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| Issued By North Yorkshire County Council |
|
| Issued By North Yorkshire County Council |
FOR
OVER
ten years, the Trading Standards Institute has organised National Consumer Week,
which this year will have the theme “Foot in the Door”, and focus on
doorstep crime and consumer’s rights when buying from doorstep callers.
North
Yorkshire County Council Trading Standards Service, in conjunction with many
other organisations, is committed to tackling the menace of doorstep criminals,
many who prey on the elderly and most vulnerable.
On
Thursday 14 November at The Cairn Hotel, Harrogate, from 9.45am - 1.00pm, there
will be a major regional seminar involving representatives from enforcement
agencies such as the police and trading standards, local authorities and a whole
host of other interested groups and organisations.
The
following are recent examples of doorstep crime from within North Yorkshire.
An
87 year old man in the Harrogate area was called on and told he needed work
doing to his roof. He was then
bullied into going to the bank and handing over nearly £800 with a promise that
the trader would come back and do the work.
Needless to say, the trader has not been seen since.
An
elderly man in the Harrogate area was told by a doorstep caller that they
weren’t selling anything, merely carrying out an awareness campaign. As a result of being pleasant and “chatty” on the
doorstep, the householder was then pestered by calls from a company wanting to
sell external wall cladding products.
A
woman in York received a cold call from a salesman who pressurised her into
signing a contract for new fascia boards to her home.
Despite trying to cancel the following day, the trader refused to accept
this and refused to return her money. The
law states that she has seven days rights to cancel but rogue businesses rarely
tell consumers about this and often pressurise them into completing the work
quickly so that the rights cannot be exercised.
An
elderly man in his 80’s was persuaded by a doorstep caller that urgent repairs
were needed on his roof. The caller
took £400 to do the work. He then ‘conned’ the householder out of another
£2,000 for further work but has failed to return.
A
number of complaints have been made to the Trading Standards Service.
£1000’s have been taken from householders for shoddy, poor quality and
vastly overpriced work. Commonly, consumers are told by the gangs that they have
spare tarmac left over from another job and that to re-lay their drive with this
would only cost a couple of hundred pounds.
In reality, the work is extremely poor quality and at the end of the day
is usually thousands of pounds which consumers are pressurised into paying.
They
are known to target older people and cold call at their homes. The work is done straightaway often badly or not completed at
all followed by demands for immediate cash payment. One particular gang is known to use this method to identify
vulnerable householders so that they can return at a later date, often posing as
a bogus water official or similar.
Complaints
are frequently received about the selling tactics of gas/electricity utilities.
These involve door to door salespersons allegedly pressurising people
into switching to another company.
Door
to door sales of used TVs and videos usually involves “too good to be true”
offers which indeed turn out to be “too good to be true”. Often the TVs and videos are shrink-wrapped making them
appear re-conditioned but also making it difficult for them to be tried until
the seller is long gone. Previous
investigations have shown examples where the products have been “waste” from
factories/repairers which do not work and often could not work because major
components are missing.
It
may seems a convenient way of getting a new carpet fitted, particularly for the
elderly but complaints suggest that this is often a “recipe for disaster”.
Complaints often include people who were quoted one price only for a much
higher price to be demanded once the carpet is fitted or product delivered.
CONTACT:
Stuart Pudney on 01609 766405, Richard Flinton 01609 766421, Graham Venn on
01609 766408.
Note
to Editors:
This
type of complaint usually involves older and vulnerable people and
fear/threat/intimidation are usually factors.
For that reason, many victims fail to report incidents.
When they are reported, complainants are often fearful and as a result
will not agree for their identity to be revealed.
For this reason, no further information on these specific complaints is
available.