Episode 2 Watchdog

Viagogo, Seatwave, StubHub, the agencies all advertising fake

tickets. Disneyland Paris and the ?2000 holiday to a construction

site. FIFA 14 and the button clicks that are costing parents hundreds.

Plus BT Openreach, and the top brands that say they are factor 30

when they are not. Its watchdog, the programme you cannot afford to miss.

Good evening and welcome to Watchdog, live for the next 60

minutes. Tonight, a Wimbledon final ticket nearly ?12,000. But Michael

Buble, ?2000. Agencies selling tickets that don't exist. As I got

there there were two other people in the seat. Then another two people

arrived. I was split -- spitting blood. Are your children playing

FIFA 14 on PlayStation or Xbox? Beware of the shock bills. BT

Openreach ordered to fix your phone within 48 hours. Disneyland Paris,

this luxury hotel is currently a building site. News to some families

who booked last year. Holidays are a time to relax, put your feet up.

Maybe you are more of a staycation kind of guy, like me, then you can

do that at home with one of these, a special Cheltenham armchair, as sold

by tonight's Rogue Traders, Great British Mobility Ltd of

Weston-super-Mare. Their salesmen will tell you just about anything to

get you to part with your cash. This control has an in-built massage

system. The massage stimulates the blood, get oxygen into it. You can

sit on one of these chairs, press the button and it's like going for a

walk. Which, as you can probably guess, is nonsense. How much does

Great British Mobility want for it? A chair would cost you ?3860. Nellie

for grand? Tonight, like Bouley and Queen, we're put under pressure to

buy ridiculously priced furniture that doesn't do what it claims. Grab

your slippers, hit the recline but, we've got a home visit. The hottest

shows naturally sell-out immediately, Kate Bush in

Hammersmith, all seats were gone in 15 minutes. So fans who missed out

how to turn to second-hand ticket agencies like viagogo, GET ME IN and

StubHub. Watchdog reveals that not only our customers buying seats at

vastly inflated sums, they are also handing over money for tickets that

can be fake or don't even exist. I really fancy catching a show,

something musical. No. No. Why not a bit of opera? All

I need now is the ticket. But getting hold of one of those deep

these days can be quite a performance. The simplest way is to

buy one on what is known as the primary market. It is a classy

production with a small cast. The box office either sells to you

directly or allocate its tickets to professional sellers like

Ticketmaster or see tickets, who add a booking fee and then sell them on.

But if the show is sold out you can turn to the secondary market. That

has a much bigger cast. People who have bought tickets from the box

office and primary market sellers then put them back on sale on ticket

exchange websites, where they can then be sold to you or me. The main

players are viagogo, StubHub, Seatwave and GET ME IN. They, of

course, take a cut. But this means that you might end up paying a lot

more than you bargained for. Take blues fan Jim Maclean. He wanted by

Tea Party tickets for an American singer. He used get me into buying a

pair for ?234. I was standing on the steps waiting to go to the concert,

I looked at the tickets and realised that the face value of the tickets

was about nearly half the price of what I paid for them. That is a hell

of a difference. So what are the rules protecting the buyers from

paying over the odds? The simple fact is there aren't any. The

secondary ticketing websites do not think to limit the amount to beat

goes on sale for, so prices can be breathtaking. Like this ?90 ticket

for the last night of the Proms. It is available on StubHub for ?1950.

All this, ?232 Wimbledon final ticket on Seatwave. It's on sale for

almost 12 brand, including a sizeable booking fee. If you are

beginning to think this sounds just like touting then you'd be right,

but touting is only illegal for football matches. For anything else

you can't be prosecuted for selling or buying a ticket at an inflated

price. You could argue that the people that resell tickets, whether

they are ticket touts or genuine fans, are merely entrepreneurs. Is

there really a difference between selling a ticket and a second-hand

car? Actually, there is because some of the tickets out there are sold at

a low price for a very deliberate reason. The National Theatre sells

some of their tickets at a reduced price to ensure their shows are

accessible to everyone. They are able to do this through government

funding, with money from you and me. But in many cases it is ticket touts

who actually benefit, buying up subsidised tickets and then flogging

them on the secondary market for a huge profit. It's incredibly

frustrating, that it's those tickets which are often the ones being sold

at multiples of their face value. Crucially pricing out the people

that we really want to be able to come and take advantage of those

tickets. Consumer law does insist that customers are at least told

their ticket's original face value, but we found evidence that viagogo

sometimes don't do that. Like with these VIP tickets for Wimbledon,

which means they could be breaking the law. But some people will always

be willing to pay over the odds if it means they are able to go to an

otherwise sold-out event. But even that isn't guaranteed if you use the

secondary market. Bernadette paid ?387.55 on viagogo, more than ?200

more than the asking price for her son and three friends to see their

favourite band, the Arctic Monkeys. When they hadn't arrived with a week

to go she got on the phone. They casually said the reason they hadn't

contacted me was because they didn't have any tickets for me. I was

going, excuse me, I don't think you can say that. You took my money in

July, where are the tickets? The tickets never arrived and Bernadette

and Sean had to get a refund. Not so much viagogo, more no-no. So why

didn't the tickets arrive? Perhaps the seller never had hold of them in

the first place. You see, some people advertise tickets they never

have, hoping to find a buyer and then managing to get hold of some at

a later date. But often they don't. It's called speculative ticketing.

And it is a practice the secondary market routinely allows to happen.

There are no checks in place to make sure the sellers on their site

actually have the tickets they are offering. Or if they did that are

genuine. Roy Lucas bought a pair of tickets from viagogo for some

friends to accompany him and his wife to see a violinist. The

expected good concert seats were musical chairs. As I got there there

were two the people in the seat. The tickets were being shuffled around,

checking this and that. Then another two people arrived. It turned out

three different couples had been sold tickets for the same set of

seats. I was spitting blood. In the end they were told they had to buy

new tickets because the venue thought it likely they will all

counterfeit. Roy got his money back from viagogo but he feels that isn't

the point. They shouldn't have been on sale on the site in the first

place. Yet secondary market obliged to ensure the tickets you are buying

real. And that means fake tickets are a serious problem for all types

of events. We've seen a massive escalation in the numbers of

counterfeit and invalid tickets sold through so-called safe platforms.

From March to December last year we saw 3600 people turn up at the O2

having purchased invalid tickets through these sites. So using

secondary ticket selling websites seems risky. I could end up

massively overpaying for tickets, buying ones that never arrived or

being turned away from events because my tickets are fake. And

that means I could end up getting a lot less than I bargained for. Well,

all of the companies featured in our film say they provide a safe

marketplace and guaranteed refunds or replacements in cases of fraud or

tickets not arriving. Seatwave and StubHub say they don't support a cap

on ticket prices and that many tickets on their side self or below

face value. They point out that most sellers only receive payment after

the event and, as a result, claim that fraud is where. StubHub says

tickets on sale for vastly inflated prices are already bought. Although

speculative ticketing is outlawed on their site, it's impossible for them

to check every sale. Joining me now from viagogo, about which we

received the most complaints, is the operation manager Ed Parkinson. Your

company operates in 100 countries. That's right. All over the world.

Have you got a family? I have two children. What is their favourite

event to go to? Theatre shows at Christmas. Supposing your family got

to the theatre and there were ten people for former proceeds. They'd

be very disappointed, but that's exactly why we founded viagogo. We

provide access to tickets with a guarantee of customer service. But

in a company that is global, dealing with millions of customers every

week, there will be occasions when things don't go as planned. But I

think it's a measure of companies to see what you do about it and deal

with it. What checks do you put in place? Millar we do a lot to check

sellers and buyers in our marketplace. Anyone has to register

their credit card. We can charge them at things go wrong and we don't

take them until the buyer has successfully been to the event. You

can't make money selling fake and fraudulent tickets on viagogo. We

went about putting a ticket for eight fake concert on your site are

absolutely no checks. What we do... You would have had to put your

credit card information in there. We would track that ticket. If you

didn't deliver it we would step in, find a replacement ticket for that

buyer and get another ticket for them. That didn't happen with the

Arctic Monkeys. You still haven't told the people that there were no

tickets for them. We are very sorry about those particular cases, it is

never acceptable to let someone down. But we looked for tickets but

minute couldn't find them. We always give people a full refund. We go

above and beyond that. Why do you keep the money for so long? The

Rugby World Cup in September, if I book now you'd hang onto the money

until the last minute. We don't pay sellers for tickets... Why don't you

hang onto the tickets? We send tickets out as soon as they enter

the market. The Rugby World Cup tickets will come out next year. But

if we had the tickets earlier we would find out whether they were

real or not. We are on the side of the consumer, we put fraud checks in

place and guarantee customers get what they paid for. We make sure if

something goes wrong that we step in. In the worst case, we will give

a full refund and additional compensation. Would you like someone

to clean up your industry to stop this happening? We have done a huge

amount to clean up the industry. Customers are getting much better

service from us than the good old days of standing out in the rain

waiting for a guy in a rain jacket. So you still don't know if the

tickets are fake? Fake tickets are extremely unusual on our platform.

We invest millions getting rid of these fraudsters and we will stamp

them out. Half term is almost upon us and that means holiday prices, as

usual, are set to rocket. Simon Calder is here with some very clever

suggestions about how to get away for less. If you've got any

questions for Simon, send them to us now and we will answer as many as

possible. E-mail us at [email protected] or you can use

Twitter using #askwatchdog. Coming up, FIFA 14, a fantasy

football game, but this nine-year-old old run up a huge

bill. Lots has changed since the 1970s. The emergence of e-mail means

that instead of the troublesome first post before breakfast and then

the mid-morning second post, we can now relax with just one daily

delivery which arrives in time for lunch. But some things still need a

bit of work. There now follows a public information film designed to

scare you rigid just before bedtime. What is going on here? You are an

old lady, had you not? And this chap is a salesman, by the look of him.

Let me guess, he is trying to sell you something which you might want

but you would like time to think about. Hold on, this is making him

angry, which is not what he was like two hours ago when he first

arrived. He seemed so nice then, . Complements. Even should you

pictures of his favourite force. He is not so friendly anymore. -- his

favourite horse. Would you do anything to make him leave? Even

paying him a cheque to get him out of the door? That will not be

necessary. Sling your hook. And relax. Unfortunately, we cannot,

because despite decades of campaigning and legislation to

prevent it, old ladies are still being pressure sold to buy men in

cheap seats. Don't go anywhere, we will need you. It gives me no

pleasure whatsoever to introduce you to Great British Mobility, which is

the trading name for this group, which specialise in adjustable beds

and recliner armchairs. They are based near Weston-super-Mare and run

by for directors. Their sales men are on the loose across the country.

William and Janet were given a free demo. This is their granddaughter.

He brought the chair in for them to try out, he did not leave for two

hours, he would not leave without a sale. They felt pressured into

buying the Che. The salesman wanted them to buy two reclining chairs for

?4500. They said they felt pressured into paying the full amount that

very day. I was very disappointed he had gone into the house and put the

seal through without giving them time to think about what they were

actually wanting. When she complained, the company agreed to

rip up the cheque but it left Janet very shaken and indeed. She was very

upset, she lost a lot of sleep over it. I think it is disgraceful. One

can understand why. We called them it. I think it is disgraceful. One

out to a house filled with tiny cameras. This is a different

representative and he is here to give us a free home demo. That means

there are no strings attached, and who am I to doubt? Look at me, open

mind, anything can happen. I settle to watch proceedings with this

expert. Malcolm sets up his demo chair and

measures the actress but it is not long before the questionable claims

begin. This looks like an armchair, it is actually designed to keep your

health as good as possible. It is getting concerning because he is

talking up the health benefits of this chair, this will do something.

This is an in-built Massad system, it stimulates the blood, it gets

oxygen into it. It is like going from what. Now he is saying this

chair will be like going for a walk. That is not true. Malcolm also lies

by seeing the foam helps to circulate your blood and that the

mass search function can and pain. The medical mischief gets worse.

Eleanor tells him she has a bad back. The doctor said I should sit

with my back upright. I am not contradicting your doctor, but this

chair is supporting you, the doctor is saying you need to be supported.

He is not contradicting the doctor but he is redefining what the doctor

is telling her, I do not know on what basis he can give that advice.

When I have aches and pains I go to the doctor and NIC can second

opinion from a cheer salesman. That is the magical health powers. --

then I seek. That cheer would cost you ?3000. Hold on, this much for a

chair? It would mean a steering wheel and fought fires if it was

that race. Can I sleep on it? Give me time to think about it. It is

reasonable but Malcolm is having none of it. We will try to get to a

conclusion today. To be honest, my mind is confused with all the

options. Malcolm tries desperation tactics, offering to pay the ?700

cost of the mass search function himself. But Eleanor still insists

she needs time to think and tells him so on 16 occasions. Malcolm

responds by giving her the silent treatment. We will time it.

We cannot make you watch all of it, but trust me, it is awkward.

Is the speed of delivery... He has finally said something! His final

role of the dice is the good old-fashioned guilt trip. Every time

I jumped in that vehicle, it is a cost. To come back is a cost. This

does not feel like there is no obligation, it feels like, I have

spent money to see you and we should do this deal. Sensing he is beaten,

Malcolm finally packs his bags and leaves. So far, Great British

Mobility have lied to us, made medical Muppets of us and given us

the silent treatment, yet we are still curious about the chairs. We

asked Malcolm round but this time we will seal the deal. Next, Disneyland

Paris, which promises to make dreams come true, but not if you book early

to stay at one of their seven luxury hotels this summer, because you

might have been told it is currently a building site and you will get is

a bed and a temporary restaurant. -- might not have been told. Disneyland

Paris is the most visited holiday destination in Europe, many go to

visit the seven hotels the Disney company run on site, including this

one with its 100 and -- 1098 rooms. There is Rand 1920s decorations. --

grand. It seems fabulous on paper but I have come to see a family

whose summer holiday is shaping up to be anything but the dream

experience promised in the adverts. Meet the family, Rachel, Trevor,

Isabella, Daniel and Sam. A year ago, they booked a holiday for this

coming June. They will leave in five weeks. We want it to be special. We

are betting on Disney. Did you choose this club in particular?

Absolutely, for us, it has everything, the outdoor pool and the

indoor. It had lovely restaurants, and somewhere I could have a

Jacuzzi, sauna, and my husband could go to the gymnasium. That is why the

family were happy to spend ?2078 on their holiday. When they booked it

they were told the club was undergoing maintenance but were

assured that this work would have been completed in advance of their

trip in June. The family paid the money, sat back, and thought nothing

more of it. A friend of mine at if they could join us, I said we were

staying there, they looked it up, and said, there are no facilities

available. -- requested to join us. Friend was right, that renovation

work had massively overrun and was not expected to be completed until

the end of October, but nobody told the family. Disney didn't tell you?

They did not contact us, I had no idea what was going on. I was under

the illusion I would be turning up at the hotel, everything would be

brand-new. Disney said they contacted the travel agent and the

news was not passed on, but why could Disney not do it themselves

and why did they act so badly when it came to putting the situation

right? When the family discovered what had happened they contacted the

travel agent and the requested to be moved to a similar room at another

Disney hotel, but Disney said they had no availability elsewhere,

leaving them with three options, take a refund and disappoint the

kids by cancelling the holiday, spend more money upgrading to a more

expensive room, or make do with the current one. If they did that, what

kind of experience would they get for the money? I headed off to find

out. First impressions, the hotel looks

impressive, but what about when you get up close? There are two

restaurants, both are supposed to be lovely, so we will go and check them

out. Restaurant number one is boarded up, closed for

refurbishment. Restaurant number two, lines are down, it is also

shot. You can still get food on site but only from this makeshift

restaurant set up in the convention centre. Not exactly the lakeside

view you would expect. One of the hotel's big attractions

is the huge indoor -outdoor swimming pool, but as you can see, it is a

building site, as is the entertainment centre. They are

supposed to have arcade machines here, but as you can see, it is very

much work in progress. Remember the Jacuzzi and gymnasium

they were looking forward to after a tiring day at the theme park? Also

shut. What have we learned? If you come here between now and October

you will find no restaurants, no swimming pool, no facilities and a

whacking great Bill to switch hotels and get the facilities you have paid

for. Our Disney taking the Mickey? Unsurprisingly the family opted not

to stay there, and they paid the money to move to a different hotel.

That is not to say they completely lost out. Some compensation was

offered. ?50 voucher to spend in the park. Fantastic. In the end, to make

sure the kids had their dream holiday, we moved to another hotel,

but we paid more money. We have fought out -- spent another 17

hundred -- 1700 quid. The travel regulations give you specific

rights. When an organiser makes a change the customer should not be

expected to pay more because they have paid for the holiday and a

change the customer should not be expected to pay more because they

have paid for the holiday they won did. If the organiser makes a change

changes forehead -- pays for it. Oh do you feel you have been treated?

Appallingly. It is shocking, the company advertising dreams coming

true letting people down like that. That is a report on one family's

story. We have heard from many more disappointed Disney customers. They

disagree with our legal advice, saying they have fully complied with

travel regulations, and if the only other accommodation is more

expensive, the guest must pick up the tab. In a nutshell, it takes

away the swimming pools, the sauna, the gymnasium, the games room, and

wants you to pay more to get them back. Disney claims it offered

everybody the chance to cancel and all travel agents were made aware

the building work was overrunning. That message clearly did not get

through. Disney said it regrets any disappointment and is trying to

limit disruption. Some hope. It will be at home in England and

Wales and most of the prices will shoot up. Is it possible to cheat

the system? Simon Calder is here for a masterclass.

Simon, travel teacher, welcome. We know what happens, at term comes

along, prices go through the roof. Are these companies profiteering?

They are not, because for most of the year they trade at a loss, but

come the school holidays there will be a surge in demand, they can put

the prices up and turn a profit. So it is economics? It certainly is.

You have some tips for us. School Vase out. On Friday night I'll be

waiting at the school gates, bags all packed, ready to go straight to

the airport. That's because I know you are going to pay far less on a

Friday night than on the Saturday, when everybody wants to travel. How

much? On the 18th of July, flying from Gatwick to Malaga. That's the

day that English schools break up. You will save at least ?36 compared

with the lowest budget airline flight the following day. Hint

number two. This one I call cross-country. It simply takes

advantage of the fact that the holiday dates are different in

different parts of the UK, in particular between Scotland and

England. Scottish family, early July, schools that have broken up

but they happened in England. If you are prepared to travel south to

Newcastle or Manchester, you could save a fortune. At the end of August

the opposite applies. How much is a fortune? A trip to the Algarve, the

Scottish family that goes to Manchester airport could save up to

?400. Going north at the end of August, a family from Manchester

going to Glasgow up to ?700. That more than makes up a train fares and

petrol. Hint three. Business studies. What I mean by this is if

the fares to your holiday destination save Venice or the Costa

del Sol look too high, have a look at a nearby city that is normally

used by business travellers, something like Milan for Venice or

Madrid for Malaga. That's a long distance between Malaga and Madrid,

how do I get there? Let's look at the savings, ?304 to Malaga, ?197 to

Madrid. But you will only pay ?50 or so for a high-speed train if you

book good and early. Glide through the Spanish countryside and save a

fortune along the way. Simon will be staying with us through the show to

answer your travel problems. Details of how to send your questions are on

screen now. Still to come... Beattie Openreach ordered to fix your phone

within two days. Really? We are back with Great British Mobility of

Weston-super-Mare. Not to be confused with other companies who

leave long and awkward silences during their sales pitch.

We've invited salesman Malcolm back for a second visit, only this time

we've got our wallet at the ready. Yes, we've decided to buy one of the

chairs. Malcolm is back to seal the deal. We've opted for a model called

the Cheltenham. But instead of paying more than three grand to get

it made-to-measure, we buy one that Malcolm says has already been made

up in the factory. And we buy it for the knock-down price of, wait for

it, ?2200. Look at it all. Thanks for your business. No, Malcolm,

thank you! Five days later and the most expensive chair that I or

anyone else I know has ever bought arrives in all its glory. But is

this a technological wonder seat? To find out, Simon Biddulph, from the

British standards committee for rising and recline chairs. I think

you sounds like the man for the job! Well, I've had a quick look at the

chair and it looks pretty much representative of what's available

on the market at the moment. You can buy them from high street furniture

stores or mobility outlets. It is pretty much one of the mill. They

claim it is being made in the UK. What is the truth? The frame

definitely is. The actuation system, as far as I'm aware, is made

in China. How much would you expect to spend on a chair like this? 500,

600, 700 or ?800. We paid ?2200 for it. Really? It's a lot of money for

this type of chair. It doesn't make any sense at all. No, I believe it's

grossly overinflated. All we've seen so far is the handiwork of just one

salesman. The one we really want to see in action is the guy who sold to

Jody's grandparents. What was his name? It was Nick. Wouldn't it be

great if we could call Nick out for a free, no obligation home

demonstration with one of our stooges and find out exactly how he

works? Nick from Great British Mobility. I love it when that

happens! Yes, it's a new house and Nick Edmonds, who dealt with

Jodie's grandparents, is knocking on the door. Katie, she's back and

raring to stooge. There is, however, a slight hiccup. You see, its band

practice tonight, but luckily the boys have agreed I can keep an eye

on the seedings and comment musically wherever appropriate.

Please call me Nick. Mick kicks off by talking us to the different

chairs Great British Mobility have on offer. The parts and components

are British, they are not Chinese or Malaysian. What was it that Simon

Biddulph said? The actuation system was made in China. That's not true.

Therefore, Nick is potentially... # Breaking the law!

The commercial practice is misleading if it contains false

information and it causes or is likely to cause the average consumer

to take a transactional decision he would not have taken otherwise. We

are an hour into the demonstration and Nick still hasn't mentioned the

cost. How much do these chairs come out at? She's just asked for the

price. We should know any moment now. Any minute now... No, no. You

see, Nick doesn't tell us for almost another half an hour. 2780. That's a

lot of money. And when Katie says she's unsure she wants to spend

almost three grand on a chair, Nick deploys the favourite tactic of the

pressure seller. The old, call-back to the office on the off chance we

can do you a special deal routine. Sure enough, he's now miraculously

able to drop the price to ?2200, or offer an off-the-shelf version of

the same chair for ?2000. We've got you fantastic price. We know that's

not a fantastic price. Therefore he is...

# Breaking the law! Let me refer you to schedule one

paragraph 18, passing on materially inaccurate information on market

conditions or on the possibility of finding the product with the

intention of inducing the consumer to acquire the project at conditions

less favourable than normal market conditions. Now Catherine needs to

tell Nick that she wants time to think it over. Remember Malcolm?

Eleanor was sure she wanted to buy today 16 times before we got the

message. How about Nick? I'm sorry, I can't make an instant decision

today. Well, it's not instant, is it? It's not instant because of the

work we've done today. It feels instant to me. Maybe I should think

about it a bit more. I don't want to make the wrong decision. I don't

want to rush into anything. It's a new PB. Katie has said she is unsure

needs time to think 31 times before Nick finally gives up. I don't know

what you are going to think about. Wait, wait. High-pressure sales in

and of themselves are not against the law. However, Nick was invited

into her home on the basis of a free, no obligation home

demonstration. Therefore his overall presentation was deceptive and

breaching regulation five of the consumer protection for unfair

trading regulations 2008. And that means he is...

# Breaking the law! And after almost two and a half

hours, Nick finally gives up and leaves. So, two salesman, two

badgering, high-pressure sales pitches. Clearly, they are a company

we need to talk to. Possibly with a bit of accompaniment. See you next

week, guys. That's a bit harsh. Anyway, we are

rocking and rolling our way to a bust up with Great British Mobility,

to let them know that pressure selling to old folk needs to become

a thing of the past. We will be turning it up to 11 in about ten.

Next, FIFA 14, the biggest selling football game on the market. If you

have a child with a PlayStation or Xbox, you almost certainly have a

copy. Then again, it's not just children who play it. Sorry, I'm

about to win the Champions League with Accrington Stanley. Accrington

Stanley, who are they? IN A LIVERPUDLIAN ACCENT: Exactly! I'm

taking Accrington Stanley back to the big time. It lets you turn the

lowliest clubs into world beaters. They come in special "player packs"

, which you can earn if you are good that the game or you can buy them.

But you can't pick them, you only find out what your players are after

you open the packs. The player packs start at 79p, so how come some

customers are finding themselves with bills of nearly ?1500. Player

packs are the key to building the ultimate fantasy team in FIFA 14.

And to gamers, netting the best players in the world is a very big

deal indeed. Messi! No, why has this happened? It is often parents who

are actually paying for these packs. My son loves playing FIFA, so I must

dash back I was persuaded to buy his first play packs using my debit

card. But what I didn't realise is that PlayStation and Xbox keep hold

of your card details. So all my son had to do was hit confident purchase

while he was playing and, hey presto, my card was charged again

completely without my knowledge. And, by the way, before I got wind

of the fact that he'd run up a ?79 bill. And I'm just one of dozens of

parents we've heard from you been caught out in this way. And it's not

surprising. Making repeated purchases is remarkably easy. There

is remarkably easy. There's no password codes, no messages to

double check you want to make the purchase. You just select the item

you want and press confirm. The process is so simple that for many

kids playing the game it is not obvious you are making an actual

financial transaction. Just ask Henry and his mum, Fran. Henry, why

do you love playing FIFA so much? I get to play with my friends on it.

It's really fun because my friends got really good players in packs and

I wanted to get those players as well. Did it ever occur to you to

think that you were spending real money? No, I didn't. How shocked

were you when you found out? Vary. Fran, you were never at any point,

while Henry was buying these packs, prompted to re-enter your card

details or anything? Nothing at all. It's made so easy for children, just

at the click of a button they have access to your bank account. My son

racked up ?79, but that was just in an afternoon. Over six weeks, what

did Henry cost you? ?1500. Did you have any idea this was happening?

Non-whatsoever, we'd never bought him a single pack. When I entered my

debit card details, I knew it was the paper player packs. But for Fran

and other parents to Britain to us, that wasn't the case. Because they'd

used their credit cards to sign up for something else entirely, either

Xbox live or PlayStation plus. These are the consoles online subscription

services that let you play against other gamers via the internet. It's

outrageous that they could... We agreed to sign up for one thing and

they continued to use our card or other payments without our

knowledge. And it is an easy thing to get caught out by because you

might have signed up to those services a long time before. David

Porter, from the Shetlands, has been an Xbox owners since 2009. He bought

his son FIFA 14 last September. Two months later he got his credit card

bill. I opened it and there were four pages. It was all Xbox, Xbox.

The total came to be ?1260. Once again, Microsoft were taking the

payments for the player packs from the credit card he'd used to sign up

to Xbox Live. But here's the thing, he'd done that over four years ago.

To me, it was a subscription that would keep on being renewed on a

year-to-year basis. I didn't think for a minute you would be able to

purchase, certainly not spend this amount of money. This is

consistently happening on both the PlayStation and the Xbox. And the

fact they retain the right to do this isn't exactly spelled-out.

These are the terms and conditions for Microsoft and Sony's online

services. Both over 6000 words long, both with complicated

statements buried deep within, stating that they retain the right

to charge but other services besides the ones you've already signed up

for. They are not exactly spelling it out. There is a way to let both

Microsoft and Sony know that the person playing isn't an adult and

therefore shouldn't be treated as such. There are parental controls

that you can use to set up restricted accounts for children or

teenagers. But, as Peter and his son, James, found out, even after

taking those precautions you can still fall foul of FIFA 14. I was

meticulous about setting up 18 account on the Xbox, on the

expectation that the key system default would be purchase

protection, not accessing inappropriate content and the like.

We paid for the Microsoft Xbox Live account and played. But it made no

difference because Peter, too, received a shock bill. There was

over ?1200 of Xbox transactions within a 14 or 15 day period. When

Peter went back to check the parental controls he discovered that

even if you set up a team account, the default setting is still to

allow a parent's credit card to be charged for endgame purchases. You

have to deselect that option to prevent your child spending your

money. This is a 21st-century gaming system but the parental controls,

the access, the logic, it's just not good enough. EA sports said they are

looking to improve clarity over purchases in all their games. Xbox

says it is clear that real money is being spent when you buy the packs.

They note that one of the people in the film received a partial refund

and apologises and says they will improve how they handle complaints.

They recommend using other payment types such as gift cards is to stop

your card being used for unauthorised payments. They suggest

setting up a child account and activating e-mail alerts. Keep your

stories coming in. Here are more? -- you are more: BT Openreach has been

warned by Ofcom overtaking too long to fix faults and carry out

installations. Last year we reported on how this street was left with no

access for two months. BT will have two working days to complete 80% of

all working repairs reported to them. They will have 12 days to get

appointments for new customers. If they fail, they could get fined.

They are hiring 1600 new engineers but will this improve things? Let us

know, if your Internet is working, that is. If you are going somewhere

warm this half term you might to think twice about what sun lotions

to pack. Six suntan lotions were selected by a consumer magazine, and

these three, the most expensive on the list, all failed. Results

indicated they are just factor 25 or below. They stand by the products,

claiming in their own test the match the levels of factor 30. Just be

careful, try not to get burnt. This week, Ted too-mac was hit with the

largest ever penalty -- e.ON was hit with the largest ever penalty for a

power supply in the UK. They were given it for mis-selling because

information has routinely been given out to customers. On top of the

fine, they have been ordered to pay compensation which could cost them

?8 million. Here is something you don't hear often. We are devastated,

absolutely occasions. He and his company need

to know the behaviour is not access the ball. To coin a phrase, we are

putting the band back together. Here is the news, Nick is on his way

background. We have put a new line-up together. We are called No

Obligation Home Demonstration. Our actress has called him round for a

second consultation, except this time, my band are waiting to rock

out in the conservatory. On time, he approaches the house so it is time

to stop rehearsals and get ready for the headline act. Katie and soothes

the door while the band and I wait to see what he has got to say. After

some chat, whilst he sets up the demonstration chair, Katie asks him

one more time about the ?2200 he has quoted her. You think this is a good

price? Yes, I do. It is the retail and with some discounts. You get

what you pay for. That is another ten breach of consumer

demonstration. He is not allowed to suggest it is a good price when we

know it is not. Katie asks him to, check if the chair would fit into

her conservatory. Clearly, it would not because currently squeezed in

there is my band and a camera crew. Perhaps you can have a look and see

if you think it would fit. Nick, you are potentially breaking the law.

Nick, BBC Rogue Traders. The point that we are making their is what you

have been doing breaches several regulations, specifically against

trading regulations from 2008. When you enter somebody's home on the

basis of a no obligation demonstration and then you actually

pursue high-pressure sales technique, as we have seen you

doing... On 31 occasions our Lady expressed reservations about what

was taking place and you overrode those and tried to get an ants from

her today. That was fine. Then I walked away from it. The chair that

we were potentially buying is worth six or ?700. That is what the

equivalent chair would cost if you are going to buy it on the open

market, whereas in fact you were selling it for three times that

value. If you were selling it for three times that value. If you're

doing that, that is a breach of the regulations of 2008. The other copy?

My company probably does. I will give you one here. We have marked up

the areas in which you were deficient and misleading in your

sales pitch. I don't need to be. Can you see that when you are pushing

for a sale on the day like that it leads to people making the wrong

decisions, decisions that they would not have made otherwise? This is why

I really do it. You did it on this occasion. She needs a chair, she

also needs... You are loving this. You can understand why we have done

what we have done. I will tell you the circumstances under which we

would not be having this discussion, is when she said she had some time

to think about it, you said, fine, key is my card, take as much time as

you want. That would have been no obligation, three home

demonstration. So it is the one thing. We have for breaches of the

consumer protection regulations. We also have the fact that you said it

was a great deal. What I first initially says is you can get

cheaper chairs. An equivalent would be available for ?700. I don't know

that. Well you should if you're telling people that is a great deal.

You need to know that. If you're telling people it is a great deal

you need to know it is a great deal and not three times the cost of an

equivalent chair somewhere else. The conversation goes on for a few

minutes whilst Nick packs the demonstration chair away. You're

going in on the basis of no obligation. I am allowed to ask if

they want to buy. Of course you are. And then when they say

they want to buy. Of course you are. understand people need to sell

things, but the way they sell them, that is what the regulations are

there to prescribe and make sure it is done properly, they are

absolutely crucial. I will pass it onto my, we will take it on board. I

will not say it has been a pleasure. Nice to meet you. There he goes,

Nick from Great British Mobility. I think he took some of that on board.

There he is, rocking and rolling his way out of Telford. In a statement

to us, the mobility rental group apologised for any mistakes made and

hope to learn from them. They told us trading ethically and legally our

core principles of their business. They have checks in place to ensure

everybody at the company treats customers with care and respect.

With respect, that does not appear to be working. As for Nick and

Malcolm, they have been suspended and they become the next faces on

the rogues gallery. We have questions for Simon Calder.

And the, are the comparison sites for holidays accurate? I would look

at them to get some idea of what prices are like, but I would not put

through them because of mischief on the Internet. I would go direct to

the company, see what prices they are quoting, or indeed, go through a

travel agent, the original price comparison service. This e-mail,

does it make a difference if you leave for your holiday midweek

rather than the weekend? It certainly does. If you look at

Wednesday Wednesday holiday, that will use up six days of working

time, if you go Saturday- Saturday, that is only a five-day week. Demand

is lower, prices tend to be lower. Amanda in Lincolnshire says she has

no choice but to go during the school holidays, is there a last

minute cheap deal? I am always in school holidays, is there a last

favour of packing up the car, heading for Dover, finding a lovely

campsite down there. You can always find crossings in France. It is a

lovely part of France, you can keep the lid on spending. That is the

watchdog trip sorted. Keep sending your stories in. There is the other

option of writing to us at this address.

Coming up next week, Royal Sun Alliance and Churchill, the

insurance companies who promised after the floods to get you back

into your home very quickly. Did they? Pontoons, the dangers at their

Southport holiday camp that left an 11-year-old boy looking like this.

And a close encounter with one of the roughest rogues he has come

across. That is all on the programme next

Wednesday. Good night.