Who should Trading Standards prosecute?

mo786uk

People love to moan that TS do not doing anything and quite often they are criticised when they do for wasting money on 'minor' things.

What are the top 3 areas you would like to see them focus on?

(I was gonna do a poll but couldnt be bothered)

giraffe69

I was going to reply but couldn't be bothered!

fluffnutter

I'll bite. I think 'independent reports' commissioned by the retailer to determine whether a fault is inherent that are anything but independent are an increasing problem. I appreciate that the customer can commission their own report but, not being part of the industry, it's difficult to know how to go about this.

I've read that this is a growing problem particularly in the furniture industry whereby expensive items like sofas and beds don't last as long as you'd expect and yet the 'independent' examiner despatched to review your item barely takes a look and reports back that the item's fine (or has been misused). Then it transpires they're either paid by the company or are part of the company itself.

bris

fluffnutter wrote: »

the 'independent' examiner despatched to review your item barely takes a look and reports back that the item's fine (or has been misused). Then it transpires they're either paid by the company or are part of the company itself.

But that is why you get your own inspection, despite what the company say, if they send an examiner it's always going to be biased, would you trust someone you were in dispute with.
An opinion on how damage was caused would be very difficult to prosecute.

I would like to see more raids on the huge amount of big counterfeit sellers that Ebay have. Now thats not hard to do, they buy a test item, prove it's counterfit and raid the seller.

fluffnutter

bris wrote: »

But that is why you get your own inspection, despite what the company say, if they send an examiner it's always going to be biased, would you trust someone you were in dispute with.
An opinion on how damage was caused would be very difficult to prosecute.

I think you're missing my point. I realise I didn't mention timescales but my post referred to reviews in the first six months. It's up to the seller to prove that the fault was inherent, not the consumer to prove it wasn't. If you're told an independent examiner will review your item, you should be able to trust that the report will be unbiased.

You shouldn't have to go to the hassle or cost of demonstrating anything yourself and moreover, many will not realise that this is an option. It's taking advantage whilst seeming to comply. Blatant deception is terrible, deception whilst purporting to assist the consumer annoys me even more.

ThumbRemote

I'd like to see companies that repeatedly flout the law in small ways get dealt with properly. For example the ones who refuse to refund original postage under the DSRs, or who outright refuse to repair/refund/replace, or who take months to deal with problems.

Basically the issues that consumers treat as an annoyance but don't consider it worth getting TS involved, so the retailer carries on with over and over again.

It would be pretty simple for Trading Standards to let people report these minor issues via a website, and after a few months see if certain retailers were getting mentioned multiple times for the same thing - then investigate.

mo786uk

giraffe69 wrote: »

I was going to reply but couldn't be bothered!

Actually one of the reasons I didnt was because i didnt want to put ideas in peoples head or limit them. I would rather hear what people think off their own heads rather than limit them to 10 options. the work TS cover is quite broad.

mo786uk

ThumbRemote wrote: »

I'd like to see companies that repeatedly flout the law in small ways get dealt with properly. For example the ones who refuse to refund original postage under the DSRs, or who outright refuse to repair/refund/replace, or who take months to deal with problems.

Basically the issues that consumers treat as an annoyance but don't consider it worth getting TS involved, so the retailer carries on with over and over again.

It would be pretty simple for Trading Standards to let people report these minor issues via a website, and after a few months see if certain retailers were getting mentioned multiple times for the same thing - then investigate.

they already do that via consumer direct, its a national database of thing speople have compalined about - but the key is that you need peopel to ocmplain about things to have an accurate record.

with regards to coutnerfeiting - a lot of coutnerfeiting work does go on but Councils rarely get praised as they are criticised for protecting big companies or even restricting people trade!

mo786uk

Here are 2 recent prosecutions - what do you think - worthwhile?:

http://www.thisisdevon.co.uk/Butcher-fined-labelling-Midlands-meat-local/story-14209890-detail/story.html

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/law-and-order/conman_is_facing_jail_for_electrical_repair_work_scam_1_3407877