Coventry Trading Standards team have assisted in the prosecution of Birmingham-based plumbing companies that duped elderly customers, including two Coventry residents who paid out almost £1,800 for work in their bathrooms.

The plumbing firm charged rates of up to £280 per hour to unblock a toilet, advertising in the Yellow Pages as emergency local plumbers that offered OAP discounts.

Read the full story.

Back to Top

A resident in the Willenhall area has reported receiving a telephone cold call from a Company offering reviews of Council Tax banding in the hope of saving them thousands of pounds in Council Tax.

However, the catch with these companies is they will charge a ‘small’ administration fee of anything upwards of £55, plus a percentage share of any refunds that may be due.

The Valuation Office Agency makes no charges to any resident wishing to challenge their council tax band, and confirms that people do not need an agent to do so.

Back to Top

Trading Standards are urging residents to be on their guard after a string of reports from other areas of doorstep cold callers attempting to sell funeral plans.

It is alleged that the sellers may be making false claims including:

• The Government has passed laws that require over 60s to have a funeral plan, and;
• That their funeral planning service is “government backed”.

Some cold callers have also reportedly approached properties without any form of identification and are refusing to give their name or the name of the business they are working for when asked.

Trading Standards advises consumers not to deal with any cold callers and never be pressurised into buying items or services on the doorstep.

Back to Top

Residents are being warned to be on their guard if approached by cold callers offering any type of property maintenance.

This comes after a report from the Earlsdon area of a vulnerable resident being approached by a ‘roofing’ company offering to carry out some re-pointing work and exterior paintwork.

Our advice to residents is to never buy services or goods from businesses that make contact out of the blue such as traders knocking on the door, or responding to leaflets put through your letterbox. Unfortunately, there are many unscrupulous people who use cold calling as a method to defraud money from residents, by undertaking unnecessary or overpriced work.  Often, the quality of the work is also very poor or ineffective, and it can also be difficult to make contact with the traders should there be issues in the future.

If you do need work on your property or garden, use a reputable local trader recommended by friends or family or someone who has been vetted and is part of the Age UK (Coventry) Trusted Traders Scheme.

Coventry Trading Standards also has a free ‘Stop Cold Calling’ sticker pack to help deal with the growing problem of unwanted callers at your door. Visit www.coventry.gov.uk/stop-cold-callers for more details.

Back to Top

Interlink is recalling its ‘Pop Millet’ (Roasted Millet Snack Bar) because it contains peanuts which is not mentioned in English on the label. This makes the product a possible health risk for anyone with an allergy to peanuts.

Product: Pop Millet (Roasted Millet Snack Bar)
Pack size: 400 g
Best Before date: 17 February 2017
Risk: Allergen: (Peanuts)

Advice: If you have bought the above product and have an allergy to peanuts, do not eat it. Instead return it to the store from where you bought it for a full refund.

Back to Top