Nick Oldham: Rights and Wrongs

And - after the company was contacted by Rights and Wrongs - its representative has been suspended without pay and now faces a disciplinary hearing.

Rosina Craven, of Baildon, hit out at Swindon-based Calortex after a field manager called at her father's home in Saltaire.

The 65-year-old said her father, who is almost blind, had signed the consent form to change over his gas and electricity supplies and the rep then printed her father's name on the form next to his signature.

"My father is very frail and he's confused anyway," she said. "When I called round he was very upset - he didn't know what he had signed. He said this chap told him he would save a lot of money.

"They should have waited until I was there because my father kept telling him I did all the paying of his bills. I immediately phoned them and cancelled the contract.

"There are a lot of elderly people living in that area and I wonder how many others he visited."

A Calortex spokesman said the representative was employed by a sales agency on contract to Calortex. "He has been suspended without pay until the outcome of a disciplinary hearing in the next few days," she said.

"We have also sent a Calortex manager up to the Bradford sales office and we will obviously be looking at the agent's previous sales as part of the disciplinary procedure.

"With the number of visits and sales we make, proportionately this is not a very general problem but we have to act swiftly when it happens as we have done in this case."

She said Calortex made a series of checks after contracts had been signed to ensure the customer wanted to continue with the changeover, and there was a 14-day cooling-off period after signing.

"In terms of elderly people, the agents are trained to exercise caution and use their discretion," she said.

"If they have any inkling at all that the person is not capable of fully understanding the details or is disabled in any way, they should insist on a relative being present."

A spokesman for the gas industry regulator Ofgas said: "We deplore any case of mis-selling and we will investigate each and every complaint we receive.

"As a condition of their supply licence, companies have to properly train and select door to door sellers.

"After the customer has signed the agreement, the company has to go back to them within 14 days and before the changeover to make sure they are happy with the transfer and they understand it."

A Gas Consumers' Council spokesman said doorstep canvassers often worked on commission only.

"The main problem is they are paid solely on results and their income depends on the number of new customers they get.

"But there is no excuse for this sort of practice."

Anyone wanting to complain about gas issues can contact Ofgas on freephone 0800 887777 or the Gas Consumers' Council on 0113 243 9961.

Customer hits at cable bill 'madness'

More complaints have been made against Yorkshire Cable following a recent Rights and Wrongs story.

Sam Hurdus claims she has been charged £145 for pay-per-view films she has never seen.

Miss Hurdus said she was amazed when the bill came through the letter box for a three-month period.

"We have only watched about four films at £2.99 each so the bill is total madness," she said.

She said according to the bill, someone in her home must have watched the same film two or three times on the same day.

"They took £145 out of our account and when I told them we had only watched a few films, they came and changed the box and credited us with £111."

Des Riley, of Barkerend, is wondering how many more surprise phone bills he will get from Yorkshire Cable after being sent a bill for a reverse charge call made in November last year.

"My son's in the Army and he makes a few reverse charge calls," Mr Riley said.

"But we have had bills for calls made since November and we've paid them so I want to know how many more I'll get for old calls I thought I had already paid for.

"I'm not paying for it and I've told them that."

A Yorkshire Cable spokesman said a faulty set top box was the cause of the phantom movies at Miss Hurdus's home.

And Mr Riley's late bill was due to a delay in the transfer of information from another phone company.

"We have apologised to Mr Riley and believe the matter has been settled to his satisfaction," she said.

Earlier this month Rights and Wrongs told how Julie Zina had been charged for Yorkshire Cable calls she claimed she did not make.

One item on the bill was for a number which she had not even finished dialling and five others were for calls to a number she says was engaged on each occasion.

The company says her complaint is still being investigated but the charge for the incomplete number was an error.

£1,000 offers 'fit for the bin'

Get-rich-quick leaflets are being dropped through letterboxes in the Bradford area offering householders the chance to have £1,000 - for just £9.97p.

The mailshots are being sent out by the International Merchandise Centre from British Columbia, Canada.

Recipients are told they could get the cash or a TV, a video recorder or a pendant.

The rules state the offer is not a contest, lottery or sweepstake and the items are incentives "to introduce selected consumers to the fabulous values and opportunities from International Merchandise Centre."

Rights and Wrongs has in the past highlighted similar leaflets from International Claim Bureau - operating from Vancouver in British Columbia - as well as from Global Cash Delivery Programme, International Cash and Merchandise Giveaway and the International Audit Division of the Cash Award Centre, all operating from the same address in Cologne in Germany.

West Yorkshire Trading Standards officers advise recipients to throw away the leaflets because the companies are based abroad and are outside British law.

Don't be fooled by guide

Businesses are being offered the chance to be included in a new European city guide published in Spain.

But West Yorkshire Trading Standards say there is only one place for the mailshot, too - in the bin.

Sent from ECG in Barcelona, it offers an insertion in three editions of the guide - at a cost of £327 each.

And recipients are asked to complete and return the form, including a signature, even if they don't want to take up the offer.

But the small print tells them they have placed an order by sending it back and the contract is automatically renewed each year unless they receive a letter of cancellation. And it warns they could be sued if they don't pay.

Trading Standards spokesman Martin Wood said: "This is another example of a money- making scheme aimed at local businesses.

"When companies decline to pay the invoice which will doubtless follow, the operator will, I'm sure, put pressure on the company to pay up."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.