Consumer Complaints

The DTI cannot provide any advice on individual consumer or competition problems or complaints, or interpret legislation in individual cases.

Individual consumer complaints are best directed to the Office of Fair Trading,  your local Trading Standards Department or Citizens Advice Bureaux.

To find quickly the appropriate body and contact point to deal with consumer issues, visit the DTI's Consumer Gateway website. This gives easy access to a wide range of sites offering advice and information to UK consumers.

Consumer Gateway

The DTI manages the award winning Consumer Gateway which gives easy access to consumer advice and information.

Consumer Support Networks

Consumer Support Networks (CSNs) provide a framework for local consumer advice agencies to plan and deliver services for local consumers. Citizens Advice Bureaux, Trading Standards Departments and Age Concern are amongst the many agencies across Great Britain which are involved. The Department has appointed LACORS (Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services) to administer the scheme on its behalf. Find out more on the Consumer Support Networks  website.

Review of CSN Programme

The evaluation report (70 pages).

Consumer Direct

Following successful piloting of local consumer helplines in different parts of the country, the Department is developing plans to introduce a new national consumer helpline - Consumer Direct.

Consumer Direct fact sheet and frequently asked questions.

This booklet gives the background to the Consumer Direct project, the rationale behind it and answers "How"?, "What?" and "When?" questions.
Consumer Direct - An Introduction (16 pages).

A study by independent consultants into the pilot consumer helplines is available by e-mailing Marie.Gordon-Edwards@dti.gsi.gov.uk

An assessment of the case for a national consumer advice helpline is available to read on-line.

Part 1 - Executive summary, contents, key findings.
Part 2 - Options & framework, models 1-3.
Part 3 - Model 4, appendixes.

Consultation on a national consumer helpline

In late 2002 the Government consulted with local authorities and other key stakeholders on its plans for implementing the helpline nationally.

Consultation paper on proposals for a national consumer advice helpline. Deadline for formal responses was 28 November 2002.

Summary of responses received to the Consultation Paper on implementing Consumer Direct.

Responses to the consultation have been considered, alongside e.g. the outputs of stakeholder workshops and evidence from the pilots and elsewhere, to inform the Department's approach to implementing the new service. 

Consumer Campaigns - Effective Publicity 

If you are planning a publicity campaign for the first time, aimed at consumers the DTI leaflet "Effective Publicity" will give you some basic advice on how to get consumer messages to the right people.

Effective publicity: plan your campaign

Consumer Education

DTI recognises that consumer education, advice and information needs to be provided at all life stages to give both the young and older consumers the practical consumer skills needed for everyday living. Informed and confident consumers are the best way to encourage good businesses and defeat the rip-off and scam merchants who prey on the vulnerable. 

Unfortunately too many young people leave school these days without the skills, confidence and knowledge to act effectively as demanding and streetwise consumers, but the introduction in September 2002 of consumer education into the English national curriculum will help change this. 

Consumer education may be defined as “equipping consumers with the skills and knowledge necessary to enable them to make the right choices about what to buy and how to put things right when a problem arises.” Recently a number of initiatives have helped raise the profile of consumer education and this includes the introduction of a new scheme under the Modernisation Fund.

Modernisation Fund grant programme 2003/4

This summer we invited bids to fund consumer education projects under the Modernisation Fund. Successful consumer education projects for 2003/4 were announced on 3 November 2003 by Gerry Sutcliffe, Minister for Employment Relations, Competition and Consumers.

The selection panel assessed the 37 bids against the following criteria:

Projects must:

• Make a difference to consumer detriment

• Be skills based, rather than advice or information based

• Be evidence based

• Take account of existing initiatives

• Have clear and measurable outcomes

The successful projects are:

Warwickshire Trading Standards and partners who will run the ”Virtual High Street” project – to deliver consumer education to young people through an inter-active website.  The Virtual High Street will deliver lessons to young people at Key Stage Four about their consumer rights, in conjunction with schools and trading standards officers;

North Yorkshire Trading Standards and partners who will run a doorstep selling and crime initiative to train local authority staff and volunteer organisations to deliver educational packages to older people on their rights and how to avoid the pitfalls of doorstep selling; and

Cambridgeshire Trading Standards and partners who will develop the Community section of the ”Ask Cedric” website to deliver consumer education for adults.  This portal will provide a one-stop shop for a range of on-line materials and resources aimed at helping adults develop their consumer skills and knowledge. This is the third and final strand of this award winning website, the Schools and Business sections have also been developed with DTI funding.

Criteria and information. 

Education Scheme FAQ.

DTI Contacts

 

Consumer Education	Jane King
DTI Enquiry Unit	020 7215 5000