Its official I'm now a member of the South Tyneside Safetraders.
This is a register of businesses who are willing to provide services for people living in South Tyneside and who have a history of fair trading in providing services to residential properties. The terms and conditions of this scheme applies only to the residents of South Tyneside who use the scheme.
South Tyneside has had consistent problems with "cowboy" rogue traders, bogus officials and distraction burglars. These persons pressure sell, do shoddy work and are often untraceable. This has a serious affect on residents and also represents totally unfair competition for legitimate businesses in South Tyneside.
The home improvement sector and repairs and servicing of domestic appliances are also a major source of complaints to trading standards throughout the country. Some result from a number of 'cowboy traders' but often also arise when honest businesses fail to check that their staff are doing jobs correctly or are unaware of their legal obligations.
Our Building Contractors Registration Scheme is an attempt to reduce these problems and generally raise standards throughout South Tyneside.
The main aims are :
* To ensure a level of satisfactory service which reflects good practice
* To improve the image of the building contractors in South Tyneside
* To increase compliance with consumer laws
* To improve consumer confidence by promoting registered traders
Membership of the scheme will mean that all traders has met the following general criteria:
* Satisfy a County Court and Trading Standards records check
* Comply with the spirit and letter of the law, including any code of practice and to the principles and commitments of the scheme
* Deal with customers fairly, courteously, reliably and in accordance with good business practice
* Have an effective written complaints procedure including that in the event of a complaint not being resolved the matter will be subject to conciliation by Trading Standards
* Co-operate with officers of the Trading Standards Service
South Tyneside Trading Standards Service is committed to :
* Providing a fair and impartial service to both consumers and businesses
* Assistance in resolving disputes
* Undertaking at least annually satisfaction surveys of the member businesses and customers of those businesses.
* Investigating any breach of the law by a scheme member which may result in a member being prosecuted, removed from the Scheme, or both