Press
Notes for Editors:
For press queries, email CTSI Press Office: pressoffice@tsi.org.uk, or call 01268 582240.
The Consumer Codes Approval Scheme is facilitated self-regulation. It aims to promote consumer interests by setting out the principles of effective customer service and protection. It goes above and beyond consumer law obligations and sets a higher standard, showing consumers clearly - through the right to display the CTSI approved code logo - that code members can be trusted.
Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI)
The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) is a training and membership organisation that has represented the interests of the trading standards profession since 1881, both nationally and internationally. It aims to raise the profile of the profession while working towards a safer, fairer, and better-informed society for consumers and businesses. CTSI’s members deliver frontline trading standards services in local authorities. www.tradingstandards.uk.
Avia Autos steers a driver to be a ‘happy customer’ - (The Motor Ombudsman)
We’ve all heard of examples of poor workmanship at garages, and then other businesses having to put the work right, but staff at the Glamorgan-based Avia Autos have first-hand experience of saving the day for a number of their customers.
Avia Autos, a family-run business with ties to motorsport and the automotive industry dating back to 1967, was recently contacted by a car-owner from West Wales who had taken their vehicle to a local garage for wheel alignment. However, the job had not been done properly.
In a move to get the work done by a garage they could rely on, the customer researched garages which were Motor Ombudsman Approved Code Members and picked Avia Autos, where they knew they would be in safe hands.
The customer made the long drive over to Avia Autos. The garage attended to the steering rods, put the problem right, and they succeeded in gaining another happy customer.
The garage is accredited to the Motor Ombudsman’s Motor Industry Code of Practice for Service and Repair, one of four of the Ombudsman’s four Codes of Practice, all of which are approved by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) Consumer Codes Approval Scheme (CCAS).
Code scheme members must adhere to principles of effective customer service and protection, going above and beyond consumer law obligations and setting higher standards. The right to display the CTSI Approved Code logo gives consumers a clear indication that code members can be trusted.
You want our removal van to go where? That’s no problem! (BAR)
Moving house can be stressful at the best of times, but a new job meant that a move was inevitable for a large family living in Sussex as the work was hundreds of miles away in Yorkshire!
They found the property they wanted just outside York and asked Britannia Beckwith Removals of Newhaven, Sussex, to handle the move for them. As Britannia Beckwith is the longest-established removals company in East Sussex, the family knew they’d made a good choice. It was a large move of 17 containers, which had to go into storage for a few weeks, but the family was prepared for that.
When the big day of moving into their lovely new house came, it was discovered that the removal lorry was too large to get down the lane to their property. However, the staff at Britannia Beckwith made light work of this problem, quickly overcoming the difficulty. The drivers of the removal lorry simply organised themselves and made the entire process work effortlessly. As the family was downsizing, this meant they had way too much stuff to put into their new home. Again, Britannia Beckwith came to the rescue, carefully stacking the boxes in the barn until the new occupants of the house were ready to deal with them.
The family said after the move: “The Britannia Beckwith staff is amazing and an absolute asset to the company. From the packing up of the house to unloading, nothing was too much trouble. They were extremely courteous and professional. They maintained their sense of humour through the three-day pack and unload. Everything was packed carefully and treated with the utmost care when loaded and unloaded. They showed great respect for my belongings and everything (flooring etc) was protected.”
Britannia Beckwith is a family-owned removals and storage company with a head office and warehouse in Newhaven and further offices in Brighton and Seaford. They are long-established members of the Britannia group and are also members of the British Association of Removers (BAR), which operates an approved code under the Consumer Codes Approval Scheme (CCAS).
This case study information was supplied by Referenceline, who help manage reviews for some approved CCAS members.
I can see clearly now – it’s a bright future for Broadland Windows & Conservatories (GGF)
When Mrs W decided to make some improvements to her house, she opted for bi-fold doors to bring the outdoors in and to make the property feel larger. At the same time, she decided to renew the windows at the back of her property and to make this happen approached wellestablished Norwich company Broadland Windows & Conservatories to do the whole job.
Their professional advisor helped Mrs W choose the best option to enhance her property and its value. She was able to choose from a wide range of colours, mouldings, handles and glazing. After the job was finished Mrs W said she was so impressed by the quality of the product and the installation that she decided to spruce the rest of the house up. She asked Broadland Windows, which has a 45-year pedigree, to replace the remaining windows and the front door too. Now, several months and six windows and a front door later, her property has a new lease of life, generated by Broadland Windows from its Norwich factory and showroom. The total cost was £8,000, for which Mrs W gave the company 10 out of 10 for value for money.
Mrs W said: “My house is much warmer now, the team was efficient and the house was left immaculate. I would recommend this company without reservation.”
Broadland Windows is a member of the Glass and Glazing Federation (GGF), whose consumer code of practice gained full approval from the CTSI Consumer Code Approval Schemes Board in 2016. The company is also a member of FENSA, a government-authorised scheme that monitors building regulation compliance for replacement windows and doors.
This case study information was supplied by Referenceline, who help manage reviews for some approved CCAS members.
Loving care eases house-selling for newly-bereaved (The Property Ombudsman)
Mrs C and her brother were faced not only with the stress of the sudden death of their father. They also had to deal with the strain of selling their dad’s house, the family home in which they had both grown up in, but which was in need of refurbishment. They didn’t quite know how to tackle it. Nor did they know how much the property was worth.
So, they approached T.W. Gaze estate agents in Diss and asked for help in selling the detached three-bedroomed house which had been home to their father for 51 years. Being in a central town location, T.W. Gaze recognised that although it was an older property in need of refurbishment, it had great potential and was just looking for the next loving owner to take it into a new phase.
The property sold for £325,000 and after the sale was complete, Mrs C said: “The process of selling our family house so soon after the death of our dad has been very challenging and exhausting. But it has been greatly eased by the professionalism and respect shown to us by the whole team at T.W. Gaze from valuation to completion of sale.”
T.W. Gaze estates agents is accredited to the Property Ombudsman, a Consumer Codes Approval Scheme. This case study information was supplied by Referenceline, who help manage reviews for some approved CCAS members.
