Consumer magazine with Rhodri Owen, Lucy Owen and Rachel Treadaway-Williams. X-Ray investigates cold callers, timeshare deals and asks if it is worth posting a first class letter.
Welsh consumer magazine presented by Rhodri Owen, Lucy Owen and Rachel Treadaway-Williams. X-Ray investigates cold callers who deliberately mislead their customers, a timeshare deal which proved very hard to cancel and asks whether it is worth posting a first class letter.
Rhodri looks at the different ways in which you can lose money to cold callers who ring you at home out of the blue, and he sparks an investigation at the Ministry of Justice after we tape a reclaim company making some pretty dishonest claims to X-Ray researchers.
Rachel investigates a tangled web of timeshare companies who will not let a couple cancel their 拢65,000 contract. The team are in Port Talbot where they investigate whether first class stamps offer value for money. Plus, Lucy is on the case of a car repair which seems to be taking forever - and there is good news for some customers who have bought Harveys sofas.
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Cold Calling Investigation
The Ministry of Justice has launched an urgent investigation after X-Ray recorded misleading cold-calls from a PPI reclaim company.
X-Ray gets a huge number of calls from people who have lost money as a result of cold calling 鈥� and complaints about PPI reclaim companies are some of the most common.
So when our researcher got a call from someone saying they were calling on behalf of PPI Claimline, he recorded the call.
The company making the marketing cold call was actually Elucidate Contractor Services (ECS).
Their operative told us they had a database showing that we had taken out a loan in 2005 and paid it back in 2008. We were due to get back 拢2,000.
In one exchange went like this:
ECS: Do you remember how you arranged the loan? Did you go to the branch or was it over the phone? Any rough idea?
X-Ray: I can't remember to be honest
ECS: Ok this is what I got here, it was over the phone. And you can note down in terms of the PPI, it was a compulsory part of the loan. You can note down
X-RAY: OK
Before our researcher was put through to PPI Claimline he was told,
ECS: Do remember one more thing sir, don't tell them I don't remember or I'm not sure about the PPI because they are just a dispatch team. Ok?
When he was put through to PPI Claimline he told the truth and PPI Claimline refused the call. Later that day ECS rang back to say.
ECS: Sir unfortunately you ruined everything! You were supposed to say I am 100% sure I had PPI, and it was a compulsory part of the loan ok sir?
Debt counselling expert Sorcha Kennedy told X-Ray that the company鈥檚 promises of a 拢2,000 within a week were completely unrealistic.
鈥淚t seems they're putting words in his mouth telling him misleading things to say,鈥� she said.
X-Ray sent the recordings to the Ministry of Justice 鈥� who have the power to take away claims management licenses from both companies. They have launched an investigation.
PPI Claimline say their operatives did nothing wrong during the call. ECS blame rogue staff for the calls and say they have been dismissed. They say have introduced tighter controls.
First class mail put to the test
First class stamps now cost 60p - 听 X-Ray wanted to know if they were worth it.
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So we've been posting letters from post boxes across Wales and monitoring how long it took for first and second class letters to arrive back at our offices.
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One second class letter - posted in Wrexham - arrived a day earlier than the first class letter sent at the same time from the same post box.
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On nine occasions first and second class letters posted together arrived the same day - that鈥檚 more than half the letters we sent.
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Five times the second class letters arrived just one day later than first class, and twice it took at least 2 days longer for the second class letters to arrive.
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Rebecca Thomas from Consumer Focus Wales says second class stamps can offer the best deal.听
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鈥淚t's probably not really worth paying that extra money for a first class stamp, if you know you're going to be posting something and plan ahead and pay for second class, you're going to get better value for money for the service,鈥� she said.
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The Royal Mail say that first class post is performing ahead of targets, but the second class post seems to be providing a particularly fast service at the moment - which is why the letters are arriving at the same time as first class.Timeshare they can't cancel
A couple from Pontyclun say they could not cancel a Timeshare they signed up for during a holiday in Malta.
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Paul and Ruth Griffey, signed up for a Timeshare with Evergreen Travel at a presentation while they were on holiday in Malta. It cost more than 拢6,500 and the couple regretted the move almost instantly.
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They took a letter to the hotel where they signed up 鈥� and emailed their cancellation to the company when they got back to Wales.
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But after the cancellation period ended the company called up and said there had been confusion and that the Timeshare had not been cancelled. After a series of legal threats the couple paid up and have been trying to get a refund ever since.
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They found they were caught between three companies who were all involved in the timeshare scheme.
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鈥淚t was really unclear who worked for who and what all their function was,鈥� said Paul.
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One of the companies, Hallmark Holidays, did respond to X-Ray鈥檚 letters and said their documents were completely clear about how to cancel. And they dispute Paul and Ruth鈥檚 account of how they went about it.
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But after X-Ray got involved the couple did get their money back 鈥� a total of 拢6,650.
Credits
| Role | Contributor |
|---|---|
| Presenter | Lucy Owen |
| Presenter | Rhodri Owen |
| Reporter | Rachel Treadaway-Williams |
| Series Producer | Nick Skinner |
Broadcast
- Mon 16 Jul 2012 19:30大象传媒 One Wales