Episode 8 X-Ray

You are watching x-ray. If you have been ripped off or that deal turns

out to be dodgy we will battle it out on your behalf. You never check

those vehicles when you solve them. We are here to fight your corner. --

when you sold them. Tonight - we investigate

the modelling agency cashing We decided to go with it,

pay ?600 there and then. She's going to be Marks

and Spencers child. The would-be managers,

whose careers in the beautiful game The teams that I had were crumbling

away and I didn't have any new teams coming in,

and it all just... And I'll be finding out

about the celebrity fitness range which is losing people pounds

in ways they didn't expect. First tonight, if an agency

said your child had what it takes to be the next top model,

you could be tempted But this story may

make you think twice. But we're shining a spotlight on a

scam modelling agency which does. It's one that focuses on children -

by telling proud parents their little ones could make it big

in the modelling industry. But their dreams turn out

to be a flash in the pan. We all like to think our children

have that special something, and grandmother Karen Hill

from Ebbw Vale felt two-year-old Lilly-Rae was a natural

in front of the camera. She was drawn to an ad on Facebook,

posted by "Model Agency." So we sent a photograph

and they came back to us straight away very interested,

so they booked an appointment Lilly-Rae was invited

to a photoshoot in Bristol, The family were surprised

to discover that the glamorous location for their photo shoot

was here - a back street not far But they found many

other hopeful parents She posed, run around,

she was a star. After the shoot, Lilly-Rae's family

say a member of staff She said, "We're very pleased

to tell you we've got a number of companies interested in taking

Lilly-Rae forward. They were told that

to join the agency, Lilly-Rae would need a VERY

pricey portfolio. So we thought, first

of all, that's a lot. The price was then knocked down

to ?600, and they were assured that "talented" Lilly-Rae would quickly

earn that back as a model. So we decided to pay

the ?600 there and then. She's going to be Marks

and Spencers' child. Five months earlier,

Model Agency had also invited Sally Bellamy and four-year-old son

Harry to a free photo shoot Harry loved being in

front of the camera. Sally was also told the same story

by one of the studio staff. He said, "Well done,

you've been selected. "You're going to have lots and lots

of clients are going to want "Harry as the face

of their product." He mentioned Next, he

mentioned Gap. the portfolio was even

pricier - ?2000. Sally declined, but the

sales pitch continued. "I'm going to do this special deal

with you that I don't "I'll give you them for ?100,

but if you don't want it we'll just "click, we'll delete them

and it'll all be gone!" A clever tactic -

and Sally fell for it. But when her credit card bill

arrived, she was in for a shock. I saw a company called

FireFly Create Limited and that's I thought, well, where has

this ?600 come from? Sally insists it was ?500

more than she'd agreed She tried to complain

to Model Agency - Meanwhile, after reading

negative reviews online, Karen Hill contacted Firefly Create,

demanding her money back. They tried to pass the buck saying

it was nothing to do with them as they were a photographic business

and "completely separate" And Karen's receipt said

she had no right to cancel. I had her to perform like a monkey

in front of a camera for nothing. I'm a grown woman, to be fooled

by something like that, But what about those top clients

who were eager to snap up Well, funnily enough,

Marks and Spencers, McDonald s, Next and Gap all told us they'd

never even heard of Model Agency I decided to see for myself exactly

how this business reels And I've got a feeling

their selection process We're pretty sure that anyone would

be accepted for a photo-shoot. So I took some snaps

of Edward and applied "Congratulations, The Model Agency

can see the potential in Edward "and would like to invite him

for a test shoot in London." We thought we'd continue playing

this game to see if they slip up So after making Ben Ana look

as appealing as possible, we sent in his photo -

and in a flash, he got It just shows how rotten

Model Agency's application It's a world away from

how it should be done. Top Model is the UK's largest

modelling competition. We asked its director,

Geoff Cox, what he makes They're quite obviously trying

to sell photographs and portfolios. A portfolio is something built up

over a period of time and you need So certainly something shot in a day

may be a nice set of pictures for somebody but they're no good

for the model industry. What's your feeling

about this practice? It's pretty deplorable,

to be honest with you. If a company contacts you very

enthusiastically and they're referring you to a studio straight

away the alarm bells will start ringing cos first and foremost

you don't need to go to a studio And if they are the things

that the company are focusing in on then I would

certainly be wary. Well, we've written to Model Agency

and Firefly Create - but neither company has

answered our questions. We understand that the authorities

are investigating though, Remember, if there's

anything you'd like us to investigate call

us on 03703 334 334, email

[email protected] or send We'll be looking into the fitness

clothing range which some customers Now, it's not just pop stars

or footballers who are getting tattoos these days -

around one in five of us have braved the artist's needle,

and there are tattoo studios So have many of these shoppers

in Caerphilly had tattoos? "What doesn't kill you

makes you stronger." Did you want to go somewhere

that was licensed, did that Mine did get infected

and I did have scabs. So it seems tattoos

are pretty popular here. But making sure they're done safely

is an issue that's been keeping Rob Hartshorn is Head

of Public Protection. The law requires tattooists to be

personally registered with the local authority and requires them

to meet certain hygiene We've taken a number of prosecutions

of illegal tattooists and unhygienic Following a complaint

from a concerned parent. His daughter had been tattooed

and she was only 15-years-old, and of course it's an offence

if you're under the age of 18. Your officers then visited

Studio One that we can The premises weren't clean,

the equipment hadn't been properly sterilised and appropriate records

about the individuals who were having tattoos

weren't being kept. He was sentenced in court

to a 12-week custodial sentence suspended for two years

and he was ordered to pay our legal And if anybody has a concern

about a tattoo studio you want Certainly contact

the local authority. Next, I've been to meet a young mum

from Barry who's been sent a bill for hundreds of pounds -

for a mobile phone Leigh-Ann Wakefield has

always paid her way. I've never defaulted on a bill,

never missed a phone Last October, she decided

to get a new phone. So she came here to Carphone

Warehouse at Leckwith in Cardiff, taking out a contract with Vodafone

on an iPhone 6. But not long after getting it home

things started to go wrong. When people were ringing

through, it was just So four days later, a frustrated

Leigh-Ann took it back They said that they'd phoned

through to Vodafone, I wouldn't hear anything else

from them and I thought And Leigh-Ann soon had far more

important issues to deal with. I was seven months pregnant

when I took the contract out. Within a couple of weeks I developed

severe pre-eclampsia so my little As baby Jenson received

special care in hospital, Leigh-Ann got a letter

she could really have done without. I had a bill through from Vodafone,

saying that I owed them ?72. So I went straight back

into Carphone Warehouse asked them They basically told me to ignore

the letter because they had proof everything had

gone through properly. Despite being assured that her

contract had been cancelled, By September, Leigh-Ann was told

she owed more than ?380! Confused and fed up, Leanne went

back to Carphone Warehouse yet again, to see if they could shed any

light on the situation. They said they'd seen things

like this happen before, But instead the bills became letters

from debt collectors. It must have been

a real worry for you. I was at my parent's house,

crying, saying, "Please, will you just lend me the

money? "Because I just want these debt

collectors off my back, Desperate to get it sorted,

Leigh-Ann decided to go I wrote a letter to the chief

executive of Vodafone UK. I had a email the next day saying

they apologised for what had happened and somebody would get back

to me by the end of that week Vodafone are now chasing Leigh-Ann's

for an incredible ?746, So upsetting, because I've done

everything in my life to stay away from getting in situations

like that, so to be in a situation through no fault of my own,

it's really hard. Well, The Carphone Warehouse insist

they correctly cancelled Leigh Ann's Vodafone

contract in store last year. Although Vodafone say they have no

record of that. But finally we've managed

to get this sorted out. Vodafone have wiped all the charges

and they'll put right Leigh-Ann's credit record,

which I'm sure will be The Carphone Warehouse have also

given her ?66 to cover a month's line rental plus the cost

of all the phone calls Next, Rachel's been speaking

to one unhappy sports fan, whose dreams of setting up

a new venture here in Caerphilly, Ah, football, the beautiful game,

played by thousands every week. It's a world away from football's

top flight but, even here, Sign up to a franchise

to run your own amateur league, and you could see a full return

on your investment within months... But is running a franchise

that straightforward? Charity worker and footie fan

Gareth Jones from Cardiff needed some extra income and he saw

an advert which seemed to offer It said if you just want to earn

a kind of second income then, It's really down to you, you know,

how far you want to take it, really. The firm behind the ad

was Leisure Leagues, one of the UK's biggest

organisers of five and And the sales pitch

is pretty convincing. According to Leisure Leagues,

franchisees like Gareth make their money by charging teams

a weekly match fee. That means, on average, each team is

worth around ?700 a year. So, in March, Gareth signed up

for a Kickstarter package to run He says he was convinced

by the brochure's cast iron guarantee, that Leisure Leagues

would help him recruit at least eight teams within the first three

months of the franchise. I don't have connections

in Caerphilly and I would not have invested without

the cast iron guarantee. It gave me reassurance,

it also made it very clear that I'd have a return

on my investment very quickly. Gareth was also encouraged

by Leisure Leagues' commitment, on their website and in his

agreement, to provide In April, the rookie manager

headed to Warwickshire, He was looking forward to two days

of intensive training in how to set up and manage his new venture,

but he wasn't impressed. The training consisted of me putting

up correx boards on the roadside and then dropping off leaflet

holders and leaflets, They were using basically our time

to promote their own leagues. He'd paid just under six grand

for a standard package, On Day Two, he and Gareth

had classroom training, and Tom was hoping for some tips

on using social media. It was one of the key questions

I had throughout the process. In the end Tom says he was told

to copy another league manager's I was a bit annoyed, but I just

thought, crack on with it. Training over, the managers

headed home, ready to But recruiting teams

was tougher than they expected. As the weeks went by I was getting

very little in the way of interest. I expected them to run a Facebook

advertising campaign in order to recruit or help recruit enough

teams to get the league up and running by the

league start date. Back in Manchester, Tom's league

hadn't got off the ground. He says there were delays in getting

promotional leaflets and banners I sent them an email,

I asked them as well, I really desperately really need

this stuff as soon as possible, cos I need to get out

there promoting before I go away. By the time their leagues

were due to start in May, Tom and Gareth say they'd only

managed to recruit a few teams each. The teams that I had were crumbling

away and I didn't have any new teams coming in,

and it all just... By August, both managers were ready

to blow the final whistle It's just a lot of

stress and anxiety. It's had a real impact

on family life at times. We can't afford to lose the money,

you know, it's important to us. We asked a specialist solicitor

about Tom and Gareth's It's very clear to me,

that statement, that cast iron guarantee was the inducement that

caused Gareth to enter To say there's no risk entering

into an agreement is to me somewhat of a foolish claim to make,

but on the same token it's perfectly understandable from an amateur

businessman entering into that type of agreement, to be able

to rely on that statement. But getting out of the deal

is a different ball game. There are no rights of termination

for either Gareth or Tom in these agreements which,

again, is perfectly for the would-be managers, who've

lost thousands of pounds each. A lesson learned, sadly,

an expensive lesson. I wouldn't tell anyone

what to do but me personally, if I could go back, no chance I'd

do it again. Well, Leisure Leagues told us that

all franchisees must comply They argue that Gareth

and Tom didn't do this. The company says they did

deliver their cast iron guarantee to help Gareth recruit 8 teams

and did offer him a paid-for Facebook advertising

campaign, which he refused. As for Tom, they say he's

one of a small minority of franchisees who've failed

to recruit enough teams. They also say he was given

promotional material at the end When Gareth and Tom began

to struggle, Leisure Leagues say they repeatedly invited them

to meetings and offered training on their new website,

but neither of them Leisure Leagues aren't

offering any money back, and say Gareth and Tom have

breached their contracts. So I'm afraid, the dispute

continues. It's clearly not been a good

experience for them. But plenty of people are signing up

to run all kinds of franchises, from coffee shops or fast food

chains on the high street, Dr Phil Griffiths, who you saw

in Rachel's report can Phil, what are your top

tips for anyone thinking First of all, ask yourself,

is this a good business for me? Is this a good fit

with my experience, You may find you've had a bit

of experience in business, but that doesn't mean to say that

you can do it your way, Make sure you know what this company

is that you're buying into. Have you spoken to any

of the other franchisees? And, finally, don't sign that

franchise agreement until you've You'll find it's a bit long,

it might be difficult to understand and that's why I'd advise you have

legal advice from a lawyer that's And there are downsides

to running a franchise? It's so heavily weighted

in favour of the franchisor. For example, when the agreement

expires and you've done all that hard work for many years,

you end up with losing your right And if you want to sell

the business, you have to sell it So it's vitally important that

you know exactly what you're signing Plenty to think about,

Phil, thanks very much. There are just two days

until the deadline for all private landlords to register

with Rent Smart Wales. Many will also need to pass

a training course and get a licence. But so far, less than half

of landlords have signed up. Failure to comply could mean

fines and legal action! New plans to crackdown on whiplash

claims could mean cheaper car The number of crashes has fallen

sharply, but whiplash claims have risen by 50% in a decade,

with an average payout The government's now

considering capping the payouts, And Black Friday is nearly here,

but you might want to think twice before you go crazy over

the bargains on offer. Found almost half of all the deals

it tracked last year were actually cheaper in the months before

and after the sale! Now, Omar's been finding out

about the fitness company backed by a Hollywood star,

but some customers say they're not Rhiannon Owen from Cardiff

is a busy mum-of-two, but manages to squeeze in a gym

session twice a week. She was looking for some stylish

new workout gear when a clothing range backed by one of her favourite

actresses, caught her eye I think the girls love

Fabletics because it's cute. Fabletics was created by Kate

Hudson, daughter of Goldie Hawn. And she wasn't just aiming it

at her Hollywood friends. I'm going to hopefully create

a community where women who can't afford the things that most of us

can afford in this room, Yeah, it's my Fabletics

outfit, gives me strength. I just liked the patterns,

I liked the designs, I like the fact that

they're colourful, jazzy. I just wanted something different

from your normal, black gym gear. This full outfit, so the leggings,

the top and the sports bra was ?26, so I got a very big discount

because then I became a VIP. VIP members make big

savings on their outfits, but Rhiannon says she didn't realise

she'd have to pay ?44 With a hectic lifestyle,

nine months went by before she noticed, and by then,

she'd racked up almost ?400 Didn't they tell you that they were

going to take the ?44 a month? Apparently they do say

on lots of separate pages but it's very small print and especially

if you're buying something on your smartphone,

you know, late at night, Rhiannon isn't the only member

of Kate's exclusive club who claims she didn't realise what

she was signing up for. We've spoken to other unhappy

customers, who've taken So after all this, did

you get your money back? No, I emailed Fabletics and I asked

them if I could have it back and they said no,

it was just to be used to buy more outfits,

more jazzy leggings. I just gave up and bought ?400

worth of jazzy leggings. So that's why you keep

changing your leggings. Who needs a new outfit, a new pair,

gym outfit every month? Rhiannon told Fabletics she wanted

to cancel her VIP membership, So that's another ?132 that they'd

just started taking out And they said I can't

cancel through email, How do you feel about Fabletics

and their community? Well, I just feel like

I've been duped really. I'm never watching a Kate Hudson

film ever again. They told us the terms

of the VIP experience are made They also point out that VIP Members

can cancel their membership at any time over the phone or by letter,

but not email, for security reasons. Now, Rhiannon has spent almost

?400 on sports clothes, but there is some good news,

Fabletics are going to refund the ?132 of credit in her

account, which is fab! Remember, if there're anything

you want us to investigate, Next week: And would you sleep

on a bed like this? I'll be investigating the hotel that

has a few hidden Hello, I'm Riz Lateef

with your 90 second update.