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Rip off Britain - Season 18 Episode 7 - Fake review sites peddling dodgy goods
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00:00Today the fake ratings websites whose so-called best buy products turn out to be total duds
00:06and your requests for a refund are ignored. A moment of panic, a moment of thinking,
00:12oh no I could feel my stomach drop, have I made a mistake here? Plus is your home at risk
00:18of
00:18surface water flooding? Well it's a much bigger threat than flooding from swollen rivers and
00:23it's on the rise. We'll have details on how to check the risk in your area
00:27and what indeed you can do about it. Here to stop you getting caught out this is Rip Off Britain.
00:41Hello again from Rip Off Britain HQ here in Salford where today we're on the case for people who were
00:47hit by situations that came at them completely out of the blue. Including by the way the incredible case
00:53of the elderly couple whose passports were misplaced by airport special assistance staff
00:59whilst on their way to the gate itself. Now unable to board without them it meant that they were stuck
01:05in a Spanish airport without a clue as to what to do. I flatly refused to leave mum and dad
01:11in airport at
01:1211 o'clock at night. My mum was traumatized, she was in tears, it was awful. Plus would you know
01:21what to do
01:21after a car accident. Making the wrong calls at the roadside could seriously cost you. So Harry Kind
01:28is going to be here with another step-by-step guide to make sure that you're prepared.
01:33But first for any big ticket purchase they often say that word of mouth is the best recommendation but
01:39for me I have to say a close second has to be the opinion of a real expert who's tried
01:45and tested a whole
01:46poster products and crime the best. And the internet is full of sites that appear to feature just that sort
01:53of expert insight. But as is so often the case online all is not as it seems. What might appear
02:01to be
02:01unbiased, unvarnished expert reviews might actually be big fat lies. Unfortunately they're so convincing
02:09that as the woman in our first film today learned you only realize you've been lied to after paying
02:15good money for very bad products.
02:21Beth Hand has been teaching English to pupils in County Almar for 14 years and it's a true vocation.
02:29I love that no two days are the same. Watching young people achieve and seeing them progress,
02:36there's something lovely about that. She also loves the books she teaches and diving into the research.
02:43Doing research is very important. I would spend a lot of time researching to find the answers that I need
02:48to different problems. And she applied that very same attitude when it wasn't the English books that
02:54needed her attention but a condensation problem in her bathroom. There's a little bit up on the ceiling.
03:02You can see up there some of the painting things are peeling off already and it still keeps happening.
03:07It's just that the bathroom can't get rid of the steam quick enough. Beth borrowed a dehumidifier from
03:13her parents which quickly solved the problem. You could see that the bathroom was clear that the
03:20condensation issues weren't as bad as they had been before. So in October 2025 Beth decided to buy one
03:27herself and when she went online and typed in best dehumidifiers, review sites similar to this one
03:34claiming to offer unbiased and independent reviews of the products by people who have actually used them
03:40came up high in the results. Now I'm looking at one here and it looks at a range of different
03:47things
03:48to consider when you're choosing a dehumidifier and it gives ratings for energy efficiency, the durability,
03:54the ease of use and even customer satisfaction. Beth followed the advice of one site called Top 5
04:01Reviews and purchased a top rated dehumidifier made by a company called A Canvas paying £118.
04:11But when it arrived something just wasn't right. I realised this is quite a small package. When I opened
04:19everything up, it was even quite light to take out of the box and even the instructions weren't clear.
04:25But with those glowing consumer reviews still fresh in her mind, Beth persevered.
04:31Took it up, gave it a go in the bathroom, left it overnight. There were, you know,
04:38five milliliters maximum of water. Very little.
04:42This top rated dehumidifier simply didn't live up to expectations, as Beth was keen to show us.
04:50Last night I left it running all through the night, right up until about 10am, 11am this morning.
04:56And I'm going to show you just how much water actually came out of it.
05:00So you can see minimal water after it being left on for that length of time. We all showered this
05:07morning and so there should have been a considerable amount of humidity in the air for it to dehumidify.
05:11And it just simply hasn't done that. I still had condensation along the walls.
05:17So Beth went online, looking for clearer instructions, just in case she wasn't operating it properly.
05:23But that search revealed a worrying set of results.
05:29As soon as I typed in instructions for the O Canvas dehumidifier onto Google,
05:34it brought me up a number of social media sites saying that it was a scam.
05:39Over and over again in capital letters, exclamation marks.
05:43A moment of panic. A moment of thinking, oh no, I could feel my stomach drop. Have I made a
05:50mistake here?
05:51But as she scrolled through the comments, Beth noticed a host of different brand names cropping up,
05:58all apparently referring to the same dehumidifier that she had purchased.
06:02From O Canvas to Overly, Revexo, Covatar, Ravino, Corvex and Airvax.
06:11And all the units seemed to look exactly the same as well.
06:15It seemed that the same dehumidifier was being sold using an array of different brand names.
06:21Which for Beth, made all the research she'd done seem worthless, since beneath the packaging,
06:28the top rated O Canvas dehumidifier she'd planned for was the same as plenty of others.
06:37So, she contacted O Canvas for a refund.
06:41And so began a chain of emails. They asked for a picture of the dehumidifier to prove that the water
06:48level wasn't where it should be. They asked for a video of that, they asked for humidity levels in
06:55the home, asked me had I opened the doors and the windows in my home, had I turned the heating
06:59off for
06:59three days. They simply didn't seem to acknowledge what I was asking for and didn't seem to want to
07:06offer any sort of either return or refund. In all honesty, I think they were asking so many questions
07:12so that people would just give up. O Canvas did eventually offer a compromise. Beth could keep the
07:19dehumidifier and it would refund her 30% of the cost, around £35. Beth rejected that, since it wouldn't
07:28cover the cost of buying a replacement. Instead, she went to her bank and got her money back for the
07:34faulty product through a chargeback. And Beth won't be relying on online review sites again, as she
07:40searches for a new dehumidifier. I trusted a review site and bought what they suggested was the top
07:48ranked product, but it didn't work. And I obviously was left feeling both frustrated and totally duped.
07:57Well, I'm sorry to say that Beth is in good company, because we've heard from other people in
08:03exactly the same position, having bought suspiciously similar looking dehumidifiers
08:08stamped with other brand names. So what's going on? Well, joining me now in HQ is Shari Vahl from Radio
08:164's
08:17You and Yours, who's been investigating these review sites, along with Pamela Petty from British
08:23dehumidifier manufacturer Ebac. Who knows a thing or two about all this, because these firms are
08:28taking her company's business. Pamela, it must really sting. Yeah, it does. We've been dealing
08:36with it for a long time now. We've been making dehumidifiers since the 80s. In fact, my dad actually
08:41invented the first dehumidifier for use in UK homes. But in recent years, we've seen many more brands
08:48propping up overnight, and then disappearing just as quickly. Well, here we have the dehumidifier that
08:54we bought, which looks very similar to Beth's, but it was actually sold under the name Corvix.
08:59What do you make of it? So what we've got here is what we'd probably describe as a bit of
09:05tat.
09:06So this is a coil from our compressor system dehumidifier. And this here is a fan blade. And this is
09:12where,
09:13when the warm, wet air comes through, the moisture's in it. These are both going to be very cold.
09:19This one's going to be a lot colder than this one here. This is a much smaller surface area.
09:25So it isn't going to be able to actually trap as much moisture. This, when we look at it,
09:29is all made up as a series of fins. So the surface area of that is just so much bigger.
09:35So the compressor
09:36system gets much colder, got a bigger surface area. And not only that, but this is the fan blade.
09:42And we have a mortar that runs this. There's a fan inside of here.
09:46I was going to say, try getting that in there.
09:47Absolutely. So they're just not fit for purpose when it actually comes to dehumidifying a whole
09:54house. But this doesn't stop at dehumidifiers, does it, Shari?
09:58It doesn't stop at dehumidifiers. I've spent a very long time looking for every single product I can
10:04think of. Hairdryers, electric toothbrushes, hedge trimmers, cordless vacuum cleaners, you name it,
10:11they will have set up a review site for it. They all look more or less the same. And ultimately,
10:18they're designed to lead you to the website for that product. This is a typical website. And what
10:25it's got on it is every feature that you will find in these fake sites. So first of all, what
10:33we've got
10:33up here is in-depth product analysis for informed consumer choices. It claims tried and tested
10:41consumer tested reviews. This is all lies, by the way, because down here, you see the lovely picture
10:49of a very lovely looking man who's clearly really keen on vacuum cleaning because he's hugging a vacuum
10:55cleaner. So I call this man Cuddly Daniel. So he in the top of this article is called Daniel Warwick.
11:03Correct. But the next words immediately below it call him Daniel Thornton. Oops.
11:08So my spidey senses tell me there's something not quite right here.
11:14Well, whoever he is, Cuddly Daniel, seems to have been busy.
11:20It says over the past four months, we've methodically tested 30 cordless vacuum models
11:26across diverse price ranges and household environments. But what you start to see
11:31is the best one. Airvax, look at the price, £199. So as an ordinary consumer, you're looking at
11:42something that somebody who claims to have expertise is telling you is absolutely fantastic
11:47and only £199. And I've seen websites where their brand is at the top and genuine, proper,
11:55real brands that genuinely have much higher prices are underneath. And what that does is that makes you
12:01change your financial behaviour. And you will find a green box full of green written, wonderful pros
12:07about how great this product is. And also you'll find cons. And the cons are always the same.
12:14They are only two. One is only available online and the other one is often sells out due to high
12:21demand.
12:22If you click on this, it will take you through to the website that belongs to that advert.
12:29And that's the operative word here. Advert. Because Shari's programme and ours has heard from
12:36plenty of people who've bought what they were told were the best products, only to find them barely
12:41functional. Is the goal just to sell poor quality goods? Well, partly they just want your money,
12:49but actually there's a more sinister side to this. Because don't forget, when you order one of these
12:55products, you hand over your home address, your telephone number, your email address, and sometimes
13:02your bank details. So there is a very dangerous point about these sites. You don't know who you're
13:08giving your details to. And people need to be really careful of that. And Pamela, returning to you,
13:14I know you've reported these sites to Google. What's been the effect of that?
13:19Yeah, we have. And eventually they did actually take one of the sites down,
13:23but then literally another site with the same product under a different name came back again
13:28behind it. So it's a systemic problem. And we're not happy at all because they just,
13:32they just keep recreating themselves all of the time.
13:37Well, when we spoke to Google, it told us that protecting users is its top priority and that it
13:44has strict policies that govern the types of ads and advertisers allowed on its platforms. Google added
13:50that it invests significant resources to stop bad actors and is constantly evaluating and improving
13:58its technology.
14:02Well, Shari, I know you've contacted the Advertising Standards Authority. Any joy there?
14:08Well, yes, they've actually taken up our investigation and they are investigating themselves into this
14:13because they told me in a statement, they said, marketing communications must make clear their
14:20commercial intent if that is not apparent from the context. In other words, if it's an advert,
14:25which these things are, they must say their adverts and they don't.
14:29So what's your advice for anyone who understandably might turn to a review site
14:33to think about how to choose something? Well, one of the problems is there are some really brilliant,
14:39genuine review sites where products have been tested by real people and they look very similar.
14:46Actually, if I was going to buy a product and I wanted to know more about it, I would contact
14:51a
14:51retailer. So a high street retailer. They all have online websites and they'll tell you lots about
14:57the products and also search a trusted review platform that you do believe. You'll know very
15:04quickly if the products are worth it or really poor like these ones that Pam's experiencing.
15:10Shari, Pam, thank you so much. And if you think you've been duped by one of these sites,
15:15we'd love to hear your experiences. So please do let us know about it. RipoffBritain at bbc.co.uk.
15:23We did, of course, try to contact all the dehumidifier brands mentioned in the film.
15:28Only one responded and mistakenly thought we were customers inquiring about our order.
15:37The advice clinic is on the road, bringing the best consumer advice.
15:42By being pushed onto social media, you are immediately exposed.
15:46The law says when you buy something, it's got to be fit for purpose.
15:50To you.
15:55Today we are in Mansfield and here with me, I have personal finance brain box, Amy Knight,
16:02and legal mastermind, Aaron Chohan, here to help the people of Nottinghamshire.
16:08A bit like a modern day Robin Hood.
16:16We're settling in at the library in the heart of Mansfield for a session of top-tier tips and advice.
16:23Joining us today, Marie Bacon and dad Keith Bryan from Sutton in Ashfield.
16:28Keith and Marie? Yes. Come on.
16:31They're looking for help after the joy of a family member's wedding in Ibiza
16:36turned into a horror show on the way home.
16:39And Amy is here to offer her advice.
16:43So we've got dad and daughter.
16:45Yeah.
16:45You go away for a wedding.
16:48Tell us, from the beginning, what went wrong?
16:53Initially, we flew out to Ibiza for my nephew, my dad's grandson's wedding.
16:58Exciting times.
16:59Absolutely fantastic.
17:00It took us six months to talk dad in to go in.
17:02Right.
17:03Since he went abroad last time, his mobility has become an issue and he was stressing.
17:07So we arranged for assisted travel.
17:10We went out.
17:11We had the wedding.
17:12It was absolutely fantastic.
17:13We got back to Ibiza airport to come home.
17:17Then, while dad was being pushed in his wheelchair, the assisted travel guy who was pushing dad
17:24and said that dad had got to go through a different lane to me and my husband.
17:29And he asked for dad and mum's passports.
17:31And basically, mum and dad went off in one direction and we went through the other end.
17:36The group of four met again on the other side of passport control.
17:40The flight was called and they all got ready to board.
17:45I then sort of got our passports out and then couldn't find mum and dad's passports, obviously.
17:52Now, he's still got them.
17:53He's still got them.
17:54Right, so you've given them him.
17:56Yeah.
17:56And you've only got two out of four passports.
17:58I've only got two out of four passports.
18:00In a panic, the family tracked down the assistant, but they say he insisted he'd given them back to Joan.
18:07Their airline, Jet 2, held the flight for around 15 minutes while airport staff searched for the two passports.
18:15But it was all to no avail.
18:17The flight had to leave without Keith, Joan or Marie and her husband on board.
18:24I flatly refused to leave mum and dad in airport at 11 o'clock at night,
18:29Your mum were terrible.
18:30My mum was traumatized.
18:32She was in tears, she was.
18:34And she had to keep walking out of the way so that nobody could see her crying and it was
18:38awful.
18:40The family booked a hotel room at their own expense
18:43and hoped it could all be sorted out the next day with help from the British consulate.
18:48But while they were waiting for news, Marie's phone rang.
18:53I picked it up and this guy says, is this Marie?
18:58I said, yes.
19:00And he says, I've just emptied my holiday bag.
19:03Yeah.
19:03And your mum and dad's passports are in it.
19:06Wow.
19:07The family were allowed to fly home that evening, but they had to pay extra for the flight.
19:13And along with the hotel, meals, taxis and other costs, they reckon they're around £1,100 out of pocket.
19:24But although they have their suspicions about what happened,
19:28they still don't know exactly how the other passenger, whose name is Josh, ended up with their passports.
19:35So we've been in touch with him to find out more.
19:37And we've got a clip from him to play to Marie and Keith.
19:43Before we walked in to get onto the plane, there was a man and a woman.
19:49The man actually handed me a set of passports.
19:51I was on crutches, so I just took them and put them in my bag.
19:56Clearly not realising that we already had a set of passports.
19:59I've got home, woke up in the morning, I checked my bag and they were in there.
20:03So I just said, I'll send them straight back to you today, recorded delivery, and I wish you all the
20:12best.
20:13Which he did.
20:14Yeah, I did.
20:14He did.
20:16Joshua's account contradicts that of the airport's special assistant operative,
20:20who insisted he'd handed the passports to Joan.
20:24And for Amy, this could be the key to resolving their problem.
20:30So once you were home safe and the passports were recovered,
20:34where did you go to first to try and get some sort of recompense or apology for that mistake?
20:42I wrote to the airport by email to their complaints.
20:46They sent us a letter back a couple of weeks later to say that the assisted travel people
20:55were actually an agent.
20:57They didn't work for the airport. They're actually a contractor.
21:01Yeah.
21:02And basically there was nothing they could do about it.
21:05There is an organisation called the Spanish Aviation Safety and Security Agency.
21:10And there's a form on this website to submit details of an incident you're not happy with,
21:18with organisations in Spain. It might be difficult, it might be more stress and hassle
21:24than you are prepared to go through, but the option is there.
21:29Known by its acronym AESA or IASA,
21:33The organisation offers alternative dispute resolution for passengers.
21:37And Amy believes the family should make a formal complaint,
21:40including details of how Josh ended up with the passports and ask AESA to order the airport
21:46or the special assistance contractor to reimburse their out-of-pocket expenses.
21:52But it might not be the only option.
21:56Did you go back to Jet 2?
21:58I did.
21:58Did you put in a formal complaint?
22:00I emailed Jet 2 and I got an email from Jet 2 and that was followed up by a phone
22:05call,
22:07apologising profusely, but in the end there was nothing they could do.
22:12Can I check whether you had travel insurance to claim on?
22:16We didn't. It was an extra cost that we couldn't really stretch to.
22:20So for three days it just didn't seem, didn't seem worth it.
22:25Marie says that because of her parents' age and existing health conditions,
22:30insurance quotes were prohibitively expensive.
22:33But Amy believes travel insurance would have covered the family for their losses.
22:37She says using a broker can help bring costs down.
22:42An insurance broker can sort of scan the whole of the market to help find some deals.
22:48And it can be worth it when you've got complex medical needs to factor in
22:53and when age is pushing up the price of the premiums.
22:57So that's something to consider for next time.
23:00And the insurance packages for holidays sometimes include things that you don't need,
23:06that you can strip out.
23:07So they can help you to strip that down to the minimum that you actually need.
23:12When it comes to risking it, my suggestion is you can't get away without insurance,
23:20but where you could choose to take a bit more risk is with the excess.
23:25So if you've got a little bit of savings, then you can dial the excess up to the max to
23:32bring the premiums
23:33right down. And then you hope you're never going to have to dip into that pot of money,
23:38but it's there if you need it.
23:40However, the cost isn't the biggest impact of all of this, especially for Keith and Joan.
23:46It's quite a few months ago and you're both still pretty shook up, aren't you?
23:50Yeah. Well, it's embarrassing.
23:51My mum's not here today because she just can't talk about it.
23:55She's... Yeah, she can't talk about it.
23:57Oh. So it's a really good occasion.
24:00So, Keith, I mean, you... This is it. Travel is over for you at this point, is it?
24:04Yeah, there's no way am I going through it.
24:06It's bad enough when I get there, I can only sit in a chair, really.
24:10I can walk a fair bit, you know, but it's not as comfortable as sitting in a chair at England,
24:18you know.
24:19Aww. Thank you both for telling us this story, because I think there's lots of things
24:22that all of us can learn from it, actually. Yeah, yeah.
24:24And I'm so sorry that it put you in such a difficult situation.
24:27Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you for your help.
24:29Thank you very much, all of you, for your trouble.
24:32Well, after they left the advice clinic, Marie and Keith did contact IESA,
24:37which gave them advice on how to escalate their complaint with the airport first,
24:42and said, if that doesn't resolve things, IESA itself could get involved.
24:47We'll be keeping in touch to see how they get on.
24:53Well, what a story, Jules, you know, and I feel a bit sad, really,
24:56although he got his passport back, that, I don't know, it's put him off flying forever.
25:00Well, let's hope he gets his nerve back. He might.
25:02He might, you never know. Now, if you've got a problem that you'd like our help with,
25:06then do drop us a line, and the advice clinic could be heading your way very soon.
25:11The email address is ripupbrittain at bbc.co.uk, or you could also send us a message on WhatsApp.
25:18The number is, just to remind you, 033 0678 1321.
25:25And we'll remind you of those and other ways to get in touch later in the programme.
25:29But now it's time to put your questions to our experts. Shari Vahl is back, and we're joined by
25:35consumer rights supremo Martin James. And Martin, this one is for you. Paul Wilde in Northumbria says
25:41that when his mother died, there was £300 credit on her energy account, but the supplier won't release
25:48it unless Paul gets probate. He says that's going to cost more than the credit he'll actually get
25:53back. He's even been to the energy ombudsman, but with no joy. Is there anything he can do?
25:59Well, Paul, I'm so sorry that you've had to go through this. But the fact of the matter is,
26:03for such a small amount, it shouldn't be necessary to go through the process of probate.
26:08For the vast majority of utility companies, they're able to accept a certified death certificate,
26:14a will, and just proof that you are the person who's entitled to act for the estate. It doesn't
26:19even need to be original copies. Now, sometimes when firms misunderstand this, you do get this
26:25problem. But pushback insists that they explain to you in writing why they require this information,
26:31and then go back to the energy ombudsman and argue that they are not following the rules. This is
26:37outrageous. It should be happening for such a small amount. And I'm so sorry to hear this.
26:40Shari, this one is for you. Henry has sent a message. Now, he said that he has cancelled
26:45his mother's broadband contract because she's a pensioner and out of contract and paying just
26:50too much. He said, we were told that the service would end on the 1st of March,
26:54but another provider has now taken over and sent a welcome letter, even though his mum didn't agree
27:00to move to them at all. So he's been trying to contact them for days through their official channels,
27:06but nobody replies. He's worried that they'll start billing her. What can he do?
27:10So it's very
27:11possible there's been an admin error here. Now, he says he's tried to contact them a lot,
27:16and he's had no response. You can find on their websites, I want to leave you. And funnily enough,
27:23you'll find a phone number very quickly. That works, does it? It does. So if he doesn't get
27:28any success with that, though, he can go to the communications ombudsman and they will sort out a
27:35dispute because that's what they're designed to do. And they will do it without any cost. Thank you.
27:39Another one for you, Martin. Reginald Graham from Essex says his daughter was in a car accident last
27:45year that wasn't her fault. She provided the police with the other driver's details,
27:50but he says the case went nowhere and her insurer has classed the claim as abandoned. Now,
27:56her renewal quote has nearly tripled, even though the accident wasn't her fault. And it sounds
28:01incredibly unfair. Well, it is unfair. What's happened here is a claimable incident. And that means
28:07that it will have an impact on your premiums, even if you're not the person who's at fault. But this
28:13seems like a big old hike to me. And they failed to provide information as to why the claim was
28:18abandoned. And even though it will have had an impact on the premiums, if she makes a formal
28:23complaint about the whole process, ask them to explain why the rise has been so big, even if they
28:29can't change their premium assessment, they could still knock off a couple of hundred quid on the bill
28:34to keep her as a customer. And we know from our viewers that people are getting this when they
28:38phone up a complaint. So it's definitely worth a go. Is it fair? No, it's not.
28:43Well, thank you both very much indeed for some really, really good advice. And on the subject
28:47of car accidents, if you're unfortunate enough to be involved in one, then there's every chance
28:52that you're not thinking straight. So might just overlook what to do or say. So in order to help
28:56focus the brain, here's Harry Kind on a how to guide for just that eventuality.
29:03Ripoff Britain expert, Harry Kind is on a mission to keep more money in your pocket. And these are his
29:09handy how to guides.
29:15If you have a car accident, are you sure you know the law? Because not everyone has a copy of
29:21the
29:21Road Traffic Act of 1988 in their glove box. There are hundreds of car accidents every day in the UK.
29:29So it's important that you know what to do if it happens to you. I'm Harry Kind. I'm the everyday
29:34expert.
29:34And this is my step by step guide on what to do if you're in a car accident and you're
29:39the driver.
29:41It's vital that you don't just drive off, even for a small bump.
29:45Firstly, and most importantly, safety. Take steps to put yourself and others in a safe position.
29:53Both drivers should exchange insurance details. And by law, you've got to hand over your contact
29:59details too. Ask other drivers for their details and confirm if they're the registered owner. If not,
30:05ask who is. If someone fails to give their details, contact the police on 101 while you're still at the
30:11scene of the collision. However, not every accident has to be reported to the police. If the road remains
30:18unobstructed, no one's been injured, and everyone has exchanged their details, then the only time you
30:23need to call the police is if someone has been injured. The same can't be said about your insurance
30:27provider, though. They need to be informed about any collision, even if you're not planning on making
30:32a claim. It's likely included in the terms of your contract. And so if you don't mention it now,
30:37they may fail to pay out in future. It's important to save your insurance number in your phone
30:43before any accidents. Because if you're searching the internet for their number on the side of the
30:49road, then in the stress of the moment, you're more likely to be taken in by misleading claims
30:53management companies. They often dub themselves accident helplines. These firms aren't usually
30:59necessary. It's best to communicate directly with your insurer so you don't lose out on any slice of a
31:04payout. Be wary of offers to settle things privately with the other driver. Because they may still then
31:10claim on their own insurance, leaving you liable because you haven't been up front with your own.
31:17While you're at the scene of the accident, be sure to collect evidence of what has just occurred,
31:22including the time and date of the crash. As long as it's safe to do so, you should get photos
31:26of
31:26the position of cars involved, any damage to cars or property, any injuries to drivers, passengers or
31:33pedestrians, any potential causes such as poor quality roads or signage. Make sure to collect the contact
31:39details of any witnesses. They might be helpful later. With all of this information, you've got
31:45everything that you need to make a claim with your insurance company if you choose to.
31:52Another word of caution. Over the next few days, you may hear from the other party's insurance company.
31:57They might offer a cash settlement. This is known as third-party capture and is a way of them reducing
32:03costs before you're aware of the full extent of what you're entitled to. Take advice and don't let the
32:09insurance company pressure you into anything. You can report unfair practices to the insurance company.
32:17It says here I have to report any injury to any horse, cattle, ass, mule, sheep, pig, goat or dog.
32:27Bad luck sloth, I guess.
32:32So there you have some great advice from Harry Kind. And you can find more of his how-to guides
32:38on our
32:38website. It's bbc.co.uk slash ripoffbritain. But now we are turning to flooding. And I don't
32:47mean the type we're used to seeing on the news where rivers burst their banks and nearby buildings are
32:52submerged because there are actually far more properties at risk of flooding from surface
32:57water caused by heavy rain that can't drain away quickly enough.
33:01With extreme downpours getting more and more common thanks to climate change. Shortly,
33:06I'll be finding out how we can all check if our homes might be at risk and what on earth
33:11can we all do
33:12about it. But first, here's a reminder of the last time we learned of the absolute devastation
33:17that surface water flooding can cause.
33:22When we visited the home of Helen and Ashley Northway back in 2023, they told of scenes like
33:29these have become devastatingly familiar. In the six years following their purchase of this 380-year-old
33:36cottage in Rawns in Northamptonshire, it had flooded no fewer than six times. The first was just months
33:44after the family moved in. I was at work at the time. When I got back, it was already coming
33:50through
33:50the front door. And by the time it had gone throughout the house, it was about four to five
33:57inches deep. The floods all came after heavy rain. But with the local sewers unable to cope with the
34:03amount of water, it all rushed downhill to the lowest point to Helen and Ashley's house. This is where
34:09a lot of the water comes running down. And it's like a mini stream that comes down there. And it
34:16can only go one place, which is the lowest point in the dip where the house is.
34:19And just before Christmas 2020 was the worst flood of all.
34:25Water was entering the house. And when it eventually stopped, it was at hip height on my husband. So
34:31approximately three and a half to four foot deep, all of which was contaminated black water containing
34:39hundreds of houses worth of human waste. The damage was catastrophic. But after the four
34:46previous floods, the couple's home insurer would no longer cover them for flood damage, meaning that
34:53they were now facing an unimaginable repair bill. So the couple approached North, Northamptonshire
34:58Council, as it is responsible for surface water drainers from the roads. And its insurers agreed to pay
35:05for the repairs. Ultimately, it took almost 20 months to reconstruct our property. And by the time
35:13the cost of that was considered and the cost of the lost possessions, treatment, the flood defenders,
35:20all the services that have been involved, the total bill we estimated to be approximately 330,000 pounds.
35:28In the summer of 2021, the council installed two soakaways to help absorb surface water outside of the house.
35:36And an investigation by Anglia and Water uncovered further problems, including surface water drains,
35:43which were wrongly connected to the filed sewers. But still, heavy rain led to a number of near misses
35:50areas throughout 2021 and 2022. Each time it built up in the road, we had to stop everything,
35:59whether we were having dinner with our children, we were at a funeral, we were on our honeymoon,
36:04had to come back early because of the rain. So it created an overwhelming anxiety any time it rained.
36:12In response to our original broadcast, Anglia and Water, North Northamptonshire Council,
36:17and the developer of a new housing estate nearby said they would be making improvements to
36:23alleviate flooding in the area while continuing to monitor the issue.
36:30Since 2023, when we first heard Ashley and Helen's story, the number of UK properties estimated to be
36:38at high risk of surface water flooding has risen sharply. Indeed, three times more properties are at high
36:44risk of this type of flooding than they are flooding from rivers or the sea. Joining me in HQ now
36:51to talk
36:51about what this means and what homeowners can do about it is flood risk expert Simon Crowther.
36:59With Simon, I want to start with something that we heard at the end of the film,
37:03which is that there are three times more homes at high risk of flooding from surface water than from rivers
37:09or the sea, for example. And that surprises me because you tend to think of the sea, rivers,
37:15water being near your house. That's the reality of surface water flooding can happen in a lot more
37:21places. If we think of rivers and the sea, the floodplain is confined to either side of the river,
37:28but surface water flooding can happen in lots of different areas. And if we compare most recent
37:34Environment Agency data, we've got 4.6 million homes predicted to be at risk of surface water flooding.
37:42This impacts so many people that it needs to become a regular topic of conversation. And there's
37:47obviously going to be an increasing risk as our climate changes, the climate can hold more moisture,
37:53we get heavier downpours. So this risk is going to only increase.
37:58In 2025, the Environment Agency introduced new technology to map surface water flooding.
38:06And the greater accuracy of its predictions led to a 43% increase in the number of properties deemed
38:12at risk. So it is well worth checking if your home could be amongst them.
38:18Can you show me how that works?
38:20Yeah, so what I'll do is pop in the postcode for Media City. This is the flood risk checker for
38:29England. So it's the Environment Agency one. But if we were to look at Northern Ireland,
38:33it would be Department of Infrastructure, Wales would be Natural Resources Wales,
38:37and Scotland would be SEPA. And we'll see here at the moment, it's showing a very low
38:42risk of surface water flooding, but increasing with climate change to low risk. So what I could do is
38:48contrast this and show you the risk for Helen and Ashley, who we saw earlier in the video.
38:54So we'll see their property, unfortunately, has a high risk of surface water flooding, which means
38:59there's at least a 3.3% chance that it will flood every year. So you're effectively rolling the dice
39:06every year. And if you think of the time you're going to live in a property or over a mortgage
39:11period,
39:12the risk can really quite add up.
39:13But being basic about it, is it just the drains are just not good enough, strong enough to take the
39:19rain away?
39:20The problem is drainage doesn't remove flood risk, it just reduces it. So you could have the best
39:26drainage in the world and still have a storm that exceeds the design criteria of that drainage. And
39:33that's why a lot of design now is how do we actually slow that exceedance flow? How do we contain
39:39it? How do we stop it impacting communities? But that requires joint-up thinking, usually requires
39:45a lot of effort from a community group and working with the council, with the MPs, to try and drive
39:51change and improve the community.
39:53We've had a letter from one of our viewers in Red Bull Britain called John, and he says his garden
39:58has been regularly flooded in the last 12 or so years, because the drains in the lane that runs next
40:03to his garden are not cleared or maintained properly. John says he regularly goes to the council and the
40:09water company, asking them to clear the drains, but it doesn't happen. And he says that he often
40:13clears the drains himself. Is there anything else he can do?
40:16So if I was John, I'd be asking the council what that drain is and where it goes. I think
40:22on your own
40:22property, things like clearing gutters, clearing drains on your own property, they are things you could do
40:29ahead of a storm event. But I would not advise going out in the road to clear council drains.
40:34So too many dangers?
40:35It's too many dangers. Particularly under flood water, you can have manholes that have lost their
40:40lids. So if you were to walk along, you could effectively have an open hole in the ground.
40:45And there are really unfortunate events where people have lost their lives in trying to help the
40:53community and clear drains. So it's not something that I would advise doing.
40:57So when it comes to flood insurance, I mean, do you think that would help people make changes to
41:02their homes to protect against surface water flooding?
41:06Insurance is good for helping after an event, but not necessarily before. There is something
41:12that can be really helpful after a flood that's provided by Flood Re, which is the agreement between
41:20insurance and the government as to how they'll handle properties at risk of flooding.
41:24And this scheme is called Build Back Better. And it is a £10,000 additional payment towards
41:31making your property more resilient to flooding. So that might be fitting a flood barrier
41:36on the doorway. It might be a valve to stop sewage coming back up through the toilet. But it might
41:42be
41:42things like changing MDF skirting boards to hardwood so that if it does flood again,
41:47the damage is a lot less. And is that accessible to the majority of people?
41:52Yes, it should be available on comparison sites. So check your insurance policy, walk around your
41:57house, think about what could be impacted if I had 30 centimetres of flood water here.
42:03Fascinating material. Thank you very much, Simon, for joining us.
42:07And of course, we will be putting all of that advice on our website. Just to remind you of it,
42:12bbc.co.uk slash ripoffbritain.
42:18If you've got a problem and you think our team can help, there are lots of ways you can get
42:22in touch.
42:22You can email us at ripoffbritain at bbc.co.uk or send us a WhatsApp message to
42:3200306781321. We're also on Facebook. Just search for BBC Ripoff Britain.
42:38Or you can always write a letter. The address is Ripoff Britain, BBC Media City UK, Salford, M50 2LH.
42:47Please include your phone number if you can. And don't send us any original documents,
42:52because sadly, we won't be able to return them.
42:58Well, we're very nearly out of time for today, but there's just time to remind you
43:02that you can catch up on anything you might have missed, like how to spot a bogus ratings website,
43:08to how to check if your home is at risk of surface water flooding. Just head to BBC iPlayer.
43:13But for now, thank you so much for joining us today. Until we see you again. Bye bye.
43:18Goodbye.
43:25Bye bye.
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