The first issue of COUNTER POINTS the journal of the Edinburgh Consumer Group, was published in 1963 and the one-hundredth has just appeared. Edinburgh Group has been able to replicate the issue and it is most interesting to compare the two. There is a reminder in issue number one that the Group, which was founded in 1962, owes its establishment to the action of the Consumer's Association but that it was, and remains, entirely autonomous and non-profit-making, with the aim of protecting the consumer and improving the facilities offered to shoppers.
The first magazine is a vivid reminder of the importance of coal in everyone's lives in those days. In fact the whole issue is dominated by various aspects of solid fuel heating, including a litany of ways in which coal merchants could cheat the customer, written by someone described by the Editor (Dr. J. D. B. Herriott) as a prominent officer in the public service. Happily, publicity is also given to The Approved Coal Merchants Scheme, which must have been one of the first, if not the first, trade-and-supplier sponsored Code of Practice. Consumers were wisely advised to buy only from a. member of the scheme, where safeguards were promised.
By a strange coincidence a newsletter arrived in the Consumer News Editorial Office at the same time as Counter Points one and one hundred, detailing the re-launch of the Approved Coal Merchants Scheme. Non-members are still selling rubbishy coal. to the unwary. Take the advice contained in the first issue and buy only from a member of the Approved Coal Merchants Scheme, the same safeguards still apply. Another feature of the first issue was a calculator to help consumers judge the best value of stamped eggs. Observant consumers will have noticed that eggs are again stamped with a little lion emblem. Dick Mackie, Chairman of Edinburgh Group, confessed that he was unclear how this worked, but it does show to what lengths we consumers went and still go to help each other.
So what is Edinburgh Group up to in the twenty first century? There is a warning in the Chairman's letter about new technology breeding new scams, and he recounts how a firm faxed him, offered to give him protection against unwanted faxes without charge if he dialed a premium rate fax number and registered with them. "The calls (at £1.50 per minute) would not normally exceed three minutes". How did they know that he needed protection? He had registered with the Fax Preference Service (FPS) which provides exactly the same protection that they were offering.
He has reported the matter to the FPS as the firm has committed several offences, but it shows that enterprise of a dubious sort is around every corner.
Other features in the magazine include a book review, reviews of new places of interest to visit and a fascinating article about the bus wars that are being waged in Edinburgh and parts of Lothian. You'd think that passengers would benefit from cut-throat competition, and there are lower fares and plenty of buses while it lasts, but the aim is, as ever, to kill off the competition, at which point, with no challenging rival the winning company can increase fares and reduce services with impunity.
A complaint to the Independent Television Commission by Edinburgh Group's Secretary, as an individual viewer, concerning Hewlett Packard Snowballs, is recounted in detail. The complaint (93 other viewers as well as Mary Nisbet complained that showing children throwing snowballs at buses was dangerous) was upheld. What is particularly interesting is that the article shows how the complaints system works. Did you know that The Broadcasting Advertising Clearance Centre is responsible for ensuring that television commercials comply with the ITC codes and guidelines? It performs this duty on behalf of all the main commercial television companies. The advert was withdrawn.
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