Episode 2 Watchdog

Tonight - we've caught one of Britain's best known

companies promising a service it can't deliver.

Whether it's big names, false claims, or fraudsters

after your money - this is Watchdog:

Hello, welcome back to Watchdog - live from our studio in Salford.

And what a stir we caused with the stories that kicked off

Yeah, we went global with headlines hitting Malibu to Milton Keynes -

and thousands of you have been in touch since.

We'll have the latest on some of those stories.

And we've plenty more to get you fired up about tonight.

Apprentice legend, Nick Hewer has been asking if the big banks

are there for you when you get scammed.

As one couple did to the tune of ?8,000, and it's something

we could all fall for, but it seems some banks

The way Santander treated us was worse than the fall. I was in tears

on the phone because I just wanted someone to help us.

Plus I'll be chasing down more rogue traders -

this week going after an emergency plumbing business who bring

their own emergency, charging like a wounded rhino.

And Nikki and our swab mob team have been at it again.

No, really if you're in a hotel you really might not

We found serious failings in the way some of our major hotel chains

It's a bacteria we really don't want to be coming across. We certainly

don't want to be finding it in bathrooms, where guests are staying.

As usual, the team behind me would love to hear what you've got

So you can email us - at [email protected].

But first tonight, a subject we know lots of you feel

Broadband speeds that aren't what you were promised.

We know there's millions of you out there frustrated

Hello everyone. Hello! That was loud.

And a good few of you are upset with one company in particular...

Steph is going to be talking to the CEO here in a few minutes.

But he'll need to explain why the speeds his company delivers can

Superb speeds, ultrafast, speeds that start where rivals finish. It's

the key message Virgin Media likes to ram home about its broadband.

This is what it feels like to be the fastest.

And it was the promise of high speeds that convinced Mike from

Barnsley to sign up to Virgin's full house bundle, or which for ?55 a

month combined cable TV, phone and broadband, but Mike says he rarely

had the speed he was promised. The service was never what Virgin said

it was going to be. And he was given a particular reason for why that

might be. Virgin sent out an engineer who said we have high

utilisation issues in this area. He said the speeds will pick up and the

high utilisation problem will get sorted out, but to this day, it's

never happened. Plenty of other Virgin customers who have contacted

us have had their problems blamed on high utilisation as well. I was told

utilisation was the issue. The term they used was utilisation structural

utilisation. But what do all these excuses really mean? In effect,

Virgin seems to be admitting it signed up to many customers in some

areas. All of this putting pressure on the fibre network, slowing down

speeds for those sharing that cable. I have come to Manchester to meet a

family who are really having a nightmare with this.

Win and rocky signed up to a 200 megabits a second package after

being assured they received the top speeds advertised, but for months

they have also been struggling with speeds that at times can be 90%

slower, which is particularly annoying for the couple's son, who

has Crohn's disease. What are we playing? Rocket league. You like to

use the Internet quite a lot? Just. What you doing on it, apart playing

games? I go on like social media apps and talk to my friends, yeah,

stuff like that. That's really important to you? Yes. You don't get

to go out that much because you don't feel well. Are you going to

get it working? It's not connecting. It's not connecting, is that normal?

Yes. That's annoying, I was well up for a game of that.

However cheesed off he might be, it's nothing compare to his mum and

dad, the ones footing the bill. What have you done about it?

From about January onwards, since signing the contract, I've been

nonstop on the phone. It's been horrendous. You were told the

problem was over utilisation? Yes, I was told by one of the engineers

when he came out to change the box. Have you been offered a fixed date?

We have, first it was the 31st of August, then they changed it to

November the 22nd. What ideally, for you, would you want to see happen? I

just want it to be better. I want the kids to be happy, that they can

go on their gadgets whenever they want.

Five minutes up the road, it's a similar story at the home of Steven

Sofia, where slower than expected broadband has been a real problem,

because both Steven and teenage son Adam are avid gamers, and Sofia is

currently studying for a university degree.

We use to get a really reliable service, but about a year ago it

started to fall apart. We started to get really significant slowdown

after 6pm. I'm studying, so I need to be online, and I needed be

uninterrupted. After getting speeds of just 5

megabits per second at times, they decided to end their Virgin Media

contract, but not before curiosity got the better of them, and Steven

hatched a plan to see if the company might still be making promises he

knew it couldn't keep. I took it myself to go into the

store in Manchester and pretend to be moving into the area, pretended

to be buying this house. Did you wear a hat a moustache? I wanted to!

Did you? LAUGHTER You saw it might make you stand out.

The trench coat was a bit too and believable. I went in pretending to

be moving into the area, asked them what the maximum speed was but I

could get in this area. They said they are now offering 300 megabytes

to some customers. They said there might be some slowdown around

tea-time but other than that, they said they don't have to offer a

minimum speed guarantee because it doesn't slow down. You said that's

brilliant, but inside what were you saying to yourself? You dirty liars!

Basically. I knew that wasn't the case. So was this just a one-off

mistake, or could Virgin Media be routinely promising new customers

speeds it knows it can't deliver? To find out, we went undercover.

First, we picked houses in areas where Virgin Media has admitted to

customers that there is a problem with high utilisation. Over the

course of the week we measured the exact speed each of those addresses

was getting on one of the company's fastest packages. Then, posing as

new customers, we meet ten visits and phone calls to Virgin, to see if

the company's promises matched up to the actual speeds we'd So what speed

would we get about property? Virgin Media is signed up to offer

an's broadband code of practice, which means it agrees to provide

customers with realistic speeds that are as accurate as possible for

their address. But, that's not what we got.

First, we gave an address in a high utilisation area in Stevenage, and

here's the speed they said we could expect.

Well, he couldn't have been clearer. No lower than 140 megabits per

second, but our tests at that address showed speed as low as 5

megabits a second at peak hours. Not a great start. And things were

no better at the next store. We gave an address in Merseyside, where

great things were promised. Really? We didn't even get close to

that 150 he was promising, and we've been measuring speeds they're all

week, which even went as low as 10 megabits per second. We went to

three other stores, and none of them gave us realistic speeds either. And

when we asked their call centres, we heard more of the same claims, even

when Virgin's Brett said they couldn't provide exact data for our

address, they were still happy to give estimates that were completely

unrealistic. Take this call, where we posed as a customer in a

high-capacity part of Luton. In reality, our tests found speeds

as low as just 6 megabits per second that this house, not the 160

claimed. So, in the ten visits and phone calls we made to Virgin, while

we were usually told things might slowdown at peak times, not once

were we given anything close to a realistic speed for the areas we

were calling about. And that's especially surprising as Virgin

Media's CEO Tom Mockridge very publicly stated the industry needs

to clean up its act when it comes to advertising speeds, saying that

consumers should know what they are paying for.

So, Tom Mockridge, over to you, why is your company offering speeds it

knows it can't deliver? Let's find out, with us is Virgin's

chief executive, Tom Mockridge. Thank you for joining us. We saw

more clearly transparency is something that is important to you,

but your sales agents haven't been transparent. Why are they promising

speeds you can't deliver? First of all, good evening staff, thank you

for having me here. I think there were some very good points raised in

that video, and I acknowledge the issues. Basically, we're suffering

from growing pains. The network is growing exponentially with more and

more people using Internet. We are growing number of customers we have

and investing 3 billion to expand the network, to compete with BT. In

combination, means in some areas we have fallen short of what we should

have done. I think you have drawn attention to that very well. We have

gone back into those areas and each of the hub sites you brought

particular attention to in that video, we have gone and made

improvements so they do deliver the speed. You admit you have some

problems in some areas. Why are you still signing up new customers in

these areas and telling them, promising them, they will get speeds

you can't deliver Marcelo that's a good point and frankly we shouldn't.

We do have a process, that if the speed is and what it should be, we

take those residences or geographies out of the sales process. It wasn't

tight enough, it existed but it wasn't tight enough. We have

tightened it up so that problem doesn't rear car. Equally, I have

written to all of our salespeople to remind them of their obligation to

make it clear to customers the points you made there, that peak

time capacity might not always be exactly what was promised, and

equally that we have tightened up to make sure we can't sell to those

areas where we do need to invest more. You are clearly making

changes, which I'm sure lots of customers will be relieved to hear

about. Can you ever guarantee they will get the speeds? What we are

hearing is very specific promises being made, and they are lying,

aren't they, the sales agents? Some have been overly exuberant, that's

why I have taken action to write to them all. But we can't guarantee.

The network usage is growing... You can't guarantee that your promising

people? We don't guarantee, we do stay up to, you pointed out yourself

that we made clear that at peak time when everyone is on the Internet,

people are downloading video, great programmes at this, this does put a

lot of pressure on the network. We are investing more than any other

company in the UK. We are investing without subsidy, 3 billion in our

project, likely to extend the network. If you are investing, you

are saying you can't guarantee, can't ever guarantee a speed, can

people leave a contract without penalty if you cannot give them the

speed they should be getting? What we do with our customers or the time

in any given week we have 100,000 customers... Yes or no, can they

leave their contract? We deal with each case on its own merit. On its

own -- yes or no? Sometimes people leave the route on the side... Some

will be able to leave? Sometimes people leave, of course they leave

Virgin Media. Without penalty? We discuss it with each customer on its

merits, but we treat people absolutely fairly. Tom Mockridge,

thank you for your time. Well, Wayne and Rocky,

who we saw in the film, is with us. You must be thrilled to be

getting a better service? Well done for getting in touch! Glad

we can help. One problem sorted. Still plenty contacting us with

problems. So Andrew Ferguson from consumer

website Think Broadband We'll start you off with one

from Dispesh over here. Tell us about the problem. So I got

promised between 100 and 150 meg. I got speeds of five and ten at most

and it was difficult to load a Google page. Basic stuff, you are

not able to do. Andrew, what can he do, is he legally entitled to leave

his contract? Given the big gap in speed, speeds from 150 down to ten,

it's a massive gap. Yeah, clearly, there is a good reason and it should

be very much the case as the CEO said, we will deal with cases. It's

all individual, until you chase up with the company, and tell them to

escalate your complaint they won't do anything. Do the checks and the

speed tests, get the information. We have a lot more questions coming in.

You are here for us tonight on Facebook live. You go to our

Facebook website to tackle your broadband queries. It's on Facebook

now. Ready for Rouge Traders? Yes! Thank goodness we got the right

answer there. A business claims to be there for you in an emergency,

but it is waiting to turn your emergency into a financial crisis.

Leicester has been home so some terrific success stories in recent

times. Obviously, there is the football. Let's not forget they also

found a King under a car park. In fact, it was in this very car park

that King Richard III's body was discovered buried under the ground.

It took some heavy digging by the team involved to establish, not only

that he was who they thought he was, but, crucially, that he was the man

in charge. Which brings me neatly to

Leicester-based plumbing company Faster Response.

Because they've been causing a few Winters of discontent of their own.

And we have had to do serious digging as tracking down the men

behind the operation has been no mean feat. Billing themselves as an

emergency callout plumbing service, they've been laying waste to the

bank accounts of elderly customers across the Midlands for a little

while now. The company was originally called Crimson

Maintenance. Then in 2016, the company changed its name to Faster

Response. And we kept getting complaints about them. As did

trading standards. So they told them to... Stop it! And in January,

Russell and Liam signed an agreement promising to change their bad ways.

Well done boys. Then, in what appears to be a coins dental turn of

events they resigned as directors of Faster Response the next month,

February. But here's the thing, the complaints about Faster Response

kept coming and they followed a similar pattern. Overcharging for

crazy simple stuff, and shoddy workmanship. When Russell and Liam

resigned their directorships, they handed over to these guys.

We don't have photos of these two because they're quite tricky to pin

down. The company itself seems a bit shy, even in its adverts. In the

Yellow Pages, for instance, the name is nowhere to be seen, almost as if

they don't want people to know who they're calling out.

Eleanor didn't know which plumber she had rung after discovering a

serious leak in her water tank late one night in March. She had gone

straight to the Yellow Pages and called the number on a prominent

advert that seemed to be just what she needed. It hadn't got a name but

it was marked as a 24-hour emergency callout. Without knowing it, Eleanor

had called Faster Response. Two hours later a plumber arrived. He

told me there was a part of the ballcock that had deteriorated and

there was a leak in a pipe. The plumber told Eleanor he wouldn't be

able to complete the job that night as he needed parts but before he

left he called the office who demanded payment upfront. I couldn't

believe it. ?512. That was if you paid in cash. The other option was

to pay by card. If you did that, you had to pay VAT on top. So they gave

you an option to pay effectively VAT-free for cash. Yes. But more

expensive with a card? Yes. Wow. Eleanor paid by card, bringing the

price up to ?614. The next evening the plumber returned and fitted the

new parts, the whole job had taken less than two hours, but before he

left he asked for a further payment to cover the return visit. For the

second night I was charged another ?375 on top of the ?614 I had just

paid. Hold on, that's nearly ?1,000. It is. Under two hours' work. And

the only parts that had been fitted are minimal. Yes. That's ridiculous.

I nearly dropped when they told me the price. The next day, worried

about what she had been charged, Eleanor called another plumber to

come and inspect the work. They said that Faster Response had replaced

one part unnecessarily, the work had been done badly and should have cost

no more than ?200. I regret that I called them. They're very dishonest

in my opinion. It seems like this would be the right time to check out

the company's work ourselves. We have a house, we have an actress.

And we have got an expert. Mike Griffin. Our knight in steel toe

caps who will damage our toilet handle. Most plumbers will charge a

minimum charge plus the cost of materials. You can buy a handle and

set for ?10 or less and fix it inside of 20, 30 minutes. This is

the sort of basic job that someone who has come out of plumbing college

will be able to tackle easily. We called the number for Faster

Response to a job that should cost around ?60 to ?10000 to fix. Hello,

the toilet -- ?100. Once again they seem to be avoiding using the name

Faster Response and give no clue about what they might be charging

but here we are, plumber Zach is in the house wearing a shirt that says

Faster Response. He is part of the plumbing team that's brought misery

to the Midlands. Will he be causing a headache in our home? We will be

seeing Zach do his thing possibly illegally in a few minutes. And that

price, not very nice. Let's catch up on a couple

of our stories from last week. Loads of messages and people talking

about smart metres and problems installed. So many messages, thank

you so much. We heard of a similar experience to ones we saw in our

report about smart metres. Matt Taylor says he had a smart

meter installed and the electrics Karen Stott's 89-year-old mum

in law had a gas leak And Darren Butland says his

mum was left with gas Well, the Government department

responsible has told us that: "Ensuring the safe roll out of smart

meters is the number one priority of the programme and safety

is continuously reviewed". But keep your comments

on that story coming. Lots of you told us you're not

convinced the company has changed the way it

allocates its seats. Splitting people up unless they've

paid for reserved seats. Martyn Jackson says his group of 12

were all allocated a middle seat on a different row,

despite there being plenty He calls it,

"Absolutely disgusting". On the show last week Ryanair's Head

of Marketing insisted there's I would say it is random, that's

what we call it, it's random allocated seating.

People on social media weren't convinced.

And Ryanair's been pretty active on Twitter about this too.

It says when free seats open it keeps the window and aisle seats

back for passengers who pay to reserve them. I called them to ask.

You are saying that you hold the window and aisle seat and you are

likely to end up in a middle seat. To be separated. It means it's not

random, doesn't it? They wouldn't give me an answer on the phone. On

e-mail Ryanair are still insisting it is random. But it also says if

you haven't paid you should not expect to sit together.

Doesn't sound random, does it? Keep your thoughts coming in on

that. Watchdog - once we get our teeth

in we don't let go! Next tonight, a horribly convincing

scam you need to know Who else would we get

to tell this story but Lord Most of us like to think we're

pretty good at spotting a fake. But as scams become more sophisticated

it can be much harder to distinguish what is real and what isn't.

And I've nearly fallen prey a few times. I've had fraudsters call me

with dodgy investments, I even had one call me posing as my bank.

Luckily, I managed to spot those scams before they got hold of my

money and now I campaign to raise awareness about fraud so that people

don't get caught out. Paul and Helen contacted Watchdog after receiving a

convincing text message that wasn't what it seemed. Tell me about this

text message. What did it say? I received a text message from

Santander saying money had been taken out of my account and to call

a number to confirm whether it was a genuine transaction. Why did you

think the text came from the bank? Because it had come from a text

stream from Santander. It made me believe that it was a genuine text

message. The fraudsters had found a way to disguise their number so that

it showed up on Paul's phone as exactly the same as Santander, a

method known as number spoofing. So their message appeared here, right

in the middle of real messages from Santander here.

You can understand why Paul believed it was real. So you called the

number on the text. Got through, what made you think you were talking

to the bank? He had already explained some previous

transactions, asked me all the same security questions as when I

previously phoned up. So I thought I was talking to the bank. Sadly, it

wasn't. The fraudsters could use Paul's answers to access his

account. Then, to get their hands on his money they made up a story of a

failed mortgage payment he supposedly needed to reconfirm. That

triggered a genuine text from Santander to Paul's phone containing

the one-time pass code required for any such transaction. It's intended

as a security check but with no reason to suspect he wasn't talking

to his bank, Paul passed it on. People might wonder why you read

that code out on the phone. It was explained as a code to confirm a

previous transaction I made on my business account. When did you first

think hello, I might not be talking to my bank? I didn't. It was only

until I received a phone call from Santander later in the evening to

explain that all my money had been transferred out of my account. I was

shocked. I felt sick. ?8,000 had been cleared from his account. The

financial conduct authority is clear that banks must refund money you

have lost through fraud. But banks can refuse to pay if they can prove

you have been grossly negligent. Santander refused to refund Paul

because he had given out that one-time pass code. Even though he

had been sure he was talking to his bank. They didn't seem to be that

bothered that we had money taken out of our account. The way Santander

treated us was worse than the fraud because it was frustrating, I was

five months pregnant at the time. I was in tears on the phone. I just

wanted someone to try to help us. Just how can fraudsters manage to

hack into your text and make this So convincing? I have asked Tim, a text

security expert to demonstrate how it might work. Tim, how do these

fraudulent texts infiltrate text streams from that customer's bank?

Let me show you. Our software here will launch a

message as if it's coming from your bank. Hold on.

Look at that. That's your bank sending a proper message. Now what I

can do is I can use the same software the criminals will use in

order to show you this one will look exactly the same.

Here we go, look at that, you couldn't tell the difference, could

you? Absolutely not, it looks the same. This kind of number spoofing

scam has targeted customers of most of the big banks, but it does appear

Santander customers are especially vulnerable. That's because while the

majority of UK banks use text messages to communicate with their

customers, Santander is the only bank to rely solely on text messages

to verify transactions, and the same systems that fraudsters use to pose

as your bank, can also be used to intercept genuine texts as well.

Should banks be relying on text messages per verification? It's an

old system, it was never designed for security. The one-time pass code

base in June text messages better than just having a username and

password, but when you are using SMS messages, you really don't know who

it's come from. This electrician Adrian had ?27,000 stolen after

responding to a text he also thought was from Santander, and it couldn't

have happened at a worse time. It was two days before Christmas, it

was terrible. We did have a wedding to plan for, and a honeymoon. I

started crying, because I could see what had happened and I just felt

sick. When Adrian spoke to what he

believed was his bank, he is adamant he simply answered several security

questions, but Santander refuse to refund the money he'd lost, claiming

he'd been negligent by giving out a one-time pass code, something Adrian

insists he did not do. What's more, he can prove he didn't

respond to a genuine text Santander are sent at the time the fraudsters

were stealing his cash. The bank had asked him to confirm the

transaction. Without that confirmation, no money should have

been transferred, but the bank did it anyway.

It just leaves a bitter taste in your mouth, that something like that

can happen so easily, without giving them all the information.

Losing the money meant Adrian had to delay his honeymoon with pride Holly

and borrow from friends and family. I've never been in debt and neither

has Adrian, so to start life off like that, married life, is not

really what you intended. So, is Santander are being fair in

accusing customers of negligence? I have brought our research fraud

investigator and expert witness to see what he thinks that really

means. Santander are arguing that customers

have been negligent in giving out their one-time password, what do you

think? Gross negligence... This is not just about being callous, it's

writing down the pin for your debit card on a piece of paper and keeping

it in your wallet or purse with your credit card. In my view, what has

happened in these cases is not gross negligence. They haven't given out

their one-time pass code. They were disclosing it to Santander, as far

as they were concerned. Here is the hundred thousand dollar question, as

they say, should Santander give the customers their money back? Simple

answer - yes. Their processes are extremely weak and they are being

exploited by fraudsters. Santander should be refunding their money.

We bank customers can never afford to relax, we must remain alert to

spot these scams, but shouldn't the banks have a responsibility to

ensure their systems are not open to abuse? Clearly a very convincing

scam. Well, Santander's told us it

dedicates substantial resources to protect customers from this kind

of criminal activity, using robust technology, and continuously

educating customers. It says it prevents the vast

majority of fraud, but if a customer provides their passwords

or passcodes to fraudsters, this can allow a criminal to make

fraudulent payments. It says both our cases divulged

vital personal details. But the bank accepts it could have

handled Paul's case better and has And since then Paul has

managed to retrieve ?4,000 from the bank the fraudulent

transaction was paid into. The bank also points out

that the cases in our film And it's given three rules

to protect against fraud: Never download software or let

people log on to your account And never enter your online banking

details after clicking It's stressed it will never ask

you to do any of these things. A solicitor specialising in fraud of

exactly this type. I will be honest, I'm worried, I'm confused and

worried now put I thought the banks were there to protect me from

exactly this sort of thing. Where does the bank's responsibility to me

as a customer to protect me begin and end? The payment service

regulation puts the onus on banks to ensure they provide secure banking

facilities. They should be infiltrated, copied or mimicked. If

it is used to imitate a one-time pass code on a text message, that is

the bank's responds pretty, they are failing and they should be

protecting, that is their responsibility. If we're talking to

third parties in giving away our information voluntarily, that's our

responsibility. But if the bank allows our confidence to be

breached, it's their failing. High-street banks are disappearing

at a rate. A lot of us have no option but to use telephone and

online banking services, using our mobiles. Is the reality that we are

not up to speed and that these services that we have to use now are

too difficult for a lot of people? I think it's a fair comment. I think

we are pushed onto remote banking services a lot more and there's lots

of ways that those be defrauded. We may need to take more responsibility

at times but it's about being vigilant, taking a bit more time to

think about who you are communicated with, what you're being asked to do

and phone your bank if you are unsure. Thank you very much.

Our swab mob checked in - to check them out.

Back to tonight's Rogue Traders, where 24-hour callout plumbers

Faster Response are highly skilled at performing emergency

We've invited one of their oppos into our house full of cameras.

Will they use it to get a hold of our money?

Our expert Mike has set a fault which should cost no more than ?100

to fix and has settled into the hide. Faster Response plumber Zach

is on the loo in a flash and in a few minutes he had spotted the

problem and is off to get a part. Half an hour later, Zak is back and

ready to tend to the faulty toilet flush. Well, nearly ready. A

screwdriver, you say question yes, I imagine as a plumber that could come

in handy. Tools finally in hand, it takes just a few minutes to get the

toilet flushing. Speedy. Now he just needs to tell us how much we owe

him. Sorry? ! ?630?! Yes, please say that

again. Oh, that's including VAT, right.

Perfectly reasonable, for one hour's work.

Doris hands over the money, but we still can't get over the fact this

couldn't have cost more than ?100 to fix.

Same-day service, well, that's good to know for future reference. It

will be important later. Mike takes a look at what we got the

nearly ?500. We've got a ?10 part, fitted to the

toilet, and wages would have embarrassed a barrister in this day

and age. I can't believe it. In the city where they dug up a king, we've

have been charged a kings ransom for a throne. But the digging doesn't

there. This dump any claims to be gas safe registered but the number

they give doesn't check out. I mean, you don't just make a mistake with

something like that. Normally we'd give a company the benefit of the

doubt at this stage, but this is starting to feel like... Everybody

deserves a second chance, otherwise we would never have got to see the

film diplomat. Break out the tiny cameras, wiggling again. And that's

what we did, and other house with another Mike Griffin fudge up, this

time on the water tank. The fault I'm going to said today, I'm going

to bend the arm of the valve ever so slightly, in order to allow extra

water into the tank so the water will run out of the overthrow and

trip outside. No more than ?100 to fix again, no matter how much of an

emergency it is. And it turns out it's not much of an emergency as far

as the company is concerned. We called at 11:30am. They richly said

early afternoon, then for a crock, then five. What was the reason they

gave before for being so expensive? I did say it would be important, and

at 520 we are told engineer Richard will definitely not be able to make

it out to our emergency today. They eventually tell us you will come in

the morning instead. Richard finally arrived the next day, 20 minutes

later than promised. Mike's watching the action unfold,

and without even taking the lid off our tag or checking the ball valve,

Richard is off to the shops. Stuff, like repairing stuff, for

repairing things? Richard is actually off to buy a ball valve

that shouldn't be too hard to find, it's a very common part to find and

there is a plumber's merchant a few minutes up way. 50 minutes later he

arrives at the new ball valve. He heads upstairs to fix it and in no

time at all our tank is in fact fixed. Richard then heads out to

call the office to get that elusive price. Just under ten minutes later,

he's back, and it seems the price he is about to deliver is so shocking

he can't even bring himself to say it.

Does it feel like Richard is trying to distance himself from Faster

Response? Yes folks, that's right, ?768 for

changing a ball valve. Farewell to you benefit of the doubt. Goodbye!

So, a company that scams oldies out of hundreds by bumping up prices.

We've seen in encouraging people not to pay their VAT, and if you choose

to complain about any of this, they will brush you off like the dirt

from Jay-Z's shoulder. One for the kids! Then there's the small matter

of who is actually running the company first remember, up until

February, the directors were Russell Canfield and Liam Cuffe, but they

resigned. So why have we spotted them going into the office almost

every day? Why are they the only people who go into that office not

dress for work? Come on, flip-flops! Their cars aren't exactly plumber 's

vans and also why is there very little information on the named

directors anywhere else? Is it because Russell and Liam are in fact

still in control of the company were trying to avoid any more scrutiny by

appearing to step away? Well... They can dodge the VAT, but they can't

dodge the Matt. Yes, in about 10 minutes

we'll seek answers from Russell Canfield and Liam J Cuffe -

and crown them Rogue Traders. But before that, Nikki

and her team have been ploughing through the messages you've been

sending while we've been on air. Last week's tweets, the coffee hit

the fan. We are getting loads on rogue traders but what else? Lots of

people getting in touch about their Virgin Media broadband speeds. Glenn

got in touch, thank you so much, he lives in Mansfield. He says his

Virgin was brilliant and a year ago and now his speeds are fluctuating

quite dramatically. Another viewer, Will has got in contact, he says his

Virgin service is disastrous. He was told it would be fixed for two years

but he doesn't get a decent service at any time of day. And lots of

people are concerned about the use of text messages by Santander. I

really want to hear about that, all banks, the way they communicate with

you and what might have happened. I understand, once again, you have

been out with the world fame as swap mob. Yes. This week we have been

swapping some of Britain's biggest hotel chains.

There are some things we are used to finding in a hotel room, tiny shower

jels, undrinkable coffee and of course a plug socket miles away from

the bed. Above all, what you always expect is a room that's been

thoroughly cleaned. Because, let's face it, none of us really like to

think too much about who's been in the room the night before. We

certainly don't want to find any reminders of them being there. But

according to some viewers even the biggest hotel chains don't always

deliver the standards you might hope for. Liska stayed at a Travellodge

over Christmas. What did you find in the room? It was a very dirty room.

We were up to our calves in water in the shower in the bottom of the

bath, so there was obviously a blockage. How did it affect your

Christmas? It was meant to be a treat. They did ruin Christmas a

little bit. Travellodge did eventually refund the stay. Each of

the UK's three largest chains says you will get a good quality room

from the moment you arrive. Premier Inn promises outstanding quality in

every one of its 65,000 rooms. Holiday Inn says guests deserve a

clean comfortable room. Travellodge says it will have your room made up

ready for you on arrival. What did our swab mob find when we checked in

We tested ten hotels from each of the three big chains, right across

the UK. As well as completing a thorough

visual inspection, we also tested for dirt that isn't visible to the

naked eye. Swabbing for bacteria and using an ultra Violet light to see

the unseeable. Delia is a fellow of the British

Institute of Cleaning Science, I have come to her training centre to

see what she makes of our results. . What should we reason plea expect

from a hotel when staying the right? -- staying the night? All fixtures

wiped down, carpet thoroughly vanningual cleaned. Fresh I also

like to have the mattress checked. Yes, yes, I know I have dressed like

the wall paper, but down to business.

First, we looked at ten rooms from Holiday Inn. One of them right away

had a small but obvious sign that some cleaning had been missed.

That's unacceptable really, you are paying for a room, you see that.

Straightaway approximate puts you on the back foot, you think if this

hasn't been cleaned what else is wrong? In teven seven out of the ten

rooms we found problems with bedding or towels, like stains or objects

left behind. That's worrying. If they're soiled like they are it's an

indication that maybe there is no pillow protectors and they were long

due for the pillow graveyard. In another room, this.

It looks like we have got a toe nail on that, darling. There you have a

scabby lump of somebody's nail on the bed you are about to lie in. Not

nice. Looks like a scratchy one, as well.

We also found stains on the mattresses in eight of the ten rooms

we checked. And splash stains next to the toilet in six of the ten

bathrooms. That indicates inferior cleaning because the stains should

be removed. Next, premier Inn. On the mattress front they did well.

Two of the ten rooms showed up stains. But we found more problems

with the bedding or towels in seven of the ten rooms. Those bathroom

stains in eight. I asked Delia what the splash stains meant and how I

wish I hadn't! When the toilet is flushed, we have a thing called a

fountain, the spray from the toilet can go up as far as 15 feet in the

air. They're going to land on the surfaces. Every surface has to be

cleaned thoroughly when the guest leaves. The floral faecal fountain,

three words I will never forget! Travel Lodge. There were more

problems with sheets or towels too. The mattresses stole the show here.

Nine out of ten stained. This is possibly the worst mattress I think

we have seen. Dreadful. Absolutely dreadful. That does look like blood.

That's a common stain on hotel mattresses. That's why the checking

is so important. That can be cleaned up and that is absolutely

disgraceful. In each of the three chains we also took samples that we

then sent to a lab to get a better idea of the hygiene levels you can't

see. In each room we swabbed the TV remote, the toilet flush, the

bathroom door handle and the bathroom tap. In a freshly cleaned

room, all the samples should come back with a low bacteria count and

reassuringly most of ours did. The tap, flush and door handle were

usually pretty clean. However, on one bathroom tap in a Travellodge we

discovered a high level of bacteria known to be potentially harmful.

It's a bacteria we don't want to be coming across, it can be dangerous,

disease-causing and we don't want it in bathrooms where guests are

staying. Finally, the TV remote. It was a very mixed picture across our

hotels. Just one of the ten we swabbed at Holiday Inn had high

levels of bacteria. Premier Inn and Travelodge both had six out of ten

remoats with high bacteria levels. A clean sign they hadn't been cleaned

properly. We found some really dirty TV remoats. What's going wrong? A

number of hands are handling the remote. Those hands have been in

various places, hand washing techniques may not be all that. It's

also important to remember not all bacteria are dangerous. Some we

need. So, it's important that we don't sort of go all bananas on the

fact, the remote is going to kill me, no, it isn't. The cleaning

process that follows should reduce the risk. That's why training,

education and vigilance is so crucial. I am slightly gagging. I am

staying in one of those tonight! Don't be leaving your toe nails on

the bed! All three hotels chains have

stressed how seriously they take cleanliness,

and while they're all confident of the systems and processes

in place to ensure high standards - each of them has now launched

investigations to identify Holiday Inn told us it's rolling

out the latest version of a "rigorous five-step"

cleaning training programme. Premier Inn said that nearly 95%

of its guests score them either "very good" or "good"

for room cleanliness. And while Travelodge accepts

occasionally mistakes can be made, it says it too has a robust,

10-step cleaning process. There you go, ten steps. That's

twice five. Good maths. More Rouge Traders? I cannot get enough. That's

a shame, this is the last bit. Russell Ska Canfield and Liam Cuffe

have attempted to distance themselves from the company. We have

spotted them looking very much like the men in charge a number of times.

We are on our way to the offices of Faster Response where we would like

to meet Russell Canfield and Liam Cuffe. They're not now the directors

of Faster Response but they still seem to be there and it's doing now

what it did then, which is ripping people off. Big questions to ask and

I am the fella that's going to ask them, because that's my job,

question-asking man! It does seem like on this occasion

the question-asking man has already been spotted, though.

OK. Here we have the situation where we are in the offices of Faster

Response. The door here is shut. Strong hand keeping it shut.

We know he is in here, Liam Cuffe who was director up to February of

this year. If he is no longer part of this business, what is he

concerned about? You don't behave like this unless

you have done something that you know is wrong.

This is Matt Alwright from BBC Rouge Traders. We want to talk to you

about Faster Response and about how it overcharges people, how it

targets the elderly. How it uses the fact it calls itself an emergency

service to charge way over the odds. We would like to talk to you about

VAT, all of those things. You know we are in no hurry, so we

decide to stick around in the hope of finally getting some actual

answers. Luckily, the office has lots of things to keep me occupied.

Never been any good at this. But the wall of silence remains. So

we change our plan. And see if the men supposedly now in charge would

be interested in having a chat. Maybe you would like to give us

details for Ben... We would love to talk to them, as well. To be honest,

the company's been doing the same thing when you were directors and

now they're directors, so doesn't make too much difference, does it?

You are not giving yourself a chance to answer this. You have an

opportunity here to tell me why these things are happening. You are

sort of... Locked yourself in a room.

We are clearly not getting anywhere with Liam Cuffe and Russell

Canfield. They can hide behind their office door and nameless adverts but

they can't hide from this. It's only a small sign but it sums up very

much what we feel about Faster Response and about its former

directors Liam Cuffe and Russell Canfield. Here we go.

Don't know about you, but I am quite proud of that.

Well, they are clearly in charge. They've explained in a letter they

employed two managers who were promoted to directors but this

change had nothing to do with trading standards getting involved.

They admit they failed to control the business and customers have lost

out as a result for which they apologise. Despite being present in

the office most days, they claim they were unaware of VAT being

waived and of people's bills inflated. They've told us, Zach and

Richard, the plumbers we saw in the film behaved professionally but were

let down by the management in the office and they say that the

business is not registered with Gas Safe but it doesn't offer any gas

services. This is good, though. They've sent back the money we paid

and they say they are closing down Faster Response which is curious, as

earlier this afternoon they were still answering the phones. So, we

will be keeping and eye on that. We need to. Keep sending your

stories, details of how you can get in touch are on the screens now.

Thank you so much to everyone who has been in touch tonight. You have

been working superhard again, Nikki. Yes, all right, we have had a strong

reaction to my hotel hygiene film. Filthy. I know, all about me! Mark

says some suspicious looking stains. I am never going to unhear the words

floral faecal fountain. I am having a t-shirt made! Duncan said don't

use glasses in a hotel bathroom unless they're individually wrapped

not even in upscale luxury hotels. Thank you for getting in contact. We

have got Stuart on Twitter who says now I need to carry that light in

every room I stay in. Ignorance is bliss. Thank you we will be back

live next week at the same time. Citizen Khan himself -

will be investigating