Consumer Information » Consumer News

Bra Fittings don’t Measure Up

Clare — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 11:44:12 +0000

An undercover investigation by consumer champion Which? revealed that bra fitting services in many high street shops are simply flat busted. In fact, less than one out of three were found to actually measure up, but researchers could not find even one service that they considered good enough to be recommended to consumers.

Which? sent a team of eleven undercover female researchers ranging in age from 25 years to 75 years and with a cup size of DD or larger, to buy everyday bras from a total of 70 high street and specialist stores. Plus-size women were chosen in particular because most of Which?’s female readers indicated that they were interested in finding out how these stores coped with fitting large busted women. However, when two smaller-busted researchers were also sent into the stores, the results were similar.

The results were shocking. One-quarter of all of the fittings were downright appalling, leaving Which? experts to suggest that the researchers would have been better off if they had chosen their bras from a market stall.

Some of the researchers were sold vastly different sizes from different stores. In one case the size difference was astounding – it differed a whopping seven sizes, between 34FF and 40D. Another woman was sold an identical bra from two separate House of Fraser branches, in 34C and 34F, each of which fit terribly. One of the bras bought by a researcher was so large that there was actually enough space to put a pair of socks inside the cups!

In spite of a vast difference in their ages and their requirements, two researchers aged 30 and 75 were sold an identical bra at La Senza – a Wonderbra style of bra that did not fit either woman.

The best fits were found at Bravissimo and John Lewis, but even these were still not good enough for experts to recommend them.

Poorly fitted bras not only look terrible, they are also uncomfortable and can cause poor posture as well as shoulder, neck and back pain.

Women want to look and feel good, regardless of their bra size or age. A fitting from a high street shop may seem like a good solution, but the results may be disappointing. If shops are going to offer services like this to their customers, vast improvements are definitely needed.

Top Restaurants for Treating Mum

Tony — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 11:37:03 +0000

If you want to make a memorable impression on someone special then try one of these top restaurants as recommended in the Good Food Guide.

The UK has many fantastic restaurants, and the Good Food Guide has chosen ten of the finest for Mother’s Day meals.

Cellar, in Anstruther, Scotland is truly a delight for those who adore seafood. It features a lovely series of dining rooms, with open fires.
Clos Maggiore is an intimate getaway in the heart of London with its exotic, plant-filled conservatory.
The Waterside Inn in Bray, Berkshire provides a scenic riverside setting.
The Bluebell in Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire has a unique décor that blends trendy modern designs with ancient features with a menu that appeals to practically everyone.
The Modern in Manchester, which is perched atop the museum of urban life, Urbis, boasts some of the city’s finest cocktails and a fantastic menu.
Samuels at Swinton Park in Masham, Yorkshire offers a fine dining experience set in a spectacular country manor.
Sir Charles Naper of Chinnor, Oxfordshire has a certain eccentric charm with its unusual array of surreal objets d’art.
The Willow Tree is one of Taunton, Somerset’s best kept secrets. Its tranquil waterside location is a positively lovely spot to dine.
Equilibrium at Fawsley Hall in Nottinghamshire features an intimate dining room in what was once the original Tudor kitchen.
Pearl of London is an old banking hall that is adorned with pearls against a soft backdrop of creams and pinks; a perfectly elegant setting for a Mother’s Day meal.

According to Elizabeth Carter, The Good Food Guide’s Consultant Editor,residents of the UK are particularly fortunate to have some of the world’s most unique restaurant settings right in their own neighbourhoods, which gives them a perfect opportunity to make Mother’s Day or any other day a memorable event. It is wise to book early on special occasions to ensure a table in the restaurant of your choice.

People who enjoy good food can now use the Good Food Guide’s new iPhone app to find the best restaurants in their local area, anywhere in the UK.

Blindspots Growing and Risking Lifes

Clare — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 11:20:08 +0000

Which? Car says that even though cars are being built stronger and safer, drivers’ views have become more restricted. The consumer champion has revealed which vehicles have the best and worst scores in driver visibility.

All-round visibility has generally gotten worse over the past 15 years. This is because of the car door and roof pillars that have been strengthened to make cars safer. The size of the pillars has grown from slim strips to thick and heavy chunks of metal.

At least 1% of all automobile accidents are caused by vehicle blind spots. The RoSPA estimates that eliminating blind spots would prevent about 25 fatal accidents every year.

After conducting rigorous research using specially designed equipment, Which? Car found that the following vehicles had the top 5 visibility scores:

The Smart ForTwo Coupé came in first with a driver visibility score of 64.8%, which is due to its lack of a B pillar, usually found between the front and rear doors of most cars. Next, at 58.7% was the Fiat 5000, with the Citroën C3 Picasso in third place with a score of 58.2%. The Ford Galaxy MPV’s elevated driver position improves the driver’s line of sight, resulting in a score of 57.4%, and to a lesser extent, the VW Golf Plus enjoys a similar benefit, which puts it in fifth place with a score of 56.2%.

Lower down on the list were convertibles such as the Lexus IS 250C, at 39.4%, the BMW Z4, at 38.7%, and the Porsche Boxster, at 31.4%. Although the convertibles rated poorly, their view obviously improves when the roof is put down. The Honda Civic, although futuristic, has definite visibility problems due to a split rear screen, which leaves it with a visibility score of 37.6%.

According to Richard Headland, editor of Which? Car, making sure that cars protect their occupants in the event of a crash is of vital importance, but common sense and research also indicate that crashes are more likely to occur when the driver’s visibility is reduced. This is particularly a concern for the more vulnerable road occupants such as cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians.

There are some models that received high visibility scores that also had good results in crash tests, which proves that it is entirely possible for car manufacturers to design vehicles that are safe without compromising driver visibility.

Wrongly Accused of Filesharing

Clare — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:11:31 +0000

Even more innocent members of the public have been getting accused of piracy in the past week. These people have received legal letters that accuse them of the illegal sharing of copyrighted material such as music files and pornography.

The letters originate from London-based law firm ACS Law, which claims that these thousands of individuals have been illegally sharing intellectual property of every nature including German techno music and video games. In the letters, the recipients are offered the opportunity to put an end to the matter by ‘settling’ the claim with a cash payment of approximately £500.

According to ACS Law, it has embarked on the letter writing campaign for the purpose of protecting copyrights of its clients. However, Which? Computing has so far heard from at least 150 consumers on this matter, all of who insist that they have been wrongly accused. As the latest wave of letters makes its rounds, Which? has been hearing from even more people every day.

One individual writes regarding their 78 year old father, who received one of the letters from ACS Law. The letter accused the man of illegally downloading a porn file and demanded that he pay £500 in compensation. However, the man has no idea what a bittorrent is, and has never participated in file sharing. It would have been absolutely impossible for the man to have done what the letter claimed he had done.

To address the issue, the government is presently considering some plans that would make it necessary to warn consumers about file sharing before firms such as ACS Law would be allowed to take legal action. But for now, these law firms are continuing to send letters to consumers, demanding that they pay a cash settlement to put an end to a file-sharing accusation.

According to Which? Technology Editor Matt Bath, people have been getting threatened with legal action by these law firms, for copyright violations that they are not only innocent of, but wouldn’t even know how to do in the first place. Which? has concerns that a lot of innocent people will be intimidated into paying the money to avoid the stress of having to go to court.

Good Food Guide Iphone

Clare — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:06:48 +0000

Lovers of good food everywhere in the UK have been depending on the Good Food Guide for nearly sixty years now, to guide them in their quest to find the best places to eat. Moving along with the age of mobile technology, the Good Food Guide has now launched an iPhone application that will make it even easier for people to locate the best restaurants no matter where they are in the UK. The new app will also allow iPhone users to provide valuable feedback on each of their dining experiences.

This exciting new app uses the iPhone’s highly advanced GPS technology to determine the user’s location anywhere in the UK, and then finds and lists all of the restaurants that are relative to that particular location. IPhone users will now be able to use the Good Food Guide while they are on the move, to quickly find the best dining establishments and choose whether they would like them to be sorted according to cost, type of cuisine, distance away or by the restaurant’s Good Food Guide Rating. Once users have selected a restaurant, they can call them for reservations, visit the restaurant’s website or use Google Maps to get directions.

The app can also be used to email or tweet others about the restaurant as well as send feedback to the Good Food Guide. The Guide plans to use the consumer feedback gathered by the app to update future editions to help keep information current.

According to Elizabeth Carter, The Good Food Guide’s Consultant Editor, the launch of the new app marks another important milestone in the history of the Guide as its 60^th birthday draws near. Whether food lovers are looking for a fine dining establishment or a pub with good prices, they are going to find the new iPhone app absolutely indispensable as well as an exceptional value for the money.

The Good Food Guide iPhone app is going to be priced at 59p for a limited time. It can be found in the iTunes app store . The new iPhone app is complete; it is not a shortened version of the Guide. Like the printed version of the Good Food Guide, the app contains more than 1200 restaurant reviews, and users of the app will have full access to all of the reviews.

Banks haven’t Improved since Financial Crisis

Tony — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 11:08:18 +0000

Eight out of ten consumers don’t believe banks have improved since the financial crisis. This revelation was one of several revealed at the Which? Banking Debate that took place in London February 4. More than 300 people attended the debate, which gave members of the public the unique opportunity to express opinions and offer suggestions on how banks could make improvements.

Seventy-four percent of attendees felt that big banks should be broken into smaller ones for the purpose of creating more competition between banks. Ninety-six percent of them agreed that big banks act in favor of their own interests rather than those of their customers. Forty-seven percent said that separating the retail from the wholesale side of the banks would be the best way to improve the way the banks operated.

The findings were given to the Future of Banking Commission, scheduled to hold a series of evidence sessions, the first of which was on February 9 at Westminster’s Riverbank Park Plaza. Two subsequent sessions were scheduled for Thursday, February 25 and Thursday, March 18. Witnesses include Mervyn King, Robert Peston, Lord Turner and Lord Myners. The evidence sessions have allowed room for the attendance of any interested parties, including press and members of the public. Those wishing to attend should get in contact with Alice Lythgoe-Goldstein by telephone at 0207 7707567 or email alice.lythgoe-goldstein@which.co.uk.

According to Peter Vicary-Smith, chief executive of Which?, the public’s strength of feeling on this topic is evident in the way that such a large number of people were willing to spend their free time on a chilly February evening offering their input on how banks can be improved to better serve consumers. Smith says that it is wrong that the customer’s voice has been left out of the debate over how to bring some much needed reform to the current banking system. The reason why the Future of Banking Commission was created was to right the wrongs and bring about a banking system that will work for everyone, instead of just bankers.

Future of Banking Commission chair, David Davis, said that it was a fantastic debate in which many well-argued, responsible, viewpoints were heard. He had arrived thinking that he knew all of the primary issues that needed to be addressed by the Commission, but left with many more things to consider.

Car Hire Consumer Warning

Clare — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:29:07 +0000

Recent research has revealed that some clauses in car hire contracts could prove to be unfair to consumers. Websites of some car hire companies provide inadequate information about the conditions of their contracts.

In the contracts of Europcar, Hertz and Enterprise there is a condition that could be potentially unfair to customers in the event that the car was stolen. This clause states that if customers were unable to produce the vehicle’s keys after the car was stolen, they would be responsible for the full cost of the vehicle. Therefore, someone who was the victim of a car-jacking, or had the keys were stolen along with the car would be required to pay for the car in full.

In addition, it has been discovered that two companies, Enterprise and Avis, did not provide any information on their websites about the terms of their contracts. Budget, Alamo and National offered some information on their websites, but did not reveal all of the conditions in their entirety. This means that customers would be entering into car hire contracts with these companies unaware of all of the details of the contracts, and thus would be unaware of what would be expected of them in certain circumstances. Inadequate information on the websites also made it very difficult for Which? Holiday to compare prices between companies to find the best deal. Many of the companies in question failed to include on their websites the costs of waivers and extras that might be added to the rental cost.

According to Rochelle Turner, Which? Holiday’s Head of Research, the prospect of hiring a car for a holiday might seem like a good idea, but it could in fact prove to be a minefield. The confusion of trying to figure out what type of insurance is needed and what will be covered often causes customers to skip to the end and sign on the dotted line. Most people just want to pay for the car and go, so they sign the contract without reading it thoroughly.

Turner stresses the importance of reading and understanding every part of the contract before signing. Being unaware of all of the terms of the agreement could leave you with a huge unexpected expense in the event that the car is stolen while in your possession.

Cold Temperatures Cause Energy Bills to Soar

Clare — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:23:18 +0000

According to a recent survey conducted by an independent energy switching services, the past few weeks of freezing temperatures have raised concerns with many UK residents about the higher cost of their energy bills.

Approximately 65%, or two thirds of consumers surveyed said that the recent stretch of cold weather has caused them to think more about their energy bills. 38% of these people admitted that they had concerns about being able to pay this month’s energy bill. Some of them revealed that they had had to dip into savings to cover their higher energy costs while others balanced their budgets by cutting spending in other areas such as cancelling vacations or gym memberships. More than half of the UK residents surveyed said that they were trying to cut back on heating bills by wearing more clothing. Approximately one-third of these consumers admitted that they had either switched to another energy provider in an attempt to save money, or had called to ensure that they were paying the best rate possible.

According to Which? editor Martyn Hocking, cold temperatures give people no choice but to turn up the heating, so people are inevitably going to be worried about their energy bills. Hocking says that it is worthwhile for people to log on to which.co.uk/switch to check energy rates and see if they are getting the best deal, or if they can save money by switching. It is fast and easy to switch energy providers, and doing so can potentially amount to hundreds of pounds in savings.

People who find that they are already on the best possible tariff can take steps to cut energy bills even further. Changing to an online account, paying the bills by direct debit or paying on a monthly basis are other ways to save money.

With no immediate end in sight to the cold snap, Which? investigated the most popular actions that consumers took to keep warm during cold temperatures and found the top five methods:

84% Wear extra clothing
73% Drink warm beverages
40% Eat hot, filling meals
38% Block draughty spaces under doors and windows
37% Remain in bed.
* Three people even confessed to keeping warm by making love.

Which? wants fair tariffs and energy bills that are easier for consumers to understand.

Top Complaints 2009

Clare — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:01:07 +0000

For the fourth consecutive year, Consumer Direct reports that second-hand cars purchased from an independent dealer brought the most complaints. The service also responded to more than 1.5 million emails and telephone calls in 2009 (down four percent from 2008) and reported about 850,000complaints lodged against traders, representing a three percent decrease. Altogether, Consumer Direct handled 50,790 complaints related to second-hand cars sold by independent dealers, up by 8 per cent from 2008.

Complaints about TVs, which came in second, rose by nine per cent, and complaints related to mobile-phone service, which decreased by 29 per cent, came in third. Among the top ten categories listed, laptop complaints (which rose from 12,395 in the previous year to 17,611 in 2009) increased by 42 per cent. A majority of the complaints were related to goods and services that were purchased at the traders’ place of business, while 10 per cent involved telephone transactions.

Consumer Direct offers advice on settling disputes with a wide range of businesses and also informs people about their rights as consumers. This means that, very often, customer and merchant can deal directly with one another. When additional help is required, Consumer Direct refers callers to local authority Trading Standards Services or an agency that is in the best position to provide the assistance they need.

Local authority Trading Services, the OFT, and similar groups use the information Consumer Direct gathers to establish their priorities and determine how to focus their resources. Because the level of used-car complaints in 2009 was so high, this influenced the OFT’s decision to begin a market study of second-hand car sales last May, and the final report should be available in the spring. David Fisher, Director of Consumer Direct, also notes that the increase in complaints related to a product may be an indication of increased sales for that product, rather than a lowering of standards on the manufacturer’s part.

Goods and Services	2008	2009	% change
Second hand cars purchased from independent dealers	47,026	50,790	+8.0%
TVs	20,314	22,184	+9.2%
Mobile Phones (service agreements)	31,269	22,172	-29.1%
Mobile Phones (hardware)	20,160	18,470	-8.4%
Lap-tops, notebooks and tablet PCs	12,395	17,611	+42.1%
Car repairs and servicing from independent garages	16,181	16,387	+1.3%
Second hand cars purchased from franchise dealers	15,236	14,693	-3.6%
Upholstered furniture	14,532	14,457	-0.5%
Women’s clothing	14,391	14,201	-1.3%
Telephone services (land line)	12,290	11,631	-5.4%
Total of all complaints to Consumer Direct	874,307	849,827	-2.8%

Car Buyers Starting to Buy Online

Clare — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:14:00 +0000

Online car shopping has become increasingly popular, and Which? Car says that it’s a win-win situation for consumers. Not only can buyers secure bigger discounts, they also have the advantage of additional legal protection when buying online.

Which? searched for fourteen popular new car models, and found twelve that were cheaper to buy online. Many of these were significantly cheaper, with five of the models offered at over £5,000 below the list price. Six of them were at least £1,000 less to buy online than they were from a showroom.

Completing a care sale online makes the deal subject to Distance Selling Regulations, which give customers a cooling off period of seven days after the delivery of the vehicle, during which time they can choose to reject the car and can be eligible for a total refund. Doing so may result in court action if the seller chooses to dispute such a claim, but the laws are weighted heavily in the buyer’s favour.

Although only about five percent of Which? members surveyed bought their last vehicle online, eighteen percent indicated that they would probably buy online in the future. Even though some consumers may be ready to buy their next car online, research shows that many of them have still been arming themselves with the useful information that can be found online. The consumer champion discovered that sixty-nine percent of its readers research automobile purchases on the Internet, using it as a source of price comparison. If they can find a considerable discount off the list price through an online broker, they can show the deal to a local car dealership to see if they are willing to match the price.

According to Which? Car editor Richard Headland, the Internet has revolutionized the way consumers shop for cars. He supports this revolution because of the way that it empowers the consumer. Buyers can find much better prices online without having to haggle with pushy, overbearing salespeople, and their legal rights are better too. The Internet has posed a formidable challenge to the traditional type of automobile dealership.

Consumers are urged to check out online dealers just as they would traditional dealers to ensure that they are dealing with a reputable company; as with any purchase, if the deal looks too good to be true, then it most likely is.