Episode 6 Watchdog


Episode 6

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Tonight - Purplebricks, Currys, eBay, we've got a bumper crop of big

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We're taking on the companies that have let you down.

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This is Watchdog Live - and on your side.

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Hello and welcome to Watchdog - live for the last time this series,

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exposing all sorts of dodgy goings-on at the businesses

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One of them is Britain's biggest electrical retailer,

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Currys PC World, where staff have been ripping up

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We're also looking into ticketing reseller Viagogo.

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You're furious, and it seems every day you love them less and less.

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Ricky Wilson from the Kaiser Chiefs and The Voice has been finding out

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So how many tickets were you buying and how much did they end up

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costing? For tickets, thousands of pounds.

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If you like a tune, Ricky's not the only treat in store.

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Stand by for an unusually musical Rogue Traders.

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Go away! Go away! Why are you doing that to the camera? You send your

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guide into people's homes. I know what he needs -

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a bit of stress relief We've given our crowd

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here one of this year's But as you'll see in a bit -

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some of these toys aren't This one, for example,

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bought on eBay, would actually be As usual, we want to hear from

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you on all of our stories tonight. The team around me are going

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through the messages We get tonnes before

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the show even starts, so thanks for those,

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and keep them coming. You can email us at

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[email protected], or we're on Twitter as @bbcwatchdog,

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and on Facebook too. We'll catch up on some of your

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comments later in the programme. But first tonight -

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Purplebricks, the web-based estate agent that's on course to be

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the biggest in the UK. It says it'll "hold your hand

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every step of the way", but our secret filming

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shows they could be leading The process of selling your house

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has barely changed in the last few decades. You pick a high street

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agent you trust, they advertise your property, show people around, then

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take a percentage cut when you sell. It's fair to say the industry hasn't

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always had the best reputation for honesty. But there is one new

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company aiming to shake this up. Purplebricks is an online estate

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agent that promises to revolutionise the market. There are no high street

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shops, your house is just advertised across property websites, and they

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don't take a percentage commission. Instead, there is a flat fee of

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?849, or 1199 am depending on where you live, and you pay that whether

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you sell or not. There are no charges for things like organising

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viewers. The company is aiming to become the largest estate agent in

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the UK in the next few years, but it has already found itself in trouble

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with regulators. The advertising standards Authority has banned six

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of its claims in the last year, including a promise that customers

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could save ?4158 compared to regular estate agents, which the authorities

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said Purplebricks could not back up. Customers who have contacted us have

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also said they have felt misled by what they've been told by

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Purplebricks and its agents. This man chose to sell his house through

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Purplebricks in January this year because of the savings he thought he

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would make over a traditional estate agent. The Purplebricks agent

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explains the fees during the evaluation, giving him the option to

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pay upfront or later. John decided to defer the payment, which came

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with a consequence he didn't expect. I received an e-mail saying I had

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entered into a credit agreement. What was your reaction? First, who

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are Close cat Matt Brothers? I had entered into an agreement with

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Purplebricks, and I felt that I had entered into an agreement with

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someone that I hadn't known about. He had taken out a loan with Close

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Brothers, an entirely separate company, and he was unhappy when the

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so-called local property expert actually lived nearly 30 miles away.

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We have heard from her Purplebricks customers who do not think the

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company lives up to its claims, including Kate Armstrong, who wanted

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to sell her house in the Wirral to buy a retirement home in France. She

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felt she had a complete lack of communication from Purplebricks, who

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failed to tell her the original buyer had dropped out and had been

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replaced by somebody with a large chain. She felt this nearly

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scuppered her chance of getting her dream home, especially when

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Purplebricks promised to hold her hand all the way through the

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process. The advert on the television was saying that they

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would hold my hand, but I'm sitting at home thinking, no, that's not

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what happens. You don't even phoned me when the offer on the house is no

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longer a true offer. Kate complained to the property ombudsman, who

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awarded her ?200. She did manage to move to France using a traditional

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high Street agent, which she wishes she'd used from the off. I just

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wanted to scream. I had to keep my cool with the agent over the phone.

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My feeling was they knew no matter what happened they would get paid.

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It didn't matter what they did or didn't do. After camp claims from

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customers and regulators, has Purplebricks learnt its lesson? Our

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customers now getting clear information? Well, we put them to

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the test. We rigged up five properties across the country and

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went undercover, posing as home owners looking to sell. We invited a

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Purplebricks local property expert to each house. On some things, the

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agents we met were very clear. They did seem knowledgeable about the

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local property market and how the online process works. But as a

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viewing is continued, some of what they said started to raise alarm

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bells. Two of the agents made claims about the number of houses they had

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sold which seems to be wildly exaggerated.

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What is the ratio to sales? It sounds good, but when we checked

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this out ourselves, it seemed this agent was listing between eight and

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11 houses each month, half of what he told us. You might expect a

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little bit of exaggeration from your agent, but when it comes to the

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financial side of the deal, you should get absolute clarity of what

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you are signing up to. But when our agents signed... Explained the

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financial aspects, three of the five failed to tell us that if we chose

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to defer payments, we would take up the credit agreement with an

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entirely separate financial institution. How important is it for

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a state agents to be upfront about the fees and financial agreements

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you would have with them? Critically important, because fees and

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financial arrangements are one of the key factors people take into

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account when deciding which agent to sign up with. If they are not

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upfront about it, they are at risk of being in breach with consumer

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protection information. Under the consumer protection from unfair

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trading regulations, certain trading practices are prohibited, and one of

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those prohibited practices is misleading information. We also took

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a closer look at what Purplebricks was claiming online. In an e-mail

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sent to us, we spotted that claim of saving ?4158, which the ASA banned

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as likely to mislead. Purplebricks proudly posts that on its website,

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meaning that all agents are required to follow its regulation, including

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its agents. Does it sound like they are breaking this code of practice?

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Quite probably, because this code of practice imposes obligations on

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estate agents to comply with the law. Some of the things we have

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talked about are potentially breaches of the consumer protection

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regulations, and therefore, de facto, they are a breach of the code

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of practice. So, come on, Purplebricks, if you want to be the

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country's leading estate agent, you need to make sure all your agent is

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played by the rules. With us now is the CEO of

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Purplebricks. Looking at that film, we have seen agents exaggerating

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sales, you not being upfront about loans customers are taking on, and

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you are still using misleading information that has been banned.

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When my brother and I founded Purplebricks, we founded it to give

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consumers a better choice, and we wanted to give them something much

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more transparent, convenient and cost-effective. We accept those that

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along that journey there will be cases where there are obstacles, and

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where we get things wrong. But if we look at what was said in your film,

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about what the ASA said at the start of your film, it was clear that the

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ASA didn't say we were saving customers thousands of pounds. They

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said it was a different level... They said you couldn't back up that

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figure. They said we couldn't back up that figure in every area of the

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UK. We did take it down from over 1000 locations, and we found there

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was one location that you quite rightfully pointed out to us. One

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location that was the template for lots of other e-mails being sent. I

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accept it would have been distributed to customers, but the

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moment it was brought to my attention, it was taken down within

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an hour. Six times you have had misleading information banned by the

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ASA. You keep getting it wrong. Purplebricks is the most positively

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reviewed agent in the UK. We accept, though, that we will get it wrong on

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occasion. On occasion? We are getting loads of complaints from

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your customers. This is why we followed it up. Whenever you enter

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into an arrangement with Purplebricks, we lead the way in

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terms of transparency on fees. Try going to any other agency. But when

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people defer payment, they are taking out a loan, but you are not

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telling them that. Where do you say that? Your agents do not tell people

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and it's not on the website. When a customer goes to instruct

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Purplebricks, it is absolutely clear they are entering into an agreement

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with Close Brothers. It is not. The e-mail you sent us does not say it

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anywhere. It is a facility agreement, but, if the difference is

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how it's described, I'm very happy to sit down with our partners, Close

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Brothers, and look at how best... So you admit you could be more

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transparent about it? I accept that if customers are saying that we need

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to be more transparent in any way, I give you and them a guarantee that

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we will work harder in order to be more transparent. What about

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apologising all of those customers who have complained to us? I

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apologise to anyone who does not get 100% of the service they require

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from Purplebricks. We are the most positively reviewed agent, but we do

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accept that along the journey, as we grow very fast, because there is a

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seismic change from the traditional agency to Purplebricks, that there

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will be occasions where we get it wrong. Thank you very much for your

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time. Tonight, we're looking

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at a nationwide aerial company, If something isn't working the way

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it should, the answer is simple. But the merry-go-round at the centre

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of tonight's company The Television Aerial Company

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Limited, based in Whyteleafe Surrey, go buy a few different names, like

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aerial fours and aerials and satellites. Are you still with us?

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We featured them before, back in 2011, when they oversold items to us

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that we needed as much as a chocolate ironing board. We put them

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to the test three times, Miss aligning to satellite dishes and

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damaging a connecting cable. Our dishes needed to be realigned and

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the cable needed to be repaired, but each time the engineer told us we

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needed something we didn't. I caught up with the boss at the time, sort

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of. I say sort of, because I don't think it was my best effort. Let's

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put a clock on the face time. Three engineers, all three of them miss

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diagnosed... That's just wasn't long enough. We, as a team, I think we

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can do better. I'm not looking at anyone in particular.

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Whatever we did in 2011 it might have had some effect because in

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January 2012 the director removed himself from the Television Aerial

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Company limited, and that everything is better! Like when Roy Hodgson

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resigned and Sam Allardyce took over the England team. That kind of

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better. Andy Nash called the Television Aerial Company when he

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got a new FISA enabled TV Burp could not get it working and the engineer

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discovered quickly that the issue was a faulty HDMI cable but before

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he left he claimed and he might have a further problem. As he finished

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the job he said only 2-mac of your four channels are working at 100%

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and he said shall I have a look at your dish? Despite Andy never having

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had any trouble with his satellite signal, the engineer came back with

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some alarming news. He hit me with the immortal line, have to tell you

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your satellite dish is almost at the end of its life, it's terribly

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rusted through and he said the only answer was a replacement dish. And

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the agreed and paid the Television Aerial Company a total of ?238.20.

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The following day the dish was put on the ground and I looked at it and

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immediately realised I had made a huge mistake. Andy found that

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although his dish was showing superficial signs of rust it was far

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from rusted through and we have since had it tested and found it to

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be in perfect working order. He had taken advantage of me and I had

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fallen for it. I trusted him, and I regret that now. This is one of

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those stories that had everything on all the makings of a great country

:17:43.:17:46.

and western song. Funny you should say that because I've written one.

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So, if the previous director is no longer involved, who is in charge

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now? It is Gary and Paddy Manning. It is time we put them to the test.

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And that is exactly what we do, you know how it works, a little camera,

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an actor and an expert. Over to you, Ian. What we had to do is set a

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fault on the input cable to the box, cutting a small piece of cable, and

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we plug it back into the back of the box and it's that simple. It is so

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simple and aerial engineer should be up to find and fix the problem in

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five minutes. The job should only cost us the diagnostic fee, ?59 99

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plus VAT. Hello. Please pay attention. The LNB is the

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low noise block which sits on the front of the dish and ours is

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working fine. It is not long before Nathan finds our broken cable.

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And he fixes it. Then he plugged the connector back in ultimate soap is

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the problem solved? Well, it should be,

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but when you call out of Whyteleafe, Surrey,

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also trading as Aerialforce, And remember, despite their long

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name, they could still be confused with other companies

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who have similar names. There was a huge response to our

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swab mob report on train hygiene. Lots of you made the same

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point as Richard Crake, "It's a poor state when for our high

:20:47.:20:48.

fares we can't get a clean service." But Bruce Hughes tweeted us,

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and then he tweeted the train He says he'd like to see train

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companies provide anti-bacterial Some rail operators replied saying

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that's a great suggestion. But keep sending your suggestions

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of where you'd like us to check out Also last week, we reported on fires

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some of you have had after having a smart meter installed

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in your home. First it was gas leaks and trouble

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with fuse board and then we started hearing about much more serious

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problems people are having after a smart meter installations. Fires

:21:43.:21:45.

that have meant old properties have been gutted. We were standing there

:21:46.:21:50.

with the fire officer when the gas operated said, I'm sorry, I burn

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your house up. As well as the two fires we featured last week we have

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also heard from Ian and Christine Duckworth who believe a fire at

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their property in Blackpool was the result of having their smart meter

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installed. They were not home at the time of the fire but Ian's

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91-year-old mother Mary was. She was asleep in the house. Luckily

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neighbours Roger and Joe spotted the fire and called 999. I think we were

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lucky that Roger and Joe were in because if they had not been... I

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wouldn't have known. I knew there was a fire somewhere. It's not

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knowing, isn't it. The rest is unthinkable. The Fire Service report

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confirmed the fire originated in the meter box where British Gas had

:22:45.:22:47.

installed a new smart meter the year before. The fire started at the

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smart meter which was located in the cupboard, it burned through the

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Cabinet and the window unit, came inside, up the cabling to the main

:23:02.:23:05.

cable box and destroyed two boilers, one that was here and another one

:23:06.:23:10.

that was located over there. As you can see, completely redecorated this

:23:11.:23:15.

room in Black as opposed to white. An electrician who went to the house

:23:16.:23:20.

after the fire told them he believes the mains tales were tightened

:23:21.:23:24.

properly in the installation of the smart meter. Whatever the

:23:25.:23:27.

explanation, the experience has left him worried about the roll-out of

:23:28.:23:35.

the meters. Since the incident, I have totally lost any competent in

:23:36.:23:39.

smart meters regarding the safety aspect and I would take a lot of

:23:40.:23:44.

persuading to convince me otherwise -- lost any confidence. While there

:23:45.:23:49.

could be mistakes made during any installation, over the last few

:23:50.:23:51.

months the number of people in the industry have raised concerns that

:23:52.:23:56.

the speed and sheer scale of the smart meter roll-out is putting

:23:57.:24:00.

safety at risk. One reason is because so many new engineers who

:24:01.:24:04.

have never worked with gas or electricity needs to be employed and

:24:05.:24:09.

trained to meet the 2020 deadline. This week we have spoken to an

:24:10.:24:14.

installer for one of the major gas and actress at the suppliers who

:24:15.:24:18.

believes the timescale had led to a huge amount of pressure on existing

:24:19.:24:22.

installers to the point where safety is being compromised. He told us

:24:23.:24:28.

that the target number of meters to be installed in working hours are

:24:29.:24:33.

too high and corners are being cut as a result. They told Watchdog that

:24:34.:24:37.

unless the deadline is pushed back and they have time to do their job

:24:38.:24:42.

properly, they consider that their safety and the safety of customers

:24:43.:24:47.

is at risk. Last week on Watchdog the government admitted it was aware

:24:48.:24:51.

of 18 installation incidents in the first six months of this year alone

:24:52.:24:56.

and all of this had led Shadow energy minister Alan Whitehead to

:24:57.:24:59.

call on the government to reconsider the roll-out deadline. I think it is

:25:00.:25:06.

time to have and look at how those issues can be resolved, with real

:25:07.:25:11.

concerns about safety properly addressed.

:25:12.:25:13.

British Gas says it's been helping Ian and Christine Duckworth

:25:14.:25:16.

since their fire, but points out it happened a year after the meter

:25:17.:25:19.

was put in, and that the official fire report doesn't specifically say

:25:20.:25:22.

the meter or the installation were at fault.

:25:23.:25:24.

It's reiterated its fittings are safe and industry-leading.

:25:25.:25:28.

Some of you were outraged by what the government told us last

:25:29.:25:31.

week about how, in the first six months of this year, there have only

:25:32.:25:34.

On our Facebook, page Sue Young objected to the government's

:25:35.:25:40.

As she says, "what if that included you?"

:25:41.:25:43.

And other people also told us they think 18 fires

:25:44.:25:46.

But not enough, it seems, for the government to look again

:25:47.:25:49.

Once again, we asked Greg Clark - the minister

:25:50.:25:53.

And his department are sticking to the line that safety is the number-1

:25:54.:26:04.

priority and they have seen no evidence of increasing risks. It is

:26:05.:26:07.

engineers undergo extensive training and the Robert is a chance to

:26:08.:26:10.

identify potential safety issues in people's homes.

:26:11.:26:12.

We're off air for a bit after tonight, but do keep

:26:13.:26:15.

updating us on the stories we've covered this series.

:26:16.:26:18.

Still to come, Currys PC World and the strange case of customers

:26:19.:26:25.

Next tonight, a subject about which you contact

:26:26.:26:33.

One company in particular gets the lion's share of your fury.

:26:34.:26:40.

Ricky Wilson from the Kaiser Chiefs has been finding out why

:26:41.:26:43.

so many of you say 'no, no, Viagogo'.

:26:44.:26:52.

In 2004 are banned from Leeds predicted a riot and 13 years later

:26:53.:26:59.

for some music found that prediction might become a reality. Things to

:27:00.:27:03.

one website that has been getting a lot of unwanted attention. -- thanks

:27:04.:27:08.

to. For one night only, headlining for all the wrong reasons, Viagogo.

:27:09.:27:15.

By Gogo is what is known as a secondary ticketing site or resale

:27:16.:27:25.

site. -- Viagogo. The idea is that if one fan has a spare ticket to go

:27:26.:27:29.

to a gig or an event they can't make it to, they can sell it to another

:27:30.:27:34.

fan through the site. Over the last few months the Watchdog team as seen

:27:35.:27:38.

a huge spike in complaints, especially about their putting feeds

:27:39.:27:41.

which many if you say has got completely out of hand. -- booking

:27:42.:27:47.

fee. Jill Evans bought ten tickets to see Tonga -- Don Jones but when

:27:48.:27:54.

she got to the checkout she could not believe how much had been added.

:27:55.:27:58.

I went on the site and put in the details and when the final amount

:27:59.:28:03.

came through it was ?1700. I felt sick because I could not work out

:28:04.:28:08.

why there was a disparity between what I thought it was going to be

:28:09.:28:14.

and what was, ?120 a ticket but ?500 admin fees. Viagogo did not explain

:28:15.:28:20.

why the charge was so high or how it was cut related and what's more the

:28:21.:28:24.

way the site is set up means you only see the total you will be

:28:25.:28:27.

charged at the end of the booking process, as you are about to pay and

:28:28.:28:31.

when you're getting pressured to book fast. I panicked because I did

:28:32.:28:35.

not want to miss the opportunity to go. Normally I would have waited

:28:36.:28:39.

until I got home but because I felt that they were telling me the

:28:40.:28:42.

tickets were going down, I wanted to do it there and then. A quick look

:28:43.:28:47.

at the Viagogo website shows that almost every stage of the booking

:28:48.:28:52.

process comes with simulated queues, countdown clocks and warnings to buy

:28:53.:28:57.

now. I have got to see this for myself. Kaiser Chiefs tickets.

:28:58.:29:05.

Straight up, Viagogo, second one down. Already there is a red banner

:29:06.:29:10.

flashing up saying 29 other people are viewing it which makes you

:29:11.:29:15.

think, I better get buying. I can easily get in free because I'm the

:29:16.:29:21.

singer! But everything on the website is making you feel as if you

:29:22.:29:25.

are going to miss out unless you buy it now. I can definitely see how,

:29:26.:29:30.

when fans get to the checkout, they can feel real pressure to page

:29:31.:29:34.

whatever fee they add. No wonder this consumer behaviour expert is so

:29:35.:29:38.

concerned. I see this as aggressive marketing, it is foot in the door

:29:39.:29:43.

salesman type marketing which we don't actually see very much now.

:29:44.:29:48.

The problem is that people do want the tickets, but they don't want to

:29:49.:29:55.

be sold to in this way. And it gets worse. After spending hundreds or

:29:56.:29:59.

even thousands of pounds some of you are left with nothing more than a

:30:00.:30:04.

piece of paper. Earlier this year Ed Sheeran publicly stated that ticket

:30:05.:30:08.

sold through retail sites like Viagogo would not be valid for his

:30:09.:30:13.

gig. As you would hope the other three big secondary ticketing site

:30:14.:30:20.

stopped selling them but Viagogo still allows tabs to sell these on

:30:21.:30:24.

their site. There is no warning to fund and the company seems more than

:30:25.:30:27.

happy to pocket the big booking fee. I'm meeting some Ed Sheeran fans who

:30:28.:30:31.

discovered too late that their tickets were worthless. How many

:30:32.:30:36.

were you buying and how did they cost? For tickets, ?1046. Four

:30:37.:30:48.

ticket and it was ?446. Four ticket, ?2832. You would want him to come to

:30:49.:30:52.

your house for that! Do you feel you were purposely misled by the

:30:53.:30:55.

website? Without a doubt, they are selling the tickets which they know

:30:56.:30:59.

they can't sell because Ed Sheeran has said they are void. And they are

:31:00.:31:05.

selling tickets which don't exist. What is happening now? I have gone

:31:06.:31:10.

through my bank and they advise you to go to the event did you get

:31:11.:31:14.

turned away, apparently the promoters will stamp your ticket and

:31:15.:31:18.

you can claim your money back but I'm not prepared to take Mike two

:31:19.:31:22.

young children to the concert, get there and be turned away. I'm sorry,

:31:23.:31:27.

I'm a bit emotional. Is the fact that other people are in the same

:31:28.:31:30.

position and it's so infuriating when you see they are selling

:31:31.:31:31.

tickets. To find out why Ed Sheron's

:31:32.:31:48.

manager... It is making sure that the genuine fans are there to see

:31:49.:31:55.

Ed, so an incredible amount of effort is going on on your part, but

:31:56.:31:59.

what happens to the fans who have bought these tickets? We are

:32:00.:32:04.

approaching these fans and going through a process where we can try

:32:05.:32:09.

to offer them legitimate -- legitimate tickets. That is going on

:32:10.:32:16.

every day. We think that this process is abhorrent. Why isn't more

:32:17.:32:21.

done to stop fans being caught out on these sites? The Department of

:32:22.:32:26.

culture, media and sport select committee launched an investigation

:32:27.:32:32.

into secondary ticket sites, and called an enquiry. Viagogo was the

:32:33.:32:37.

only one who refused to send anyone to answer questions. We are

:32:38.:32:41.

disappointed that Viagogo have decided not to send a

:32:42.:32:46.

representative. The government investigation is ongoing, and

:32:47.:32:52.

secondary ticketing sites are also under investigation by the

:32:53.:32:55.

Competition Markets Authority. The advertising Standards Authority have

:32:56.:32:58.

confirmed Viagogo and other ticketing site are on its radar. So

:32:59.:33:04.

it doesn't seem that the authorities are looking to crack down on its

:33:05.:33:08.

practices, but fans cannot relax yet. There's a lot of people very

:33:09.:33:14.

angry about this, but unless there is more action to rend people in, we

:33:15.:33:18.

are long way from it being completely risk-free to buy a ticket

:33:19.:33:24.

to a gig. So it is up to us to kick up a fuss to make sure that next

:33:25.:33:28.

time we buy one of these, it is a ticket to a great night out.

:33:29.:33:31.

Well, Viagogo has told us it clearly displays the full and final price -

:33:32.:33:34.

including all booking fees - before customers

:33:35.:33:36.

It says it's legal to resell tickets in the UK for any concert,

:33:37.:33:40.

including Ed Sheeran's, and it says you can be

:33:41.:33:42.

confident you'll get in, despite, as you saw in the film,

:33:43.:33:44.

Ed Sheeran's management saying you won't.

:33:45.:33:46.

Viagogo also says any 'event organiser' telling its customers

:33:47.:33:48.

they won't gain entry to events is making false claims,

:33:49.:33:51.

because consumer protection legislation makes it illegal

:33:52.:33:53.

for event organisers to unfairly cancel tickets

:33:54.:33:55.

But we put that to Trading Stadards who told us Viagogo's

:33:56.:34:00.

interpretation of the law is incorrect.

:34:01.:34:07.

So, if you're buying tickets tonight, the

:34:08.:34:09.

question is very simple. Who should you trust more,

:34:10.:34:11.

Viagogo or Ed Sheeran? so Shelley, you bought tickets for

:34:12.:34:23.

the first time. Where are you act now? I brought tickets and realised

:34:24.:34:30.

I'd been overcharged for them, and within 24 hours, the tickets were

:34:31.:34:35.

void. I have been in touch with Viagogo dozens of times, and just

:34:36.:34:42.

got generic messages back. We are talking ?319 for two tickets.

:34:43.:34:44.

Well, Shelley, you need to speak to Claire Turnham.

:34:45.:34:47.

After her experience with Viagogo, she started helping other others

:34:48.:34:51.

in the same position and so far has managed to get back ?92,000

:34:52.:34:54.

Three things immediately. The first thing is to go to our website.

:34:55.:35:09.

Everything you need for the refund process is there. The first step is

:35:10.:35:13.

to write to the go-go and to state your reasons why you should have a

:35:14.:35:20.

refund. They may reply and say that they don't issue refunds. You could

:35:21.:35:26.

reply to that, and if they advise you to resell your ticket, I would

:35:27.:35:31.

advise you not to do that, because you will immediately pay more fees.

:35:32.:35:36.

Social media as well. Connect with other people. Find support from

:35:37.:35:41.

other people on social media, and then take all the evidence together

:35:42.:35:44.

you gather up, and take it to the bank. It is a good start. We can put

:35:45.:35:49.

you guys together and you can talk. But back now to Rogue Traders,

:35:50.:35:53.

and the Television Aerial Company Ltd based in Whyteleafe, Surrey

:35:54.:35:56.

who also trade as Aerialforce. Our aerial oppo Nathan

:35:57.:35:58.

is in our house attempting And it looks like he

:35:59.:36:00.

may have fixed it. Yes, he has. There's a picture. But

:36:01.:36:13.

hang on. What is he doing now? He's turning the box off. Surely he's

:36:14.:36:18.

about to break the good news to a stooge. No, he's about to look at

:36:19.:36:25.

the satellite dish from a distance, which he knows is fine.

:36:26.:36:29.

OK, we will go with the new thing. Nathan seems to have forgotten that

:36:30.:37:14.

our TV is in perfect working order. He gets to work switching the LMB.

:37:15.:37:23.

So here we are, 2017, and what has happened? He has lied to us to sell

:37:24.:37:32.

an extra part we don't need for an extra ?58. He also tried to tell us

:37:33.:37:36.

it was game over for our satellite dish, which it wasn't. That would

:37:37.:37:45.

have cost us an extra ?160. Not so different from 2011. That could mean

:37:46.:37:50.

a number of things, first, that the same operatives there are

:37:51.:37:53.

misbehaving, but the new operatives know nothing about it. War, that

:37:54.:38:01.

they do know about it and they could be incentivising them, because it

:38:02.:38:07.

makes more money. So option one, or option to? If only there were in a

:38:08.:38:15.

way to find out which? Lucky for us, the Television Aerial Company are

:38:16.:38:20.

hiring new engineers. Or is it sales people? Lets get an application in

:38:21.:38:30.

any way! Hello. You got the interview? Well done. Brilliant. You

:38:31.:38:36.

are going to boot camp. Get your version of wind beneath my wings

:38:37.:38:38.

ready. Good stuff. How is this going to work? In goes

:38:39.:38:54.

Paul, undercover to meet manager J. He seems particularly interested in

:38:55.:39:00.

our stooge's ability to sell. What selling have you done?

:39:01.:39:13.

Hangs on, wait. Oh, you are not telling us to rip people off? In a

:39:14.:39:26.

funny way, it almost sounds like you are. Our stooge is told his salary

:39:27.:39:31.

will be based heavily on commission, and he needs to meet a huge daily

:39:32.:39:38.

target of ?901 to meet any of those bonuses.

:39:39.:40:01.

We showed our footage to business lawyer Mark Weston. If you are a

:40:02.:40:08.

consumer calling out an engineer you expect the problem to be fixed, to

:40:09.:40:12.

be told the truth and have the engineers at thing in your best

:40:13.:40:17.

interest. This advice encourages engineers to act against the

:40:18.:40:21.

customer's best interest. It is almost as if the company is geared

:40:22.:40:26.

around selling, which can be an ethical and even illegal. Despite

:40:27.:40:31.

being based in Surrey, the Television Aerial Company, who also

:40:32.:40:35.

use the name Aerialforce, operate around the country. And they have

:40:36.:40:46.

caused cyber confusion. They have paid a bit more to bump the adds up

:40:47.:40:53.

the Google search list. If I live in Plymouth and I type in the Plymouth

:40:54.:41:00.

aerials, it comes up with a company called Plymouth aerials, but it is

:41:01.:41:08.

actually the Television Aerial Company, who are based all the way

:41:09.:41:14.

over in Surrey. So it is time to put the Television Aerial Company to the

:41:15.:41:19.

test one more time. So we have ourselves another house, and

:41:20.:41:26.

actress, and expert Ian is back to terminate our signal again. We will

:41:27.:41:32.

just give it a lot of twisting, and stretch the cable, just to make

:41:33.:41:36.

sure, which breaks the conductor inside the cable. This job should

:41:37.:41:48.

cost ?74 all in. The Television Aerial Company limited arrives in

:41:49.:41:52.

one of their Aerialforce vans. But it appears they have lost an

:41:53.:41:58.

important part of their kit. A signal meter is a piece of essential

:41:59.:42:03.

equipment for a job where the his lack of signal. Surely he can't

:42:04.:42:04.

carry on without that? He is going to carry on regardless.

:42:05.:42:20.

This should be interesting. How much face time can I get with the company

:42:21.:42:25.

director? Hopefully more than I did last time. Get ready for a car park

:42:26.:42:28.

song and dance. Meanwhile, Nikki, lots of people

:42:29.:42:31.

contacting us again tonight We have had a big reaction to our

:42:32.:42:46.

Purplebricks story. More from people who say that Purplebricks did not

:42:47.:42:49.

explain that if you defer your payment you are effectively taking

:42:50.:42:55.

out a loan. Rita says she had no idea it was unknown until too late.

:42:56.:43:03.

Moving onto Viagogo. Many unhappy customers. A number with Ed Sheeran

:43:04.:43:06.

tickets who are now worried that their tickets are worthless. One

:43:07.:43:11.

that brought tickets for ?1400, and is desperate to get her money back.

:43:12.:43:13.

One says Viagogo is via no-no. Now, one of the biggest names

:43:14.:43:19.

on the high street that's doing something sneaky and it's messing

:43:20.:43:22.

with your rights as a shopper. When David Simpson bought a new TV

:43:23.:43:34.

from his local Currys PC World, it should have been a straightforward

:43:35.:43:38.

purchase. But when he took it back to the store for a price match, he

:43:39.:43:42.

realised something really strange had happened. For some reason, he'd

:43:43.:43:47.

been signed up as a business customer, even though he absolutely

:43:48.:43:52.

isn't. They looked at my receipt, looked at the details, and said,

:43:53.:43:56.

this is a business account. If you want to refund it or do anything

:43:57.:44:01.

with the transaction, you need to speak to a business personnel. They

:44:02.:44:10.

said, you must have signed up as a business account. I was really

:44:11.:44:13.

confused. Why does it matter? There is actually a massive difference as

:44:14.:44:16.

how you are treated as a regular shopper and a business customer. You

:44:17.:44:21.

have very different rights. Instead of getting an instant refund, it can

:44:22.:44:26.

take much longer to get your money back. In David's case, it led to a

:44:27.:44:32.

series of mix-ups which meant he had to wait seven months. That led him

:44:33.:44:37.

to a question. How many people have they done this to? It is ludicrous.

:44:38.:44:41.

We have heard from several other Currys PC

:44:42.:44:55.

World customers who have told us they have also ended up in this

:44:56.:44:57.

situation, signed up to a business account without agreeing to it.

:44:58.:44:59.

Including Stuart in Cambridgeshire and Wendy near Edinburgh. We dug

:45:00.:45:02.

into the Currys PC world's terms and conditions and found key differences

:45:03.:45:07.

between business customers and other customers. Some are found their

:45:08.:45:14.

warranty is not valid as a business customer. Peter Hill from Kent

:45:15.:45:18.

discovered he'd been signed up to a business account without asking

:45:19.:45:22.

after buying a TV. When he checked online to see what this meant, he

:45:23.:45:27.

was worried to see that business accounts come with a 30 day credit

:45:28.:45:32.

facility, which he felt might impact his mortgage application. We didn't

:45:33.:45:36.

sleep for two days. We had the risk of losing the home we had built up

:45:37.:45:41.

to for six months. It didn't affect the sale in the end, that Peter is

:45:42.:45:46.

angry he was put in this situation. It made me feel cheated that we were

:45:47.:45:50.

misled into taking out a business account that we didn't want. Why

:45:51.:45:55.

could this be happening? We were contacted by a former member of

:45:56.:45:59.

staff who has asked to remain anonymous. He claimed staff members

:46:00.:46:11.

were purposefully opening business accounts without customers'

:46:12.:46:13.

knowledge, due to targets they were expected to hit. A typical day was

:46:14.:46:19.

to go in and ask what the targets were on the business side, and then

:46:20.:46:22.

I would go to the TV department, because that is where the expensive

:46:23.:46:27.

items are. I was told by the managers that this was how to do it.

:46:28.:46:33.

Is this breaking the law? This commercial lawyer advises businesses

:46:34.:46:34.

on their sales policies. Usually treated as a consumer not a

:46:35.:46:45.

business. If you sign somebody up as a business customer the law says you

:46:46.:46:48.

have hidden information from them and have also behaved in a way that

:46:49.:46:53.

is misleading and his illegal under the consumer protection from unfair

:46:54.:46:58.

trading regulations. Over to you, Terry 's PC World. Why is this

:46:59.:47:01.

happening? -- Currys PC World. Currys PC World has told us

:47:02.:47:03.

the cases we've heard were "processing errors" and it's

:47:04.:47:06.

contacted the customers concerned to apologise,

:47:07.:47:07.

and ensure their accounts are closed It says staff have absolutely no

:47:08.:47:10.

targets, incentives or benefits It's providing additional training

:47:11.:47:15.

in the stores involved to prevent And it's said it's sad

:47:16.:47:21.

that our whistleblower Now, if you've got kids,

:47:22.:47:29.

you'll probably have come across one of these things,

:47:30.:47:34.

it's a fidget spinner. most of them harmless fun -

:47:35.:47:37.

but you've been contacting us with concerns about the safety

:47:38.:47:44.

of some of the spinners You bought a fidget

:47:45.:47:46.

spinner for your son I was fiddling with it after I

:47:47.:48:03.

received it and I felt that it was rough on the edges and I felt

:48:04.:48:06.

something into my thumb and I looked closely and noticed there was a

:48:07.:48:11.

sharp metal shard coming away from it. You can see it here and you

:48:12.:48:17.

contacted the company to complain, what happened? They just told me to

:48:18.:48:23.

throw it away. That is why I made the decision to contact you guys and

:48:24.:48:27.

hand the problem over. We are very glad you did.

:48:28.:48:30.

We sent this to toy safety expert David Ellerington

:48:31.:48:33.

at the British Standards Institute, who examined the spinner,

:48:34.:48:34.

and he said there are clearly safety issues with the sharp edges.

:48:35.:48:37.

We asked studio.co.uk what they had to say on this.

:48:38.:48:40.

But it started us thinking - how dangerous can

:48:41.:48:43.

We bought three fidget spinners from eBay.

:48:44.:48:48.

All marketed as toys suitable for children.

:48:49.:48:54.

Professor Sarah Hainsworth is qualified to asses how

:48:55.:48:59.

We looked at the sharpness of the points on them. We stabbed them into

:49:00.:49:22.

tomato, which is a relatively soft material and the sort of thing that

:49:23.:49:26.

mimics the strength of an eyeball for example. We found with all three

:49:27.:49:33.

of them that you could stab the tomato with very moderate force and

:49:34.:49:35.

they could cause a significant injury. We also wanted to see if

:49:36.:49:44.

they could damage skin. We used some pork skin which is an analogue for

:49:45.:49:50.

human skin. It is slightly tougher but it is a good material we use a

:49:51.:49:55.

lot for looking at the sharpness of implements. We found with two of

:49:56.:49:59.

them we could also stab into the skin. One of them did not. It needed

:50:00.:50:06.

a bit more force than with the tomato skin but it demonstrated that

:50:07.:50:11.

these were capable of treating injury. An ingenious way of testing

:50:12.:50:15.

but it sounds like they can be very dangerous indeed.

:50:16.:50:17.

We also spoke to weapons expert David Dyson who told us these items

:50:18.:50:20.

would be classed as a throwing star or shuriken, and as such would be

:50:21.:50:24.

classed as an offensive weapon in the UK.

:50:25.:50:33.

But, until we told them they were readily available on eBay,

:50:34.:50:35.

Despite that eBay has a strict policy not to sell weapons,

:50:36.:50:39.

so we asked the company why they were on sale.

:50:40.:50:41.

eBay told us these items are absolutely not permitted

:50:42.:50:44.

and it's immediately removed them from the site.

:50:45.:50:45.

It's thanked us for bringing them to its attention.

:50:46.:50:48.

We'll be passing these onto Trading Standards.

:50:49.:50:49.

First, always look for the CE mark on packaging.

:50:50.:50:53.

Even if you do, still give it a thorough examination before

:50:54.:51:00.

and not for children under three as even the safe ones might have

:51:01.:51:06.

small parts that could present a choke hazard to children.

:51:07.:51:13.

Time now for our last chapter of Rogue Traders where our second

:51:14.:51:17.

aerial oppo is chanelling all his energy into

:51:18.:51:19.

One customer has already written a protest song about the company.

:51:20.:51:24.

The Television Aerial Company's engineer Darren has been at our

:51:25.:51:37.

house for 20 minutes and because he left his signal meet at a previous

:51:38.:51:41.

job, fixing the fault is proving tricky. You tried a couple of

:51:42.:51:44.

different options but seems to be making it worse. -- he tried.

:51:45.:51:55.

Could it be that the guy who has been called out to fix the problem

:51:56.:51:59.

has created another one? It's not the only way round it

:52:00.:52:22.

because there is nothing wrong with the aerial but this is a great

:52:23.:52:27.

opportunity to charge us ?130 for something we don't need so off he

:52:28.:52:31.

goes to the wet and slippery roof and he is taking the no ladder

:52:32.:52:37.

approach which is not recommended at all. Careful, Darren! Eventually he

:52:38.:52:43.

does make it to the top and on goes the new, totally unnecessary aerial.

:52:44.:52:50.

No, it's not, it only looks like it because he has put it on the channel

:52:51.:52:56.

with the strongest signal but this engineer does not seem to care and

:52:57.:53:01.

the trots with our ?213 for a job that should have cost 75. -- wrap

:53:02.:53:10.

and off he trots. This is worse than it was before. In fact he did such a

:53:11.:53:16.

bad job that we had to have the whole installation replaced and that

:53:17.:53:18.

along with everything else is not good enough so we are back in

:53:19.:53:25.

Whyteleafe in Surrey to speak to Gary Orr Tabby about Aerial Force,

:53:26.:53:33.

or TV aerial company limited, as they are also known. We are in a

:53:34.:53:40.

very small car! After spending a very sweaty 40 minutes in the car we

:53:41.:53:43.

spot Gary Manning across the car park. Gary, BBC Rogue Traders, how

:53:44.:53:51.

are you? We have asked for an interview. Go away. Go away. What I

:53:52.:53:58.

do doing that to the camera? I'm trying to ask you the questions

:53:59.:54:02.

about the business you have been running, you have been lying to

:54:03.:54:05.

customers, Aerial Force customers, about what they need. You send your

:54:06.:54:12.

guys into peoples homes. Don't touch the camera please. You're supposed

:54:13.:54:18.

to be in here. Please don't hit the camera, Gary, there is no need to.

:54:19.:54:23.

Go away then. We are asking you questions, all we are doing is

:54:24.:54:27.

asking you questions. Go away from me. I'm asking you questions about

:54:28.:54:32.

the business that you run that rips people in the own homes when it

:54:33.:54:34.

comes to selling them aerial parts they don't need. Out. That was Gary

:54:35.:54:46.

Manning, one of the directors of Aerial Force, also known as the

:54:47.:54:50.

Television Aerial Company. We got to talk to him and he had nothing to

:54:51.:54:54.

say. As we are leaving, the guy that interviewed us for the job stands

:54:55.:54:58.

next to the car to make sure we are on our way and what is really weird

:54:59.:55:02.

is that he follows is for two miles to make sure we have gone.

:55:03.:55:08.

Eventually he gives up and our security team advise as to leave the

:55:09.:55:12.

area which means we don't get a chance to bring in our big screen

:55:13.:55:18.

which is a shame because we wrote a song! Because we believe in the

:55:19.:55:21.

redeeming nature of country music and it is a very good song.

:55:22.:56:42.

In the meantime Gary Manning has written to us

:56:43.:56:49.

saying our allegations are false and denying that the company sells

:56:50.:56:52.

unnecessary parts or works against customers' best interests.

:56:53.:56:56.

He says they employ highly skilled and knowledgeable engineers,

:56:57.:56:59.

and it's a natural part of their duties to recommend

:57:00.:57:02.

to clients other products, repairs and upgrades.

:57:03.:57:04.

And that there is nothing wrong with how they incentivise.

:57:05.:57:07.

He also told us the company regularly carries out random audits

:57:08.:57:10.

on installations to ensure clients receive the best level of service.

:57:11.:57:13.

He went on to say the company takes health and safety very seriously

:57:14.:57:16.

and all employees are equipped with the necessary personal

:57:17.:57:18.

protection equipment to ensure they can work at height safely.

:57:19.:57:20.

Remember all our stories come from you.

:57:21.:57:22.

So do please keep telling us about Rogue Traders or any business

:57:23.:57:25.

And our team can start looking into them ready for the next series.

:57:26.:57:29.

Details of how to get in touch are on your screen now.

:57:30.:57:32.

Thanks again to everyone who's been in touch tonight.

:57:33.:57:36.

Apart from laughing at the singing! All of the stories have struck a

:57:37.:57:50.

chord, so many e-mails and comments, thank you so much. Craig says, with

:57:51.:57:58.

the Smart meter deadline back, these incidents regarding the

:57:59.:58:01.

installations are a disgrace. And fidget spinners, they have got you

:58:02.:58:09.

in a spin. Vicky says her kids spin it lasted a week before it came

:58:10.:58:14.

apart. One said that a spinner was horrific and you could lose a

:58:15.:58:18.

finger. One said that Viagogo booking fees are ridiculous and you

:58:19.:58:21.

don't see them until they are too late. And the bumpers of art if that

:58:22.:58:27.

was really using ink! We are available for weddings -- you

:58:28.:58:30.

singing. Thanks for all your comments

:58:31.:58:31.

and stories this series. We'll be back on your

:58:32.:58:35.

screens before too long. But until then, from everyone here,

:58:36.:58:37.

bye!

:58:38.:58:40.

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