Scams Awareness Month - Not sure? Don’t open the door

Rogue traders ‘cold call’ people and deliberately overcharge for unsatisfactory goods or services. In this final week of Scams Awareness Month West Berkshire Trading Standards and West Berkshire Citizens Advice Bureau are urging residents not to have work done by someone coming uninvited to the door, however tempting or convenient it sounds.

Many legitimate businesses sell products door to door and when combined with visits from utility companies and charities some residents can be door-knocked frequently making it more difficult to spot the rogues.

The Police and Trading Standards often receive complaints about uninvited doorstep traders in the home improvement sector such as builders, gardeners and tarmac gangs. Concerns relate to where:

  • The trader points out problems that don’t exist or finds additional problems after work has commenced
  • The trader tells you the price is only available if you agree straight away
  • There are substantial price increases from the original price quoted
  • They tell you that they have left over materials from a previous job
  • The work is poor or incomplete – you will then need to pay another trader to put it right.
  • They use intimidating or extremely persuasive sales tactics
  • The trader fails to provide you with your cancellation rights and the work is often started immediately before you change your mind.
  • The trader expects only cash payment and may offer to take you to your bank to withdraw the money.

Some examples of cases investigated by West Berkshire and Wokingham Trading Standards include:

-Three Newbury residents who paid a trader to fit insulation in their homes. The trader fitted only a small area visible to the customer via the inspection hatch.

-A Thatcham resident paid to have double glazing installed but the trader never carried out the work and the money was never refunded

-A Newbury man agreed to have the internal rafters of his roof varnished. The traders spent four days in his loft and had only painted the rafters visible from the loft hatch. The work was completely unnecessary.

-Two Wokingham Borough residents paid a trader to carry out work at their homes. At one the trader did not do any work but accepted payment of £1350 which he obtained after driving the customer to their bank. At the other home protective coating had been applied to the roof which was unnecessary and incorrectly applied and the customer was charged five times more than the work was worth.

Dominic Boeck, West Berkshire Council Executive Member for Trading Standards said “It is one of the Council’s highest priorities to protect the vulnerable within our community. The work carried out by officers of Trading Standards and our partners in the police and Citizens Advice is crucial to that fight. We need your help as the only way to tackle this is for organisations to work with communities and for residents to report concerns to us.”

How to protect yourself

Never agree or sign to have any work done by someone who is cold calling, or take their word any work needs doing. If you need work doing, shop around, get quotations and listen to recommendations.

Don’t open the door to people you don’t know or aren’t expecting. Look through a window or door viewer to check who is at the door. Secure the door bar or chain before opening the door. Ask for and double check the caller’s ID.

To check the identity of official callers (e.g. from utility companies or the council) phone the organisation from the number in your phone book. Don’t use the number on their ID. If they are genuine they won’t mind waiting.

If you ask a cold caller to leave and they refuse it is a criminal offence. Call the police. If you are suspicious that the person may be intent on burglary or they have become threatening dial 999 and ask for the police.

Look out for vulnerable members of your community and if you have concerns notify Trading Standards via the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 08454 04 05 06.

Jan Rothwell, Chief Executive of West Berkshire Citizens Advice Bureau, said ‘Scammers are heartless criminals who can devastate people’s lives and at West Berkshire CAB we see at first-hand their impact on our clients. Scams Awareness Month has been a great opportunity to work together with West Berkshire Trading Standards and partner organisations to help people to identify and prevent scams, and to know what action to take if they have been scammed. The end of Scams Awareness Month, however, won’t mean the end of our work on scams. The local media support has been key in getting our scams message across to residents throughout West Berkshire and to help in the fight-back against ruthless scammers.’