Episode 20 X-Ray

Hello, I'm Lucy Owen in Dolgellau. I'm Rhodri Owen in Cardiff. You're

watching X-Ray. On tonight's programme - Linda's driveway's in a

right state. Why won't the builder talk to me? Just a quick question

regarding the driveway. Rats are making life a misery for the

Merediths in Hengoed. Why can't Caerphilly Council sort it out?

problem sofas. SCS says this one's only for casual sitting, what do

Hello! Well, here in Dolgellau I'll be on the town's sports pitch later

on finding out why the local dog population are causing problems for

the town's rugby and football teams. I bet you can guess what I am

talking about. But first, Rhod's been to meet the residents of a

street in the Rhymney Valley who've In this house, high in the Rhymney

Valley, live Leanne Meredith, her husband and two young children. But

it is not a happy house, something Their home and quite a lot of this

entire street is infested with rats and has been for some time. In fact,

they've been living in this house, on and off, for 10 months. And all

this time they've been keeping the family awake, scratching and

Mum! I can hear the rats again. Because this is where the rats have

nested, deep in the insulation. The vermin have produced so much urine

it's soaked through and stained the ceiling below. So this is Jamie's

room? What are the tell tale signs here of the rats? As you can see

there's a yellow stain across the ceiling from the rat urine.

urine? That is absolutely disgusting. It's literally coming

through from the loft. That's obviously, completely unhygienic as

well, not good for anybody. But in the bathroom, it gets worse,

they've had maggots and flies. So Leanne, what happened in here?

had a horrific smell in the bathroom of a dead rodent which was

confirmed by a pest control officer. We had maggots actually on the

carpet, really. We had flies everywhere. We had to rip all the

floorboards up, take the casing of this here, the waste pipe. It was

just horrific. The law is very strict when it

comes to rats and mice. All local authorities have a duty to keep

their district free of infestation and with good reason. Rats can

cause all sorts of terrible infections, sometimes they're fatal.

OK, I'm going to take a quick look. Here in the insulation the

Merediths have found tunnels the rats use to get around. And the

council has left a trap and a tray full of deadly poison. Right, well,

I didn't see any rats but there was a very bad smell, it's hard to

express quite how vile it is and that's what they're living with

everyday. The Merediths first noticed something strange in May

last year. Leanne's got photos of the rat's droppings in the loft

insulation to show me. It must have been such a shock for

you. What did you do? Well, this is a council house, so we notified the

council, the landlord, and asked them for help. But that was 10

months ago and the rats are still up there? They sent so many workmen

here but we've still got rats. fact, lots of men from Caerphilly

County Borough Council have tried to get rid of the rats. You could

First the council sent two men to check the drains outside. They

wouldn't even go into the house and told Leanne the family needed a

Next, the council sent a Pest Control Officer. He could smell a

rat and he left a trap but he Then a plumber arrived and checked

the waste pipe. But he told Leanne, you don't want me, you need a

So a carpenter was sent but he couldn't investigate without a

plumber but that man had already Six whole days after Leanne first

called the council, two men climbed into the attic. Leanne heard a

commotion! So, what did they find? They found a huge infestation in

the attic. There was droppings everywhere, urine everywhere, they

thought they saw a live rat up there as well. The council removed

the insulation from the loft and the rats seemed to go away. But six

months later, they were back, living in the new insulation. The

council is now trying to tackle the problem again but although the

poison is working they can't find the dead rats.

They said the best thing to do is just to leave them until the smell

goes away or turn on the heating to make them decay quicker. But when

you put the heating on it obviously amplifies the smell even more. So

at the moment we're just using air fresheners mask it really. And it's

not just the Merediths. We've spoken to eight households on the

small street. Some of them were willing to tell us their tales of

the vermin that got away. What kind of size are we talking now? We're

talking, the size of a cat. Really big ones? Yeah, they're big ones.

They're full in the sewers around here. And the council? Well? Don't

seem to be doing much about it. it been a long time? Since I've

been here. I've been here 13, 14 years. Caerphilly Council say

there's no proof that there's a rat infestation just anecdotal evidence

from the residents. As well as council tenants there's a private

tenant too. I've had plenty in the attic, I've got poison in the attic

and I've got traps. When you say plenty, how many do you mean and

what are you hearing? Well, I've killed five at the moment. Really?

And what sort of size are we talking. I'm talking, just under

kitten size. Really? I've seen the rats out in my garden myself.

You've seen them. Yeah. And what sort of size are we talking?

They're about that big. Really? That's not very nice is it.

Ashworth travels South Wales laying traps, baiting and shooting the

creatures we'd rather not have around. We asked him to investigate

Hawthorne Avenue. OK, you've had a look around, what are your

thoughts? There's lots of rodent activity in the area. You've got

burrows in this embankment here, you've a property down here with

burrowing activity. There's an alleyway over there and there's

lots of activity in the loft above the house. Why such a problem for

so long? There is an awful lot of area for the rats to hide in. Over

here you have two or three open sewers that regularly flood each

year so if sewerage can come out then something else can get back in.

That's potentially giving the rats access to the properties through

the foundations. What about Caerphilly's response? They

certainly acted but not in the correct manner. They've not been

anything like as intrusive as they need to be. They haven't found the

source of the problem and dealt with accordingly. Only time will

tell whether Caerphilly Council will ever get rid of the rats on

Hawthorne Avenue, but it's a day Leanne is longing for. I just want

a rat free home for my children. A safe home for my children to live

in. And that really isn't much to ask for in this day and age, is it?

Do you think it will happen? don't know. I really don't know.

It's gone on for a long time now. What a situation. Most of the homes

in that film are owned by Caerphilly County Borough Council

but, unfortunately, they're not willing to talk to us about the

situation. They have sent us a statement and they're apologising.

They say their intervention back in May last year was successful, but

they're sorry that the rat problem returned. They've now found out how

the rats are getting into the Meredith family's house and they've

plugged a hole in this sewage pipe to stop them. Leanne says she's

been told that the poison in her loft hasn't been touched for a week

so fingers crossed, the rats might be gone. Sounds like Lucy's

tackling another nasty problem up in Dolgellau. Lucy. Now, it's

smelly, disgusting and can cause a right mess. Dog poo is something

that annoys us all. The problem's so bad on these playing fields in

Dolgellau that the local sports teams are having to clear it up

every Saturday morning. I've come to meet some of the players. How

big a problem is it? It is very bad this year. It is

nothing Ferness to get 12-15 dog mess before a game which we have to

clear up. During the game, the game has to be stopped the bout three-

times for the mess to be cleared up. It is embarrassing for the rugby

club. It sounds like a horrible problem. Your grandson plays here.

Yes, one of the biggest problems is one of these kids is injured and

the mess get into the cut, it could be nasty. As a disabled person you

can imagine if I inadvertently tread in it, I am on my backside.

Down I go, you can see the problem. We should put a block as much as we

can on dogs being let loose to run as they want to. Many thanks. What

you think the answer could be? do have dog wardens were employed

by the council on if they could be here and talk to the families and

if necessary find them. They will have to name and shame them in the

local newspaper. Maybe the we learn from that quakes because they have

had. So Dolgellau dog walkers watch out, they'll be watching. And if

there's anything in your area that's annoying you, please get in

touch, the details are on the screen now.

Next, if you paid over a thousand pounds for furniture from a well

known company, you'd expect your purchase to last for years. But

some unhappy SCS customers have been left bitterly disappointed

Soft comfy sofas. Soft cosy sofas, something like that? Some comfy

settees. Could it be, Sit Comfortably Stanley? Well, there

are some X-Ray viewers who've come up with different interpretations

for what they think SCS stands for. Last October, Chris and Caryn

Phillips from Carmarthen decided to invest in a sofa which they could

enjoy for years to come after making do with hand me downs in the

past. First was from my grandmother, wasn't it? Yeah, and the second one

then my mum moved and I had hers and she bought a new one.

decided the time was right to invest in a new sofa, our very

first new sofa. How did you go about finding your perfect sofa?

started at the front door and we walked round with the sales man and

we sat on every one. This is the sofa then? That is the sofa.

this is in the store. That's you trying them all out then is it?

This is quite unusual, what's that about? It's what they call a cuddle

sofa. Cuddle sofa, where you can cwtch up into it.

Chris and Caryn bought their suite here at SCS Trostre in Llanelli. It

cost over �2,000 - not exactly a The sofa Chris and Caryn had chosen

even featured in an SCS ad, but it didn't live up to the dream they'd

been sold. Show me what's wrong. It's very

dipped down yeah, and if you look underneath it, this just seems so

slack and you can feel the wooden base of it. So what's it like when

you sit on it, can you show me? You're basically sinking right into

it. It's not a natural position to sit in. The one in the shop your

legs were level with the floor. You don't look comfortable at all.

Not really the cosy cuddle you were looking forward to. Not at all.

Chris and Caryn contacted SCS who sent an upholsterer to check the

sofa, but he said there was no fault with it. It's got to the

point where we're too afraid to sit on it because you're sat on the

floor. $$WHITEOh, that's ok, it's really disappointing and there's

No. I sent them another letter saying we've taken photos of the

one in the shop. They say it's the design of the sofa and there's

nothing we're going to do about it. So what do Chris and Caryn think

SCS stands for? Saggy Cuddle Sofa. Seriously Crummy Settee. Over at

Llanedeyrn in Cardiff there's another unhappy SCS customer.

Cheryl Brekke paid almost �1,000 for her suite, which she bought

from SCS Cardiff Gate in April 2010. We wanted something that was

manageable to use, that didn't need a lot of attention. Something that

was going to last us the framework because I've got five children and

because I'm big myself I wanted something quite sturdy. But Cheryl

didn't get the low maintenance sofa she wanted. To keep her furniture

looking good there's a regime she Obviously there's some days I'm not

able to do it myself because I And you do that about, well every

morning I do it, and evening, and we do it about four or five times

through the day. And the frame has had to be repaired under warranty,

but Cheryl says the problems have been on-going. They've been to

repair it, for about the fourth or fifth time, and it's still not

right, it's not 100%. All the sagging material at the back, the

frame's coming through, it's not what you expect from a sofa that's

18 months old. So what does Cheryl think SCS stands for? Sat Collapsed

Shocked! Last January, Tracey Evans from the Rhondda chose two three-

seater recliner sofas from SCS Cardiff Gate. She paid over �1,500.

Why the recliners? If you're going to watch TV you should do it in

comfort! But when the sofas arrived, Tracey could have been forgiven for

thinking someone was playing a joke on her. They were delivered on

April 1st last year and from day one they've never worked. Tracey

contacted SCS, who sent representatives out to try and fix

the mechanism on a number of occasions, but months later her

recliners still don't work properly. When the engineer comes and I say

they don't work, he sits there and he jerks the sofa and jerks it, and

it's fine. I don't want to have to go through that process every time

I want to put my feet up. Do that with a cup of tea in one hand,

doing that jerking motion and end up scalding myself, so obviously

not ideal. Do you feel they value you as a customer? No, not at all.

I feel once they've got your money you're put to one side then, they

don't care. As far as Tracey's concerned, SCS means? Shoddy

Customer Service. In case you're wondering, we've asked SCS what

their name stands for and they say it used to stand for Suite CentreS,

but as they've branched out recently, it now means Sofa Carpet

Specialist. Well, I think some of their customers might disagree?

Well, SCS tell us Chris and Caryn's cuddle sofa sofa is designed with a

casual sit in mind - whatever that means! They claim the couple could

have paid more and had a foam cushion, but Chris says they

weren't offered that and insists they thought the one they bought

would be identical to the one they tried in the shop. SCS are in the

process of repairing Tracey's faulty recliner and will be

contacting Cheryl to look into the problems she's had. So what can you

do if your sofa's not up to scratch - did you know there's a Furniture

Ombudsman who can help? Kevin, that's you! So when can you step

in? What do you do? We have a code of practice and if there is a

problem we can look at it and make sure everyone gets a fair deal.

there anything you could have done for these people. While most of the

biggest retailers do sign up for the ombudsman, SCS don't. So the

only thing we could do is provide an independent inspection report.

They can use that to decide whether they have a legitimate complaint.

So the advice is to try and buy somebody that is registered to

you'res? Yes, check the ombudsman web-site first and then understand

who our members are and shop from there. How many members do you

have? We have about 4,000. One last thing. Can you make head nor tail

of what SSC are saying. The most important phrase this a the sofa is

fit for purpose and o' of satisfactory quality. Next, Lucy's

sorting out a problem in for a family in Swansea. Maria Hamilton

from Swansea thought redeveloping a property would give her young

family the perfect home - that was until huge electricity bills

started to arrive. British Gas has charged us thousands of pounds for

a property we've never lived in. I'm on the case. With an expanding

family Maria and husband Mark bought a new home in May 2009.

knew it was going to take a while to renovate the house but it was

the right decision to buy that house we love it. So it was a long

term plan? Yes, my husband works abroad so it was difficult for me

to do it with the baby. Very difficult to do it. Maria, Mark and

their two children have never lived in the house, so the electricity

bills from British Gas should have been low. We agreed to pay �40 a

month. Nobody living in the house, for us it was a good deal. British

Gas fitted a new meter, but that didn't cause any problems then a

year later in September 2010 - the bill doubled. Suddenly we started

paying �86 per month. We were concerned because no one was living

in the house. There was no way we could be using all that electricity.

Maria complained to British Gas who tested the meter. A fault was

eventually found and a replacement meter was installed. So you had the

new meter fitted, was that the end of the problem? Not at all - then

we had this bill of �380 per month, we couldn't believe. Alarmed by

this huge increase - Maria's spent months complaining. But British Gas

wouldn't explain why the family had now paid more than �3,000 in

electricity charges in just over a year. It's incredibly frustrating

for us. We're not getting any help from anyone at all. You can call as

much as you want but no help at all. So Maria what would you like me to

do? I'd like you to get my money back and an apology from British

Gas. Maria. I'm on the case. Maria's struggling to resolve her

complaint, so could she have done anything differently? She did

complain to British Gas, but when they failed to sort out the problem,

she could have gone to the Energy Ombudsman. The Ombusman will look

at complaints about energy companies, but only if they've

already had eight weeks to sort it out. It's interesting that last

year more than two thirds of cases ended with customers getting

refunds. British Gas say in Maria's case they've been sending estimated

bills that were unfortunately based on readings from a faulty meter

that they changed. They've apologised for taking so long to

sort out the Hamilton's billing issue and say they will refund what

the family are owed since the faulty meter was installed in

September 2009. We've had a cheque for �2,500 and a credit of �400 in

our electricity account. And that's another case closed! Almost �3,000

back there for Maria and the family, a really great result. Now, last

week we looked at the problem of metal theft, well some more of you

have been in touch on. RCT People First is a charity for people with

learning disabilities in Porth - they've tweeted to tell us they've

had lead stolen from their roof. And Ian Emery who's also from Porth

tweeted to say drain covers are being pinched there all the time

and he nearly came a cropper on his bike. If you've got anything you'd

like to say about this week's stories, please do get in touch!

Next, Rhod's in Newport to find out why one woman's driveway is

Looking good is very important to Linda Vokes so when it came to

laying a new driveway she was prepared to pay extra for something

a little bit special. But what she got has left her feeling very let

down. Because although the drive came with the promise of a long

life, all is far from well. So I've come to meet Linda to find out

what's gone wrong? Linda, hello there, how are you doing? Hello

Rhodri, I'm fine thanks. Good, good. Nice to see you, nice to see you.

So this is it? This is the drive. Pretty? Disintegrating as we speak.

No, it's the wall, the coping stones, and the walls further down

as well. Tell you what, we'll go inside, you can dry off and tell me

all about it. OK. Linda employed Newport builder Les Thomas at

Christmas in 2008 to lay the new driveway and erect two walls for

35,600. Because it went down right in the middle of winter when frost

was a danger, Les should have covered it while it set. But we've

been told he might not have done because by September 2009 holes

were already starting to appear. Linda got on the phone. So what was

Les' response? Well, it took a while to get him to come over. He

was very slow to respond to my calls, but we eventually got him

over here and he said it was nothing to worry about - he'd sort

it? You must have been pleased with that? Pleased that he'd come out,

thinking, well it won't get any worse, now he's dealt with it, but

it did deteriorate quite rapidly and then I called again and again

and again and eventually we got him over and he said I'll put it right

when the weather's good and when I can fit you in. But even when nice

weather came the builder was still absent and the holes in the

driveway were getting bigger and bigger. When Les failed to fix the

drive Linda got two quotes from other builders to find out how much

the repairs were going to cost - an eye-watering �4,000. So what was

your reaction to getting those quotes? Disgusted, disappointed,

very upset, not only with the work, but with the man himself! Every

time I go to the car or come in and out of the house I think, why did

we bother? $YELLOW Sick and tired of waiting, Linda took Les to court

- and won. The judge ordered him to pay to put the work right - a total

of �4,000. So you won the court case, they said you can get the

money off him, what have you got back? And what have you got off

him? Nothing, no contact, nothing all. Not a penny. Nothing at all?

Nothing at all. How would you describe the way Les has treated

you? Upsetting, disappointing, we're gutted, basically. A building

expert we consulted told us that it's the concrete used on Linda's

driveway that's caused these problems. Here at Coleg Gwent, I'm

meeting a man who knows all there is to know about the stuff, Linden

Jones. So what should Les have considered? Anything in particular

for a drive in the middle of winter? Additives can be added to

concrete to help prevent that but one thing you can do to prevent

surface attack on the surface of concrete is to protect it with some

sort of insulation ideally hessian. The experts here make mixing

concrete seem pretty straightforward. So what went wrong

with Les's mix? Well we've been asking him about that and about

Linda's money for weeks, but he's not answering any questions. Time

to pay him a visit. Mr Thomas, we're from X ray, a question

regarding Linda Vokes' drive way. I'm sorting it out. Why haven't you

paid her the money. I haven't had the money. I shall pay in due

course. Would you like to say something to Linda. No. No, nothing

at all to say. Nothing at all. Nothing to say. Well if we hear

anymore from Les Thomas, we'll let you know. That's all we've got time

for this week - next week we're reporting on those companies who

ring up and offer to claim back insurance money for you. Well we've

already heard from quite a few of you about dog poo in your area.

Victoria Greenfield says: "I wish you'd come to Dinas Powys. I think

it's the worst place for dog poo being left on the pavement I've

ever seen" Whilst Lee Waters tweeted to say if dog poo is what

you want, Barry Island is where you should come. We have quite a

collection up on Nell's Point. And according to Sarah Parsons - it's a

problem on the Richard Burton trail in Cwmavon. When she's on her bike