CTSI HAS ITS SAY Some of the institute’s contributions to government policy debate Credits Images: Andrekart Photography / Anastasia_B / Shutterstock To share this page, click on in the toolbar You might also like CTSI has its say – December 2015 Switching Principles Department for Business, Innovation and Skills call for evidence, December 2015 Consumers should only switch energy companies when they have the previous year’s consumption data for their property. Switching using any other data – like monthly direct debit payments, or the number of bedrooms they have – is pointless. Switching gas and electricity suppliers may involve mix-ups over meter readings that can take endless phone calls, letters, and the intervention of the Ombudsman to resolve. Energy companies must resource their call centres to handle phone calls. Various Which? surveys and financial press stories demonstrate that service provision is generally appalling – and with certain companies in particular. Elderly and vulnerable consumers find it particularly daunting to switch energy supplier, and need one-to-one help and assistance through the whole process with ready access to a human being at the end of a phone. There are transparency issues around switching websites receiving money/commissions from energy companies when their customers switch. They do not offer potential switchers the opportunity to compare every available tariff, leaving consumers at a disadvantage. Collective switching programmes – some organised by local authorities – promise the best deals, but consumers could find the same deal or better on their own. Generally, the criticisms levelled at the energy companies in the financial press and by Which? have all resonated with CTSI, whose members support the work that has been carried out to expose failures in the sector. CTSI would endorse more mystery shopping of the services provided by energy companies, and would encourage industry regulator Ofgem to take severe action where failures are identified. Fines imposed by Ofgem appear to have little effect. CTSI remains convinced that doorstep selling and doorstep switching of energy should remain banned. Members would be very concerned by any moves to reintroduce it. Lead officer: Steve Playle For more information, and to contribute to consultations such as these, visit www.tradingstandards.uk Switching Principles – call for evidence Review relating to Online Secondary Ticketing Platforms CTSI HAS ITS SAY Some of the institute’s contributions to government policy debate Credits Images: Andrekart Photography / Anastasia_B / Shutterstock To share this page, click on in the toolbar You might also like CTSI has its say – December 2015 Review of Consumer Protection Measures relating to Online Secondary Ticketing Platforms Department for Business, Innovation and Skills/Department for Culture, Media and Sport call for evidence, November 2015 The Consumer Rights Act 2015 (the Act) has placed a new duty on trading standards services to enforce consumer protection measures for resale of tickets online. In many ways, sections 90 to 95 of the Act repeat existing legal requirements found in Part 2 of the Act and the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (CCRs), with the following differences: l Enforcement is by means of a financial penalty of up to £5,000 for a breach l The information re-sellers and operators are required to supply is probably more detailed than required by the CCRs. The duty on them to provide this information, or incur a financial penalty, means consumers selling their own tickets could face enforcement action l Compliance with the requirements will enable event organisers to identify re-sellers and take action if they consider it appropriate l The Act makes clear that event organisers can cancel re-sold tickets, or blacklist re-sellers, provided their terms are fair within the meaning of Part 2 of the Act l Operators have a duty to report criminal activity to the police and the event organiser, but not to local trading standards services, which have a duty to enforce this provision and issue financial penalties for breaches CTSI welcomes this review and the fact that it is prepared to look beyond the Act’s controls over secondary ticketing. However, members are very concerned that, in attempting to balance the conflicting commercial needs of secondary ticketing operators and event organisers, the Act has increased the risks both to consumers re-selling tickets for legitimate reasons, and to consumers innocently buying re-sold tickets, unaware of the risks they face. CTSI believes both secondary ticketing operators and event organisers should be required to display clear information to consumers about the risks of reselling or buying tickets that have been resold. Lead officer: Peter Stonely For more information, and to contribute to consultations such as these, visit www.tradingstandards.uk Switching Principles – call for evidence Review relating to Online Secondary Ticketing Platforms