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00:00today the insurers you say take too long to put things right we meet the couple still in
00:06temporary accommodation two and a half years after they claimed on their home insurance
00:11in the meantime they've watched the home they love go to rack and ruin it's heartbreaking to
00:17watch it systematically get destroyed in front of us and that put more stress upon us than
00:25what we thought was possible plus former high street giant debonance now has a new lease of life
00:32online but once oil customers are now reporting refused refunds confused customer service and a
00:38website they can't tell if an item is even in stock i felt like i was almost trying to justify myself
00:45yet i was the person that had been wronged in all of this always in your corner this is ripoff britain
00:54hello and welcome to ripoff britain and to our hq in salford where today we are trying to solve
01:05standoffs and stalemates that have left people out of pocket for far too long coming up the rogue
01:12property auctioneers misleading house buyers so seriously that many chose to forfeit thousands
01:18of pounds and walk away altogether with the money just going up and up my stress levels were just
01:24out of control i spoke to my solicitor and she informed me that i had to pay these fees i was
01:28absolutely devastated it's been two years since we first revealed the auction firm's extraordinary
01:34tactics but now they're being brought to book also coming up the 170 pound parking charge served more
01:42than a year after the alleged offense so can the experts in our advice clinic help one blue badge holder
01:48call off the parking operator that seemingly is determined that she coughs up but first today
01:54whether it's for your house your holidays your health or any number of other things insurance is
01:59supposed to provide peace of mind in case of any unexpected disasters and if the worst does happen and
02:06you need to make a claim you've every right to expect your insurer to put things right in good time
02:11so you can get things back on track and life can return to normal but for the couple in our first
02:17film today normality is still a very long way off because in the two and a half years since they first
02:23put in a claim for repairs following a fire their home has fallen even further into heartbreaking disrepair
02:30as soon as we saw the driveway we loved it the garden we've lived here for 20 years very happily
02:43peter and margaret hunter call this dorset bungalow home it's our family home and we socialize a lot in
02:49this house i did socialize a lot in this house but they haven't lived in their treasured property for
02:55around two and a half years this stone wall the water poured down here this was absolutely saturated
03:04but this isn't a case of a dodgy builder failing to finish a job it's the story of an insurance claim
03:11that's taken so long to sort out the house has gone to rack and ruin back in april 2023 peter and
03:21margaret's garage was struck by fire i went into the kitchen and saw a huge cloud past the window
03:28and i thought it was fog so i raced around to the front and that's when i saw 20-foot flames
03:34shooting out of the garage a car battery that had been left on charge had caught fire black smoke was
03:41billowing out from underneath the roof we were heartbroken
03:45but a quick response by the fire brigade meant the fire was soon extinguished
03:53while the garage and neighboring utility room and bathroom were badly damaged the only impact in much
03:59of the rest of the house was caused by smoke and the fire being extinguished
04:05when we came in after the fire brigade we were sort of delighted because it wasn't as bad as we thought
04:10unfortunately that changed the most pressing problem were the holes in the roof which had
04:17been made by the fire brigade to check that the blaze hadn't spread from the garage beneath
04:23the couple got a local roofer to put up a temporary protection the following morning
04:28and they put a tarpaulin over the holes but also informed us that it's temporary it's not going to last
04:35long you need to get something done no problem thought peter and margaret they had full buildings
04:43and contents insurance with lloyd's which later reimbursed them for the cost of the tarpaulin
04:48the couple assumed the policy would also cover the repairs and the cost of moving them into temporary
04:54accommodation lloyd's loss adjuster arrived the same day and the couple say they were assured that the
05:01tarpaulin would be replaced with a tin roof to protect the house from the elements
05:08but in the days that followed bad weather set in and the tarpaulin proved to be no match for it
05:14you could actually stand in the hall and look up and see the blue tarpaulin with a big hole in it
05:22and the rain pouring in and it's pouring in to our home the couple had the damaged tarpaulin replaced
05:29by the local roofer and savey awaited further updates from lloyd's it determined that the tarpaulin
05:36was secure and a month later in mid-june its contractor carried out an inspection of the garage
05:42which was a first step towards what the insurer called the repair phase of the job but this survey
05:49led to a shocking discovery as asbestos was discovered in the debris of the collapsed garage roof
05:57plus the soffits on the house the work ground to a halt but the couple say the roof of the bungalow
06:04was still not watertight meaning that by late summer when storms hit the damage to their home got even
06:10worse we had the whole tiles damaged with stuff dropping on them then it started to get into the
06:18lounge we didn't realize that obviously the ceilings would absorb in some of that water
06:22and our solid oak floor what they called popped and that was the end of the oak floor
06:31our kitchen there was so much water and damage to watch your home deteriorate on a daily basis
06:41it's soul destroying this is our home this is our life and no one cares
06:46by october there was still no sign of the tin roof being installed lloyd said this was because
06:57a bespoke roof would be required to accommodate the removal of the asbestos
07:02so in the meantime it arranged for the tarpaulin to be replaced again i think that lasted three maybe
07:09four days before that blew away but by then we'd had so many storms this house had become a river at times
07:21the promised tin roof was completed in early january 2024 some nine months after the fire
07:28peter and margaret are in no doubt that if lloyds had acted sooner the damage surrounding
07:33them would be nowhere near as bad it's just a mess things every day again and it's preventable mess
07:40because if the roof had been protected we wouldn't have had all this extra damage
07:51but a delay in the building work wasn't the only thing that peter and margaret had to contend with
07:57when they tried to claim on their policy for the water damage exacerbated by the holes in the roof
08:02lloyds denied the claim they told us that the damage to our kitchen our solid oak floor
08:11and our hallway was unpreventable and we went no if you'd listened to us and protected the property
08:19that damage could have been prevented we felt everything was so unjust
08:26and they had made their decision and that was that
08:28so they complained to the financial ombudsman service which found in their favor the ombudsman
08:35said that even though the discovery of asbestos led to delays the damages could have been prevented
08:40or at least contained if lloyds had done more to secure the roof properly from the outset
08:46when this ruling came through from the financial ombudsman it was as though someone had taken a weight
08:52off our shoulders the ombudsman ordered lloyds to pay for the damaged goods as a separate financial
08:59payment so as not to exceed the 75 000 pound limit on the couple's contents insurance policy
09:05and as a result of what it called a continued pattern of failings over an extended period
09:12it ordered lloyds to pay 1 150 pounds compensation which it later increased to 2 000 pounds
09:20but for peter and margaret it's about far more than the money our life pre-fire we worked in the garden
09:32we'd read a book relax have friends here come for weekends or even midweek and we don't do any of that now
09:39it's a nightmare it's too much we're moving this weekend for the fifth time to rented accommodation we
09:49desperately want this to be over i don't see any but i can't see an end to it being over and they feel
09:55let down by one of the biggest names in insurance i paid them money good money for them to be there when
10:02we needed them it's outrageous well an incredibly upsetting story there and joining me now is eve
10:13mcgrady from the consumer group fairer finance and down the line from plymouth matt scott who's from
10:18the analytics organization insurance data lab uh even matt i'll come to you in a moment but i'm also
10:24very pleased to say that peter and margaret are also joining us down the line from get this the greek
10:31island of naxos where they're having a well-earned break and hello to you both it must have been
10:36just such a hard time that you've been through this is what been going on for two and a half years
10:40yes i mean the original fire was a shock but we were realistic that we thought nine months and we'd be
10:48back in and had more damage now in our view than what we had post the fire uh and certainly probably
10:56another year's work i know it's a good few months since the ombudsman found in your favor has there
11:04been any progress as a result of that well uh we did get the outstanding money on the compensation 850
11:12pound paid and then we got an email from them just before we came away saying that they'd removed the
11:18kitchen removed the tiles but not the oak floor because the laws of justice seems to have a
11:25different scenario on how that whole floor got damaged but we do have a legally binding agreement
11:31with the ombudsman and laws so we're a bit we're a bit lost it's like taking one step forward and two
11:38steps back yes a horrible horrible feeling um eve i mean should a claim like this really be taking as
11:46long as it is absolutely not julia they certainly should be responding promptly and without unreasonable
11:52delay so clearly that hasn't happened in this scenario in the worst cases like this we can see
11:58insurance claims going on for a matter of years like this but it's yeah it's clearly not good enough
12:03is there anything else they can do to help move things along so what you've already done which is
12:08great is re-contact the ombudsman to let them know the situation that you're in um and and like peter
12:14said this is a legally binding ruling um so your next option would be to to escalate this through
12:21the courts to force lloyds to to act but i know your organization analyzes data from the insurance
12:28industry does the length of time that this claim has taken surprise you at all i mean it doesn't
12:33really come as a total surprise so home insurance are around a fifth of all the insurance complaints
12:39we see going to the ombudsman we have seen them actually come down a bit in the last year but
12:43having said that it's also worth noting that last year it did hit a 10-year high for complaints going
12:48to the ombudsman more than 2 400 in just three months so it's certainly an issue that insurers
12:54need to get better at managing and uh what what would you say lies behind the increase in the length
13:00of time that it's all taking it's a bit like a relay race so the baton has to be passed between insurer
13:06lot adjusters and often a number of different contractors too and if just one of those drops it then
13:12the whole claim grinds to a halt really and becomes even more likely that those delays and those
13:17mistakes creep into the process well if if you are in the middle of a claim and you think it's taking
13:23too long what should you do about it so i mean the first port of call is to be that persistent customer
13:30so sending repeated emails trying to get a hold of of people over the phone but in cases where that
13:37doesn't work we do have some regulation in financial services called the consumer duty
13:42and the consumer duty says that firms need to act in a way that prevents foreseeable harm to consumers
13:50and also delivers good outcomes for customers so certainly in cases where we're seeing these terribly
13:55long delays that would be not meeting their obligations to you customers who think their insurer
14:02isn't abiding by the consumer duty should refer their case to the financial ombudsman well i'm very
14:08very sorry that um you're in this predicament and obviously i think we're all hoping one of these days
14:14you're going to be back in your own home thank you both very much for joining us today thank you matt
14:19and thank you eve when we spoke to lloyds it told us it was sorry it hadn't provided the level of service
14:27peter and margaret had every right to expect and it recognized how difficult the time following the
14:32fire has been for them lloyds said it should have acted faster to re-secure their home after the storm
14:39and that it accepts responsibility for clothes damaged or lost during the claim for which it
14:45has ensured the couple were not left out of pocket lloyds added that it accepted the findings for the
14:51financial ombudsman relating to aspects of the claim where lloyds could have done better and that
14:57it took the necessary action to put things right lloyds pointed out that peter and margaret originally
15:03requested to find rental accommodation themselves and that later the owners of two of those properties
15:10put them up for sale meaning the couple had to move out subsequently lloyds own provider has offered
15:17them properties in line with their requirements lloyds said it paid the sum requested by the ombudsman
15:23and has since paid peter and margaret an additional 2250 pounds to reflect the distress and inconvenience
15:31caused by further delays it's also agreed to cover the costs of the oak flooring outside the value of the
15:37claim limit in line with the ombudsman's ruling since filming lloyds has also offered peter and margaret
15:44completion plan for the remedial works promising improved communication progress updates and regular
15:51supervision including the option of the couple's own surveyors signing off the works however the
15:57couple say they have rejected this and instead have initiated a court claim
16:02well now it's time for our advice clinic and today personal finance expert sarah pennells is in the
16:15chair she's going to help helen childs from burton upon trent resolve a problem with a parking ticket
16:22helen thank you very much for joining us now and this whole episode has been going on for over a year
16:27tell me exactly what happened from the day you set out to park your car
16:31i parked my car in a disabled bay with my disabled badge being on display however the disabled badge
16:38that i get from a school to allow me to park in the school grounds obscured the year that my disabled
16:44badge expired as a result the expiry date on helen's blue badge couldn't be read so the parking company
16:53uk parking control determined that she was parked illegally in a disabled bay and issued a ticket
17:01helen of course appealed uploading proof of her blue badge's expiry date to the parking firm's online
17:07portal i kept on going online to check if there was any further movement on this and it just kept
17:14on saying under appeal under appeal under appeal 15 months later or so i received the fine direct from
17:20their solicitors saying pay the fine otherwise you will have a prosecution against you and how much was it
17:26for 170 pounds plus 195 for that commission so you you ended up paying the fine so what made you decide
17:34to do that i just felt that um i didn't want any more stress and i will pay now and argue later but the
17:42only problem i thought is i'm admitting fault by paying but i don't give up easily good for you so
17:49sarah at this point what do you make of it is a very strange scenario isn't it it certainly is but when helen
17:55appealed to the parking company most companies are signed up with one of two different organizations
18:01the british parking association or the international parking community and in the beginning of 2025
18:07they developed a joint code of practice within that code it says specifically that if you park in a
18:14disabled bay for example and you have a blue badge but either you didn't display it or it's not fully
18:18displayed and you then contact the company that's given you this parking charge notice then the
18:25most you should have to pay is 20 pounds now there are three conditions for this one is you have to
18:30send in a copy of your blue badge and show that it was valid at the time you parked secondly you have
18:35to pay the 20 pounds within 14 days and thirdly you have to say that you're not going to go to one of
18:41these independent appeals services but unfortunately helen's ticket was issued before those rules came
18:48into force which means they don't provide the security she would get today and do you think
18:53helen was right to pay it at the time i can see absolutely why helen paid because if you don't pay
18:59and if you were then to lose the appeal for whatever reason well then you've got the option of going to
19:04court but a lot of people don't want that level of hassle i think it is worth saying that if you do
19:09appeal as helen did she should have had you know emails or so on telling her what was going on and
19:16that she could appeal to one of two independent arbitration services if she wasn't happy with the
19:21response well actually we've been in touch with uk parking control and it told us that because the
19:26blue badge was unfortunately obscured when helen parked the parking charge was issued correctly but
19:32when she sent the proof that the blue badge was valid human error i'm afraid led to the appeal being
19:38mishandled uk pc sincerely apologize for the distress and inconvenience that it all caused
19:45it promised to review and improve processes to prevent the same thing happening again in the future
19:50and this is the point i'm very pleased to say that uk pc is issuing a full refund and as if that wasn't
19:57enough as a gesture of goodwill says it will make a donation of 500 pounds to a charity of helen's choice
20:04so helen what do you make of all of that fantastic elated it is wonderful to hear
20:10that something's come out of something that has been over a year old so you're satisfied with the
20:16result absolutely well helen thank you very much indeed for joining us and of course
20:21to you sarah for your advice thank you both
20:32if you've got a problem you'd like our advice clinic experts to take a look at then there are so many
20:37ways you can tell us all about it our email address is ripoffbritain at bbc.co.uk or you can also send us
20:43a message via whatsapp the number is 0330 678 1321 you can also get in touch through our facebook page
20:52just search for bbc riff off britain or you can always write to us with a letter the address is
20:58riff off britain bbc media city uk salford m52 lh but however you get in touch we absolutely love hearing
21:07from you now next we go to the subject of debenhams now it used to be one of the biggest and most loved
21:12names on the high street but back in 2021 the shutters came down on all of the stores for good
21:18well the shops might not exist anymore debenhams itself still does as an online retailer whose
21:25new owners are banking on that once iconic name attracting customers in big numbers but that
21:32could be a challenge because judging by what some customers have been telling us
21:36it's not always getting some of the basics right
21:44maria stacy says her local high street in lincoln is a shadow of its former glory house of fraser has
21:52recently closed toys r us over the road we had a wonderful walrus that's gone too but one of her
22:01favorites was department store debenhams which lowered its shutters for the final time in 2021
22:08along with 123 other branches i've bought so many different things from this store over the years
22:16and i really miss it it's such a shame
22:23but after being bought in 2021 fast forward four years and debenhams is back
22:30the retail group behind online fashion giant boohoo acquired the name and relaunched it as an online
22:36only retailer and in june 2025 it was to debenhams that maria turned to help prepare her garden
22:44for a summer of outdoor living i received an email just a random sale email from debenhams and i just saw
22:54the set that i've dreamed of it matches everything else that i've got going on in the garden
23:00i just had a wow moment
23:04so maria bought this outdoor sofa set on the spot for 1050 pounds plus a four pounds 99 delivery charge
23:12at the time it said i think that there were seven left in stock so i made the decision and i i just
23:22thought in the bag
23:23so far so good but just 10 hours after she paid maria received this email from debenhams
23:35it seemed her sofa set was suddenly out of stock so i was a little taken aback and didn't quite know
23:41what was going on i was very surprised to find out that i suddenly wasn't getting this item that i had
23:47paid for and after getting in touch with debenhams maria got another email stating a delay with the
23:54website being updated had allowed her to buy an item that was in fact out of stock they said that
24:01the refund could take 14 days to be processed and then a further five days to actually appear in my bank
24:09account but two days later when that refund arrived it's all i've got was the 4.99
24:18debenhams only returned the delivery charge and insisted maria had already received the rest
24:25debenhams basically said we've given you the money if you have any further problems we suggest you speak
24:30to your own bank about it as if they'd just wiped their hands of the situation so more than 1 000 pounds
24:37down maria turned to her bank which refunded her the full amount however once again debenhams grasp
24:45of reality seemed to have slipped when this time it insisted she'd actually received the garden set
24:51the firm demanded the bank reverse the refund i was really getting quite distressed by this time
24:59wondering what i would actually have to do i felt like i was almost trying to justify myself yet i was
25:05the person that had been wronged in all of this after supplying further evidence the bank agreed
25:11with maria and said she could keep the refund but she never got the garden glow up that she'd planned
25:20i was really looking forward to showing it off i suppose because it was such a beautiful set of
25:25furniture i wish i'd just gone on holiday now and not had all of this
25:29maria's disappointing dice with debenhams is reflected in the ripoff britain inbox where we've
25:37received dozens of emails referencing issues with refunds and returns but if you're thinking this is a
25:44case of a high street icon falling from grace you'd be wrong because the only thing left of the old
25:51debenhams is the name and that makes shopping a very different experience as business journalist
25:58adam shaw is joining me to explain adam maria was a long-time fan of debenhams but it seems the
26:06debenhams she grew up with is not quite the same as the one we have now is it it's not at all the same
26:12thing anymore in fact they're an online marketplace the debenhams that exists now sells some of its own
26:18products but a whole bunch of other people's products in relationships called brand partners
26:24and what you're dealing with is a whole range of other brands which have got nothing to do with
26:29debenhams okay so when we go to the website how do we know what's going on and can you explain it to
26:35me because i've never noticed this before so if we have a look at their website here's their lovely
26:40website so it says debanhams clearly up here it says debanhams doesn't it um so this is garden
26:46furniture it says it has more than a thousand products i think there if we have a look at
26:51something try this i fancy a gazebo you fancy a gazebo yeah okay well despite the fact it says
26:56it's out of stock i think what we want to have a look down is zoomed down a bit here and it's this bit
27:04it's sold and delivered by a company called mh star okay now you may not have heard of mh star not
27:11at this point i haven't no i haven't either and this is common for a lot of their products despite
27:16the fact we've gone to debanhams this product will be a deal with us and this company called mh star
27:24and that's very common across a lot of their brands are there things on the website which are
27:30from debanhams then and how would i know that yes well you you wouldn't really know that yeah
27:35but there are now debanhams own a whole range of brands including pretty little things karen
27:41millen they own coast as well so if we picked one of those brands i might look at something from
27:46karen millen for example okay a big statement dress there now if we go down and have a look here
27:53you'll see there isn't any details about who it's delivered by this is free delivery on this product
27:59so that is my only clue that this belongs to debanhams and will be delivered by debanhams
28:06but a lot of the other clothing brands are sold by third parties sold and delivered not by debanhams
28:15but by another company another one i've not heard of fs collection it's ridiculous i think because you
28:22think you're dealing with debanhams they don't make it very clear to my view
28:26we've certainly heard from customers who didn't realize they were dealing with a third party
28:32some said they only realized when they had to request a refund as viewer ashton vickers explained
28:38when she sent us this message i didn't quite realize it was a third party seller i've never
28:45known a return process to be this difficult or even the fact that i had to make my return for a third
28:50party and not with the company i made the purchase with adam given that they're being provided by
28:55sold by so-called brand partners what happens to our consumer rights do they change well they
29:00shouldn't change and i'm really surprised that debanhams take this sort of attitude to where
29:04they run their business but your basic consumer rights are unchanged and what it does do it speaks
29:11very loudly about whether you want to actually deal with debanhams if that's what happens when things go
29:17wrong and we did speak to debanhams about all of this and it said in ashton's case customers who
29:23buy something through its brand partners must arrange returns with the partner directly and that
29:28debanhams itself provides clear contact details and instructions for how to do that it also confirmed
29:34that ashton has now been refunded in full i'm pleased to say maria has also been issued with a
29:39full refund by debanhams along with 150 pounds as a gesture of goodwill debanhams told us sometimes
29:45there can be a short delay between our partners stock updates and what shows on our website which
29:50is how maria was then able to buy that item which was actually no longer available debanhams explained
29:56that when maria disputed the payment with her bank it interrupted the refund process which should have
30:02taken up to 14 days debanham said it then mistakenly challenged maria's dispute an error for which it has
30:09apologized adam if you have a dispute who should you take it up with well if you go to the company
30:15you paid the money to that is what we would normally expect your contract is with the company you paid
30:21the money and dealt with that's your starting position and one way um i suppose if we're buying
30:27on these type of websites is to pay with the credit card does that protect us yeah section 75 consumer
30:33credit act which actually means if all else fails you go to the credit card provider and get your money
30:39back that doesn't mean that the process has been good you don't have the product you wanted but at
30:44least you're not out of pocket adam thank you very much thank you when we put adam's comments to debanhams
30:52it confirmed that when buying something through its marketplace the agreement is between the customer
30:58and the individual seller which is standard practice for a marketplace but nevertheless debanham said
31:05its customer service team will assist people with any issues now as you know buying a home can be
31:20absolutely plagued with complications but buying from auction is really not for the faint-hearted
31:26because unless you do your homework before the gavel falls you only have the auctioneer's paperwork to
31:31go on a couple of years ago we investigated an auction firm that buyers claimed was misleading
31:37people on that paperwork meaning the homes they actually bought were often quite different from
31:42the descriptions that they'd read at the time their experiences served as a cautionary tale for anyone
31:48venturing to a property auction but since then authorities have uncovered much more serious evidence of
31:54wrongdoing by that very same auction firm and shortly i'll be finding out all about it but before that
32:00here's a reminder of that first film
32:07a two-bed end terrace in stoke-on-trent bid starting at nine thousand pounds or how about this a two-bed
32:15doer-upper in county durham the bids for this one are starting at just one thousand pounds
32:23it was properties like these listed by birmingham-based bp auctions that tempted guy moxie from northampton
32:30when he was looking to transform his life i was really excited that this could be a new career i
32:37could renovate the property i may let it out i may buy another one because i'll have an investment in
32:43this one so yeah super excited the property that caught guy's eye was this place a three-bedroom terrace
32:50house in county durham the price was good the location was really good it had three bedrooms and
32:56it also most importantly didn't have any tenants in so he picked up the phone to bp auctions and asked
33:02to view the house but was told that that wasn't possible not wanting to miss out guy decided to bid on
33:09it sight on scene when it ended and i realized i was the winner i didn't believe it to be honest
33:15with you to start with but i won house and i won it for 28 500. guy paid bp auctions an 8 000
33:22pound deposit plus 1400 pounds in admin fees and appointed a solicitor but then the excitement of
33:31buying an auction came to an abrupt stop when his solicitor revealed that the house was rather
33:37different to the one described in the auction listing and my solicitor contacted me and suggested
33:43that she thinks the property might be a two-bedroom property next she explained to me that there were
33:47tenants in there and as far as she's aware they're not paying any rent the bp auctions listing has said
33:53the house was free of tenants but worse than discovering that just wasn't true next guy learned
34:00that he would have to pay the 2 870 pounds that those tenants owed in rent arrears the next bill
34:07though would turn out to dwarf that one another clause in the sales contract meant that guy would
34:14have to pay the seller's fees expenses and legal costs as well as his own now the extras added up to
34:21almost 14 000 pounds i wasn't sleeping and i wasn't eating properly either i spoke to my solicitor and
34:30she informed me that i had to pay these fees i was absolutely devastated guy knew he just had to walk
34:36away even though it meant forfeiting the 9 400 pounds that he paid in deposit and admin fees that money
34:43was the only money i had to start an investment and now i'll never be able to do that
34:52at the time bp auctions told us that it was clear to all customers that they should seek legal advice
34:58before bidding on a property that legal documents were available to download before an auction and
35:05that a staff neither reviewed nor advised sellers on such documentation bp auctions said it tried to
35:11accommodate viewings when possible but that none was available for the property guy was interested in
35:17however guy was supplied with images and downloaded legal documents including the tenancy agreement
35:24before he started bidding
35:30but i'm afraid that wasn't the end of the story for bp auctions we knew back then that a lot of former
35:36customers had complaints but we weren't aware that those complaints were being taken very seriously and had
35:43led to a major investigation joining me now in hq to tell me all about that investigation and what
35:49happened next is leslie horton from the property ombudsman welcome to the program leslie you know bp
35:57auctions and they used to be a member of your operation but that's not the case anymore so what
36:01did you have to do and why that's right bp auctions joined us in late september 2022 very soon after
36:08them coming to us we received a number of complaints so for many people they were purchasing properties
36:14at auctions but they weren't being given the full information about that property they were also
36:19concerned as well about the sellers of those properties and bp auctions so what we did we
36:23undertook a number of investigations we found in favor of consumers in some cases and made large
36:29awards against bp auctions some of which were ultimately unpaid when bp auctions failed to follow
36:35the ombudsman's ruling the firm was expelled what does it mean to be expelled from an organization
36:43like yours it's very serious for a company to be expelled from the property ombudsman so all property
36:49agents whether they're estate agents auctioneers letting agents or block managers have to be a member
36:54of one of two redress schemes either the property ombudsman or the property redress scheme if they're
37:00not a member of those schemes it means they can't operate they must cease trading but what is to
37:05stop a director for example bp auctions just going ahead and setting up under a different name and
37:10trying to do the same job so when an organization is expelled their name gets added to a list of
37:16excluded directors or excluded owners when a new organization seeks to join any one of those
37:21organizations we would then check their name against the excluded directors list to see whether
37:27they were on that list if they are on that list we would not accept them as members of the property
37:33ombudsman okay so for people who have lost money what chance do they have of ever recouping any of
37:38that and where would they go to try so from bp auctions if somebody thinks that there was wrong
37:44doing whilst they were a member of the property ombudsman they can still come to us to make a
37:49complaint however what i would say if we found in their favor we could not compel bp auctions to make
37:55that payment however they could use the decision of the property ombudsman in support of any legal action
38:01they wanted to take so to wrap it all up what advice would you give to people even thinking
38:05because you see i watch some of the programs on tv and you think oh my goodness i mean what a bargain
38:10that is and they do a bit of work on it and they sell it for not exactly double the price but they
38:14do well on it so it's a tempting thing to do so what advice would you give them due diligence so the
38:20first step is to read that legal pack and make sure you understand it they are quite lengthy documents
38:26so you might want to get a sister involved at that point or someone that's well versed in these
38:30matters the next thing is ask for a viewing and if you can't get a viewing assess whether you're
38:35prepared to continue with the transaction given the huge level of risk what we would say is that is a
38:41major red flag for people if they want to buy property at auction the third thing is if you do have
38:46a viewing think about getting a surveyor on board or a builder to go and look at that building so that you
38:51understand the risks associated with it but due diligence is the key here would you ever buy at
38:56auction it's not for me i'm afraid well on that note i'll say thank you very much indeed les thank you
39:04well we did try to speak to a former director of bp auctions about all of this but i'm afraid we
39:08didn't get a response well i must say it's really satisfying to hear about action being taken against
39:20firms that we've looked into and had an eye on but uh now it's time to put more of your questions to
39:26our experts and sarah and adam are back sarah this first one is for you tony juxt wrote in after she
39:33moved house just two miles from her old address and discovered that her broadband provider didn't cover
39:38her new address she's now been told she'll be charged 345 pounds to cancel her old contract or she could
39:47get a 50 discount if she sends proof of her new address she feels this is unfair what are her
39:53rights it does feel very unfair doesn't it now there are rules about what um different providers
39:59have to do but in broad terms if you do what tony has done which is provide evidence that the
40:04broadband company doesn't cover your area then you you should be able to cancel this contract because
40:10plainly the broadband company can't provide the service it's actually quite easy to do if you're
40:14comfortable going online because each broadband company will have a sort of a service checker
40:19pop in your details your postcode and it will tell you whether it provides a service and how
40:23fast that service could be so she just needs to take a screenshot of that i mean i would say wait eight
40:28weeks if she doesn't get anywhere and hear a positive outcome from the company then she should go to one
40:33of the two um arbitration services one's called the communications ombudsman and one's called
40:39cisas whichever one it is depends on who her broadband supplier is adam um this is from jill
40:45edward she says she's paying 125 pounds for gym membership which has pool and spa access sounds
40:51lovely but the pool and spa has been closed for refurb for the last three months if she cancels
40:57she'll still have to pay three months notice to leave so where does she stand on this in the small
41:01print and a lot of times quite reasonably i think a gym might go look we might have to fix something
41:06there might be a short period in which stuff is not available to you this is not a short period
41:12this is a failure to provide a service that is being paid for therefore i would complain i would
41:16complain in writing and exhaust that process um and then if you have to you can escalate it to the
41:24small claims court unfortunately a gym is not really a regulated business so it's a question of
41:30making a big fuss but you are in the right and i think you should get money back
41:34hi sarah the last one is for you kevin edward says that he bought a multi-plug extension lead
41:40through an online marketplace only to be told by the marketplace that it had been recalled by the
41:45government so he got in touch with the seller and requested a refund but the seller refused saying that
41:50the government was wrong and it was safe to use meanwhile the marketplace wouldn't help either so
41:56what can kevin do what i'd suggest kevin does is he goes back to the seller gives him one more chance
42:00to give him a refund if he doesn't get anywhere complain to the online marketplace because some
42:05of the bigger online marketplaces have got their own recall standards in place and they are holding
42:11sellers to account now the third option is depending on how he paid if he paid by credit or debit card
42:17i'm assuming as it's a charger it costs less than 100 pounds so in which case he can't use the consumer
42:22credit act but he can do something called a charge back if he's within the time limit which means
42:28a credit card or debit card company essentially reverses the transaction on that note i'm afraid
42:34that's all that's all from us for today now if you missed any of the advice we packed in from what
42:39to do if your insurance claims are held up to your rights to appeal a parking ticket you can always
42:44catch up on today's program and many many more on bbc iplayer and don't forget our website is chock full
42:51of even more advice bbc.co.uk we'll be back again very soon until then from everyone on the team and
43:00everyone here goodbye bye
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