:00:06. > :00:14.programme: The retired steelworker who fears he's lost his life savings
:00:14. > :00:18.in a wine investment scheme. Tempted by a holiday for under a
:00:18. > :00:22.tenner: Well, watch out for the little extras on your bill.
:00:22. > :00:32.And why have BT kept Chris waiting nearly six months for a phone line
:00:32. > :00:45.
:00:45. > :00:48.Llanelli with a packed programme for you. First tonight, have you ever
:00:48. > :00:50.thought of investing your cash in something a bit different? One
:00:50. > :00:58.pensioner from Tredegar poured his life-savings into a wine investment
:00:58. > :01:01.scheme, with disastrous consequences. It could seem like a
:01:01. > :01:10.dream come true, the perfect solution to an economic crisis Or it
:01:10. > :01:13.could lead to financial ruin. In just a few months, these vines in
:01:13. > :01:18.the Vale of Glamorgan will be dripping with grapes ready to be
:01:18. > :01:21.pressed into Welsh wine. And about 500 miles south of here, in the
:01:21. > :01:30.French region of Bordeaux, vineyards established hundreds of years ago
:01:30. > :01:33.are being cultivated to grow some of the finest varieties in the world.
:01:33. > :01:36.Of course, it's possible to find Bordeaux wines for less than �10 a
:01:36. > :01:45.bottle in the supermarket, but for the connoisseur, the right bottle of
:01:45. > :01:48.Bordeaux can cost thousands, or even tens of thousands of pounds. For
:01:48. > :01:53.investors, there's potential to make a lot of money buying wine "en
:01:53. > :01:56.primeur" for the uninitiated that means it's still in the barrel.
:01:56. > :02:03.Buying wine at this stage, storing it and selling it years later, could
:02:03. > :02:05.lead to a handsome profit. But the real challenge is spotting the
:02:05. > :02:13.difference between a safe investment, and a big risk, because
:02:13. > :02:17.if it goes wrong you could lose everything. Mervyn Jones is 81 years
:02:17. > :02:26.old. For almost 30 years he worked at the Ebbw Vale steel works until
:02:26. > :02:33.poor health forced him to retire. worked in the cold mill making rolls
:02:33. > :02:37.that went for making cars. I used to go all round the works to where
:02:37. > :02:41.there was vacancy or someone on holiday to cover them. Having been
:02:41. > :02:44.careful with money all his life, Mervyn wanted to plan for the future
:02:44. > :02:47.so he could leave a nest egg for his daughter Kath and his three other
:02:48. > :02:57.children. The answer seemed to come in a telephone call he received from
:02:57. > :03:04.a salesman in 2009. He first contacted me about investing in wine
:03:04. > :03:07.and he seemed to be very knowledgeable about it. He even knew
:03:07. > :03:13.which side of the river certain grapes were being grown. Did you
:03:13. > :03:21.know much about wine yourself? just the very basics, I know you
:03:21. > :03:27.have red grapes for red wine. was the person on the phone like
:03:27. > :03:31.then? They used to ask you did you suffer with ill health or anything
:03:31. > :03:34.else, what was the matter with you. I think this is one of the things,
:03:34. > :03:38.that you get taken in by how friendly they were. The salesman
:03:38. > :03:43.promised Mervyn a guaranteed return on his investment - at a much better
:03:43. > :03:49.rate than he'd get from the bank. The company phoning Mervyn was
:03:49. > :03:52.called Premier Bordeaux Wines. They are also known as The Premier
:03:52. > :03:57.Bordeaux Wine Company. Both are trading names of a business called
:03:58. > :04:05.Alpha Invest Worldwide. The company confirmed Mervyn's offer in writing,
:04:05. > :04:08.but he wanted to check if they were legitimate. I went to the bank and
:04:08. > :04:11.asked them if they could check to see if they were a registered
:04:11. > :04:17.company in this country and checked it out and they said they were a
:04:17. > :04:26.registered company. Mervyn decided to test the water with a modest
:04:26. > :04:31.investment. In the beginning, it was between �2,000-�3,000 for a case of
:04:31. > :04:34.wine. Premier Bordeaux Wines told Mervyn that the wine he bought would
:04:34. > :04:42.be stored here, at one of a handful of bonded wine warehouses licensed
:04:42. > :04:45.by the government to store alcohol before tax is paid. The warehouse is
:04:45. > :04:48.completely legitimate, and stores fine wines and spirits for clients
:04:48. > :04:56.from all over the world at this secret location in the south east of
:04:56. > :05:00.England. In the early days, things appeared to be going well and it
:05:00. > :05:07.seemed like Mervyn would get regular payments. You did get some money
:05:07. > :05:11.back? Yes, I got money back.How much was that? I think it was
:05:11. > :05:15.somewhere in the region of about �260 but I'm not sure. I thought I
:05:15. > :05:18.was on the road to having a decent investment. The company repeatedly
:05:18. > :05:26.rang Mervyn with new investments to consider, and over three years all
:05:26. > :05:36.of his savings ended up in their hands. How much in total did you
:05:36. > :05:37.
:05:37. > :05:41.invest? In total around �38,000.So is it possible for ordinary
:05:41. > :05:44.investors to make money out of wine? Jim Budd is a wine writer and runs a
:05:44. > :05:53.blog for people who invest in wine to share their experiences. What
:05:53. > :05:56.advice would you give to people who'd like to invest in wine?
:05:56. > :06:01.Firstly, it should never be all of your portfolio, it should be a small
:06:01. > :06:03.part of your portfolio of savings or investments. You need to get advice
:06:04. > :06:13.from legitimate companies, contact a number of legitimate companies, see
:06:13. > :06:20.what they advise, How do you know if it's a legitimate company?
:06:20. > :06:26.For me the really big alarm is if you get cold called. Anybody who
:06:26. > :06:29.cold calls you about and investment, my advice is to put the phone down.
:06:29. > :06:32.Mervyn had felt confident that Premier Bordeaux Wines were
:06:32. > :06:36.legitimate, but that all changed a few months ago when he tried to cash
:06:36. > :06:44.in his investment. I was really ill at that time and I wanted to put it
:06:44. > :06:47.right so my children could have the money and share it between them.
:06:47. > :06:55.when Mervyn asked for his money back, the salesman wanted more cash
:06:55. > :06:59.from him. They kept fobbing me off that they couldn't pay for this
:06:59. > :07:08.reason or another reason and maybe if I put more money out I could get
:07:08. > :07:11.extra money back in, say, about two or three months' time. Eventually
:07:11. > :07:18.the company stopped taking Mervyn's calls, and now seems to have
:07:18. > :07:21.disappeared with all his money. We tried to contact the people behind
:07:21. > :07:28.Premier Bordeaux Wines to see what they had to say about Mervyn's
:07:28. > :07:31.experiences, but the letters were all returned to sender. Mervyn's not
:07:31. > :07:34.the only one who's lost out. The wine warehouse is also owed money,
:07:34. > :07:37.and the manager here says they've been inundated with calls from other
:07:37. > :07:47.customers who'd falsely been told by Premier Bordeaux Wine that they had
:07:47. > :07:49.investments stored here. We were receiving a great deal of phone
:07:49. > :07:53.calls and email enquiries to ourselves asking where their wine
:07:53. > :07:56.was. The company no longer had any stock with us and there was not an
:07:56. > :08:02.account or ever even an instruction to open and account for these
:08:02. > :08:06.clients that were calling us. Mervyn ever have any wine stored
:08:06. > :08:10.here? Unfortunately there was never an account opened for him and so we
:08:10. > :08:14.weren't able to confirm any wine holdings for him at all. I don't
:08:14. > :08:17.hold much hope out of ever getting any money back from them at all. It
:08:17. > :08:27.was devastating to think that you've lost everything and you wasn't going
:08:27. > :08:28.
:08:28. > :08:31.to get anything back whatsoever. Mervyn wants now is justice.
:08:31. > :08:38.like to see them prosecuted and put out of business because what they've
:08:38. > :08:41.done to me they could do to lots of other people. I wanted to leave an
:08:41. > :08:49.investment for my children and at the moment I've got nothing now to
:08:49. > :08:52.leave them. Now, we're not the only ones trying
:08:52. > :08:54.to get answers from this company. Because in February, Trading
:08:54. > :09:00.Standards officers in London, working with the police, raided
:09:00. > :09:03.properties linked to the scheme Mervyn invested in. They arrested
:09:03. > :09:06.one person on suspicion of criminal offences under the Fraud Act and
:09:06. > :09:08.consumer protection laws. Trading Standards say they're investigating
:09:08. > :09:11.several businesses, including The Premier Bordeaux Wine Company Ltd,
:09:11. > :09:13.The Premier Bordeaux Wine Company, Alpha Securities, also known as
:09:13. > :09:23.Alpha Invest Worldwide, Classic Bordeaux Vintners and Vintage Wine
:09:23. > :09:27.
:09:27. > :09:37.Investors. We'll obviously keep you posted on what happens, and if you
:09:37. > :09:37.
:09:37. > :09:44.think you may have been affected then let us know. You can give us a
:09:44. > :09:48.call or you can e-mail us. If you are on twitter, you can send us a
:09:48. > :09:51.tweet. Still to come: Kathleen was hoping
:09:51. > :09:55.to have moved home by now, but the company that promised her a quick
:09:55. > :10:00.sale left her high and dry. And why has one BT customer been
:10:00. > :10:03.waiting six months for a phone line? First, fancy a holiday for under a
:10:03. > :10:06.tenner? Sounds like a bargain, doesn't it? These deals are all over
:10:06. > :10:16.the national newspapers, but it pays to read the small print, as Lucy's
:10:16. > :10:17.
:10:17. > :10:22.The great British summer holiday. The weather might not be perfect,
:10:22. > :10:26.but scenes like this hold a special place in our childhood memories.
:10:26. > :10:29.Fast forward to the present day and with the recession hitting our
:10:29. > :10:31.pockets, more and more of us are choosing the UK for our summer
:10:31. > :10:40.holidays. But holidaying in Britain's not always cheap. Renting
:10:40. > :10:45.a caravan can cost more than a trip abroad. So if you see an advert for
:10:45. > :10:49.a bargain it's tempting to snap it up! And there are plenty to be had
:10:49. > :10:55.in our tabloid newspapers. This is what I'm talking about - holidays
:10:55. > :10:58.from just �9! Surely that's too good to be true? So what do you think
:10:58. > :11:04.about that kind of headline? It's misleading really because
:11:04. > :11:11.straightaway you think, "Holiday, �9", basically. I expect �9 if it
:11:11. > :11:16.says �9. So if it ended up being more, how would you feel about that?
:11:16. > :11:22.Ripped off. You think you're getting a holiday for �9. And do you think
:11:22. > :11:24.you can get a holiday for �9? much doubt it. Earlier this year,
:11:24. > :11:28.the same Daily Mirror advert caught the attention of Linda Chappelle
:11:28. > :11:31.from Pontypool. I saw that they were advertising holidays from �9, so I
:11:31. > :11:34.said to my husband this might be an opportunity for us to have a small
:11:34. > :11:40.break away. And a holiday was exactly what nurse Linda and husband
:11:40. > :11:47.Gerald needed. I'd gone part time since November when my health then I
:11:47. > :11:49.had to reduce my hours. We knew we couldn't afford then, I'd say a
:11:49. > :11:53.proper holiday, like we normally have. In April, Linda logged onto
:11:53. > :11:58.The Mirror website and spotted a four-day break at a caravan park in
:11:58. > :12:01.Tenby. But when she went to pay she had a nasty surprise. A minimum
:12:01. > :12:07.booking of four people meant Linda and Gerald's �9 holiday actually
:12:07. > :12:10.cost them �36. And the price rises didn't end there. When Linda later
:12:10. > :12:15.got back in touch with The Mirror, she was told she'd have to pay
:12:15. > :12:21.another �104 in compulsory fees. So instead of �9 each, the total cost
:12:21. > :12:24.of the holiday was �140. I would have to pay that a fortnight before
:12:24. > :12:27.the holiday so subsequently I've had to cancel the holiday because it
:12:27. > :12:33.would have come up as �140 and that's something that we just
:12:33. > :12:35.couldn't afford. The Mirror does offer holidays for
:12:35. > :12:40.�9 per person, but limited availability means you've got to be
:12:40. > :12:46.really quick to book one. When we checked in early May nearly half of
:12:46. > :12:51.the holiday parks didn't have any �9 dates left. And Linda's not alone in
:12:51. > :12:54.feeling misled by a newspaper holiday bargain. Just up the road in
:12:54. > :13:04.Cwmbran, Linda's daughter Amy ended up paying a lot more than she wanted
:13:04. > :13:08.
:13:08. > :13:11.for a trip to Cornwall booked with we wanted it on a budget. You see
:13:11. > :13:16.�9.50 holidays and we thought, brilliant. Family of four �38. So we
:13:16. > :13:20.booked it. So what happened when you went to pay? We just went online and
:13:20. > :13:25.paid for it and it was all done and they sent us a booking confirmation
:13:25. > :13:27.code. But once again, the cost of the holiday wasn't all it seemed. To
:13:27. > :13:34.Amy's surprise, the price of the family's �38 "bargain break"
:13:34. > :13:38.rocketed to �143. I was so upset. I was really panicked at first
:13:38. > :13:42.thinking, how am I going to pay for it? Just in complete shock that they
:13:42. > :13:46.had sent a letter three weeks before our due date to say that we had to
:13:46. > :13:48.pay charges that I wasn't aware of. I just thought I had to pay for the
:13:48. > :13:52.holiday. Alfie, especially, was really excited. He's five, he knew
:13:52. > :13:55.we were going. He's had his bags packed ready to go for about a month
:13:55. > :13:59.now so to tell him that we weren't going because we couldn't afford it,
:13:59. > :14:03.I just couldn't do it. It would have broken his heart bless him so we
:14:03. > :14:08.felt like we just had to pay for it. Just like Linda, Amy was being
:14:08. > :14:18.charged a host of additional fees. And to her surprise these included
:14:18. > :14:20.
:14:20. > :14:30.extras most of us would expect to be included in the price, like:
:14:30. > :14:32.
:14:32. > :14:35.entertainment, bed linen, and even the swimming pool. I was so upset. I
:14:35. > :14:39.just thought it was included in the price. The swimming pool was on the
:14:39. > :14:42.site I just thought that would be paid for, I was just so angry they'd
:14:42. > :14:45.put these extra charges on without us knowing anything about it.
:14:45. > :14:48.found almost all the holiday parks listed on The Sun website charged
:14:48. > :14:50.for facilities you might expect to come as standard. But The Sun
:14:51. > :14:53.describes these as "optional". If you pay these charges, you're still
:14:54. > :15:01.getting a holiday for a pretty decent price, but are headlines like
:15:01. > :15:04.this really giving readers the full story? I think it should be much
:15:04. > :15:08.clearer for people to show them exactly what they're going to have
:15:08. > :15:11.to pay. Not to be put in a position I've been put in, or someone else
:15:11. > :15:15.could have been put in, where you have to cancel something you were so
:15:15. > :15:18.looking forward to. Well, not surprisingly, both The Sun and The
:15:18. > :15:21.Mirror say the terms and conditions of their offers are made clear to
:15:21. > :15:25.readers when they book, and they say they're sorry if Linda and Amy don't
:15:25. > :15:34.feel that was the case. They add that the deals are hugely popular,
:15:34. > :15:37.and that most readers seem very happy with them.
:15:37. > :15:41.Now if you're ill, your phone can be a lifeline. Literally! And you'd
:15:41. > :15:48.expect a big company like BT to understand that, so why has one
:15:48. > :15:52.North Wales customer been waiting nearly six months to get connected?
:15:52. > :16:02.When you move house, one of the first things you do is hook yourself
:16:02. > :16:05.
:16:05. > :16:08.up to the essentials like the gas, the water and the electricity. But
:16:08. > :16:11.for Chris Kingmartin from Nefyn, problems with one utility service in
:16:11. > :16:19.particular mean he's getting to spend very little time settling into
:16:19. > :16:23.his new home and instead is round his best mate's most of the time.
:16:23. > :16:29.The only time I don't come to Des's is when the wife's off or if my
:16:29. > :16:33.son's off college or my daughter's off work. Then I can stay there but
:16:33. > :16:36.otherwise I am here most of the time. And there's good reason why
:16:36. > :16:39.good mates Chris and Des are spending more time together than
:16:39. > :16:48.they ever imagined. That's because the final essential service in
:16:48. > :16:53.Chris's house still hasn't been installed, his phone line. Chris and
:16:53. > :16:56.his wife Tracey moved house six months ago. But with ME and high
:16:56. > :16:58.blood pressure, Chris has to stay close to a landline, particularly
:16:58. > :17:06.because here on the Llyn Peninsula, mobile phone signal can be
:17:06. > :17:09.intermittent. Sometimes with my illness, I tend to trip and fall
:17:09. > :17:15.over. I'm on quite a bit of medication for blood pressure, I
:17:15. > :17:21.have got ME, and I need a landline in case anything goes wrong. My wife
:17:21. > :17:25.is at work six days a week. We need a landline line. So just as he's
:17:25. > :17:30.done for the last 20 years, Chris put his trust in BT, the company
:17:30. > :17:34.that promises, "We'll Get You Connected". And being organised,
:17:34. > :17:41.they telephoned BT one month before moving house to make sure a landline
:17:41. > :17:45.could be installed at the new place. BT said, "Right, we can do it two
:17:45. > :17:51.days after you move in", and that was fine. We could live two days
:17:51. > :17:54.without the landline. Everything seemed fine at that time. In order
:17:54. > :17:58.to get their crucial landline set up from day one, they paid a �132
:17:58. > :18:03.upfront connection fee. But as you've probably guessed, things
:18:03. > :18:08.didn't run smoothly. Chris and his wife moved into their new house in
:18:08. > :18:12.January but the phone line remained dead. My wife was explaining that
:18:12. > :18:17.I've got a medical condition where we need a landline, so they were
:18:17. > :18:22.fully aware of this and yep, it wouldn't be a problem. But nothing
:18:22. > :18:26.was happening so Chris began to chase BT. I was starting to panic.
:18:26. > :18:31.You could write a soap opera over it. People wouldn't believe what we
:18:31. > :18:35.have had to do just to get a landline in the property. In March,
:18:35. > :18:39.the company sent an engineer round who Chris says diagnosed a fault on
:18:39. > :18:41.the line, but he soon left, unable to fix the problem. We were getting
:18:41. > :18:49.sent to different call centres all over the world, getting different
:18:49. > :18:52.excuses, different promises that never happened. Finally, last month
:18:52. > :18:57.he was told that an engineer would come round to excavate his driveway
:18:57. > :19:00.to reconnect the landline, but that didn't quite go to plan either.
:19:00. > :19:06.last thing we got told, we need planning permission to dig a
:19:06. > :19:10.six-foot gully across my own driveway. Why do you need planning
:19:10. > :19:20.permission off the council? It's not council property! It doesn't make
:19:20. > :19:23.sense, and twice I got told that. Come on, BT! But what's made Chris
:19:23. > :19:27.really livid is that despite all the problems, BT has still taken an
:19:27. > :19:34.average of �40 a month from the couple's bank account to pay for the
:19:34. > :19:39.landline, broadband and television package. Oh, and that's on top of
:19:39. > :19:44.that �132 connection fee they were charged six months ago. Now that
:19:44. > :19:48.really takes the biscuit! I am so angry with them, it's beyond belief.
:19:48. > :19:53.They've took my life off me for so long and charged me for the
:19:53. > :19:57.privilege of it as well. And whilst Des doesn't mind having Chris as a
:19:57. > :20:01.house guest, he's seen the toll it's taken on his friend. There's been
:20:01. > :20:06.days when Chris has come here and you can clearly see the strain has
:20:06. > :20:10.been too much for him to take. can't use my own house. There's
:20:10. > :20:15.something wrong somewhere when you have a house that you want to live
:20:15. > :20:19.in and you can't live in it because such a small thing has gone wrong.
:20:19. > :20:22.Well, finally there's some good news for Chris. After we contacted BT,
:20:22. > :20:27.their engineers have been round to his house and he now has a working
:20:27. > :20:29.phone line. The company have also apologised for what they called the
:20:29. > :20:35."unacceptable delay" which they blame on a fault in an underground
:20:35. > :20:38.cable and say he'll get a full refund!
:20:38. > :20:42.Good result there! Now, we all know, the housing market is tough right
:20:42. > :20:45.now, and if you need to sell quickly, it's even tougher. That's
:20:45. > :20:50.why a number of companies have sprung up offering cut-price deals
:20:50. > :20:58.to buy your home. But do they always live up to their promises? Rachel's
:20:58. > :21:03.been investigating. They may only be bricks and mortar,
:21:03. > :21:05.but our homes are our pride and joy. But what happens when for whatever
:21:05. > :21:12.reason, say, financial problems, divorce, your house becomes a
:21:12. > :21:20.burden? In the current property market, it's very easy to find
:21:20. > :21:23.yourself locked in with no buyers and no way out. Divorce. We're
:21:23. > :21:30.amicable, but there's only so long you can live in the same house with
:21:30. > :21:35.somebody without feeling the need to move on. This bungalow has been home
:21:35. > :21:38.for Kathleen Farrell and her husband for 12 years. They moved to the
:21:38. > :21:44.village of Dihewyd, nine miles from Lampeter, in search of their dream
:21:44. > :21:47.of a home in the country. Peace and quiet. My son had had health
:21:47. > :21:51.problems, and we just wanted to give him a chance to have an opportunity
:21:51. > :21:58.to go out and play and not worry whether he was going to come home
:21:58. > :22:03.safe. So it really lived up to all the dreams? Yes, yes. It was our
:22:04. > :22:07.dream home. But things changed and Kathleen's marriage failed. Four
:22:07. > :22:12.years ago, they took the tough decision to put the house on the
:22:12. > :22:19.market. Sadly, they have had no offers and they've had to share the
:22:19. > :22:21.house as best they can. You're living in a house but you're not
:22:21. > :22:26.together, you're not living as a couple. You're living totally
:22:26. > :22:28.separate lives. Last November, growing ever more desperate,
:22:28. > :22:36.Kathleen started searching the internet, looking at firms that
:22:36. > :22:39.promise to buy your home quickly. When you need to sell your home
:22:40. > :22:43.fast, you need to call Gateway Homes. The first to call her back
:22:43. > :22:47.were Gateway Homes from Leeds. It claims to be one of the UK's leading
:22:47. > :22:52.house-buying companies. We'll guarantee an offer within 24 hours
:22:52. > :22:56.and buy your home for a cash lump sum. They had told us that they had
:22:57. > :23:02.cases that had turned around in three weeks. We were told there was
:23:02. > :23:07.no stress, less hassle. Gateway makes its money buying up homes at a
:23:07. > :23:15.knock-down price at best, three quarters of the market value. It
:23:15. > :23:21.then sells them on at a profit. The house had been for sale at �230,000.
:23:21. > :23:25.Gateway offered just over �157,000. They promised a quick sale on
:23:25. > :23:30.condition the couple took it off the market first. You were obviously
:23:30. > :23:36.prepared to take a hit on the house, just to move on. Yes. We'd done our
:23:36. > :23:41.homework, looked at the price and we could just about do it. With no
:23:41. > :23:43.solicitor's fees, no survey fees... Gateway covers the cost of a
:23:43. > :23:48.solicitor and a surveyor, although actually getting the survey took two
:23:48. > :23:57.months. We were given a date in December and a time for someone to
:23:57. > :24:04.come out and survey the property. We waited in all day and nobody came.
:24:04. > :24:07.We didn't get a surveyor until the end of January in the end.
:24:07. > :24:12.February, Kathleen says Gateway were telling her and her husband that
:24:12. > :24:17.contracts were being drawn up and the sale was imminent. Reassured,
:24:17. > :24:20.they each made offers on separate houses. Then, at the end of March,
:24:20. > :24:29.the sale of Kathleen's home hit a massive stumbling block, one that
:24:29. > :24:33.put an end to her hopes of a fresh start. Out of the blue, I got a
:24:33. > :24:35.phone call from a gentleman who was a group manager and he stated that
:24:35. > :24:45.they had over-valued the property and basically, they said the deal
:24:45. > :24:47.
:24:47. > :24:50.wouldn't be going ahead. He said to me that he thought it was probably
:24:50. > :25:00.only worth �150,000 altogether, and knowing they only pay about 70%, I
:25:00. > :25:01.
:25:01. > :25:09.just said, "Forget it!" The deal collapsed, leaving Kathleen and her
:25:10. > :25:13.husband still chained to their home, but now �2,000 out of pocket. That's
:25:13. > :25:19.how much they estimate they've run up in legal costs for the homes they
:25:19. > :25:23.had been trying to buy. Both deals also fell through. I've had to keep
:25:23. > :25:33.moving removal dates three times, and then to be told it's not going
:25:33. > :25:37.
:25:37. > :25:41.through, that everything's been a total waste of time. Our property
:25:41. > :25:44.has been off the market for the last four and a half, five months, which
:25:44. > :25:51.we could have missed out on a potential sale because of these
:25:51. > :25:56.people. Kathleen is far from the only person to have problems with
:25:56. > :25:58.Gateway Homes. The company is based in Yorkshire where lots of customers
:25:58. > :26:00.have complained to Trading Standards about last-minute price drops,
:26:00. > :26:09.concerns echoed by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
:26:09. > :26:12.in Wales. This is known as gazundering whereby the purchaser
:26:12. > :26:18.comes back at the last minute to reduce his offer, the opposite of
:26:18. > :26:21.gazumping. These quick-sale companies offer a facility for
:26:21. > :26:28.individuals who, as long as they're aware of the risks and the
:26:28. > :26:33.implications, then they're providing a service. But the concern is, are
:26:33. > :26:38.the public fully aware of what they're entering into? I don't think
:26:38. > :26:41.they are. The Office of Fair Trading is so concerned it's launched an
:26:41. > :26:48.investigation into the way that firms like Gateway Homes operate and
:26:48. > :26:51.some of the claims they make. There is a big difference between the bold
:26:51. > :27:01.promises in Gateway's TV advert and its website and the small print in
:27:01. > :27:02.
:27:02. > :27:06.their contracts, something Kathleen discovered too late. Not only does
:27:06. > :27:09.it give them a full year to actually get round to buying someone's home,
:27:09. > :27:19.but the contract also locks the customer in for that 12 months and
:27:19. > :27:19.
:27:19. > :27:21.they're liable for Gateway's costs if they try to walk away. And,
:27:21. > :27:28.regardless of what price Gateway first offered Kathleen, the whole
:27:28. > :27:32.deal was subject to them being happy with THEIR final valuation. It's
:27:32. > :27:38.money we can't afford to lose. We not only lost out on the house
:27:38. > :27:44.purchase, we've also lost money as well. And to me, that's not fair.
:27:44. > :27:48.These people just seem to be getting rich quick on other people's misery.
:27:48. > :27:51.Well, unfortunately, Gateway aren't budging on this. They say they're
:27:51. > :27:54.perfectly entitled to pull out of a sale if they're unhappy with the
:27:54. > :27:59.valuation and that they advised Kathleen not to incur any legal
:27:59. > :28:02.expenses. They do admit, though, that her case should have been
:28:02. > :28:06.handled more quickly. They say they've disciplined one member of
:28:06. > :28:09.staff and put new procedures in place to stop it happening again.
:28:09. > :28:14.Well, that's all for this week! Don't forget, if there's anything
:28:14. > :28:24.you'd like us to investigate, get in touch. Call us on 03703 334 334 or
:28:24. > :28:27.email xray@bbc.co.uk. Next week: How safe are we online? The tell-tale