Dealing with Tradesmen - Know your rights!

Dealing with Tradesmen - know your rights...
We examine new regulations brought in to protect consumers from unfair, misleading or aggressive sales tactics and look at how you can protect yourself from rogue traders

Last month saw the biggest change to consumer protection law for the past 40 years. The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs) came into effect on 28 May 2008 and are intended to stop traders from using unfair commercial practices towards consumers.

The regulations ban 31 specified unfair trade practices, as well as making it illegal to mislead customers or use aggressive sales tactics that may have a negative effect on a customer's decision.
There are numerous guides available on the internet explaining what the regulations mean for businesses, but here we look at the sort of practices you should be aware of and what you should do if you think you've been treated unfairly.

What do the new regulations cover?
The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (CPRs) apply to all business-to-consumer transactions, and cover all sectors, from supermarkets and travel agents to plumbers and builders. They also cover business-to-business transactions that are closely linked with consumers, for example, a builders' merchant supplying materials to a builder. The CPRs cover the entire transaction process, including all conduct before, during and after a contract is made.

The CPRs are intended to protect customers as much as possible, so are very comprehensive. Firstly, the regulations start with a general ban on conduct that is below the standard a customer can reasonably expect. Secondly, the regulations ban all misleading practices, like false or deceptive messages, or leaving out important information. Thirdly, businesses are not allowed to use aggressive sales techniques that use harassment, coercion or undue influence.

The regulations outline in detail 31 specific practices that are strictly forbidden and we look at these below to help you, as a buyer, 'beware'.

Check Endorsements
The first section of prohibited practices relates to falsely claiming accreditation. When hiring tradesmen it is always a good idea to ask them whether they abide by a specific code of conduct or hold any accreditations, such as Corgi Registered status. However, in the same way that you could claim on your CV that you speak nine languages and hold a first class honours degree from the University of Cambridge when this isn't in fact the case, it is easy for traders to make grand claims that aren't actually true. The new regulations forbid such behaviour.

Specifically, a trader is prohibited from falsely claiming to abide by a code of conduct, or stating that their code of conduct had been approved by an official body when in fact it has not. Traders would also be breaking the regulations if they claim to be TrustMark registered or say that their product or service has been endorsed or approved by an official body, without having obtained the necessary approval. This means that, for example, if the man you've hired to transform your garden claims to be a Chartered Landscape Architect and it turns out he's not, he would be breaching the regulations and should be reported to an appropriate body, such as the Office of Fair Trading.

Luckily, these days it's easy to check up on a trader's claims. At www.trustmark.org.uk you can not only search for approved traders in your area, but you can also search for a specific trader. Similarly, many professional bodies like the Landscape Institute and the Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineers hold searchable member directories on their websites, making it easy to find an approved trader in your area.

Accuracy of Information
The second section of the CPRs refers to the validity of product information, including the price. Firstly, if there are limitations on a product or service that a trader is offering, such as a specified timeframe or a limited number, this must be stated by the trader upfront. This means that if you spot an ad in the paper for £1,000 off a new conservatory, sign up to have the work done and then the company tells you that the special offer has ended, if the limited time period was not stated in the advert, the company will have broken the CPRs, and you have grounds on which to sue them. On the other hand, traders are banned from stating a product or service is only available for a certain period, but then continuing to offer the product or service after the time period has ended.

Traders are also banned from offering a product at a certain price and then either refusing to show the item to customers, refusing to take orders for the product or showing them a faulty version of the item in order to encourage them to purchase an alternative, more expensive item.

Also within this section of the CPRs, traders are forbidden from using scare tactics to make customers think their personal security will be at risk without purchasing a certain product or service. The regulations also ban traders from making false claims that a product will have health benefits. Finally in this section, businesses must not put customers off claiming on an insurance policy by requiring them to fill in excessive and unnecessary paperwork or by ignoring correspondence from the customer, forcing the customer to expend unnecessary effort.

False Advertising
The new regulations also cover promotional activities. The next time you're flicking through a magazine, watch out for pages bearing the small print “Promotional Material” or “This is an Advertisement”. These adverts are known as advertorials and are designed in such a way that you might mistake them for unbiased, factual articles, when in fact they have been paid for and written by the company that they are about. Although this approach is covered in the CPRs, the regulations do not go so far as to ban this practice, and instead simply state that companies must make it clear that the piece is an advert, so keep an eye out for this.

Another trick to watch out for is when a company launches a product that is similar to a product made by a particular, well-established manufacturer and then promotes it in such a way as to mislead you into thinking it is made by the more popular company. This practice is banned by the CPRs.

In addition, traders are prohibited from deceiving customers by lying about market conditions, giving the impression they have entered into a contract when they haven't, or falsely creating the impression that they are not acting for purposes related to their business, most commonly by pretending to be a consumer. This means that if you are planning on getting your house rewired and you ask your potential electrician for testimonials from previous customers, then someone else in the company pretends to be a past customer, this would break the CPRs. The best way to avoid this is by asking friends and family to recommend reliable traders.

Can't say no? Don't be 'guilt tripped'
The CPRs don't just apply to the way a product or service is marketed; they cover conduct during the sale, as well as any aftersales service. For those of you who struggle to say no to salesmen, the new regulations ban traders from both creating the impression that you cannot leave their premises without making a purchase, and from staying on your property with the intention of forcing a sale. This means that if a double-glazing salesman comes to your door and you tell him you're not interested, but then he knocks on your door again, this would breach the regulations, and should be reported to an appropriate body, such as the Trading Standards Institute. Similarly, traders must not pester a customer by telephone, fax, email, or any form of remote media.

Companies are also forbidden from forcing a sale by 'guilt-tripping' consumers, for example, by insinuating or stating that if the consumer does not buy the service or product on offer, the tradesman could lose his job. They must also not force a sale by giving a customer something they didn't ask for and then demanding payment. For example, if you went to work one day and came home to find someone had re-laid your driveway without you having asked them to do so, the perpetrators would be breaking the new rules, and would have no grounds on which to demand payment from you.

The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations have been introduced to tell businesses how they should be treating their customers but as you can see, it is a good idea to have some understanding of the rules because they are there to protect you too!

*Taken from our last monthly newsletter to over 250,000 home owners. To receive our free newsletter, click here. You can unsubscribe at any time.