Mary Portas: Secret Shopper (2011 - 2016)

Mary Portas goes undercover in the world of sofa superstores, revealing an industry that puts sales commission - and not shoppers - first. We've all seen the adverts for Bank Holiday sofa sales, but do the superstores really offer a good deal? Mary's covert cameras reveal the sales techniques well-known superstores use to persuade customers to buy. Mary is invited onto the premises of CSL Sofas, a northern chain run by Bentley-driving, go-getter Jason Tyldesley. Almost as soon as she's through the doors, Mary deftly picks apart Jason's idea of customer service, tears up his price-match promise and takes in hand his Rotherham store, along with its team of raucous sales guys. If she can prove her novel ideas work, Jason is willing to put his hand in his pocket and roll Mary's ideas out across his chain.

Mary explores the infuriating world of mobile-phone retailers. Mary plans to start a revolution in the phone shops. Her secret cameras reveal them to be one of the least user-friendly retail environments on the high street. Staff bombard you with technical information that has little to do with finding the right phone for you - and you can't even try before you buy. The worst offender, Mary thinks, is Fonehouse, a national chain run by CEO Clive Bayley, who thinks his customer service is a cut about the competition. Mary quickly bursts his bubble and persuades him to give her control of his flagship store in Angel Islington, London. So can she show him what good customer service is really about? But getting her ideas rolled out across the chain won't be easy, because she'll have to convince a group of successful franchisees as well as CEO Clive that customer service is worth spending serious money on.

Mary wants to start a revolution in the world of estate agents. Buying a house is the most important purchase of our lives, but Mary thinks estate agents have been letting us down in a big way. Last year complaints rocketed by 40% and Mary's secret cameras show why. Estate agents are caught with their trousers down as they pull out all the oldest tricks in the house-selling book; multiple viewings, misleading particulars and lack of specialist knowledge are among the long list of things that drive us up the wall. But Mary wants to stop the rot. She hooks up with north London chain Martyn Gerrard and persuades boss Simon Gerrard to let her loose on his sales team in a bid to make them more customer focused. But, before long, tensions rise as Mary realises that she and Simon have very different views on what good customer service really means.