Knowing who you can trust

PROMOTING good practice and increasing consumer confidence are the main aims of the Trusted Trader scheme.

Although you can see reviews, what else is the Trusted Trader site doing to help you ensure you really can trust the workers you are looking to employ?

Raymond Lynch, Dundee City Council’s senior trading standards officer, explained just how much work goes into providing the free-to-use service.

He said: “Trusted Trader was first launched by the council in 2005 and has steadily grown to include more councils and more business sectors.

“Trusted Trader is Scotland’s biggest local government-run trader scheme and operates across 11 Scottish council areas.

“The schemes are managed by trading standards services in partnership with business, and aim to increase consumer confidence, promote good practice within local businesses and help to protect citizens from rogue traders and doorstep crime.”

The service checks a number of areas to ensure the companies are what they claim and although there are some things they can’t check, every listed business has made a commitment to respond promptly to any complaint.

If they are unable to resolve your complaint, then Trading Standards will act impartially to help resolve the situation.

Mr Lynch said: “It is a condition of membership of the scheme that members adhere to a code of practice.

“The services delivered by member businesses are assessed by their own customers, who share their ratings and reviews through a robust and comprehensive customer survey system.

“To date there are more than 16,000 reviews available on member firms.

“We need to make sure that consumers can trust the traders on our scheme and so we check a number of areas, including complaints.

“We make sure that traders do not have a record of consumer disputes or prior offences.

“We check that the business really is a member of any trade association that it claims and we also make sure that the business has a suitable level of public liability insurance.”

Checking if a trader is trusted has never been easier, with just two clicks leading customers to all the businesses on the scheme.

Any traders wishing to become a Trusted Trader should contact Dundee City Council’s trading standards service on 01382 436260 or email trusted.trader@dundeecity.gov.uk.