Episode 15 X-Ray

You're watching X-Ray, the programme that fights

Tonight, the gardener who left his customers

We expose the truth and track down the rogues and we will not take no

for an answer. Tonight, the gardener

who left his customers You open the curtains every morning

and this is what we see. This is a constant reminder of how

we have been treated. The recruitment scams,

ripping off job hunters like Tia. I thought that a company actually

wanted to employ me. And I'll be finding out how you can

sell your home without having to pay Now Spring is on its way,

hopefully the weather will improve soon and we can look forward

to spending time in the gardens Places like this are full

of inspiration but if your outside space needs a proper makeover,

you might call in some expert help. Rachel's been to meet some viewers

who hired a trader from just up the road near Caerphilly

but they feel they've been led up Gardens come in all

shapes and sizes. But whether it's a vast parkland,

or something a bit more modest, we all want to make the most of that

little bit out outside space. Stewart and Nichola Fox-Mabe

from Ystrad Mynach had high hopes The garden originally sloped,

we had a very small flat area We decided on a log cabin

for some extra space. And we wanted some flat tiered areas

so we had some nice sitting areas. They hired landscaper

Matthew Jonno Robbins, Matt was very good at talking

about what he could do and the people he had

working for him. They paid him ?1,500

upfront for materials. But progress was slow The first day

when he turned up there was him And then it went through a period

of him not turning up. The clutch has gone on the van,

the van's broken down. Then he dissappeared on holiday

for a week which we didn't know And that was after we'd

paid him another ?4,179.80. Then, Stewart and Nichola's lives

were turned upside down. We didn't know at the time

if it was operable did we? We'd told Matt about Stewart's

diagnosis and we explained that The couple had a new urgency

in their dealings In August we'd gone away for five

days to Poland. It was part of a bucket list trip

was't it, whilst waiting to find out if Stew's cancer

was operable or not. But little progress was made

while they were away. He turned up on one day

and that was to collect By now, they'd waited four

months and spent ?9,000. As you can see, the patio area

has not been started. These are supposed to be tiered

areas, as you can see there are bits There are supposed to be other

sleeper steps down here. We have got weeds growing

through it already. We had to get a surveyor to come

in and value what had been done and have a look at the works

and he condemned virtually There were basic errors,

like fences not properly supported and poor drainage which could have

made this wall collapse. The expert said the couple have

overpaid by ?7,000. But despite a court order

against him, Matthew Robbins It's been incredibly

difficult because Stewart has We are hoping he will be fit

enough to go back to work after his radiotherapy but we don't

know what the future holds. Stewart and Nicci have paid

to have the garden put right so it's hard to imagine what it would have

looked like when he left the site. But I don't have to travel far

to find someone still living with the mess Matthew

Robins had left behind. Jason Kemp hired him

to transform his family's garden but seven months on, his children

are still playing inside. Half of the garden was going to be

patio and the other half, There was one excuse

after another excuse. Being that he was held up

on another job. There problems with the weather,

his van had broken down, Matthew did remove a lot

of earth from the garden. But there is little sign

of the materials that Jason had paid One new fence post, a couple

of slats for the fence. Yes, some concrete bits

to put the fence post. Try as they might, they couldn't get

Matthew Robins to finish the job. The kids can't come out

and play in the garden. You open the curtains every moring

and look down and this This is a constant reminder of how

we have been treated. Back in Ystrad Mynach,

Nichola and Stewart have paid And they're still trying

to get their money back I felt so used and so stupid,

that I trusted him. And you'll be glad to hear that

Stewart's recovering well We asked Matthew Robbins

about all this, and he said there was nothing wrong

with his work at Stewart and Nicola's house, it

just wasn't finished. He says that until Stewart's

cancer was diagnosed, there was no urgency

to finish the job. He insists he did tell them

that he was going on holiday. He does admit he owes

the couple money. He hasn't said how much but says

it is less than the ?7,000 that he was ordered

to pay by the courts. In Jason's case, he says

the weather caused delays and was going to finish the job

but they fell out over payments. He says money was spent

on materials and skips. Matthew reckons he owes Jason ?1,500

which he's promised to pay We'll be keeping an eye on this

to make sure that happens. And getting your garden into shape

is something that many of us are thinking about at

this time of year. If you're short of time or it's

a big job, it makes sense to hire someone to do it but how do

you choose the right person? James Pinder is an expert

on gardens, and trees James, you have heard some

horror stories haven't Yeah, you can have people

working at heights, with the wrong training,

the wrong tools, obviously trees being cut, you've got huge amounts

of timber and weight moving around, if that hits a roof,

building, greenhouse etc, that's it, There are mistakes just can

end up being costly? Yes, they can do, people often want

a quick bang for their buck, so they'll plant something that's

fast growing to fill up a space. The trouble with that is that

you can plant something fast growing, like this conifer,

which is fine if it's maintained and it's in a space where it can

either fully develop as a proper specimen tree or it's

maintained as a hedge. If it's left and things get out

of control, what we're left That hedge yeah, an outgrown hedge

and that is when it becomes really What about insurance,

is that important? Yes, mainly to protect the homeowner

but secondly also the contractor. You need to make sure the insurance

is for the actual job that you are asking that contractor

to do, there's no point having a contractor with insurance

for mowing lawns when he's cutting Lots of people may find

they get a knock on the door from somebody offering to do some

work in their gardens, saying they've spotted something

that needs to be done. If they're knocking on your door

and just basically asking to do jobs and inviting themselves

on your property, the best answer And we'll put that advice

on our website for you. Later in the programme,

James will be back with some quick tips to get your garden looking

good for years to come, Remember, if you've been stung

by a rogue trader or there's anything else you'd like us

to investigate, do give us a call. Still to come, DIY house

sales are on the rise - If it was through a local estate

agent would have been ?4,000, Now, the latest on the saga

of a couple from rural Powys who've spent months trying to get connected

to the outside world! Karen and Tim Thompson moved

to Tafolwern near Llanbrynmair But they didn't expect to spend four

months without a phone line We had four engineers all checking

each other's work basically because they didn't really go any

further from the first They'd had enough of trekking

to the top of their garden to try and get a mobile phone signal

Openreach are just totally inept. If you'd come to me in November

and said it would take six months to do this I would work with you,

that's fine, that's being honest and straight forward

but to constantly give promises After we contacted Openreach,

they apologised and promised Well, we're pleased to say that

Karen and Tim finally have a landline - in fact,

we were the first And their broadband should be

connected very soon. But, Karen and Tim's story really

struck a chord with Steve Watts Like them, he's been struggling

to get BT Openreach to give him a working phone line but his battle

has been going on for nine years! And all that time, he's been

charged for the connection. BT Openreach have promised us

they'll investigate his case as well Looking for a job can be stressful

at the best of times but as I've been finding out,

it's a risky business too. Technology has revolutionized

the way we look for work. Many of us now post our CVs on job

hunting websites, hoping they'll catch the eye

of potential employers. 23-year-old Tia Hart from Caerphilly

had spent months looking for work. I was just sitting in the house,

I was going crazy bored so I wanted something to do, because

I've always worked. Last Autumn Tia uploaded her CV

on a number of job hunting websites. Out of the blue she received

an e-mail from an advertising firm They told her they were opening

a new office in Cardiff It was ?9.50 an hour

and you could have 30 days off a year, it was really good hours,

really good location, The company told Tia they needed

to fill the position quickly, so there wouldn't be time to do

a face-to-face interview. It was all done over

the phone instead. Well, they seemed quite

professional, they were asking have you ever done any receptionist jobs

before, what's your experience, how much experience have

you got and it just seemed, Three days later she received

an e-mail offering her the job. But there was one more thing

she needed to do. They told me that I needed

a background check because I might So they sent me the link and was,

like, here's the link for you. So then they asked for my address,

my national insurance. I put all my passport

details into it. Yeah, they asked for ?99.99

But after she paid them, I tried phoning them and it just

kept ringing and ringing. And then the next day I tried

phoning the number again and it kept ringing and ringing and ringing

and within a week or two, I thought that I'd actually finally

got something and that a company And I was so happy at the thought

of it and then the fact that I hadn't, I was gutted,

absolutely gutted. We've discovered that Tia's one

of many jobseekers around the country who been

duped by fake company, The company's website looks

sleek and professional. They've stolen the design

from a genuine marketing company based in New Zealand,

that has nothing to do with them. And what about Ideal 1 -

the company that charges ?100 a go to carry out background

security checks? Again, it looks like the real deal

and even has links on its site to police and government

departments. But click on those links

and they just lead back So how easy is it to set up

bogus sites like these? The websites, although they look

sophisticated and quite sleek, require very little IT

skills to put together. You can just, almost,

capture a third party website and I can see all the code

being used to generate the website and then I can just save that

and launch that on my own servers. All that's really required

is limited IT skills, But our investigation has revealed

that Quackers Outdoor Marketing is just one fake company

in a much bigger scam. We found at 10 phoney companies

all running the same racket. And because they steal elements

from legitimate businesses, it's hard to tell the rogues

from the real deal. We even found one fake company

which has gone to great lengths to explain why they couldn't meet

job candidates in person. "Now, unfortunately we are currently

renovating our new warehouse and this is proving

quite disruptive. Therefore face-to-face interviews

are not at this time convenient?" Keith Rosser works with police

to crack down on recruitment fraud and has been tracking

this scam for months. Commonly you now have fraudsters

who would pose as the employer but also then pose as a third party

company the employer passes the jobseeker to for other types

of services, whether it's insurance, immigration, visa, travel

or, obviously in this If someone is referred to a company

for a security check, what's the best way

to check out that company? So, police checks England and Wales

are only specifically for certain sectors, predominantly healthcare,

education and security. So if you're not working in one

of those 3 sectors the chances Police checks England and Wales

are done through the the DBS. Generally they cost

between ?26 and ?46. So if you're being asked

for a figure that's anywhere near ?100, again, chances

are that's going to be a scam. You can go to the DBS site,

which is part of the Home Office and they have lists of companies

who are able to carry out police checks and check on there that

a company you're being passed to can actually carry out

police checks first. The police are actively

investigating this scam, but there's little chance

that victims, like Tia, I was already out of work

so for them to just find it okay to just take my money when I didn't

really have it at the time, So a horrible experience for Tia

and if you're desperately looking for work, it's the last

thing you need. I've come to Careers Wales

here in Caerphilly. Today they're holding a workshop

to help people steer their way through the minefield

of job hunting! But are people here aware

that the personal information on their CVs could be

misused by scammers? You got to do it to get a job,

cos most people want CVs online. I've got references on there

from different employers, which she's just told me I've got

to take off cos it's their personal Were you aware that there

are scammers, out there using info? It is really worrying,

house numbers, phone numbers So how can you protect yourself

from these kinds of scams? Matthew Cadman, is a careers advisor

here. Should people ever offer pay money

up front to a company Not at all, recruitment agencies

we deal with they don't tend to charge administration fees

they charge the companies who they're recruiting for rather

than people who are There are plenty of places you can

go to find out whether these people are bona fide, you can

get their details, their contact details and company name

and you can research those. This is a cruel scam though,

targeting people like those we've Yeah, we help hundreds of people

daily, nationally with their job search, and we see how enthusiastic

they are to actually find work. And so if they're asked to pay

a hundred pounds, which in all reality at seven pounds an hour,

you could cover that in two shifts, I think cruel is the right

word to use when dealing Well, from selling yourself

to a potential employer, In the past, selling your

home was straightforward. Your local estate agent would pop

round, take the details All you needed to do

was get your house spick and span, ready for those

all-important viewings. Presentation is as important

as ever. But these days more and more of us

are dusting off the traditional ways Most high street estate agents

will market your property on the internet - there's

nothing new there. But there's a growing number

of online only estate agents - offering a more hands-off approach

to selling your house... Many of them offer the services

you'd get from a traditional They'll value your property,

provide photos and floor plans - The big difference is that you'll

need to do a bit more of the legwork, and that usually

means conducting But if that doesn't faze you,

there are big savings to be made. One couple who are quids

in are Colin and Elaine Combstock, After living in this house for 40

years, they decided to downsize So talk to me through the figures

then - how much did you save by ditching

the traditional estate agent? So with selling online,

it was a one off fee of ?882. So if you went through a local

estate agent they would have had about 1.5% on there,

so that would have been ?4,000, How did the hands-off approach

work for you though, Well, it was very hectic

but because we know the house ourselves, it's our house,

we've lived in it, we managed to tell the people all the history

belonging to the house as well. But some people say,

that having an impartial expert to do the viewings is better,

they're less emotionally attached to the property,

they can see the bigger picture. No, I think we done a better

job ourselves, we did. Unlike traditional estate agents,

online firms are often open Colin and Elaine had an e-mail

on Christmas Day to tell All that's left to do now is pack

up, ready for the big move. It will be sad to go obviously,

but I've got my memories, At the moment, online estate agents

only account for about 5% of all house sales, so it's

still quite a niche market. But it's growing all the time,

driven by homeowners So is there a still a place

for the middleman? He's been in the business

for more than 40 years. I think the expertise,

local knowledge are vital components of an estate agent's

job and can make all Local knowledge, in particular,

is a very important factor. But, say there was a house

for sale for ?300,000. The high street estate agent charges

1.5% commission, say. If they sold that house,

that means they would get ?4,500 It is a lot of money,

but it depends on the service Now, we consider that being

knowledgeable in our profession that we can get that difference

for you because of our expertise. We can earn that money,

we can improve on the ability But if the thought of paying agency

fees doesn't quite square up, there is another way

to sell your home. It requires a bit more effort,

and you have to know what you're doing, but it could save

you thousands of pounds. Market your own property,

sell it privately and make the most Carole Brook is one of a growing

number of homeowners using free classifieds sites

to sell their property. She's currently listing

this terraced house The website may not have the same

scope as property sites like Zoopla and Rightmove, but for Carole,

that's not an issue. If people are local,

then it's the local site that they will look at to see

what is available in their local area, and if people are buying

from away then, again, they would look specifically

at a site for the town or city that they're looking for,

to see what's available. This is the second property

Carole's sold online. She plans to use a solicitor

to do the legal work, But while the house

is on the market, she does pretty much everything else -

including the viewings. Most people are genuine that

want to come and buy a house so I think you can soon pick

up if somebody isn't and you are with them throughout

the whole viewing process and if you wanted to you could have

other members of the family there too just to make sure that

everything goes smoothly. So whether you sell your home

on the cheap, plump for your local estate agent, or go with an online

agency, there's more choice than ever before of how

to sell your home. Just don't forget rule number one -

make sure your property is looking You know, I've spent so long tidying

this place up. Now if you are selling your house,

we all know that gardens But it's easy to spend a fortune,

year in year out, trying So what's the best way

to get value for money? Let's get some top

tips from James now. I think the crucial one has got

to be planning, think it through, have a look at the books,

go on the internet, find out how big things get,

where they like to be and make sure they're going to be

going in the right place. Secondly you want longevity,

don't be afraid to buy something that's a little bit more money

but gives you a variety of colour throughout the year,

something like this schimea, you've got beautiful red

berries this time of year, yet this peoris will have small

delicate flowers at a different I think the final tip is go steady,

have patience, don't go wading in with power tools,

you'll do more damage than good, try and work out what the plants

are before you rip them out. Brilliant, James,

thank you very much. And that's all we've

got time for this week. But remember if there's anything

you want us to investigate, Next week: Kennel owners Tony

and Linda trusted a local firm to build them a new computer,

but it's gone to the dogs. Very stressful, I feel as though

I have been ripped off. Hello, I'm Riz Lateef

with your 90 second update. 16-year-old Bailey Gwynne died

after he was stabbed in his school