Rip Off Britain (2009) s07e08 Episode Script
Series 7, Episode 8
1 We asked you to tell us what's left you feeling totally ripped off, and you've contacted us in your thousands.
You've told us about the companies that you think get it wrong, and the customer service that simply is not up to scratch.
If I walk in somewhere and they treat me badly, then I walk and I will never go in again.
You've asked us to track down the scammers who stole your money, and investigate the extra charges you'd say are unfair.
You've paid for a service and you expect it to be the service that you've paid for.
And when you've lost out but no-one else is to blame, you've come to us to stop others falling into the same trap.
As a customer, you've got to be more savvy, in terms of what you're buying, make sure it's something you want or need and not something they're trying to trick you into getting.
So, whether it is a blatant rip-off or a genuine mistake, we are here to find out why you're out of pocket and what you can do about it.
Your stories, your money, this is Rip-Off Britain.
Hello, and welcome to Rip-Off Britain, where today we'll be getting to the bottom of more of the stories you've asked us to investigate on your behalf.
In some cases it hasn't been entirely straightforward, because one or two of them have some decidedly murky aspects that make it quite tricky to discover exactly what has gone on.
Don't they just? But at the root of every one of them is some kind of promise or claim that, for whatever reason, ultimately just is not what you are expecting.
Now, in some cases, that was deliberate.
In others, probably not.
But, either way, what everyone who has contacted us would say is that their expectations simply weren't being met.
And while of course there are times when disappointment with what we've ended up with might perhaps be down to us just expecting too much, that's not at all the case with our stories today, because whatever difficulties and even unpleasantness may have developed along the way, each of them really did begin with a very clear promise of what was supposed to happen.
So we'll be finding out why it didn't.
Coming up, who's behind the online electrical store that doesn't - deliver? - They've stole off me, haven't they? I want them stopped and I want my money back.
As we hunt down the missing freezer, will the trail go cold? Need to go in and see what's going on.
And the chocoholic left with a nasty taste in the mouth, thanks to a business with a bizarre take on customer service.
The money I've lost is quite a sum of money, for me, and I just feel very frustrated that they appear to have got away with me giving them money for nothing.
On this programme, as you know, we are always encouraging you to shop around for the best deals.
But when it comes to buying electrical goods like a new TV, for instance, it can be hard to know where to start.
Should you stick with the familiar names on the high street, or do you try and navigate your way through all those companies online that seem to be offering a much better price? Trouble is, as many of you have found to your cost, some of the more obscure businesses you'll come across shopping on the web are either offering items that aren't as good as they seem, or worse still, the whole operation is entirely bogus.
Mick McNicholas from Stoke-on-Trent is one of millions of people used to buying his technology online.
So, when he and his wife Sue needed a new fridge freezer, they turned to the internet to find the type they wanted.
'I've always, always wanted the American-style one, haven't I?' I've always got loads of food, always feeding people.
So I need a bigger fridge freezer than just that one that we've got.
They soon found a Sandstrom American fridge freezer that they liked, on sale for £469.
78, much less than they would pay on the high street.
But it wasn't from a familiar website like Currys or John Lewis.
Instead, they had found the best price on a site called ChaElectronics.
com.
Mick and Sue had never heard of it, but there was nothing to suggest it wasn't genuine.
'The page itself looked legitimate, it looked good.
' It was convincing in every way.
All the items were up for sale.
You know, they got them on display and everything.
It looked genuine.
Mick and Sue were delighted to have found such a good deal, but they hit their first stumbling block when they tried putting their order through online.
I went on the website and registered, but it still wouldn't let me in.
So I ended up, I got the phone number and eventually I got through.
I said, "I'm trying to get this fridge freezer," told him exactly which one it was.
I said, "But I can't get on your website.
" I said, "I've registered, like it's asked, and it still won't let me in.
" And he said, "OK, OK, yes, I will sort it out, I will do it for you.
" Mick was told he could order over the phone.
He wanted to pay by credit card so he had some protection.
But the man he was talking to said he could only accept payment by bank transfer.
The penny didn't drop or anything, like, that there was anything untoward.
So I said, "OK, then, fine.
" And then I had three messages off him.
It had got all the details on, they had sent me the bank details and everything via these messages.
And the last one was delivery date on as well.
The payment went through smoothly, but when the delivery date arrived, their freezer didn't.
'I phoned him up, I managed to get through to him one more time.
' He said, "Oh, it is on its way, it is on its way.
" So I never did nothing straight away.
I gave him a chance, for him to sort the delivery out and get it delivered to us.
But four or five days passed and there was still no sign of the freezer.
Suspecting the worst, Mick did a search about the company online, and to his horror, found a number of very negative reviews.
And when we started investigating on his behalf, we discovered that Action Fraud had been contacted by no less than 114 people who all say they have paid for goods from this company that simply haven't turned up.
So, to try and get some answers about what has gone on, I've come to Glasgow, where the Cha website says the store is based, to find out just what's happened to Mick and Sue's new fridge freezer.
Now, according to the website, the store is pretty central and just round the corner from here.
Driver, I think the place we want is 639 Great Western Road.
- Does that ring any bells? - Yes, I know where you are.
- Good.
Excellent.
Five minutes later and I've arrived at what the Cha Electronics website says is the address, but it is instantly clear that something is not right.
Well, it is definitely 639 and it is definitely a cake shop.
I need to go in and see what is going on.
Hello.
I'm here because I was expecting to find white goods like cookers and freezers and stuff like that.
But you don't sell those, do you? No, it is just cakes, I'm afraid.
But, clearly, I'm not the first person to ask that question.
They came in and you could just see their faces drop and they were absolutely shocked and they just asked if we knew anything about an electrical shop.
Was it here? Do we know where they've gone to? Can they get hold of them? Stuff like that.
And it's just I just felt so sad for them.
It was terrible.
So, Lesley, just to be clear, there are no electrical goods here? No, you will only find cakes here.
I do believe a couple of years ago, the electrical company were here in this shop, but I believe they've relocated somewhere in Glasgow now.
Ah! I might get on the trail.
- Can you let me know how you get on, please? - I will.
So it seems there was once a Cha Electronics based at that address.
I wonder if anyone knows where it's moved to? Excuse me? You haven't heard of anywhere called - Cha Electronics along here, have you? - No.
Cha Electronics and it sells things like fridge freezers and No? OK.
With no leads so far, it's back to the taxi and a quick look online.
Cha Electronics Limited, "For top-quality electronics "at an affordable price, get in touch.
" Yep.
That's what I'm doing.
Trying to find you.
"We can help you find the most appropriate version "of the product you're looking for.
"We pride ourselves on efficient delivery and great customer service!" I bet you do.
More digging does turn up a business with the right name at a different address, so the trail's not cold yet.
This is looking a lot more promising.
It's called Cha Electronics, so I'm going to go inside and see if I can find Mick and Sue's fridge freezer.
'But there's no joy here either.
' I am looking for a place that sells fridge freezers, but I'm not certain this is you.
- Erm - No, we are just a mobile phone shop.
Vipul Sharma has been the owner of Cha Electronics mobile phone shop for five years, but his business has no connection with the so-called Cha Electronics that's been taking money for goods it hasn't delivered.
That's got nothing to do with us.
We are a small mobile phone shop.
Never sell fridge freezers or TVs or any other fancy electronic goods.
'Vipul is naturally horrified that someone appears to have stolen 'his company name and previous address, 'simply so it can scam people.
' I started getting calls during Christmas time, but January and February were the worst months, when I started getting calls, like, three or four calls a week.
And that was a panic time for me, you know? And when they told you the address, that they thought the shop was at, it rang a bell with you, didn't it? It does, yeah.
We used to have that shop, but the shop wasn't doing that well, so we had to shut the shop down.
It's clear that whoever has taken the money from Mick and Sue's fridge freezer is just using a genuine business name to make it seem more legitimate.
So where are they really based? Paul Myers is an expert in tracking things down on the internet and he knows all too well that even the most attractive looking site may not be everything it seems.
So, Paul, how easy is it to set up a fake website? Incredibly easy.
In fact, if you have a look here, - I set this up in a morning.
- That is ridiculous.
And, as you can see Julia's Electronics.
Absolutely.
I can just type in details here, because I based this on the original Cha Electronics website.
And you think that people would actually trust that? People see a well laid-out website, they see a local company, and they see cheaper prices.
It works.
If it didn't work, they wouldn't do it.
So, Paul, you've given me a wonderful website.
How do I start selling stuff? Now I've bought a domain name, I have web space available.
At the moment, it's stored on this computer, so we have to upload it.
'Our plan is to record just how many people visit our website and try to 'buy something because they are drawn in by the cheap prices, 'without initially knowing that the site is 100% fake.
' And that little noise tells us that it's uploaded.
Julia, would you like to do the honours? - Absolutely.
- If you just click there and press refresh.
- This is the equivalent of cutting the red ribbon, is it? - Yes.
I now declare this site open.
'In the first month that Julia's Electronics was online, 'it received 1,000 hits from people hoping to bag a bargain.
'Of course, this site wasn't accepting any orders, 'but it proves just how easy it is to set up 'what looks like a genuine internet store.
'Which, perhaps, helps explain why billions of pounds is lost 'to online retail fraud every year.
' 'Meanwhile, our expert, Paul, has done some digging 'into the true whereabouts of whoever's behind the fake 'Cha Electronics and he's discovered that the website, 'despite hijacking a UK address, 'is actually based in Florida.
' So, Paul, what have you managed to find out so far? They're registered to an address that isn't theirs.
And they have a social media presence, as well.
So anybody who was kind of worried about buying stuff from them would feel kind of assured that they were a kind of a professional company, at first glance.
And when it comes to looking at a site, are there any things on it that should set off alarm bells? Well yes.
I mean, the design of the logo was quite amateurish, but I would say that when you click on "payment options", you get directed to a third-party website and that would make me a little bit suspicious.
Also, see what other people are saying, you know? Find out whether anyone else has had a bad problem with it.
Well, if the website's being hosted in Florida, what can the police do about it? It's a little tricky.
Obviously, Florida's out of their jurisdiction, so they can't just roll up there and say, you know, "Who is this person, how did they pay for it, "what's their bank account details?" Very, very difficult.
We did try and contact the people behind the website.
As yet, they haven't bothered to respond or to explain what they've done with the money taken from people like Mick and Sue.
Obviously, in future, the couple will be much more wary of using websites they don't know.
But, for now, they've had to accept they've been scammed and lost their money.
I want them punished, cos they are thieves.
They've stole off me, haven't they? I want them stopped, to stop other people from being ripped off by them.
And I want my money back.
Very often, the most memorable present you can buy for your loved ones isn't something that they actually keep, but perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime experience that will stay in their minds for ever.
From race days to spa days, whatever your taste, you'll find somebody offering you the chance to indulge in it.
But, you know, not everyone who signs up for a day to remember gets exactly what they paid for.
For example, the people who got in touch with us about one particular company say that their day out never even materialised and I'm afraid they've been chasing their cash ever since.
Just what is it about chocolate that makes it so hard to resist? Whatever its appeal, there are millions of chocolate lovers who love nothing more than to indulge their taste buds every once in a while.
Chief amongst them, Helen Ball and her family.
My favourite is white chocolate.
Erm and once I've had one, especially in a box of chocolates, I pick out all the white chocolates first, eat all of those and then I go on to the dark chocolate.
Yum.
Now her daughter Emma is a confirmed chocoholic as well, so Helen thought she'd found the perfect present for Emma's 27th birthday back in April 2015 -- a two-hour masterclass experience for two people to learn how to make real chocolate.
'I saw the experience and this one stuck out,' because I love chocolate and Emma loves chocolate.
I thought, this is going to be brilliant, it's going to be a fantastic experience.
Although she'd seen the deal on Amazon, eager to find out more, Helen rang up the company directly -- The Chocolate Candy Emporium -- which is owned by Alexanda Hamilton Limited.
They told Helen they could offer her a better deal if she booked directly through them.
She said, "We have an even better deal for four hours, "where you not only get to taste chocolate, you also get to "make your own truffles and take them home with you.
" I thought, I think you're so right, just for an experience, let's go for it, so that's why I booked the double experience.
And was very much looking forward to it on Emma's behalf.
I was going to be the one who was going to go with her, if I could! Helen paid a total of £176, which she was now told would get her four places on that four-hour experience, a much better deal than she'd expected.
But, just four days before they were due to attend, Helen received an e-mail from Alexanda Hamilton Ltd, saying that because of the lack of numbers, their experience was now cancelled.
I was disappointed, but disappointed for my daughter as well, because you want to treat your children.
I just felt very upset by the whole scenario.
The company did offer Helen and her daughter two alternative dates, but, sadly, neither of these days were possible for them.
I felt really flat.
So, immediately, I contacted Emma and said they've offered two dates and one of them she's on holiday and the other one is a working day.
Helen felt she had no choice but to cancel the booking and ask for a refund instead.
I rang the refund line.
That's just a voicemail and it gives you details of an address, who to write to, so that day I then wrote a recorded delivery letter, explaining what had happened.
I got a phone call on my mobile, I think it was almost the next day, acknowledging receipt of my letter and that the matter is in hand, which made me feel very confident that I would get a refund.
Then, five days later, Helen received another call from Alexanda Hamilton, this time requesting the details of her booking.
She sent the company the necessary information, but then ten days passed without any further contact from the firm.
I started to become a little bit anxious, because I thought, well, I wonder why I've not heard anything.
So I wrote another recorded delivery letter and then, the day after, I received a phone call again, saying they'd received my second letter.
This time, the firm told Helen that her refund would be sent by cheque.
But, because they only make payments twice a month, she may have to wait.
'Although I wasn't happy' and I'm anxious, I thought, well, I have to give them a chance to rectify this problem, so, therefore, I decided I would have to accept that term and I waited.
But over a month passed and still Helen had not received her cheque.
She tried numerous times to get in touch with the firm, but could never get through to anyone in person.
Eventually, weeks later, she was told the refunds team was dealing with it.
But by June 2015, despite several assurances that the refund was being processed, Helen had still not got her money back.
'It's gone on far too long' and I somehow feel I'm not going to get my money back, because the customer service is so poor.
You can't speak to anybody.
'I do worry at night-time, 'because the money I've lost is quite a sum of money,' for me, and I just feel very frustrated that they appear to have got away with me giving them money for nothing.
We've spoken to other customers who, like Helen, all say they've been let down by Alexanda Hamilton Ltd.
Steve Gisborne from Birmingham took the day off work and made a 50-mile round trip for a one-day curry course only to arrive and find out it had been cancelled.
And then Janet Sissons from Tadcaster paid £70 for a cookery course for two people, which, again, was apparently cancelled, due to "a lack of numbers.
" Janet did eventually get a refund, but only after a lot of communication with the company.
And there are plenty of other unhappy customers to be found online.
One review website was chock-full of mainly one-star ratings.
Now, if it seems that the business's customer service skills leave a lot to be desired, that's something that the company itself has at least ATTEMPTED to address head-on in a series of sometimes bizarre online videos featuring two senior staff, who are seen directly answering complaints and queries from individual customers.
One of the things that we have been looking at in our business itself is where are the delays happening? Why are they happening? What's been holding them up? And, I think, one of the areas that we need to communicate more on, to all of our customers, is getting our customers to read our terms and conditions.
Those terms and conditions make it clear that if you bought your experience through a third-party website, it's that site you should go to for your money back.
And while that is technically correct, it quickly becomes very clear they're not unduly worried at the prospect of orders going wrong.
We're not always going to get everything right, but we're going to try our hardest to put it right.
So, Debbie, if you want the short version of that answer, not our problem.
Go to the people who you bought the ticket from.
No, I think we have some responsibility to all customers at the end of the day.
Well, there seems to be a slight difference of opinion there, but even though Helen booked her experience through the firm itself, what does she make of the video and what it says about the company's approach to customer service? I'm clearly not the only one who's having problems with this company.
We have a smaller percentage of people, much smaller than we realised, who aren't, unfortunately, having the best experience with our company, which always makes me wonder about eating a fish with bones in it, because, while the fish is tasty and there's a lot of meat there for you to eat, you realise that you actually spend more time picking the bones out than enjoying the meal.
It made a mockery of me booking through this company.
And it seems to me that they're not interested in the customers.
You know, I spent £176 on a course and he's laughing and joking.
It's not a company that I would want to deal with.
Had I seen this before I'd booked, I wouldn't have been booking the course.
Alexanda Hamilton Ltd had claimed on its website that it was an affiliate member of the Trading Standards Institute, but that was not the case.
The Trading Standards Institute confirmed that it had never been a member and, after they approached the company, the logo was removed from the site.
Well, we got in touch with Alexanda Hamilton and the company offered an interview, but when a date could not be agreed, we asked for a written reply to our questions.
None, by the way, has been forthcoming.
And the company's now told us that it has gone into liquidation.
However, the good news is that, since we got in touch with Alexanda Hamilton Ltd, Helen has now received a full refund, although she's still very frustrated about the amount of time it took for that to finally happen.
And, on top of that, the fact that daughter Emma's birthday has long since passed, without that yummy chocolate celebration.
It's a principle that I pay for a service and it hasn't been delivered and that's appalling.
And I don't want anybody else to suffer that.
Cheers.
Still to come on Rip-Off Britain, the unfinished building work that ruined a family reunion.
He was falling behind, he was giving all sorts of excuses.
I think the workmanship overall on this project is as bad as I've seen in the last ten years.
This year, we've brought our one-stop consumer advice Pop Up Shop to the Victoria Centre in Nottingham.
For two days only, our team of experts were on hand to answer as many of your concerns as they possibly could.
If the bank doesn't sort something out within eight weeks, you can automatically come to us at the ombudsman and we'll step in and sort it out for free.
And in the heart of the shopping centre, many of you came to our gripe corner to let off steam about the things that really wind you up.
The thing that annoys me is the price of school dinners.
I think it's extortionate and a rip-off for what you get.
And it tastes horrible.
For the actual portion size that you get as well, then you mightn't have to pay for that portion size.
I don't agree with that either.
I think that's a total rip-off.
Energy bills.
Absolutely horrendous.
They keep putting the prices up and the customer service is appalling.
And you'd think, really, that they'd make more of an effort, especially considering nowadays it's so much easier to switch.
.
.
really makes my blood boil.
And even our Julia got in on the act.
And what about the things that really make me mad? Well, cold calls.
Will the person who's ringing me up all the time telling me about an accident I didn't have please stop calling me? Meanwhile, back in our shop, Sheila Stones came in to see technology expert David McClelland with a highly unusual problem that she's had with unwanted calls, and it's been going on for two long years.
- Hello, Sheila.
- Hello.
We get a lot of people telling us they have problems with unwanted calls.
- But I don't think we've had one like this before.
- I don't think so.
It's usually those unwanted calls where they're trying to sell you something.
- But yours is a bit different, isn't it? - It is.
- Tell us what's happening.
It's over two years now, I started getting telephone calls for the building society.
And it turned out that my telephone number was on their website.
- Your home telephone number? - My home telephone number.
Somebody told me that they'd got the number off directory enquiries.
And I said, "I have been getting some calls that I think have been misdirected," because they give them an 0843 number, and it connects to my home.
But that was when somebody said, "Oh, no, your number's actually on the website.
" Goodness me.
So, I eventually went into the bank in Nottingham.
I think they've taken us off now, but I'm still getting the connection calls from the 0843.
What an extraordinary thing to happen.
Apart from going into the bank, have you been anywhere else at all to say, "My telephone number's here and it shouldn't be"? Well, I telephoned the office in Gloucester, but And then I went into the bank.
So, I I gave up.
I guess the challenge here is that your telephone number has appeared on the internet somewhere.
And that is, unfortunately, very difficult to control, and particularly if some other directory services have copied that number, put it onto their own websites.
This is a problem that then begins to proliferate.
You say you have been in touch with some of the banks and some of the directory services numbers and tried to get them to change.
Some of them haven't still? I'm still getting the connection calls from the 0843 something - Yeah.
- David, what are these 0843 numbers? These numbers are non-geographic numbers.
And in this case, the 0843 number's being used to forward calls to a landline.
Unfortunately, this is your home landline rather than the customer services number that it's supposed to be directed towards.
What you can do, though, is to go to Ofcom, which is the telecoms regulator, and say, "I'm having calls for a bank "accidentally routed through to my home phone number.
" Another option for you is a technology that's come along in the last two or three years which is a call screening unit.
And what this does is that it detects whether someone who's calling is from a known numbers list, your friends and family.
So, it tells salespeople to go away.
And it won't bother you with any unwanted calls.
It can reduce that significantly.
- Certainly something to look into in your case.
- Thank you so much.
- Not at all.
Glad to have been able to help.
- Thank you.
Instead of moving home, these days, an increasing number of us choose to renovate or extend them.
But, obviously, expanding your greatest asset can come at a hefty cost.
So, you're going to want to make sure that whoever gets the job knows exactly what they're doing.
Well, over the years, we've seen many examples of what can happen when you choose the wrong person to work on your home.
But here's a woman who really put an awful lot of effort into finding someone that she could trust.
However, the builder that she went with ended up leaving her house Well, just you wait until you see the state that it's been left in and hear the amount of money that it's cost.
There was a three-month deadline when Tina and Valentine began to revamp their three-bedroom bungalow in Leeds in September 2014.
Because at Christmas, they were due to host one of their family's biggest ever celebrations.
We are a very big extended family.
When the family get together, it's joy, it's happiness.
Although there were only two extra people staying over for the celebrations -- Tina's brother and his wife who were travelling over from Nigeria -- the couple wanted to have enough space for everyone to fit in comfortably.
Which was why they decided on extending the house.
When my family visit, the house was just too small, you know, to accommodate them.
And this is where we had a discussion and they decided to pool money together for me to enlarge the house.
So, with some financial help from her brother, Tina went about planning an extension of her home to include bedrooms in the loft, plus a new garage, kitchen and loo.
And she knows what she's doing when it comes to building work thanks to her job with Leeds City Council which sees her liaising with builders and surveyors every day.
I know the cost of materials and how long it will take to carry out the job that we planned to do.
So, perhaps more than most, Tina understands how crucial it is to get a builder that you can trust for the right price.
After a thorough hunt online, she narrowed her search to six local builders.
And, after speaking to all of them, she got six different quotes.
But they were all above her £60,000 budget.
Hoping to find someone cheaper, Tina placed an ad on her local council's website and, shortly afterwards, she was contacted by a builder who sounded very impressive indeed.
*** styles himself on his website as a gentleman builder and, though his quote wasn't, in the end, the cheapest, for £60,000, he said he could deliver the renovation on budget and, most importantly, in time for Christmas.
Perfect.
Or so Tina thought.
He assured us that he could start in September and finish in December.
After inspecting the property, the builder confirmed the quote in writing.
And, critically for Tina, he provided 12 references for previous jobs.
She followed them up by going to look at three examples of his work.
And while some of his previous customers said he'd taken a bit of time to finish the job, they all said that he did eventually come back and complete the work.
So, confident that she'd got the man for the job, Tina couldn't wait to get started.
He assured me how professional he was and this job was a very good standard, and he has his own men, which are mostly his family, that they work for him.
It was agreed, in writing, that the money would be paid in weekly instalments over the 12 weeks that it would take to complete the job.
Work began on target at the start of September.
And, though Tina was impressed with what the gentleman builder and his team achieved in the first week, that wasn't to last.
In the weeks that followed, Tina felt that the builders were appearing to work fewer hours.
What's more, by the time she'd paid half of the agreed £60,000 cost, it seemed clear to her that he hadn't kept to the agreed work plan and key stages of the project were unfinished.
He was falling behind, he was giving all sorts of excuses.
He was giving us an excuse of his brother-in-law died.
Another builder that he was buying materials for died.
And it was during this period I was beginning to worry.
Tina was relying on money being sent from Nigeria to help pay the builder and a delay with her brother's bank meant that she fell behind on two weeks' payments.
But she quickly caught up and, in any case, as far as Tina was concerned, the money that she'd already paid far outstripped the amount of work that had actually been completed.
As that Christmas deadline rapidly approached, less and less work was being done.
Even so, Tina was still having to pay the builder's weekly invoices.
Everything was paid up-to-date.
He was supposed to have finished, which was 23rd December.
There were lots of things that were wrong, there were lots of jobs that he hadn't completed and he couldn't complete, and he was just giving all sorts of excuses.
With the house clearly not going to be ready, Tina felt she had no choice but to cancel her family's planned celebrations.
I'd spent all this money and then the job was not complete.
So, everything that we planned that we were going to do around Christmas time didn't happen.
By now, the couple say they had paid £58,600, just £1,400 shy of the agreed total.
But five days before the builder was supposed to finish, he demanded another £6,500 to complete the job.
I said, "Look, I've almost given you all of the money, "but your quality of work and what you've done "is not the same value of the money that you've taken.
" And he was literally abusing me over the phone.
Tina and her "gentleman builder" had reached a stalemate, and they've been there ever since.
The project remains unfinished.
And the family is not only down almost £60,000, but months on are still living in a half-finished house.
And it's clear that a lot more work needs to be done to sort everything out.
We asked property specialist and chartered surveyor Bruce Collinson to cast his eye over the work that's been done so far.
Before he's even set foot in the house, he can tell, without needing a spirit level, that something isn't quite right outside.
Within two or three minutes of standing and looking at the outside, trying to pick up the line You look for the horizontal lines to see whether things are straight and true and square.
They're not.
As for the inside The ceiling rafters are overloaded.
The span is too long for their cross-section.
They're bending.
This is an extremely untidy, badly planned project.
There doesn't seem to have been any conception in the builder's mind about where he was going to finish when he made a start.
Bruce is no more impressed by what he sees in the kitchen.
In a serious house fire, that steel joist will melt and the structure above it will collapse and it will probably bring down the back of the house.
Gosh, that ceiling's bad.
But that's not the worst of it.
The building regulations have been breached in the new staircase, and that, I think, is a serious breach.
There's also, I believe, a window that ought to be a fire escape window which won't open.
It's not safe.
If all that sounds bad enough, it was the loft conversion that really sent Bruce into a spin.
To the untrained eye, it might look almost finished.
But as building regulators haven't inspected any of the builder's work so far, it could incur extra costs should it fail to satisfy the regulations.
I think that is probably the messiest bit of radiator pipework that I've ever seen.
That's an accident waiting to happen.
I think the workmanship overall on this project is as bad as I've seen in the last ten years or so.
It's not habitable.
It's appalling.
Bruce reckons a lot more cash is going to be needed just to make Tina's house safe, let alone completed as planned.
I'm afraid to say that some of the things that I've seen today frighten me.
I'm amazed that you've managed to stay living in the property with all of this carnage going on around you, because I don't think there's any other way of describing it.
Actually, I saw several professionals to come around.
A lot of them have given me quotes up to 35,000.
And some of them have refused to even, you know, consider taking on the work, cos they said it was so dangerous and difficult to know where to start.
So, I am in big trouble.
That is often a factor, that a good tradesman will not follow on a bad one because he's worried he'll be tainted by what he inherits.
Yes.
So, I don't know what to do.
I just don't know what else to do.
Since her gentleman builder downed tools, Tina's dug a little deeper into his past.
She checked out another of the referees that the builder had given her and soon wished she'd come to this one first.
As soon as I mentioned his name, he said, "Do not use him.
" At this time, he's already been in my house.
More digging turned up another discovery.
Gentleman builder *** had recently spent time in prison for illegally running a company after being declared bankrupt in 2006.
Furthermore, that meant he was barred from being a director or involved in running a company until 2021.
But he CAN still operate as a sole trader.
And that's exactly what he's doing now.
Further checks by the Rip-Off Britain team to the local Trading Standards office found that there've been other complaints from dissatisfied punters about unfinished work.
For Tina, these discoveries are especially frustrating.
Because by checking out references and paying in instalments, she WAS doing many of the things that we're all told to do.
But still, it all ended in disaster.
We put all of this to the builder ***, who claimed that in Tina's case, there had been a breakdown in communications stemming from changes to their agreement, and that Tina was not willing to pay the extra costs resulting from that.
As to the comments made by our property expert Bruce about the project being badly planned, again, *** put this down to the changes to the original project.
He also said that there was no architect supervising the build, as he'd been told that there would be.
He insisted that everything was built in accordance with Tina's specification, and didn't accept that the work is of a poor standard, suggesting that some of Tina's complaints are simply snagging and cosmetic matters.
He also claimed problems with the bathroom and the staircase may be down to other contractors appointed by Tina and not by him.
As far as he's concerned, the work HAS been carried out to meet building regulations.
And he doesn't accept that it will cost tens of thousands of pounds to put it right.
As for other complaints to Trading Standards, he considers these were of a minor nature and have been dealt with properly and professionally.
Now, not all of that tallies with what Tina has been told by other tradesmen who've quoted to finish the job that *** started.
But in any case, months after the work should have been finished, Tina has no money left to pay for anyone else to put the work right.
And now she's had confirmation of the rather ungentlemanly past behaviour of her builder, she wouldn't trust him to finish the job that he started anyway.
I feel so ashamed of myself that I've allowed this builder to come into my property and rip my property up in bits and pieces.
Here at Rip-Off Britain, we're always ready to investigate more of your stories, and we'd especially like to hear from you if you've had a problem on holiday or while travelling at home or abroad.
So, if you feel let down by your airline, disappointed that the hotel looked very different from the glossy pictures in the brochure, or maybe you're angry about hidden charges that weren't clear when you booked .
.
you can write to us at .
.
or send us an e-mail to The Rip-Off team is ready and waiting to investigate your stories.
Well, as we've seen in our stories today, whether it's goods not turning up, building work left unfinished or an experience you'll never forget for all the wrong reasons, sometimes things just don't work out the way they should have.
And there's not always much you could have done to prevent it.
But then there are times when someone has deliberately set out to cheat you.
And, I must say, I was particularly shocked at that story you did, Julia, up in Glasgow.
Because it was quite shameless for whoever's behind that website - to just steal the name of an existing business.
- I know.
I felt so sorry for that poor man when those customers turned up.
But at least we were able to feature all of that here on the programme.
Which is my cue for reminding you to please do keep sending us any of your stories on any of the topics that we cover in our various Rip-Off Britain programmes.
Even if it's not yours that we end up investigating, I promise you the team really do read all of the letters and e-mails that you send.
So, we are enormously grateful for every one.
But I'm afraid that that is where we have to leave it for today, as we are out of time, but we will see you again soon.
Until then, thanks for joining us.
And from everyone here in the Rip-Off team office, bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
You've told us about the companies that you think get it wrong, and the customer service that simply is not up to scratch.
If I walk in somewhere and they treat me badly, then I walk and I will never go in again.
You've asked us to track down the scammers who stole your money, and investigate the extra charges you'd say are unfair.
You've paid for a service and you expect it to be the service that you've paid for.
And when you've lost out but no-one else is to blame, you've come to us to stop others falling into the same trap.
As a customer, you've got to be more savvy, in terms of what you're buying, make sure it's something you want or need and not something they're trying to trick you into getting.
So, whether it is a blatant rip-off or a genuine mistake, we are here to find out why you're out of pocket and what you can do about it.
Your stories, your money, this is Rip-Off Britain.
Hello, and welcome to Rip-Off Britain, where today we'll be getting to the bottom of more of the stories you've asked us to investigate on your behalf.
In some cases it hasn't been entirely straightforward, because one or two of them have some decidedly murky aspects that make it quite tricky to discover exactly what has gone on.
Don't they just? But at the root of every one of them is some kind of promise or claim that, for whatever reason, ultimately just is not what you are expecting.
Now, in some cases, that was deliberate.
In others, probably not.
But, either way, what everyone who has contacted us would say is that their expectations simply weren't being met.
And while of course there are times when disappointment with what we've ended up with might perhaps be down to us just expecting too much, that's not at all the case with our stories today, because whatever difficulties and even unpleasantness may have developed along the way, each of them really did begin with a very clear promise of what was supposed to happen.
So we'll be finding out why it didn't.
Coming up, who's behind the online electrical store that doesn't - deliver? - They've stole off me, haven't they? I want them stopped and I want my money back.
As we hunt down the missing freezer, will the trail go cold? Need to go in and see what's going on.
And the chocoholic left with a nasty taste in the mouth, thanks to a business with a bizarre take on customer service.
The money I've lost is quite a sum of money, for me, and I just feel very frustrated that they appear to have got away with me giving them money for nothing.
On this programme, as you know, we are always encouraging you to shop around for the best deals.
But when it comes to buying electrical goods like a new TV, for instance, it can be hard to know where to start.
Should you stick with the familiar names on the high street, or do you try and navigate your way through all those companies online that seem to be offering a much better price? Trouble is, as many of you have found to your cost, some of the more obscure businesses you'll come across shopping on the web are either offering items that aren't as good as they seem, or worse still, the whole operation is entirely bogus.
Mick McNicholas from Stoke-on-Trent is one of millions of people used to buying his technology online.
So, when he and his wife Sue needed a new fridge freezer, they turned to the internet to find the type they wanted.
'I've always, always wanted the American-style one, haven't I?' I've always got loads of food, always feeding people.
So I need a bigger fridge freezer than just that one that we've got.
They soon found a Sandstrom American fridge freezer that they liked, on sale for £469.
78, much less than they would pay on the high street.
But it wasn't from a familiar website like Currys or John Lewis.
Instead, they had found the best price on a site called ChaElectronics.
com.
Mick and Sue had never heard of it, but there was nothing to suggest it wasn't genuine.
'The page itself looked legitimate, it looked good.
' It was convincing in every way.
All the items were up for sale.
You know, they got them on display and everything.
It looked genuine.
Mick and Sue were delighted to have found such a good deal, but they hit their first stumbling block when they tried putting their order through online.
I went on the website and registered, but it still wouldn't let me in.
So I ended up, I got the phone number and eventually I got through.
I said, "I'm trying to get this fridge freezer," told him exactly which one it was.
I said, "But I can't get on your website.
" I said, "I've registered, like it's asked, and it still won't let me in.
" And he said, "OK, OK, yes, I will sort it out, I will do it for you.
" Mick was told he could order over the phone.
He wanted to pay by credit card so he had some protection.
But the man he was talking to said he could only accept payment by bank transfer.
The penny didn't drop or anything, like, that there was anything untoward.
So I said, "OK, then, fine.
" And then I had three messages off him.
It had got all the details on, they had sent me the bank details and everything via these messages.
And the last one was delivery date on as well.
The payment went through smoothly, but when the delivery date arrived, their freezer didn't.
'I phoned him up, I managed to get through to him one more time.
' He said, "Oh, it is on its way, it is on its way.
" So I never did nothing straight away.
I gave him a chance, for him to sort the delivery out and get it delivered to us.
But four or five days passed and there was still no sign of the freezer.
Suspecting the worst, Mick did a search about the company online, and to his horror, found a number of very negative reviews.
And when we started investigating on his behalf, we discovered that Action Fraud had been contacted by no less than 114 people who all say they have paid for goods from this company that simply haven't turned up.
So, to try and get some answers about what has gone on, I've come to Glasgow, where the Cha website says the store is based, to find out just what's happened to Mick and Sue's new fridge freezer.
Now, according to the website, the store is pretty central and just round the corner from here.
Driver, I think the place we want is 639 Great Western Road.
- Does that ring any bells? - Yes, I know where you are.
- Good.
Excellent.
Five minutes later and I've arrived at what the Cha Electronics website says is the address, but it is instantly clear that something is not right.
Well, it is definitely 639 and it is definitely a cake shop.
I need to go in and see what is going on.
Hello.
I'm here because I was expecting to find white goods like cookers and freezers and stuff like that.
But you don't sell those, do you? No, it is just cakes, I'm afraid.
But, clearly, I'm not the first person to ask that question.
They came in and you could just see their faces drop and they were absolutely shocked and they just asked if we knew anything about an electrical shop.
Was it here? Do we know where they've gone to? Can they get hold of them? Stuff like that.
And it's just I just felt so sad for them.
It was terrible.
So, Lesley, just to be clear, there are no electrical goods here? No, you will only find cakes here.
I do believe a couple of years ago, the electrical company were here in this shop, but I believe they've relocated somewhere in Glasgow now.
Ah! I might get on the trail.
- Can you let me know how you get on, please? - I will.
So it seems there was once a Cha Electronics based at that address.
I wonder if anyone knows where it's moved to? Excuse me? You haven't heard of anywhere called - Cha Electronics along here, have you? - No.
Cha Electronics and it sells things like fridge freezers and No? OK.
With no leads so far, it's back to the taxi and a quick look online.
Cha Electronics Limited, "For top-quality electronics "at an affordable price, get in touch.
" Yep.
That's what I'm doing.
Trying to find you.
"We can help you find the most appropriate version "of the product you're looking for.
"We pride ourselves on efficient delivery and great customer service!" I bet you do.
More digging does turn up a business with the right name at a different address, so the trail's not cold yet.
This is looking a lot more promising.
It's called Cha Electronics, so I'm going to go inside and see if I can find Mick and Sue's fridge freezer.
'But there's no joy here either.
' I am looking for a place that sells fridge freezers, but I'm not certain this is you.
- Erm - No, we are just a mobile phone shop.
Vipul Sharma has been the owner of Cha Electronics mobile phone shop for five years, but his business has no connection with the so-called Cha Electronics that's been taking money for goods it hasn't delivered.
That's got nothing to do with us.
We are a small mobile phone shop.
Never sell fridge freezers or TVs or any other fancy electronic goods.
'Vipul is naturally horrified that someone appears to have stolen 'his company name and previous address, 'simply so it can scam people.
' I started getting calls during Christmas time, but January and February were the worst months, when I started getting calls, like, three or four calls a week.
And that was a panic time for me, you know? And when they told you the address, that they thought the shop was at, it rang a bell with you, didn't it? It does, yeah.
We used to have that shop, but the shop wasn't doing that well, so we had to shut the shop down.
It's clear that whoever has taken the money from Mick and Sue's fridge freezer is just using a genuine business name to make it seem more legitimate.
So where are they really based? Paul Myers is an expert in tracking things down on the internet and he knows all too well that even the most attractive looking site may not be everything it seems.
So, Paul, how easy is it to set up a fake website? Incredibly easy.
In fact, if you have a look here, - I set this up in a morning.
- That is ridiculous.
And, as you can see Julia's Electronics.
Absolutely.
I can just type in details here, because I based this on the original Cha Electronics website.
And you think that people would actually trust that? People see a well laid-out website, they see a local company, and they see cheaper prices.
It works.
If it didn't work, they wouldn't do it.
So, Paul, you've given me a wonderful website.
How do I start selling stuff? Now I've bought a domain name, I have web space available.
At the moment, it's stored on this computer, so we have to upload it.
'Our plan is to record just how many people visit our website and try to 'buy something because they are drawn in by the cheap prices, 'without initially knowing that the site is 100% fake.
' And that little noise tells us that it's uploaded.
Julia, would you like to do the honours? - Absolutely.
- If you just click there and press refresh.
- This is the equivalent of cutting the red ribbon, is it? - Yes.
I now declare this site open.
'In the first month that Julia's Electronics was online, 'it received 1,000 hits from people hoping to bag a bargain.
'Of course, this site wasn't accepting any orders, 'but it proves just how easy it is to set up 'what looks like a genuine internet store.
'Which, perhaps, helps explain why billions of pounds is lost 'to online retail fraud every year.
' 'Meanwhile, our expert, Paul, has done some digging 'into the true whereabouts of whoever's behind the fake 'Cha Electronics and he's discovered that the website, 'despite hijacking a UK address, 'is actually based in Florida.
' So, Paul, what have you managed to find out so far? They're registered to an address that isn't theirs.
And they have a social media presence, as well.
So anybody who was kind of worried about buying stuff from them would feel kind of assured that they were a kind of a professional company, at first glance.
And when it comes to looking at a site, are there any things on it that should set off alarm bells? Well yes.
I mean, the design of the logo was quite amateurish, but I would say that when you click on "payment options", you get directed to a third-party website and that would make me a little bit suspicious.
Also, see what other people are saying, you know? Find out whether anyone else has had a bad problem with it.
Well, if the website's being hosted in Florida, what can the police do about it? It's a little tricky.
Obviously, Florida's out of their jurisdiction, so they can't just roll up there and say, you know, "Who is this person, how did they pay for it, "what's their bank account details?" Very, very difficult.
We did try and contact the people behind the website.
As yet, they haven't bothered to respond or to explain what they've done with the money taken from people like Mick and Sue.
Obviously, in future, the couple will be much more wary of using websites they don't know.
But, for now, they've had to accept they've been scammed and lost their money.
I want them punished, cos they are thieves.
They've stole off me, haven't they? I want them stopped, to stop other people from being ripped off by them.
And I want my money back.
Very often, the most memorable present you can buy for your loved ones isn't something that they actually keep, but perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime experience that will stay in their minds for ever.
From race days to spa days, whatever your taste, you'll find somebody offering you the chance to indulge in it.
But, you know, not everyone who signs up for a day to remember gets exactly what they paid for.
For example, the people who got in touch with us about one particular company say that their day out never even materialised and I'm afraid they've been chasing their cash ever since.
Just what is it about chocolate that makes it so hard to resist? Whatever its appeal, there are millions of chocolate lovers who love nothing more than to indulge their taste buds every once in a while.
Chief amongst them, Helen Ball and her family.
My favourite is white chocolate.
Erm and once I've had one, especially in a box of chocolates, I pick out all the white chocolates first, eat all of those and then I go on to the dark chocolate.
Yum.
Now her daughter Emma is a confirmed chocoholic as well, so Helen thought she'd found the perfect present for Emma's 27th birthday back in April 2015 -- a two-hour masterclass experience for two people to learn how to make real chocolate.
'I saw the experience and this one stuck out,' because I love chocolate and Emma loves chocolate.
I thought, this is going to be brilliant, it's going to be a fantastic experience.
Although she'd seen the deal on Amazon, eager to find out more, Helen rang up the company directly -- The Chocolate Candy Emporium -- which is owned by Alexanda Hamilton Limited.
They told Helen they could offer her a better deal if she booked directly through them.
She said, "We have an even better deal for four hours, "where you not only get to taste chocolate, you also get to "make your own truffles and take them home with you.
" I thought, I think you're so right, just for an experience, let's go for it, so that's why I booked the double experience.
And was very much looking forward to it on Emma's behalf.
I was going to be the one who was going to go with her, if I could! Helen paid a total of £176, which she was now told would get her four places on that four-hour experience, a much better deal than she'd expected.
But, just four days before they were due to attend, Helen received an e-mail from Alexanda Hamilton Ltd, saying that because of the lack of numbers, their experience was now cancelled.
I was disappointed, but disappointed for my daughter as well, because you want to treat your children.
I just felt very upset by the whole scenario.
The company did offer Helen and her daughter two alternative dates, but, sadly, neither of these days were possible for them.
I felt really flat.
So, immediately, I contacted Emma and said they've offered two dates and one of them she's on holiday and the other one is a working day.
Helen felt she had no choice but to cancel the booking and ask for a refund instead.
I rang the refund line.
That's just a voicemail and it gives you details of an address, who to write to, so that day I then wrote a recorded delivery letter, explaining what had happened.
I got a phone call on my mobile, I think it was almost the next day, acknowledging receipt of my letter and that the matter is in hand, which made me feel very confident that I would get a refund.
Then, five days later, Helen received another call from Alexanda Hamilton, this time requesting the details of her booking.
She sent the company the necessary information, but then ten days passed without any further contact from the firm.
I started to become a little bit anxious, because I thought, well, I wonder why I've not heard anything.
So I wrote another recorded delivery letter and then, the day after, I received a phone call again, saying they'd received my second letter.
This time, the firm told Helen that her refund would be sent by cheque.
But, because they only make payments twice a month, she may have to wait.
'Although I wasn't happy' and I'm anxious, I thought, well, I have to give them a chance to rectify this problem, so, therefore, I decided I would have to accept that term and I waited.
But over a month passed and still Helen had not received her cheque.
She tried numerous times to get in touch with the firm, but could never get through to anyone in person.
Eventually, weeks later, she was told the refunds team was dealing with it.
But by June 2015, despite several assurances that the refund was being processed, Helen had still not got her money back.
'It's gone on far too long' and I somehow feel I'm not going to get my money back, because the customer service is so poor.
You can't speak to anybody.
'I do worry at night-time, 'because the money I've lost is quite a sum of money,' for me, and I just feel very frustrated that they appear to have got away with me giving them money for nothing.
We've spoken to other customers who, like Helen, all say they've been let down by Alexanda Hamilton Ltd.
Steve Gisborne from Birmingham took the day off work and made a 50-mile round trip for a one-day curry course only to arrive and find out it had been cancelled.
And then Janet Sissons from Tadcaster paid £70 for a cookery course for two people, which, again, was apparently cancelled, due to "a lack of numbers.
" Janet did eventually get a refund, but only after a lot of communication with the company.
And there are plenty of other unhappy customers to be found online.
One review website was chock-full of mainly one-star ratings.
Now, if it seems that the business's customer service skills leave a lot to be desired, that's something that the company itself has at least ATTEMPTED to address head-on in a series of sometimes bizarre online videos featuring two senior staff, who are seen directly answering complaints and queries from individual customers.
One of the things that we have been looking at in our business itself is where are the delays happening? Why are they happening? What's been holding them up? And, I think, one of the areas that we need to communicate more on, to all of our customers, is getting our customers to read our terms and conditions.
Those terms and conditions make it clear that if you bought your experience through a third-party website, it's that site you should go to for your money back.
And while that is technically correct, it quickly becomes very clear they're not unduly worried at the prospect of orders going wrong.
We're not always going to get everything right, but we're going to try our hardest to put it right.
So, Debbie, if you want the short version of that answer, not our problem.
Go to the people who you bought the ticket from.
No, I think we have some responsibility to all customers at the end of the day.
Well, there seems to be a slight difference of opinion there, but even though Helen booked her experience through the firm itself, what does she make of the video and what it says about the company's approach to customer service? I'm clearly not the only one who's having problems with this company.
We have a smaller percentage of people, much smaller than we realised, who aren't, unfortunately, having the best experience with our company, which always makes me wonder about eating a fish with bones in it, because, while the fish is tasty and there's a lot of meat there for you to eat, you realise that you actually spend more time picking the bones out than enjoying the meal.
It made a mockery of me booking through this company.
And it seems to me that they're not interested in the customers.
You know, I spent £176 on a course and he's laughing and joking.
It's not a company that I would want to deal with.
Had I seen this before I'd booked, I wouldn't have been booking the course.
Alexanda Hamilton Ltd had claimed on its website that it was an affiliate member of the Trading Standards Institute, but that was not the case.
The Trading Standards Institute confirmed that it had never been a member and, after they approached the company, the logo was removed from the site.
Well, we got in touch with Alexanda Hamilton and the company offered an interview, but when a date could not be agreed, we asked for a written reply to our questions.
None, by the way, has been forthcoming.
And the company's now told us that it has gone into liquidation.
However, the good news is that, since we got in touch with Alexanda Hamilton Ltd, Helen has now received a full refund, although she's still very frustrated about the amount of time it took for that to finally happen.
And, on top of that, the fact that daughter Emma's birthday has long since passed, without that yummy chocolate celebration.
It's a principle that I pay for a service and it hasn't been delivered and that's appalling.
And I don't want anybody else to suffer that.
Cheers.
Still to come on Rip-Off Britain, the unfinished building work that ruined a family reunion.
He was falling behind, he was giving all sorts of excuses.
I think the workmanship overall on this project is as bad as I've seen in the last ten years.
This year, we've brought our one-stop consumer advice Pop Up Shop to the Victoria Centre in Nottingham.
For two days only, our team of experts were on hand to answer as many of your concerns as they possibly could.
If the bank doesn't sort something out within eight weeks, you can automatically come to us at the ombudsman and we'll step in and sort it out for free.
And in the heart of the shopping centre, many of you came to our gripe corner to let off steam about the things that really wind you up.
The thing that annoys me is the price of school dinners.
I think it's extortionate and a rip-off for what you get.
And it tastes horrible.
For the actual portion size that you get as well, then you mightn't have to pay for that portion size.
I don't agree with that either.
I think that's a total rip-off.
Energy bills.
Absolutely horrendous.
They keep putting the prices up and the customer service is appalling.
And you'd think, really, that they'd make more of an effort, especially considering nowadays it's so much easier to switch.
.
.
really makes my blood boil.
And even our Julia got in on the act.
And what about the things that really make me mad? Well, cold calls.
Will the person who's ringing me up all the time telling me about an accident I didn't have please stop calling me? Meanwhile, back in our shop, Sheila Stones came in to see technology expert David McClelland with a highly unusual problem that she's had with unwanted calls, and it's been going on for two long years.
- Hello, Sheila.
- Hello.
We get a lot of people telling us they have problems with unwanted calls.
- But I don't think we've had one like this before.
- I don't think so.
It's usually those unwanted calls where they're trying to sell you something.
- But yours is a bit different, isn't it? - It is.
- Tell us what's happening.
It's over two years now, I started getting telephone calls for the building society.
And it turned out that my telephone number was on their website.
- Your home telephone number? - My home telephone number.
Somebody told me that they'd got the number off directory enquiries.
And I said, "I have been getting some calls that I think have been misdirected," because they give them an 0843 number, and it connects to my home.
But that was when somebody said, "Oh, no, your number's actually on the website.
" Goodness me.
So, I eventually went into the bank in Nottingham.
I think they've taken us off now, but I'm still getting the connection calls from the 0843.
What an extraordinary thing to happen.
Apart from going into the bank, have you been anywhere else at all to say, "My telephone number's here and it shouldn't be"? Well, I telephoned the office in Gloucester, but And then I went into the bank.
So, I I gave up.
I guess the challenge here is that your telephone number has appeared on the internet somewhere.
And that is, unfortunately, very difficult to control, and particularly if some other directory services have copied that number, put it onto their own websites.
This is a problem that then begins to proliferate.
You say you have been in touch with some of the banks and some of the directory services numbers and tried to get them to change.
Some of them haven't still? I'm still getting the connection calls from the 0843 something - Yeah.
- David, what are these 0843 numbers? These numbers are non-geographic numbers.
And in this case, the 0843 number's being used to forward calls to a landline.
Unfortunately, this is your home landline rather than the customer services number that it's supposed to be directed towards.
What you can do, though, is to go to Ofcom, which is the telecoms regulator, and say, "I'm having calls for a bank "accidentally routed through to my home phone number.
" Another option for you is a technology that's come along in the last two or three years which is a call screening unit.
And what this does is that it detects whether someone who's calling is from a known numbers list, your friends and family.
So, it tells salespeople to go away.
And it won't bother you with any unwanted calls.
It can reduce that significantly.
- Certainly something to look into in your case.
- Thank you so much.
- Not at all.
Glad to have been able to help.
- Thank you.
Instead of moving home, these days, an increasing number of us choose to renovate or extend them.
But, obviously, expanding your greatest asset can come at a hefty cost.
So, you're going to want to make sure that whoever gets the job knows exactly what they're doing.
Well, over the years, we've seen many examples of what can happen when you choose the wrong person to work on your home.
But here's a woman who really put an awful lot of effort into finding someone that she could trust.
However, the builder that she went with ended up leaving her house Well, just you wait until you see the state that it's been left in and hear the amount of money that it's cost.
There was a three-month deadline when Tina and Valentine began to revamp their three-bedroom bungalow in Leeds in September 2014.
Because at Christmas, they were due to host one of their family's biggest ever celebrations.
We are a very big extended family.
When the family get together, it's joy, it's happiness.
Although there were only two extra people staying over for the celebrations -- Tina's brother and his wife who were travelling over from Nigeria -- the couple wanted to have enough space for everyone to fit in comfortably.
Which was why they decided on extending the house.
When my family visit, the house was just too small, you know, to accommodate them.
And this is where we had a discussion and they decided to pool money together for me to enlarge the house.
So, with some financial help from her brother, Tina went about planning an extension of her home to include bedrooms in the loft, plus a new garage, kitchen and loo.
And she knows what she's doing when it comes to building work thanks to her job with Leeds City Council which sees her liaising with builders and surveyors every day.
I know the cost of materials and how long it will take to carry out the job that we planned to do.
So, perhaps more than most, Tina understands how crucial it is to get a builder that you can trust for the right price.
After a thorough hunt online, she narrowed her search to six local builders.
And, after speaking to all of them, she got six different quotes.
But they were all above her £60,000 budget.
Hoping to find someone cheaper, Tina placed an ad on her local council's website and, shortly afterwards, she was contacted by a builder who sounded very impressive indeed.
*** styles himself on his website as a gentleman builder and, though his quote wasn't, in the end, the cheapest, for £60,000, he said he could deliver the renovation on budget and, most importantly, in time for Christmas.
Perfect.
Or so Tina thought.
He assured us that he could start in September and finish in December.
After inspecting the property, the builder confirmed the quote in writing.
And, critically for Tina, he provided 12 references for previous jobs.
She followed them up by going to look at three examples of his work.
And while some of his previous customers said he'd taken a bit of time to finish the job, they all said that he did eventually come back and complete the work.
So, confident that she'd got the man for the job, Tina couldn't wait to get started.
He assured me how professional he was and this job was a very good standard, and he has his own men, which are mostly his family, that they work for him.
It was agreed, in writing, that the money would be paid in weekly instalments over the 12 weeks that it would take to complete the job.
Work began on target at the start of September.
And, though Tina was impressed with what the gentleman builder and his team achieved in the first week, that wasn't to last.
In the weeks that followed, Tina felt that the builders were appearing to work fewer hours.
What's more, by the time she'd paid half of the agreed £60,000 cost, it seemed clear to her that he hadn't kept to the agreed work plan and key stages of the project were unfinished.
He was falling behind, he was giving all sorts of excuses.
He was giving us an excuse of his brother-in-law died.
Another builder that he was buying materials for died.
And it was during this period I was beginning to worry.
Tina was relying on money being sent from Nigeria to help pay the builder and a delay with her brother's bank meant that she fell behind on two weeks' payments.
But she quickly caught up and, in any case, as far as Tina was concerned, the money that she'd already paid far outstripped the amount of work that had actually been completed.
As that Christmas deadline rapidly approached, less and less work was being done.
Even so, Tina was still having to pay the builder's weekly invoices.
Everything was paid up-to-date.
He was supposed to have finished, which was 23rd December.
There were lots of things that were wrong, there were lots of jobs that he hadn't completed and he couldn't complete, and he was just giving all sorts of excuses.
With the house clearly not going to be ready, Tina felt she had no choice but to cancel her family's planned celebrations.
I'd spent all this money and then the job was not complete.
So, everything that we planned that we were going to do around Christmas time didn't happen.
By now, the couple say they had paid £58,600, just £1,400 shy of the agreed total.
But five days before the builder was supposed to finish, he demanded another £6,500 to complete the job.
I said, "Look, I've almost given you all of the money, "but your quality of work and what you've done "is not the same value of the money that you've taken.
" And he was literally abusing me over the phone.
Tina and her "gentleman builder" had reached a stalemate, and they've been there ever since.
The project remains unfinished.
And the family is not only down almost £60,000, but months on are still living in a half-finished house.
And it's clear that a lot more work needs to be done to sort everything out.
We asked property specialist and chartered surveyor Bruce Collinson to cast his eye over the work that's been done so far.
Before he's even set foot in the house, he can tell, without needing a spirit level, that something isn't quite right outside.
Within two or three minutes of standing and looking at the outside, trying to pick up the line You look for the horizontal lines to see whether things are straight and true and square.
They're not.
As for the inside The ceiling rafters are overloaded.
The span is too long for their cross-section.
They're bending.
This is an extremely untidy, badly planned project.
There doesn't seem to have been any conception in the builder's mind about where he was going to finish when he made a start.
Bruce is no more impressed by what he sees in the kitchen.
In a serious house fire, that steel joist will melt and the structure above it will collapse and it will probably bring down the back of the house.
Gosh, that ceiling's bad.
But that's not the worst of it.
The building regulations have been breached in the new staircase, and that, I think, is a serious breach.
There's also, I believe, a window that ought to be a fire escape window which won't open.
It's not safe.
If all that sounds bad enough, it was the loft conversion that really sent Bruce into a spin.
To the untrained eye, it might look almost finished.
But as building regulators haven't inspected any of the builder's work so far, it could incur extra costs should it fail to satisfy the regulations.
I think that is probably the messiest bit of radiator pipework that I've ever seen.
That's an accident waiting to happen.
I think the workmanship overall on this project is as bad as I've seen in the last ten years or so.
It's not habitable.
It's appalling.
Bruce reckons a lot more cash is going to be needed just to make Tina's house safe, let alone completed as planned.
I'm afraid to say that some of the things that I've seen today frighten me.
I'm amazed that you've managed to stay living in the property with all of this carnage going on around you, because I don't think there's any other way of describing it.
Actually, I saw several professionals to come around.
A lot of them have given me quotes up to 35,000.
And some of them have refused to even, you know, consider taking on the work, cos they said it was so dangerous and difficult to know where to start.
So, I am in big trouble.
That is often a factor, that a good tradesman will not follow on a bad one because he's worried he'll be tainted by what he inherits.
Yes.
So, I don't know what to do.
I just don't know what else to do.
Since her gentleman builder downed tools, Tina's dug a little deeper into his past.
She checked out another of the referees that the builder had given her and soon wished she'd come to this one first.
As soon as I mentioned his name, he said, "Do not use him.
" At this time, he's already been in my house.
More digging turned up another discovery.
Gentleman builder *** had recently spent time in prison for illegally running a company after being declared bankrupt in 2006.
Furthermore, that meant he was barred from being a director or involved in running a company until 2021.
But he CAN still operate as a sole trader.
And that's exactly what he's doing now.
Further checks by the Rip-Off Britain team to the local Trading Standards office found that there've been other complaints from dissatisfied punters about unfinished work.
For Tina, these discoveries are especially frustrating.
Because by checking out references and paying in instalments, she WAS doing many of the things that we're all told to do.
But still, it all ended in disaster.
We put all of this to the builder ***, who claimed that in Tina's case, there had been a breakdown in communications stemming from changes to their agreement, and that Tina was not willing to pay the extra costs resulting from that.
As to the comments made by our property expert Bruce about the project being badly planned, again, *** put this down to the changes to the original project.
He also said that there was no architect supervising the build, as he'd been told that there would be.
He insisted that everything was built in accordance with Tina's specification, and didn't accept that the work is of a poor standard, suggesting that some of Tina's complaints are simply snagging and cosmetic matters.
He also claimed problems with the bathroom and the staircase may be down to other contractors appointed by Tina and not by him.
As far as he's concerned, the work HAS been carried out to meet building regulations.
And he doesn't accept that it will cost tens of thousands of pounds to put it right.
As for other complaints to Trading Standards, he considers these were of a minor nature and have been dealt with properly and professionally.
Now, not all of that tallies with what Tina has been told by other tradesmen who've quoted to finish the job that *** started.
But in any case, months after the work should have been finished, Tina has no money left to pay for anyone else to put the work right.
And now she's had confirmation of the rather ungentlemanly past behaviour of her builder, she wouldn't trust him to finish the job that he started anyway.
I feel so ashamed of myself that I've allowed this builder to come into my property and rip my property up in bits and pieces.
Here at Rip-Off Britain, we're always ready to investigate more of your stories, and we'd especially like to hear from you if you've had a problem on holiday or while travelling at home or abroad.
So, if you feel let down by your airline, disappointed that the hotel looked very different from the glossy pictures in the brochure, or maybe you're angry about hidden charges that weren't clear when you booked .
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you can write to us at .
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or send us an e-mail to The Rip-Off team is ready and waiting to investigate your stories.
Well, as we've seen in our stories today, whether it's goods not turning up, building work left unfinished or an experience you'll never forget for all the wrong reasons, sometimes things just don't work out the way they should have.
And there's not always much you could have done to prevent it.
But then there are times when someone has deliberately set out to cheat you.
And, I must say, I was particularly shocked at that story you did, Julia, up in Glasgow.
Because it was quite shameless for whoever's behind that website - to just steal the name of an existing business.
- I know.
I felt so sorry for that poor man when those customers turned up.
But at least we were able to feature all of that here on the programme.
Which is my cue for reminding you to please do keep sending us any of your stories on any of the topics that we cover in our various Rip-Off Britain programmes.
Even if it's not yours that we end up investigating, I promise you the team really do read all of the letters and e-mails that you send.
So, we are enormously grateful for every one.
But I'm afraid that that is where we have to leave it for today, as we are out of time, but we will see you again soon.
Until then, thanks for joining us.
And from everyone here in the Rip-Off team office, bye-bye.
Bye-bye.