Rip Off Britain – Series 16
The Rip Off Britain team is ready to tackle the issues you feel affect you the most.
Episodes
They sold me a written-off car
The team investigates the seriously written-off cars patched up and put back on the road, and asks why e-bike batteries, withdrawn for being a fire hazard, could still be on sale.
Blacklisted because of my surname
When an algorithm banned one woman from opening an online account because her surname was McManus, she asked Rip Off Britain for help!
Where’s my £300,000 whisky gone?
The team meet one man worried that the £300k he spent on rare whisky might have vanished after the investment firm went bust.
Paying £1 per mile for car insurance
Priced off the road: the young drivers handed a car insurance price hike in the middle of their policy.
My four-star holiday deal was anything but
The team investigates the holiday deal websites whose offers were very different to what was advertised.
Energy Special
From shockingly incorrect bills to broken smart meters, bad customer service to impossible debts, the Rip Off Britain team challenge the energy industry and the government.
Help – my home’s infested with beetles
The team meets a couple at loggerheads with a developer after finding soaked plaster and a beetle infestation in their new-build home.
The phone, the thief and the worthless insurance
How one tech giant’s phone insurance will only pay out if thieves don’t switch off the tracking software on your handset. And the people forced to pay for items that never arrived.
Cut off from my landline
Could the biggest change to landlines in generations leave you without a phone or broadband? And the new plans that might bring private parking operators into line.
Help, they’ve hacked my holiday hotel
The hacked hotel emails that could cost you your holiday. Also, the team meets a woman who felt abandoned by her cruise company when illness struck on board.
I became a money mule by mistake
Gloria Hunniford, Angela Rippon and Julia Somerville hear from the young people who thought they were dabbling in investments but instead ended up unwittingly money laundering.
‘Lose a stone in a week’ – the pamphlet peddling porkies
The team tackle more bad practice, including debunking the claims of a slimming pill magazine that says you’ll lose a stone in a week.
Help, I don’t owe the debt you’re chasing me for
The dogged debt collectors who won’t give up – even when you don’t owe them anything. And the missing mail causing huge headaches and leaving you out of pocket.
£89,000 down... and my bank won’t listen
Life savings gone and no refund – why your choice of bank could make all the difference if you lose out to scammers.
My holiday coach crash nightmare
The tour operator that one couple say really let them down when their coach transfer took a turn for the worst.
No payout pet insurance
Gloria Hunniford and Julia Somerville are joined by Henry the Blue Peter dog, as they hear about the chihuahua owner from Oldham whose pet insurer refused to pay out.
Out-of-control bamboo is destroying my driveway
Gloria Hunniford learns how the 1990s fashion for bamboo in our gardens is causing expensive problems for some homeowners 25 years later.
Help, my £45,000 pension is missing!
With millions of pounds sitting unclaimed in dormant or misplaced accounts, the team sets about helping a former bank worker track down her pension pot, which has been missing since the 1990s.
Crumbling concrete wrecked my home
Gloria Hunniford and Julia Somerville get to grips with the lightweight construction material RAAC. Installed decades ago, it’s ended up decimating housing estates across Scotland.
Wrong flight landed us in Lithuania!
Julia Somerville and Gloria Hunniford present a sun-drenched holiday edition, featuring airline passengers who were supposed to be travelling to Barcelona but got put on a flight to Lithuania.
Bank account switch left me broke
Gloria Hunniford and Julia Somerville hear the story of a woman from Bolton who staged a protest at the local branch of her bank after being left penniless and with no access to her money.
Floored by ground rent demand
A 90-year-old is shocked by a £17,000 ground rent bill on the flat he’s owned for 50 years. Plus the online marketplace being abused by scammers.
No win, no fee cost me £27,000
Gloria Hunniford, Julia Somerville and the team hear how the promise of a no win, no fee legal action left a man from Burnley with a £27,000 legal bill after a firm of solicitors went bust.
Thieves charged hundreds to my phone bill
How mobile phone theft victims are facing huge bills when crooks’ purchases are charged to them.
Airport security delays left my holiday in ruins
The travellers seeking answers after their getaway plans were wrecked when huge security queues at a major British airport caused them to miss their flights.
The missing person ads that transform into scams
How fraudsters are using social media posts about missing people and pets to hook their victims into scams.
£226,000 crypto scam left me homeless
How a recently bereaved widow from Lancashire was conned out of the £226,000 proceeds of a house sale by fraudsters who claimed she was investing in cryptocurrency.
Help, someone stole my house!
The team investigate the homeowners who’ve found their homes targeted by scammers who steal personal information to try and sell their homes from under their feet.
Fake weight-loss drug almost killed me
We reveal how fraudsters are selling counterfeit versions of a well-known weight-loss drug and the potentially devastating consequences for one woman who suffered a seizure after injecting it.
Ripped passport wrecked our holiday
In a special holiday edition, Gloria Hunniford, Julia Somerville and the team ask how much damage is too much damage when it comes to your passport.
Doorstep raiders knocked out my doorbell camera
The team uncovers the shocking story of the readily available gadget that can hack your wifi and renders many doorbell video cameras useless as security devices.
Social media bank staff scam cost me £16,500
The team reveals how scammers are convincing victims to part with their cash by posing as senior bank staff, and pointing to their social media pages as evidence.
Mistaken identity cost me thousands
The reveals the story of how a car finance company’s mistake led to the credit record of a man from Blackpool being merged with a man from South Wales who shared his name.
Landed in debt… for someone else’s shopping
The team hears from the women from South Wales who have been hounded for hundreds of pounds worth of debt after someone else took out a ‘buy now, pay later’ account in their names.
The hotel with no running water
Julia Somerville, Louise Minchin, Gloria Hunniford and the Rip Off Britain team have with a sun-soaked holidays special focusing on your travel traumas.
Missing £400,000 put my mum’s care at risk
Julia Somerville, Louise Minchin, Gloria Hunniford and the team hear the shocking story of how a woman’s attempts to invest both her own savings and her mum’s went disastrously wrong.
Ravenous rats destroyed my car
The team hear how a woman from south London says the electrical wiring in her vehicle is being repeatedly chewed by rats, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.
Careless couriers left our parcels in pieces
Gloria Hunniford, Louise Minchin and Julia Somerville hear from viewers who say their carefully packaged goods are getting smashed by clumsy couriers.
When will my flood-wrecked home be fixed?
Louise Minchin, Julia Somerville and Gloria Hunniford hear from victims of severe flooding who’ve been forced to move out of their homes for months because of delays in carrying out repairs.
Filthy holiday cottages cut our break short!
The team hear from customers of a leading holiday cottages company, who say their getaways were wrecked when they found their holiday homes covered in grime.
Filthy takeaways posting incorrect hygiene ratings
The team report on restaurants and takeaways where incorrect hygiene ratings risk misleading customers. Is the system in need of an overhaul?
Telecoms contract pushers caught on camera
In a special investigation, Rip Off Britain goes undercover with BBC News to show how a telecoms firm is making promises about contracts business owners say it didn’t keep.
Tainted tap water left us in agony
Louise Minchin, Gloria Hunniford and Julia Somerville seek answers for householders who say their water company should have acted quicker when the cryptosporidium bug was found in their tap water.
Scammed by fake AI celebrities
The team reveal how criminals are using artificial intelligence to create ‘deepfake’ videos of AI celebrities and public figures to try to get their hands on your cash
Forced to take five flights to board our cruise
We hear the astonishing story of a couple who were forced to take five flights and travel 3,000 miles across Europe to board a cruise departing from Barcelona, following a series of airline mishaps.