In the Oxford Consumer Group’s journal there is much material about proposed changes to the City Centre. Readers of "Group News" will know that the City Fathers take a lot of notice of the views of the Oxford Consumer Group and the Group has been taking the views of its members to pass on.
Under a heading "Direct Debit Doubts part III", Mr. Hooton, a member of Oxford Group described his concern about the matter of excessive credit balances built up, sometimes unawares, by customers of Southern Electric who pay by direct debit. He described three particularly bad cases where the electricity company ignored complaints and acted arbitrarily in dealing with these large credit balances. He took the matter to OFFER where the complaints were substantiated but OFFER took the view that, provided the charges for electricity were correct, they had no interest in the method of collecting payment. He then referred the cases to the Consumers’ Committee, Southern Region. Their reply was that the Committee, having looked again at the whole budget account scheme, concluded that it was well managed. The specific complaints were ignored. Mr. Hooton asked the Group to send all the details to the Trading Standards Department. The Department replied that Mr. Hooton had taken all the right steps to bring the matter to the attention of the appropriate bodies, but without achieving the conclusions sought. They went on to suggest that an approach be made to Nigel Griffiths, the Minister for Consumer Affairs "who may wish to consider the status and advertising of this type of prepayment scheme.."
The article comments that OFFER and the Consumers Committee, set up to act on behalf of customers, were no help at all in these cases of mismanagement of customers accounts and recalls the advice of Ken Frere (see pages 6 and 7 for some more) part of which was -"always check your direct debit accounts; the system is very convenient but it puts all the onus on you to discover errors".
Bromley tasting the fruits
Bromley and District Consumer Group Executive Committee relaxed and enjoyed a tasting of fruit juices and chocolate chip cookies. The comment at the end of the article in Watchdog was that there were some interesting mixtures of juices on sale. [I just wonder if fruit juices and chocolate chip cookies make an interesting mixture - Ed]
Two of the drinks they tried were - Fruit Pickers’ Pear and Blueberry and M&S Peach and Passion Fruit Bliss as well as straight apple juices - from Duskin (Discovery and Cox) and Sainsbury’s English Apple. The apple juices were preferred to the mixtures, the Sainsbury’s English Apple Juice receiving the most marks though, strangely, no-one marked it as their overall favourite. Of the mixtures the Bliss was preferred to the Pear and Blueberry.
For someone on a strict diet a chocolate chip cookie must be a forbidden fruit. The best marks for Chocolate Chip cookies were gained by those from Tesco, though it was all very close, the runners up being from Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury and Iceland, all of whom were judged the best by at least one of the testers.
Bromley Group has discovered that Iceland offer a home delivery service within a three mile radius. [In other places it is ten miles - Ed] It clicks into operation if you spend over £25. You can leave your purchases at the checkout and they will be stored, in the deep freeze if necessary, until you want them delivered.
Plymouth Consumer Group Shop Window of the Year Awards
The aim was to find the shop window that would be most likely to attract shoppers into the store. There is also another aim - to keep the Group in the public eye. Perhaps other groups might like to run a similar competition? A preliminary scout round by members produced nominations and these were judged by a panel which included two neutral judges, from the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce and Devon Trading Standards Department.
Members thought that, in general, the displays in shop windows were uninspiring though there were plenty of exceptions. There were two categories, Larger Stores and Smaller Shops. Plymouth Co-op won the award for the larger stores and were highly delighted. They had made a special effort with their window, not because of the competition but because there was disruption inside the store. The smaller shops award went to PastTimes. Runners up were Debenhams and John Saberton. Wooden spoons were awarded to Boots and Wallace Arnold. Perhaps they will get the message.
Plymouth Group are pleased with the reception of this award scheme and plan to run it again in 1998. This time they will give notice of their intentions so that businesses that wish to can compete. One wonders if this is a good idea. Perhaps the enthusiasms of the winners was because they won without making a special effort, or rather that they always make a special effort with their displays.
More forbidden fruit
A Plymouth Group member embarked on a one-person doughnut tasting in order to find the best doughnuts in town (in her opinion). Her favourite came from Sainsbury because, even though their doughnuts contained the least jam and were the smallest, they tasted delicious. She also found that Vasso doughnuts were twice the size of any others, contained more than a spoonful of jam and only cost 25p. For lots of hungry mouths to fill, buy Vasso.
Party Fare in Central Hertfordshire
‘Trident", the magazine of Central Herts Consumer Group contains a report on the party services which some supermarkets offer. Such information could be very useful to someone called upon to provide a cold buffet at short notice.
Marks and Spencer - have a brochure and order form for sandwich platters but can also offer a large range of what they call ‘party foods’ at four days’ notice.
Sainsbury - told Trident that they do not specifically have a ‘party food’ service, but can take orders for items stocked and have them ready for collection, requiring a week’s notice.
Safeway - like M & S have a sandwich platter brochure but can also prepare other ‘party food’ from their normal range of foods stocked. They need four days notice.
Waitrose - seem to be well organised for the busy host or hostess with a range of tasty dishes and a colour brochure illustrating them. Orders must be placed four to seven days in advance depending on what is ordered.
Asda, Budgen, Gateway, Somerfield, and Tesco do not provide a party service, though Tesco used to. However Somerfield will prepare speciality uncooked meats such as crown roast of lamb, medallions and ostrich steaks.
Fitted out in Hertfordshire
Central Herts Consumer Group found in a recent survey of gents’ outfitters that an unexpectedly large number of them were able to alter garments to fit better. Thus encouraged, they decided to find out if ladies’ wear shops offered a similar service.
They ruled out shops selling only separates, teen gear or discounted items, then made inquiries at most of the fashion chains and independent retailers, mounting their campaign during October and visiting or phoning no fewer than 50 shops. The good news is that more than half of them provide a fitting and alteration service, though, for some strange reason, none of the shops in Hatfield did.
The Group found that Marks and Spencer and British Home Stores consider that they carry such a wide choice of lengths and sizes that an alteration service was not necessary. They also found that branches of multiple firms were not the same in different towns. For example, Dorothy Perkins in Welwyn Garden City do alterations but the shops in Hatfield and St. Albans do not. The service available varied from simple adjustments to more extreme remodelling. The idea of a ‘fitter’ with a mouthful of pins is no longer a reality but all the shops on the list published in ‘Trident" had someone who could pin up a garment to fit better. In some cases an appointment could be made to meet the visiting dressmaker. Shops where alterations could not be made were usually able to recommend a dressmaker. The surveyors also suggested that local tailors and dry cleaners sometimes had unsuspected skills in garment alteration and repair. All in all it seemed that, unless you shopped in Hatfield, you could obtain an adequate service by inquiring around. As "Trident" says "ask what can be done and find out the price".
Good and Bad Loos in Newcastle
The winter issue of "Tyne Buy" the journal of the Tyneside Consumers’ Group contains a look into the ladies toilets in the Newcastle area. On the whole they found them satisfactory and in some cases resplendent, particularly the one in Fenwicks. Its fame has spread to such an extent that the queues are enormous.
Perseverance pays off - eventually
In March, Tyneside Group wrote to Marks and Spencer’s Head Office about the odd practice of printing recipe suggestions on the underside of the labels of some packs of meat products. They pointed out that it was only when you got home and opened the pack that you discovered that the tasty recipe required some ingredient that you did not have, but could have bought in the shop.
They received a reply saying that the suggestion would be put to their packaging buyer and then they heard no more. They wrote again in July and received a reply which indicated that their original letter had either not been read or had been misunderstood. So they wrote again, enclosing some examples of good and bad recipe labelling.
This time there was a reaction. The customer advisor who wrote said that she fully understood their point and that the good example was much easier to use than that used on M & S products. The meat department had informed her that they were working towards using the form of labelling with recipe ideas clearly visible for all meat products, but it took time because there were a number of different suppliers.
Success at last. The Group wrote a final letter saying that it was heartening that a company such as M & S still kept an open mind and ear to its customers’ constructive suggestions.
More perseverance
Tyneside Group has been campaigning against the additional booking fee levied by Newcastle Arena when anyone buys a ticket through an agent, over the phone or by post. A handbill for the Newcastle International Tattoo held in December had ticket prices and outlets marked with an asterisk *. At the bottom in small but bold and clear type appears:
* An additional Booking Fee is payable except for cash payments by personal callers to the Arena Box Office
While a booking fee has not been dropped, at least prospective customers know that they are liable to pay one and a way to avoid paying is clearly explained. Well done Arena management for listening.
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