麻豆社

Geoff and Denise Griffin from Llansamlet, near Swansea had a new glass roof fitted on their conservatory by Everest Home Improvements on November 8th 2016. Four days after being fitted, Geoff noticed that the new roof leaked each time it rained. Almost twelve months have passed since the roof was fitted and it still leaks despite Everest Home Improvements going to his home and attempting to fix the leak six times.

麻豆社 Wales鈥� consumer programme X-Ray have contacted Everest Home Improvements who have apologised, and admit that they have taken more time than is reasonable to diagnose the fault. They have now arranged for a team, complete with project manager, to visit Geoff and Denise at the end of the month. If the work they have planned to stop the leak isn't effective, they've promised they will reinstall the whole roof and cover the cost of re-plastering and redecorating.

Consumer expert Professor Margaret Griffiths has three top tips for what to do if you have paid a company to do a job, but the job is not getting resolved.聽

She says:

1.聽聽聽聽聽 Definitely get everything in writing. 聽If you are going to complain to a company it's very tempting to just pick up the phone. 聽Don't! 聽Get it in writing so there can be absolutely no dispute later about what is being said and when it was said.

2.聽聽聽聽聽 My second top tip would definitely be to set deadlines so the company 聽knows what you expect from them and they can have no doubt whatsoever about what has got to be done.

3.聽聽聽聽聽 Make the calendar your best friend聽 every time you speak to them. Every time somebody calls, every phone call there is - keep a day by day diary about what has gone on.聽 That way you have absolute evidence of how the problem has been dealt with.

One of the joys of modern day technology, and a convenience to drivers everywhere, is the invention of the sat nav. Helping us get from A to B, no matter what the route, distance or destination, the helping hand on our dashboard has made car journeys easier than ever.

Or has it?

John Aggleton, from Cardiff, tells a different story when it comes to the sat nav in his Volkswagen Golf.

A professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at Cardiff University, John says he鈥檚 been left more than a little puzzled by his car鈥檚 inbuilt navigation system.

John said: 鈥淚 bought this barely used VW Golf. And one of the things that really attracted me to it, it sounds a bit sad I know, it鈥檚 got an inbuilt navigation system.

鈥淪o if I鈥檓 driving on my own I can get anywhere, I know where I鈥檓 going and I don鈥檛 need to worry about getting lost.鈥�

But not long after taking ownership of the vehicle, John realised the sat nav was behaving a bit oddly.

鈥淚t just kept coming up with very, very peculiar routes that persistently avoided the A470.鈥�

An important route to anyone living in south Wales, it鈥檚 not one any driver would want to see disappear from their car鈥檚 navigation system.

John took his concerns back to the dealer, Sinclair Volkswagen in Cardiff, where he was told the sat nav was in the wrong mode. But despite trying every setting under the sun, the problem persisted and the sat nav refused to cooperate.

John went back to the dealer but says his complaints fell on deaf ears.

鈥淭he garage was very unsympathetic. They said didn鈥檛 care and there was nothing wrong with it.鈥�

We had to see this for ourselves and decided to put John鈥檚 stubborn sat nav to the test.

Pitting John against a mystery driver, we wanted to see whose sat nav would navigate from Cardiff to Brecon in the fastest time.

Both journeys started out well and John did make it onto the A470, but then things literally took a different direction and John found himself turning off the main road for Pontypridd.

From there things went well and truly downhill, with John getting caught up in all sorts of traffic and travel chaos.

Taking him off the beaten track, John said the naughty navigation system took him 鈥渄own roads, places, firstly I鈥檇 never (knew) existed and certainly I鈥檇 never driven down before.

鈥淚t was the most extraordinary route.鈥�

Extraordinary it certainly was and saw John arrive in Brecon a staggering 20 minutes after our mystery driver crossed the finish line. 聽聽

Not the result he was hoping for.

Speaking to X-Ray, Volkswagen UK聽 said they鈥檙e sorry to learn of John鈥檚 experience and they鈥檙e keen to sort out what they describe as an isolated problem. They added they would work with Sinclair to replace the sat nav in John鈥檚 car as quickly as possible.