Episode 24 X-Ray

Have you been ripped off? Conned?

Or just short-changed?

We're here to fight for your rights.

Spotting the latest scams -

and making sure you make the most of your money.

It makes me feel angry and it makes you...

very untrustworthy of buying anything else in the future.

Exposing the rogues and confronting the conmen -

we're here to help YOU fight back.

Mark Davies?

Tonight, Rachel gets an earful

as she confronts a company boss.

You're a Jeremy Kyle-type television.

You're a load of rubbish.

We've heard about airlines charging

to correct spelling mistakes on bookings before.

But is £500 a new record?

And can this man save you money?

If I can say to you I'm going to get you some money at the end of

the month, you're going to be quite happy with that, yes?

First tonight, we're returning to an investigation

into a company we featured in February.

Back then there were concerns

about what had happened to thousands of pounds

of customer deposits.

Now we've discovered there are many more questions

for the company to answer.

Appearances can be deceptive -

and that was certainly the case

with Swansea-based Cleary Energy UK Ltd.

On the face of it everything was looking good.

Business was brisk, with customers

across Wales and England

signing up for solar panel systems

costing anything from a few thousand

to tens of thousands of pounds.

Last June, they told the world that they were growing so fast

they needed high calibre staff

to run a brand-new 30-strong call centre.

But in reality, Cleary Energy was already in trouble.

Instead of recruiting staff, ten were made redundant.

They were told the company was going into liquidation.

There was already a long list of customers who had paid

thousands for solar panels, which simply never arrived.

Olwen Davies from Tregaron spent nearly £15,000

and never got her panels.

I'm annoyed.

I feel a fool for trusting this

company.

The company told us they'd had financial problems

and stopped selling solar systems in August.

But weeks later, in September,

farmer Gwyn Davies handed over nearly £3,000 to the company

for his system, which never arrived.

We went in good faith and we shook hands on the deal.

Well, it was totally wrong.

What can you say? It was just totally wrong.

Since then, we've spoken to many more customers

and we've discovered that - for some of them -

even when the company installed solar panels,

things were far from clear with Clear Energy.

Peter Weekes paid Clear Energy

£30,000 for this solar panel system.

The company gave him an official certificate

to show the work had been completed.

The system was designed to earn extra cash

by selling excess power back to the National Grid.

He's a good boy.

Good boy.

But it turned out his system wasn't connected to the grid.

For an entire summer

he earned nothing from his panels.

We have lost at least six months of generation

for our own use,

and have had to go back to the electricity board.

By the time Peter had sorted the problem,

the rate he could get for the solar power had dropped,

hitting the farm even harder.

Farmer Huw Cotton paid Clear Energy

even more money - £43,000 -

for a system on his farm near Fishguard.

Some of that money was meant specifically

for the electricity company Western Power.

Back in March last year, Huw gave Clear Energy

a cheque for £15,000.

Now he expected them to hand it over to Western Power

straightaway to pay for his solar system to be connected to the grid.

But Clear Energy actually held on to that money for five months.

I was waiting for Western Power to come,

and days, weeks and months went by

and there was no sign of Western Power.

You could see the long, hot, sunny days

and the potential income going out of the window.

But what about the panels themselves?

Huw had paid for a German brand - Antaris.

Now, he's checking what he actually got.

Center Light Panels.

The panels turn out to be Chinese imports.

They do work -

but they're not ones Huw paid for.

You buy something in good faith

and it makes me feel angry.

It makes you very untrustworthy of buying anything else in the future,

cos it's not what it says on the tin.

Olwen Jones should also have had German Antaris panels.

Her finance company released her £15,000 payment

after Clear Energy provided details

of the panel serial numbers.

But we've now discovered that these numbers

do not belong to genuine Antaris solar panels.

I just can't believe that Clear Energy has done this to us

and to other customers.

They've actually misled our finance company as well.

Lots of unhappy customers.

So just who's been running Clear Energy?

Well, the company's registered director was John Davies.

But it was son, Mark,

that sent out the dismissal letters.

And we’ve seen evidence that it was Mark,

an un-discharged bankrupt,

that was actually running the show.

Mark Davies took over as director

when his bankruptcy was discharged in February this year.

He's not been keen to speak to me,

but I've found him at home in Swansea.

Mark Davies?

We're from X-Ray.

What's happened to the money?

What money?

The money, the tens of thousands of pounds

you've taken in deposits from customers of Clear Energy.

We haven't taken any money from customers

without the intention to install the systems.

In July, you sent a letter to your employees

saying that you were being forced into liquidation.

In September, your company, you took money...

Do you know what happened between

then?

..from Gwyn Davies.

Let me ask you a question. Do you know what happened in between?

Well, you tell me.

Do you know?

You don’t know, you don't know,

because you're a Jeremy Kyle-type

television journalist.

You're a load of rubbish.

It's not rubbish.

I don't have to answer to you. Yes, it is.

If there is anything wrong with what our business has done,

or is doing, other than what you are doing to it,

then that will come out under the proper authority

with proper people and proper investigation.

Do you know why Clear Energy got itself into the position it is?

Because customers didn't pay it on time. That's right!

It's cash.

This is rubbish!

It's not rubbish.

Olwen and Rhys Jones paid you £15,000.

It's not rubbish!

They never had solar panels, that's not rubbish.

That's not rubbish. I didn't say that was rubbish.

Well, it is rubbish. It's absolutely atrocious.

There is no scandal here you know, Rachel.

If the company was in financial difficulty,

why did you keep taking deposits from people?

Again I don't have to answer you.

You've been running the company.

I absolutely reject that allegation.

Why is your name at the bottom of this letter? Tell me that.

I don't have to tell you anything

and that's the end of it, so thank you very much.

This is Mark Davies signing out for X-Ray, goodbye.

So that is Mark Davies, the man in charge of Clear Energy,

and a man who his customers wish they'd steered well clear of.

I don't appreciate being called a liar either, Rachel,

so I will be taking you to task for that.

Thank you very much.

Now, since we confronted Mark Davies, he's been back to us.

He says he's concerned that we have been given inaccurate information.

He also says that the losses suffered by his customers

are dwarfed by those incurred by his family.

But things aren't looking up for Mr Davies.

Swansea Trading Standards have told us

they're investigating Clear Energy...

Still to come tonight, raindrops keep falling on my head -

but could they add up to a big saving?

They said I would get between £200 to £500 back from Welsh Water.

Now, if your name was spelled wrongly on an airline ticket,

it can cost you a packet to put it right.

But Lucy's been hearing about one airline

who seem to be taking these charges to astonishing new levels.

Australia.

For most of us it’s the holiday of a lifetime,

destination of dreams

and about as far flung and expensive a trip as you can make.

This is the story of a couple with a very special reason

to go down under - a visit to see their son.

But one little letter would throw their plans into chaos.

Ray and Sandra Hartill from Ogmore-by-Sea

regularly fly across the world to Adelaide

to visit their son Robert who runs an alpaca farm.

He's such a nice boy. He'd do anything for anybody.

It's expensive and it's a long journey, but it's worth it.

We like to see him and the family.

In February, Ray and Sandra started planning their next trip -

this time they wanted to take their 13-year-old grandson, Jake,

to see his uncle.

When we go away he just wishes he could come with us every time.

And I've promised him. I said, “I’ll take you again”.

As the years go on, he'll get too old to take.

We love him so much. I enjoy taking him.

I enjoy his company.

He likes being on the farm.

Driving the tractor and walking around with an alpaca.

I just can't wait to take him.

To book their flights,

Ray and Sandra headed to their favourite local travel agent -

Thomas Cook in Bridgend.

This time Ray booked three flights from Gatwick to Adelaide

this summer, at a cost of £2,600.

Now remember this little fellow?

Well, what the Hartills hadn't realised

is that somehow at the travel agents an extra "u"

had been added to their grandson's surname,

meaning it was now spelt incorrectly on their booking.

I was filling Jake's VISA out and I had a look at the paperwork

we'd had off Thomas Cook and it was wrong.

And do you have any idea how that could've happened?

Not really, unless there was confusion in the shop, I don't know.

I know I don't spell his surname wrong anywhere.

Ray was sure that throwing the problem back to Thomas Cook

would sort this simple spelling error and that would be it.

Instead, the problem came flying straight back at him. Just like a...

Well, you get the picture.

Thomas Cook got onto the firm they'd booked the flights with.

But they said they were tied by the rules of the airline, Emirates.

And that meant some very bad news for Ray.

I thought I'm probably going to have to pay money out for this.

Perhaps £25 or something.

About a week later they phoned me back she said,

"We've been in touch with Netflights

"who've been in touch with Emirates.

"And there's a charge."

I said, "Oh, yeah." I was waiting for it now.

They said £476.

I was shaking.

I just couldn't believe £476 to delete the letter “u”

from a ticket which I hadn't even had yet.

So, £476.

And that's even more unreasonable when you realise

that's more than half the cost

of their grandson's original flight!

Crikey!

I know!

What were the other options that they gave you?

We can have a note put on the ticket

saying that the spelling of Jake's name is wrong.

And when you go to the airport,

they may let you on the plane, and yet they may not.

It's all according to who you see at the check-in.

I said, “Well, that's not very good.

"What if they say he can't get on?

"Do I leave a boy at the airport and I jet off to Australia?”

Very strange.

Gatwick Airport told us that passenger safety is so vital,

there's no way an airline would let someone through check-in and boarding

if their ticket details didn't match their passport.

So why was anyone even suggesting that Ray

just turn up at the check-in

with incorrect documents in the hope that his grandson

would be allowed on the plane?

Ray and Sandra now face a tough dilemma.

It's almost getting to the point where you think, "Well, we won't go."

I can't see me paying £400, if that's what it comes to.

It's crazy.

And yet, I can't let Jake down.

If that's what it's going to cost, we'll have to pay it.

Well, we've got some great news for the family.

After we got in touch,

Emirates have agreed to waive

their fees -

and they have now changed the name on Jake's ticket for free.

Thomas Cook have apologised to the family for any inconvenience.

A fortnight ago, we featured a Swansea call centre

that was making big promises.

Staff there were telling customers they could get thousands of pounds

back on their mortgages and credit cards.

Now several former employees have come forward to tell us

what's been going on behind the scenes.

Two weeks ago we told you about the Swansea call centre

making promises it just couldn't keep.

They cold call promising thousands

off your credit card bills or mortgages.

Customers like David Parry saw it as a way out of his financial crisis,

but ended up thousands deeper in debt.

I was just about treading water, I'm now, as I say, worse off.

I'm actually in a position now

where I am going to have to sell my house.

The call centre in the basement of this building

has been selling similar products for several years,

though the name has changed, from Consortium Reclaim, to CCS Advice,

CCS Review, CCS-Review

and most recently The Full Financial Review.

Now a number of former workers have come forward

to expose what was really going on behind the doors of the call centre

in the basement of this building.

None of the whistle-blowers wanted to be identified

so we've disguised their identities.

This former employee - who worked for Consortium Reclaim and CCS,

is played by an actor.

When you first go in, you're very young and naive.

You just think you're selling the dream.

And the dream they were selling was aimed at people who were in debt.

They give you a script on the screen in front of you.

The main thing you want to go for was unenforceable credit agreements

because that's where we get the most money from.

Another ex-employee, who worked there at around the same time,

tells how they would get as much money

as they could from customers.

You'd ask them how much on their loan ability was left

and we'd ask that early on,

because then we'd know how much there was to take as a fee.

For example, if they had a

£5,000-limit credit card

with £2,000 on it, we'd know we had £3,000 to play with.

A new company took over the call centre last year,

but this former worker says tactics didn't change.

Basically we had to find out whether they had any credit card facilities

to be able to pay the fee.

So if there was a fee of £2,000,

we had to find out whether they had any credit cards to put the fee on.

But it seems all the companies that operated this call centre

had pretty high standards when it came to making money.

The minimum they were hitting was probably £90,000 a week

and that was probably bad weeks.

At one point, our sales target was £200,000 a week.

What was the most you heard being taken off a person?

I heard one deal going through which was £11,500-£12,000 for one customer.

I think that was probably the most I'd seen.

But it seems that no matter how much money the workers brought in,

the bosses wanted more.

They'd call you in on a lunchtime, there'd be meetings,

saying you haven't met this, you haven't met that.

For many of the workers, there was only so much selling they could take

before the reality of what they were doing sunk in.

When I think back on some of the things that I heard...

I had people crying on the phone.

It was the older people I felt sorry for.

If someone phoned up my grandparents,

I'd feel quite sorry and quite angry.

It was a fun place to work,

but when you look at the other side it's just horrible.

I feel awful.

It just eats at you, you know, your conscience. It's just not very nice.

Well, the people who ran the call centre until last autumn

haven't responded to any of our letters.

Simon Helliwell who runs it now as The Full Financial Review,

says he is confident their operations are fully compliant

with the regulations.

He says they don't target vulnerable people.

It seems everyone's feeling the pinch at the moment -

prices keep going up and nobody seems to get much of a pay rise.

But I've been meeting a man

who thinks he can help you bridge the gap.

Is it me, or does everything these days

just seem to be getting more and more expensive?

Everything - cost of food's going up,

energy bills are going up.

Yeah, right across the board, it's getting very expensive.

And you think you can save absolutely anybody money?

100%. Yes, I can. Categorically I can say that.

Gerald wants to analyse your spending

and give tips on how to save money.

But can he help balance the books for shoppers here in Llanelli.

First up, father-of-five Colin Lloyd.

To manage five boys, there definitely isn't enough money

at the end of the month left for us to meet the needs of the boys

like we would like to meet the needs of the boys.

I'd like you to take a look at some bank statements for me,

see if you could help us save some money.

One thing that stands out on here is your cable television.

At the moment you're paying out £60.42 a month.

Obviously, after a year

you're going to look around the market place as well.

We will.

Because what tends to happen with any provider with cable,

now this is a real good tip, OK?

That if you're thinking of leaving them

they usually come back with a much better deal.

Right.

Colin also spends a lot on petrol.

Price comparison websites could save him money.

You literally put in your postcode,

type it in,

and for every week they will send you an e-mail -

what is the cheapest petrol for that week in your immediate area.

And you'll be quite surprised.

But if Colin's serious about cutting his spending,

he needs to keep a spending diary.

One of the things that I'm trying to get across today

is that people do what is known as a spending diary for one month.

At the end of the month you add up all those receipts,

all those bits of paper and it identifies clearly

where your money is going.

I can guarantee you if you do that,

you can identify areas where maybe

you might be able to make some savings.

Let's hope it works for Colin.

Next up - Elizabeth and Joanna Price.

Excuse me, have you got two minutes to spare? Come round.

Do you find at the end of each month you have no money left,

or the end of the week whenever you

get paid?

Yeah, normally the end of the month I'm skint.

If I say to you I'm going to get you some money at the end of the month

you're going to be quite happy with that, yeah?

One of the first things I'd look at -

with your food, plan it a week in advance, OK?

That's what I start off doing at the start of the month

and then by the end of the month I just go shopping,

buying whatever, and I've got my little girl with me,

she just chucks loads of stuff in the trolley.

Is it fair to say that you and me could save a fortune

by not taking our children shopping

with us?

Definitely.

Yes.

We could save a fortune!

That's a really good tip.

Leave them at home!

Finally, Gerald's meeting 24-year-old Steffan Warren,

who seems pretty canny with his money.

Me and my wife, we try and sit down every week or so.

We plan, we kind of look forward,

but you know, things don't always go to plan, do they?

Steffan's so good with his cash,

he's brought along a budget plan on his tablet.

Has Gerald met his match?

You're obviously a very organised person, you've got it all laid out.

Just quickly going through it,

you've got an awful lot of direct debits there.

Does that cause any issues as far as your budgeting is concerned,

some weeks or months?

Sometimes it can,

but what we tend to do is move a lump of money into another account

and we only use that money then so we know that we've budgeted for that.

Excellent.

Do you shop weekly, or do you shop monthly?

We're quite chaotic when it comes to shopping, to be honest,

because I'm quite disorganised on

buying food.

One thing it might be worth you considering

is planning out your food for the following week.

And one way of doing that is like a very cheap chalk board

up in the kitchen, or whatever.

Planning out your food for the full week.

That way when you do go shopping you're only buying

what you can actually eat for that week,

using up ingredients you already

have,

and that could be a way of potentially saving money.

So, Gerald, how's it gone?

Absolutely fantastic, really.

Some lovely people I've met here today.

So the one month challenge really does work.

It really does work.

I go back to when I was growing up in Port Talbot with my parents,

they were very good, they kept a spending diary all those years ago,

the old-fashioned book where they'd write down what was coming in

and wrote out what was going out.

Even my pocket money, you know.

That way the budget was always accurate, it was always right.

My mother did it indefinitely,

I'm only asking people to do it for one month.

Mothers are always right.

Always right, Rhodri, always.

Some good advice there.

Now, one way we'd all love to save money

is by cutting our utility bills.

Lucy's been looking into a company

promising to help its customers get a water rebate.

When it does this. Rains, that is, on your home - where does it all go?

For most of us that's pretty obvious -

the water will simply drain down into a public sewer.

OK, that's enough.

Thank you.

And if that is the case here's something you might not know -

you're paying £50 as part of your annual water bill

to cover the cost of all that water running away into the sewers.

Some homes, though, aren't linked to a public sewer -

instead all that rain water runs off elsewhere,

say a soakaway or a nearby stream or river.

Those people could be due what's called a surface water rebate.

That's a fact a company from Swansea seems to be making good use of.

They're called Utility Cost Savers, and they've been phoning people up

offering to save them money on their water and utility bills.

PHONE RINGS

They cold-called Pamela Thomas from Swansea last October,

and persuaded her to part with nearly £100.

They said that you'd probably get between £200 and £500 back

from Welsh Water by doing this.

But if they couldn't remove, you know, there's no surface water,

you'd have a refund for this in six weeks.

Pamela may have paid out nearly £100 for the service,

but checking if you're due for a rebate is actually free.

It just involves filling in a quick form from Welsh Water.

Marion Thomson was also unhappy with Utility Cost Savers

after they cold-called her brother in Denbighshire.

He has learning difficulties and mental health problems,

but they talked him into paying over £199.

They should never have phoned him

because he's on the Telephone Preference Service.

Angry because they'd taken almost £200 from him,

from somebody that's vulnerable,

has mental health issues, and that has very little money,

very little savings, and £200 effectively

is two weeks' money for him.

The company has agreed to refund her brother,

but Marion says they told her it could take 28 days.

It's crippling for him. He doesn't have the money.

He's having to use an overdraft, which he's having to pay for.

They should pay him back straightaway and not wait.

Back in Swansea, Pamela discovered

she didn't qualify for a rebate.

But when she tried to call Utility Cost Savers

to get her money back, she had problems.

Just ringing, ringing, ringing for ages.

And then when they did answer,

they were just putting me off with different things all the time.

Pamela tracked down Utility Cost Savers

to this shared office block in Swansea's Wind Street.

This big fellow came to the door,

and he looked quite shocked because I said my name.

I said, "I've come for my money because you haven't paid me yet."

It's three and a half months.

I'm not going anywhere without my money.

The company's director is this man - Clive Davies.

When Pam visited his offices,

she was given a letter by staff at Utility Cost Savers

to take to her bank so she could get her money back,

except she says it didn't work.

It was worthless, they couldn't do nothing with it at all.

I done a lot of crying, you know, getting upset about it.

I did, you know, in the beginning. It really did frighten me.

I thought, "I'm not going to answer that phone any more."

Utility Cost Savers have told us they offer a valuable service

and say water companies aren't doing enough

to make sure people get the money

they are due.

They say Pamela's refund was delayed

because the company's account had been frozen.

But there is some good news.

Since we wrote to Utility Cost Savers,

both Pamela and Marion's brother have now had their money back.

Brilliant. Well, that is it for this series.

We'll be back in the autumn.

In the meantime, keep in touch with us through Twitter and our website.

Yes, let us know if there's anything you'd like us to investigate

later in the year.

Until then, goodbye.

Bye-bye.