Episode 6 Watchdog

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

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

This is Watchdog Live - and on your side.

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

exposing all sorts of dodgy goings-on at the businesses

One of them is Britain's biggest electrical retailer,

Currys PC World, where staff have been ripping up

We're also looking into ticketing reseller Viagogo.

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

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

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

costing? For tickets, thousands of pounds.

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

Stand by for an unusually musical Rogue Traders.

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

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

a bit of stress relief We've given our crowd

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

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

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

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

through the messages We get tonnes before

the show even starts, so thanks for those,

and keep them coming. You can email us at

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

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

comments later in the programme. But first tonight -

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

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

every step of the way", but our secret filming

shows they could be leading The process of selling your house

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

with regulators. The advertising standards Authority has banned six

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

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

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

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

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

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

would make over a traditional estate agent. The Purplebricks agent

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

scuppered her chance of getting her dream home, especially when

Purplebricks promised to hold her hand all the way through the

process. The advert on the television was saying that they

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

customers and regulators, has Purplebricks learnt its lesson? Our

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

sold which seems to be wildly exaggerated.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

entirely separate financial institution. How important is it for

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

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

financial arrangements are one of the key factors people take into

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

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

protection information. Under the consumer protection from unfair

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

those prohibited practices is misleading information. We also took

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

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

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

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

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

Quite probably, because this code of practice imposes obligations on

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

talked about are potentially breaches of the consumer protection

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

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

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

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

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

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

you are still using misleading information that has been banned.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

accept it would have been distributed to customers, but the

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

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

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

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

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

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

into an arrangement with Purplebricks, we lead the way in

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

seismic change from the traditional agency to Purplebricks, that there

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

time. Tonight, we're looking

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

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

of tonight's company The Television Aerial Company

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

January 2012 the director removed himself from the Television Aerial

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

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

better. Andy Nash called the Television Aerial Company when he

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

the problem solved? Well, it should be,

but when you call out of Whyteleafe, Surrey,

also trading as Aerialforce, And remember, despite their long

name, they could still be confused with other companies

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

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

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

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

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

companies provide anti-bacterial Some rail operators replied saying

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

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

some of you have had after having a smart meter installed

in your home. First it was gas leaks and trouble

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

problems people are having after a smart meter installations. Fires

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

properly in the installation of the smart meter. Whatever the

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

concerns about safety properly addressed.

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

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

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

the meter or the installation were at fault.

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

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

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

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

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

And other people also told us they think 18 fires

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

Once again, we asked Greg Clark - the minister

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

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

engineers undergo extensive training and the Robert is a chance to

identify potential safety issues in people's homes.

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

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

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

Next tonight, a subject about which you contact

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

Ricky Wilson from the Kaiser Chiefs has been finding out why

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

a huge spike in complaints, especially about their putting feeds

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

discovered too late that their tickets were worthless. How many

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

turned away, apparently the promoters will stamp your ticket and

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

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

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

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

tickets. To find out why Ed Sheron's

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

culture, media and sport select committee launched an investigation

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

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

disappointed that Viagogo have decided not to send a

representative. The government investigation is ongoing, and

secondary ticketing sites are also under investigation by the

Competition Markets Authority. The advertising Standards Authority have

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

including all booking fees - before customers

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

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

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

Ed Sheeran's management saying you won't.

Viagogo also says any 'event organiser' telling its customers

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

because consumer protection legislation makes it illegal

for event organisers to unfairly cancel tickets

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

interpretation of the law is incorrect.

So, if you're buying tickets tonight, the

question is very simple. Who should you trust more,

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

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

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

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

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

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

After her experience with Viagogo, she started helping other others

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

and the Television Aerial Company Ltd based in Whyteleafe, Surrey

who also trade as Aerialforce. Our aerial oppo Nathan

is in our house attempting And it looks like he

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

target of ?901 to meet any of those bonuses.

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

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

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

interest. This advice encourages engineers to act against the

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

song and dance. Meanwhile, Nikki, lots of people

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

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

explain that if you defer your payment you are effectively taking

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We have heard from several other Currys PC

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

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

Including Stuart in Cambridgeshire and Wendy near Edinburgh. We dug

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

between business customers and other customers. Some are found their

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

were purposefully opening business accounts without customers'

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

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

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

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

Is this breaking the law? This commercial lawyer advises businesses

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

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

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

is misleading and his illegal under the consumer protection from unfair

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

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

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

contacted the customers concerned to apologise,

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

targets, incentives or benefits It's providing additional training

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

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

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

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

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

of some of the spinners You bought a fidget

spinner for your son I was fiddling with it after I

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

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

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

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

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

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

We sent this to toy safety expert David Ellerington

at the British Standards Institute, who examined the spinner,

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

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

But it started us thinking - how dangerous can

We bought three fidget spinners from eBay.

All marketed as toys suitable for children.

Professor Sarah Hainsworth is qualified to asses how

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

but it sounds like they can be very dangerous indeed.

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

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

classed as an offensive weapon in the UK.

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

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

so we asked the company why they were on sale.

eBay told us these items are absolutely not permitted

and it's immediately removed them from the site.

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

We'll be passing these onto Trading Standards.

First, always look for the CE mark on packaging.

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

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

small parts that could present a choke hazard to children.

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

aerial oppo is chanelling all his energy into

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the meantime Gary Manning has written to us

saying our allegations are false and denying that the company sells

unnecessary parts or works against customers' best interests.

He says they employ highly skilled and knowledgeable engineers,

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

to clients other products, repairs and upgrades.

And that there is nothing wrong with how they incentivise.

He also told us the company regularly carries out random audits

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

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

and all employees are equipped with the necessary personal

protection equipment to ensure they can work at height safely.

Remember all our stories come from you.

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

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

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

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

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

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

the Smart meter deadline back, these incidents regarding the

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

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

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

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

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

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

singing. Thanks for all your comments

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

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

bye!