Do we still need Consumer Groups?
It has been said in some quarters that consumers now enjoy a better deal in most respects than in the bad old days when they found it necessary to form Consumer Groups to help fight for their rights. This situation is put forward as the reason why there are not so many Consumer Groups now and also why it is more difficult to start one up.
Perhaps this is partly correct. But only partly. There are still areas where consumers are vulnerable and powerless and where the help of a Consumer Group is essential if satisfaction is to be obtained. In many of these areas, while individual Groups take action locally, matters can also be raised at national level. However, to apply pressure at national level there has to be a national organisation and that requires a regional and local organisation to give it a reason to exist. NfCG could not exist, it would have no credibility, unless it has a base of Consumer Groups whose interests it represents.
One area where the consumer seem still, after all these years, to be vulnerable is in the area of obtaining a good workman to do a good job on one's house or other property. Some Consumer Groups have "white lists" which contain the names and addresses of businesses where members have obtained satisfaction. This is rather like a personal recommendation and that is certainly the best way to find a good craftsman. But the area is still fraught with difficulty.
A case was reported in "The Independent" of 16th May where householders found that electrical work carried out in connection with other major work done on their house three years ago was unsafe. The scenario is only too familiar. The work was carried out by a builder, recommended by their architect, but who has since gone out of business.
In this case the situation was life threatening and there are other areas, gas fitting for instance, where it can be equally dangerous if work is carried out incompetently. But what can the householder do about it if the person who carried out the dangerous job cannot be found to be held responsible?
In the case of gas fitting there is a ray of hope. By law any gas work must be carried out by a CORGI registered installer and CORGI (The Council for Registered Gas Installers) is active in advertising this and pointing out the dangers of using an unregistered fitter or trying to do the job yourself. In fact an episode of "Brookside" showed the dangers of tampering with a gas supply.
CORGI has introduced an identity card for gas fitters and advises householders to check this before letting anyone into the house to carry out work on a gas system. On the card are details of the area of competence of the person carrying it so that the householder can even check that the right man has been sent for the job in hand.
In the area of electrical installation there is no similar statutory obligation to use a registered firm yet the results of having the work carried out by an incompetent workman can be just as lethal and rather more instantaneous. Perhaps this is an area where NfCG should be campaigning for the introduction of a statutory scheme.
Even statutory schemes fall down if the firm goes out of business. All too often they disappear without trace, particularly the ones which carry out sub standard work in the first place. One can say that if they carry out bad work they should not be in the statutory scheme but the reality is that vetting applicants is a difficult and very expensive business as CORGI knows only too well and cannot check for all eventualities. If the bad workmanship, which may take years to be discovered, results in a life threatening situation the Health and Safety Executive will, it seems, make strenuous efforts to find the culprit and bring him (it is usually a him) to book.
One of the problems is that most householders are not experts in most areas of house repair and renovation, roofing, plumbing, electrical work or garden work and cannot spot bad workmanship. They have no alternative but to trust in the skills of others and trades people do have us at an advantage.
So what can NfCG do about the situation? Certainly one thing is to encourage Groups to compile "white lists" for members. Another is to campaign for some way of identifying the good electrical firms. Beyond this perhaps a warning not to be too trusting. One of the things that I have noticed is that while plenty of firms will be only too eager to give one a "free estimate" for work to be done they rapidly lose interest when it become clear to then that what you want is a firm quotation. Another sign to make one wary if one does not know the person well is the "craftsman" who wants money to buy materials before he starts the job. If he is undercapitalised to that extent it is possibly because he has several other jobs going on at the same time as yours and having obtained your money may use it to buy material for another job.
John Brown
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