Episode 17 X-Ray

Hello come I am Lucy Owen. Rodrigo went. You are watching X-

Ray. Tonight: The company's gone bust, so what have Vale of

Glamorgan Caravans done with Linda's money and checkout and?

Tesco Finest Insurance promises top-class service, but nine months

on Look at the state of his kitchen. And in Ebbw Vale lots of unhappy

people still fighting for their It is good to be back. Tonight we

are in Barry and later on we will be finding out about those annoying

span text messages that get sent to your mobile. I get them all the

time. Me as well and it drives me crazy and it is annoyed a lot of

people here as well. I have got loads. Do you respond? No, I leave

it. They are usually trying to sell something or get you to sign up.

will be finding out how those companies know your number and what

you can do to avoid getting them. First, 11 people have lost

thousands of pounds and all because they asked a local company based

here in the Vale of Glamorgan to sell their caravans. Rachel has

been investigating. Caravans are pretty big and hefty things, but I

can make them disappear. Watch this. Now you see it, now you do not.

Very good. Now you see it again. A simple trick and it is not just me

that can do it. Businessman John Gould from Llantwit Major in the

bail of Glamorgan is absolutely brilliant at making caravans

disappeared. The trouble is he is not quite so good at making them

come back again. He was director of Vale of Glamorgan Caravans. The

company charged �1,000 or more to sell your caravan for you.

Grandmother of eight Linda Davies it was one of his customers. She

has been keen on caravans for years. We used to take the Grand children

and we had some lovely holidays with them. It was a lovely way to

spend your holidays. What changed? It was the price of petrol. We had

quite a big car and you tow a caravan down to Cornwall and it was

double in price. We were using it less and less. They took their

caravan to John Gould's company to sell. He was going to have a look

at it and see what needed to be done, there were a couple of dense

and he was going to put them right and put it up for sale. I had no

reservations leaving the caravan with him. That was in August 2010

and slender was told she could expect a quick sale. She was due to

make over �5,000, but one year later, she was getting impatient.

In the end my son started to ring him and he said he sold it on June

26th. We would get the money and he would be settling the finance.

Nothing. My son got a bit suspicious and decided to pay him a

visit and when they got down the place was locked up and there was a

liquidator's notice on the gate. What did you think? I was

absolutely devastated. I could not believe it. No sign of any caravan,

nothing. To make matters worse, lend it is still making monthly

payments on the loan she took out to buy the caravan. Is it money

that you can simply write off? I work, my husband works and we

need to work because we have got a mortgage until I am almost 70.

could have gone wrong with the company? The business seemed simple

enough. Customers brought in their caravans. He serviced them and sold

them on and then he would take his fees and give the remainder of the

money back to his customers. Child's play. But by mid- 2010,

before lender took her caravan to the company, there were signs it

was in trouble. Bale of Glamorgan caravans were being taken to court

over thousands of pounds of unpaid debts and they had not filed

accounts with Companies House will stop on July 19th last year it was

struck off the register of companies, its bank accounts were

frozen and the business ceased to exist. This is the site today,

little sign that it was once a busy caravan business. In the weeks

after the business closed, customers were turning up here.

Many of them it were in tears trying to find their caravans and

some of them are still looking. Like Chris Callaghan from

Caerphilly. He was trying to sell a caravan on behalf of his daughter

Wendy. He took her caravan to John Gould's business in April. All of a

sudden in July the firm was not answering and it went straight into

answer phone message and this went on for quite some time. I left

messages, I left messages on a mobile number and eventually I went

down to the premises to find it was chained up and the Yard was empty.

To this day I do not know where my caravan is and what has happened to

it. Chris and Linda have both met with John Gould and put questions

to him at a creditors' meeting. showed no remorse whatsoever, in

fact somebody said, take that smug look off your face. Of all of us

were surprised her casual he seemed to be. It was water off a De's back.

I looked him in the eye and asked him how he slept at night and he

could not answer me. They have not had any answers from John Gould, so

they have reported their caravans as stolen and it turns out they are

not the only four customers who are worried. In fact, we know of 11

cases and in total they are owed more than �70,000. These debts are

being treated by liquidators as part of the collapse of Vale of

Glamorgan Caravans. But it turns out John Gould has a second company.

That is the name which appeared on customers' contracts. That company

is officially registered as dormant, which means it does not trade. But

there is something a little bit odd about this supposedly non-trading

company. I have done some digging and discovered it was taken to

court at four times last year and ordered to pay debts of nearly

�9,000. We have been asking John Gould are lots of questions, but

all we have had his replies from his lawyers say he will not be

talking to us right now, so I paid him a visit. But he played indoors

as soon as he sought our camera. John Gould! We are from X-Ray. What

happens to the caravans? I cannot believe he has just gone back

inside. He is obviously not going to answer the question, so if you

have got a caravan to sell in the future, give John Gould a wide

berth. Not many answers, but we have heard

from John Gould's lawyers who say he will be making a statement but

not until the liquidators have completed their report. Last year,

Tesco made lots of you very cross when they stopped giving green it

Clubcard points for using your own bags. Tesco is back in the

spotlight and this time it is their finest insurance policy that has

been causing problems. From a fish fingers to fridges, it

is a dilemma, do you go for the cheapest option or buy the best?

Supermarket giant Tesco made it easy to understand what you are

getting for your cash. There is the value brand, the standard, and

finally their finest. And the choice is not limited to groceries.

It has extended its range to include insurance policies, making

buying insurance as simple as choosing which biscuits to have

with your morning cup of tea. When working mums Sally Pritchard chose

an insurance policy to protect her family home in Ponthir, she took

out the best with Tesco's finest. When she came home to a flooded

kitchen last May, she expected the service to live up to its name.

What did you find? All the tiles on the kitchen floor or were soaking

and water was coming down both sides of the walls. I could see

electrics and I was frightened. called Tesco insurance straight

away and they told her to call out a plumber to source the leak and

stake out the kitchen units. How quickly did you think everybody

would get sorted? I was thinking possibly a few weeks, they would

take the kitchen out and they would be replaced in a few weeks. That

would be it. With the kitsch and stripped bare, Sally and her son

had to pack their bags and move back in with her parents. After

years of being independent to move back to my parents was quite a

shock. So much pressure for them to take on me, my little boy, my dogs,

my cats, my chickens and ducks. It was a lot. Eight months on, Sally

is still paying �40 a month to Tesco's finest insurance to promise

if anything went wrong they would sort it out. I did not want that

hassle because in their policy they would say take control of the

situation. But Sally's hope of a hassle-free service was not to be.

They took the kitchen out and after 10 days there was still a wet patch

on the wall. They said check it in a couple of days, but the wet patch

got bigger and the leak had not been sourced. Things went bad to

worse when Tesco sent in the builders to try to get to the

bottom of the problem. When I was in work my mum rang me and said the

builders had contacted her and said the house was structurally unsafe

because they had made a hole in the wall. I was devastated because I

was on shift, you cannot leave the ward at I had to work the rest of

the shift thinking my house might fall down. Sally called out a

structural engineer. Tesco also sent someone to check out the

property. It was declared safe but Sally refused to have the builders

back. The confusion carried on for months. Eventually Tesco asked her

to quit quotes from bus back -- two builders. In the policy they said

they would sort this out for me and they refused both quotes. After

they asked me to get them, why waste my time doing that when they

are not going to accept them? Eventually in December Salih was

offered a settlement of �5,650 by another claims management company

employed on behalf of Tesco. This time there was no offer of a Bill

to carry out the work as promised in the policy. The settlement would

not even cover the builder and a new kitchen. Did you get a five-

star service? No way. It is nowhere near it, it is not even one star.

The stress has been unbelievable with people constantly calling, me

having to rearrange my shifts. Ben was isolated living at my parents.

Nine months on the Sally and Ben seemed no nearer to getting back

into their home. He has missed home and especially in the evenings he

says, when are we going home? I say it will not be long, but it is

Tesco Insurance have got back to us. They apologised for the distress

and inconvenience and they have offered to pay �8,000 to fit a new

kitchen and to finish the other work that needs doing. They have

offered to pay expenses for the time that Sally and her son, Ben,

have had to spend away from home while the repair work is carried

out. That at the moment mounts up to �5,000. So a fantastic result

and a huge relief for Sally and Ben. Hopefully, they will be back home

soon. Coming up: We will have the latest

on the car park charges in Ebbw Vale. Next, Lucy is on the case.

In April, Colette Chilcott went online to order a specialist

computer. But the state-of-the-art equipment never arrived. Time to

find out more. I paid almost �1,800 for a computer for my son. It

hasn't arrived. I would like a refund. I'm on the case. Colette

bought a computer for Chris who is studying car design in Italy.

Waiting for it to arrive has driven them both around the bend. Hello?

How are you? Nine months ago Colette ordered a specialist

computer from Surrey Stores, a company based in Dorking for her

son. He's finished his degree in Swansea, then he went on to do the

Masters in Milan on car design. He has always wanted to be a car

designer. He's been doing quite a few projects for three different

companies, Lamborghini, Audi and Volkswagen. This was a project that

he did when he was in Swansea University. Wow! This was a project

he did for Lotus. He designed that? Yes. Would he have done this on the

computer? Or is this hand done? They start off with pencil drawings

and then it comes in, they start to use CAD and all sorts of other

software. As the advert shows, Wacom tablets are special. The one

Colette ordered cost almost �1,800. He wanted this tablet which is an

aid for him to draw and what he draws on the tablet then comes up

on the computer rather than him doing pencil sketches and then

having to scan those in and reproduce them that way. It was

easier for him. When did you pay them? That was this April of last

year when Chris was home for the Easter holidays. So you were

expecting the computer to arrive soon after that? Well, we hoped

that it would arrive within the weeks that he was home for Easter

so he could take it back with him. Easter came and went but the

computer didn't arrive. So Chris e- mailed Surrey Stores. They are made

in Japan. They said it was something to do with the bad

weather they have had out there, the tsunami and everything. We

weren't too worried at first. He had used the company a few times

before and no problems. Surrey Stores e-mailed again to say Chris

could expect delivery by the beginning of September. As the

weeks passed, there was still no sign of the computer. What is the

current situation with Surrey Stores? Well, Christopher e-mailed

them in September and asked them for a refund. We still haven't

heard from them. He's e-mailed them since. I want my money back now.

Colette, I'm on the case! I think Colette's been very patient.

She waited five months for the computer to be delivered. Under

Distance Selling Regulationss she could have cancelled the order at

any point. When she did cancel in September she should have had a

refund within 30 days. So where's her money? Well, Surrey Stores say

they did issue a refund in September, but having checked they

now realise the transaction wasn't completed. Surrey Stores say they

didn't know the refund hadn't been received as they say they didn't

hear from Colette or Chris. They have apologised and have refunded

Colette her �1,798. And they have also offered her a �50 credit

voucher as a gesture of goodwill. Thanks, Chris is looking to buy a

new computer and he is on his way to becoming a car designer. That is

another case closed! Colette really glad to get her

�1,800 back. Now it is back to those annoying spam text messages

that most of us have received on our phones at some point. Anne

Jones is from the Information Commissioner's Office. You have

been trying to track down the people responsible for sending

these messages. How much of a problem is it? We think it is a big

problem. We are doing what we can to track these people down. There

are thousands of these things that have been sent out. What they are

doing is trying to generate leads so they send out thousands in the

hope they will get hundreds back that they can sell on for profit.

It is something that annoying people. We have been talking to

people in Barry about the kind of texts they have been receiving.

friend of mine got billed hundreds of pounds off one number. I was

like, "No, I won't do it." That was a saved one. Is your name Anthony?

That's correct. How do you think they got your name? I have no idea.

Would you have responded to it? mentioned a person's name as though

I knew the person. I would have maybe thought it was someone that I

- so if she hadn't stopped me, I would, yeah. Lots of different

problems there. Let's look at the kinds of texts that people are

getting. What about this one? I'm not so sure about that one.

What looks suspect? They have a name on there which is fine if you

are "Evans". They are randomly sending them out and they are

hoping it will hit the spot with somebody. They sent out thousands

and thousands of these things in the hope that some people will

reply to them. OK, what about this, to opt out reply "stop"? Again, I

would say that has got to be one of the spams. If you text back "stop"

you are saying "yes, this is a live number". So people will then

receive more and more of these texts. You are much better off

deleting the thing, don't reply to them. Thank you very much.

Now, last year we told you about the problems at The Walk car park

in Ebbw Vale. Excel Parking agreed to refund many of its customers at

the time. But it seems they didn't live up to their promises. Even

more of you have been in touch, all unhappy about the Parking Charge

Notices you received from Excel Parking. It was the story that

rocked Ebbw Vale. People received letters out of the blue demanding

large amounts of cash with the threat of legal action if the

charges weren't paid. I'm going to court. I can't pay them. I haven't

got �500. A new firm had taken over the running of The Walk, a popular

car park in the town. Tensions were running high. It is upsetting a lot

of people. They don't want to park here because they are too afraid to

park. Motorists had received Parking Charge Notices, demanding

�60 a time from Excel Parking Services Limited. They claimed they

had broken the rules on parking at The Walk. Disgusting. Some of them

were blue badge holders who hadn't paid to park there in the past and

didn't realise the system had changed. People felt new signs and

machines at The Walk were hard to understand. But Excel insist they

follow the British Parking Association's rules on signs. We

thought we got to the bottom of the problem after the landowner stepped

in. The landowners made Excel improve the signs to make it

clearer that all drivers had to pay to park. And they promised that

blue badge holders who had received charges before the 23rd November,

when they hadn't had a chance to get used to the new system, would

have them cancelled or refunded. But weeks later, that promise

wasn't kept. Excel Parking refused to refund some blue badge holders

who had paid the unfair charges. And the confusion about parking at

The Walk continues so I have come back to Ebbw Vale to find out more.

We have invited people to tell us their stories of what's gone wrong.

Many had got in touch with Excel after they heard on X-Ray back in

December that the company had eventually agreed to refund many

motorists. I applied to be refunded and they said no. Don't matter what

position you are in, if you are a blue badge holder, every blue badge

holder should have their money refunded so... Why did blue badge

holders who didn't feel they should have paid Excel's charges in the

first place hand over their money to the firm? I was afraid it was

going to go up to �90. They said if I didn't pay, it would go to court

and I was frightened, I was - I didn't know what to do. I said it's

a lot of money to find before Christmas. Some of the people which

received these notices didn't even use a parking space at The Walk.

David Williams is a driver for GAVO, the Gwent Association of Voluntary

Organisations. He transports people with mobility issues in specially-

adapted vehicles. If it wasn't for me, I don't think old people would

get out. Or disabled people. But in November, the charity received a

letter from Excel, demanding �60 because David had taken too long

dropping his passenger off. should we pay it? I have been doing

it for four years. I have never had it like this before. It is

disgusting. We have also heard from disabled drivers who insist they

bought a valid ticket to park but still got a letter from Excel. It

takes David Hambly at least 20 minutes to get in-and-out of his

specially-adapted car. I have to press a few buttons, I have to

transfer myself into that chair, wheel myself to the back of the car,

host my motorised chair out, then take two wheelchairs to the front

of the car, transfer myself, close the door, then go to the machine.

He made sure he put the right details in the machine when he

bought his tickets at The Walk in December. But received two letters

demanding payment from Excel. quite shocked. Very shocked. I

didn't know what to do, so I phoned my daughter. She phoned Excel.

Eventually, she spoke to one of the girls, but she would not say how

much time I'm allowed. I need half- hour to be on the safe side.

have heard from people who have paid Parking Charge Notices they

had from Excel but ended up being charged twice by the company. Julie,

why do you have a blue badge? son has cerebral palsy. It is

important for you to be able to park easily? Yes. He needs a lot of

help for walking and getting around. Julie paid Excel the �60 charge as

she was afraid of being taken to court. We had the letter and I

didn't think anything of it, I paid it because I don't like fines and I

had a bank statement where they took two which shocked me further.

Others who definitely bought valid tickets still got letters from

Excel asking for money. This is your paperwork? Yes. As soon as I

knew, I had the right ticket, I was straight on to them, copy of the

ticket, letter. Why should you have to be going through this process?

You shouldn't. It must be a fault at their end. Lots of people

affected there. What are Excel saying? In Anthony's

case, they admit that on the day he parked at The Walk, the 10th

November, there was a problem with the machines at the car park.

led to some people like Anthony who had bought valid tickets getting

Parking Charge Notices. They have now cancelled the charges.

David's case, Excel's cancelled those charges. David will have up

to an hour to buy a ticket. They have also granted the GAVO minibus

extra time. They will only make allowances for

people with mobility issues on a case by case basis. Julie's

payments will be refunded and Excel promise that any blue badge holders

who parked at The Walk before 23rd November 2011 will get their

refunds. Admin charges paid by some people will also be refunded so if

you have been charged, get in touch with the company and send proof of

your claim. If you have any views on parking where you live... Or any

unwanted texts, give us a call on 03703 334 334. Or you can go to our

website - bbc.co.uk/xray. Or if you are a Twitter fan, you can tweet us

- @bbcxray. Next week, we will be bringing you the inside story on

how we helped bring this couple to justice. We exposed the activities