Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Consumer Action Group statement on UK Government’s planned abolition of Consumer Focus, Consumer Direct & OFT

Consumer Focus Scotland logoScots Consumer Champion Consumer Focus Scotland ‘stabbed in the back by Taxpayers Alliance’. CONTINUING my coverage on the possibly imminent demise of Consumer Focus & Consumer Focus Scotland at the hands of the Taxpayers Alliance with their campaign “Scrap Consumer Focus”, along with the scrapping of Consumer Direct & the Office of Fair Trading, the Consumer Action Group, a UK organisation which campaigns for customer rights, particularly for the recovery of unfair charges imposed by UK banks on their customers has issued a statement on their website regarding the impact on consumers of the loss of most of the consumer protection currently in existence in the UK.

Given the prospect of a distinct lack of consumer protection being forced upon us by right wing political interest groups, I would urge consumers who value their consumer rights & protections to read up on the Consumer Action Group and join in the group’s efforts to truly represent & campaign for UK consumers.

CAGConsumer Action Group’s statement on the demise of Consumer Focus, Consumer Direct & the OFT : It seems that Consumer Focus, Consumer Direct and the OFT are likely to be abolished in an announcement to be made later next week. This is an astonishing piece of bad news for consumer rights. It will bring further difficulty to the lives of millions of ordinary citizens throughout the country. It will gladden the hearts of financial institutions and retailers of goods and services everywhere as they take the opportunity to reduce spending on customer service. It will also increase opportunities and incentives to scam innocent customers.

Is this what David Cameron means by his "Big Society"? The removal of all protections from his trusting electorate so that corporate jackals are free to prey on vulnerable victims. Who will be left to protect them? Well apparently the government proposes that consumers will have to rely on Trading Standards and on Citizen's Advice. Will there be additional funding and will the funding be enough? Probably not.

Are Trading Standards and Citizen's Advice up to the job? Are they suitable? Citizen's Advice is a very decent organisation but they certainly don't have a reputation for assisting consumers to challenge companies which try to deprive them of their rights. This is unlikely to change because it would mean that the entire mindset of Citizen's Advice would need to be altered.

What about Trading Standards? Well for far too long, this organisation has not been directly accessible by the public. They do not have that culture. They are a specialist organisation which is geared up to carrying out investigations of routine malpractice by commercial organisations. However, they don't deal with the sort of one off problems nor the vast range or the number of problems experienced everyday by British consumers.

Of course, even Consumer Direct has not been known for baring its teeth and "getting the job done" - so maybe no great loss there. The OFT - well frankly they are almost an embarrassment to consumer rights - especially since their inept handling of the Bank Charges test case. In fact the main impact of the expected announcement is to confirm to us all what we have always known - You're on your own, Mate.

So who is left?

Well it looks like it is going to be down to the websites and of course that means the likes of The Consumer Action Group and Money Saving Expert. We'll do our best but clearly there isn't going to be much support from the people who should give it - the government. We are the Big Society - but Cameron clearly doesn't seem to realise that the big commercial organisations have a different game plan and it's You, the Consumer that they intending having for their lunch.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the article, it sounds as if the Con-Dems are aiming for a clean sweep of consumer protection rights.....why am I not surprised?

Anonymous said...

The companies have got what they paid for - a Government who stripped away all consumer protection.

Do as Peter suggests and join up with CAG if you want a stronger voice against corporate & banking thugs!

Anonymous said...

Horrible prospect.Out of interest are any other countries cutting all their consumer rights bodies or is it just us stupid brits ?

Anonymous said...

Great links am joining Thanks Peter you are a gem!

Anonymous said...

Well we all know never trust a tory so this shouldnt be a surprise to anyone!

Anonymous said...

http://www.corruptlawyers.co.uk/home.aspx

The British public are being blatantly ripped off by Corrupt Lawyers.

The Law Society has made it obvious by its indifference, that its primary role is to promote and protect the interest of its members.

Solicitors know that there are millions of pounds to be made from fraud. They use their legal knowledge to commit fraud, knowing they can get away with it.

Innocent clients are becoming victims, lives are being destroyed, families are being ripped apart and people are losing their homes, because of debts incurred first by solicitors stealing their money, then by trying to fight them in court.

The British government refuses to do anything about it. (Just like the scottish parliament.)

With the power of the internet victims such as my-self, refuse to suffer in silence any longer. We are exposing the criminals within the British Legal System. The Law has failed us. This is a desperate cry for help, a last resort!

If embarrassing the solicitors, the Law Society and the British Government, is the only way of getting justice in Britain, then so be it.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:

ANTHONY GOLD SOLICITORS are trying to get this site shut down. This site was set up as a direct result of a case which they conducted on my behalf.

My Web Hosting company gave me 48 hours to remove Incriminating material from my site relating to that FIRM.

If this site is taken down please keep the bookmark. I am working on a new site specifically to explain how this firm ripped me off.
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Corrupt lawyers are everywhere. Only corrupt politicians would support these lawyers. We do not have democracy because lawyers can and do ruin their clients fives. Scum all of them.

Anonymous said...

"MY LORD/GOD"

"We may treat the judge as a god, address him as my lord, attire him in imposing raiment, stand up and bow each time he enters and leaves the court room, but unfortunately he remains a human being for all that. And judges being human beings, a similar proportion of them will be as incompetent, prejudiced, or downright dishonest, as in any other group of human beings. The dishonesty of course, will be intellectual rather than financial."
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I do not believe any lawyers are honest.

Anonymous said...

Justice, well it has been Established the law Society is corrupt. Law society staff are all crooks so apportioning blame to one crooked lawyer is unlikely.

Just like Pennann, complain to powerful self regulating groups and this is the inevitable result, all lawyers start the cover up process and all clients play the legal lottery when they trust a lawyer. How can this possibly be called a system of Justice?

Anonymous said...

We already have a legal system which is 'failing society' and has been compared to that of a Banana Republic.

It now looks as if politicians of every colour are attempting the 'hat-trick' and have the population made to suffer third world conditions of service and protection.