Archive for the ‘Consumer matters’ Category
Extension to consumer role
November 17th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
It’s taken a long time – the advertisements were placed in mid April – but the Ofcom Consumer Panel, now renamed the Communications Consumer Panel, has a new membership and, to coincide with the announcement of the new members today, there is a new name, a new logo and a new web site. As a […]
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POCA wait over
November 14th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
A month and a half ago, I blogged about the importance to the future of the Post Office network of the Government decision on the award of a contract to run a successor product to the current Post Office Card Account – the so-called POCA 2. The Government announced its decision yesterday and the contract […]
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Britain’s new consumer champion
November 12th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Consumer Focus – a merger of Postwatch, Energywatch and the National Consumer Council – only came into operation on 1 October and still has a lot of staff to recruit, but it is already winning respect and making an impact. As a member of the Board, this is very pleasing to me. Yesterday I was […]
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What about money?
October 28th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
At the beginning of the summer, I blogged about a new web site created by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to offer advice to young adults on financial matters. It’s called simply What About Money (WAM). Nearly half (47%) of UK youngsters find financial language confusing and over a third (36%) are unsure of where […]
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Lack of energy about reducing or restructuring fuel prices
October 21st, 2008 by Roger Darlington
“Energy companies all put their prices up arguing that it was down to rising costs of oil and gas, but now that is reversed, we are seeing delay, blather and procrastination. We believe that consumer prices need to come down with no ifs and buts over the coming weeks. When companies all put prices up […]
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Waiting for POCA 2
October 6th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
The last year has seen a substantial programme of post office closures – some 2,500 nationally – in order to make the network more sustainable in the face of many fewer customer visits and rapidly rising financial losses. As a member of the Council of Postwatch – the watchdog for postal customers which merged last […]
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Welcome to Consumer Focus
October 1st, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Nine months after I joined the Board of the newly created Consumer Focus, the organisation comes into effect today with the merger of Postwatch, Energywatch and the National Consumer Council. It is the largest and best-funded body in the history of the UK consumer movement with an economy-wide remit. As the credit crunch and the […]
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Last post for Postwatch (3)
September 30th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Today is the last day of existence for the consumer watchdog for postal services Postwatch. As Chair of the Greater London region for the past two and a half years, I decided to go out with a bang. Footnote: When I wrote this posting this morning, I thought that the “Telegraph” was the only newspaper […]
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Last post for Postwatch (2)
September 26th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Effectively Postwatch – the watchdog for postal consumers – ended today after almost eight years of operation. Technically the organisation will be in existence Monday and Tuesday, but nobody will be working, since all the IT equipment and office furniture will be on the move so that, on Wednesday, Consumer Focus – a merger of […]
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Last post for Postwatch (1)
September 22nd, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Postwatch – the watchdog for postal consumers – was created almost eight years ago, but it closes next week when it merges with two other consumer bodies – Energywatch and the National Consumer Council – to form Consumer Focus. For the past two and a half years, I’ve been the Chair of the Greater London […]
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