麻豆社

A Llanelli businessman who鈥檚 made a fortune from controversial call centres is being investigated after failing to return deposits to consumers.

Grant Evans, who is well known in the town for driving top of the range sports cars, runs two businesses 鈥� Consumer Credit Services, also known as CCS, and Claim Compensators 鈥� both currently operating out of the Grange in Llanelli.

X-Ray has revealed how the companies cold call customers to sign them up for a service to reclaim mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance.

Customers pay a deposit of up to 拢239.99 on the understanding they get a 14 day cooling off period to change their mind and that they鈥檒l get their money back if their claim fails.

But X-Ray found many customers have struggled to get their cash back 鈥� and Trading Standards have also given Mr Evans a list of customers who need to be paid back.

Customers have told the programme how they have been 鈥渇obbed off鈥� when they rang the company.

One customer, Karl Higgins from Wrexham, was called by the company at home in January. He told us, 鈥淭hey said whatever happens I would not lose out. I said that鈥檚 fair enough then. He said you are on a winner from the start.鈥�

But when he decided to cancel he was told he would have to wait until April for a refund 鈥� and even then it did not arrive.

Another customer, Nigel Caseley from Bristol, agreed to sign up with Claim Compensators but he tried to cancel after seeing bad reviews of them on the internet.

He said, 鈥淭hey said they couldn鈥檛 issue refunds because their refund machine was not working and hasn鈥檛 been working for a couple of months.鈥�

CCS had its Ministry of Justice licence suspended in January 鈥� but it was returned in May on condition the company did not take deposits upfront.

But there are no such restrictions on Claim Compensators, which operates out of the same office and shares Mr Evans as a director. X-Ray has also discovered that both companies were using the same sales script.

The Ministry of Justice has been investigating the company for at least five months 鈥� but has done nothing to restrict its operations.

Mr Evans says his business problems are due to banks who withdrew facilities from his companies. He says this is because his companies are trying to reclaim money from banks on behalf of consumers 鈥� and the banks don鈥檛 like it. He has repaid deposits for Mr Higgins and some other consumers whose cases have been highlighted by the programme. However, in other cases he says the money is stuck with banks who are refusing the release it.

He also claims that many consumers, including Mr Caseley and Mr Higgins, failed to follow proper procedures when claiming refunds.

Consumers who think they have been mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance can reclaim the money themselves without paying commission to claims management companies. There are a number of helpful online guides.

Some are these are:

Swansea Trading Standards raided the Kingsway premises of Aurora Logistics

Swansea-based Sky warranty company, Aurora Logistics have yet to refund X-Ray viewer Valerie Morris, after the 73-year-old shelled out 拢79.99 for a policy she didn鈥檛 want.

Last month we highlighted Valerie's problems with the company.听 Its director Paul De La Mare promised he'd refund her money.听听 But over the last month, yet more unhappy customers have come forward to complain about the sales tactics employed by Aurora.

Sylvia Parsons, from Newport, was cold called earlier this year and was persuaded to take up a new warranty for her Sky equipment.

Sylvia鈥檚 cheque for 拢79.99 was cashed 鈥� only for Aurora to then send threatening letters demanding payment.

鈥淭hey also threatened to put me on a black list,鈥� Sylvia explained. 鈥淚 had asked for an apology or at least to be assured that they hadn't done that and I haven't heard anything.鈥�

And it seems Sylvia and Valeria are not alone when it comes to experiencing problems with Aurora Logistics.

Carol Oatey, from Usk, is another unhappy customer who got in touch with X-Ray to complain about not receiving her money back from the Swansea-based company.

Carol was also called out of the blue by a sales representative from Aurora Logistics and agreed to take a policy with them - only to later realise she was already covered with a different company. She contacted Aurora and was told the warranty would be cancelled.

鈥淭hen some time later I discovered that Aurora had taken 拢79.99 from my bank account, something that they said they wouldn't do,鈥� said Carol. 鈥淚t made me feel stupid but it also made me feel very angry.鈥�

Carol was promised a refund but is still waiting to be paid.
听
Viewers also got in touch to complain about another Swansea-based Sky warranty company that appears to be operating in the same way as Aurora.
听
Cable Guy contacted Gethin Hughes, from Llanharan, last year to sell him a warranty for his Sky equipment.

Gethin said: 鈥淚 phoned the following day to cancel the agreement. They said everything is OK, you send all the details back and everything will be cancelled.鈥�

But the policy wasn鈥檛 cancelled and payment was subsequently taken from Mr Hughes鈥� bank account. Just like Carol and Valerie - Gethin is still waiting for a refund.

X-Ray investigated.听 Whilst there are several legitimate companies who use the name Cable Guy in the area, we discovered that the Cable Guy who contacted some X-Ray viewers and Aurora Logistics have a customer relations manager with the same name - Paul Davies.听 They also share a Swansea phone number that no longer works and both have shared addresses at Walter Road, Salubrious Passage and 37 Kingsway in Swansea.

Swansea Trading Standards carried out a raid at 37 Kingsway and confirmed they are investigating issues related to Aurora and Cable Guy, as well as potential links between the two companies.

Trading Standards officers are now examining the computers used in the business and other documentation seized from the premises.

Paul De La Mare, the director of Aurora Logistics, says he has stopped trading and finds the negative coverage very stressful.听 He accuses Trading Standards officers of over-reacting. However, he hasn't said if he would be paying back any of the people we wrote to him about or whether his business is linked to Cable Guy.

And if you have any reason to believe you have been contacted by one of these companies then Swansea Trading Standards would like to hear from you.听 They can be contacted on 01792 635 600.

X-Ray revealing some of the sample menus from the report

A new report has exposed shocking differences between the quality and quantity of food being provided to care home residents across Wales.

X-Ray has been given exclusive access to the findings by Wales Heads of Trading Standards.

The statistics revealed that almost three quarters (74%) of the homes sampled offered food containing more than the daily recommended amount of saturated fat, over half (59%) gave their residents too much salt and more than a third (36%) offered a daily diet of more than 100 grams of sugar 鈥� almost twice the recommended amount for a woman aged over 75.

The research looked at the food being provided on a single day at care homes in 13 of the 22 Welsh authorities. 86 menus were nutritionally analysed at Cardiff City Council鈥檚 Food Control Laboratory looking at levels of protein, carbohydrate, fat, saturated fat and salt.

Food Standards Officer, Christine Smith, works for Torfaen Trading Standards -听who conducted the report. She told us some elderly and vulnerable people may not be receiving the nutritional diets they need, 鈥淸For] most of [the care homes sampled] energy, protein carbohydrates, fat, saturated fat and sugars were above or below the average, and some of them very dramatically so.

鈥淭he consequence of that is the unbalanced diet will affect both short term and long term heath.鈥�

It鈥檚 recommended that adults eat around 2,000 calories a day, but one home that took part in the survey provided only 750 and another almost five times that amount 鈥� 3,700 calories in just one day.

In fact 51 per cent of the homes surveyed offered less than 2,100 calories and 10 per cent gave their residents 3,100 calories or more in a day.

There is no legal requirement for staff in care homes to have nutritional training. Wales Heads of Trading Standards is calling for mandatory minimum standards of nutrition in care homes across the UK. Assembly Government-funded training is already being rolled out across Wales.

Older People鈥檚 Commissioner for Wales, Ruth Marks is also backing this call, 鈥淚 hope that councils and care home providers and people who work directly with older people in care homes take this report seriously and provide training for staff where appropriate - and perhaps involve older people in menu planning and making sure the food they're eating is of a good nutritional value, is of a consistently high standard and of course that older people enjoy their meals.鈥�

Sarah Vining with Lucy Owen - On The Case

Sarah Vining from Cardiff thought she was fine to use her phone abroad, but her trip ended up costing more than she鈥檇 imagined.

When Sarah's husband was booked to perform at the Las Vegas Science Festival the couple were keen to turn the trip into a working holiday, but the freelance marketing consultant and mum-of-two needed to make sure she had her phone with her at all times.

Sarah said, "A couple of days before I left I phoned Orange to check whether there would be any particular issues involved with taking my iPhone to the US. And the person at the other end assured me that everything would be normal really."

While abroad Sarah kept in contact with her family and work clients using Skype and听emails, and occasionally updated her Facebook. Using the free wi-fi in the hotel and a mix of her iPhone and her laptop she thought her usage was normal.

But when she got home she was in for a big shock when a bill for 拢848 arrived.听 And that was only bill part one.

Sarah said, "I hadn鈥檛 realised that that only covered my first two days in Vegas and that bill part two would actually take the whole amount up to 拢2,500."

She had been caught out by data roaming charges. Little did she know her phone had been using different mobile networks while she was abroad and her internet service and applications, like email had been updating every second it was on, sending the bill sky high.

And when Sarah tried to sort it out with Orange it seemed there was no solution but to pay the bill.

She said, "To be honest they weren鈥檛 particularly sympathetic at the beginning. I was crying, begging and pleading and the only kind of option they offered us was the opportunity to transfer to their collections department where we could pay a ridiculous amount of money each month until the bill was paid off."

It seems Sarah is not the only person to get caught out by this. Mark Lovesey, from Risca, also ran up a bill of just under 拢2,400 with Orange after taking his Blackberry on holiday to Florida.

Tom McLennan, from Which? says this is a growing problem when people take their smart phones 鈥� those are the ones with internet access 鈥� abroad.

He said, "It鈥檚 primarily the new smart phones...that are not only designed to make calls but also used to download files, used to Skype, used for social networking. Many of the aps that people download and use these days automatically update. Each time they update they use data that costs you money."

This can also be the case for iPads and other tablets which use data to update applications. And the bills can be very expensive depending on where you travel in the world.

Tom said, "In Europe they鈥檝e placed caps on the amount of usage you can have. Once they hit that allowance it stops so the customer, inadvertently, never spends more than 50 Euros."

But outside of the EU it can be a different story as there are no caps and the bill can soar, as Sarah and Mark saw.

Tom says you need to be clear about all of this before you step on the plane this summer. He said, "I think the first and foremost thing is to contact your network operator.听

"Make sure you are aware what data costs are going to be, if you are unaware turn off your data roaming on your device ensuring that it鈥檚 not downloading data when you don鈥檛 want it to - that can be usually done in the network settings of the device.鈥�

Orange have said they are committed to giving customers transparency when it comes to data roaming rates and they advise customers to call customer services or check their web site before travelling abroad to find out about the charges and services available.

They say that iPhone users specifically should ensure data roaming is switched off.

Orange is also investigating Sarah's specific incident and have told her she will only have to pay 拢337, the cost of a 500 MB Global Data bundle for the USA plus the calls and texts she made while in the States. They have offered the same solution to Mark Lovesey.