time. Anyway, he has

given us access to the training manual provided to all staff when

they join the company, here in black and white is how all staff are

instructed to sell their products. It is vital that you lower the tone

of your voice as if you were hypnotising the client. Eye contact

is important too. Is it working yet? Bit over the top.

Anyway, other tips? Be subtle and do not push the point as they will feel

pressurised. No, because you wouldn't want that,

would you? Anything else? You explain to the client why we want a

decision on the day. Yes, you see, that sounds like

pressure to me. But, unfortunately, we don't get the chance to put our

Schneider info to the test because we soon learn that Group one

Security Ltd has gone into liquidation. However, all is not

lost, because the same directors John Rigby, Ana Gunasekera, and a

third man who used to work at Group One Security, Nima Rastegar, have

set up another company selli monitoring alarm systems called

Inter Defence Security as many as based in Manchester. Is this perhaps

a chance to start again with a clean sheet and a new improved ethical

stance on selling, or are they just using the same pressure selling

techniques under a new name? There is only way to find out. We send

team member Beckie into the Inter Defence call centre.

Straightaway, she's given a script to use when symphony cold-calls

customers. It is immediately clear what the Inter Defence tactic is:

pretend that wherever the customer lives is an absolute hotbed of

crime. It's a call in relation to the campaign launched in the area

this week due to recent burglaries. If only we could find a way for me

to look at that script. You again! See you back in the

office. He's new, you see. They call See you back in the office. He's

new, you see. They call themselves "crime awareness advisers". They're

saying crime levels are rivalling. 30 burglaries in the six-month

period. You may have read about it in the local paper.

Really? Well, no, not really, because they're trained to say these

types of things on every call, no matter where the person they're

speaking to lives. I don't know about you, but my

monitored alarm bells are already ringing. Join us for a festival of

fibs in 15. Next our energy price campaign:

three of the big six have put their prices up in the last fortnight -

SSE by eight. 8.2 per cent, British Gas by 9.2 per cent, and Npower

topped the lot with 10.4 per cent. The other three have yet to make

their move. The government has suggested wearing another jumper or

switching suppliers. Yesterday, former Conservative Party John Major

weighed in. There are many people this winter who are having to choose

between keeping warm and eating. I don't think that is acceptable. We

look at switching and a minute. First, Chris, put your questions to

SSE's managing director of retail, Will Morris.

Why have you put your prices up 8.2 per cent. Elements go up and that's

out of our control. The cost of supplying the energy itself on the

wholesale market, the costs of actually transporting energy into

people's homes, and then most significantly, the bit that's gone

up the most proportionately are these government schemes have gone

up by 15 per cent. If we break down these costs, you talk about

government levies and the taxes, they're a small proportion of that

bill. They account for ten per cent of the bill. We can take ?110 off

customer's bills tomorrow if the levies weren't there. It is the

government's fault? The reality of our system the way we manage energy.

Clearly, we play a part in that. I think what we need to do is have an

honest debate around energy. The reality is the cost are going to go

up. We've got ageing infrastructure. The government rightly is trying to

replace that. That has a cost to it. Finally, we've taken this

aspiration, almost to be first of the pack to become greener than

anybody else. That is fine, but we can't magic that green revolution.

We're not in Disneyland. We can't wave a magic wand and pay for it

all. Our contention is it's not the right way to stick it straight

across everybody's bill irrespective of whether we can pay for it. How

can the big s justify their own wages which are in millions of

pounds while charge extra amounts of money to those people that are in

fuel poverty? I think about 6.3 million in bonuses to executive

directors of this company, t CEO ?600,000 in bonuses. All I can tell

you in the FTSE-250, the top companies in the UK, we're not lower

tranche, the lower third of that, so the salaries are by any comparison

good salaries, but they're an awful lot lower of equivalent sized

companies across our country. You're not as he'd Miliband said on our Ed

Miliband said profiteering? T. I am not. I am disappointed by that

stance he has made. We take about a five per cent margin which is less

than supermarkets and a lot less than mobile phone companies. How

much of those profits is being reinvested for the future. We invest

?4 million a day as a group which is slightly more than our group profit

was last year, so the simple answer is the vast majority. Unless we

actually replace the infrastructure, unless we develop the capacity to

actually produce energy in a more efficient way in the future, we're

never going to get to the place where we all want to aspire to be

which is a much more, because of carbon efficient lower cost cost

energy offering. Here is a question from one of our viewers, "Has

privatisation of household energy supply helped the customer?" Great

question. We have seen a number of positives as a consequence of

privatisation. Until in the last few years, we actually saw prices

falling for the early 200s, and it is only latterly that they've gone

up again. I think in terms of competition, that having that many

different suppliers has led to I think a lot more innovation and many

improvements, but it's fair to say that privatisation hasn't delivered,

and it should have done by now, delivered that feeling of confidence

and trust. Is there enough choice do you think or are you all roughly - I

know you're not in cahoots - but you're going to roughly offer the

same thing. I think there's certainly a bigger choice than we

referred to the big six. There are 20 different suppliers out there.

There is still a range of tariffs, a choice of different products and

services you can choose. You put your prices up. Would you choose

your company if you had to choose a bill? Most customers are pretty

smart and they know that all we've talked about, the reasons the prices

have gone up on the same pressure as the other companies, and as the

media reported, it is likely that other people will be raising prices.

Why do you put of your prices in the winter when the demand is at its

peak. Vulnerable people really do suffer. The simple answer to that is

we try and put off any price increase at the last possible

moment. Yes, we could have put an increase in earlier, but that would

have had a worse effect in a sense because we would have been paying

for it earlier. I've got an emotional question to ask. This

parent is barely able to afford the cost. We have to limit how often the

heating came on. Unfortunately, this resulted in our 11-month-old babying

hospitalised for one week after developing a chest infection. Does

the owner of your company, your CEO, struggle to keep his babies warm

too? I think the sounds to me in that particular example that that

person should be qualifying for a number of benefits, including the

warm home discount, and probably eco schemes and everything else, and if

they're one of our customers, please call us, and we will do our utmost

to help them. We have our own fund of about with four million we put

together as we go through the winter to help customers who are struggling

to pay their bills. The other thing we do, however bad someone's

situation gets, we don't cut anybody off at all throughout the six months

of the centre. Plenty of blaming laid at the

government's door there. We will get its response next week when energy

secretary Ed Davey joins us in the studio. As price rises continue,

should we follow the Prime Minister's advice and shop around to

get a better energy deal in with me is Tom Lion from uSwitch.

The number of people incidentally switching from this site has gone up

in the last fortnight by a staggering 600 per cent.

Tom, is switching worthwhile? Simply it can save you lots of money and

protect you from the price rises that we're seeing at the moment.

Should you not wait until the six energy companies have all put up

there. No, it's a common misconception. The three that

haven't are offering you competitive deals that will allow you to fix

your prices for anything up to four years in the future. When they

announce a price rise, I guarantee that he will be removing a lot of

those deals. It is a case of getting them now, this hour, this day. The

fixed rate, are they mostly going to be lower, then, than the current

rate or higher? If you get them now, actually, the tariffs that are

offering you fixed rate for years into the future are mpetitively

competitively price as any variable rates. Is it difficult to switch? It

is easy. It tak five minutes on a price comparison site like ours to

get a comparison of the whole market, five minutes more to give

your details and switch, and then everything is managed for you. How

do you make your money? We get a small commission when you switch but

we are regulated by Ofgem, meaning that has absolutely no impact on the

service we provide to you. So it is an unbiased opinion? Completely,

completely. You stick to the rules? Absolutely. If we didn't, no-one

would use us. Hundreds of thousands of people use us. Enough

advertising! How much can a typical consumer expect to save? Over to

Chris. We have gotfour Watchdog viewers

with us tonight. We will see whether switching is right for them and how

much money could they save. First up is Jenny. She is an SSE customer.

She lives with her son in her three-bed semi in Derby.

Next Thanks for joining us. Jenny, are

you worried about the bill? I am very worried. Why is that? My supply

has told me they're taking me off the online tariff I've been on since

I joined them and putting me on their standard tariff as well as

increasing the price of that by nine per cent. Amie-Jo, have you ever

switched? Never switched before, no. Why not? Because the kilowatt jargon

confuses me. I think you're not alone. Pam and Godfrey? Have you

switched before? We have. We switched three times in the past. It

worked? It has worked for a short time, but recently utility bills

have been going up relentlessly, and they have become a real worry. I can

see, Pam, you're worried? Very. Hopefully, Tom will sort it all out.

That is Big Tom there. All have different circumstances. It is over

to you. We will find out later if switching is the best option.

Still to come: some supermarket portions have doubled in the last 20

years. Do we realise we'ring super Do we realise we'ring super sized?

-- we are being super sized. We know that alarms company Group

One Security Ltd of Manchester are history but after they ceased

trading, the main players start Inter Defence Security Ltd, not to

be confused with companies of a similar name. Group One security Ltd

got a reputation for using dodgy sales techniques and even lying to

their customers. Will their next company be any different? Team

America Beckie is under cover in the call centre of Inter Defence

Security. The script she's given to use pretends that crime rates are

high in the area she's hoping to sell. The reason they do that? Step

forward, Dave. It's going to sound horrible.

Yes, that does sound horrible. Your mother must be of so proud, not

to mention your grandmother. We know what happens in the call centre, but

are these same scare tactics used when the salesmen get face face with

potential customers in their homes? We should find out. With not one but

two houses. And two old people, or at least two

people who act old occasionally. No, look, I said act old. What are

you doing? Right on time for this heavy weight

bout from Inter Defence Security Ltd comes the salesman - sorry, hold on,

salesman - sorry, hold on, I mean "risk assessment advisers". In one

corner, we have David; in the other, we have Doug, and refereeing them

tonight is security expert Terry Hack. It is round one.

Doug wastes no time telling us about criminals running loose in our area.

In case you're wondering, it's all nonsense. A lot of it now is done by

the eastern bloc countries and organised crime gangs are very good

at what they do. The salesman is using scare tactics. This is utter

nonsense. It just doesn't happen. They're doing trafficking, drugs,

they are doing into everything. Yes, they're all at it, the Poles, the

Albanians, Slovenians, Bulgarians - the entire eastern bloc. But they

will go and rob any house, and come along here, six to eight weeks, they

will monitor the week. That long? Oh, yes. Oh, no! They're in the

trees? Look, I can see he has new Freeview box! Yes. Meanwhile, in

house number two, David puts his own unique spin on scaremongering.

Local crime rates are monitored on the government website police. Uk.

According to our man David, you can't trust it. One of our guys

three years ago, he was one of the guys who was putting the figures on

to the site. His Superintendent was saying to him take 30 per cent off,

so they're cooking the books even there. He's making a very serious

allegation. You mean the police are cooking the books? Yes. Really? Yes.

I am afraid so. Absolutely disgraceful claiming that a police

force has been distorting the figures deliberately. Burglary has

dropped year on year recently. So not the great start. They

softened us up with organised crime gangs and police corruption. Into

round two. David tells us that their alarm systems have been awarded a

gold certificate. Now, I only managed a bronzed at swimming when I

was a kid. I've still got the badge on my trunks, so gold must be a big

deal. NSI, gold certificate. That is like the highest commendation you

can have. In case you were wondering, the NSI is the National

Security Inspectorate. They've assured us that this company doesn't

have any such recognition. Yes, that's a lie, then. Unlike my

swimming badge. There is good news, though. We're told there is a

promotion on. The alarm system is free, and we only pay for the

monitoring. However, there's a catch. See if you can guess what it

is. I can't hold this system for you. We only have so many to give

away in an area. The only way I can hold it for you is if you do the

contracts. It is misleading to claim that the systems are free for a

limited time only when they're not. It's against the law, fell has.

Final round, and it is now getting serious. Will it be a knockout or a

points decision? We're going to hear the price? Wow! Was that a good wow

or a bad wow? It is definitely a bad wow. A 12-year contract will cost us

around 5,500 but only if we sign today, which we won't.

David's on the ropes, but he's not giving up. I can try and get some

discount for you, say 4,50. I don't know until I've worked it out.

That's it, it's all over. Gum shields out, everyone. Doug, Dave?

Behave! Frightening the elderly to sell alarms. Well, here's the news,

Dave, Doug, and everyone else working at Inter Defence Security

Ltd: as you're about to find out, pensioners can be pretty

frightening. See what I mean! We've got an

appointment at the company HQ. Join us shortly.

Time to check back in with our energy switchers. How are we getting

on? Let's start with Jenny. If you remember, Tom, she was worried about

her energy bills going up. What have you found out? Jenny is with SSE,

and they've already announced a price rise. That probably means

unless you do something, your bills are going to go up by about ?130, so

we want to find a way of protecting you from that. Amie-Jo had a tough

time last year that your boy ended up in pneumonia. Yes. We would love

to get it right this year. What have you found out about Amie-Jo? She's

on atism tariff at the moment but that's running out in two months'

time. At that point she will probably be rolled on to E.ON's

standard tariff, and it is pretty likely E.ON are going to announce an

increase to that standard tariff in the next couple of weeks, so you

could be hit by a double whammy and we don't really want that. Pam and

Godfrey, your bill went up ?500 last year. That's correct. They don't

want to to happen to them again. What have you found out? You guys

are on standard tariffs, and that is a pretty good way to spend a lot of

money. You might as well just burn tenners to keep warm. So I think we

can do something about that. Thank you. It all looks promising, doesn't

it? It does. Keep your fingers crossed. Back to you, Annie. Before

the end of the show, Tom is going to do his sums to see how much he can

save our viewers. Next, remain ways: we already have

the most expensive train fares in Europe, but more price rises have

been announced for after Christmas. What are we getting for all that

money? Not enough, says Rick Wakeman, and that is presumably you

can work out the best ticket to buy. There was a time when train travel

Windsor Castle Gantt, sophisticated, exciting.

The obvious choice for a gent of my stature.

Not any more. The closest thing you are get to that these days is on one

of these heritage railways. Nowadays, rail travel is something

to endure, not enjoy. This isn't real smoke, it is a smoke machine.

Look at tickets: price rises have been outstripping inflation for over

a decade, and in January, they're going up again by another 4.1 per

cent. We're already the most expensive in Europe. Buy a season

ticket between Woking and London today, a journey of just over 30

miles, and it will cost you almost ?2 - 900.

My first house didn't cost much more than that.

So it goes without saying that we're all on the lookout for the cheapest

fares. Want to buy from the machines? The station? Why bother?

Do it on your phone, and you often get a better deal e going from

London to Birmingham, book at the machines at the station, and it will

cost you ?48. Book it on your smart phone while standing next to the

machine, and they will show you an option to get you there for ?21

less. If you've decided the internet is the best way to buy, you need to

be careful, because use your laptop to book on thetrainline.com instead

of your phone, and they will charge you 50 p more. What was wrong with

buying a simple ticket for a fixed price at the station?

Today's pricing structure routinely leaves passengers baffled.

If I want to go to Liverpool, why is it cheaper for me to buy a ticket

from London Euston to Milton Keynes, and then another from Milton Keynes

to Liverpool Lime Street than it is for me to buy a direct ticket from

London to Liverpool when I would be travelling on exactly the same route

at exactly the same time? Lunacy. Here is another one: if you

want to get from London Victoria to Gatwick Airport, you've got two

options: the Southern service or the Gatwick Express. They use the same

line. They're run by the same company, yet the Express option is

more expensive because it is supposed to be faster. See? Well,

how come at certain times for your extra ?7. 7.70, you only end up

getting there a minute faster? I've got a better idea. Leave home a

minute earlier and save ?8. If you're a regular traveller, don't

expect preferential treatment in return for your loyalty. Imagine how

you would feel if you discovered your train operator, let's say First

Capital Connect, had been overcharging you hundreds of pounds

a year. I live in St Alban's, I travel into central London, and I

found out that a season ticket from Watford North, which is a longer

journey but can be used via St Alban's is ?700 a year cheaper than

buying a season ticket from St Alban's into London. Did anyone from

First Capital Connect suggest this was possible? Of course not. So when

he found out, Andrew sued them and got his money back. How can you find

out about these loopholes? By reading this - the national routing

guide. It is what ticket inspectors carry to work out to work out which

tickets are valid on which routes. A good read for any longer journey.

You can find it online. It is so straightforward it only needs a

separate 20 pages of instructions on how to use it.

How to use it. "There is no routing point common to

thereon and Huddersfield. They are both routing points. This is

unnecessary to discover if the routing points are appropriate

because both are routing points and there is no choice."

It's a wonder anyone gets anywhere at all.

Oh, we've arrived. And on time. Something of a novelty in this day

and age. As many as one in five of all trains

in this country don't arrive on time. If you're delayed by more than

half an hour, most train operators will refund half the cost of the

ticket, but that doesn't mean you'll get your money back. Oh, no. Your

refund will be in the form of vouchers you can spend on more train

tickets! In stations, not online, so you

won't get the best prices. Oh, and you won't get any change.

Brilliant. But railway companies will be perfectly reasonable if you

need to change your plans, won't they? No, they won't, as it happens.

If you ask for a refund for a ticket you no longer need, all but two of

the UK's railways will charge you a tenner. Even if your ticket cost way

less than ?10 to start with. Charming.

Rail travel in the good old days was better in every aspect.

Mr Wakeman, we need to discuss payment for your trip. I thought the

BBC were organising all of that. I don't think so, Sir. I don't think

so. On second thoughts, not everything

was better back then. Now, a few responses to get through.

ATOC, the Association of Train Operating Companies say the maximum

number ?10 fee for changing a ticket covers admin costs. Capital Connect

says Mr Myers should not have been sold the cheapest ticket. Because he

found this unconventional route he was sold the ticket but it won't be

available to anyone else in the future. It stresses no-one has been

overcharged from St Alban's City Station. Southern Remain ways say

the Gatwick Express is good value because tickets are valid on any

service on that line. The cheaper ?10 on the route can only be used on

the specific train stated on the ticket. The thetrainline.com confirm

it charges a ?1.50 booking fee but only charge ?1 because most people

use their mobiles to book shorter journeys and it wants to reflect

that in the fee. Sounds like a handy loophole to me.

Annie? Keep sending us your stories. In the

meantime, here are a few more. Heard the one about the man with the

fly in his dinner? David will come from Waltham Abbey wrote to us this

week after he found a dead fly in Smedley's Marrowfat Peas. But what

horrified him wasn't so much the presence of the fly but the reaction

he got when he complained. Althou manufacturers Prince's express

concern, it assured him although repugnant to see the presence of an

insect and canned food would have no harmful effect as everything in the

can is rendered sterile after the manufacturing process. Smedley's

Marrowfat Peas - you want flies with that!

Supermarket food portions have become super sized and out of

control causing potential health hazards says a new report by the

British Heart Foundation. Have you noticed it? It took 245 products

from Sainsbury's, Tesco, Asda, and Morrisons and worked out how much

portions have increased over the last 20 years. Ready meals have

grown significantly, some Shepherd pies have doubled from the 210 grams

in 1993 to 400 grams today. Chicken Currys are now on average 53 per

cent larger, piece Das often twice the -- pizzas twice the size.

The British Heart Foundation warns that upsizing is contributing to

heart disease and obesity. The supermarket's response: if you make

the portions too small, people would just buy two.

Ofcom are to launch a review into directory inquiry charges as two

major mobile networks announce they're raising the cost of calling

118 numbers. From next month, the price of phoning these premium-rate

lines on Vodafone will rise from ?3 a minute to ?3. 3.25 O2 customers

are facing a higher increase from ?3 to ?5. Both networks argue they

offer their own cheaper alternatives but Ofcom will rule all providers in

future will have to be open about charges and provide customers with

an itemised breakdown of the cost of a call. Surely, it is cheaper to

look up a number on the internet for free or even use one of these.

Back to Inter Defence Security Ltd of Manchester now. We've seen their

staff cold-calling the elderly to scare them into taking a sales

visit. Then, during that visit, lying to them in their own front

rooms. Those are the worker mice. What about the big cheese?

Undercover mole Beckie has managed to get they're colleagues at Inter

Defence Security Ltd to come clean about the way they sell alarm

systems. Remember what Dave had to tell her: .

He wasn't the only one who wanted to open up.

So what motivates all this lying to and scaring of the elderly? I know

it's horrible but it's making me money at the end of the day. No

surprise there. Inter Defence are all about making money at the

expense of the elderly, but don't just take Dave's word for it. Here

is the big boss, Nima Rastegar. You've got to think yourself, "Why

am I here?" So they're in it for the money, not

the love. Well, we're in it for the love of our grandparents and our

mums and dads who need protecting from people like them. We're going

to go and see them, but we're not going alone.

In 2001, a crack unit of elderly actors was formed to help catch

rogue traders. For 12 years now, they've

represented the older generation. If you have a problem, if no-one else

can help, and if you can find them, they're probably at Budgens, maybe

you can hire Task Force Silver! Let's go!

We've come to their call centre to remind staff that OAPs won't be

pushed around. Game faces, go! ! Val, Liz, Robert. That is what you

call a thousand-yard stare. Let's go.

Usually what happens is we get a few faces at the window. But they don't

seem too keen to chat to the type of person some would happily lie to.

It's funny that, so we decide to leave them a message.

Hello, there. We're here to see Inter Defence. We've got some

leaflets to give them. Could you take the leaflets for us? Can I run

you through what they say? It, "Hello, a message from silver

citizens. Please don't like to or try to scare us. We are someone's

mums, dads - we could be evil yours." Let's give them a couple and

- that's probably enough. No problem. Thanks. Then it went quiet.

A bit too quiet. Where have they gone? Can you see

anything? They've all run away. Because we are naturally a caring

bunch, we were concerned. The thing that really worries me is that we

know this is the time they usually come out for their lunch.

Good sandwich. You know it's just the right time. I was starting to

get peckish. The problem is of course that the people in there,

Inter Defence staff, they're on the end of the phone, they never come

into contact with the people they're dealing with. It is easy to forget

who it is. That's why this. With the people they're dealing

with. It is easy to forget who it is. That's why this.

# Grandma, we love you. Grandma, we do.

I am so angry with these people. They try to treat us like dirt. They

think that when you get to a certain age, you don't have a brain. This is

the trouble. They think we're stupid, and we're not.

# And she's a friend to me. It turns out, in fact, it wasn't the East

European criminal gangs we needed to be scared of, it was old people like

yourselves. You turned up, they ran away. I am only 6'6"!

Unfortunately, we can't stay here for a fortnight and keep staff of

Inter Defence confined to their stationary cupboard, we have to go.

You can't sell alarms by scaring old people and lying to them and expect

to get away with it forever. I will give them another five

minutes. Directors of Inter Defence Security

Ltd all blame each other for what we've just seen. John Rigby and Ana

Gunasekera say they stepped down as directors before we secretly filmed.

As a result, it was all the fault of their former partner, Nima Rastegar.

Nima Rastegar says although mistakes do happen his staff were trained to

the highest standard and he claimed the salesmen you saw lying to and

trying to scare our elderly actors uphold the highest levels of

professionalism. He said all bad publicity arou the company was

caused by Rigby and begun begun. Inter Defence Security Ltd have now

ceased trading! But, we know Nima Rastegar has already set up another

alarms company, and we wouldn't be surprised if the other two did the

same. So, if you come across any of the

three selling anything, let us know. One final reminder: here they all

are, pride of place in the rogues' gallery. We're nearly at the end of

the show. Time to find out how much switching energy suppliers could

save our four viewers. Tom, deliver the good news. First of

all, hopefully to Jenny, SSE customer. So, Jenny, we could save

you ?180 on a variable tariff. We want to save you ?155 a year on a

ScottishPower tariff that will fix your energy rates until March 2015,

so you save some money, you fix your rates, you avoid that nasty price

rise. Thank you. What about this one, Amie-Jo? OK. So, on the same

ScottishPower tariff, we could save you ?161 a year and fix your rates

to 2015 if you're prepared to pay by direct debit. If you really don't

want to, you could still save ?45 a year on a tariff with EDF, fixed

also until 2015, and that means that you save a bit of money, but more

importantly, it means that you shield yourself from that double

whammy of price hikes you're about to get when your tariff comes to an

end. That's brilliant. Pam and Godfrey there? OK, guys. Again, that

ScottishPower tariff is coming up. You could save ?161 a year with

that, that is fixed at your prices up until March 2015. Or, you could

save ?128 a year and fix for two months longer with First Utility,

meaning you save ?100 a year and it shields you from when EDF announce

that price rise. It means you won't get think by that either. They're

saving up to nearly ?150 each. Considering switching, right? Most

certainly. Tom, a lot of people say to me they don't switch because it's

too much hassle. Is it? If you use a website like ours, it takes about

five minutes to get a comparison, five more to switch. If you're

someone like Wayne Rooney or Miley Cyrus, it's probably not worth that

amount of time, if you're anyone else, it probably is. Thank you. For

more information on how to switch, go to the website:

Click on this link, and if you decide switching is a good option

for you, let us know how much money you estimated to save.

It's cosy up here tonight. Keep your stories and tip-offs

coming in. Thanks, guys. Coming up next week: Openreach, why can't you

contact them when things go wrong. Pension funds. Do you know where

your money is at this exact moment? One in four of us don't. I will be

asking Ed Davy why the government is doing nothing to stop the rise in

energy bills. Good night.