Advice to consumers
Using the Consumer Direct service
Our consumer advice service is provided by a partner organisation called Consumer Direct. To complain about a trader or speak to a trained consumer adviser, contact Consumer Direct:
Tel: 0845 404 0506
Service times: 8am - 6.30pm, Monday to Friday and from 9am - 1pm on Saturday, excluding bank holidays.
Calls to the Consumer Direct 0845 numbers are charged at no more than four pence per minute from a BT landline. Call charges from other landline providers or mobile phones may vary. Please check the rate with your phone provider.
You can also find help on the Consumer Direct website or contact Consumer Direct by email with your enquiry.
Alternatively you can obtain consumer advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau website or phone their advice line on 0844 826 9336 (charged at 4p per minute more than local rate) 10am - 4pm to speak to an adviser and for pre-recorded information only outside these hours. Please note that this number is strictly for advice only and not appointments.
If you have any information about crime and wish to remain anonymous you can contact the Crimestoppers website or phone them on 0800 555 111
Current scams and problems to watch out for
- Mail order and delivery scam
- Vehicle matching scams
- Beware of rogue traders
- Bogus tax rebate emails
- Cash for gold schemes
Mail Order and Delivery scam
Police and Trading Standards Officers are advising the public not to reply to bogus adverts placed in local and national press by companies claiming to sell high value electrical goods at very reduced prices. Customers who have attempted to buy goods from the adverts have been asked to pay or transfer cash into a bank account. They are told that the items will be sent to them only to find that the purchases never arrive.
The adverts have been placed in local papers and magazines nationwide under a variety of names including:
- Arash Ltd
- The Gadget Company
- Gadget Limited
- Office Bits Warehouse
- Office Supplies Cabin and,
- Office Brands Megastore.
The only contact details are telephone and fax numbers and occasionally an email address that ends with: @easymailorders.com.
Please note: there are companies in the UK trading legitimately under names similar to ‘The Gadget Company’.
Another aspect of the scam is that cards from companies calling themselves ‘Parcel Express UK’ and ‘Network Link Couriers’ are posted through random front doors telling the householder that they have missed delivery of a parcel. It asks the recipient to phone a number and pay for a customs charge of the product by credit or debit card, once this is done the parcel fails to arrive. Again the money is not debited from the victims’ account but the details are later used fraudulently.
Parcel Express UK and Network Link Couriers are not legitimate companies. As a matter of course unless you are confident of the legitimacy of the company contacting you then do not provide your card or bank details to organisations or people not known to you.
If you have placed an order in response to one of the newspaper adverts concerned, or called ‘Parcel Express UK’ or ‘Network link Couriers’, you should inform your bank immediately and cancel your card.
The City of London Police Economic Crime Directorate is working closely with Trading Standards Officers and the Metropolitan Police to identify those responsible for this fraud.
Important advice: only ever part with your financial details to a known and trusted company. Similarly, if you are contacted about a parcel delivery that is unexpected or unsolicited - what should you do?:
- be wary,
- question the reasons why and
- take time out to consider the validity of the request.
If you suspect you have been a victim of this crime please report it to the City of London Police:
Alternatively you can phone their fraud line on 020 7601 6999 or contact Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06
Calls to the Consumer Direct 0845 numbers are charged at no more than four pence per minute from a BT landline. Call charges from other landline providers or mobile phones may vary. Please check the rate with your phone provider.
Vehicle matching scams
When you place a car advertisement, you may be cold called by canvassers claiming to have an immediate buyer for your vehicle. They may also ask for an up-front fee which they say is refundable if your car isn't sold. In many cases the promised buyers do not materialize and neither does the promised refund.
If you are cold called:
- don't be pressured into anything
- don't give your credit or debit card details to people you don't know:
More information on vehicle matching scams can be obtained from the Consumer Direct vehicle matching website or contact Consumer Direct by telephone on 08454 04 05 06.
Beware of rogue traders
Rogue traders are masters of deception, targeting people of all ages. Unfortunately it is usually the elderly and vulnerable victims who suffer the most in terms of lost savings and increased anxiety. Having said that, a more recent trend is to target organisations such as businesses, schools and sheltered accommodation.
Their objective is to gain entry into your home in order to steal or to ridiculously overcharge you for badly done maintenance work which is unnecessary and is often left uncompleted. They may just demand a deposit for materials and you will never see them again.
Rogue traders use a variety of approaches to induce you into agreeing to have work done. Here is a selection of the most common. However, beware, they are very imaginative and may use other techniques or phrases.
- we are only in the area today
- we’ve noticed a problem with your roof/ guttering/ tree/ wall/ garden/chimmney etc
- we’re working for the council and have some tarmac left over
- your neighbour said we should call round
- we’re working for the water/gas/electricity board and need to check your taps/water pressure etc
- my car has broken down/ run out of petrol, can I use your phone
- my ball / pet has gone into your garden can I look for it
- we have previously done work for your company
- my wife/child is not feeling well. Can I have a glass of water?
Another approach that is becoming more popular is to masquerade as an official such as a council or police officer, ( plain clothes detective) and either cold call or phone asking for personal details which might be used to create a false identity or access your bank account. There is also an online version of this.
Our advice is: under no circumstances give your details over the phone or online.
As a rule council officers never cold call and will always contact you in advance to make an appointment. You can also arrange a unique password, known only to you and the caller. Here are some tips to help you stay one step ahead:
- if you need any work done, only use reputable traders who have a fixed and verifiable address and genuine land line telephone numbers, recommended by someone you trust
- obtain written, properly itemised quotes (including materials) from at least three companies before making a decision
- try to keep up with household maintenance if you can, rogues target those homes which look in obvious need of attention, for example loose roof tiles, crumbling driveways or overgrown gardens
- if in doubt, don’t open the door at all to unexpected callers. Check that all your doors are locked
- if you feel you have to open the door, put the chain on first, this puts you in a stronger position and makes it easier to close it quickly if you have to. Alternatively speak through an open upstairs window if you can
- avoid engaging in conversation with cold callers- just say 'no'
- if the caller claims to be on official business, ask for their identification and check it with the company they claim to represent. Don’t let them in until you have done this. Use a number from the phone book not one that they give you. Remember, most utilities will make appointments, so check with your supplier
- if a caller, harasses you , becomes aggressive or won’t go away, call the police on 999
- in law a cold caller must give you a notice advising you that you are legally entitled to a seven-day cancellation period. If a trader has started work without doing this, the contract may be unenforceable and you do not have to pay anything
- don’t display your family name on your doorbell.
You can also find help on the Consumer Direct website or contact Consumer Direct by phone or email with your enquiry.
Bogus tax rebate Emails
Barnet Trading Standards Officers are warning residents to beware of emails purporting to be from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs Service. The emails advise the recipient that they are owed a tax rebate and include a very convincing on line form which they must complete in order to verify their details.
Our advice is:This is a scam.Never give your personal or financial details online
You can get further information and details on how to report it from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs website.
Cash for gold schemes
The current economic climate combined with the high price for gold has sparked an increase in people selling their gold items to raise money. There has been a sharp rise in the number of complaints to Trading Standards about problems people have had when selling their gold, particularly companies who offer to buy items sent to them by post.
The main advice is to shop around as there is a huge difference in how much shops or dealers will pay for gold. If you get several quotes, you will make sure you are getting a fair offer for your jewellery, particularly if you decide to post off your item. We would also advise:
- never deal with people who visit your home asking if you have jewellery to sell as they may be rogue traders or even would-be burglars.
- don’t respond to adverts offering to buy your gold if the trader has no fixed premises.
- check the terms and conditions on any website very carefully, particularly what to do if you wish to reject a traders financial offer.
- remember that if someone tells you that they will give you x amount for your piece of jewellery, that is not the same as saying that the given piece is worth that amount
- make sure your jewellery is weighed with accurate scales, verified and stamped by an authorised person, before you are given a price for it.
- if your jewellery contains any precious stones be sure that their value is taken into account. If in doubt get such items valued by a reputable jeweller first. Some postal gold companies will not take precious stones into account when offering a price.
- any precious metals dealer is required to display a hallmarking notice in the location where he deals with customers – it is an offence not to do so.
- look for the carat marking on your jewellery’s hallmarking stamp to check the gold’s purity – it is likely to be either 9 or 18 carat. Further information about hallmarking can be found on the.british hallmarking council's website.
Email this pageLast modified by: Steve Leighton on 20/08/2010