Cheshire West and Chester Borough Council Trading Standards and
Age Concern Cheshire Business Register.
Code of Practice and Business Agreement
1.0 Code of Practice
1.01 The Business Register is run jointly by Cheshire West and
Chester Borough Council Trading Standards and Age Concern Cheshire.
Appropriate personnel, drawn from each of these organisations, form
the Steering Group who are responsible for the administrating and
developing the Business Register.
1.02 This Code of Practice sets out the way in which the
Business Register is administrated and the conditions that
businesses must accept to be included on the list.
1.03 This Code of Practice will be provided to each scheme
member and will be made available to customers, upon request either
via the Cheshire West and Chester website or Age Concern Cheshire
website or by telephoning the number given in the hard
copy version of the register.
2.0 Purpose of the Business Register
2.01 The aim of the Business Register is to benefit both
customers and businesses: it gives customers access to good,
reliable and competent traders who will do a good job, at a fair
(although not subsidised) price at an agreed time and enables
reputable businesses to build their client base and prosper.
2.02 The Business Register is intended to include businesses
involved in the repair, maintenance or modernisation of homes,
fixtures and fittings and domestic equipment or other services
related to people’s homes.
2.03 Cheshire West and Chester Borough Council Trading Standards
have a duty to ensure compliance with Trading Standards
legislation. Nothing in the operation of this scheme shall preclude
Trading Standards from taking action in pursuance of that duty.
3.0 Membership of the Business Register
3.01 Membership of the Business Register is open to any business
engaged in providing a service in and around peoples homes within
the Cheshire area, provided they can demonstrate that their
business has been established for a period of at least 12 months,
has adequate public liability insurance, and are otherwise prepared
to meet the requirements of this Code or Practice.
3.02 Members must provide the Steering Group with an address
where legal documents can be served and a landline telephone number
members that they can be contacted on.
3.03 Scheme members may not claim to be ‘approved’ by either
Cheshire West and Chester Borough Council Trading Standards or Age
Concern Cheshire and are unable to use any scheme logo in the
course of their business. However, the Steering Group will provide
the Business Register to any Cheshire resident who has asked for
the name of a reputable tradesman.
4.0 The Recruitment Process
4.01 Businesses may apply to be included on the Business
Register or may be recommended by their customers. All potential
scheme members will be required to complete an application form,
the details of which will be checked against information available
to Cheshire West and Chester Borough Council Trading Standards by
reference to:
- The Cheshire West and Chester Borough Council traders'
database.
- Adjoining authority trading standards databases
- The Consumer Direct central database
- The record of consumer convictions held by the Office of Fair
Trading
- The Public Consumer Credit Licence database.
- Electoral role where appropriate
- Companies House website where appropriate
- Such other records as may seem appropriate
4.02 In addition membership of any trade organisation will be
checked in addition to a minimum of three references provided by
previous customers.
4.03 The Steering Group reserves the right to complete the
recruitment process by either a telephone or face to face interview
with members of the Steering Group.
5.0 Legal Responsibilities
5.01 The proprietors of businesses listed on the Business
Register must ensure that they and their employees understand the
requirements of this Code of Practice and any legal
responsibilities that relate to the operation of the business.
5.02 Where appropriate, businesses must provide relevant and
effective training to their employees and agree to provide evidence
of such training, when requested, to the Steering Group.
5.03 In certain cases, the Steering Group may arrange for
training to be provided to businesses and their employees, on the
operation of the Business Register or legislation relevant to their
business.
6.0 Special Conditions
6.01 Scheme members must sign and accept the Business
Register
Agreement (attached as appendix 1).
6.02 Scheme members must comply with all relevant legal
requirements and civil law obligations in particular;
- Business Names Act;
- Supply of Goods and Services Act;
- Sale of Goods Act;
- Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations;
- Consumer Protection Act; Fraud Act.
6.03 Scheme members must not engage in or use high-pressure
selling techniques or anything that might be construed as a
high-pressure selling technique.
6.04 Scheme members must not engage in any ‘cold calling’. ‘Cold
calling’ is defined as a visit by a trader that has not been
initiated by the homeowner and includes door to door sales and
visits following telephone calls made by the trader to the
homeowner.
6.05 Scheme members must comply with the Unfair Terms in
Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 when drawing up contracts for
goods or services to be supplied. This includes not using any
‘legal jargon’ or abbreviations.
It is not a requirement of this code that written contracts
should necessarily be provided. However, scheme members and
customers are encouraged to have written contracts in appropriate
cases. If a homeowner asks for a written contract, this must be
provided.
6.06 Any guarantee or warranty provided by the Scheme member
shall be in addition to the customer’s statutory rights. Relevant
documents must carry a clear statement to that effect. Members must
not restrict or diminish these rights and must supply full details
of any guarantee or warranty cover to the customer in writing at
the time of purchase.
6.07 Scheme members must ensure that their advertising complies
with any relevant code of practices including:
- The British Code of Advertising and Sales Promotion
- Independent Television Commission (ITC) code
- Radio Authority code
- Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of
Telephone Information Services (Phonepay Plus)
- Any other relevant code of advertising
- Together with all other relevant statutory requirements.
Advice is available, if required, from Trading Standards.
6.08 Scheme members must agree with customers:
- The start date for any work to be carried out
- The completion date for any work to be completed, if
applicable.
- And notify customers, as early as possible, if any of these
dates are delayed.
6.09 Scheme members must also ensure that, as far as is reasonably
practicable, customers are provided with suitably detailed
pre-contract information which must include:
- details of work to be undertaken
- the cost of the work to be undertaken In particular customers
must be made aware of:
- the cost of any "call out" charge
- the amount of any advance payments required
This information must be made available in writing if requested.
All prices must include VAT and any other non-optional charges.
6.10 Scheme members must provide clear and accurate information
to
customers about any cancellation rights that:
- are provided by law
- they offer, over and above legal requirements
Advice is available, if required, from Trading Standards.
7.0 After Sales Service
7.01 Scheme members must accept that they are responsible if a
component, that they have supplied, fails in service, within a
reasonable period of time. It is for the Scheme member to resolve
complaints with their suppliers (or to pursue matters under
guarantee). This responsibility cannot, under the terms of this
code, be transferred to the homeowner.
7.02 If a scheme member offers any form of ongoing maintenance
contract, following the installation of any goods, it must be made
clear to the homeowner that they are under no obligations to
accept.
8.0 Dealing with Vulnerable Customers
8.01 Scheme members must ensure when dealing with vulnerable
customers, particularly older people, that specific appointments
are made, by telephone, prior to visiting (it may be appropriate to
make an appointment with a relative or friend of the customer to
arrange for them to be present during the visit)
8.02 Whenever reasonably practical, members must offer
additional assistance to help ensure that vulnerable customers
understand the price and details of any work to be undertaken.
9.0 Customer Complaints Procedure
9.1 Scheme members must have an effective customer complaints
procedure, understood by all staff that may come into contact with
the public.
9.2 Scheme members must deal with complaints promptly,
effectively and courteously and in accordance with good business
practice. Initial response to complaints must be given in an
appropriate manner within 5 working days. All significant
complaints must be recorded and the final outcome noted. A record
of any complaints must be kept on file for a minimum of 12 months
after resolution and made available to the Steering Group for
inspection on request.
An example of a complaints procedure and paperwork is available
from Trading Standards.
9.3 Scheme members must agree to co-operate with any appropriate
representative or intermediary, for example the Citizen Advice
Bureau, consulted by a customer in respect to a complaint.
9.4 If it has still not been possible to reach a satisfactory
conclusion, the agreement of the customer and business will be
sought for the use of a mutually agreed mediation or arbitration
scheme. This does not remove either party’s right to pursue County
Court action.
10.0 Management of the Business Register
10.01 Any business which is refused inclusion on the Business
Register will be informed in writing within 28 days and may appeal
against the decision in line with the appeals procedure.
10.02 The Steering Group reserves the right to remove a member
from the register if, after due consideration of the facts, there
is evidence that the member has failed to abide by the principles
or commitments of this scheme. Where appropriate, a warning letter
explaining concerns and outlining steps that can be taken to avoid
removal, will be sent.
10.03 Where a member is removed from the register, they will be
provided with a written explanation as to the reason for the
decision. Members will have the right to appeal.
10.04 Both Trading Standards and Age Concern Cheshire will
recommend to enquirers that they use one of the members of the
Business Register when they call asking for assistance. The
register will also be distributed to other information providers,
for example the media, libraries and CAB, as seen fit by the
Steering Group.
10.05 The Steering Group reserves the right to withdraw, suspend
or amend the scheme as we see fit. An annual review of the scheme
will take place by the Steering Group. Any changes will be notified
to members as soon as possible.
11.0 Performance Monitoring
11.01 Ongoing performance monitoring of scheme members will
be
undertaken by Trading Standards. This will include:
- A review of customer satisfaction returns
- Random (but regular) follow up calls to customers
11.02 The Steering Group will consider the ongoing development
of the scheme including any feedback from customers or businesses
via:
- customer satisfaction questionnaires
- business satisfaction questionnaires
- any other means
11.03 A broad analysis of the feedback will be published on the
Cheshire West and Chester website.
12.0 Appeals Procedure
12.1 The appeals process is available where businesses or
potential businesses disagree with a decision made by the Steering
Group. Appeals must be made in writing within 28 days, firstly to
the Steering Group who will discuss the decision within the Group.
An initial response will be provided within five working days and a
full response where possible within two weeks. If it is not
possible to respond within two weeks an explanation as to why not
will be provided and an estimated time given for when a full
response will be made.
12.2 If the member or potential member is dissatisfied with the
response, an appeal must be made in writing within 28 days to the
Head of the Trading Standards Operation. An initial response will
be given in five working days and a full response where possible
within two weeks. If it is not possible to respond within two weeks
an explanation as to why not will be provided and an estimated time
given for when a full response will be made.
12.3 If members or potential members is dissatisfied with the
decision, Cheshire West and Chester Borough Council’s complaint
procedure will be available, details of which are available on the
website or by request from Cheshire West and Chester Borough
Council Trading Standards Service.