We provide comprehensive advice to ensure local consumers and businesses understand their civil rights and obligations when buying and selling goods & services. We aim to ensure transactions for both consumers and traders are fair.

Where necessary, we also take action to instruct/compel traders to comply with legislation and directly assist vulnerable consumers to obtain redress when things go wrong.

This service is provided in conjunction with the first tier advice from Citizens Advice consumer service.
The type of things we deal with include:

• Working in partnership with Citizens Advice consumer service, which is a national organisation that provides consumers with basic advice about their rights when they buy goods or services; where purchases lead to disputes that vulnerable consumers cannot resolve themselves, we help these consumers by negotiating on their behalf with traders with the aim of reaching a satisfactory resolution.
• Assisting vulnerable consumers to get their money back through the county court system.
• Helping people to understand their rights when they buy things on credit, e.g. hire purchase agreements, credit cards, sorting out what people have to do to settle credit agreements early.
• Educating and advising on the issue of scams and rogue traders.
• In partnership with Telford and Wrekin Trading Standards we run the Trader Register; consumers can use the register to find details of plumbers, electricians, builders, double glazers, gardeners, painters and decorators, and many more home improvement trades.

Further information is available in our consumer and business advice leaflets via the link on this page.

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