[rycalshaw]

 morning all, do you think all the rogue trader programmes are casting a negative shadow over small business, i watched one yesterday and the geezer took a bag of sludge onto a roof and a couple of mucky tennis balls and told the householder it was out of the gutter and charged £100. while we all want these scumbags caught and brought to book the fact is they will just move on to another con leaving genuinely good honest traders to pick up the pieces.i notice a lot of guys on here have said that response to leaflets has been pretty poor it makes you wonder if the scaremainering is having an effect..what about the bbc maybe showing the flipside and secretly filming the good guys who do a great job at a great price and may even throw the odd favour in for free, they always say at the end of the shows that rogue traders are few and far between but by then they,ve already convinced the viewers otherwise. it just seems that tv these days revels in negativity, surely if they showing the scumbags they ought to show the good guys aswell.

[Smudger]

it's easy to target the small guy esp. when doing domestic work - it could easily be said that a price increase of 20+ %
on you leccy is rogue trading but nothing is done about it...

As for showing fair traders who that extra mile - doesn't make good tv   


Darran

[rycalshaw]

sadly whats classed as good tv is people airing their dirty washing in public or stabbing each other in the back on quiz shows etc as i said people revel in negativity,,maybe we could have a good guys show on xmas day hosted by noel  edmonds

[H2GoKent]

I think you will almost always get a better response to face to face canvassing, people can see you're a decent person and not a scumbag (assuming your not of course  )
More than once I've had people say 'No thanks' and because I'm still polite after they have kept my number and come back to me when their present guy has not come back or something.

[Helen]

morning all, do you think all the rogue trader programmes are casting a negative shadow over small business, i watched one yesterday and the geezer took a bag of sludge onto a roof and a couple of mucky tennis balls and told the householder it was out of the gutter and charged £100. while we all want these scumbags caught and brought to book the fact is they will just move on to another con leaving genuinely good honest traders to pick up the pieces.i notice a lot of guys on here have said that response to leaflets has been pretty poor it makes you wonder if the scaremainering is having an effect..what about the bbc maybe showing the flipside and secretly filming the good guys who do a great job at a great price and may even throw the odd favour in for free, they always say at the end of the shows that rogue traders are few and far between but by then they,ve already convinced the viewers otherwise. it just seems that tv these days revels in negativity, surely if they showing the scumbags they ought to show the good guys aswell.

I saw a similar (or maybe the same)programme and the whole point of it was to show how gullible Joe Public is and advise them on NOT what to accept from an unknown trader. It also goes on to say that they should get reco's from others etc etc etc, but do some people choose to listen, no they don't!
Having just done a job for a newbie custie this morning, we were discussing such and they never, never employ someone who is not from buy with confidence, trustatrade, checkatrade etc etc, all schemes where the trader can be reported back on and investigated if necessary. If only all custies were the same we would all live in a much more safe and fruitful society

[rycalshaw]

don,t get me wrong i agree intirely with educating people but i  worry we are creating a trust no one mentality and lets face it,it,s all in the name of entertainment, as smudger says showing the good guys isn,t good tv.. i don,t know if the organisations helen mentioned would stop the conmen, they seem to trade under numerous aliases and i suspect would just provide fake documentation...how do you get on these lists helen.

[Blue Frog Systems]

Had a old couple ask me to clear there gutters out a few months back. Told them i would check if they needed doing as it was a two man job. Got a camera up there and there was two small pieces of moss in there.

Showed them the video and told them that 1) it wasnt worth sending someone up a ladder for two pieces of moss 2) that two pieces of moss wouldnt effect their gutters.

They were very pleased that i was so honest and i now clean their windows

[g.brookes]

my gripe with this show was that the electrician guy was actually making up the problems for the show.  It was a tv show about a fake rogue trader duping customers.  Literally making problems just to be able to make a tv show

[Helen]

don,t get me wrong i agree intirely with educating people but i  worry we are creating a trust no one mentality and lets face it,it,s all in the name of entertainment, as smudger says showing the good guys isn,t good tv.. i don,t know if the organisations helen mentioned would stop the conmen, they seem to trade under numerous aliases and i suspect would just provide fake documentation...how do you get on these lists helen.

No organisation will stop conmen from trading, but it does give joe public somewhere to go to if they have a problem, other than trading standards. It is up to joe public to check out these people before taking them on...... you can search any of these organisations on line or with your local authority. With all the con merchants etc around I seriously believe that a "trust" no-one mentality is better for society, how many times on here do we complain of "cowboys" and do nothing about it. As for these Tv programmes, they have been going for years and will continue to do so.

[Helen]

my gripe with this show was that the electrician guy was actually making up the problems for the show.  It was a tv show about a fake rogue trader duping customers.  Literally making problems just to be able to make a tv show

If it was the same one I saw, then the whole point was "how gullible" joe public can be........ and how easy it is for a rogue trader to con people. Rogue traders will never be stopped, so joe public has to be educated against them.

[rycalshaw]

i agree helen,,but i must admit when i saw the bogus conman showing the tricks of the trade i couldn,t help thinking that they wer educating the conmen aswell...

[A & J Owen Window Cleaning]

just been thinking about that today. its unfair on the small companys when they get picked on for doin a good job. been there myself. the customer is always right but in most cases it the other way round.

[sven]

I love rogue traders and would much rather watch that then those crappy soaps,  how can men watch soaps and x factor

give me rogue traders anytime,  matt albrights a top banana