Consumer Council Helping Consumers Keep Their Money Safe
Friday 7 August 2009
The Consumer Council is today launching ‘Safer Ways to Pay’, a guide to help consumers keep their money, paid out in deposits and pre-payments, safe in the event of a business going bust. The guide aims to provide consumers with the information they need to shop with confidence and ensure they are protecting their hard earned cash when buying big items such as furniture or saving money with savings clubs.
Carol Edwards, Head of Education at the Consumer Council said, “Over the past year we have seen many businesses close down due to financial difficulties. As a result some consumers have not received their goods or have lost their deposits. In some cases this has been a significant amount of money. Safer Ways to Pay includes advice about different methods of payment and the levels of protection they offer, what happens if a business goes bust before you take delivery of goods or if a fault develops with goods when the shop has already gone out of business.
“We are grateful to KPMG and the Northern Ireland Trading Standards Service for their expertise on this often complicated subject and for helping us to simplify the information to empower consumers”.
John Hansen, Partner in Restructuring and Forensic, KPMG Belfast said "Recent statistics show that the number of company liquidations in Northern Ireland rose by almost 36% on the same period last year; the figure is even higher for the rest of the UK. With more businesses expected to go into an insolvency procedure over the coming months, more consumers than ever are likely to be affected. The Consumer Council’s Safer Ways to Pay leaflet provides straight forward advice on steps to take in the event of a business going bust".
Pictured: Philippa McKeown from the Consumer Council and WilfredMitchell, Policy Chairman, Northern Ireland Federation of SmallBusinesses.
David Livingstone, Head of Trading Standards Service, said: "The launch of the 'Safer Way to Pay' guide is very timely, given the current economic downturn when some companies have gone into administration leaving customers unsure as to where they stand on payments and reimbursements. This guide provides useful information on the various methods of payment open to consumers, when purchasing items. It also contains important advice on what consumers can do if goods they have purchased later develop faults. I would encourage all consumers to make use of this informative guide so that they can protect their purchases and savings”.
Carol Edwards continued, “The Consumer Council will be in Lisburn, Ballymena and Derry this week handing out copies of Safer Ways to Pay to local consumers. Alternatively people can contact the Consumer Council to request their free copy on 028 9067 2488 or download a copy from www.consumercouncil.org.uk”.
- Consumer Council media contact Paula Gunn, telephone, 028 9067 4816 or e-mail, pgunn@consumercouncil.org.uk.
- The Consumer Council is an independent consumer organisation, working to bring about change to benefit Northern Ireland’s consumers. The Council campaigns for high standards of service and protection and a fair deal for all. It also carries out research, gives advice and publishes reports and other publications. It deals with individual complaints about buses, trains, planes, ferries, natural gas, electricity, coal and water.
- For more information, visit our website at www.consumercouncil.org.uk
Related Documents
- Safer Ways to Pay - 2.2MB PDF Document
