Citizens Advice put in consumer protection frontline

[charitynjw]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17675033

Citizens Advice will be the first line of protection for consumers under plans confirmed by the government.
The charity will take initial calls and emails from frustrated consumers, while a new board will oversee national action by trading standards officers.
So an individual sold a shoddy secondhand car would receive initial advice from Citizens Advice staff.
If it emerged that a prolific rogue trader was responsible, then trading standards officers would investigate.
"All of the reforms will ensure that we have the right system of help, advice and protection for consumers," said Norman Lamb, the consumer affairs minister.
But one consumer group said the plans were "ill-conceived" and would stretch underfunded local trading standards departments.................

[labman]

Re: Citizens Advice put in consumer protection frontline

To be honest this scares me. CAB do an excellent job in many areas, but there is little doubt that the quality of their advice differs massively depending on whether or not you are fortunate enough to get a good advisor. One reads time again of people who have received poor advice or had no support from CAB. There is also the separate issue of the fact that many CAB offices are already over stretched, so how are they going to deal with this increased workload. Are more salaried staff going to be put in place? It would be terrible for people to face a significant wait for an appointment to get their issue dealt with.

Many of their front line staff are volunteers, and some of those openly confess to not being able to deal with certain things, or regularly have to go to check something with someone else.

For these people to be the official first approach is terrible. It is a sad reflection of how things have become that critically important things like this are being officially farmed out to volunteer staff.

I wonder also what the view will be of people who approach other consumer charities first. Hopefully these charities will be able to feed into the process somehow, as many of their staff are trained to a level at least equivalent to that of CAB. People who have sought help from these charities should not, I hope, be then forced to go through CAB in order to gain access to further help and support.

[cards down]

Re: Citizens Advice put in consumer protection frontline

I came across a CAB member who was not very competent at all, to be fair, the gent tried and tried but he just didn't have the knowledge. This to me looks like just another way of the gov saving money. My personal experiences with the CAB sees them as under funded and overstretched.

[Latch Key Kid]

Re: Citizens Advice put in consumer protection frontline

Hi

This has been on the cards for months, many in the CAB knew about it.

Good trusted recognised brand is Citizens Advice, nothing hidden. no referral back handers etc, thats probably why millions use it and other agencies refer when they are out their depth or cant make any money out of people.

True though some CABs, advisers are better than others, but no organisation or individual is perfect, just a few that may think they are.

Funding cuts have been headlined for a couple of years now and they are biting, closing and merging organisations is the name of the game, will advice suffer..most definitely is my opinion, most definitely, but people will carry on, try their best, often on a voluntary basis, good on them I say otherwise where can people go or contact.

If someone has the magic answer to it all, put it up, contact the media, could be your 15 minutes of fame or maybe not.

Training in the CAB is very good, every organisation has front line advisers, paid and supervisory staff thats the way it works if you know what you are talking about.

The other thing is CAB have been dealing with consumer enquiries and liaising / working with Trading Standards for years, they have a training module specifically for consumer issues, but like I have already said people would be aware of this if they knew what they were talking about.

There is no doubt though, demand will be high on an already under pressure service and it does not take a genuis to deduct that if you dont have enough staff, voluntary or paid there will be problems, same anywhere really.

Whats the answer, more resources, course it is, but thats not going to happen, trust in the CAB though, they have some resiliant people who dont head for the exit door or run to the teachers when the going gets tough

[Guest]

Re: Citizens Advice put in consumer protection frontline

Hi
I agree with all the above and know from first hand about the dedication and knowledge that is encompased within the voluntary sector.

I do have a slight concerne about enforcement of statute though, when we go to the oft we are told that we must complasin to the TS because they cannot handle individual complaints , now i suppose we will have to go to the CAB who will go to the TS who will go to the OFT or whoebver takes over.

Peter

[Latch Key Kid]

Re: Citizens Advice put in consumer protection frontline

Hi
I agree with all the above and know from first hand about the dedication and knowledge that is encompased within the voluntary sector.

I do have a slight concerne about enforcement of statute though, when we go to the oft we are told that we must complasin to the TS because they cannot handle individual complaints , now i suppose we will have to go to the CAB who will go to the TS who will go to the OFT or whoebver takes over.

Peter

Hi

Very good points indeed

Oh dear, I had not really given enough thought to that one.

[labman]

Re: Citizens Advice put in consumer protection frontline

LKK, I agree with you. I know the training modules of CAB exceedingly well, I can't speak for Charity or Cards Down.

My concerns were expressed in my post. They were not a criticism of CAB per se, they were a criticism of the system. It's easy to say trust in CAB, but when one is hit by things like this it is hard:

BBC News - Insolvent Cardiff Citizens Advice Bureau to close

I know that quite a lot of these 4500 people were either unable or found it extremely difficult to access the interim services put in place, and many have indeed ended up with other similarly minded organisations.

The CAB has been hit incredibly hard by cutbacks, that has been widely publicised. The ones which have actually become insolvent have been far less widely publicised. It is, of course, not in CAB's interest, nor that of the public, for this side of things to be brought into the open or people may start to lose confidence, and if CAB were to start dropping off the scene in any significant way, there would indeed be chaos.

I have no doubt they will do their best to rise to the challenge they are being asked to. My concern is that they should be asked to take on this challenge in the first place.

[Guest]

Re: Citizens Advice put in consumer protection frontline

Hi

Very good points indeed

Oh dear, I had not really given enough thought to that one.

It was only an observation, wont make any real difference in the scheme of things, dont let it worry you.

Peter

[Latch Key Kid]

Re: Citizens Advice put in consumer protection frontline

LKK, I agree with you. I know the training modules of CAB exceedingly well, I can't speak for Charity or Cards Down.

My concerns were expressed in my post. They were not a criticism of CAB per se, they were a criticism of the system. It's easy to say trust in CAB, but when one is hit by things like this it is hard:

BBC News - Insolvent Cardiff Citizens Advice Bureau to close

I know that quite a lot of these 4500 people were either unable or found it extremely difficult to access the interim services put in place, and many have indeed ended up with other similarly minded organisations.

The CAB has been hit incredibly hard by cutbacks, that has been widely publicised. The ones which have actually become insolvent have been far less widely publicised. It is, of course, not in CAB's interest, nor that of the public, for this side of things to be brought into the open or people may start to lose confidence, and if CAB were to start dropping off the scene in any significant way, there would indeed be chaos.

I have no doubt they will do their best to rise to the challenge they are being asked to. My concern is that they should be asked to take on this challenge in the first place.

Hi

Yes, no problems, I can see what you are saying to a certain extent, but thats the situation as it stands - funding cuts, hard times!

I know a little more on the CAB / consumer funding side but things are still being decided so we will have to wait and see on that one, but things will carry on.

To be fair its not just the CABs that have been hit, many other organisations are in the same boat (welfare rights agencies for instance) with more to come.

I think I have covered more or less everything else in my original post.

PS - Citizens Advice is not perfect and if I put up on here what I really think about certain things I would probably get sued by them never mind thrown off a forum.

Certain CAB branches are putting up a hell of a fight and have genuinely taken other so called 'big charities' and their 'friends' by surprise and things are happening behind the scenes, trust me. (maybe they thought they were being sold out and decided to do something about it)

Tough but very interesting times ahead.

My opinions as always

[charitynjw]

Re: Citizens Advice put in consumer protection frontline

To clarify my position, I have absolutely no problems with CAB, who I think are, to paraphrase a blinding speech, expected to do so much with so little by so few!
I have often referred to their website for information, & always have found the required answer.

[Latch Key Kid]

Re: Citizens Advice put in consumer protection frontline

It was only an observation, wont make any real difference in the scheme of things, dont let it worry you.

Peter

Hi Peter

What do you mean it was only an observation? - thats how everthing starts.... with an..... "it was only an observation"

[labman]

Re: Citizens Advice put in consumer protection frontline

I feel if this is to maintain credibility, it must be done by trained, employed professionals. There is a big difference between taking something to Trading Standards and taking it to the CAB (with no disrespect whatsoever to their staff).

It is the diluting down of these services which is worrying. At what level of seniority is the CAB going to be dealing with these issues? Who is going to able to decide when something becomes important enough to escalate it to Trading Standards?

I take LKK's point about backhanders, etc... but I honestly feel you are talking about a small minority of the voluntary sector here. Are all other reputable consumer charities going to be expected to advise their clients to go to CAB now? This seems a little bizarre.

A cynic would say that CAB must have a nice fat grin on its face now, as it gives it 'one up' on its competition.

I hate seeing charitable organisations thinking of being in competition with each other, but there is no doubt that some of those who have to fundraise are in competition, and CAB definitely sees consumer charities of any size as competition. Trading Standards have been known to confirm this.

Along with the dilution of service, forcing all other consumer charities to refer their clients to CAB over certain issues could potentially have quite a knock on effect to those charities.

It will be really interesting watching how this one pans out.