Rogue Traders – Know Their Tricks!
In Rogue Trader Awareness Month, Warwickshire County Council’s Trading Standards Service is alerting homeowners to the tricks rogue traders use to con innocent people.
Warwickshire County Councilor Richard Hobbs, Portfolio Holder for Community Protection said: “Rogue traders use all kinds of tricks and intimidation to get householders to pay high prices for poor workmanship or in some cases no work at all!
Whether its tarmacing your driveway, gardening, roofing or other building work, rogue traders will always find things that ‘needs doing’ and will come back again and again.
In Rogue Trader Awareness Month and across the year we take action to tackle rogue traders on the doorstep and have saved Warwickshire consumers over £170,000 with our interventions.”
Rogue traders use many different ‘approaches’ to get unsuspecting householders to agree to work being carried out. Here are the main ones’:
Trick 1
Rogue traders often pretend to be working for the local council and offer to tarmac your driveway using materials they falsely claim are ‘left over’.
Trick 2
Rogue traders will sometimes say they are working on a neighbours property in order to give you a false sense of their ‘trustworthiness’.
Trick 3
Rogue traders might falsely point out ‘problems’ on your property, often in places where it is difficult for a householder to reach, such as the roof. They may even carry rotten pieces of wood and broken tiles with them which they then produce as ‘evidence’ of a problem.
Trick 4
Rogue traders use false names and addresses. They may use 0800 and other telephone numbers connected to untraceable mobile phones. Their addresses are always false.
Trick 5
Rogue traders usually say they need to start work straight ways to prevent you from changing your mind and they never give written cancellation rights which they have to by law.
To avoid becoming a rogue trader victim, never agree to working being done by the first person who comes to your home and don’t be rushed in to making a decision on the doorstep. If you need working doing, seek recommendations from trustworthy local traders.
Remember: It can be hard to tell a good trader from a bad one on the doorstep. It might be better just to keep your door closed.
If you have been a victim of a rogue trader, contact Consumer Direct on 08454 040506.
For more information on rogue traders and doorstep crime, visit: http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/doorstep.