Officers visited cold calling hotspots to speak to businesses and residents about their rights and responsibilities during Operation Rogue Trader.
The operation, from 14 to 18 June, saw officers from Lincolnshire Trading Standards, support by Lincolnshire Police, visit five areas in the county where residents have raised concerns about rogue traders.
Residents have reported being ‘cold called’, and the businesses then deliberately overcharging for unsatisfactory goods and/or services. This includes charging for unnecessary work, damaging property deliberately in order to obtain money, leaving work unfinished and intimidating behaviour in order to extort money.
The purpose of the visits is to make sure any businesses operating in the area are aware of what paperwork they legally need to provide to their customers, and the customers’ rights, including the 14 day ‘cooling-off’ period.
Teams visited Spilsby, North Hykeham, Spalding, Grantham, Gainsborough and their surrounding villages and spoke to 30 businesses. Twenty-two of those were not fully aware of their responsibilities and were advised.
Kim Marshall, from Lincolnshire Trading Standards, said:
“These visits aren’t meant to tar all businesses with the same brush; we want to help them make sure they know their legal responsibilities towards their customers, to avoid misunderstandings or problems in the future.
“By reminding consumers of their rights when it comes to home improvements and other services, we can also give them the confidence to avoid rogue traders if they do come knocking.
“Operation Rogue Trader shows how seriously we take protecting residents from these illegal business practices.”
If you’re worried a business is operating in a way that they shouldn’t, please report it to us via the Citizens Advice consumer helpline by calling 0808 223 1133, or visit citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer.
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