A survey of more than 2,000 adults in Britain by consumer group Which? has indicated that politicians, journalists, bankers and estate agents are the least trusted people in the country.

Only 7% of us trust politicians and journalists, and just 11% trust bankers and estate agents. Trust in the medical profession was the highest with nurses topping the poll at 82% and doctors just behind at 80%. Other results were teachers at 69%, engineers at 56%, lawyers at 35% and accountants at 29%. Continue reading →

One large firm that seems hell-bent on gaining a damaging reputation for dishonesty in its UK market is Santander, the Spanish-owned bank.

The bank has decided to renage on promises made to business customers by Abbey National and Alliance and Leicester, which they took over, that the customers would get FREE BUSINESS BANKING FOR LIFE if they opened business accounts with the firms. Those that did so have now received letters telling them that this is being withdrawn and that they will now have to pay a monthly charge of £7.50 for what Santander claim is an enhanced service, and which will earn the bank around £20 million in fees. Continue reading →

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has referred a scam run by insurance companies to the Competition Commission.

Insurance companies have agreed to pay inflated prices for car repair and courtesy car supply to garages and car hire companies that in turn agree to pay the insurance companies fees running into hundreds of pounds. This arrangement is in place of going to several suppliers to get competitive quotes, which would keep the price of insurance down. Whether the monies generated from the car hire companies and garages are enjoyed by the insurance companies, or individuals working for them is not known. Continue reading →

Sainsbury’s have increased the time non-food suppliers have to wait for their money from one month to two and a half months and portrayed themselves as greedy and exploitative. The supermarket group claims that the 75 day wait is the “industry standard”.

Their claim has been described as “utter fabrication” by the Forum of Private Business which has admitted Sainsbury’s into its late-payment Hall of Shame, to join Dell, Argos and Carlsberg, who have also unethically increased payment times to suppliers who have already supplied them with goods. Continue reading →

Meanwhile, from the corrupt world of insurance it has been revealed by the Channel 4 Dispatches programme that Phil Hodkinson, a director of insurance firm Resolution, based in the tax-haven of Guernsey for income and corporation tax avoidance, is also the head of the ethics committee at HM Revenue and Customs.

Another former HMRC director, John Spence is the chairman of estate agent and financial services group Spicer Hart, whose employees offer to help clients avoid stamp duty. And HMRC have recently awarded a contract for collecting unpaid tax to a credit management firm whose owners are based in Guernsey.

“Prizes” which require substantial payments to claim, and are in fact thinly-disguised sales, have been banned by the European Court of Justice.

One example looked at by the court was a “prize” of a Mediterranean cruise for which lucky winners had to pay a total of £400 for insurance, room supplement, food and drink and port fees. Others aggressively forced “winners” to use expensive premium rate telephone lines to claim their “prize”. Continue reading →

One of the more pathetically obvious marketing ploys used in direct mail surfaces from time to time and involves misleading potential customers into believing that the mailing piece has been sent to them by a friend, or colleague and is not just the usual junk mail.

To this end the white envelope is addressed by hand, and carries a postage stamp rather than just a franking, to make it look genuine. Inside is what is printed up and cut to look as if it is a page torn from a magazine – the give-away is the clean, wavy cut mark that is supposed to look like a tear, but really doesn’t. Scrawled on the page is a hand-written note, in the same hand as the addressing on the envelope, or it’s scrawled on a post-it note, and this also gives the false impression that it has come from a friend. Continue reading →

Those for whom the upside of Christmas is to enjoy some tasty festive food and drink will be interested in the results of the Tried and Tested survey of this year’s Xmas fare carried out by Good Housekeeping magazine and published in their December issue. These included:- Continue reading →