Episode 11 X-Ray

Have you been ripped off or short-changed? We're here to fight

for your rights. Spotting the latest scams and making sure you make the

most of your money. I went there trusting them, supporting a local

business, and it's come back to bite me. Exposing the rogues and

confronting the conman. We are here to help you fight back.

The Disney holiday with no fairy tale ending - why did this family's

trip to Florida get cancelled? Both my husband and myself on

numerous occasions broke down into tears - we were just so horrified

with what was going on. Top tips on how to avoid buying an

old banger when you're looking for a used car.

And mobile phone thefts - secret filming with the police highlights

the risks we're taking with our phones.

Holidays, mobile phones and second hand cars. All amongst the top ten

areas for consumer problems, and we're tackling them all for you

tonight. First, a family who got in touch with X-ray after their Disney

holiday of a lifetime turned into a nightmare that's left them seriously

out of pocket. Once upon a time, there lived a

family named Crowley. There was Sophie Crowley and her husband

Damian and their two beautiful children, Oliver and Dylan. They

dreamt of escaping the hustle and bustle the stresses and strains of

everyday life. My youngest was born a month premature, I then had to

have an emergency appendicitis out, my father-in-law was taken into

hospital and then my baby needed an operation to have his tonsils taken

out as an emergency, so it's been a bit of a manic couple of years.

So one fine day, Sophie booked a fairy tale holiday with British

Airways. It was to be two weeks of sunshine in Orlando with the whole

Disney experience. It was a complete and utter dream

holiday, something that Ollie could really look forward to, going to see

Mickey Mouse in Disney, going on an aeroplane. We booked a private

villa, private swimming pool, just a really nice relaxing holiday but to

go and see all the characters as well.

But first the family had to part with some gold! They paid their

first payment to British Airways holidays in January and then five

other instalments in June. Over ?3,000. They were now just weeks

away from their long-awaited magical holiday.

But all was not well. An email arrived from British Airways

holidays saying the family owed many more gold coins.

I was really shocked; I was like. "OK, let me send you a bank

statement." They then said they hadn't received two of the payments,

one for ?500 and one for ?600. The whole Disney experience was now

in jeopardy. The problem seemed to be with her payments. Each separate

instalment had left the Crowley's account. But then it went missing.

Somewhere between their bank, Sainsburys, and British Airways' two

banks - Barclays and Deutsche Bank, the money got lost.

To be honest, I think both my husband and myself on numerous

occasions just broke down in tears. We were just so horrified with

everything that was going on. Sophie sent a letter to British

Airways from her bank confirming the payments had been made. But BA still

said the money hadn't been paid - time to call in a wise professor.

The consumer here has got the evidence to show that the money left

her bank account. But equally BA are saying that the money has not

arrived in their bank account, and so it's gone missing in the middle

somewhere, and she has no authority whatever to investigate what's going

on between the two banks concerned to try to track down where the money

is. She's completely reliant on them.

The fairy tale was fast turning into a nightmare. With no sign of the

missing money, British Airways cancelled the holiday.

I was horrified, I was heartbroken. I was just more shocked and I don't

initially think I took in what was going on. We'd obviously told Ollie

so much. We were going to see Mickey, we were going on in the

plane and what with everything that was going on with Dylan being in

hospital, I didn't have the heart to say to him that we weren't going.

The holiday was cancelled just four weeks before they were due to fly.

The Crowleys were determined, though, that the children should get

to see Mickey Mouse. They borrowed money from their family to travel to

Euro Disney. It cost them almost ?3,000.

We loved every minute of being over there, but it wasn't a holiday. We

tried to cram as much as we could into four days. It wasn't the

relaxing few weeks in the sun you'd hoped for?

No, not sitting by the pool. We didn't get to do anything but run

around the theme parks, which was brilliant for the boys, but it

wasn't a holiday. British Airways did refund all the

payments they had received from the Crawleys bank. But the ?1,100 is

still missing and the family never did get their Florida holiday.

It's like a holiday, a dream that will never now happen, it's not

something that we can do again, the whole thing has broken us down

completely. Well, we've spent many frustrating

hours on the phone and emailing the banks, trying to trace Sophie's

missing money. British Airways told us that despite their own extensive

investigations they have no evidence that it ever reached them. Sophie's

own bank is still investigating, but after we spoke to them they've

agreed to credit the family's account with the missing money - all

?1,100 - while they do more checks. I think that's a result!

Still to come - the firm that promises to get you connected, but

Tracey and her son didn't get the deal they were expecting. I was

horrifed because of the fact that as far as I was concerned, this manager

had promised to cancel the contract for me.

More on that story in a minute. Now tonight we're looking at nearly

everything to do with mobile phones. Later, I'll be checking out the

small print on phone insurance. Before that mobile phone thefts.

Lucy's been out with the police to see why some of us are soft targets

for the thieves. Saturday night in the Gatekeeper pub

in Cardiff. But this evening, one sly punter is taking advantage of

the relaxed atmosphere. As this woman pops her handbag onto the bar,

his hand is straight inside searching for her phone. Mobile

phone theft is a problem plaguing the UK. And here's how the thieves

work. This man appears to be collecting signatures. But when he

takes the clipboard, the phone goes as well. This woman is chatting on

the phone, she hasn't seen the cyclist behind her - wow, that was

fast! Here in South Wales, more than 2,000 mobiles were stolen in the

first half of this year, with over a third of them pinched in central

Cardiff. And a lot of it could be avoided if we just took better care

of our phones. Everybody is now carrying around mobile phones, and

certainly over the last year or so the value of those phones has

increased. We've got to ask ourselves really if you've got a

?200, ?300, ?500-phone, should we be doing a little bit more to protect

it? So we've come back to the Gatekeeper pub and with the help of

South Wales Police, we're going to reveal the three biggest mistakes we

make. Wearing secret cameras, Inspector Dave Greaves and PC Lia

Jones scout the joint for anyone whose phone could become an easy

target for thieves. We want to target the females

really, especially with the handbag type issues. There's a lady behind

us with an open handbag. And it's only a matter of minutes before they

prove our first case in point - unattended handbags.

Next up, they head for the bar to demonstrate our second hit - an open

bag. Lastly, a prime example of the

laidback behaviour we're all guilty of - an exposed phone.

Throughout the evening the officers spot dozens of phones that could

easily be stolen. It is silly to leave your things out

on the table, but I think we all do nowadays because you are constantly

on your mobile phone, aren't you, so you don't think about it. When you

have ben drinking and you're in the middle of conversation, I think

people can be opportunistic and walk passed, and yeah, it did make me

more aware, to be honest, I suppose. You can see my bag is open there and

although I am next to it it would actually be quite easy I guess for

someone to do it. I am always aware that people are always on their

phones - it's almost an advert for people to come and steal something.

So what are you going to do from now on? Make sure I don't get my phone

out all the time and flash it around and stuff and definitely keep my bag

zipped up more when I can. So what are the top tips to protect

yourself? First and foremost, it's a really obvious thing to say but

don't leave your mobile on show, even if you think it's within hand's

reach. It's just too easy for the criminals to snatch and run. Don't

walk and text - you're so engrossed in what you're doing, you don't see

what's about to happen. If you have to use your phone

outside, make a call instead and use hands-free, so you can stash your

phone away. Hi, you all right?

Pop a pin lock on your phone so if someone does steal it, at least they

can't get into it. Write down its IMEI - its unique identity number.

Find it by typing *#06# into your phone. If your phone is stolen, your

operator will use this number to blacklist the phone on a central

database so it can't be used on any network. You can also mark it with

an ultraviolet pen which helps police to locate you if they find a

stolen phone. And consider putting tracking

software onto your phone. You can download apps that use GPS to show

you where your phone is. If it gets nicked, you can report its location

to the police. But at least tonight we can end on a high. Remember that

thief from the start of our film? All he could find in his victim's

handbag was make-up, so he headed off to find his next target. But the

woman at the bar saw what they were up to and alerted the manager and he

was caught before he could make his escape. I think the team were

spot-on, the door staff especially, they detained the gentleman, they

searched him and obviously held him until the police turned up to take

him away. 31-year-old Christian Zarafan was arrested last month. He

pleaded guilty to attempted theft of a mobile phone and was sentenced to

16 weeks in prison. Good going for the Gatekeeper!

I'll definitely be keeping a much closer eye on this from now on. Now

today marks the beginning of National Consumer Week - and this

year we're being urged to be a bit more savvy when it comes to buying

second hand cars. Well, Trading Standards Officer Ellis Roberts is

with us to explain a little bit more. Ellis, good to see you, so why

second hand cars? Second hand cars are consistently the most common

type of complaint we receive at Trading Standards year on year, and

it's one of the biggest purchases a person will usually make in their

lifetime, and so people feel the need to complain and that's why

we're highlighting this campaign this year. But here in Bridgend, a

town that's famous for making car engines, just how up to speed are

people when it comes to the does and don'ts of buying a second hand car?

If you were buying a second hand car, you go see it, it looks like

what you wanted, what would you be looking out for? What would you be

checking? I'd call the AA and ask them to check it over. The interior

and the bodywork, that's it. I bought one yesterday from a garage.

Low mileage basically, I would say, and that it's been well looked

after, and as long as my husband passes it, it's fine by me. Bodywork

damage. I'd ask to see the service history if there was one, and just

look through that and ensure that everything was A-OK. What did you

look for when you went to see it now? How thoroughly did you check

it? I didn't to be honest with you. You bought a second hand car

yesterday and you haven't check it at all? I looked over it but it was

raining when I went down to look. I wouldn't buy a second hand car

because my knowledge of cars is just not good enough. Some interesting

answers there! One man who does know his way around a car is Independent

vehicle inspector, Gareth Rees. Gareth, good to see you, I bet

you've seen some shockers in your time? We've seen some horror stories

and the message to people, buyer beware. So beware of what - what

sort of things should people be looking out for? To the ordinary

individual when you look at the car, have a look, see if there are any

obvious signs of accident damage. Is there any overspray, paint overspray

over the windows. Have a look at the tyres - see if there's any uneven

wear. Go to the car - start it up. Let's have a look at the exhaust.

See if there's any excessive smoking. Started first time, that's

a good sign. That is a good sign, but if there's anything untoward in

the engine, the first sign you'll see is the exhaust smoke, billows of

smoke coming out. And obviously it's a used car, it's going to have its

own history. It's going to have like there, the odd scratch and things.

It's not going to be perfect, it's used, isn't it? That's right,

cosmetic scratch and we'd expect that because if a car's done sixty,

seventy thousand eighty miles then obviously we'd expect some stone

chips, we'd expect some marks on the car. I'd be very suspicious if there

were none, so obviously that might indicate it's been resprayed or had

some work done to it. Also things like electric windows, check they

work, that can be costly? Yes, of course, very costly, when we check

is it working, is it going up and down, is it doing as they say, are

the seats pulling, are they releasing as they should. All very

important. Another thing that's expensive is spare keys. Absolutely.

A spare key these days has to be chipped for it to be able to start

and open the car, so that's a very important point. Ensure that it's

got a spare key. Good advice as usual. Thank you very much, and if

you want to know more about second hand cars and "National Consumer

Week" there's more information on our website. And remember if you've

got a story you think we should be looking at if a company has let you

down, if you've been caught out by the small print, get in touch.

Back to mobile phones. Earlier I was out with the police seeing how

they're trying to stop phone crime. Well, if you are unlucky enough to

have yours stolen, you might well end up claiming on your insurance to

replace it - but watch out for the small print!

Ten million of us now have mobile phone insurance. But this summer

many of the big players received a slap on the wrist from the newly

formed consumer watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority. They

accused mobile phone insurers of using unclear and unfair terms and

conditions Being too slow to handle claims And providing a product that

wasn't right for its customers. It took keen golfer Sean Golledge from

Cardiff almost three months to get a replacement phone on his insurance.

Having looked back on it now I probably wouldn't take out phone

insurance again after the whole experience. Sean's iPhone was

insured with Protect Your Bubble. The policy cost him ?6.99 a month.

But just a matter of days before Christmas he lost it on a night out.

I wasn't sure if I had misplaced it or left it on the table where we

were sitting or something like that, but the phone wasn't there in my

pocket, so it was obviously left in the bar or on the journey from the

bar to where I was catching the taxi. He submitted his claim but

Protect Your Bubble said his terms and conditions stated he should have

registered his lost phone with a website called immobilise.com within

48 hours. There wasn't even a clause, the clause they referred to

didn't even exist. It was almost as if they plucked something out of the

air. Sean wouldn't let it go, but he was racking up time and money. Just

constant emails. When they did get back to me sometimes they would ask

for the smallest bit of information, which again would take another two

weeks, I ended up phoning them as well on premium numbers - so 0844

numbers which cost me money. Then after three months of fighting they

sent him... A second hand phone. It was farcical, really. Came in just a

box, an empty brown box, just the phone, didn't come with any

paperwork, didn't come with the PIN to access the SIM card, didn't come

with a charger, just a phone and, yeah, it was just ridiculous. So

I've come to the library to do some research - better keep the noise

down, and definitely no phones. So we thought it would be good to have

our own little look through the policy documents of some of

Britain's most popular mobile phone insurance providers. Mobile phone

insurance can cost anything from a few pounds a month to 50p a day,

with excesses of up to ?100! So is it worthwhile? First and foremost

out of all the insurers we checked none of them will promise you a

brand new phone, not a single one. Sadly in most cases it'll be a

refurbished phone. But when it comes to awkward terms and conditions

here's our top three. In at number three. Many insurance providers

won't cover you if you've put a different sim card into your phone.

So if you're using a foreign SIM card because you're abroad, or

you've put a work sim card into your phone, you might not be covered. At

number two. You better get to that police station fast. A lot of

insurance companies only give you 24 hours to report your phone lost or

stolen to the police. And finally top of our charts at number one: If

you pay monthly for your insurance, many providers will ask you to pay

for the rest of the year's policy first. On top of your excess, that

could be a pretty hefty bill just to get a replacement phone. And just

one last point be careful when it comes to their definition of theft,

leave it unattended or out of arm's reach and you could be in trouble.

So if it's simply pinched from your handbag, or grabbed from a table you

may not be covered. What's the moral of our story? The same as always.

Read again and again that small print before you put your signature

to anything. A little bit of good news. Protect

Your Bubble have now apologised to Sean and offered him ?150 for the

inconvenience. They've admitted the delays in claiming on his policy

were unacceptable and say they've since improved their systems. We've

already looked at phone theft and insurance - but what can go wrong

when you actually buy your new mobile? Rachel went to meet one mum

who's had real problems getting her son connected.

Just like thousands of teenagers, Tom Daye from Blackwood relies on

his mobile phone to keep in touch with his mates. I use my phone for

texting, Facebook, Twitter, it's really important to me - I don't

know what people used to do before mobile phones. Tom's old phone was

struggling to keep up with all his texting, calling and social

networking - so in July, mum Tracey set about finding him a new deal.

Tom had just finished his GCSEs so it was sort of like a treat. He

wanted an iPhone five, like all his friends, so I thought, yeah, he's

done his exams, pressure's off, we'll treat him and go and get a new

contract for him. Instead of spending hours online, Tracey

decided to pop down to her local mobile phone shop here in Blackwood.

Surely they could help get them connected. With over 68 shops across

the UK, Welsh company Get Connected claim to be the UK's largest

independent mobile phone retailer. They even call themselves the

'people friendly phone shop.' Tracey felt in safe hands. Walked into Get

Connected, staff very friendly, very knowledagble. Told them I was there

because my son had finished his GCSEs and i was looking for iPhone

five for him. The sales assistant said - I've just put one away for my

14-year-old brother. So there was that instant rapport that it was a

knowledagble team for me to do buisiness with them. Tracey was

impressed when they offered her a two year iPhone contract with EE for

?32 a month. And so alarm bells didn't ring when Get Connected asked

her to sign an unusual contract. Printed out a document, it was

printed black and white, white paper no logos of the company. Signed the

section that I had to, asked if I could have a copy or where was the

carbonated copy and they said well actually our printer's playing up,

photocopier's not working but you will have something in the post.

And, perhaps foolishly, I believed them that that wopuld be OK. I

trusted them. Tracey thought Tom was well on the way to getting

connected. Until she got a shock in the post. Because he'd been signed

up with EE as a business customer. And that wasn't the only surprise.

Opened the bill and it showed ?43. Now, my agreement was ?32 dead no

other add on costs at all. I was so annoyed when I had this. I thought,

what have Get Connected done? Tracey set about trying to cancel the

contract with EE, but they couldn't help her. It seemed only Get

Connected could get her disconnected. They were quite blase

about it. It was like - what's your problem, you've got a phone for your

son, you've got all the data you want so what that it's ?43 a month.

Tracey complained to Trading Standards and lo and behold, Get

Connected finally started to listen. An area manager asked her to return

the phone, and they would cancel the deal. Two months passed and Tracey

thought her problems were behind her. But then came yet another nasty

surprise. Out of the blue, because I'd forgotten about this phone

contract as far as I was concerned Get Connected had cancelled it for

me, I had a debt collection agency letter come through the door,

demanding the money on behalf of EE because no payments had been made. I

was horrified, because of the fact that as far as I was concerned, this

manager promised to cancel the contract for me, and this hadn't

been done. Nearly four months on, Tracey is now at the end of her

tether. She just wants Get Connected to cancel that contract and to put a

stop on the debt collection letters. She says she'll never deal with them

again. I could have gone online and bought this contract for my son but

I thought no, support the local busines, I live in Blackwood, why

not. I now I technically feel like I've been stiched up. Tracey clearly

not happy. Get Connected are insisting she told them she was a

business customer - something she totally denies. But since X-Ray got

involved - the contract has finally been cancelled - although Get

Connected and the network provider, EE, are both blaming each other for

the delay. EE say they're now investigating. The good news is that

they promise there'll be no more debt collection letters. Well, let's

get an expert opinion on all of this. Huw Evans is a law lecturer.

Huw, if you buy your mobile from a shop like Get Connected, who do you

go back to? You go to Get Connected the shop you bought it from. They

are independent providers, they are acting as agents on behalf of the

network providers, and they are authorised to enter into contracts

on the network providers behalf. And what can you do if the contract

turns out to be more expensive than you were told in the shop? There is

a breach of contract in that situation because it doesn't reflect

the agreement you thought you had. You're entitled to withdraw from the

contract and obtain compensation, or rathwer reimbursement, for the money

you've paid over. You'll have to hand the phone back, of couse, but

you're entitled to withdraw from the contract. We heard a little bit

about mobile phone insurance - what can people do to avoid getting a

nasty surprise if they need to make claim? Read the small print before

you enter into the contract. Assess what your needs are. Does this cover

what I want? I going to go abroad, for example? Also, try and do some

research about the reputation of the insurer. Some are very reasonable,

others are not so reasonable. There will be information out there on the

Internet. Look at what is and isn't covered. Theft sounds marvellous in

principle, but if you look at policies, you will find there are

exclusions, for example, theft from unattended motor vehicles, theft

because phones have been left in a public place unattended. That

severely restricts the effectiveness of cover. Look at the policy, ask

yourself, is this what I want, do I need it? Huw, thank you.

That's it for this week. Remember if you have anything you'd like us to

investigate get in touch. You can call 03703 334 334 or drop us an

email at [email protected]. Next week we're with Trading

Standards on the menu at your local takeaway. My colleague asked for

lamb, but we have got on here Islam, beef, chicken and turkey, so that's

four meats... We'll see you then, same time, same place. Goodbye.

Hello, I'm Ellie Crisell with your 90 second update. A terror