You should be getting in contact with Trading Standards when you want to report a business that you believe has broken the law or acted unfairly. You can find out which office to contact on the government website.
They will then go on to investigate the business and any illegal action they may have taken using the information you have provided. If what you have reported comes through as valid and the company have indeed broken the law, Trading Standards can then take them to court or put them out of business.
The only reason Trading Standards would get into contact with you again would be for further information on the company. If they don’t take any action against the company based on your report, they might still use the information later if another consumer reports a similar issue.
However, as a consumer you should keep in mind that Trading Standards cannot fix any issues for you, such as helping you get a refund. For these purposes you would need to get in contact with the Citizens Advice consumer service, who you should also contact in order to report an issue to Trading Standards using a form.
For this reason, dealing with consumer issues directly with the company or through us at PTS should come first. If a travel company has acted with unfair conduct, we will do all we can to deal with it appropriately and resolve your issue for you.
In the instance that you do report a business to Trading Standards, you should be reporting them for trying to sell you something:
- Unsafe or Dangerous, e.g. electronics with faulty wiring, or food past it’s date
- Fake, e.g. selling you plane tickets that don’t exist
- Not as described, e.g. if they sell you a package holiday that advertises something that’s not
included - You didn’t want to buy e.g. if they put pressure on you to purchase something
You can also report a business if:
- They scammed you, e.g. they sold you something that doesn’t exist and you cannot contact
them further - They tried to stop you using your legal rights, e.g. they refuse to provide documents or
information that they are legally obliged to provide, or you are legally allowed to demand - They were unclear about costs or additional prices, e.g. they left out booking fees or costs for
extra elements that seemed part of a package - They sold products to people who looked underage and didn’t ask for ID, e.g. alcohol
- They didn’t carry out work properly, e.g. if a kitchen fitter left your home in a dangerous state.
Take a Look at Other Related Topics
When it comes to travelling, no one really wants to be thinking about financial and legal safety when you’re trying to enjoy a long stretch of sun on the beach as evening creeps over the beautiful land of another, magnificent country. It is perhaps for this reason that ensuring complete security when you travel with trust is so important to us and our Protected Trust Services (PTS) members.
When it comes to paying a decent amount of money in advance for something such as travel, and something that takes you somewhere unfamiliar at that, it becomes even more evident how important being properly protected is. The big question is: how is your holiday actually protected? And, how is it done so through Protected Trust Services (PTS)?