There was a time when companies rewarded you for your loyalty. If you gave them your long-term business, they would pay you back with good deals and top notch service. As a repeat customer, you were viewed as the best customer.
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Britain is in the midst of wedding fever. While we can be pretty sure that Kate and Wills didn't get their engagement ring from Ernest Jones, Watchdog have been contacted by three viewers who did get their rings from the company... and wish they hadn't. Wobbly diamonds, misshapen rings, tarnished metal - these are all part of their complaints. But what's more is that Watchdog have also heard from a fourth viewer whose wedding and engagement ring were actually lost, after they handed them to Ernest Jones to be cleaned.
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Anglian Home Improvements were the proud sponsors of this year's Ideal Home Show which was a 17 day extravaganza attracting thousands of spectators. It was packed with celebs, exhibitions and live demonstrations. It showcased the best of everything - from furnishings, to kitchens, to bathrooms, conservatories and gardens. They also sponsor drama on ITV3. Its own dramas? You couldn't make them up.
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Car insurance premiums are up by an average of 40% this year. Young drivers are being penalised and experienced motorists, who've never made a claim, are finding themselves priced off the road.
Tonight we're up in the tree tops investigating a company called Oakland's Tree Care, also known as Oakland's Tree Services. They're based in Banbury and shouldn't be confused with any other firms using similar names.
This week we've had our eye on the company Property Care Solutions Ltd (PCS). They're based in Hatfield, Hertfordshire and have engineers able to deal with everything from plumbing and drainage to gas work.
Tesco and cars. They go together like, well....Tesco and cars. When the company started offering motor insurance, the brand was enough to persuade people to sign up.
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A new day, a new sale, it's the Dreams way. Because when one offer ends on the Monday, Dreams launch a whole new sale the very next morning! And guess what? They've done this over - and over - again.
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Groupon has become an internet phenomenon. It's a simple idea: you register with the website then you receive news of the great daily deals in your area. From restaurants to spa days and weekend hotel breaks, you can buy a Groupon voucher to get them all at incredibly reduced prices. If enough people sign up to a deal, Groupon uses it's group buying power to get you the discount.
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Thousands are signing up every week, making Groupon one of the fastest growing companies in the world. But the number of complaints is also growing. Robyn Carter from the West Midlands spent £87 on Groupon vouchers for a spa experience. But when she contacted the spa, Shear Success, to make an appointment, the problems started.
There's no such thing as a free lunch, they say. Well here's the worst news. There's no free breakfast either. Or dinner. Or anything, really. Everything costs. And these costs, they just keep going up. Our new grumpy man in residence Rick Wakeman investigates...
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Shoplifting, or stealing from your employer, is of course theft, and that is a criminal offence. But they are also both a civil wrong, or what is known in civil law as a 'tort'. Under civil law, a party can use the civil courts to try and recover - as damages - any losses arising directly from the commission of a tort.
Tonight we're looking at Emergency First Call - a plumbing and drainage company based in Basildon, Essex. Of course they are not to be confused with firms with similar names.
We've received a number of complaints about this firm, and last year we filmed them at work but their service was fine. Since then more viewers got in touch including 85-year-old Peter from Croydon...
Our new grumpy man in residence Rick Wakeman investigates...
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What you see is usually what you get in life. Take me. I sound grumpy. So if you meet me, you won't be surprised to find that I'm, well... grumpy. But some things don't always match the image. Like food, I get suspicious when I see all those tasty and tempting ad images... just like some people we spoke to on the streets...
The average British family washes around 260 loads of washing a year. And most of us don't fancy spending that much time down the launderette, as washing at home is more convenient...
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Especially with a sleek machine that promises deep cleaning at the press of a button, offers you 50% more cleaning power and has a self-cleaning dispenser drawer. Unfortunately, this machine comes with something else...
The low cost airline Ryanair has sky high charges for using most plastic. If you put a £50 flight on your card it will cost you another six pounds, per passenger. So, if you're a family of four, that's an extra £24 each way. So that single transaction will set you back £48. But Ryanair aren't alone, as Martin Lewis discovered...
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Airlines, booking trains, utility companies, government agencies - all these industries have some companies hitting you with surcharges for the privilege of paying with credit cards. Some are a little costly, others are plain crazy, because the sums they charge us vastly outstrip the amount they're charged for processing the payments themselves. But don't just take my word for it, listen to the card industry themselves...
One case of shoplifting every minute, nine and a half thousand cases every week, half a million cases every year - now store owners have had enough. Frustrated by criminal laws, they're turning to civil laws. Laws that entitle them to claim damages from thieves who've caused them losses...
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They call it civil recovery. It sounds fair enough, until you realise they're using private companies to pursue those damages, companies who've been hounding innocent customers, just like you...
Fly tipping - an expensive and messy business...
Expensive because it costs us ALL around £100,000 a day to clear up and messy because it blights streets in towns and cities across the UK. The countryside, too...
The definitition of 'emergency': A situation, especially of danger or conflict, that arises unexpectedly and requires urgent action".
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Just as well there's an AA insurance policy that promises approved tradesmen on hand 24 hours a day... plus callouts within four hours. Phew!
Since early January we've been monitoring the deals promoted by Britain's largest supermarkets.
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Three months on, here are some of our favourite finds of so-called special offers...
Last series we featured the Thomson Dream cruise ship after passengers told us about flooded cabins, broken air conditioning and some very nasty sewage smells.
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All this was on a ship that Thomson claimed was new and luxurious. But which, we revealed, was actually 24 years old and simply sailing under a new name...
Aggressive clamping. Extortionate ticket charges. And threatening letters. The private parking sector has long had an image problem.
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Using the Freedom of Information Act, we've discovered that the DVLA sold nearly 1.1 million names and addresses to private parking companies last year. That brought in an estimated £3.4 million pounds...
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