Summer 2012 - Trading Standards Institute

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Martin gives advice on consumer law Consumer Direct helpline now run by Citizens Advice The Citizens Advice consumer service took over responsibility for providing consumer advice and information from Consumer Direct on 1 April 2012. As part of the government‟s spending review the Consumer Direct helpline has been taken over by the Citizens Advice Bureau, a charity, and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is being stripped of its consumer protection role and is to be merged with the Competition Commission. Trading standards services are being asked to deal with the OFT's previous high-profile work in taking on major consumer issues. Consumers seeking advice should contact the Citizens Advice consumer helpline in the first instance which will forward serious cases on to trading standards - we will no longer be able to offer a walk-in service to consumers. The helpline can be contacted on 08454 04 05 06, or online. Your right to cancel Case 1: A consumer took out a 2 year extended warranty on a new boiler. When the policy was due for renewal he initially agreed to extend it further but on reflection wrote several times to the company to cancel. The company ignored his requests. John took up the case and the company then sent out a refund cheque. Case 2: An elderly consumer paid a substantial deposit to a building firm to install garage doors. The contract had been signed at home during a salesperson‟s visit. The company did not start work on the agreed day and ignored the consumer‟s messages. Helen investigated and found the company was still trading and that the consumer had not been given cancellation rights. The company agreed to refund the consumer. The shop offered to take some of the furniture away but this would leave the consumer with an incomplete suite. After discussing the complaint with Liz the retailer agreed to supply a suitable suite and refund the customer the difference in price. Suite success Usually when you buy at home or online you will have a right in law to cancel the contract. Consumers have up to 14 days to cancel agreements to purchase financial products, which include extended warranties. The refund should be made within 30 days of the notice of cancellation. When you agree to work during a trader‟s visit to your home you should in most cases be given a written notice of a right to cancel. If the work is to start within the 7 day cooling off period the trader must also get you to agree in writing for the work to go ahead. Liz dealt with a complaint about furniture that did not fit into a consumer‟s living room. The consumer had given accurate measurements of the room to the sales assistant and was assured that the suite would fit – it didn‟t. Normally it is the consumer‟s responsibility to ensure that furniture ordered will fit, but in this case the consumer relied on the care and skill of the staff in making her decision and was specifically assured by the salesperson that it would fit. The fact that it did not meant the shop was in breach of contract. Mag ads A trader was surprised to receive a demand for payment for an advertisement in a magazine. He queried it and was given the name of an employee who had agreed to the advertisement. However the employee had not been in work on the day the agreement was said to have been made. The demands for payment continued with threats of legal action. Paul was able to reassure the trader that it would be up to the publisher to produce evidence that a contract had been agreed. We hear from a lot of businesses who are contacted in this way. If a business has agreed to an advertisement it will be liable for payment, there is no right to cancel, but we are aware of many bogus publishing companies who will phone to offer their services and then use any information they gather to assert that a contract has been formed with escalating threats of action to attempt to persuade the trader to pay up.
iefCASES some of the cases brought before the courts since the last issue Illegal tobacco SEIZED IN Following a Trading Standards investigation, Soran Talibani, 33, and Sako Fatahi, 32, of Gloucester Groceries, Station Road, Gloucester appeared in court in March to face charges of supplying illegal tobacco, some of which was counterfeit, between August and December 2011. Approximately 22,000 cigarettes and 40kg of hand rolling tobacco was seized in a number of raids, which included the use of a specialist sniffer dog to uncover cigarettes hidden inside a storage heater. Both defendants pleaded guilty, Talibani was found guilty of all 25 charges, while Fatahi was found guilty of 17 charges. They were later sentenced to prison terms of 36 weeks and 30 weeks respectively. Counterfeit DVDs Sen Qiang Lin, 30, of Springfield Road, Birmingham was caught selling counterfeit films and tobacco at Southam car boot sale in the summer of 2010. Soon after he was caught again selling DVDs in the street in Cheltenham. He admitted that he had previously been issued with a caution and a suspended sentence for selling counterfeit goods. When he was caught in Cheltenham, his suspended sentence was still in force and he therefore breached the conditions that applied. Over 500 DVDs, some not classified by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), were seized as well as 49 pouches of counterfeit tobacco. Mr Lin pleaded guilty to eleven charges, one for selling counterfeit tobacco; nine for selling counterfeit DVDs and one for selling un-classified DVDs. The penalty was 160 hours unpaid work and he was asked to pay £200 towards prosecution costs. He was also given a 12 week prison sentence which was suspended for 18 months. Unqualified electrician Levi Kelly, trading as LSK Electricals Ltd, appeared at Cheltenham Magistrates Court in February to plead guilty to misleading customers regarding his qualifications and approval. The court heard how Mr Kelly had told a consumer that he was competent to carry out electrical work to Part P requirements and issued a bogus certificate of compliance with the standard. Part P is a standard of installation which ensures that electrical installations are safe. Consumers who have installation work which is not signed off by a competent installer can face additional cost in having the work redone or confirmed as meeting safety requirements. The defendant was ordered to pay a contribution of £100 to Trading Standards court costs and £326 to the consumer involved. Fake Pandora jewellery with an estimated retail value if genuine of at least £500,000 was seized from a property in Gloucester in February. The raid was carried out by trading standards assisted by Gloucestershire police and followed receipt of information about a trader believed to be supplying counterfeit jewellery, claiming to be Pandora. The jewellery was being sold through Amazon and other websites. A representative from Pandora‟s investigation team, TM-Eye, also assisted in the raid. Similar counterfeit silver jewellery seized in 2011 by trading standards was found to contain higher than permitted levels of nickel. We are now establishing whether these fake products pose a safety risk to consumers. Cllr Will Windsor-Clive, Cabinet Member for Communities, said: “Congratulations to our Trading Standards service for yet another effective investigation which will bring benefits to reputable businesses and consumers throughout the county.
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Summer 2012 - Trading Standards Institute

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