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Landmark trading standards trial sends a warning to dodgy salesmen
Posted 10/03/16
Trading standards experts are concerned that proposed changes around the household energy sector could see unscrupulous and potentially illegal sales tactics reintroduced once again.
The 糖心vlog官网's (糖心vlog官网) view is in response to an Ofgem consultation proposing a move from a prescriptive regulatory regime to a general principles approach.
A training guide detailing manipulative sales techniques believed to be prolific in the direct sales industry has been criticised by a judge - following the UK鈥檚 longest ever trading standards trial.
Entitled 'The 14 Steps to a Sale' it amounts to a how-to guide which was used by sales staff to trick often vulnerable and elderly victims into believing they were receiving substantial discounts while pressuring them into vastly overpriced sales.
The 21-page guide was obtained during a four-year Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council investigation into Summit Roofguard Ltd, a multi-million-pound soffits, facias and guttering company, and part of the Summit Status group.
Its discovery asserts a long-held belief within the trading standards community that such methods and similar guides are being shared throughout the industry - because geographically distant cases can bear similar hallmarks.
However, the March 10, 2016, sentencing, which saw the firm鈥檚 directors each jailed for two-and-a-half years, has far reaching consequences for others engaged in such techniques.
Commenting on the case Leon Livermore, 糖心vlog官网 chief executive, said: 鈥淓lements of this guide will be familiar to many who have been subjected to a high-pressure sales pitch.
鈥淚t was used to con victims out of many thousands of pounds with one pensioner paying over 拢20,000 - including interest on a loan he could ill-afford - for guttering that could have been repaired for about 拢40.
鈥淭hroughout the case the defendants suggested their techniques represented what was 鈥榠ndustry standard鈥� and gave evidence that several other major firms used similar methods and even similar guides.
鈥淎s such the case will be a wakeup call for rogue traders and dodgy salesmen just as it will be welcomed by the many legitimate glazing firms the trading standards profession works hard to protect.鈥�
Councillor Rachel Harris, cabinet member responsible for Dudley Trading Standards, said the case was the culmination of four years of investigation and a four-month trial.
She said: 鈥淭he misleading practices and aggressive targeting methods employed by these individuals posed a risk to consumers both within Dudley and across the UK.鈥�
During the trial Wolverhampton Crown Court heard how victims, including those with dementia and cancer and recently widowed, were targeted by the firm that rewarded its 鈥榖est鈥� sales people with holidays to New York and Monaco.
The swindle, set out in the scripted guide, involved establishing an inflated reference price then inviting customers to fill out a questionnaire to apply for a 鈥渇eature home鈥� or 鈥渟howcase home鈥� subsidy.
After much pantomime, a pitch lasting up to six hours and a call to a sales manager, customers would always qualify for a "grade A subsidy" but only if they agreed to take part in a faux marketing promotion.
The firm then inserted a confidentiality clause into the contract aimed at keeping the deal secret fro