Episode 7 Watchdog

Openreach keeping you at arm's length. Pensions, think you know

where your nest egg. Claiming insurance after the storm. National

Express, McDonald's and I will be asking the Energy Secretary how bad

does it have to get before the Government acts on the fuel bills.

It's Watchdog, the programme you cannot afford to miss.

Good evening. Welcome to Watchdog, we are live as usual for the next 60

minutes. Tonight, Openreach, responsible for nearly all the

country's Broadband and land lines. When things go wrong, it is almost

impossible to get hold of them. I reckon we have probably called 200

to 300 times. We are stranded, totally, and we just don't know

where to turn next. Also the big six energy giants tell the Government,

price increases aren't our fault. I will be asking the Energy Secretary

Ed Davey what's he doing to stop our bills rising. Claiming for damage

caused by this week's extreme weather. And Cash for Phones, they

promised money for old mobiles in good condition, so why do they keep

finding fault that no-one else can see?

Tonight's Rogue Traders has the opposite problem. His handiwork is

there for all to see and it's not pretty. Simon Slade of Monster

Movers, we paid hymn to clear our house of unwanted junk and look

where our sofa ended up. There is our fridge. Sadly for South Wales,

it is fly-typical, so let's have a clear-up in a while. First,

Openreach, it is owned by BT but runs separately. Openreach is

responsible for keeping the vast majority of our Broadband and land

lines working. And as well as BT, Talk Talk and skip, are entirely

relying on it. When a fault happens these providers say they can't order

Openreach to fix it. What hope for the customer.

Openreach, the company's slogan sums up their task perfectly "keeping the

nation connected". It is a massive job and one that

comes with great responsibility. Because if you need a line installed

or repaired, most of the time Openreach are the only ones who can

do it for you. Meaning if anything goes wrong, you are entirely at

their mercy. And things do go wrong a lot of the time. You have told us

how you have been let down by the company leaving you no phone and

Broadband, sometimes for weeks, if not months. That is what happened to

Talk Talk customer Angela Jones. Both services failed completely in

August. They informed me first of all that within 48 hours they would

carry out some tests. And then hopefully the phone line would be

fixed. But nothing changed. Using her mobile Angela called Talk Talk

repeatedly. They told her the problem wasn't with them, but with

the line that goes into her house. And that meant it was the

responsibility of Openreach. That's where the real problem begins,

because Openreach have a unique approach to customer service. They

don't have any. The company won't let you complain to them directly.

As customers, you can't contact them at all. It is set down in law that

customers can only deal with their providers, not Openreach itself.

Which means Angela had no choice but to keep ringing Talk Talk to find

out about Openreach's progress. I didn't feel we were getting

anywhere. Every time I saw an Openreach ban in the area I wanted

to ask them, are you coming to fix my phone. Because it was just so

frustrating. After a month, Openreach finally sent out an

engineer, but he didn't have good news. He told her that cabling had

decayed and the repair job would be a long one. Powerless to do

anything, Angela had no choice but to sit and wait. But what she didn't

know was that she wasn't the only one waiting on Openreach. I didn't

realise how many other people were affected, until I was gardening on

the front and bumped into a few neighbours and happened to mention

to them, have you got any problems with your phone or internet and they

said yes. Each family had their own story. Broadband went down, children

at home, homework. It was difficult. When I tried phoning my number, you

got an unobtainable phone. If people were ringing the business and

getting that, they are thinking what's happened to you. With my

girls both doing degrees at the moment, they couldn't e-mail their

lecturers. It was quite stressful. Didn't get any phone and didn't get

internet. Our older age group, we don't use mobiles, we rely on the

land line. A wide array of service providers serve the residents and

all said exactly the same thing- they were powerless to do anything

because Openreach was to blame. Around 14 families on this street

were without a phone connection or Broadband for two months. Imagine

how frustrating that would be. Families unable to communicate with

loved ones, people unable to run businesses and some elderly on this

street cut off from the outside world. Eventually the residents

decided enough was enough. Unable to contact the company themselves, they

put together a petition and took it to their local MP, Labouring fox. He

took the case on -- Liam Fox. He took the case on and it did the

trick. After two months without land lines or Broadband, the repyre work

was carried out and their service was returned. But what about those

people who haven't got the time or political collateral to take

Openreach on. Do they get treated differently. According to xheshz

like Darren, they -- customers like Darren, they do. He's now been

without a reliable phone or Broadband connection for four

months. But even though BT and Openreach are part of the same

company, it isn't easier to get answers. I have to go through BT. I

can't go through Openreach because they are separate contracted company

to BT and I am not allowed to talk to them. It makes it so frustrating,

I can't tell them the problems we have here rather than going through

somebody in a call centre somewhere. I reckon we have probably called up

to 300 times, we have had six engineer visits, only three

attended. They came back to us and said there was a break in the line

out on the main road. Nobody has come out and replaced the cable.

Openreach have told BT they are waiting for council permission to

work on the road before repairs can take place. But to Darren this feels

like just another excuse. It is disgraceful, because I am told by BT

I have to pay for my Broadband, I have to pay for my telephone line

and I get nothing. And there are many other people across the country

who are just as unhappy with the level of service they receive from

Openreach. At one point last year it took the company 27 days on average

to install a new line. There may be some glimmer of hope. Ofcom has

launched a review of Openreach's quality of service and is expected

to impose tougher standards on the company. This report which is due to

conclude next year was prompted not by complaints made from customers,

but from other service providers. They were sick of having to come up

with excuses about problems that only Openreach could sort out. The

hope is this tougher stance from Ofcom will ensure more is done for

customers like Darren and the street affected in ports head, to hold

Openreach to their promise of keeping the nation connected.

Until then, most of us remain totally dependent on Openreach doing

their job. BT Openreach are a faceless organisation. We are

stranded, totally, and we just don't know where to turn next. Ricky

Boleto reporting. Openreach say they would like to apologise to all of

the people featured in our report. It says it recognises it took far

too long to resolve the faults and appreciates that losing telephone

and internet is a considerable inconvenience. It says its engineers

carry out more than 160,000 jobs a week and each takes on average just

over three days, but complex cases longer. Because of our report,

Openreach says it has carried out a full investigation will improve the

services they provide to all communication providers and their

customers. I haven't the foggiest idea what that actually means.

If you want to comment on that or any other story you think we should

be aware of, please get in touch: National Express, why does getting

off the coach a stop earlier cost more than staying on until the end?

I see Rogue Traders as a life-long quest, we find it, film it, flaunt

it. So far this series we have seen the flat fee fraudsters of Finchley,

the hire car catastrophe of Kent. But so far nothing from Wales. Well,

that is another thing we intend to put right.

Monster, yes I am off on a monster hunt to Cardiff. We all know about

dragons but Wales has no end of forgotten mythical creatures.

For instance, the Afanc, described as a crocodile, beaver or dwarf like

creature. It was rendered helpless by a beautiful maiden and fell

asleep on her lap, but while it slept her fellow villagers chained

it to her lap, and it was so enraged the thrashing killed her. It is all

true of course. Why do I tell you this? The dragon may not have been

seen for a while but there is another monster loose in the value

ice, Simon -- valleys. Simon Slade. He offers house clearance and

revolves to pick-ups and deliveries. The name of his company- Monster

Movers of Cardiff. You see, monsters, we don't just throw this

stuff together. For a fee Slade will clear unwanted junk from your house.

The trouble is he has a nasty habit of dumping it in the countryside.

That's right, Simon Slade is a fly tipper. Cardiff Council has been on

his trail for quite some time and though he's been summoned to appear

in front of them three times, he's only shown up once. Even then he

refused to say anything. Catching fly tippers in the act is

notoriously difficult. That, my friends, is where we come in. It

does feel as though we need to know whether tonight Slade is top of the

drops. If only we had some way of monitoring his movements. Like a

tracker. We have got ourselves GPS trackers,

a team of handy researchers and a house in the fly tippers favourite

place, the countryside. We hastily assemble a pile of furniture and

junk. We then ask Simon Slade and Monster Movers to take it away from

us. Before he arrives we also cover all the objects with smart water.

Although it is naked to the invisible eye, it contains a unique

fingerprint that means it is uniquely identifiable and it shines

under a UV light. They quickly get to work filling

their van with our items. In order to carry other people's

unwanted stuff a trader must hold a waste carrier's licence, but Slade

doesn't have one. He's immediately breaking the law by taking away our

trash. As for the cost of the job: As Simon says, he can make money

from selling some of the items on, so he agrees to take it all away for

?45. With that, they head off. Meanwhile

our team jump straight on their laptops and start monitoring the

trackers to watch where they go. It isn't into town where they might be

able to sell the items on. Instead they head for a narrow road away

from our house about a mile and they stop. They don't move for the next

35 minutes. Are they having the world's longest fag break? Have they

decided the van needs a wash. The team decides to check it out. They

follow the signal down this road. By an even darker looking wood. The

trackers still haven't moved. So are they just going to find Simon parked

up on his van. Or is something else waiting for the team around the

corner? That is what you call a cliff hanger. Simon Slade is a man

in a van, but what exactly is his plan. Has he disposed of our rubbish

correctly or left the Welsh countryside looking like a graveyard

for unwanted goods. Last week we reported on how

complicate it had can be to find the best deals on train tickets. Now

it's the turn of coaches. We have noticed that on certain routes run

by National Express, it can be cheaper to travel all the way to the

final destination, than it is to get off at the same bus a couple of

stops earlier. In other words the further you travel the less they

charge. I use National Express to go to

Heathrow, but this summer I had to go to the centre of London and I

found myself on the same coach I use to go to Heathrow, it continues to

London Victoria coach station. But the price was a great deal less, and

that seemed strange. When I had to book a ticket to go to Heathrow in

October I checked and indeed it is ?11. 70 if I want to get off at

Heathrow but only ?7. 90 if I am happy to sit on into the centre of

London. I couldn't understand that. I contracted National Express and

asked why. She couldn't answer that. You have other examples. I tried to

book some tickets last Friday for journeys on Monday. If you want to

travel from London toe Thetford, you need the NX491, that terminates at

Norwich. A single costs ?16. 80. If you stayed on the same bus to its

final destination, you would be charged ?14. 4.70. Why is it called

NX491? That's ?2. Ten cheaper for travelling further.

It doesn't make any sense at all. Try this second example. If you want

to travel from Bristol to London, the bus stops at Earl's Court and

London Victoria. A ticket to Earl's Court earlier stop ?18. 8.90. But

three miles further up the road and you half your cost to just ?9. You

may as well pay to do the whole journey. If you wanted to take the

NX538 a coach from Birmingham to Hamilton near Glasgow, the cheapest

ticket we could find was ?54. 70. The price to go one step further on

the same bus was ?14. 50. How do they explain it all. We asked

them to explain it. It offers promotional online only low price

deals. It offers no ex-planation why

travelling further on the same journey should cost any less. The

moral of the story is, always check because it could be cheaper to get a

ticket for a long journey and jump off.

Next energy bills. ScottishPower are the fourth company to announce it is

raising gas and electricity prices. The big six appeared in front of the

House of Commons Select Committee yesterday and blamed the Government

and increased cost of wholesale fuels. Meanwhile the boss of one of

the smaller energy companies claimed wholesale prices have gone down so

there is no excuse for hefty price rises. As we showed last week,

switching suppliers can save money. Bill from the Isle of Wight did it

after watching the show. Over the next 12 months his bills will be

?245 cheaper. Julia North-Lewis from Stroud will be ?566 better off by

switching and best of all, Sean from Bedfordshire set to save about

?1,000. He and his family of six were with npower, putting them back

to one of the standard tariffs he's moved to a fix tariff with

ScottishPower, cutting ?944 off his bill. That's what we can do for

ourselves. With me now the Energy Secretary Ed Davey. It looks as if

the Government's a bit of a chocolate teapot standing by,

watching this happen. The scandal unfold. How bad does it have to get

before you do something. We have been doing a lot. We are try to go

help particular customers get money off their bills. We have introduced

the warm home discount taking ?135 directly off bills of two million

low income people. I have been pushing competition in our energy

bill to make sure in the wholesale markets and retail markets we are

pushing prices down as much as we can. I want to do more and tomorrow

in the House of Commons in the annual energy statement, I will be

announcing that we will do an annual competition assessment to make sure

these big six feel the pressure of competition, so the switching that

you saw and savings people can make by switching, that you have shown,

that more people can benefit. How long will the competition test

testing take to come to fruition? The first competition assessment

which I will announce tomorrow will report in spring next year. The

point is this winter, four million households are not going to be able

to pay their bill. Last year winter deaths were 20,000, likely to be

increased this year. John Major says a windfall tax, Ed Miliband says I

will freeze prices if I come in. People need something to happen now.

Well, they do and I am very worried about energy bills. When I became

Secretary of State I made it one of my priorities to do a lot. I haven't

mentioned collective switching, enabling people to pool their

purchasing power and people are using these now and making big

sayings, like the people who you showed earlier. Those are things

people can do now. If people want to get tip building society how they

can save energy and -- tips about how they can save energy, we have a

helpline, open from 9am to 8pm, people can get that advice and I

believe it can help people. When the big six appeared for the Commons

Select Committee yesterday, they bamboozled their way through saying

everything was transparent. But it is not. One of the MPs said he

wasn't any the wiser. Have you got a grip on what they really make? I

think there needs to be more transparency in the big six. Do you

actually know? Tomorrow I am going to be announcing we are going to

have much more transparency. I have asked the independent regulator off

gem to do a study into the financial transparency to make

recommendations. Nobody has any face left in off gem was they have done

nothing over the last few years. How can you do anything if you don't

really know the maths of what's happening in those private

companies? With new lead leadership, new framework in our energy bill to

make sure off gem are tougher, we have given them tougher powers so

they can act. For example, if an energy company rips you off and they

are fined, in the past those fines used to go to the Exchequer. In the

future, they will go to the consumer, they will get the benefit.

We are talking action, but I am not complacent. We need to do more. I

share people's concerns that the big six need to feel the pressure of

competition and be far more transparent. We are not going to

allow them get away with hiding things from people, from parliament

and ministers. The energy companies are now responsible for helping

vulnerable people. You have asked them to explain how they are going

to go about that. That is exactly the problem. It is the tail wagging

the dog. You have to ask them. They are a law on to themselves. We tell

them, there's something called the energy company obligation. We are

forcing them through that to put any energy efficiency into the poorest

people's homes. Tackling fuel poverty, we are making them do it

through laws. That is what we should do. These energy companies are here

to serve us, and we are going to use all the power at our disposal to

make that happen. Why don't you have a full audit, so you really, really

know if they are ripping us off and how much they are ripping us off.

That is what I am announcing tomorrow. This trarns porncy report.

-- transparency report. We have a basis to make sure that they can't

be this hiding that we have seen. I wrote myself to the Chief Executive

of the big six recently because they were try to go blame the Government,

always blaming someone else. We can do more, I am not complacent. You

have taken time. From day one, I have been on this case. We have got

these collective switching, something that actually people

haven't heard much about. The big energy saving network, helping

people in the communities. Thank you.

Still to come, ?3 billion of unclaimed pension money is sitting

there. Back to Wales and Simon Slade's company Monster Movers. Not

to be confused with monsters of the same name.

We have paid him to take away a load of household furniture and he's

promised either to sell it all on or take it to a licenced tip. Except,

we know he hasn't. Because we have tracked his van. Who needs Tonto

when you have one of these. The tracker is hidden inside the sofa

and fridge and have led us to this road less than a mile away from our

stooge house. They were driven straight here and haven't budged for

over 35 minutes, so what has he been up to. We get our answer as we move

around the corner. That's our sofa, dumped by the side

of the road. After investigation we find our fridge thrown in the

bushes, too. A UV torch reveals, reveals the smart water we poured

over them. There is no doubt. He came straight here from our house

and dumped them shortly after picking them up. Let's take a look

at the bigger picture. Fly-tipping is a real problem in this part of

Wales. Take a look at this place. These fly tips aren't Simon Slade's

handiwork but they are typical of quite a few sites in the area. They

should be areas of outstanding natural beauty, not full of things

people don't want any more. This is Gary Evans, he runs an action group

tasked with putting a stop to it. The thing that a lot of people end

up saying when we do stories about fly tip something that councils seem

to be making it more and more difficult and more expensive to get

rid of things. Over 80 civic sites in Wales and they accept waste.

However unlike members of the public, traders like Simon Slade,

who have a commercial vehicle, have to pay to dump other people's waste

at the tip. If you are employing somebody to get rid of waste, it is

going to cost you money. Householders should know if somebody

comes to take their waste away for them, they should be a registered

waste carrier and taking it to a licenced facility. If you don't ask

the trader whether you have a licence and rubbish is traced back

to you, you could be held liable. If somebody says I can get rid of that

waist for you for ?20, be suspicious. And suspicious we are.

But we need to put Simon Slade to the test a second time. That's one

fridge, and one sofa. Dumped in the middle of nowhere and going rusty

and soggy, until we come and clear it up. Although usually it would be

the council doing the same with your money. But we are nice like that.

It's only one example. That one was a little bit country. The next one

will be rock'n'roll. We are heading to the big city, Cardiff Central, we

have new stooges, Phil and Elaine, like a TV couple. They invite

Monster Movers to carry out another house clearance. This time we up the

ante and give him loads more stuff. Including on old mattress, and

broken fridge. If he plans to dispose of all this stuff legally he

is going to have to take it to a tip. And if he is going to do that

he should charge us a realistic sum of money. Once again we cover our

stuff with smart water. Once again we place two trackers

amongst the items so we can monitor their journey. The whole team is

ready to roll. All we need now is Simon Slade.

A clear statement of intent for Simon Slade, he will either steal or

dispose of it properly. He should charge us far more than

the ?45 he did the job for last time. How much do you want, fella?

That doesn't bode well, there is no way a second hand shop will take

this old rubbish. If he takes the stuff to the tip, he will be making

a loss. As soon as he leaves the team hits

the laptops again and picks up the signal made by our trackers. His

first stop is at a local second hand shop, presumably attempting to sell

as much of the stuff as he can. But he clearly isn't able to sell all

our items because our trackers are soon on the move again. We lose our

signal for a few hours, so while we wait for it to kick in we retire for

the day. Then all of a sudden, the signal comes back and we know where

our stuff is. It leads us down one of the side streets beloved of fly

tippers and there, sure enough, a familiar sight awaits. Blocking the

road, a mattress and sofa bed, Simon Slade promised us he would be

selling or taking to the tip. The UV light can't v hide the green mark of

shame. We return to the site to see the fly

tip in daylight and what becomes clear is that our mattress and sofa

are lying in the gap directly between someone's house and their

garage. It is hardly a good look for the neighbourhood. And it will be up

to the council and our taxes to get it cleared. All because Simon Slade

was too laysy to do it himself. It turns out Slade is a country mouse

and a city mouse. He doesn't care where weather he is ruining the

Welsh countryside or Wales's number one city. It's time to catch up with

the skipper of this team of tippers. Prepare to be moved.

We have had enough of Simon Slade and his rubbish so we are going to

call him out to make one last house-call and it is an address

where I happen to be a temporary resident. When I say hello, will he

clean up or clear out? Before that, mobile phones,

technology is changing by the minute. New handsets released daily.

Once you have upgraded what do you do with your old phone? Leave it in

a drawer, and people at home I am sure tend to do the same. Look at

all these phones, do you recognise them? Long since forgotten models. I

am going to pick out one here, a Nokia, no touch screen, can't pick

up e-mails, can't take photographs of anyone. Just to make phone calls,

how embarrassing. Do you recognise that? I had one of those, the 84

election, following Mrs Thatcher. You don't have to keep any of these

in a drawer. Companies are now offer to go buy your old phone and claim

the better the condition the more they will pay. One of the biggest

operators is Cash for Phones. Here is the ad. Go online, find your

phone and send it to us in the free post envelope. Get paid by cheque or

direct bank transfer. It's all in the name. It sounds so simple but

from what you have been telling us, dealing with Cash for Phones is

anything but. This is Pip Wilson. She decided to use the company to

trade in her old iPhone four. She filled in all the details on the

website and was told they would give her ?130, if the phone was in

working order. It was. She sent it off. I was really careful to wrap it

up in bubble wrap, I couldn't see any scratches on it, and it was as

new as far as I was concerned. Cash for Phones took a different view.

After a week, pip received an e-mail telling her having examined her

phone they were changing their offer. They said it was only worth

?47 because it had excessive scratching on the screen which it

definitely didn't have. I just feel really angry with the way Cash for

Phones have treated me and the way they operate. I just think it is

appalling. Pip didn't want to accept such a dramatically lower price so

instead wrote to Cash for Phones and asked them to return her handset. I

paid for the return postage and then seven days later still hadn't

received the phone back. Hadn't heard anything. I then emailed them

through their contact form on their website. Didn't get any response, so

I was just complete completely of stumped. Cash for Phones obviously

didn't want to lose her business, because rather than returning her

phone they contacted her with a new improved offer, raising their price

up to ?110. Delighted Pip agreed but her story doesn't end there. As far

as I was concerned I had accepted their new offer. And the money would

be paid into my account within a few days. I waited for a month and I am

still waiting. I haven't heard anything and just waiting for them

to pay the money into my account. I bet you know what is going on. All

we know Pip's story isn't a one-off. We have thousands of complaints from

people. They sent off what they thought was a perfectly decent

phone, only for the company to lower the offer. By which stage Cash for

Phones have your phone, you over a barrel. As we saw with Pip, you can

turn down the offer but it charges you to send your phone back. We put

Cash for Phones to the test. We took an iPhone four and went on to the

website to find out how much they would give us. Here is what

happened. The company quoted us ?105. 50 and told us they would make

the final offer once they received the phone and had the opportunity to

assess its condition. Before we sent it off, we wanted to be sure that we

knew what kind of state it was in. We asked three mobile phone

specialists to check it over for us. It looks like a perfectly decent

example of hand iPhone. Pretty good continue. It was a beautiful,

reliable, phone that behaved flawlessly. We even took it to a lab

and ransom diagnostic tests. Phone doctors are mobile repair

specialists, what did they make of it? There is no excessive scuffing

or scratching, no major wear and tear. It couldn't really be any

clearer. Our iPhone four is in excellent condition. There should be

no reason for Cash for Phones to offer us anything other than the

?105. 50 they quoted us. We sent it off and waited. A few days later the

same thing that happened to Pip and hundreds of others Watchdog viewers

happened to us as well. Cash for Phones dropped their offer to just

?42. 2.20. Their ex-planation, excessive wear and tear. Even though

not one of our four experts could find a single thing wrong with our

phone. We returned to the lab to get the reaction to what Cash for Phones

told us. Someone is telling a few porkies I think. There's no

excessive wear and tear. No obvious signs of liquid damage or kroergs. I

think -- corrosion. That is not an honest appraisal. What a surprise.

The company told us it receives up to 10,000 phones every week, a

routine test procedure is run on them all. Due to the large volume

volumes errors do occur. Cash for Phones apologised to Pip Wilson and

have resolved the situation, paying her ?110 she was offered and says

the diagnosis of excessive wear and tear on our phone was mistakenly

made by a Treonee. Very professional. Next pensions, a

staggering one in four of us doesn't know where our money has ended up.

People are likely to work for a number of organisations. Some

employers offer their own pension scheme. If these different pots of

money aren't consolidated it is easy to lose track of who has got your

cash. You would think that getting your

hands on your pension would be a relatively simple process. After

all, it is yours. But it seems keeping track of it is no longer the

easy task it once was. I have come to Chester to meet a man trying to

locate his pension fund for nearly a year. Even though he has been

searching all this time, he still is no closer to finding out where his

retirement one is. Mike works here at the riverside campus of the

university. When I knew it was a pension story, I was expecting an

older man than you. You are fit and well, are you? I am fit and well,

yes. How old are you? 53. What made you think about tracing your pension

fund? With a new job I have taken up, there was a good pension fund,

and what I wanted to do was add my old pensions to that pot. I want to

know how much I am going to be worth to my grandchildren and children

when I hit 65. Mike has worked for various companies throughout his

career. In three of those jobs he made monthly payments into company

pension schemes, but over time as he moved from job to job, he lost the

details of where each pension and re was and how much each was worth.

Task number one, was finding them again. How easy was it to track down

the money and get the money in the account? Two of the companies it was

very easy. Speak to the pensions administrator at the company, they

give you a figure and that is what you transfer. It was easy with them.

But not with all of them? No, it wasn't easy for a company based in

Telford an hour away from here. Show me where you used to work. This is

the former headquarters of the electronics firm Tatung UK Ltd. He

believes he paid around ?5400 in the company pension scheme. Since

leaving he hasn't given this place much thought. When you are trying to

track down your pension pot, what happened? I rang the old phone

number for the company, somebody else answered the phone, nothing to

do with the company, Tatung doesn't exist any more. Mike did some

research and came across a government organisation called the

pension tracing service. Used by almost 100,000 people a year, they

were set up to help people like Mike find their pensions. But they had no

record of what happened to the Tatung company scheme. Once again,

Mike was on his own. Eventually using social media sites, he managed

to track down a former colleague. I was very lucky to make contact with

someone who worked with me in sales. Who knew somebody in marketing, who

knew somebody in the accounts department. Who knew the general

manager who happened to have the name of the pension administrator at

the time who happened to have the basic information for me to trace

the pension through Scottish Widows. Pension schemes can be shoaled from

company to company. Your former employers have to inform you if that

happens. If you change job, address or surname, it is easy for that

information to get lost in time. Mike's colleague was able to give

him one crucial piece of information that at some point the company

pensions had been bought by Scottish Widows. Automatically, it's time to

celebrate, the cash is coming in? No. Why not? They said eventually

that, yes, we do have a pension for you, it's worth ?1915. I knew it

couldn't be right, I knew the moment he said it, as I know I had paid in

around ?5400, this couldn't be the pension fund or if it was it was

only part of it. You have hit another brick wall. Yes. We are

going to try and help you out as much as possible. We will do some

rummaging. Keep your fingers crossed.

We asked pension tracing specialist Sean Davis to take a look at Mike's

case for us. He searched company records, contacted over 20 different

pension providers and spoke to independent advisors. A week later I

brought Mike to hear the results. The moment of truth for you. First

and foremost, tell Mike what happened to his pension, what

happened to the Tatung pensions. They were split, so they went to

league and general, and to -- Legal and General and Scottish Widows. You

were only in one of those schemes. And that got transferred to Scottish

Widows. I know you are going to say it, what happened to my money, why

has it gone from ?5,000 to less than ?2,000. That pension pot over time

has now reduced down to what it is. Under ?2,000. Oh, right. How do you

feel about that? That is a bit disappointing. So there isn't

another pot somewhere, that is all that's left. That's correct. It

turns out Scottish Widows bought Mike's pension fund in 2005 at a

value of ?1339, but we know that Tatung wound up the pension in 1995,

so that leaves a whole ten years unaccounted for. What happened to

Mike's pension in that time? It may have been invested badly or may not

have been that big in the first place. Either way, Mike's tale is a

cautionary one. If he had kept on top of things and checked his fund

every year, the minute it began to lose value he could have pulled it

out and reinvest it had elsewhere. I am glad I start it had now and I am

not 64 trying to find my pensions. Obviously I am disappointed that

somehow my pension pot has managed to decrease. I have two other

pensions that I found which are OK. But it shouldn't be this

complicated. It shouldn't be this tough to find a pension. Hearing

Mike's story has made me realise how important it is to keep an eye on

your pension. It can get so complicated and you don't always

know where they will end up. The crucial point is don't leave it

until you are old. Deal with it now. Scottish Widows confirm it only

bought Mike's pension in 2005 by which time it had a value of ?1339.

It says it feels this case reflects the importance of everyone tracking

their pension arrangements and ensuring pension providers are kept

informed of all personal circumstances, for example change of

address. Scottish Widows says it uses a tracking service to try and

locate them whenever there is a significant event approaching, for

instance in the month's running up to retirement. With me now, Chief

Executive of the pension Pensions Advisory Service, Michelle

Cracknell. Thank you for coming in. What is the obvious sign your

pension has disappeared. If you are not receiving an annual statement,

that is a good sign. Not all pension funds need to send you an annual

statement. If you haven't received one, get in touch with them. If your

pension seems to have disappeared, how do you track it down? The

pension tracing service is a free service provided by the Government,

it is a good place to start. We are a free pension information services,

if you phone us up, we will ask you about who did you work for, how long

did you work there, when did you work there and with that we should

be able to narrow down the type of pension scheme you might have and

recommend the sorts of organisations who may be able to help you trace

it. Mike tried all those things and didn't work. It is a bit like

looking for a needle in a haystack and that is one of the reasons for

phoning us up, because we can nor owe choices down. The other

important point is if the company has gone bust it doesn't mean you

have lost your pension assets but they will be paid out by a different

body and we would recommend if the company has gone bust you contact

either the pension protection fund or phone around the insurance

companies. Legislation is changing. It is. It will make it harder to

trace your pension because there will be less information held

against your national insurance record. It is a really good reason

to set out that list of what your pension is, who is going to pay it

and the sooner you start that the easier it will be. Thanks for

sending in all the stories. Here are a few more.

McDonald's announce this week that it is to end its decade's long

relationship with sauce manufacturer Heinz. The fast food chain has

decide today stop serving their ketchup in all 30,000 of its

restaurants worldwide, despite having worked with them for 40

years. The company says the decision was made after Heinz made a recent

change of management, which is a plight way of saying McDonald's

don't like the fact they have employed this man, as their new

Chief Executive. He used to wear the cardboard crown as boss of arch

rivals Burger King. The message here- pick a fight with

a clown, and you are going down. German airline Lufthansa had its

wings clipped by the Advertising Standards Authority. Europe one way

for ?59, said the ad, complete with a lady looking thrilled at the

price. But check the small print and it tells you a very different story,

economy class one way fare to selected German destinations. The

offer was only value identify on certain flights and only a handful

of seats were ever available at the suggested ?59 fare. As a result, the

A SA80 ruled the ad was misleading and now it's been banned and that

will wipe the smile off her face. In the aftermath of storm St Jude,

millions have been left wondering if the damage to their property will be

compensated. Good news from the association Fe Association of

British Insurers, it tells Watchdog, everyone with household, business or

comprehensive motor insurance policies should be covered. And that

most home insurance policies will arrange all tachetive acome --

alternative acome nation -- accommodation while repairs are

done. The ABI advise hiring a professional and keep all receipts.

They will be needed to claim back the costs. It stresses no major

repair work should be arranged without the knowledge of your

insurance company and most importantly, no-one should attempt a

risky piece of DIY, insurance companies are there to handle the

arrangements, that is what you pay them for.

Back to Monster Movers of Cardiff. We have seen their boss Simon Slade

take our household items and sling them across the back streets of

South Wales. One more thing to do then, meet him and have a chat.

What do you do with the stuff you can't sell.

Just look at what he actually did with what he couldn't get rid of. He

fly tipped it here and there. I think he probably would fly tip in

it any wrchlt we know he's had a talking to by the council for fly

foping in the past. So I sent an e-mail showing the Rogue Traders

team photos of his terrible tips and look at the effect it had on our

researchers. Bad Simon Slade, bad. It's high time I had a word with

him, but first we want to confront him with hard evidence to see how he

reacts. Of course the best way to do that is through modern art. Meet our

very own artist in residents Sophie, researcher by day but post modern

art installation creator, half an hour later. She's really going for

it, in the part now. This is a tenuous way for us to be

able to project photographs of Simon Slade's misdemeanours on the walls.

This is a dumpster, covered in ?20 notes. We have the projection, we

have this green wheelie bin. Very, very unique. What goes in here? That

will be you. Isle be hiding inside a wheelie bin

waiting to pop out and say hello to Mr Slade.

I also add some sound effects of my own. "Love and respect the Welsh

countryside". Will he recognise those photos of

his handiwork? We are about to find out. Come through, so, this is my

latest installation, I need you, it is really important, the lights

everything, I need it to be as it is, you know, because it is art.

Simon Slade completely blanks his fly-tipping portraits on the wall.

Maybe he is not an art fan! What do you think?

What about the sound effects? I am going to have to be more obvious

here. "-Simon Slade, I am talking about you".

" Slade, I am talking about you". I can't be more obvious. Here goes.

Hello Simon, BBC Rogue Traders, good to see you. We have identified you

as not a monster house clearance guy but a monster fly tipper. You took

two loads from us, from two separate addresses. The bits you wanted to

recycle and that you could make cash from you took those and the other

stuff you left in two different locations, one in the countryside,

and one in the middle of Cardiff itself. I have put a bit of rubbish

out, but... Why do you think that is all right? You can't take the vans

to the tip. I only found out that after picking the stuff up. I

thought if I took stuff from you, took it to the tip I could get rid

of it. That's not trushgs we know where it went and we know how long

it took you to Chuck it. In that little glade off the Newport road

and it didn't take you 20 minutes. You never made it to the trip, you

never tried. That is the problem with this. It is just down to

laziness. I have stopped doing that now. Anyone who rings me, I do say

no. I am not stupid. Most people would be out the door. I appreciate

that. You are not going out the door but the reality is, you have got

away with it until now. Two weeks ago I had a letter from the council

saying I am getting done for it. Simon says because the council's

warnings he stopped fly-tipping. Why therefore did he fly tip a sofa bed

and mattress seven days ago. Maybe he needs the photos to jog his

memory. There is the fridge. Do you remember that? I remember that.

In any case, where it doesn't end up is in the countryside. We are not

talking about a long time ago. Talking about a couple of weeks ago.

I appreciate you standing here and talking about it. But it doesn't

change the fact that until somebody comes to your door and points out

the fact it is wrong and makes people's lives a misery and costs a

lot of money to clear up. Why don't they let in vans. They charge you,

that is the reality. I have stopped altogether. You can set up a million

of these traps. We can't afford that. You won't catch me again, I

have learnt my lesson, I know not to do it no more. I appreciate that. I

am going to come out of the bin now. Nice to meet you.

We hope we don't see you again either Simon or any of your rubbish

scattered across the Welsh countryside. What's that going over

the hill, Simon Slade of Monster Movers of car dichlt he held his

hands up to fly tip ago fridge, sofa and mattress. Still no excuse. Any

way, it's wheelie been an experience.

All very nice though, friendly, apologetic, until later that

evening, when he sent us a series of texts, for instance this one at 11.

23. You might need a warrant as you left the house unlocked. I have

moved in, get an eviction notice from the courts. Then this text at

11. 24, I am going to check the other two houses and if they are

open, I am taking them too. Who is having the last laugh now.

We checked the houses and they were absolutely fine. So here it is, the

last laugh on the face of Simon Slade, currently squatting on our

rogue's gallery. A lot of response to an interview earlier with the

Energy Secretary Ed Davey. Earlier on he said that a competition

assessment will be reporting in the spring. Also off gem will conduct a

study into the financial transparency of the energy

companies. Also a huge reaction about 200 sponsors about Openreach,

massive reaction, if you have had a problem or in a situation, let us

know and keep sending us your stories. Go to the website:

Santander, Barclays, RBS and most of the other main lenders telling

people if you are in your 40s you are too old for the usual 25 year

mortgage. Pet insurance why it's never been more expensive to cover

your vet bills. And another way to save small fortune on your energy

bills. That's all next Wednesday at 8.00. From us, good night.