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Rip off Britain Season 17 Episode 23
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Short filmTranscript
00:00doors even double glazed patio doors are spontaneously exploding because of the
00:05way they're manufactured I was being told that spontaneous brokerage never
00:09happens and it happened to us twice now they thought they were buying a holiday
00:14lodged what they actually got was something that bears a striking
00:17resemblance to a Ponzi scheme that wiped out their savings we weren't sold any
00:22lodges we didn't own anything our deeds were fake we didn't even own any plots
00:29fighting to get back what you deserve this is ripoff britain
00:34hello and welcome to ripoff britain and our hq here in sunny salford coming up are retailers
00:47ripping up the rule book when it comes to your rights how some of the biggest brands out there
00:53seem to be offering shorter return windows and stricter refund policies than they should
00:58we've got a crash course on your rights when returning goods and the mini cooper that ended
01:05up with a massive fine how leaving his car on the road left one viewer with a one thousand pound penalty
01:12can our experts help him out in our advice clinic but first we're often told to plan for the future
01:19like save for retirement build a pension set money aside for a rainy day and that's advice that our next
01:26contributors followed diligently when they spotted what looked like a promising deal online with strong
01:32returns and a low stress way to invest they like dozens of others jumped at the opportunity but
01:38instead of simply dipping their toe into the world of investments to build a nest egg for the future they
01:44find themselves entangled in a multi-million pound scam
01:52at the start of 2023 london-based actress and producer yasmin alice wanted to invest some of her hard
01:59earned savings in property and decided to look online for some options working in the film and tv industry is
02:07extremely unstable sometimes i have a job sometimes i don't i never know when my next paycheck is going
02:13to come so i just wanted that security and having saved a bit of cash for the first time in my life
02:19i thought i would invest in a property i thought it would be ideal to receive some rental incomes and
02:25i saw some adverts from an estate agency the company was advertising luxury holiday lodges at a site in
02:34the heart of dumfries and galloway scotland that were to be managed by a well-known company called
02:40landall which operates holiday parks and lodges in nine different countries
02:47it was a brand yasmin knew well as she'd holidayed with the company some years earlier so yasmin asked for
02:53more information they sent me this brochure with glamorous photos of these beautiful lodges
03:01everything looked amazing and you know they were using these words like premium vip
03:06so yeah i really trusted it i trusted in the name landall the brochure came from a firm called
03:14landall belvedere which yasmin assumed was part of the bigger holiday company it boasted of lodges
03:20containing hot tubs and designer kitchens on a site offering luxury spas restaurants and bars
03:27set in 109 acres of stunning scottish countryside the deal was that if yasmin bought a plot at the new
03:35development for 75 000 pounds she would get a five-year fixed income guaranteed with a nine percent
03:43annual return they'd even buy the lodge back after five years for a guaranteed 82 and a half thousand pounds this was the first
03:53savings like first bit of cash that i've ever had so i was very candid with them i've never invested in anything they
03:59were like don't worry we gotcha what's more the process sounded simple there was no conveyancing to be done
04:09the way they worded it was that it was as easy as buying a car so i was kind of like okay i guess
04:15this is like a caravan so it's kind of easy to buy one of these without a solicitor
04:19unlike in a traditional property purchase yasmin was told she wouldn't need a conveyancer to oversee
04:27the legal detail of the purchase so in february 2023 yasmin agreed to invest 75 000 pounds which
04:36got her a plot for a four-bed vip lodge so as you can see on my certificate f20 landall belvedere this
04:44is my lodge plot number landall name here this is my agreement yasmin sent her money in four
04:53installments to a company called apple invest limited described as the developers of the lodges
05:00at the time i was very happy in my mind i owned property i was like wow
05:06at first things worked out every three months she received 1686 pounds in rental payments i was very
05:16happy i'd never had this kind of experience i've never received rental incomes at the point i was
05:23thinking wow i've made the best decision ever but in july 2024 18 months after she bought the lodge
05:32yasmin was told the next quarter's rent would be late i emailed and they were like oh there's just
05:38a bit of a delay don't worry about it it'll be sorted i was a little bit worried a little bit confused
05:46by the end of august the rental income still hadn't arrived and this time she found out why she was told
05:55via email that apple invest limited which owned the site where the lodge was located
06:00had been placed in administration i'm like okay well give me my money back then what about my 75k
06:09is it going to be next week in a month how long am i going to wait yasmin was told that apple invest
06:14was in a legal dispute with other parties involved in the park's construction and management and when
06:21that was resolved she would be able to exit her agreement and would be paid the outstanding rent
06:27the reassurance went some way to soothing yasmin's worries but just a month later her whole dream of
06:34property ownership came tumbling down out of the blue she was added to a whatsapp messaging group
06:41with over 140 other members i was looking at my phone like okay what is this and a guy decided to
06:50confess to confess to everything it was someone claiming to be a director of apple invest and he
06:58had some alarming information for yasmin and the other group members everybody was freaking out and
07:04then he explained everything and confessed to everything we weren't sold any lodges we didn't own
07:11anything our deeds were fake we didn't even own any plots i remember just being an utter shock what's
07:21going on what's going on just utter fear and shock over the coming days more messages from the so-called
07:29director emerged he was trying to say how he was conned by the people who were doing the construction
07:38so he was putting all of the blame into this other party desperate for help yasmin and the
07:44other investors turned to the company whose involvement in the development had reassured
07:49her from the very beginning landall all of our agreements our title deeds or our brochures
07:57everything said landall that's what we were buying
08:00but she then discovered that landall the holiday park operator had nothing to do with the sale of
08:08lodges landall released an official statement we learned that the name landall and our brand was
08:16used by this company in sales of plots at these sites without our permission or approval
08:22landall said it was taking legal action to stop landall belvedere and apple invest using its name
08:31meanwhile landall belvedere and apple invest stopped replying to her calls and emails
08:37leaving her desperately worried about where her money had really gone
08:45more than 180 other investors are now in a similar situation to yasmin among them university
08:51lecturer sanjeev mahanti from sheffield in 2021 he was looking for an extra income to help fund his wife
08:59meters teaching qualification and his own phd and signed up to the same scheme the investment was
09:07pretty impressive everything was managed by them all we had to do is transfer the funds and get our
09:13return in terms of quarterly rental to our bank accounts um so absolutely without a shadow of
09:18doubt it was quite quite uh lucrative in january 2022 sanjeev paid 55 000 pounds
09:29and after receiving almost a thousand pounds in rental income for the first quarter he decided to
09:34invest another 50 000 pounds in a second lodge it was probably one of the best investment i've ever
09:42met the payment is flowing i was very very happy but in july 2024 the rental income stopped and soon
09:53after he was inducted into the same whatsapp group as yasmin where he started receiving messages from the
10:01person claiming to be a director of apple invest what he explained was the company has gone into
10:08administration and they scored injunction in place and there's very very little likelihood of getting
10:15our money back it was beyond uh comprehension with neither landl belvedere nor apple invest responding
10:23to emails or messages sanjeev yasmin and dozens of others are desperate for help they've consulted experts
10:32and solicitors about what to do next but they're no closer to getting back any of their money sanjeev
10:39paid out more than 100 000 pounds up front and now has none of the rental income he thought he'd be able
10:46to rely on i had to take a loan to pay my wife's fees to afford for my own fees i can't afford a car
10:54it's very very very sad where we are this moment for yasmin who paid 75 000 pounds for her investment
11:03she's counting not just the monetary cost but the emotional cost too the way in which the stress has
11:10affected me is i feel like i can't trust people anymore i feel very stupid but there's a lot of um
11:20i would call us unsophisticated investors we didn't know that we were buying into a scam
11:31well in may 2025 two men were arrested in connection to this scottish lodge scam
11:38and city of london police have told us the investigations continue joining us now in hq to
11:44give us the latest is solicitor gary rycroft alongside stuart mcfadden from fraud recovery
11:51specialists refundee who's been exploring whether the investors could get their money back
11:58thanks both for joining us stuart i know you've been looking at this investigating it what have you
12:04uncovered well we've unfortunately come across about 189 people that have collectively lost over 18
12:11million um in what was supposed to be the construction of vitalet lodges unfortunately
12:16very few of those lodges were ever delivered and those people have been left out of pocket right so
12:22what do you think was going on here well i mean it's difficult to say because there has been a kind
12:29of lack and lack of engagement with the administrative process a lot of the money has disappeared and there's
12:33no real explanation for where it's gone there's been superficial work on the sites um but nothing that
12:39explains how over 18 million pounds has just kind of disappeared into thin air and what about the
12:45paperwork that we saw yasmin had for example was that just completely fake what was it i mean what
12:51people were kind of led to believe was that they had security and kind of deed over the deeds over
12:55the land but in reality that paperwork what the administrators have said about that is that was
13:00actually an internal document um for the company involved rather than anything that was registered at the
13:05land registry so yeah basically had no value gary let's have a little look at the claims involved
13:11in advertising this so-called investment because yasmin told us she was told it needed no conveyancing
13:17and promised rental income as easy and i quote as buying a car what do you make of those claims
13:23well look louise the fact of the matter is that purchasing land is not a simple process it's not like
13:29buying a car so for instance a conveyance or a property lawyer would have seen quite quickly
13:35that that certificate that's been mentioned by stewart was just an internal document and actually
13:41doesn't give any security or rights of ownership over anything and dare i say saying there is no fees
13:50a cynical person might say well that is actually putting you off taking the advice which if you did take
13:57it would put you off the whole transaction yes um stewart several companies seem to have been involved
14:02in this so just break it down for us um who do you think is at the center of it well there's around
14:09six companies one company apple invest owned the sites most of the people paid their money to land
14:14or belvedere developments at one point and there's another company called belvedere wealth where a lot
14:19of money has been sent there with no real uh understanding why gosh so lots of things to look into
14:25where are investigations currently in terms of what we're doing we're building out a case and we
14:29are trying to enforce people's rights at the financial ombudsman service so banks have told
14:34people that they're not eligible for something called the contingent reimbursement model code where
14:39and you are supposed to be reimbursed in our opinion cases like this so what we're doing is
14:44essentially putting together the case to show that people's money wasn't used in the way they were
14:48told it would be and at the outset there was an intent not to use people's money in that way either
14:53gary what is your advice for anybody investing in land in products such a you know high cost without
15:01really having a significant understanding what the implications might be the learning from this is
15:06that any kind of investment has to be in something that you understand you understand how it's going
15:12to work and you understand what you're going to get i think the other thing to note is that some types
15:18of investment are regulated and therefore have protection investment in land is not regulated and
15:25therefore you do not have consumer protection how you can mitigate your risk is by taking professional
15:33advice to help you understand what you are buying what you are getting into and what you will receive
15:40at the end which will effectively prove that you have an investment so how do you find someone you
15:47trust to be the lawyer to be the conveyancer to ask those questions i think the starting point is
15:52is not to use the conveyancer or lawyer recommended by the company who you are buying from because
15:59that seems to me to be an inherent conflict of interest you need independent advice and the best way
16:05to find a decent lawyer is through friends and family recommending a lawyer that they've used before
16:12and had a good service from if you don't know where to start then you can go on the find a solicitor
16:18search tool on the law society website there's a similar website for lawyers practicing in scotland
16:23and there's a similar website for the council of licensed conveyances who are also regulated providers
16:29of legal services well carrie thank you very much and stewart thank you both for all of that
16:33apple invest went into administration in may 2024 the administrators told us that they have been
16:43working in conjunction with police government agencies and other third parties to pursue concerns
16:50identified during the process but were unable to comment further meanwhile a director of apple
16:57invest and landale belvedere developments told us that the investment was running fine prior to a
17:03dispute with third parties over the running of the site which he blamed for the issues that arose
17:15well now it's time for our advice clinic where today i'm joined by personal finance expert
17:20brianne horn and from his home in berkshire one of our viewers steve seward
17:28steve first of all thank you so much for joining us so i gather you're having a bit of a battle with
17:31the dvla so what's been happening steve this was a car that i've owned since 2015 it was my late
17:38father's car so there's a lot of sentimental value to me but it started to fall into disrepair so i took
17:45it off the road with the intention of getting all fixed up when i could afford to do so and it was parked
17:52on private property and it's a statutory off-road notice where you let dvla know that the car's not being
17:58used a statutory off-road notice or sawn for short means that a car has to be kept on private property
18:07the mini had been stored at a relative's home but when that was no longer a possibility steve says
18:13that he used a recovery truck to move it to a quiet street nearby which he accepts was a public highway
18:19while he looked for an alternative spot to keep the vehicle so i have to ask you see then why was it on
18:26the public road well i was looking for somewhere else to put it long term i knew you couldn't drive
18:31your car on the road unless it was taxed insured or mot but actually i didn't think i was doing any
18:37harm just parking it on the road because it wasn't being used but yeah that was wrong right now i
18:41shouldn't have done that now i've been out for the day come home and saw this big yellow triangular
18:46clamp on the wheel and i saw a leaflet on the wind string so i contacted the dvla and they said to me
18:54yeah your car shouldn't be on the road the dvla issued a fine of 1078 pounds plus a hefty fee to
19:03have the wheel clamp removed but before the clamp could be removed he needed to get the car taxed and
19:09roadworthy and that would require pricey repairs that steve simply couldn't afford so he reluctantly
19:15agreed to hand over ownership of the car a process known as disclaiming believing that this would wipe his
19:22debt i thought that was it um the guy at the dvla when i spoke to him on the phone he said all the
19:28charges will be squashed you won't have to pay anything today so i thought well that was was
19:33the only option at the time i could have taken so that's why i let him take the car but a month later
19:41the dvla contacted steve again and demanded payment for the 1078 pounds fine
19:48it explained that disclaiming his car only covered the clamping and disposal costs not the penalty
19:54charge unable to pay in full steve asked if he could pay in installments but the dvla refused
20:01i've appealed it twice they just said we reviewed your appeal and uh decision remains the same they
20:08don't accept installments it just needs to be paid in full is that fair brianna it certainly is a tricky
20:15situation with the payment plans and and having an opportunity to split payments we've seen other
20:21government departments introduce them obviously he's in a bind and needs to be able to make
20:26repayments he's willing to pay but it's just a case of having the infrastructure in place i think that
20:31with steve the most important thing is to take action and make sure that he doesn't run into any more
20:36legal or financial trouble with this a couple of options that he could consider is potentially reaching
20:41out to trusted family or friends um just to see if there is anybody that could you know help him
20:46along the way obviously setting up like a payment plan to make sure that they don't run into any sort
20:51of issues with their relationships moving forwards alternatively he could try a zero interest purchase
20:58credit card which will allow him to pay for the fine in full and then split it into installments across
21:03the zero interest promotional period um that really should be a last resort though because taking out
21:08credit can affect your credit score it leaves the mark on your credit profile and also if you miss
21:14payments he could end up running into even more trouble down the line so what toll has it taken on
21:18you then steve in terms of worry well it's been quite stressful um to be honest with you and um yes it's
21:26just been very sad very sad you know because i felt if the dvla were just a little bit more understanding
21:33it would have been resolved well brian has given you some issues there something you could think about
21:38but i tell you what we're going to do we're actually going to get in touch with the dvla
21:41and we'll come back to you actually steve as soon as we get any result but thank you very much
21:45indeed for joining us thank you thank you and thank you brian as well when we spoke to the dvla
21:52about steve's case it said the law is clear that vehicles being used or kept on a public road
21:59must be taxed and has stood by its decision to impose the fine the dvla confirmed it doesn't offer
22:06payment plans and says it had no records of steve calling its contact center but it does have a
22:11record of him calling its national wheel clamping contractor it stressed that when a vehicle is
22:17disclaimed only the fees associated with impounding it are cancelled the dvla itself does not keep the
22:24proceeds from the sale of disclaimed vehicles in the end steve did pay the fine but had to resort to
22:30making a withdrawal from his pension in order to cover the costs
22:42now if like steve you've got a problem with the company then why not let us take a look we've been
22:47doing it for quite a long time now and between us i reckon there's not much we can't tackle so
22:52here's how to get in touch you can email us ripoffbritain at bbc.co.uk or you can send us a message via
22:59whatsapp on zero double three zero six seven eight one three two one or via facebook all you have to do
23:06is to search for bbc ripoff britain or simply put pen to paper the address is ripoff britain bbc media city
23:14uk salford m52 lh but please do not send in the original paperwork because sadly we can't return it
23:23now imagine this you've just put a roast chicken in the oven and settled in for a quiet moment when
23:29suddenly there's an almighty explosion from the kitchen that shatters your piece you rush in to
23:35find the oven door in pieces thousands of shards of glass scattered across the floor this kind of
23:41unexpected glass shattering isn't quite as rare as you might think it can happen to a wide range of
23:47toughened glass products from shower screens to conservatory roofs or as in the case of the
23:53women in our next story bifold doors the bang was followed by this cracking noise
24:06if i'd have stayed sat down and looked up i'd have had a face full of broken glass
24:12in april 2025 we met rich old whose conservatory glass roof spontaneously shattered above his head
24:22he was left picking up the pieces and a bill of up to 1300 pounds to fix a fault he felt wasn't down to
24:30him i can't afford to pay to replace this glass panel and i don't see why i should
24:36watching that episode was allison bruce from newcastle who knew exactly what richard experienced
24:44i just couldn't believe it because the same thing had happened to us but we were being told that this
24:48never happened for allison it wasn't a conservatory roof panel but a bifold door west facing garden
25:01so we get the sun in the back we had the doors open it was just lovely in august 2024 one of
25:08allison's precious glass door panes shattered we'd been out for the day we came home it was the first
25:15door like i could not believe it it was just shattered like hundreds and hundreds of breakages
25:22throughout the panel we paid thousands for these doors when we had the extension and to see them
25:28broken was quite a shock after talking to the installer allison hit on a couple of possible causes
25:35the first one was a chip from a lawnmower which we completely ruled out straight away because we
25:40were out at the time and one was something called nickel sulfite inclusion i'd never never heard of
25:46this nickel sulfide inclusion known as nsi can occur during glass production it's a result of sulfur
25:56reacting with my new nickel inclusions contained within the glass during the glass toughening process this
26:03rogue element shrinks and is locked tight within the glass but as the glass cools it gradually tries
26:11to return to its larger state on the very rare occasions that it does happen your toughened glass can go
26:18boom weeks months even years later
26:25but the installer said allison's broken door panel didn't look like nsi
26:29what's more an impact breakage is far more likely so with the cause uncertain allison picked up the
26:38864 pound bill to replace and fit the panel so they were telling me that spontaneous breakage didn't
26:46really happen in their experience so it's really frustrating but we felt that we had no choice
26:51but just four months later another glass pane shattered
26:59all the way down from top to bottom it was just broken into hundreds of different pieces
27:06and i was being told that um spontaneous breakage never happens and it happened to us twice
27:13this time allison turned to the company that had made the double glazed panels
27:17these are sealed units consisting of two sheets of glass supplied by a specialist manufacturer with an
27:25integrated blind inside she sent pictures of both breakages and to her surprise the firm suggested the
27:32first might actually have been caused by nsi after all i felt really angry at the installer that this
27:39hadn't been identified earlier with that allison thought she might be able to claw back
27:45the 864 pounds she'd paid to have the first panel replaced so she turned to her home insurer
27:52and the warranty on the glass panels but it wasn't good news everybody told me that nickel silver
27:58inclusion was not covered in in warranty i felt quite angry that we were being financially responsible
28:06for this even though this occurs during the manufacturing process but what are the second
28:12panel allison wondered if it had come from the same batch of glass as the first and its problems also
28:19arose in the factory however her search for answers didn't get far with one email from the maker of the
28:26panel saying the cause may have been nsi and another insisting it was not either way as a gesture of
28:34goodwill the firm covered the costs of replacing and fitting the double glazed panel we were told
28:40that they couldn't guarantee that this would never happen again i felt so angry that we were being put
28:46in this situation and that nobody was able to help us we've had reports of spontaneous shattering
28:54involving other products too john statter from south yorkshire contacted us after his shower door
29:01shattered when he was downstairs making a coffee while the glass tabletop on nigel gordon from kirk
29:07bride's garden furniture shattered as the family were enjoying a day in the sun but allison is no closer
29:14to a definitive answer on what exactly happened to the glass in her bifold doors and she's worried it could
29:20happen again in the future we've paid thousands for these new windows and i felt completely paranoid
29:27that that this was going to happen again well what a fascinating film and i'm sure a lot of you at home
29:37are sitting there shivering with nerves and wanting to ask a lot of questions about all this and with us
29:43we've got our consumer rights expert martin james and our brilliant producer katie searchy martin i
29:49suppose the biggest concern from allison is who's willing to cover the cost of this and in terms of
29:55consumer rights where does the responsibility lie well it all seems terribly messy doesn't it julia but
30:01the fact of the matter is the responsibility lies with the retailer and in this case that's whoever took
30:07the money they're the people who should be dealing with it now you can also complain to the manufacturer
30:13and you can also complain to the provider of the warranty the insurance company but there are a couple
30:18of things about this that are particularly concerning the second incident where a different pane of glass
30:23exploded that happened within six months of allison being asked to pay out an additional 864 pounds
30:31now as we often say on the show that means that the company has by law one opportunity to
30:37repair or replace the the goods in this case the glass after that it's a full refund this is the
30:43consumer rights act now if we take a big step back from all of this that same law says that goods must
30:50be fit for purpose and must last a reasonable amount of time so why it's happened doesn't really matter
30:57it has happened and she shouldn't be paying for it when we spoke to the three companies involved in
31:04allison's case the firm which installed the bifold doors the glass manufacturer and the company that
31:10made the double glazed panels they all reiterated that nickel sulfide inclusion is a rare occurrence
31:17which can only be confirmed by inspecting the broken glass with a microscope and that no glaziers or
31:24manufacturers can provide a warranty against it the manufacturer of the double glazed panels said it
31:30followed the specifications supplied by the installer which met an industry accepted standard for
31:36domestic properties it stressed that it accepts no liability for the failure of the second double
31:43glazed unit but that it replaced this panel for free and covered installation costs as a gesture of
31:49goodwill meanwhile the company that installed the bifold doors insisted that it cannot be held responsible for
31:57glass manufacturing issues which are out of its control adding that it had supported allison following
32:03the breakage of the second panel and the installation of its replacement
32:11so with no warranty covering nsi fractures where else can people turn well katie i know you've been
32:17borrowing into this whole business of the insurers what did you find out well we started off by looking at
32:22the policies of some leading insurers but it really wasn't easy to find out for sure whether this type of
32:28breakage will be covered so then we contacted them individually and we asked whether spontaneous glass
32:34breakage caused by nsi would be included as part of their home insurance policy aviva
32:40e-sure and lv all said no and some of them suggested that you contact the glass manufacturer instead the aaa said that it would consider such a claim under accidental damage but then it went on to the
32:50the design or manufacturing fault would be classed as an exclusion but that wasn't the case phil for other insurers
33:01axa direct line and hastings direct all said that they would consider a claim for this type of breakage
33:08under accidental damage as long as the customer had that level of cover included in their policy and um katie just finally i know you've spoken to lots of experts in the field what should consumers be
33:20asking when they're thinking of purchasing well toughening and heat soaking of glass both have
33:26certified standards so you should make sure that the product you're buying meets those standards
33:32all safety glass is stamped to confirm that it has been certified so there should be a reference number
33:39printed on the glass that is installed in your home that will be a very discreet but a permanent mark
33:44somewhere in the corner of the glass that you can look for every supplier should be able to provide
33:50you with a copy of the certificate as well to confirm that the product meets those standards
33:56well lots of actually quite positive things to look for there katie thanks so much and thank you very
34:01much martin as well now here's the thing i like posting about ripoff written and i reckon if there
34:12was an exam and consumer rights the team here would be absolutely top of the class there's not much we
34:17don't know now about the protections that you're entitled to so it came as quite a surprise to us when
34:23we saw reports that some of the biggest names in retail still seem unsure about what their customers legal
34:29rights actually are offering them terms and conditions far less favorable than they're actually
34:35entitled to by law and if the big names are getting it wrong then you need to be on with the knowledge
34:41that will make sure that their mistakes don't mean that you lose out but before our crash course in
34:46consumer rights here's a reminder of the kind of problems shoppers can come up against
34:53for years we've been talking about your rights when it comes to returning goods
34:58whether you've handed over cash in the store or use a credit card online if the goods are faulty
35:03or you've simply changed your mind it's very important to know where exactly you stand and back in 2016
35:10we put retailers knowledge of the consumer rights act of 2015 to the test with the helpful professor in
35:17consumer law at nottingham university peter cartwright and a gospel choir from leicester
35:23we asked the choir to swap the high notes hi there nice to see you hello how are you good
35:29to see you for the high street to see if some of the big name stores were all singing from the same
35:34hymn sheet when it comes to consumer rights so what we want you to do is to go to some of the top
35:40retail stores tell them that you want to return some goods that are faulty and ask them clearly
35:47how long have i got to do that okay good look at that now the rules are clear as long as you return
35:53the faulty item with the receipt you are legally entitled to a refund within a minimum of 30 days
36:00but i'm afraid the results were a very very mixed bag she wants to see she can't make a decision without
36:06seeing the jumper but there's a clear sign saying if you if you have changed your mind about something
36:12bring it back within 35 days they said it's going to be at manager's discretion but they can get a refund
36:21back the rip-up britain team backed up that high street research with phone calls as well and all in
36:30all 13 of the 20 stores got it right but seven got it wrong in some cases quite badly
36:40nine years on and the way we shop has changed significantly back then online shopping accounted
36:46for just over 10 percent of all retail sales but in 2025 it has grown to almost 30 percent our consumer
36:55rights have not gone anywhere but research from consumer website money saving expert suggests that
37:01some retailers still can't help getting it wrong when it comes to our rights
37:09it poured over the websites of 400 retailers and found that 30 of them offering information on their
37:15returns policy that didn't seem to comply with the consumer contracts regulations 2013.
37:22the law says that you have 14 days for when you receive the goods to change your mind and a further
37:2814 days to send them back but part of selfridges website only carried half the story advising shoppers
37:35that they had just 14 days to return their purchase to make things even more confusing other parts of the
37:42site got it right cosmetic company benefit incorrectly started the return clock ticking when the order was
37:49shipped and not when the customer received the item while high street fashion retailer new look put a 14
37:56day return limit on sale items bought online but the rules say your rights are the same sale or no sale
38:04but if only that was the whole story unfortunately your refund rights aren't always simple so i've asked
38:11consumer rights expert martin james to help me navigate it all and we're kicking off with a long list of
38:18things where we have no rights to return unless they're faulty
38:25now some of these will be obvious some of them not so obvious i've done a quick overview here with the team
38:30so things really that are not covered these are some of the main things that aren't covered so
38:34personalized or perishable goods that's things like flowers or food lots of people get caught out if
38:39they have say a phone or a gift engraved unfortunately that can't be resold now this is the really important
38:45one for me um accommodation this is things that like renting an apartment transport some aspects of
38:52buying air transports train tickets flights aren't going to be covered um and some holidays your cruises
38:59that's the big big one if you are shopping online stores don't legally have to refund you simply
39:04because you've changed your mind so this is online now we go to in-store let's head for in-store
39:09right there now you don't have a legal right to change your mind and return store-bought goods
39:15however you still have a contractual right if the company has a policy to actually return those items so
39:22keep an eye on that returns policy for in-store shopping if a product is faulty then it doesn't
39:28matter whether you bought it in person or online you're entitled to a full refund within the first
39:3430 days if it breaks in the first six months the retailer is the one who should repair or replace
39:39it after that it's up to you to prove that the product was faulty at the time the goods were delivered
39:45to you as for those companies caught getting the rules wrong by money saving expert well selfridges
39:54benefit and new look have all corrected their advice selfridges told us its customers return policy
40:00set out in its terms and conditions had always been legally compliant and that the money saving expert
40:06research highlighted information on other parts of its website however it has now clarified the
40:12information to ensure it is clearer and more accessible to customers new look told us that
40:19it has updated its website to ensure its policies are as clear as possible but despite the change
40:26insisted this policy was always compliant with statutory consumer rights
40:32well we've put all of martin's advice on our website bbc.co.uk
40:37and now we're joined by gary and brianne again to answer more of your questions that you've been
40:56sending in thank you so much up gary this one is extraordinary stacy react said she bought a bottle
41:02of perfume from a trusted retailer but when the parcel arrived she instead got a garden slate
41:08yeah she immediately ran customer service they said to go in store but they couldn't help either
41:14where does she go from here well quite extraordinary and i'm sure she'd rather smell
41:18like a bottle of perfume than smell like a garden slate wouldn't she well the serious point is when
41:24you purchase an item from a retailer it is the job of the retailer to get that item to you and of
41:30course get the item to you that you have purchased that's what the consumer rights act says and
41:36that's what should she should be asking for if this starts to happen regularly then i think perhaps
41:42doubt might be cast on her story but if this is the first time absolutely she should be getting this
41:48sorted right now this is brianne's question joseph lloyd bennett contacted us after his social media
41:54account had been hacked and is being used to sell items and concert tickets so multiple people
42:00have reported the account with no luck whatsoever and the the hijacker continues to try and scam his
42:07friends and family so what can he do he's annoyed by it obviously i can completely imagine so this has
42:12to be quite devastating for joseph and what he's been affected by is something called on platform chain
42:18hacking and that's essentially when somebody breaks into your social media account and uses it to try
42:23and scam other people what's great is that joseph's taken good action so far he's alerted you know his
42:29friends or followers that his account has been hacked in the meantime um joseph can also check
42:34to see if this scammer is smart because they may not have changed his login details so if he can get
42:40back into the account going in changing the username and password immediately could help him gain access
42:46to his account again and finally for anybody that has been scammed they should reach out to the payment
42:51provider that might be compromised or to action fraud to report the scam as well and that will help us
42:57track down the scammer and stop them from you know doing this to somebody else thank you for that
43:01on which note i'm afraid that's almost all from us for today if you've missed any of the advice that
43:06we've packed in including our invaluable crash course on your consumer rights then don't worry you can
43:12catch up on today's program and many more on bbc iplayer yes you can that is it from now for us
43:18we'll be back very soon from everyone here on the rip-off britain team bye-bye
43:34you
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