Consumer Direct

Consumer Direct is a Government-funded call centre providing basic consumer advice in the United Kingdom. Information is also provided on their website (see below).

The intention is to make such basic advice available to everyone regardless of the area in which they live.

Previously, provision of consumer advice services varied, with some local Councils operating extensive services with several staff; and others relying on other local advice services such as the Citizens Advice Bureau.

The service operates via a standardised national telephone number (currently 08454 04 05 06) and by e-mail. Simpler complaints are dealt with directly; more complex matters that may require direct intervention or indicate some criminality will be passed on to the relevant organisation (usually the relevant local Trading Standards office) as a referral. The website also provides a number of advice sheets.

Trading Standards offices are notified of all complaints relating to a trader based in their area. It is expected that this will assist in identifying problem traders more quickly.

Data is transmitted on a secure network using a standardised xml format which assists automated uploading of the information into local databases and eventually into the proposed eTSN (electronic Trading Standards Network).

Abolition

The future of Consumer Direct is under review due to the coalition government's spending review and its functions may be returned to local Trading Standards departments and Citizens' Advice bureaux. The situation has been confused by newspaper articles claiming that the service had 68 separate call centres, rather than the 12 it actually had.

References

• Consumer Direct website
• Technical documentation
• eTSN project page
• Consumer Direct/eTSN proposal
• Independent newspaper

This article about an organisation in the United Kingdom is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: United Kingdom organisation stubs Programmes of the Government of the United Kingdom Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР Forest River Cosmotron (album) Look at other dictionaries: Consumer protection — laws designed to ensure fair trade competition and the free flow of truthful information in the marketplace. The laws are designed to prevent businesses that engage in fraud or specified unfair practices from gaining an advantage over competitors …   Wikipedia Consumer protection in the United Kingdom — is effected through a multiplicity of Acts of Parliament, statutory instruments, government agencies and departments and citizens lobby groups and aims to ensure the market economy produces fairness and quality in goods and services people buy.… …   Wikipedia Consumer Focus — is a statutory consumer organisation in England, Wales, Scotland, and, for postal services, Northern Ireland, formed in 2008 by the merging Postwatch, Energywatch and the Welsh, Scottish and National Consumer Councils. It is established by the… …   Wikipedia Consumer organization — Consumer organizations are advocacy groups that seek to protect people from corporate abuse like unsafe products, predatory lending, false advertising, astroturfing and pollution. Consumer organizations may operate via protests, campaigning or… …   Wikipedia Consumer — This article is about consumers in economics and law. For other uses, see Consumer (disambiguation). Consumer is a broad label for any individuals or households that use goods generated within the economy. The concept of a consumer occurs in… …   Wikipedia Consumer complaint — This article is about Reports filed by consumers who are dissatisfied with a business transaction and/or interaction.. For the consumers in biology, see Heterotroph …   Wikipedia direct selling — noun : the selling by a manufacturer or other producer or his agent to any other than a jobber or middleman : selling directly to a consumer * * * direct marketing or direct selling noun Selling of products or services by manufacturers or… …   Useful english dictionary Direct-to-consumer advertising — (DTC advertising) usually refers to the marketing of pharmaceutical products but can apply in other areas as well. This form of advertising is directed toward patients, rather than healthcare professionals. The Food and Drug Administration holds… …   Wikipedia Direct response television — Direct Response Television, or DRTV for short, includes any television advertising that asks consumers to respond directly to the company usually either by calling an 800 number or by visiting a web site. This is a form of direct response… …   Wikipedia Direct to disk recording — refers to methods by which digital audio and video are recorded to portable storage media such as hard drives and DVDs.Direct to disk can involve permanent or semi permanent non volatile recording media. Computer hard disk drives are erasable and …   Wikipedia 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”