麻豆社

A Llanelli company that claimed to be able to stop you being cold-called has been accused of telling lies in its calls to customers. OFCOM, the UK鈥檚 official communications regulator, was speaking out about a business called the Nuisance Call Registry.

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It would ring people up who had registered with its website.The company would charge a one-off fee of 拢42, with the promise that it could stop people receiving all nuisance calls.

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X-Ray had been contacted by a former employee concerned about the firm's sales pitch. He said they would tell customers that they knew exactly how many other call centres already had their home number.

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He told us: "It was pretty much made up as you went along. Pretty much a random number that had just been plucked from thin air. That sounded vaguely believable. I was always a little suspicious because most of it sounded too good to be true. I didn't see how it could possibly stop 100 per cent of the calls."

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Posing as a potential customer, X-Ray registered on their website under the name of Glyn Jones. Jamie, from the Nuisance Call Registry, rang us back and made some very strong claims.

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Jamie told us: "Basically, any nuisance calls that you receive from overseas, UK based and the rogue and scam companies, we do stop, one hundred per cent of them."

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He claimed that every 28 days they sent out lists of numbers that foreign and UK call centres were allowed to ring, and if we paid them they would remove our number from that list. Jamie also told us the company bought any numbers it got from OFCOM.

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We played the call to Rhodri Williams, director of OFCOM in Wales.He described that last claim as 鈥渞idiculous and untrue.鈥� Mr Williams added: 鈥淲e don't provide anyone's telephone numbers to anybody. It is a bizarre and totally untruthful claim."

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Jamie also made a series of allegations in his phone call about the government-backed Telephone Preference Service. People can register with this service for free. It provides UK call centres with a list of people who don't want to be rung.

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Ignoring the list can lead to big fines. Jamie claimed that the TPS actually sells on people's details to foreign call centres and takes a cut of any money they get.

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He said: "If the TPS didn't exist ,then you wouldn't have any nuisance calls. Thousands of people are under the impression that the government should be trusted with the TPS, unfortunately that is not the case because they claim that they can't stop the overseas calls. The reason they can't is because they sell their calling lists overseas."

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The TPS has strongly denied the allegations. Rhodri Williams, from OFCOM, added: "This is not what the TPS does. It provides a service that is accredited by Ofcom and works with the industry to try and keep nuisance calls to a minimum. The idea that they are then selling those numbers to other people I find totally incredible. "There is a catalogue of lies, that I have listened to there, and that is something that concerns us very much because if people are taken in by that kind of thing I think what they are going to find is that they are paying money and still receiving nuisance calls."

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So who is behind the Nuisance Call Registry and its parent company Nuisance Call Services Ltd? The company was initially registered to a Michael Bourne from Surrey - except those details are described by Companies House as forged. We've been told the man who was running the firm's call centre in Llanelli is actually called Matthew Hayes.

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Nearly a decade ago, Pembrokeshire Trading Standards had 80 complaints about a firm he was running in Haverfordwest called the Phone Protection Agency. In May 2004, Mr Hayes had an enforcement order made against him at Cardiff County Court to stop him breaching consumer protection regulations again. It's still in force apparently, and a breach of the order could mean he is in contempt of court.

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The Nuisance Call Registry has now shut down its website. X-ray tried to contact Mr Hayes, but has received no comment.听

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It can be hard enough to choose Christmas presents for everyone, but even harder when you just don鈥檛 know what to buy. So many people turn to Christmas hampers as a perfect present choice, but are we getting value for money when we buy the pre-packaged hampers from the high street?

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Harrods sell a hamper for 20 thousand pounds, which is out of nearly everyone鈥檚 price range, but there are many more hampers to choose from on the high street. We went to Marks and Spencer and Waitrose, two high end supermarkets, to see EXACTLY what was inside their hampers. From Marks and Spencer we chose The Christmas Selection hamper, at 100 pounds they say it鈥檚 the ideal hamper to delight any family at Christmas.

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And from Waitrose we chose the Festive Sparkle hamper, also 100 pounds and said to be bursting with delicious treats. We priced all the individual items and if the products weren鈥檛 available we asked customer services what a suitable substitute would be.

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There were 13 items inside the Marks and Spencer hamper..ranging in price from 拢1.59 to 拢8.The entire contents of the 拢100 hamper cost us just 53 pounds in total, almost half the price.Waitrose fared even worse. They had 11 items in their hamper; the cheapest was 拢1.85 and the most expensive 拢10.50. We bought the entire contents of their 拢100 hamper for just 拢43.10.

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So why are we willing to pay such a big mark up? 鈥� I think one of the first things is quality, so they think it鈥檚 of higher quality as opposed to other products鈥� Eliot Pill, Marketing expert from Cardiff University told us.鈥� I also think that they are trying to get across that they have the ability to purchase something quite expensive and therefore also that they are showing a caring side, that they are prepared to spend quite a lot of money on someone they care for.鈥�

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So what have the companies got to say? Waitrose have told us their hampers offer good value for money and are popular with customers.听 The price reflects the effort they put into selecting, packing and presenting products, as well as the cost of the hamper or box. And Marks and Spencer - well they say their hampers and gifts are ideal for customers who don't have time to shop.They're put together by hand and delivered to the door.

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We sent almost one听billion parcels in the听UK last year and also spent 78听billion pounds buying presents for our loved ones online. With these statistics, it鈥檚 no wonder a brand new breed of delivery business is emerging鈥�.websites that offer you a听choice of available parcel courier services, promising to find you the best deal.But do they work and are they reliable?

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We did our own Christmas Courier Challenge by sending six parcels to our reporter Rachel Treadaway Williams at her home in Pembrokeshire. We packed the identical gifts carefully and exactly the same using six popular third party websites. We booked for the parcels to be sent next day delivery with different couriers through the websites. ALL of the couriers turned up to collect the parcels, but the delivery wasn鈥檛 so successful. There were NO problem s with Parcelmonkey, Parcel2go and myparceldelivery.com, they arrived safely and if Rachel wasn鈥檛 in they left a card to explain that they鈥檇 left her parcel with a neighbour.

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As for the other three, they didn鈥檛 do so well.听I-post parcels left the present with one of Rachel鈥檚 neighbours but they听didn't leave a card saying where the parcel was. Collect my parcel also left the present with Rachel鈥檚 neighbour, but left the card on the floor NOT in her post box.听 The couriers for Interparcel com just left the parcel on top of Rachel鈥檚 post-box, not in a secure place.

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X ray viewer Katie O鈥橰ourke used 鈥淧arcel Monkey" last November to send her laptop to her Uncle in Durham to be mended.听 The following day the couriers left a slip at her uncle鈥檚 house saying they鈥檇 attempted delivery. He assumed the parcel was at a nearby depot, but it wasn鈥檛.

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鈥淚 got a phone call that evening he said it wasn鈥檛 at the depot 鈥� she told us 鈥渉e鈥檇 actually discovered it in his back garden underneath his barbeque when they鈥檇 had snow. That was the following day, so it had been left in the snow overnight. It was totally broken,听听it wouldn鈥檛 charge it wouldn鈥檛 do anything鈥�.

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The laptop had been listed on Parcel Monkeys restricted items, but Katie had paid something called Carriage Guarantee insurance, so she thought she鈥檇 be covered. 鈥淭hey said as it鈥檚 a restricted item we accept no responsibility鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey basically offered me 拢12.49 for the insurance! I have had to pay out 拢1100 on a new laptop and you鈥檙e offering me 拢12.49. I just felt really insulted鈥�

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I-post parcels听responded to the problems we鈥檇 had with their delivery to Rachel by saying听 their driver genuinely forgot to put a card through the Rachel's door听 and 'corrective measures' have been issued..Collect my parcel says they can't comment as they are investigating...but the timely and secure delivery of parcels is a top priority for them. And Interparcel say that investigations are still ongoing, and appropriate action will be taken.

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But there is some good news for student Katie Parcel Monkey is going to refund her seven hundred and fifty pounds to cover the cost of her computer, and the delivery costs.

Scientists at Cardiff Council鈥檚 food testing laboratory have made some alarming discoveries about the seasonal figs and dates on sale in the capital.Forty three packets of figs and dates for sale in shops and markets around the city were tested, and three and a half thousand individual fruits were examined.

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Sixty per cent of the dates and 75 percent of the figs sampled were found to be infested with live and dead larvae, live and dead beetles, and insect excrement.听 Under European law this means the fruit is classed as unsafe.

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According to Alastair Low of Cardiff Scientific Services, some of the larvae are the same colour as the fruit - and not immediately visible. When some of the fruit was cut open up to five live beetles were found inside. Among the species discovered were sawtoothed grain beetles. The insects enter the figs and dates when the fruit is being dried and packaged in the countries where they are grown such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Tunisia.

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Mr Low explained: 鈥淭hey eat the fruit in order to grow and then they sometimes become trapped inside, and they obviously die or they are still living. Unless you cut the fruit open you are going to be oblivious to it.鈥�

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Although the laboratory has only tested figs and dates bought in Cardiff, Mr Low is concerned this could be a problem across Wales. He said: 鈥淚f it鈥檚 present in a large city I鈥檓 sure those types of shops appear all over Wales, so it is certainly something to consider.鈥� His advice to consumers is to cut the fruit in half and inspect it. If it鈥檚 infected, people should contact Trading Standards.

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