Final Episode of Rogue Traders for 2012. Original Broadcast date October 31, 2012. Copyright BBC.
Description taken from the BBC Watchdog website
"And finally an update from Nottingham where in 2010 we met Virgo Healthcare Limited a company who specialised in selling mobility products to the elderly. They provided us with one of the most depressing pieces of secret footage we've ever seen.
We got our first master-class in pressure selling when we called out one of their saleswomen to ask about a mobility product. Over two hours she persisted in going through the company's full list of products despite our actress saying she wasn't interested 16 times.
Wanting to see what else we could find out we sent in a member of our team undercover where he discovered even more alarming practices. General manager Sam Routh explained the company's pricing policy and told trainees to charge as much as possible.
When our mole visited customers in their homes it got even worse.
Salesman: "Last week I went to see guy. Seven days later he died. Thankfully it's outside of the cancellation notice. I'm sorry about that but that's how it happened. I've still got my £2000 commission coming on that. It's remarkable how God works. If you ever wanted someone to turn their toes up having paid a load of dough. This was your guy."
We caught up with owner Armajit Gill. He didn't answer any of our allegations but he couldn't escape the law. After our investigation was broadcast Armajit stopped trading as Virgo Healthcare Limited but continued to sell mobility products using other business names. But Derbyshire Trading Standards were onto him. In January 2011 they raided Amarjits home and business premises and seized tens of thousands of business documents, computers and £34k cash in a safe in Armajits home. The raid provided them with enough evidence to bring court proceedings and in August 2011 Armajit and wife Ranjit Gill pleaded guilty to 25 charges of fraud and Sam Routh, the salesmen we met while working undercover pleaded guilty to 8 charges of fraud. They are due to be sentenced in December.
Investigating Officer Steve Allen said: "This has been one of most serious and biggest cases that we've dealt with here. They have been deliberately defrauding some most elderly, infirm, vulnerable in society and we are very pleased to have been able to bring this to a successful conclusion."
31 окт 2012
