TrustMark Blog

When I first came into a career in Trading Standards over 30 years ago – in fact, well over 30 years ago – a fair proportion of my work was based around the enforcement of the Weights and Measures Act. In actual fact, the Trading Standards profession was born out of the role of Inspectors of Weights and Measures, originally appointed by Acts of Parliament way back in the 1830s. Their work was mainly concerned with checking the physical weights, measures and scales used by traders.

With the internet at our disposal, we have full reign for finding tradespeople at the click of a few buttons. Time is scarce and finding someone quickly and cheaply Is often high on our priority list. But what could save you time and money at first could end up costing you much more of both, taking months or even years to rectify if you become the victim of a cowboy builder. With some simple steps you can save yourself time and money with the reassurance you have found someone fit for the job.

Over the last few years, my blog has provided advice on what to do when things go wrong with a home improvement or repair contract that you may have entered into. The main theme of my advice has always been about communication – being clear with the trader about the nature of the problem, what you would like them to do to put it right and when it should be completed by.

On 3rd June, 7 of us will be throwing ourselves out of a plane at 10,000ft in aid of a great cause. We’ll be raising money for our local charity of choice, FareShare. Their efforts are spent redistributing surplus food that is of perfectly good quality but would otherwise go to waste, to those who need it most.

TrustMark receives calls day-in day-out from tradespeople with disputes over payments with their customers, and of course, we also get many calls from customers withholding payment because they have cause for concern over the work carried out. Efforts to keep both you and your customers happy and protected has probably up until now been rather fruitless. But there is good news which will stop things getting to this awkward stage, and what’s more there is a low-cost way that you can stabilise your income, which your customers will thank you for!