大象传媒

Solar power offers a sustainable way to cut energy costs, but a close encounter with one Welsh firm has left its customers under a real cloud.

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At Nantllwyd Hill Farm outside Tregaron, in Ceredigion, six generations of the Jones' family have worked the land. Now it's the turn of Rhys, Olwen and their young family.

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The couple want to bring their traditional farm into the 21st Century but they have no mains electricity, and the diesel generator costs around 拢8,000 a year to run.

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Olwen said: 鈥淎fter the winter we knew we had to do something because the fuel bills were coming in and we had to look for other ways of saving money. Looking into solar panels, it was the best route for us really.鈥�

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Swansea-based Clear Energy UK Ltd rang them, offering a solar panel system that would slash their fuel bills for 拢14,500.

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There was no spare money so the couple took out a loan and paid the company last July.

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The couple had been told the system would be installed in a matter of weeks, but time ticked on and no panels arrived.

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Eventually, in October, some workmen did turn up. They flattened some land and put in a cable, then left.

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And, although they kept trying to contact Clear Energy, the company become increasingly difficult to reach.

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Clear Energy have an office on the Celtic Trade Park in Fforestfach, Swansea, but when we approached them their director, John Davies, said they鈥檇 ceased all sales activities last August because cash flow problems meant they couldn鈥檛 fulfil orders to 20 customers.

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This came as a shock to Gwyn Davies, because he paid Clear Energy for solar panels over a month later in September.

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Gwyn farms high above Abertillery. He paid a total of 拢2,875. Now he feels cheated.

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He said: 鈥淚 didn't know they had cash flow problems in August. We shook hands on the deal. My main concern is that we can highlight it now and they don't do it to anybody else.鈥�

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X-Ray have discovered that Gwyn's not the only one who handed over cash to Clear Energy after they say they ceased trading.

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We鈥檝e also found out that on 31st July 2013 Clear Energy sent a letter to an employee that said the company was going into voluntary liquidation.

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Now Clear Energy鈥檚 director, John Davies, says the cash flow problems are easing and orders would be fulfilled.

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He said Olwen and Rhys Jones could have their money back - apart from the cost of the ground works - but three weeks after he contacted us the family STILL hadn鈥檛 heard anything from him.

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And what about that money taken in September after the company knew they were in financial difficulties?

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Mr Davies said they鈥檇 collected money in one case because they鈥檇 been discussing the sale for some time. But he didn鈥檛 tell us why they鈥檇 taken Gwyn Davies' money.

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Mr Davies also said the company had explained their difficulties to customers in October although many said they hadn鈥檛 got that letter.

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But we did have some good news. When we contacted Olwen and Rhys Jones鈥� finance company, Aldermore, about the problems they agreed to refund the entire 拢14,500, which is brilliant news for them.

2014 is definitely shaping up to be bumper year听of Welsh sport.

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The Six Nations is underway, we've got two football teams battling to stay in the Premier League and this summer our nation's athletes will be going for gold in the 20th Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

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With all that sporting action there'll be thousands of fans keen to see their heroes in the flesh.

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For workmates Mark and Liz, supporting Swansea City is a big part of their life.

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They鈥檇 always dreamt of seeing their beloved Swans play in Europe, and after spotting an advert in a local newspaper they decided to book a trip with two other colleagues to watch the match against St Gallen in Switzerland in December.

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The company was called football-trips.co.uk and it seemed to be offering a winning deal.

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Return flights with Swissair, transfers to and from the airports, and two nights' accommodation, all for just 拢220 per person.

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When Mark dealt with them he found them very professional so when it came to paying he had no worries sending 拢880 to football-trips.co.uk via bank transfer.

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鈥淲e had the hotel and flight reservations,鈥� said Mark. 鈥淚t was just literally a case of paying for it so I didn鈥檛 have any hesitation at the time.鈥�

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But once the money had passed out of Mark's account things started to go badly wrong.

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The company stopped responding to emails or phonecalls, and when Mark checked their flight and hotel details he realised that none of their money had been passed on by football-trips.co.uk

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He said: 鈥淎ll we had were these pieces of paper. The reservations had been made with the hotel and the flights but the payment hadn鈥檛 been made to the companies.

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鈥淵ou feel quite silly really that you've been in a position where someone's taken advantage.鈥�

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The company appears to have vanished into thin air.

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The website is down and their phone number is no longer working, and when X-Ray tried to track them down our letters were returned unanswered.

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It seems to have been a scam, which shows how careful you have to be in checking out websites before you book a holiday.

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But even if you use the biggest names in the travel industry, you can STILL lose out.

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Sports loving Swansea GP Chris Johns was hoping to grab a piece of the winning atmosphere at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July.

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He snapped up tickets for the athletics, boxing and squash, and then sprinted to the UK's leading hotel booking site LateRooms.com.

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He said: 鈥淚t was a site that I鈥檇 been too and looked at and booked with before. They're well recognised. One would expect them to be no problem to book with.鈥�

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Chris spotted a great looking two bedroom place called the Dysart Apartments and decided to go for it, but just weeks after making the booking LateRooms.com contacted him with some disturbing news.

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He was told that there was a problem with his booking and that the Dysart Apartments didn鈥檛 seem to exist at all.

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And when X-Ray did some digging we discovered that some of the photos used by the Dysart Apartments on LateRooms.com were actually of a completely different building 鈥� more than two miles away from the address they鈥檇 given LateRooms.com.

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What鈥檚 worse when Chris checked his credit card statement he got a nasty surprise - 拢298 had been taken out of the account by Dysart Apartments.

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And after all the upset, Chris and his family decided to give up on their Commonwealth Games dream. Luckily Chris did eventually get his money back through his credit card.

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LateRooms.com have told us they DO make stringent checks before taking on a property but this one got through the net. They're now looking at ways to tighten their procedures.

If you look down almost any high street in Wales chances are you鈥檒l find at least one pound shop.

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They sound like a good deal 鈥� but just how good are the offers?

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X-Ray tested out some everyday items to see whether it was the pound stores or the supermarkets that could give us the best deal.

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So first to the test we bought some tins of branded of tomato soup.

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In the supermarkets the lowest price we could find was 74p for one 300g tin. In a pound store we managed to get two tins for just 拢1 - that鈥檚 50p for the same size tin.

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Next our researchers tested sliced white bread. A pound store could offer us a medium sliced white loaf from a well-known baker weighing in at 600g for 拢1.

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But one supermarket was offering 800g for the same price! So you鈥檇 get 200g or 30% more bread for your 拢1 in the supermarket.

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Third to the test 鈥� big brand tea bags. In one of the pound shops we visited we bought a box of 76 鈥榦ne cup鈥� tea bags for 拢1.

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In the supermarket the best deal we could find was 80 bags of the same tea bags for 拢2 鈥� nearly twice the price.

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On closer examination the pound shop bags are smaller but even so they worked out cheaper gramme for gramme.

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Finally, washing up liquid. One pound store we visited was offering 500ml for 拢1.

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But our researchers managed to hunt out an even better offer - one supermarket could give us two 630ml bottles for just 拢2. Bigger bottles for the same price, but you had to buy two.

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So the lesson seems to be that while you often get good deals at the pound shops, if you shop around for supermarket offers they can be beaten.

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It鈥檚 important to look at pack sizes as well as the headline prices.

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Our researchers compared only branded products in this experiment. Lowest price value lines in the supermarkets can work out cheaper still.

Five oven doors have 鈥渆xploded鈥� on a new-build housing complex in Bury Port.

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The classy Smeg ovens were fitted in all the homes 鈥� and residents complained to X-Ray after the company refused to fund the cost of repairs.

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Vicky Brown听moved into her flat in Burry Port, Llanelli, in 2009 just after the site was developed.

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She said that one of the selling points was that the kitchen was equipped with brand new Smeg appliances, including an oven, fridge and dishwasher.

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In August 2012 Vicky said that her friend was cleaning the oven door when the glass shattered.

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She said: 鈥淗e wiped it and the outside glass just totally shattered. The whole floor was covered in glass and even weeks later you are still finding little bits of glass everywhere. He said it was a bit like an explosion, it shattered everywhere.鈥�

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She said she telephoned Smeg straight away but was unhappy with their response.

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鈥淭hey said it鈥檚 out of warranty and that is your problem not ours," she said.

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"They weren鈥檛 at all interested in the safety aspect or the fact that it is supposedly a high quality brand.鈥�

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Vicky paid an engineer 拢130 to fix the glass.

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Kay Lenyk owns a holiday home in the same complex as Vicky. Her oven door also shattered while her husband was cleaning it.

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She told X-Ray: 鈥淗e was just about done and as he went to close the door it just exploded.

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"It was all over the work surface, in the sink, in the toaster, and later we even found a bit in the kettle. There could have been a small child in the kitchen and it could have taken someone's eye out.鈥�

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The model of the oven which is installed in the properties is a Smeg SC336X.

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Smeg have said that there was initially a problem with the hinges on the oven doors which could have caused the glass to shatter, and they have now changed the design.

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They also said that the doors are made of safety glass so there was no risk of injury.

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Smeg have agreed to pay back the cost of repairing the doors to all the people X-Ray told them about.