First it was cold calling, and then it was a knock at the door. But now Watchdog is getting complaints about another tactic energy companies use to get you to sign up. Their salesmen are targeting you right in the middle of your shopping.
Wi-fi hot-spots across the country are not secure and are vulnerable to attack.
An investigation by Watchdog has revealed that the UK's top three wi-fi providers; BT Openzone, The Cloud and T-Mobile are all susceptible to attack by hackers - leaving tens of thousands of users at risk of fraud.
John Doherty operates a company based in Leeds called 'ATY Gardening' also known as 'ATY', 'ATY Gardens' and 'All the Year Gardening', not to be confused with other companies with similar names. The company boasts a ten year guarantee and discount for OAP's in its adverts, but you might want to think twice before you pick up the phone.
New BBC iD sign in system FAQs
BBC iD is the new sign in system for BBC Online. It's currently being rolled out across all services that require a user to register or sign in.
On Monday November 2nd we'll be switching all of the BBC's blogs to BBC iD from the previous BBC membership system. And in the New Year our message boards and other communities will be heading down the same route.
By March 2010 BBC iD will be the single sign in for all BBC Online services. If you have an existing BBC membership account for blogs, message boards or other services at some point in the next few months you will be automatically prompted to upgrade to BBC iD.
We do need to replace the old system, but we don't underestimate the inconvenience the transition will represent for some of our users. We apologise for this and hope that you will find the service improvements that BBC iD will support over the coming months for example, working on mobiles - make it all worthwhile.
We've tried to answer the questions you may have about the new system here.
If we've missed anything, please let us know. Most users should be able to upgrade their account from a BBC membership to a BBC iD when prompted with a minimum of fuss.
We'll be keeping you up to date with the roll-out of BBC iD via the BBC Internet blog.
NB: There's one thing you will need to think about if you have more than one BBC membership account:
If you have more than one BBC membership you'll only be able to upgrade one of those accounts to BBC iD using your preferred username and email address. That BBC iD account will retain links to your previous membership account and any comments and posts you made using it. So if you have more than one BBC membership, make sure you upgrade your favourite one.
Watchdog has received a number of complaints from BMW owners who've suffered cracked alloy wheels.
BMW has blamed the drivers, saying they must have hit potholes or speed humps but the drivers say the damage isn't their fault and these expensive wheels should be replaced free-of-charge under warranty.
The damage mostly affects 19" rear alloy wheels, used in conjunction with runflat tyres. An expert engineer who examined the wheels, said there was no visual evidence of any road impacts. He told Watchdog that the wheels should be recalled by BMW on safety grounds.
Watchdog asked disgruntled drivers to send in their cracked alloys. Meanwhile, we turned some of them into instruments and created a musical message to take to BMW's UK headquarters in Bracknell.
Whether we use their phone service or not, most of us still rely on BT's 15 million residential lines. So if there's any sort of fault they'll try and put it right but who should foot the bill? BT or you?
In an effort to cut food waste, Tesco announced on 16 October 2009 that they would be getting rid of all BOGOFS (Buy One Get One Free deals) and introducing a new 'Buy One Get One Free Later' initiative where customers could receive a voucher and get their free item at a later date. This will take effect in stores before Christmas, but Tesco couldn't tell us exactly when.
Prior to this change, Watchdog looked at Supermarkets and the way they use clever marketing techniques to entice customers to buy products - often spending more than they need to.
This week Matt and Dan have been on the trail of a dangerous tree surgeon. Shaun Varey has been caught precariously wielding a chainsaw and overcharging his customers by hundreds of pounds.
BMW is a company that boasts in its adverts that it doesn't just create cars, it creates joy. But some owners of high performance BMWs have a completely different experience. Their wheels might promise great performance but it seems there's one thing some of them just can't cope with - the great British pothole.
Some BMW drivers are discovering that their expensive alloy wheels are cracking - making them potentially dangerous, and definitely in need of replacement at a cost of hundreds of pounds.
But BMW is blaming potholes, speed humps and other road surfaces that give a bumpy ride. The company says drivers are hitting them at speed, so the damage is their fault, and it's refusing to pay for replacement wheels under warranty.
Earlier this year, Watchdog alerted eBay to the sale of dangerous and illegal knives on their UK and Ireland sites.
In response, eBay banned trade in all knives, except for cutlery. Recently, we came across another alarming item being sold on the site - a type of tilt switch, described by the seller as a "bonnet light, boot lid, Al Qaeda bomb".
It's been a turbulent couple of years for our banks. They've not only been fighting for their own survival, they've also been fighting their own customers on bank charges.
For four years now consumer champion Martin Lewis has been campaigning about what he believes are legally unfair charges levied by banks when you go beyond your authorised overdraft limits.
Their charges have caused such outrage, that six million of you have downloaded his letter to help you claim them back. The Office of Fair Trading took the case to court to get a ruling. The case has dragged on for more than two years but the result of the case is now due before Christmas.
Good news for consumers - complaints about water companies overall are going down - that is except for United Utilities. They claim to be one of Britain's biggest water companies pumping out two billion litres a day from Cumbria to Cheshire.
However, the latest official figures say they get more complaints per customer than any other water company - up by more than a third.
Remember last year's stinky trainers? And our stinky trainers update?
Watchdog is hearing from people who say they have very recently bought Nike T90 and Mercurial trainers and are having exactly the same stinky problem. Have you had the same experience?
We all know that prices go up at half term. If you are a parent it's just something most of us accept.
Watchdog checked internet prices this October half term. If you booked a family of four self catering in Tenerife with Thomson, you would pay 85% more in half term then you would the week after. If you travelled with Thomas Cook during the holidays that would be an increase of 123% for the same period that week and with Cosmos you would see a price hike of 111%.
But one company trumped all of that. Center Parcs had the highest price hike and they don't even take you out of the country.
Royal Mail's redirection service sends mail from your old address to your new home when you move. It costs just under £40 for 12 months, and is supposed to reduce the risk of identity theft. But what if it's not you that's redirecting your post?
If you bought a six pack of Budweiser in the hope of winning tickets to next year's World Cup in South Africa you may a little disappointed. The competition on packs asked about a famous goal from Michael Owen's debut England game from the World Cup in 1998.
The question is what round of the tournament did this match take place?
A. Group Stage
B. Quarter Final
C. Semi Final
The answer of course is none of the above. It was the second round OR 'round of 16'. So how did Budweiser get it so wrong?
The adverts for iPhones are always telling us how great they are. They can surf the web, let you watch YouTube or feature films and of course they play your music and store your photos. They can even help you sort your finances. But what they don't tell us is that for some people the phones have started crashing and becoming unusable.
He's been fined thousands of pounds, named and shamed in the media and even been sentenced to prison for a year - but it seems nothing will stop TV Repair Centre (TVRC) boss, Gurdave Sharma from misleading and overcharging customers through his TV repair company that operates across England.
We've heard from people across the country, complaining about shoddy repairs, bad customer service and in some cases, never getting their TVs back altogether.
You may have phoned them thinking they're a local company, but think again. Sharma has lots of ads in the Yellow Pages all apparently local TV repairers, complete with local telephone numbers. But as Matt and Dan found out this week, you never know who's at the end of a 'so called' local company!
The UK digital switchover is underway. It started earlier this year and finishes with the London region in 2012. But just what does it mean? If you're unclear, you're not alone. Many viewers are confused about what technology they need to receive a digital signal. Sadly, some rogue aerial installers are cashing in on this confusion to make a fast buck.
This week Rogue Traders headed to the West Country to investigate complaints we received about two such unscrupulous individuals: Dave Woodyatt and his boss Mitchell Elliott. We've been told that Dave has been installing TV aerials when they aren't needed, misdiagnosing faults and misleading customers about the works required.
But complaining to the company doesn't get the problem solved. The big boss, Mitchell Elliott, uses threats and abusive language to customers when they call to complain.
Big supermarkets have a record number of special price promotions at the moment - more than 8,000 deals. Sounds like good news for the consumer, but the reality is that these special offers are actually saving us less money than they used to. So what is going on?
Residents of Liphook in Hampshire got in touch with Watchdog after the mobile phone signal in the village mysteriously vanished.
Customers with 02, the UK's biggest mobile provider, couldn't get a reliable signal there. In fact, sometimes there was no signal at all.
Update 15 October 2009
Following last week's story on Watchdog, Renault has issued the following statement:
"Renault aims to provide the best possible service to its customers and is concerned that some owners have experienced problems with the Scenic II instrument panel losing its display.
"If a Scenic II owner has had their vehicle's instrument panel repaired or replaced outside of the Renault UK Dealer network before 1 November this year and has paid more than £100, we invite them to contact our Customer Services department, with both proof of ownership and suitable proof of the repair or replacement, and we will arrange a refund of the difference.
When Talk Talk, a Carphone Warehouse company, launched its pay-as-you-go mobile service in 2005 it offered free calls forever between all Talk Talk landlines and Talk Talk mobiles.
But in September, Talk Talk began contacting customers to say it was closing down its Talk Talk Mobile service and offering to move those customers to a new service called Talk Mobile.
However, it means more than just a simple name change to Talk Talk Mobile customers. That different name means those free calls promised with the previous service have gone, such as free calls between Talk Talk landlines and mobiles.
As winter approaches, and the heating is about to come on, many of us are worried about the cost of our energy bills. That's because gas prices have barely changed since they shot up 40% last year. That's despite huge falls on the wholesale energy markets - the price the companies pay. So who can make the suppliers charge a fair price for our gas and electricity?
So far this year there have already been more than 15,000 complaints to Consumer Direct about car repairs and servicing. Fixing cars is something that most of us know little about, and so when things go wrong more often than not, you have little choice but to trust your mechanic.
But as our investigation this week proves, you can't always rely on someone who says they know what they're doing when it comes to your car's engine.
Forty years ago this year, the summer of love was in full swing and the music festival was born: Woodstock, a free event, attracted 500,000 people and the biggest rockers of the day. Fast-forward 40 years and the summers of free love are a thing of the past; today's music festivals are commercial beasts, with the biggest charging more than £200 for a weekend.
Today there are more than 350 music festivals across the UK, with acts performing everything from folk music to hardcore trance and everything in-between. They attract thousands of partygoers and the UK's biggest industry names, but the music festival has become big business.
Getting a ticket for the biggest gigs of the summer is no easy task, for some of the major festivals; you have to sign up a year in advance to buy a ticket. But this year with so many brand new festivals launching, some people who bought tickets didn't get quite what they paid for.
Ryanair is today making airline history. It's the first company to abolish the airport check-in. Although it's been phasing in the policy since March, today is the day it affects every single one of their passengers. Wherever you are flying, you'll need to print out your boarding pass before you get to the airport, or face a £40 charge for every person.
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