Find the best weekend deals including 67 per cent off cinema tickets and cut-price rail cards
From property advice to legal help and consumer issues, the Consumer Crew have you covered and share the best weekend sales and freebies to take advantage of
Every Saturday, The Consumer Crew are here to solve your problems.
Judge Rinder will tackle your legal woes, Mel Hunter will take on readers’ consumer issues, Coupon Queen Maddy Tooke helps out and property expert Amanda Cable will weigh in with her tips
Maddy Tooke: Coupon Queen finding you the best bargains
10 best deals
1.Get ten per cent off first orders from . Use code sdeu10 from at the checkout. Expires August 17.
2. Enjoy 15 per cent off Adidas until August 31. For code, see .
3. is offering 20 per cent off orders including sale items. Use code 20EVERYAFF from at the checkout. Expires midnight tonight.
4. Get £10 off Missguided orders of £50 or more with code TAKE10 from . Excludes items in the sale. Expires tomorrow.
5. Kids eat for £1 at Harvester. See for voucher. Ends September 3.
6. Get £10 off when you spend £30 or more at Prezzo. See . Expires August 13. Not valid on Saturdays.
7. Get a £5 Debenhams voucher when you spend £50 at the store or a £10 voucher when you spend £100. Order through . Offer ends tomorrow so be quick.
8. Get 50 per cent off personalised tote bags, photo gifts, phone cases and mugs from with code AUGUSTGIFT. Save 70 per cent on calendars with code AUGUSTCL. Offers expire August 31.
9. Save ten per cent on one-year railcards with ’s code AUGUST10MS. Includes the 16-25 Railcard, Family & Friends, Two Together and Senior Railcards. Expires August 31.
10. Save 67 per cent on Vue tickets at Groupon. Get three cinema tickets for only £12.96 at. Valid at over 80 Vue locations across the UK. Expires Wednesday. Tickets valid until October 8.
5 top freebies
1. New TopCashback customers get £15 to spend at George at Asda. See .
2. Boost your CV with a free online Microsoft Excel course worth £39 from . Sign up at and use promo code LFSFREEEXCEL.
3. Get a free Aquamax skin cream sample. Request yours from .
4. Grab a free kids’ Little Dish Classic or Sauce at Morrisons with the CheckoutSmart app. Buy in store and upload a photo of the receipt for a full refund. Ends Tuesday.
5. Bag a free pack of Huggies Newborn or Soft Touch Wipes. Sign up to the Huggies Wipes Club at to get your freebie in the post.
Judge Rinder
LAWYERS spend their careers working around secrets.
When I practised at the bar, I heard some astonishing things from people I was representing.
Sitting alone with clients, I’d listen to gruesome details of undiscovered crimes that would haunt me for months.
Other times, my jaw tumbling to the floor, I heard gossip so juicy (although mostly untrue) that I could have sold it in cartons and retired to Ibiza (this stuff made the orgies of ancient Rome seem like a WI trip to Torbay).
But I’ll take every word to my grave.
Because lawyers live by a tough, important set of rules about confidentiality.
Broadly speaking, if a client tells you something, you’ll never repeat it without their say-so.
Without consent, you keep schtum.
It’s an essential protection, and it means people can always speak freely to their legal advisers.
I was thinking about these rules when I heard about the new Princess Diana documentary.
It apparently shows private conversations recorded by her voice coach in the early Nineties.
I was an innocent little Rinder back then, but I recall the Diana of those days, a magnificent bundle of blue blood and blonde hair, generous smiles and tragic vulnerability.
Presumably that’s what’s on the tapes — all that kindness, all that anguish.
She strikes me now as being a bit like Midas, the mythical king cursed to turn everything he touched into gold.
Everything Princess Diana touched — from T-shirts to ticket stubs — was suddenly valuable because of its connection with her.
Worse still, as we now see, every word that came out of her mouth (to friends or foes, butlers or bodyguards) could be magically transformed into hard cash.
It must have been intolerable.
So this programme is one I won’t watch.
Because I simply cannot believe she thought it would ever be shown on TV.
My guess is she thought she was speaking as safely as my clients used to speak to me. But she wasn’t.
There’s an important lesson for non-Princesses too.
If you’re baring your soul, even just a little, and don’t want to risk exploitation, then double-check that your listener is under a duty of confidentiality.
If not, consider getting a quick document drawn up to protect your rights to privacy.
Otherwise, just like Princess Di, one day (maybe even decades later) your secrets could end up exposed for all the world to see.
Summing up
Q) MY neighbours have a large tree in their garden which overhangs ours, and its roots are causing my patio slabs to lift and become unsafe.
I spoke to them a few weeks ago about cutting back the overhanging branches but nothing has happened and when I mentioned the slabs I was told: “Not sure what can be done about that.”
What should I do next?
Tricia, Northampton
A) The most important thing here is to resolve this without any conflict.
Nearly every toxic neighbour dispute I have dealt with started because the parties failed to communicate properly and reasonably from the outset.
Do not threaten to use legal action ever, unless it is absolutely necessary.
In this case the branches and the roots of the tree are trespassing on to your land and interfering with your property.
You are therefore perfectly entitled to make your neighbour pay to have the branches cut back and (if the roots are causing serious structural damage) to force your neighbour to cut it down.
With this in mind the best thing to do is to ask very nicely for them to hire a gardener and get to work.
I suggest putting the request in a note and even offering to contribute towards the expenses.
It is only if your neighbour completely ignores you that you should take this matter down a legal road.
The good news is that, if you do, you are very likely to succeed.
- Mr Rinder regrets that he cannot answer questions personally. Answers are intended as general guidance – they do not constitute legal advice and are not a substitute for getting independent legal advice.
Mel Hunter: Readers champion on fighting for your rights
First Choice hol stitch up
Q) WHEN my son went to Majorca on a First Choice holiday last August, he sliced his foot open on the slide attached to the hotel water park.
He needed seven stitches which was traumatic as he has a fear of needles.
I contacted parent company TUI to ask them why this had happened.
They asked us for photos for evidence from my son, who wrote an account on what had happened to him.
A lovely lady at TUI was dealing with this and back in November last year, she told me they had until June 10 to deal with it.
In March I tried to contact her to be told she had left the company and nobody was dealing with our complaint, but that it would be sorted by June 10.
That date has passed and this has been going on for 11 months. Every time I phone the call centre say they cannot do anything.
Donna Hutson, Hull
A) Your son did the right thing, reporting the incident to the reps at the resort.
And, after I got on to them, First Choice offered your son £500, which you have accepted for him.
It’s important that reps record the details in an accident book and give you a copy.
Contact your insurer to find out the details they need for a claim.
Holidaymakers can help themselves by taking down a written account of the accident, including photos, and getting contact details of witnesses.
In legal cases like this, there can be a long wait.
Get a time-frame and make the travel company stick to it.
For legal advice, contact the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, . You can also get advice from ABTA at.
MOST READ IN MONEY
DRIVING on the opposite side of the road isn’t the only worry when getting behind the wheel abroad.
You also need to know whether you’re covered by your existing insurance and breakdown cover.
While many motor insurance policies offer some form of cover when driving in the EU, the level of protection may not be the same as in the UK.
As for breakdown cover, around a third of motorists either don’t know or say they wouldn’t be covered if they broke down on one of mainland Europe’s roads, according to an M&S Bank survey.
And when it comes to local laws, a quarter don’t plan to learn the driving rules and regulations of the country they are in, leaving them open to fines.
Do your homework before you set off.
Amanda Cable: Property expert with the best advice for your home
Park view is a real bonus
MAKING money on property really is a walk in the park.
A home with a park view will command a 32 per cent premium – with buyers prepared to pay an extra £78,415.
The report, by , found properties overlooking, or near a green space in certain cities can up the asking price.
In Sheffield, Liverpool, Cardiff, Glasgow and Middlesbrough buyers pay twice as much for properties near a park.
For example, Endcliffe Park in Sheffield has a 121 per cent premium for a park view.
There, properties reach £415,230 compared to the average of £187,757 elsewhere in the city.
Alex Gosling, CEO of housesimple.com, said: “High demand really impacts on the price people are prepared to pay.
“If you want a bargain, look at properties a short walk away from a green space. You could save yourself thousands of pounds.”
Bedder bet for a sale
SPRUCING up a bedroom can add value to a home sale, as many househunters decide to buy after a summer hol, having enjoyed a pristine hotel room.
Here Jonathan Warren, of bedding website Time 4 Sleep, shares his expert tips.
Dress the bed: Give a bed personality by scattering cushions, throws and blankets. It needs to give the room a unique feel and be photo ready for viewing.
Big bed linen: Use bedding a size too big, giving an illusion that it is bigger, making it look extravagant.
Make the bed the focal point: Make sure there are easy walk- ways and access to wardrobes, windows and ensuite bathroom.
RENTING costs rose in June to the highest level since April 2016. A third of letting agents reported that tenants had been hit by rising rents.
At the same time, demand from tenants dropped slightly – a sign that prices could soon settle once more.
David Cox, chief executive of the Association of Residential Letting Agents, said: “The last thing tenants need is for their rents to continue rising.
“However, the fact that supply looks to be rising while demand has dropped slightly indicates a move in the right direction for the market.”
JOIN your own Bargain Hunt at one of the TV show’s favourite filming locations – the Newbury Antiques & Collectors’ Fair.
The final day of the event, loved by antiques expert Frank Wilson, is being held at Newbury Showground today and entry costs just £5.
For more details, see .