A family of four can pay £176 to see the latest immersive experience – one of many that is putting a strain on families hit by the cost of living crisis

As half-term drew to a close in England, families short on inspiration might have been grateful to learn of a new day out: on Friday, the Paddington Bear Experience opened its doors in London, promising a “unique and fun-filled interactive experience” spanning more than 2,400 sq metres (26,000 sq ft) and including themed rooms, character interactions – and marmalade sandwiches.

But the experience comes at a cost: with weekend ticket prices of £49 for adults and £39 for children, a family of four can expect to pay £176 for the 70-minute event – and a lot more should they wish to peruse the books, games and toys available to buy in Mr Gruber’s antiques shop afterwards.

Ofgem’s price cap is likely to yo-yo over the next year – here’s how you could beat it by up to 12%

Households struggling with near-£1,700-a-year gas and electricity bills that look set to seesaw over the coming months may want to consider a fixed-rate deal that could save them 12%, or £150, next winter.

Last week, the regulator, Ofgem, announced the price cap that governs what most UK households pay will fall from an average of £1,690 a year to £1,568 on 1 July.

From a historic Grade II-listed Welsh farmhouse to newbuild London flats with shared allotment beds

Its fraud team couldn’t resolve the matter and I’m running out of money

I’ve banked with Nationwide building society for more than 30 years without a problem – until last week when it blocked my debit card without explanation.

I’ve spoken to four members of its fraud team. They have been helpful and kind but their suggestions have, sadly, not resolved the matter. I am running out of money and have had to cancel a Sainsbury’s food delivery because I can’t pay for it and will soon be out of food.

Group wants big tech social media firms to pay up to £40m a year to reimburse customers after years of shouldering cost of fraud

A leading City lobby group is calling on the next government to bring in scams legislation that forces big tech and social media companies to cough up up to £40m a year to reimburse customers and fight fraud on their platforms.

The demand came in a ‘financial services manifesto’ released by UK Finance, which represents banks, payments companies and other financial firms.

Although fraudsters gave one of its account numbers, it was totally uninterested as I was not its customer

I am the treasurer of a small charity, and recently received an email that appeared to come from the chair asking me to send a £780 payment to a supplier.

I immediately realised that it was a scam – it wasn’t written in his style, and, when I looked closely, it hadn’t come from his email address. I replied asking what it was for, and then kept the dialogue going.

Widening government-run scheme would counter mistrust among householders, says consumer group

The next government should force all tradespeople who install home heat pumps, solar panels and insulation to sign up to a mandatory accreditation scheme to counter mistrust in the industry, a leading consumer group is demanding.

A report from Which? found that households face “significant anxiety” in choosing tradespeople to fit low-carbon heating systems, such as heat pumps, and insulation after “press stories about poor work and rogue traders”.

Attendees at Coalition for Ticket Fairness dinner stump up thousands for fighting fund – because they know their time might be up

• Revealed: how touts drew up secret plans to sabotage Labour’s ticket reforms

“You’ve sold concert tickets, you’ve sold sports tickets, you’ve sold football tickets, you’ve sold theatre tickets … You’ve made money or you wouldn’t be in this room.”

The voice of Scot Tobias, one of America’s most successful ticket “brokers”, boomed out from the stage. After an hour of drinking and networking, his impassioned pitch was met with cheers by the room full of touts gathered in a subterranean events space in central London.

Exclusive: Footage shows private event, attended by representatives of firms including StubHub and Viagogo, where £73,000 was raised for political lobbying

• ‘No one needs their name near this’: the secret plot by touts to undermine Labour’s reforms

Some of the most powerful ticket touts in the UK have discussed a secret plan to try to scupper a Labour crackdown on the industry via a lobbying campaign, footage filmed by the Guardian reveals.

Touts and representatives of major resale websites such as Viagogo and StubHub gathered at a private event this month organised by the US-based lobby group the Coalition for Ticket Fairness (CTF), which outlined a plan to target MPs.

A study says that most beer served in pubs and bars is short-measured. Here’s why I think drinkers should suck it up

I have frequently felt robbed at the pub. You know the feeling. Tapping your card on the reader and seeing £6.70 drain from your bank account in exchange for the most average glass of IPA in the world; doing it again, a third, maybe even a fourth time, shuddering internally. News last week, however, confirmed the worst: actually, you really have been getting robbed at the pub.

Last week, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute published a study of drinks served at 77 pubs and bars around the UK. They found that, out of 137 orders of pints, half pints and 175ml glasses of wine, about 70% contained less drink than they were supposed to; 29% of these short measures were under by 5% or more. Beer was where there were the most discrepancies: 86% of orders were short-measured. For the average beer drinker, these losses add up to £88.40 a year of beer paid for and never actually served.

Imogen West-Knights is a journalist and writer. Her novel Deep Down is out now

With cowboy builders on the rise, is it worth trying an online platform instead? Our correspondents suggest there may be pitfalls

Cowboy builders are a proliferating scourge which can drain a householder’s savings. In response, online platforms have sprung up which list “vetted” traders in response to a postcode search. But how reliable are they?

In March, I reported how AF of Brighton was left with part of her roof missing after hiring a trader to repair a leak. To ensure that she was not scammed a second time, she sought a roofer to repair the damage on Checkatrade, which promises “guaranteed” traders, “rigorous checks” and “recommendations you can rely on”.

Water watchdog decision on bills in England and Wales delayed until after election, as Thames crisis looms

Ofwat is poised to refuse most water companies’ requests to ratchet up consumer bills, with some getting as little as half of what they have asked for, the Guardian has learned.

The decision from the water watchdog for England and Wales, Ofwat, has been formally delayed until 11 July because of the general election. Its verdict, known as a draft determination, comes amid a growing crisis in the water sector.

Southern Water – 91% to £915

Thames Water – 59% to £749

Hafren Dyfrdwy – 56% to £676

Severn Trent – 50% to £657

Wessex Water – 50% to £822

Yorkshire Water – 46% to £682

Dŵr Cymru – 43% to £702

United Utilities – 38% to £666

South East Water – 35% £330

Pennon – 33% to £644

Portsmouth Water – 31% to £157

SES – 30% to £315

Anglian Water – 29% to £682

Northumbrian Water and Essex & Suffolk Water – 26% to £530

Affinity Water – 25% to £294

South Staffs & Cambridge Water – 24% to £221
Source: Consumer Council for Water
Data note: The figures are estimates which include forecasts for inflation of 2% a year up to 2030 to requests from water companies submitted to Ofwat.

Our survey shows that buying ingredients separately for the meal kits offered by the leading suppliers can save up to 74%,

Consumers who subscribe to “recipe box” delivery services can save up to 74% of the cost of the meals by buying the ingredients separately in the supermarket, research by the Observer has found.

Analysis of the contents and prices of some of the most popular meal kits shows that buying the individual ingredients is far cheaper – even if you have to get whole bottles of sauce or packets of rice.

Whether you are taking the DIY route or employing someone more skilled, there are ways to save money

• DIY tips: low-cost ways to give your home an upgrade

Whether you are DIYing it all yourself or getting tradespeople in, there are ways to cut some of the costs associated with sprucing up your home.

It was hit by an uninsured driver after they bought it to accommodate a wheelchair for my disabled mother

My parents’ car was hit by an uninsured driver. They were taken to hospital but suffered no serious injuries. The repair was being organised by their insurer, Saga, but four months later they are still waiting for the return of their damaged vehicle. This is causing significant hardship since my mother is disabled and the car, a Volkswagen T-Roc, was recently purchased to accommodate her specialist wheelchair.

Saga initially insisted they were only entitled to a compact courtesy car because it had erroneously recorded that my father was at fault for the accident. I complained to Saga’s head office but received no reply. Four days after the collision, Saga told my father that its chosen garage had refused the repair job, and that he should find another garage. My sister rang the garage in question, which claimed it had not turned down the job, and that it was waiting for the car to be brought in.

With a little imagination and a bit of work, rooms can be transformed without blowing the budget

With summer fast approaching, it is the perfect time to put on your old paint-splattered shirt and do some DIY, giving your living spaces a new lease of life.

We have gathered advice from experts on how to elevate your home’s interiors without breaking the bank.

Learn the right way to haggle, take a load of small change … and get in early

Car boot sales are a great place for bargain hunters hoping to save money on everything from clothes to antiques. Larger, well-established sales tend to attract a wider variety of sellers and items, increasing your chances of finding a deal.

We analyse a key point of contention in the general election campaign: the government’s record on pay, housing, energy and food bills

It is a simple question – and it will be at the heart of the general election campaign. After 14 years of Conservative government, people are asking: am I any better off?

Drop from £1,690 driven by fall in wholesale gas prices but household bills still substantially higher than three years ago

• Business live – latest updates

The energy price cap in Great Britain will fall 7% to the equivalent of £1,568 a year this summer after a drop in wholesale gas prices.

Set by the energy regulator Ofgem, the cap reflects the average annual dual-fuel bill for 29m households and takes effect from July until the end of September.

Trading standards officers find 70% of test purchases of beer and wine have less of the drink than they should

More than two-thirds of beer and wine sold in pubs and bars is short-measured, costing the average consumer about £115 a year, according to research.

Trading standards officers visited 77 venues across the UK, finding 96 short measures out of 137 test purchases, meaning approximately 70% had less of the drink than had been declared or paid for.

Infrastructure firm raises £6.8bn to connect homes to renewable energy sources across US and UK

National Grid has tapped shareholders for nearly £7bn to fund a £60bn spending spree to upgrade its networks to cope with the switch to low-carbon energy on either side of the Atlantic.

The energy infrastructure company announced a £6.8bn rights issue – where existing shareholders are offered new shares – to provide fresh funds for investment in thousands of miles of cables to connect homes with renewable energy projects in the UK and the US.

Charity says tech problems and poor customer service mean millions in Great Britain missing out on promised benefits

The number of gas and electricity smart meters that are not working properly is likely to be higher than government figures suggest – possibly 20% to 30% of the total – according to research from Citizens Advice.

The charity said millions of households were missing out on the promised benefits from smart meters due to “problems with technology” and poor supplier customer service.

Insurer Allianz says scam by criminals on motorbikes and scooters increased by 6,000% last year

Motorists have been warned to be vigilant after a 60-fold increase in “crash for cash” fraud claims involving motorbike and scooter riders staging accidents so they can blame innocent drivers.

The insurer Allianz said its data showed that claims relating to this scam increased by 6,000% between January and December 2023 – a significant jump from the 50% increase the year before.

Critics claim that the technology is not up to the job – we examine whether the facts bear this out

• Are heat pumps more expensive to run than gas boilers?

The belief that a heat pump is unable to warm a home in the depths of winter is widely held, especially in the UK.

One recent survey of more than 4,000 adults across the UK, Germany, France and the US last autumn found that 35% believed that air-source heat pumps are not up to the job.

‘Purchase scams’ often pegged to big events, warns UK Finance’s annual fraud report

The clamour to secure tickets for Taylor Swift’s sold-out UK shows is expected to fuel a summer fraud bonanza as figures showed a “staggering” £1.2bn was stolen from unwitting consumers in 2023.

Swift’s Eras tour, which arrives in the UK in June, and the Olympic Games, are contenders for biggest ticketing scam of the year. The warning, from industry group UK Finance, came as its annual fraud report revealed that the number of people succumbing to a “purchase scam” in 2023 soared.

With prices forecast to increase at their slowest pace since 2021, we look at the biggest risers in goods and services

After three long years of feeling the pinch, UK consumers finally look likely to get some relief from surging prices on Wednesday, when the Office for National Statistics releases its inflation figures for April. The data is widely expected to show that prices are rising at the lowest rate since summer 2021.

Inflation of about 2% is significant for economists, marking a long-awaited snap back towards the Bank of England’s target. It still means prices are rising for the consumer, but not as steeply as they have been. The last few years of inflation have been the sharpest within at least 40 years, jumping the equivalent of 11 years of normal 2% inflation within just three years, a total rise of 22%. At the same time, real wages are down by 2.3% since early 2021, making it harder for most people to afford their energy bills and the weekly shop.

UK-based used-car website once valued at £6bn is now looking for a buyer for its remaining assets

The online car dealer Cazoo, which was once valued at $8bn (£6.3bn), has collapsed into administration, putting 200 jobs at risk.

Administrators at Teneo have been appointed to the business, which was founded by Alex Chesterman, the serial entrepreneur who also launched property site Zoopla and Netflix forerunner LoveFilm.

Michael Wilkinson has had a good experience using a smart meter when charging his electric car and using a heat pump. But other readers remain unconvinced about their benefits

Recent letters about smart meters (14 May) reported some readers’ bad experiences, but it’s not all negative – our smart meter is allowing our household to cut carbon and save money. In combination with our electric vehicle charger, the smart meter allows us to automatically charge our car at times when there is less demand on the grid and higher renewable-energy generation. This helps balance the grid, and I only pay 7p per kWh to charge the car. This works out at about 1.5p per mile to drive.

The smart meter also works with our heat pump and allows me to pay 15p per kWh for electricity to heat my home. The heat pump’s efficiency means that this works out at about half the price of gas for the same amount of heat.

We’d like to hear from people who have been purchasing luxury goods and experiences in recent years, and how they feel about their spending habits

We’re interested to hear about people’s spending habits in the area of upmarket or luxury goods, services and experiences, and whether they are generally happy with their spending on non-essentials.

We’d like to know whether you have spent money on expensive non-essential items such as designer clothing, high end housewares, luxury holidays, expensive beauty or wellness treatments, or exclusive dining, for instance, in the past year, and if so, whether you have struggled to afford this.

Better deals are on offer in the battle to tempt new current account customers. But, be warned, there are a few strings attached

The battle to attract current account customers is hotting up, with two banks offering £175 “free money”, and a third tempting people with a 10% interest rate.

The payments from Santander and First Direct, and the inflation-busting interest rate offered by Virgin Money, are the latest carrots being dangled in front of potential customers in an attempt to persuade them to switch current accounts.

When our new motorhome broke down in France we felt unsafe and were stranded for five days

When I retired from work last year, my wife and I set off on a road trip to France in our new motorhome. Two weeks into our trip, the engine failed on a campsite. We’d bought a £284 breakdown policy with the RAC, including European cover, and a recovery vehicle arrived promptly. The mechanic was unable to fix the problem, so we were told it would be towed to a dealership. However, the recovery truck was not long enough to carry the vehicle and, after trying to manoeuvre it off the campsite, the driver left it blocking a lane. A larger truck was eventually sent and, since it was getting late, the motorhome was moved to a storage depot for the night.

The site, shared with a breaker’s yard, was unstaffed and we were advised by the driver to stay with the vehicle for security reasons. That night we witnessed people with their faces covered entering vehicles and removing their contents. It felt very menacing. The RAC was unable to find a dealership willing to take us the next day and offered us a hotel, but we feared it would be unsafe to leave the motorhome unattended in the depot, so spent another alarming night expecting to be transferred to a repair garage the next day.

Have a bidding strategy and a targeted approach … and train the algorithms

Be specific in searches. “If you enter ‘green dress’ into the search box on eBay, it will bring back thousands of results, so use the filter,” says Becky Barnes, a sustainable stylist from Bristol, who has been buying exclusively pre-owned clothes since 2017. “You can usually select brand, fabric, length, size – the filtering is more sophisticated than on Vinted.” There are brand new items for sale, too – if you only want pre-owned clothes, select “used”.

Website blames human error for the advert, now removed, for about 100 seats when practice is illegal in UK

The ticket trading website Viagogo has apologised for “mistakenly” advertising tickets to an upcoming England football match, despite the fact that the resale of football tickets is illegal in the UK.

Cris Miller, the managing director of Viagogo, has previously said the company does not resell football tickets. But Viagogo was advertising about 100 seats at Wembley for England’s 7 June friendly against Iceland, a warm-up for this summer’s Euro 2024 tournament in Germany.