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The Consumer Council is concerned that consumers in Northern Ireland could face potential new difficulties when shopping online from 1 January 2021, following the end of the transition period. Custom administration could be applied to parcels arriving in Northern Ireland from GB, which will likely lead to higher costs, delays and reduced choice for Northern Ireland consumers shopping online.

Fashion retail group Arcadia has entered administration today (Monday 30 November 2020) and has appointed Deloitte as an administrator. The group owns high street brands such as Topshop, Topman, Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Selfridge, Outfit and Wallis.

With an estimated £6billion to be spent in the UK this year on Black Friday (27 November) and Cyber Monday (30 November), The Consumer Council has issued essential guidance to ensure consumers know their rights and shop safely online.

This week is National Consumer Week, a campaign where UK consumer bodies come together to raise awareness of important issues, with the focus this year being online shopping and deliveries.

Research shows that almost two thirds of Northern Ireland shoppers may do more shopping online due to the impact of COVID-19. Therefore, The Consumer Council is using this opportunity to remind consumers in Northern Ireland to shop safely online over the upcoming festive period.

The Consumer Council has launched a free website to help consumers in Northern Ireland shop around when buying petrol and diesel. The Fuel Price Checker allows consumers to check the highest, lowest and average price of petrol and diesel in their area to ensure they are getting the best value when topping up their tank.

Chief Superintendent Simon Walls said: “On two occasions, in the past few days, scammers have been successful in defrauding members of the public of over £35,000 in total. On both occasions, calls were received from a number which matched their bank’s helpline number. When the victims have answered they have been informed of problems with their accounts and asked to give their banking details to the caller. Unfortunately, once the banking details have been given the scammers were able to access the funds. We believe that these are not isolated incidents and that there have been other scams of this type.