It is not unreasonable to claim that over the last few years, many numbers of the Birmingham and UK population have become victims of a rogue trader or traders, with plumbers, electricians, builders, driveway constructers and roofers being found at the top of the list of con artist cowboys. These people then with their slip shod work, if they actually do any, create serious problems for the genuine and legitimate trade's people.
There are regular reports about Birmingham rogue traders in local and national newspapers indicating how elderly, vulnerable and also those to trusting people have been conned into paying out many thousands of pounds for work which, in many instances, was not required to be done in the first place. There is also the con where an upfront payment is requested for the purchase of materials etc., with the so called tradesman, once he has the customer's money, quickly disappearing over the horizon never to be seen again.
Also there are regular programmes on TV and radio identifying such cowboy operators, leaving the unsuspecting house owner with very poor or uncompleted work and in some cases with serious site or construction problems, plus serious financial difficulties.
If you do become a victim of a rogue trader make sure that you quickly report it to your local trading standards office so that immediate action can be taken by them.
There is now a website in Birmingham www.norougetraderhere.com in partnership with the city's trading standards office, which aims to assist in the prevention of the local population falling foul of such so called tradesman. To date, it has proved a total success to both the genuine tradesman and those people seeking quotes for work or works that they require to be carried out.
Some sound advice - If someone comes knocking at your door suggesting you have construction problems, turn them away and pay a visit to ‘No Rouge Traders Here' for a second opinion. Please don't forget or you may find yourself being another individual conned by a so called cowboy.
The site has the full backing of the city councils Trading Standards department, who obviously get involved with all associated complaints with regard to shoddy work activities etc. by the cowboys out there.
Launched in October 2010 it provides lists of all those genuine traders, to date totalling around 140 and the site is visited monthly by around 4,000 people.
Before any tradesman is accepted and listed on the site they will have been thoroughly checked by Trading Standards officers. If officers have any doubts, further checks will take place which will then lead to either list acceptance or non-acceptance. Any lingering doubts will always lead to non acceptance.
Whilst we have generally mentioned the so called trade's people as the major area of concern the list also covers hairdressers to accountants etc.
The site is becoming popular with all genuine trades personnel and the many Birmingham businesses offering a public service clamouring to join. Each trader/business has to pay either £99 or £149 a year to be on the site and in addition £5 for every public lead they obtain through it. The site is totally free for use by all consumers seeking the names of the genuine article.
Without doubt the trade's people of Birmingham see this, along with any other rogue trader campaign, as a way and means of getting rid of all the cowboys out there once and for all and are genuinely pleased that this innovation has been introduced by the City Council department as it means the population and house owners are in a position to obtain information on those people who have been vetted, knowing full well that the service they provide is fully acceptable to Trading Standards officers.
Activ Birmingham provides information on a wide ranging selection of businesses on its business pages which you may care to look at and then cross check them against the ‘no rogue traders here' web site. However, it is important to remember that there are numerous legitimate and genuine Birmingham businesses out there that may not has yet have registered with the no rogue trader site. But please watch your step before making a final decision.
It is anticipated that Activ Birmingham will benefit from a Version 2 upgrade by mid November, 2011. This will allow both the general public to comment either positively or negatively on the service provided by businesses etc. and it will also allow businesses to respond to any such comments accordingly.
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